I am having trouble astral projecting.

[Gadersd]

I have been trying to astral project for a few days. Whenever I lie down to attempt it, my body becomes numb, especially around my hands and feet. I don't feel any vibrations though, only numbness. Sometimes my ears start ringing and it feels like vibrations are imminent, but they never start. Could it be that I am doing something wrong, or do I simply need more practice?

[obe4life]

The main reason you're not projecting is that you're "expecting" it to happen. I see that you're trying to project directly from Wakefulness . This technique is an advanced one and is tricky. The easiest and most effective method is the "wake back to bed" or for short the "WBTB" method. Sleep as you normally do every day but set the alarm to wake you after three and a half to four hours. Get out of the bed and stay awake for 30-45 minutes then go back to bed and relax but don't drift back to sleep. Keep repeating affirmations like: now I am out of body-I will be awake and aware-I will leave my body.....keep repeating these affirmations but don't expect anything to happen, you don't care. After few minutes you should lose awareness briefly but eventually you should suddenly find yourself fully aware but in a different way. You might feel your body (or parts of it) floating in the air. You might hear strange noises and feel slight vibrations and tingling in your body (chest/back). You will know for your self how to leave your body whether through rolling to the side or just as you normally do in the real world: simply getting out of the bed by resting your hand on the bed's edge then setting on the edge briefly and finally standing up and walking away from the bed!

[Gadersd]

The method you suggested seems to be very similar to the WILD lucid dreaming method in which one triggers sleep paralysis after waking from a REM cycle. I am sure I could manage that without too much trouble, but my goal is to be able to astral project at will whether it is day or night. How much more difficult is it to astral project from a fully awakened state? Some from a lucid dreaming forum said it is impossible to trigger sleep paralysis without waking from sleep first while many of the astral projection resources say otherwise.

[Bloodshadow]

well if you want to project from wakefulness I suggest you meditate first to prime your body for relaxation, then afterwards try to induce a projection. Also most sensations like vibrations or even SP at times aren't sure things you must rely on other sensations that come about to induce a Projection, in all the times I have projected I didn't get a vibration or SP, I did however get the numbing  effect and body felt hot, but mostly in my hands. So don't always be looking for these sensations, cause sometimes you might not get any at all.

[Astralsuzy]

What Bloodshadow said is correct.   You have to be prepared to meditate, mediate and mediate more.    I have occasionally ap from not having any sleep.   It takes a lot of time to be able to ap whenever you want.   That is my goal as well.    I mediate every day when I get home from work and again later on.    I do not always mediate twice in a day but I am getting into the habit of it.