Last night I had my first conscious astral projection. I was not able to stay conscious for long, but I am so happy that my efforts were rewarded. This is how it happened:

Before falling asleep, I told myself that I would consciously project that night. Well, I ended up falling asleep at 9pm because I was really tired. I woke up on my own at around 1:30. I was wide awake, so decided I would give it a try. I was able to fully relax my body and get a partial separation with symptoms. But, an extremely chattering mind would not let me free of my body. I could not clear my mind of stupid songs. They would just get really loud with me singing them, in particular "What I Like About You" by the Romantics & "Into the Night" by Benny Mardones. When I would quiet one song, the other one would start. What I finally ended up doing was imagining myself saying SHHHHHH and then just trying to see the light patterns behind my eyes. Well, that worked to put me to sleep for about 45 minutes, then I woke up around 2:15 or 2:30 and did the same thing. Same thing happened and I woke up again at 4:44. Same thing happened, so I gave up, rolled over onto my stomach and fell asleep. Exit symptoms woke me up and I stayed calm and told myself to go out. I managed to get out, but I "flopped" over and landed on my stomach at the foot of my bed and my arm flopped over my head. I was so, so weak and I remember being back in my body. I was too tired to try again, so I just turned on my side. Then I woke up with exit symptoms again on my side and this time managed to get out and walk around my room. It was dark so I said "Light" and the room lit up very bright, but instantly I was back in my body and I opened my eyes. I remembered not to move though, and exited again almost immediately and walked to my bathroom and look at myself in the mirror, then it turned into a semi-lucid dream after that. I knew I was dreaming, but I did some silly things. I knew it was silly and I didn't like some of the things I was doing and I got bored and it all ended.

I think I tried too hard and I was exhausted by the time I got out of my body. I had a partial separation for hours and was trying to force my concentration. I think it was a good exercise though and I will only get better at quieting my mind.