Roadblock to relaxation

[Vire70]

I just started trying to do OBE's again. I got into the subject a few years back but never had any particular luck with it and eventually got bored and disappointed so I forgot about it.

Anyway, I find I'm having more or less the same issue that I had in the past. When I do the numerous 'deep breathing' exercises, my body starts to relax, and then I get this peculiar sensation that spreads mostly across my limbs (especially hands-to-elbow) and along my face/neck after awhile. It's almost like a sort of subtle, pleasant electricity (although a little unpleasant when it becomes too intense), and I find the longer I do the breathing exercises the more intense it gets, until I eventually plateau at some point where my body is half numb and tingling like crazy.

The most significant problem with it, is that it makes relaxing my body seem impossible. I say this because even though my hands and feet begin to become numb (although I've also noticed, hypersensitive if I touch things while they're tingling), they also seem to involuntarily tense up. I was doing it the other day and found my hands curling up until they both wound up in a sort of bizarre tensed claw posture. And I could barely move my fingers or toes, not with any decent coordination.

I did have a new experience with the whole tingling thing yesterday though. I had as part of the exercise I'd been doing, focusing on my fingers (no idea if that's what caused it). And after I got fed up with no progress lying in bed, I got up and walked into the kitchen. Then I noticed, asides form the usual hypersensitivity, I could also like... 'feel' something across all the tips of my fingers on both hands. It actually felt almost exactly like when you try to push two magnets that are repelling one another together. I could almost imagine it as being very strange feeling fingertips pressing against my own. And it shifted as I moved them. Very, very weird sensation.

Alongside this I noted (on the same occasion as the above effect ^) that with my eyes closed, in a completely dark room I could somehow see (with my eyes closed) flickering white light, or bursts of it. This seemed to coincide and dissipate alongside the tingling.

Anyway, I'd appreciate some advice on this. I haven't seen these things (tenseness/finger tip thing) really mentioned in obe/relaxation exercises, and I don't really understand how to bypass this (or even if I should)
I'm also feeling a bit despondent about the entire thing, because I've never had sleep paralysis, OBEs, etc. I did manage to have a few lucid dreams last time I was attempting this, but never anything beyond that.

[CFTraveler]

Hi, Vire.
What I would recommend is that when you're at the point in which relaxation exercises are causing hyperawareness of body sensations (which is what I think is going on here) instead of continuing with the same type of exercises move to a type of exercise which promotes relaxation but doesn't involve the body itself: Possibly visualizations with breathing, or other things I'm going to try to list (if I can remember them.)
1. Chakra breathing- On the inbreath imagine there is a hole in your crown, and the air is coming in through it. On the exhale imagine the air has traveled through the middle and is coming out of an imaginary hole where your brow is (third eye chakra). Repeat the head-inbreath thing and go down your body on the outbreath, in this order: throat, heart, solar plexus, groin, bottom of feet (heels). This is just for starters.
2. Balloon breathing: Imagine you are breathing in pure white light. On the exhale imagine you are breathing out darkness. Do this a few times until you get bored of it.
3. Imagine you are walking along a path in the woods. Just look around the imaginary woods as you walk, do it slowly, taking in the scene. If you want to, imagine the path becoming just slightly higher. You can take this as far as you'd like, nothing is 'wrong'. I usually like to end up in the top of a mountain, for example. Have fun with it.
4. Color watching. (I "invented" this one, and doesn't work for everyone). Do basic breathing with your eyes closed. Observe the color of the space in front of your eyes. (Most of the time during the day you'll see a color that's pinkish, not unlike what happens to playdough when you mix all the colors.) Observe the color blobs in front of your eyes. At night it may start out black, but you will soon see color here and there, due to the retinal cells firing due to the lack of light. If so, just observe the color blobs.
Soon you will realize that the pink/gray/or whatever you see is a mixture of tiny pixels of different colors- now the fun begins. Start by trying to see red. This is (for me) the hardest color to pay attention to, but if you started with pink you can 'find' the red pixels and try to turn the blob to that color. Once you've succeeded move on to the next one in order: orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Violet or purple are usually easy, you might find. If one color doesn't want to manifest, don't sweat it, move on to the next.
5-If you find yourself tensing up, go back to progressive muscle relaxation, and when you're done, go back to a more mind-centric exercise when you're done, and don't worry about anything relating your body.
6. Noticing. I leave this for last, for when I'm almost ready to go. Usually you just observe the space in front of your eyes (like in the previous one) but you don't try to 'see' anything, just observe. This can be uber-boring, so I like to listen to my earhiss at the same time. I find that dividing my attention keeps me busy enough and eventually the listening resolves the hiss into discrete sounds. When this happens I know my mind is synching with my brain as it goes down to theta, and I'm closer to the stage for a successful exit attempt.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

[Vire70]

Thanks for the response, I'll give those a try.

[EDIT]
I should have asked this before perhaps, but can anyone elaborate on just what the 'tingling' sensations are? I've read about the chakra's and energy building and such, and the sensations I get are exactly like what I'd imagine that would feel like - so is that it? I'm currently reading "Part 4 - Basic Energy Work (The Major Chakra's)" on the main site and it mentions (regarding Energy Raising)
" With practise, you will actually FEEL this energy tingling and surging through you."

Is that what is happening with my description in the OP? I've noticed that getting that .. 'energy' feel is easier than it used to be as well. I can now feel it, subtly, even when I'm perfectly alert and just taking a single deep breathe.