having problems with astral projection need help

[VinceField]

In my own practices, meditation and projection are separate practices with different purposes, although achieving conscious projection generally requires at least a small amount of meditation.

The purpose of my meditation practice is to purify my mind, to train my mind to abandon unskillful states of mind (attachment, aversion, delusion) and to cultivate wholesome, harmless, and unconditioned states of peace, goodwill, compassion, happiness, etc.

The purpose of my projection practice is to explore aspects of my self and reality that are as of yet unknown to me and probably inaccessible while within the physical body, although because connection with one's Higher Self is much stronger, this makes the process of autosuggestion and manifestation via command and affirmation much more effective in this state, and so I do have a side purpose relating to manifesting my spiritual goals that otherwise I pursue via meditation practice.

But my projection practice is more of a hobby, while meditation is the foundation of my spiritual practice, as it most directly results in spiritual growth.

[Storm3]

Originally Posted by Egadanadage

Hi Storm3,

I've been astral projecting daily through meditation for the last 20+ years. I was actually wondering about your process so that I might be of some help to you. Another question for you...do you ever project naturally through sleep? If you've made a habit of meditation...and it sounds like you have...definitely get back to me. I'd love to help if I can.

I start by laying in a comfortable position, close my eyes and then i try not to move my eyes around because if i do so , my thoughts start racing. When i keep my eyes shut I'm able to focus on the third eye. I usually can start to feel a very low vibration (not high vibration like i have heard others describe) and at the same with my mind i push this feeling up my body slowly . It feels as if my limbs are non existent because they are so asleep.
That way once i reach the chest area i am even more focused on my third eye. I have a hard time bringing the sensation past my chest... Thats really as far as I've been able to bring it. My third eye starts to hurt a bit and it feels as if i am only viewing from one eye (the third) ... I then focus on just relaxing and keeping awake and viewing the nothingness . If a thought comes up i do my best to dismiss it.
I have had many problems because i fall asleep. I have tried to meditate in different areas and different times of day. Sometimes my ears will ring and anxiety starts to build on my chest or sometimes i experience cramping to the point it is very painful. My husband says he experienced intense fear and pain almost as if he died (& he's a tough guy) before he started to project more regularly , now its a bit easier for him.. So he seems to think its normal but i don't know it makes it quite difficult for me so i wondered about it.
I also notice once i am more spiritually inclined or aware i hear more noises around me like the place makes more creeks and what not and i have that intuition feeling its a spiritual thing. I dont meditate enough lately because ive been a bit discouraged from meditating regularly for years with not being able to project or visually be able to see my guide or hear them either. I will share one experience i am still unsure if it was a lucid dream or not.
I woke up in my own bed a d i was unable to move , i was terrified to where i thought i was going to throw up or that i was dead ... I could see to my left without moving my head and a huge creature looks like a pookah ( malnourished , ribs showing almost human like body on two feet , head of a ram and huge straight up long curly horns, his jaw was open with a dark mist coming out, it was staring at me but instead of being afraid i felt a deep peace and i was not afraid anymore. I then realized again i couldnt move and didnt know where i was and then i woke.
I have also had consecutive strange dreams with a djinn female, shape shifter who would turn into a cat and bite me and i would wake with physical pain where she had bitten me in the "lucid dream" . Two days later while i was resting and my husband was projecting beside me he awoke in the room to find a black water like objects over me sucking out my energy and his spirit guide helped him remove it. I awoke shortly after because a phone had came off the base on itself and smashed into something also waking him from his projection.
I know that i have lucid dreams ... Ive been able to control myself in some. Usually they appear more like a nightmare and i am able to use my hand as if im swimming under water and i can fly up in the air or away to avoid being hurt. Sometimes i am a warrior in quite a few whether it is olden times with blades or new era with guns and im like an achilles of my dreams im a beast i havent died .
I meditated once in water and had strange experiences the next following months. Whilst i was meditating in the water i heard ezekiel ... And i saw a big eye looking at my third eye. I for some reason have a strong attachment to this name im not sure why. I also was tapped on my shoulder while meditating in the water. After my meditating in water (which is dangerous i realize i shouldnt be) my grandfathers best friend past and had at the funeral i was sitting in church pews and i had been tapped on the shoulder again, i felt spirit and asked to be tapped again for confirmation.. Felt like the same tap the night before... It happened again and this time i hear "azrael".. I was comforted. It was odd ill never forget it though. I have no doubt in my mind spirit exists i feel energy and anxiety fills me if there is too much of it but at the same time i am comforted unless it is negative. My husbands spirit guide has told him numerous times that t is one of my guides as well . Shortly after i got confirmed with 3:33 and 3 showing up. I couldnt ignore it. Ive been trying to relax and not fall asleep and go to the astral plane in hopes of gaining knowledge , advancing spiritually and in hopes of meeting any of my guides or angels... It just gets frustrating because its never seeming to happen. I would like to be aware that i am there and in control and would like to be able to separate the experience from a lucid dream while I'm there. I would love for you to help me if you have any more questions feel free to ask. I appreciate your help. If any one else sees what i have just wrote pls feel free to chyme in :) thank you.

