Hey Dazzle
When I first heard about Astral experiences and OOBEs, I was amazed by the concept and everything etc etc etc… But as with most issues today, including lucid dreaming, people try to make it so rigid and complicated . In reality, it’s all very simple.
A dream is an ‘astral projection’. In reality, there’s no differentiation.
There’s only OOBEs or anything else you wanna call them.
An OOBE is an experience where you are not using your physical body in the experiential process. So a dream, an AP, or an ‘OOBE’ all conclude to this definition.
(Again, There’s no real ‘definition’ yet, I’m just making it MUCH more simple and LOGICAL then most people do)
Now, let me give you an example, the other day, I had a dream, and two friends of mine, a couple, started shouting at me about their relationship. I was mediating between them to form a conversation… Now, obviously (to me) , what happened was, we were all out of our bodies together, and they just, sine they both know me, started to channel their anger towards each other through me. They fell asleep after having this big fight…
Anyway, what I’m getting to here is, was this a dream ? An AP ? An OOBE ?
People will try to define everything like a physical structure but it just doesn’t work this way. You can’t give it a definite name because it’s not a definite experience.
Mark these words…
Reality is Virtual
It’s fairly simple, when you don’t have your physical body (physical receptors), your experience is determined directly by your mental activity .
Any OOBE is somewhere on this scale.
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Dreams tend to exist towards the left side of the spectrum since you’re entering them from a subconscious state. When you leave your physical body, it tends to fluctuate towards the right side of the spectrum since you’re using dramatically less of your subconscious mind.
However, usually, dreams & Aps, are somewhere in between. In dreams, often people who are talking to you are real people, or you’re maybe visiting a real place.
In APs, often things aren’t ‘real’ and they’re just your creation. Which leads people to all sorts of crazy and confusing conclusions.
When you have perfect mental control, you can consciously move on that spectrum. It’s like giving the environment fuel or just observing in it.
You’ll have to just start experiencing it regularly and consciously to understand.
About which techniques to use, generally speaking, it’s a muscle that you have to build. Do some energy work, move energy through your body, practice relaxing your body, and clearing your mind.
Get some brainwave entrainment CDs that work in the Theta range and listen to them often.
When your energy is running smoothly, and you can easily relax your body, you will be able to consciously project easily. If you want to have objective experiences, master your mind as well.
when you get to this stage, it’s really just about lying down, relaxing and going wherever you please.
Emphasis on GOING wherever you please. People try to relax, then try to do all sorts of things, these are all preparations, you will have to just GO somewhere.
You can also easily astral project within a lucid dream. Has any body ever experienced Astral Projection?? if so, I would love to hear about it! 
Also, if you have never heard about it and find AP intresting and would like to try it. Feel free to tell me what you know and techniques you find effective. 
