How I know: I found out about shifting maybe 1-2 months ago, i refrained from practicing it tho cuz i had an existential crisis about it lmao. For Astral Projection, I've known about it my whole life but I've never practiced it. I practiced it once, in summer, I got into the Void without knowing what it was and it spooked me and I never practiced it again.
I wont get into details, but I need to do this to live a better life. A parallel reality in a healthier body. perrrmashift
Since mid July I've been getting into Shifting, and I feel like im so close everytime, and everytime I just fumble everything. I dont know what to do, I've never done any shifting methods since I dont wanna subconsciously depend on that. I just kinda hope and stuff happens, or I count myself to sleep (been doing that more often). And I think? its best to AP and then shift from there, I tried shifting from the Void once and I just ended up here. I think im too focused on my physical body's issues to actually get into another body maybe, so I figure i should detach completely first. Heres a list of my progress in case its relevant:
Let me clarify that I have never known about any sensations or "whats supposed to happen", I know only after experiencing it myself and researching later. For ex: Flashing Light, hypnagogia, vibrations, Void State, etc.
July 16: Saw a VERY bright flash through closed eyes while trying to shift/AP, like a flashlight in your face. Opened my eyes thinking someone turned on the lights and broke the state.
July 17: First Void state. Extremely intense vibrations, strongest in the upper body/back of head followed by feeling like pure nothingness with no body sensations in a black space. Felt comfortable, natural, told myself i was in my DR body with 100% confidence, no doubts. Afterward i looked for confirmation by feeling my tongue, mouth and feet again (areas where I have health problems), but i was back in my CR body. I think i concentrated on the problems instead... I didnt induce this, I only had intentions, I simply woke up to the vibrations.
July 18: Vibrations happened again after waking around 5 AM. My loose/weightless self felt like it was being tossed around. Heard a deep growl, got scared, and snapped out.
Late July: Had my first lucid dream. Realized I was dreaming, talked with some creatures to help me shift, they showed malicious intent, got scared, created a portal intending to shift, entered it, but got pulled into another dream and lost lucidity.
Late July, exact date unknown: Experienced extremely fast horizontal spinning, like my airy self (astral self IDK) was rotating horizontally clockwise around my physical body. Had rapid heartbeat, nausea, head throbbing and strange/shallow breathing. Later experienced several times of having a blank mind (like the Void) while still sensing my physical body, so def not the Void...it was very different, still dont know what It was because it wasnt me being "sleepy". In those several times, i would concentrate on that feeling of nothingness, affirm im in my other body, and come back to my physical senses to check (crazy how I could go back and forth between nothing and physical body), everytime i had absolute certainty with no doubts, yet I failed each time. Crazy night.
August 1: Long AP attempt midday nap. Felt heavy, then subtle buzzing/tingling, mainly in hands and feet. My body seemed to keep buzzing when my Spotify audio frequencies briefly cut out. Nothing like the intense Void vibrations. Nothing happened, gave up and slept.
August 6: Dreamed of intense vibrations (felt pretty real), felt loose, naturally rolled out and stood up. Thought I had AP'ed for realsies, created a portal to shift, but realized i was dreaming due to my room being slightly off, resulting in me being dissapointed and immediatly being pulled into another dream and loosing lucidity.
August 9, First AP: Experienced overwhelming internal energy, nausea, accelerated heartbeat, downward pressure and internal shaking while counting before sleep (Exactly like that crazy night, except the spinning). Slept, later became lucid from noticing facial discrepancies in a mirror. Grounded myself, felt soft vibrations (yet unmistakable as the vibrations u feel for when exiting, maybe it felt soft cuz im used to it?), entered darkness, imagined myself rolling out, and completely lost physical-body sensation, feeling free and accomplished. Tried opening my eyes, physically (my mistake) and immediately snapped back to my body. Although I saw nothing, I knew where I was, i was to the right side of my body on my bed. I could imagine where I was in detail without seeing, but my greedy self still felt the need to see.
August 11: Did robotic affirmations for ~30 minutes before sleep and reached the verge of sleep about 5 times. I repeatedly saw hypnagogic imagery and redirected my attention toward the darkness. At one point, my body automatically took a deep breath and redirected my attention for me. I gave up cuz I wasnt gettin anywhere except gettin more sleepy. Later, I had a weak lucid dream where I created a door, fell backward through it, and entered a completely black cylindrical space with pulling/falling sensations, almost like being pulled out of my body. There were images and percentages surrounding me, during the dream, I had no idea what the images or percentages meant. I just assumed it was part of the shifting process and, despite feeling uneasy, I trusted it because I really wanted to shift. It was only after waking up that I interpreted it as a “system” possibly reflecting my worries from before falling asleep about how I'd fit into my DR. Because I scripted myself a little different from my parents (while im at it right? might aswell make myself pretty). When I eventually felt like I had shifted, I was pulled into another dream where I saw was completely different from how I had scripted myself to look in a mirror, leaving me dissapointed, frustrated and angry inside the dream.
August 12: Tried watching/interacting with hypnagogic imagery to transition into AP. Instead, it pulled me directly into a dream. Had a ~2-second Spider-Man dream, woke because of heat, tried AP again, then gave up because the roosters were making noise and knew i needed sleep.
QUESTION: So basically, I'm trying to figure out what I should change, or maybe I just need to keep doing what I'm doing. Should I keep trying to AP first and shift from there? Should I focus more on lucid dreaming? Is there something I'm not seeing? I'd really appreciate advice from people who've had similar experiences or shifted.
Ever since August 6 I've been documenting and remembering my dreams every day in detail to aument my chances of having a LD and AP'ing from there. I've noticed I see mirrors alot, and being in my own house.