[Storm3]

I could be just lucid dreaming and maybe have never went to astral plane because people describe them as being very different you can tell them apart easily.

[Storm3]

I wondered if i was having problems because i had blocked chakras or if that even mattered .. I always was thinking to myself why do some people find it so easy or can astral project in the first couple times they try they can go . I know ive not been meditating for long but i wish this wasnt so hard :(

[Egadanadage]

Hi Storm3,

Thanks for describing your meditation process to me. I'm going to say something now, and I don't want you to feel at all discouraged. I think you're trying too hard. I also agree with VinceField above that meditating specifically for the purpose of astral projecting might not be the best approach for starters. And I'm totally guilty of the same, and I do it every day...but I also set some time aside for meditation for it's own sake without any need or want to achieve astral projection. I think if you take the pressure off of yourself to have the goal be astral projecting you'll find your chances of achieving a projection will go up exponentially. Now some thoughts...

First of all, I'll let you know that I've been astral projecting just about every day/night since as early in childhood as I can remember naturally through sleep. I didn't begin meditating for astral projection until the age of twenty or so, and it worked the first time I tried it and every time since. It may be that I'm just wired for projection, but I do believe that everyone projects regardless of if or how they remember the experiences, and that everyone can consciously project regardless of any hurdles standing in the way.

To me, your meditation sounds like a hurdle, or it would be a hurdle to me personally, anyhow. I applaud your effort and the fact that you've not given up, but here is a good rule of thumb: If what you're doing isn't working? Try something else. Your meditation seems to concentrate on your physical body. Being in a projection takes all physicality out of the equation. By concentrating on the physical, working the vibrations/energy/etc. up your physical body, you're most likely anchoring yourself in a low physical vibration. Even if you achieved a projection this way, it most likely wouldn't come to anything positive, nor would you experience the level of control that you potentially could. You need to forget about any and all thoughts of the physical, including concentrating on your body, and realize that astral projection is not a physical reality. Don't think about your body. Forget that you have one. In regards to projecting, your physical self is a huge pest! Be done with it.

There is no right or wrong way to project through meditation, but there is a right and wrong way on an individual level. Not everything works for all people...but there is always something...at least ONE THING...that will work. My advice? Stop trying something that isn't working, and start finding something that will.

I'll let you know my meditation process, and why it works for me. Aside from the fact that I've always projected through sleep, I'm also a very visual person. When I want to astral project through meditation, I use a visualization. There are two good reasons I go this route. The first is that it's easy for me to conjure up a visualization, and the second is because when you use a visualization, you're tricking your brain/body into thinking you're on your way to an REM sleep state even though you're perfectly awake. Therein lies the goal. If you can keep a dedicated concentration when your body goes to sleep? Voila. You're astral projecting. Don't worry about chakras or vibrations or anything else. We are more than our physical selves. If you didn't believe that you wouldn't be attempting astral projection or participating in a forum dedicated to the subject. There is no way to really know what happens when we project, and if anybody tells you otherwise I'd be weary...but what it feels like to me is nothing more than my conscious going out for a spin. I don't bring any chakras with me. I'm not religious. There is no need to get hung up on things that you don't need to be hung up on. It's simply a state of mind awake/body asleep. Nothing more. So...

