Astral projection frustrations.

I have had a couple of impromptu OBEs and have recently started to try anbd induce an OBE consciously. I plug into a brainwave entrainment recording, lay down, close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing. As i do this I try to repeat positive affirmations like "my body asleep now, my mind awake." I often feel close but then my mind either starts racing with conscious thoughts and ruins it or a fall asleep. On the couple of occasions I have woken up in paralysis and felt myself start to leave my body I get stuck half in and half out and then snap out of it. Last night I had the best attempt yet. I was doing all of the above and suddenly saw a tunnel or portal before my eyes, so I concentrated on entering it and found myself flying through the portal and could see the silhouetted shapes of large fish floating above me as I trvelled through this portal, however I didn't feel 100% lucid at this point and was still aware of my eyes. Suddenly I foundmyslef in what may have been an Astral bar and there was someone, or something, sitting there ready to talk to me but I couldn't really make out any detail. As I concentrated on trying to clrify the image I woke up in paralysis, I could feel the vibrations and hear the buzzing and it felt like my legs were floating up out of my body, which is odd because they're usually the part that gets stuck. I could feel myself start to rotate laterally and the I started to roll over but just as I thought felt i was about to leave my body completely I snapped out of it. I was having trouble with my breathing and was concentrating really hard on not choking and not breathing too deeply while it was happening. I felt pretty stoked that I got so close but really frustrated once again that I had failed, seemingly twice, to completely project. Would anyone have any advice on how to take this up to the next level? Thanks

It sounds as if you are doing well and getting there... I think you just need to have patience with it. It sounds as if you need more practice to stay relaxed esp when something is happening. You are so so close.

Thanks for your support. Would you have any tips on things I could do to help me relax more? Anything I should or should not be concentrating on while these things are happening? Cheers

Im not sure if I can offer any helpful suggestions as It may be just a matter of getting used to the feelings and not emotionally reacting to them.. maintaining the same level of calmness

I could feel myself start to rotate laterally and the I started to roll over but just as I thought felt i was about to leave my body completely I snapped out of it. I was having trouble with my breathing and was concentrating really hard on not choking and not breathing too deeply while it was happening.

Why was you having trouble with the breathing? When Im doing this stuff I occassionally get in trouble with my breathing feeling like Im going to choke.. as I do my OBES while laying on my back, I think the saliva must build up or something?? but have found that if I position myself differently.. with parts of pillow under my neck more so my head is tilted back slightly more (not enough to make me uncomfortable) I can then not get the feeling like Im going to choke.

Maybe you should of gone along with allowing yourself to breath deeply if that is what your body was wanting to do??? maybe the too much focus on it pulled you out, I dont know.. sorry you'll going to have to experiment and work out what is best for you.

You could try some progressive body relaxation for 5-10 mins before putting on the brain wave entertainment to try to be in an even deeper relaxed body state. Progressive relaxation is where a person lays and from head eg starting at forehead working way down to toes .. goes throu each body part clenching and releasing it.. and telling it to relax, clenching and releasing the body part till it does. Making sure every part of you is relaxed well.

When you are in a deep state with things happening (your body loosened) you could also think of rolling and imagine yourself doing it in a first person way of it (dont imagine watching yourself roll but think of actually doing it). Some find that imagining a rope above them and climbing out of body works for them.

Thanks so much for the feedback. I have had many paralysis episodes but Tue breathing issues are a brand new phenomena to me. I am usually on my back and my previous OBEs occured while I lay on my back. I had to concentrate on my breathing very hard because it was becoming so shallow I couldn't breath and I know from past experience if I take a big, deep breath it wakes me up. I must just be tensing up too much now that I am trying so hard to control it. I'll try the relaxation technique, thanks again.

[ Post made via Android ] Image

boardsenseless wrote: I had to concentrate on my breathing very hard because it was becoming so shallow I couldn't breath and I know from past experience if I take a big, deep breath it wakes me up.]

It sounds as if your mind is playing some tricks on you. You arent just going to stop breathing even if you feel like it.. we naturally breath, awake or asleep.. you need to try to convince yourself of that next time.. the shallow breathing thing that you are having trouble breathing is actually an illusion which seems real (just like we can get so many other illusions when we hit the state right between awake and sleep instead of a visual one, you are getting a feeling one). Its your subconsciousness doing this to you and its fooling you.

As this is being caused by a half awake/asleep state.. I suggest to treat it as a dream issue and next time use your mind to stop the feeling like you are breathing too shallow. One way to do that would be to think of yourself having an oxygen tank on.. use your thoughts to counteract the tricks your subconsciousness is playing on you which are putting blocks in the way of your LD. Ive used the thinking of myself with oxygen tank when I was having a LD where I was underwater and couldnt breath and was starting to drown. It worked for me well.

