Tips to achieve Astral projection:
Firstly for about 3 weeks you will want to practice dream recall; Keep a notebook and a pen beside your bed. When you are just about to fall asleep at night use a simple mantra for example chant "I will wake up after every dream, and I will remember every dream in full detail" about 30x or until you drift off, this should be the only thing on your mind when you begin to nod. It takes a few nights to discipline your mind into this habit but you should wake up about 25 - 40 times if done properly and write every dream in full detail. You will not recall waking up through the night until you read your notes in the morning and you feel well rested provided that you were dreaming for 7 hours or so.
Next step is something that I picked up from a documentary and it actually works, every time I walk through I door I tough the frame and ask myself if I am dreaming, sometimes you are, you will be surprised with the results.
You will begin to notice the differences between dreams, the dreams that are in full color are the dreams you can control, and the dreams in dull colors or black, white, gray, and brown are dreams about the past. These dreams you have no control over at all.
Once your brain is trained to notice dreams and not wake up then you have a better shot at astral projection.
My favorite way to do astral projection is to lay in bed on a quiet dark night and stare at my ceiling. While staring at the ceiling try to imagine your own body staring back at you, his back against the ceiling as yours is on the bed. You will find it hard to create a mirror image of yourself, but you start to feel tired and almost enter a trance like state, and suddenly your self image gets more vivid. I never notice the switch over but eventually I end up looking down at myself on the bed from the ceiling. (not sure if I am asleep or awake during this time) Then I see an energy force or spirit (extremely hard to describe) sit up out of my sleeping corpse and then my vision merges with this spirit and I am free to roam the astral planes.
Some people have told me that I have brain washed myself to believe a lot of bullshit and achieved success through a creative mind, but I have explained this to my ex girlfriend's family who belong to a Pagen religion and they swear to it that I am talking about the real-deal, these are the same people who do summoning rituals and protection spells, and claim to be protectors of the astral realm.