My meditation is very simple. I lay flat on my back in bed. I do about five minutes of breathing exercises. I relax all of my muscles. Once I've gone down into a relaxed but awake state, I visualize a ball spinning...right about where my third eye resides. My eyes are closed, and I'm watching the ball spin in front of me, as if I'm slightly behind myself looking forward. There is a pinprick of light coming out of the ball so that I can track the action as it spins. I concentrate on a sound going around with the ball. The ringing in my ears. First the ringing gets louder on one side, and as the ball spins to the other, louder on that side. I'm completely not of my body, not even thinking about it. The great thing about using a visualization is that it takes inward concentration. There is no outward, except in my case I let my physical eyes track the visualization because it mimics REM sleep to do so and helps me concentrate on the movement of my visualized ball. After a few moments, a static, buzzing noise starts to replace the ringing in my ears. It's spinning from side to side with my visualization until it gets loud and starts enveloping my vision from both sides. It sounds like bees buzzing...loud bees buzzing, and my visualization is replaced with static, just like from a television. This is when something interesting happens. I get an itch. I have to yawn. I desperately need to roll over or sneeze! I ignore those impulses, because it's the body's way of making sure you aren't faking sleep. You ARE, so if you fall for it you're sunk. Im still 100% awake and conscious, so I can feel what happens next. There is a whoosh. Right from the brain to my muscle receptors. My muscles go straight into paralysis. I can choose to feel it or not feel it because of what happens next... The static opens up in front of me and I'm shooting down a tunnel. In this few seconds I can choose location in a projection. I don't have to get up out of bed. I never do that at the beginning of a projection. I can be standing in a park. On the moon. i can be anywhere of my choosing. One minute I'm whooshing through a tunnel. The nest minute I'm literally standing in a place of my choosing. It's pretty cool. Or I don't need to choose a projection at all. I can choose a lucid dream instead if I want. I can choose to skip it entirely and simply sit up, fully awake. Through meditation, I have complete clarity and control in my projections. 100%. Through sleep? No. My clarity and control are very good through sleep, but it's nothing like entering a projection from a completely awake and conscious state.

My advice to you? Try something new. Try to work on visualization. Take the time every day, pick a visualization that works for you, and sit with it until you can get lost in it. I'm not talking meditation now, just simply sitting, eyes closed, and visualizing. If you can swing it? Try meditation with it and see where it lands you. The key is to be consumed with the visualization to the point where no outside thoughts can enter. I use a moving visualization because if I don't all the thoughts creep in. It takes my full concentration to visualize the ball spinning. It's a simple visualization, but it's just enough to clear my mind and concentrate fully. That's all you need. My advice would be to keep it simple. Also? it may not work for you. Maybe you should try some other methods, or perhaps just work on meditation for it's own sake. I do absolutely believe that meditation for meditation's sake will get you closer to your goal. It's a great way to practice altered states of consciousness outside of astral projection. Although I've been projecting every day for as long as I can remember? Good old fashioned meditation is just as satisfying to me in it's own way, and I had to work hard to get a good routine that worked for me for meditation. As a person who's used to using visualizations? Every regular meditation attempt would send me straight into a projection! I had to do what you're doing now. Trial and error and a lot of dedicated work to find something that would work for me for meditation. I settled on a mantra meditation and had to really work at it for success. Good luck to you! I hope you try working on a visualization technique and give it a shot. If it doesn't work? Try something else. Play to your strengths. Maybe you're a music person. Use what you know and tailor something for yourself. So long as it gives you 100% concentration and you can use it to trick your body into falling asleep? Projecting you will go.

As an aside, I think the experiences you had might be due to sleep paralysis. It can definitely be a hallucinatory state. When I was younger, before I started meditating for astral projection, I'd have the experience of a not so nice...person...sitting on my chest staring at me. It's not an astral projection. It's not quite exactly a dream. It an hallucination via sleep paralysis. What you're describing sounds similar to the experiences I've had. It's called Old Hag Syndrome as is associated with being in a paralyzed state. These hallucinations can seem very VERY real.