That fact that you are getting your subconsciousness manifesting things to you in a real like way (so real you arent even aware that your issue is part of a dream and mistaking for reality :D ) is a good sign.. the breathing issue itself is dream stuff. You just need to learn to control the dream manifestations coming in and that is done throu the mind with your own counteracting thoughts.

Dont be at all surprised if your subconsicousness is trying to sabortage your LD attempts for it to go and create a reason why your breathing is shallow eg it could create something like the situation of a being sitting on your chest. You need to put up your own thoughts to counteract anything your subconsciousness throws at you while in state between sleep and awake. Just remember.. nothing can harm you.. its all your subconciousness doing this to you.

Another brilliant suggestion thank you. I'll let you know what happens next time I'm in the state. Cheers

[ Post made via Android ] Image

boardsenseless wrote: Another brilliant suggestion thank you. I'll let you know what happens next time I'm in the state. Cheers

[ Post made via Android ] Image

Finally you agree on one thing.

I had another semi OBE experience this morning. I was listening to some Isochronic Tones and trying to meditate myself into a state of deep relaxation. I was repeating in my head "My body asleep now but my mind is awake" and "I am ore than my physical body". Eventually I slipped into a kind of light sleep and must have been dreaming because I thought I was laying semi clothed on a sofa in the front room and could feel the presence of one of my work colleagues, as though he was guiding me into this. Suddenly I felt the vibrations come on and my lower body lifted up out of my body. At this point I tried to relax and go with it but as my legs lifted up I seemed to become tense, almost as though I was getting anxious about leaving my body which is weird because I want it really bad. At this point I became aware of my very loud snoring too, which isn't normal for me. So, I tried to control my breathing and relax, I even tried telling myself to leave my body and that there's nothing to worry about. Suddenly I felt my throat fill up with mucus and I coughed which snapped me out of this state. I felt pretty good afterwards because I was so close but, again, frustrated that I had failed to completely project. It's obvious that my subconscious is holding me back for some reason but I don't know why. Maybe I'm just not ready for this yet?

At what time of day/night do you guys do OBE's? Is there any best time to do this or it depends on every person?

Most of mine happen either late at night or very early in the morning/early hours but I know someone who has her most significant, and she's had lots, OBEs during the middle of the day while either meditating or napping so I guess it depends on the individual or your level of ability. I'm still very much a novice and my only successful projections have been completely impromptu. Please keep us posted how you get on I'd be interested to hear your progress.

[ Post made via Android ] Image

Highlander wrote: At what time of day/night do you guys do OBE's? Is there any best time to do this or it depends on every person?

I used to have my OBES just before sleep as it was easier to do them then due to my deeper state of relaxation.. (note thou if you fall asleep..then you will have also dream state going on (so LD).. so you need to try to make sure you dont fall asleep. It can get a bit tricky.. are I dreaming? or is this an OBE? or are I experiencing both of these at once?

I myself find my OBES usually have a different feeling to them and experience them differently some. (I usually test out an OBE to make sure its really real.. go and look at something I can check with when I go back to body).

The key is to keep practicing. During my first 5 or 6 OBE's I would wake up during the sleep paralysis, shortly after getting out of the body and a couple of times I had quite a challenge taking control of my astral body (felt like floating all around).

Don't think of it as a failure. You are making progress, it takes practice.

Last night I had a Lucid Dream but as soon as I became lucid I started to feel myself wake up so I made myself spin around and concentrate really hard on staying lucid, at one point my physical eyes half opened but then, all of a sudden I was back in the dream but in a different setting. I was now very lucid and decided to float out of a window. I was hovering above the street where my parents live and I saw an old church at the end of the road, even though there's no church there, so I decided to fly to the church but as I did that I could here bells ringing to my left and took.it as a sign that I should go that way instead. As I flew across the street it turned into a deep valley and the houses turned into grass mounds or mountains or something similar. As I flew over the mounds there were people standing on each one, they were all really happy and supportive of me and I hi fived them as I flew over. I eventually landed on the tallest mound/mountain where a young man was waiting but as we started to talk I woke up. This always happens, as soon as I try to interract with dream characters the dream ends.

[ Post made via Android ] Image

Your accounts definitely give me the impression that you're making progress, and are close. When this portal opened up did you feel wind? I usually feel a gust of wind when I'm in that state of trying to separate, and maybe some parts of my body aren't cooperating/moving. And yes, in that in between state there are other entities that exist, in the gaps between realities. I've likened them to being like flotsam floating around in water. It sounds very much like your account of a bunch of fish floating around. I have also encountered some nasty looking beings in this gap.

