Answer:
I started astral projecting when I was 15 years old after trying for almost 3 years. Once I got the hang of it, I was projecting 3-4 times per week – sometimes because I wanted to and sometimes because something was pulling me.

I continued to have frequent projection experiences until I was in college. At that time, I really tried to shut down my paranormal abilities, including astral projection, because I was tired of defending myself and being attacked, and because I was more engaged with the “real world” and trying to study and get my psychology degree.

I’m now in my 40′s and I’d say I consciously astral project maybe 6 times a year, and 1-2 times per year I’ll have a nasty encounter with an astral entity who thinks it’s fun to yank me out of my body by my ankles.

I have found that it’s more difficult for me to consciously project now. If I had to do it on command, I may only have a 20-30% chance of success. Compare that to when I was 15 when I had a 90-100% chance of being able to astral project.

I do think the older you are, the less likely you are to project. But I don’t know if that has something to do with age, or if it’s because adults have less free space in their minds than teenagers do. In other words, I go to bed thinking about my business, my kids, my finances, my health, etc. When I was a teenager, I didn’t have as many responsibilities cluttering my mind.

If you are just starting out and you are not a teenager, I do think it’s going to be more difficult to get started. I am not sure why, but from the emails I get, that does seem to be the case. Teenagers seem to be able to learn astral projection and have more control over it than people who are older.

I wouldn’t give up though. If you want to have an out of body experience, your best bet is through sleep paralysis or lucid dreaming. I’ve got a bunch of articles on astral projection, sleep, and dreams that you can browse through here:

Astral Projection, Sleep, and Dreams

Good luck!

Answer: There’s a huge irony here. I get tons of emails from people who want to project and can’t, and emails from people who don’t want to but keep finding themselves accidentally doing it. If only the twain could meet.

To prevent astral projection you pretty much need to do the opposite of what you’d have to do to bring one on.

Don’t sleep on your back
The most common position where a spontaneous astral projection takes place is while on your back. Take great pains to sleep on your side, or your stomach (even better!). You can train yourself not to sleep on your back with practice, just as you can train yourself to sleep on your back or sleep upright if you wanted or needed to. Of course it is possible to astral project when you sleep on your side, but it’s more rare so you stand a better chance if you can stay on your side.

Don’t take a nap
I certainly don’t understand the science behind this one, but it’s easier to astral project during short naps than long nights of sleep. So if you want to avoid a spontaneous and unwanted projection, don’t take a midday nap.

Sleep through the night
Likewise, people trying to learn astral projection are often taught to wake themselves up at 4am, stay up for 30 minutes, then go back to sleep. This can lead to lucid dreaming and/or astral experiences. So if you’re trying to avoid an astral experience, don’t go back to sleep an hour after you wake up.

Don’t meditate before bed
Another way to increase your chances of astral projection is to meditate, raise your vibration, and ask your guides for help. So to avoid this, don’t meditate right before bed. If you love meditation, switch to the morning or the daytime. When you meditate before bed, you will raise your vibration and make it that much easier to project.

Ask your angels for help
When you want to project, you can ask your angels to help protect you when you go out. Likewise, if you want to stay in for the evening, ask your angels to keep the door closed and to stand guard. Sometimes the spontaneous astral projections happen because there is indeed an energy waiting to interact with you, so it sort of throws open the door and invites you in.

Be ready to pull back
If you are unable to prevent the astral projection from starting, at least be ready to slam the door closed when it happens. If you wake up on your back, tingling, high-pitched whine going, and something “untoward” breathing down your neck you must act fast. Normally, to project from this state you would raise your vibration (to move out of phase with the baddie), and then stretch out or pop out of your body.

If you’re trying to prevent an astral experience though, you have to pull your energy in tight. You don’t want to lower your vibration because that will just make you an easier energy snack for the low vibrational being. Ask your guides to protect you, and ask your angels to escort the baddie off the premises. Pull your chakra energy in tight instead of opening it up. Try to move your physical body. You’ll probably be paralyzed, but keep trying. Try to use your vocal cords to scream. It may come out as a whimper, but that’s enough. If you have a partner in bed with you, they might hear the whimper and wake you up.

You’ve got to stay confident and strong and bring your will to bear on the situation so you can stay in your body and not get pulled. Do not succumb to fear or you can find yourself being pulled out of your body unwillingly. Sleep paralysis can be frightening, but it usually only lasts seconds to a couple of minutes. You will break free. When you do, immediately sit up, turn on the light, and raise your vibration.

If you find yourself repeatedly having these unwanted astral experiences you might want to get on top of them and learn how to astral project safely, then go out and have some fun experiences. There might be a reason you’re having these experiences. Perhaps your guides want to show you something.