[Storm3]

Truly & sadly ive never been able to visualize. I do often here people can visualize a thought strong enough to physically see it with their eyes closed. Now if i close my eyes and try to visualize which i have tried to do many times , everything is to dark,, i don't see much of anything. Just vague colours swirl a bit ... If i to think of an object or place in particular nothing really happens :( is there anyway to strengthen visualizations ?

[Storm3]

Also what do you think is an appropriate time to meditate each day ? Is it possible to meditate for self centering and relaxation during the day then AP at night or would it just be better to focus on more of the mantra meditation like you talked about two or three times a day for ? Amount of hrs for a few months at least before starting to try AP again...
If you have any links to mantra i would love them because then i know they are approved by you and ive not searched the wrong thing.

[Storm3]

I will have to try different means of meditation to find which really puts me deeper awake... I wonder .. Are affirmations or guiding affirmations good ? Ive never heard of mantra before but i will def look into this and give this a shot.
Alot of people on here talk about vibrations and there souls vibration frequency and these vibrations sound pretty important . I wonder how would i raise them higher without trying to hard and not necessarily for AP but just to strengthen them ..

[VinceField]

Originally Posted by Storm3

Truly & sadly ive never been able to visualize. I do often here people can visualize a thought strong enough to physically see it with their eyes closed. Now if i close my eyes and try to visualize which i have tried to do many times , everything is to dark,, i don't see much of anything. Just vague colours swirl a bit ... If i to think of an object or place in particular nothing really happens :( is there anyway to strengthen visualizations ?

The type of visualization that is most effective for inducing OBEs has nothing to do with sight, or seeing something in your mind. Rather, it is entirely about feeling. It is sometimes called tactile visualization or tactile imaging. It is essentially creating a tactile feeling with the body, generally a feeling of some kind of motion. For energy body development work, this includes moving one's awareness through the various parts of the body, actually feeling those individual parts of the body and feeling one's awareness move through them. For inducing OBEs, it generally consists of creating a feeling of falling (if inducing a trance) or inducing a feeling of upward motion (if inducing the exit).

http://www.theartofastralprojection....avel-technique

[VinceField]

Originally Posted by Storm3

Also what do you think is an appropriate time to meditate each day ? Is it possible to meditate for self centering and relaxation during the day then AP at night or would it just be better to focus on more of the mantra meditation like you talked about two or three times a day for ? Amount of hrs for a few months at least before starting to try AP again...
If you have any links to mantra i would love them because then i know they are approved by you and ive not searched the wrong thing.

By far the most effective time to both meditation AND project from the body is in the morning.

The conditions of the body and mind that are ideal for projection are naturally experienced in the early morning. They body must be extremely relaxed and able to fall asleep, and the mind must be rested enough to retain conscious awareness during the process. If you sleep for about 6 hours, wake up for 30 min - 1 hour, and then go back to bed with the intention to induce an OBE, success is extremely likely. APing at night is not ideal. You have to get the body from a fully waking state to a fully relaxed and sleeping state, WHILE retaining full conscious awareness, which is not an easy task being that the mind is naturally tired after a full day of activity. The mind naturally wants to recede into unconsciousness. It's like swimming against the current. Why not wait until the morning, when the current is moving in the direction that you wish to travel?

As far as meditation is concerned, the mind is naturally most quiet during the early morning, before it has begun making plans, checking emails, running errands, gossiping, worrying about this and that, etc. The body is also naturally well rested and relaxed at this time, which makes concentration and alertness much easier to maintain.

Meditation is also useful at the end of the day, as it serves to release pent-up tension that has accumulated throughout the day, especially if one is using a tranquility meditation method (as opposed to insight). It takes longer to calm the mind, but when the mind finally becomes still and begins to let go of everything that has built up during the day, you can directly feel the healing and peace that it brings.

As far as projection during the night, I usually do energy body work and affirmation/intention work as I am falling asleep, particularly to induce lucid dreams. Sometimes I'll fall asleep listening to meditation music or hemi-sync audio, which sometimes results in spontaneous OBEs during the night and morning.