The ability to astral project is an innate ability that each and every person is born with. The difference between those that astral project on a regular basis and those that do not know they are doing it is simply practice. Astral projecting is an ancient practice that should be treated with the respect that it deserves, much like meditation or yoga. There are a variety of types and names that it is known by. There are also different ways to astral project.

Lucid dreaming is a form of astral projection. Lucid dreaming refers to the state of being aware that you are dreaming. Once you are aware that you are dreaming you can do anything you want in the dream. It is very easy to astral project when you are lucid dreaming. As soon as you realize you are dreaming you need to consciously say to yourself 'I am dreaming.'

If you keep doing this, you will become conditioned to being aware when you are dreaming. It may be hard for a beginner to astral project with this random practice.

You need to know that astral projection is real. You should also know that you have astral projected already, you simply were not aware that is what had happened. Have you ever woken up from a dream either in the middle of the night or in the morning and remembered a dream that you had the night before really well. As if you had lived it. That was an astral projection.

It is very important to have confidence that you can astral project. This will ensure you have a better chance of being successful at having an astral projection experience.

Meditating and practicing relaxation techniques will also help you astral project. Meditating is actually an ideal way to prepare your mind and body for astral projection. All you have to do is find a meditative practice that you can follow easily and that you will be able to stick with.

All you have to do is get relaxed in your favorite chair at a time when you will have no distractions. Clear your head of everything that is flowing through it. Do not focus on any problems you are having. Center your thoughts on your breathing, breath slow and deep. Picture your problems and stresses flowing out with each breath. This is very effective in achieving the deep state of relaxation needed to astral project.

You then have to be reach an altered state of consciousness. You can simply continue to work on your breathing, your focus now is not going to be to get rid of the stresses, it is to truly focus on the way you are breathing, your head is clear. The breaths that you are taking should be deep, coming in through the nose and going out of the mouth. As your breathing is slowing and deepening you need to focus on your relaxing on your body.

Start with your toes, as they are the most remote part of your body. There are two ways to do this. You can simply tell each part of your body to relax or tense the muscles up first and then relax each part. Tell each part of your body to relax as you move up. Use the method that you are most comfortable with.

You will begin to feel heavy, as if all your energy and stress is going away as you relax each part of your body. You will notice when this happens. Once this occurs in your entire body, you are ready to move on to the next step in astral projection.

You may feel like sleeping at this time, you need to avoid this. Many recommend repeating a command such as 'I can fly, I can fly.' You can say anything you want, just try to come up with something that will keep you from slipping into sleep.

Your mind may want to drift off and cause thoughts to start flowing through it. You do not want this to happen. You need to keep your focus on a phrase to keep these thoughts out. You will have to end the session and start over if you lose your focus.

To reach the state of altered consciousness you can use the phrase you chose or another way. The body of light method involves picturing an area of light that you will change into. Picture the light in your mind and imagine yourself going into it and becoming a part of it.

When you begin to astral project three things will happen to let you know. You will have a feeling of movement. You will notice different colors and lights in front of you. Your eyes will be closed as you are still in your chair or bed. When you see the lights this is when you are passing into the astral zone. Voices will tell you to go on and encourage you or tell you to stop now as a warning. When you hear these voices, it means you have succeeded in astral projecting.