It isn't easy to separate. If you try to move too quickly/deliberately, you'll simply move that body part for real and wake up. You have to move your astral body but not your corporal one. It takes focus, just the right mind set, and above all else practice. I believe that within the next half dozen or so attempts you will get it. And now that you've cracked the seal it will happen to you again and again. At least that's how it happened with me. The first 30+ years of my life I could've counted the number of OBE's I've had on one hand. Now just in the past 2 years I've averaged about one per day. They started to happen with regularity when I opened up and started discussing the experiences with other people, at another online forum. I had previously kept all my outside the box experiences to myself from fear of ridicule. Then I met other people that could relate and opened up... and it's like it opened my mind up in turn. So by all means keep on sharing your experiences.

Many times I have ended up in a "bar/club" type atmosphere with other astral entities, so it piqued my intrigue when I saw that comment from you. If you can think to do so, look closely at the eyes of these other entities when you're there. I see a lot of reptile & feline type eyes when I do. And they're just as curious about my eyes as I am about theirs.

Thanks, that's a really interesting reply and I hope you are right and I will have more and more of these. My ex girlfriend had OBEs for years but before meeting me she hadn't had any for ages, as soon as we started talking about it she started having them far more regularly and they went from.strength to strength and become more profound and more elaborate. Interestingly she had very feline looking eyes and always insisted that she was from Serius in a previous life. Anyway, I always struggle with interaction and even in my Lucid Dreams speaking to dream characters usually ends the dream before they can give me any information or answers to my questions which frustrating because I always get the sense that they are about to tell me something really important. Maybe I'm just not ready for such information. As for the wind, I don't think I feel that, I do feel vibrations and hear a noise like a loud buzzing in my ears. Whenever I have gone through a portal I usually just feel like I am.pure consciousness and the journey seems infinite and instantaneous at the same time. This was the first occasion I had ever seen other entities in a portal but my ex used to regularly encounter entities during the paralysis phase, she used to call it the 4th dimension, or something similar.

[ Post made via Android ] Image

ESPer wrote: Your accounts definitely give me the impression that you're making progress, and are close. When this portal opened up did you feel wind? I usually feel a gust of wind when I'm in that state of trying to separate, and maybe some parts of my body aren't cooperating/moving. And yes, in that in between state there are other entities that exist, in the gaps between realities. I've likened them to being like flotsam floating around in water. It sounds very much like your account of a bunch of fish floating around. I have also encountered some nasty looking beings in this gap.

Hi ESPer, I get that wind at times too. At times it does have what I call astral parasites or critters in it. One day I had it going on very strong and there was a nest of some insecty things in that wind and they were slamming into my body and my bed too (I could hear them hitting the metal of my bed), they were stinging quite a bit when their bodies hit hard into mine.. not something being done purposely but just cause they were blowing in that wind while I was in the same area (thou still was in body at that point).

Describing it as a "gap", I like that description as yes it is like an area/dimension one passes throu going from physical into the astral. Once Im completely out of my physical body, I dont have issues with that kind of thing (a transitioning throu dimension as ones frequency moves from the physical plane and down throu the denser astral ones (due to their density, they must be closer to the physical plane) then on to the common astral one we more so go to). Some thou seem to skip passing throu what I call the lower astral.

[quote="taniaaust1"] At times it does have what I call astral parasites or critters in it. [/quote]

The way you say that makes it apparent to me that we're talking about the same thing here. I once described it as them being like parasites looking to cling to a host. Attracted to our living force. Just a touch of us is like a boost of energy... of life to them.

And yeah I like the words "gap", or "seam", as it seems like an overlap between 2 different places (plane/dimension/reality)... whatever word you like to use. I like to use the word reality normally. I believe everything is a state of reality, and that we all have our own based on our sensory input.

After reading your post I knew I'd definitely identified with someone that had gone through the same thing.

I had a significant experience this morning. Yesterday I did a really long meditation, I'd been reading a book where the auther talked about contacting your power animal or totem. So I meditated and followed the advice in the book but didn't see any animals in my mind. However, I did get into a really deep relaxed state and felt myself almost sinking and my arms felt dettached from my body. When I ended the meditation I had lost an hour, it didn't feel that long at all. Last night I slept badly and in the early morning I got up, did some yoga and then.read a chapter of the book and after that decided to lay in bed and repeat the meditation, this time I got into a deep state of mind fairly quickly and then, as I went deeper, I became OBE. I suddenly found myself in a sports hall at a school I used to work at, I could still feel my physical body in paralysis in bed but was looking at a very physical manifestation of this sports hall. I stared at the wall and then.decided to go through it to see if I could find my animal totem. Beyond the wall was a dark cave and inside were two giant stone heads I think I asked them where my totem was and one of the heads started talking to me, it's mouth was moving but it made no sound. I woke up and was still slightly paralysed but then came out of it feeling really happy but still a little frustrated that once again my dream character interraction had failed.

[ Post made via Android ] Image