I think I may be doing something wrong when I try to astral project. I lay down, relax (sorta, I can't relax fully because I'm always nervous) then I shut my eyes and pretend to sleep. I try to move my hands and feet (without actually moving them, you know the whole soul body parts moving thing) and I just can't seem to go into sleep paralysis. I'm conscious and so is my body. Isn't my body supposed to be the one unconscious or do I have to fall asleep or what? Please help.
The best thing to do is to try Lucid Dreaming. Oh, it is wondrous. Is recommend a WBTB technique, meaning wake-back-to-bed, or FILD, for beginners, promised with great results.
The reason I suggest this is because Lucid Dreaming is similar to AP, but also can induce sleep paralysis, and teaches you to sleep, but only physically, and to stay mentally aware and awake. You can control almost anything in your lucid dreams once you come to terms with your dreaming state. You can almost make it astral projection, but simply a perception Or a manifestation, but nothing more.
You will need to do Reality Checks during your conscious hours, simply hiding your breath and looking at your hand and counting your fingers, when you experience any emotions such as frustration, fear, happiness, anger, excitement, and depression, all common within dreams. This habit will eventually carry into your dreams, and you preform a reality check within, and you will realize you are dreaming. Then you are enabled god-like manipulation of your dream.
For the techniques I have mentioned above, and by far my favorites, go to http://dreamviews.com/
It's very easy to navigate the forum, and self-explanatory where to find these techniques.
~Isis, the goddess of living nature and magick, guide you
Sleep paralysis isn't something you should aim for accomplishing. It is very vivid in the physical hallucination department and has nothing (that I find) to do with astral projection.
Also, the simplest way to lucid dream is to be aware you're dreaming while you dream and change things. You won't need to fully control your dreams and you don't need to get it right away. Some people take minutes while others take years.
As I've said in another thread, it'll probably be easier for you to project if you sense the astral or cosmic energy before you try to project your consciousness to it. You may find that you have no need to project if you can sense it and stay conscious here (that's called bi-location).
I have sleep paralysis, and not because I want it:/ It usually happens when I lay on my back, and it's not too pleasant for me, so I'm not sure why you'd want to induce it but.. hey, to each their own:)
I've experienced sleep paralysis before while practicing AP. I wasn't trying to experience that, I did because I naturally can't sense vibrations. I'm numb to most vibration, so it's hard for me to get to the vibration stage and get out of my body. I'll be waiting and the itching will seem to stop, and I'll lay there and want to move. Then I'll try to move my body and I experience sleep paralysis, and I'm like "what's going on now?" Because I can't observe vibrations like I should.
