This is an introduction to many basic and common elements of astral projection techniques. Most astral projection techniques are very similar and most of them share a similar structure. One could say that the main difference between most techniques is how much they stress a certain element. While there are some basic elements that seem to work well for most people, we are individuals and as such we must discover for ourselves what basic elements we are good at.

   Relaxed body and mind: I can not stress enough the importance of a relaxed body and mind. If both mind and body are healthy, then this will make it much much easier to AP.

   Some tips to relax body and mind are to exercise, take a hot shower, drink hot tea or hot chocolate, etc.... Anything that helps to relax is good.

   Breathing: Breathing is useful to focus the mind and to gather new energy. Metaphysically speaking, the act of breathing in, is the act of taking in energy, and the act of exhaling is the act of releasing spent energy. If it is done with a conscious goal in mind, it can serve to re-energize one's energy.

   Visualization: Visualization is the ability to imagine or to use creativity to manipulate something outside of oneself. We can all visualize something. It is part of creativity and it is part of our everyday thoughts. There is no such thing as having trouble with visualization because we are all capable of it unless we are blind. Visualization simply consists of going through a pre-set story in one's head. It is like telling oneself a story. It is not necessary to visualize every element or to even "see" anything. Any "seeing" will occur by itself simply by the telling of the story to oneself.

For example, try not to think of a pink elephant. Did you think of a pink elephant? If you did not think of a pink elephant at all then you are not conscious and visualization will be very very difficult for you.

   Loss of Physical Feeling: It is important not to pay attention to the physical body. If one keeps one's physical body still during the astral projection attempt, one will begin to loose feeling and attention of the physical body and this is what is desired. The less attention we have stored in the physical body, the better your chances at astrally projecting.

   A "flotation tank", which is a tank of water full of Epsom salts, is used by some to loose attention on their physical body. Since their body is floating on salt, they loose attention of the gravitational pull of the Earth on their body and begin to loose attention on their physical body. If you are interested in this, be sure to do more research on it.

   Body Asleep Mind Awake: This should not be taken as a concept to aim for, but should be regarded as a literal statement. The body should be asleep and the mind should be awake. This is why relaxation is so important.

   The mental state where an out of body occurs is what scientists call "deep-sleep". For this state to occur, one's body must be asleep. The mind is kept awake by giving it a simple task to follow. The task could be to think about a geometrical figure or to just imagine a thing or things. This state is also termed the trance-state, since one is in a state that is very limited in terms of mental actions.

   This is a difficult concept to describe, but it should become clear to you when you arrive at this stage as to what it is.

   People familiar with meditation are probably more conscious of what this state is than people that have never meditated before. I have never meditated so I can not say what it is in terms of meditation, but I would guess that it is similar to some type of meditative state, since the mind is very focused and the body is very relaxed.

   How does one know that one is close or is in this stage? One's breathing will slow down and one may have very vivid imagery or one may feel "energized" as if one had already slept fully. It is a state of deep relaxation. The mind can be focused very easily in this mental state and it is easy to solve problems in this state; this state is not only the gateway to a conscious out of body experience, but it can also be used to heal oneself and it has many other uses. You should become familiar with how this state feels once you find it for yourself.

   Astral Projection is a type of out - of - body experience that occurs naturally as apart of the normal sleep process in the deepest dream level. Its when out Astral Body, consciousness or spirit leaves our physical body and travels to the astral dimension or plane connected to a silver cord (I only saw this cord once ). The only problem is that we are not conscious of this phenomena. So how do we gain consciousness?, good question. There are a lot of ways that can help, they all take patience and practice. Robert Monroe was one of the first people to study this. He often knew how to leave his body at will but really don't know if he gave any techniques on how to do it. As you probably read on other sites, is that in order to astral project you have to relax, visualize, and sometimes meditate. Which are all very helpful, but when I realized that I was doing this I started to analyze how it worked. The psychic Sylvia Browne teaches the same technique that I already knew even before I knew what Astral Projection was.

    Here's how to do it. Every night before you go to bed, pick a room in your house, any room even the bathroom if you want. Walk around the room for about thirty minutes at the least, and look at everything in detail. And feel around the room as if you are bind ( but don't close your eyes). Look and feel everything, the walls, door nobs, counters. Do this to everything in the room you pick. Like for instants if you pick your living room. Look and feel the couch, TV etc. Remember how everything smells, remember any sounds that you hear. When your ready to go to bed, close your eyes and of course, relax, and picture yourself in that room as if your daydreaming about being there with your eyes close. Do this every night for about three months, you should be able to have an AP from between three days to three months, anywhere between that time.

   Another way is to remain calm and rest and daydream with your eyes close about being somewhere, ANYWHERE around the word, that relaxes you. Picturing something that makes you relax is the key. Soon you will be able to catch yourself falling asleep. Then you will notice that the daydream is becoming real. and your body is asleep. Sometimes you will feel vibrations before this happens. Its normal though. Both techniques are similar yet effective. And always keep in mind that your going to astral project before you do this.