Many people complain of sleep paralysis, the technical term for what happens when we are consciously asleep. I've used some methods to overcome this "being" in the astral and to either wake myself up or to go astral. I'm still a beginner, so this technique is what has worked for me.

You are asleep, and find a presence pushing you down or frightening you. This is nothing to fear, but this force is powerful. I believe it could be some innate spiritual force that keeps us from attaining higher levels of consciousness, perhaps due to the psyche and ego's fear of the unknown. It will appear as separate from you, but it is also connected to you and there are ways of overcoming it.

Here are the methods: there is a fierce being that is preying on my energy, it is pushing me down and trying to keep me in a dormant sleeping state--unaware of its presence as it is aware that I see it. I rise up, and I begin to spin. This makes me more aware of my astral body. though the being seems to have ways around this, including grabbing me or rising above me. But I believe this step is necessary in situations, it is not always effective in waking you up if the experience is too intense, but can prolong the attack.

My second method was more successful. Stand, and perform a ritual of protection in the "astral" state. For me, I first visualized four squares for the four quarters of the universe--red-fire, green-earth, blue-water, and white-air. As I visualize the square, I command myself to ground. Then I am charged with energy, I find my fingers painting a star of shimmery light. Then I say, "I banish you in the name of: sacred names etc." In my case i used many names of spiritual masters and God. The white yellow light is painted, then I draw from the ground, and force the being to appear where I can banish it from me.
In that case, the shadow slowly came down from its height, yet was still there. Then it rose up in an oroborus, light, that looked like three snakes.

The snakes seemed to hiss with energy. I didn't get beyond this point. Yet, it seems one practice will build upon the other. Some things I've learned to do much more quickly in the astral, because you can tap into hidden knowledge that way.

Trying to integrate the shadow being is difficult, and I'm not sure how to define it. It's either an embedded part of us that we must learn to control, or something we need to shed. It may be related to the "shadow" Jung talks about, either way these techniques did work very well. I found the thing would attack me often when I tried to project, and drain me like a vampire for unknown reasons. Protecting myself was a better method then sitting around and being toyed with. I do think it's a more distinct aspect of both self, and universe.

My recent dream was the first in a long time where I encountered it after banishing it months ago. But, in this dream I was in a higher astral state. i found myself protected there, and the being could not harm me. It tried, very hard, and eventually I woke up.

I hope this helps people, let me know if you learn to astral project better with my method. It involves lots of work while sleeping, to consciously break through the paralysis barrier. It's safe as long as you are in control.