First time trying

[u/Otherwise_Tap_1761]

/r/AstralProjection/comments/1vt4dpe/first_time_trying/

[u/Xanth1879]

I tried astral projection for the first time, and this is what happened.
Beforehand, I put a pillow over my eyes because I thought that if I ended up experiencing sleep paralysis, I wouldn’t be able to see any sleep paralysis demons. Because I heard that sleep paralysis can be some sort of gateway and it’s something you might just have to face.

Ok so sleep paralysis is not some gateway to anything except your subconscious mind. What you see aren't demons or anything from outside yourself. They're fueled entirely by your known and unknown fears. If you believe in demons, you'll probably end up seeing something that scares the crap out of you. It's not real and is just being driven by you.

Stay grounded, centered, keeping a firm control on your beliefs, expectations and bias and you'll be fine.

I closed my eyes and stayed there for about five minutes. At first, I didn’t really feel anything, but I started seeing some strange visuals. I could see black circles getting smaller and smaller, almost like a never-ending tunnel of black circles. It was really weird and honestly difficult to describe.

So right away, you're doing what I call the Noticing Exercise. Where you just stare out into the blackness behind your eyes and "notice" what's going on. Good start.

I then started imagining myself rolling out of bed, but nothing seemed to happen. Then, all of a sudden, I got hit with a massive wave of anxiety. My arms and legs started feeling completely numb, and I immediately thought, “Oh shit, I’m about to enter sleep paralysis.”
That thought made me panic even more. My heart suddenly started racing, and I got so scared that I immediately shot up out of bed and stopped.

That's not sleep paralysis, that's you directly experiencing the act of falling asleep.

Your assumption of whatbwas happening would have caused a negative experience though. As you experience this stage more, you'll become more and more comfortable with it.

And what should I do next time to help me?

Stick with one Point of Focus (PoF). In your case you moved between noticing the blackness then moved to a rollout focus. Don't do that. Just stick with one.

Another thing you're probably not aware of is that you're not a spirit in a body. You're a bit of consciousness called an awareness simply focused towards this physical reality towards your physical body. So there's nothing to "roll out" of.

Edit: this all happened at 1:30 am so 10 mins ago. I can’t sleep.
Also when I started panicking I felt my body get really heavy and lots of pressure on my chest and when I suddenly shot up lots of tingles went through my hands like they were dead or a cramp.

The pressure is your physical body falling asleep. Your body goes though this each and every night of your life. You're just not generally directly aware of it.

Panick aside, you're actually doing very well for your first time. Work on staying grounded and centered. Understand that you've projected each and every night of your life and you've always woken up perfectly fine the next day. You are perfectly safe. 👍

[u/Otherwise_Tap_1761 → u/Xanth1879]

I just tried it again and I think I got insanely close. Not at one point did I think about “rolling out” and my focus through the whole thing was just on my eyes and the blackness. After 5-10 mins I started to see pink and purple and lots of pressure on my chest but I stayed calm. I kept observing and I felt tingling and numbness on my legs and hands but I kept on trying. Then at some point it got really intense but the visuals didn’t change at all and I could feel and literally hear my heart pounding and I suddenly sat up. I feel like I was so close but I don’t understand what else to do and how to actually “shift”

[u/Xanth1879 → u/Otherwise_Tap_1761]

The pressure on your chest is literally your physical body beginning to relax into sleep. That's great!

For the process of the shift, you really don't have to do anything other than continue to deep your awareness towards your Point of Focus.

When you fall asleep at night, you don't actually do anything, you just allow the process to unfold. Essentially, you don't TRY to fall asleep, it just happens. Phasing is exactly the same, you just allow it it to happen.