[tacone]

Interesting! I'll try to keep this as short as I can since I am writing on the phone, but I came up with another technique which I used with success a few times, and it's similar to yours in a way.

I should point out I think out of body experiences are controlled dreams and what I achieved was a regular lucid dream, didn't even had the illusion of me lying on the bed, I just were somewhere else.

The technique is this, also great for relaxing, since it does not focus on trying to relax

Instead of focusing on your ears, focus on your eyes. Close your eyes but keep staring through your closed eye lids. When you do, you usually see some optical illusion moving , I guess that happens to everyone. Keep staring and try to make those things into some image (a glass, a table, a mountain, etc). If you may briefly have a real vision of that. Depending on how much you have gotten good with it, it may last a fraction of second or you may start a mostly controlled dream.

Works best when you're tired or just woken up (depends on how you wake up though).