There are several ways to approach this.  Some people try to remain mentally alert while their body falls asleep.  They will narrow their thoughts down to just a thought about having a flying dream or something similar.  This method provided erratic results for me, although it did initiate my earliest "classic" projection.  I was using this method when I had my first conscious OBE where I was looking at my sleeping body in the bed.

The method that I prefer is an OBE initiated from within a lucid dream.  For those unfamiliar with the term, a lucid dream is a dream in which you take an active, thinking role.  Instead of floating through a dream, you will have a more natural movement, will think about your actions and interact with the people around you. I have even smelled and tasted things in my lucid dreams!

Start by paying attention to your dreams.  As you wake up in the morning fix your dream memories in your waking consciousness before you move or get out of bed.  This will help you to remember them so that you may write them down or record them.  

Reciting a short affirmation throughout the day and several times as you are falling asleep will help trigger your awareness that you are dreaming.  The affirmation does not have to rhyme or be anything fancy.  An appropriate one would be something like this:
 

• "I will remember my dreams"
• "I will mentally awaken in my dreams"
• "I will look at my hands"

Looking at the hands during a dream was a trick taught by Don Juan to Carlos Castaneda.  This will trigger the mind to realize it is dreaming without (hopefully) waking up.

At the point when you are successful at looking at your hands, it is time to change the affirmation a little.  The new one could be something like this:
 

• "I will astral project tonight"
• "I will return to my body with the memories of my projections"
• "These memories will stay with me in waking consciousness"

The trick to OBE through dream control is to have enough mental clarity to realize that you are dreaming and enough control to stay asleep physically.  This will come through experience and practice.

When you reach this point you are almost where you want to be.  The next exercise is to willfully change the dream that you are in.  Will yourself to go somewhere else such as a previous home or some other location that has special meaning to you.   

Sylvan Muldoon taught that once a lucid dream state was reached, you should try to induce a "flying" dream.  He believed that any dream that involved flying was a semi-conscious OBE.  

A third method has been suggested by several authors.  I almost hesitate to mention it because it has some problems of its own. It seems to be an overly complicated method to induce a projection.  The theory here is that when one reaches the lucid dream state the person should will himself back to his body and then consciously lift out of his body.  The first problem arises when the astral body is in close proximity to the physical body.  The natural tendency is for the astral body to be sucked back into the physical body.  At this point a person usually is so startled that he/she wakes up physically.

The second problem is that you have only so much energy to expend in your out of body travels. Why waste it trying to find the body that you were determined to leave behind?  I have tried this method and was never impressed with it.  Yes, it works but is way too complicated.  There are easier methods.

The concepts in this essay may seem to be overly simplistic.  They are.  The concepts in themselves are easy.  Most people fail due to a lack of commitment.  Most people are not natural projectors and give up after a few tries.  Keep with it and you will get results.

Happy traveling!