Maintaining attention and high-pitched noise

[Ascendant]

There are a couple issues that I'd like to ask questions about.

The first one is this noise I heard as I was doing the reverse rope exit technique. At the time I had almost fallen asleep, when this noise--which was not a physical noise, but rather heard only in my head--caught my attention. It's hard to describe. It sounded like "vaSHING..." except much higher pitched. It was more of a tone than a sound. Any ideas on what this might have been?

The second question I have is about maintaining concentration while doing an exit technique for 20 minutes. Sometimes nothing will happen at all for a long time, so I'll quit 5-10 minutes before I'm supposed to. Climbing a rope in your head for 20 minutes can get pretty dang boring. Does anyone have any tips for maintaining interest, concentration, or focus on the techniques?

[CFTraveler]

I've heard all kinds of astral noises- screeches, mechanincal noises like a radio, voices, explosions, pops, and the famous chainsaw (only upon exit), whoosh, but no va-shing. Hmm.

I don't know about you, but I don't even start to do an exit technique until I feel 'loose' and 'floaty'. But that's just me. If I'm not still there I just sit and look at the pictures in front of my eyes. Then, if I'm floaty I'll move on to try to exit. But if I do it before I feel it, then it's just a waste of my time.
HOWEVER, everybody's different and different things work for different people.

[BriMercer]

Excellent advice, CFTraveler.

Key for a successful OBE exit is to master that mind awake/body asleep state. That can be a tall order and it's not always that exciting. Regular meditation practice using slight discomfort is helpful in this regard, even if you only practice five or ten minutes a day.

[Beekeeper]

It's okay to vary exit techniques too.