Thread: strange OBE

I'm confused too, were you dreaming or awake?

I was having a regular dream

But then it seems like you were just experiencing SP (Sleep paralysis) which is basically just when you're body is going IN to sleep not when you already are asleep.

I was asleep when the tingling started happening. This tingling is what interrupted the dream. I wasn't thinking about being paralyzed, I just felt a very strong tingling all over the body, just before I found myself floating over my body. I was in a state of semi-sleep when all of this happened, because it was in the middle of the night, but it wasn't a dream.

Ohhhh, ok that's a classic state or REM.
You wake up in the middle of the night and are paralysed because your body hasn't woken up yet.
When this happens you hallucinate visually and audibly. People report seeing aliens and devils and 'the old hag'. Plus some hear sounds.

Icy Rose, what a gloomy nick, but beautiful.

Originally Posted by icyrose

I've never had an OBE, which is why I'm confused about what happened, and not sure how to classify it. Basically, I was having a regular dream, nothing particular, when, suddenly, my head started tingling. The tingling and vibrations became very strong, until they spread to my entire body.

I'm glad to bring you good news: it looks like you have a tendency towards OBEs!
It's very good to have an OBE from inside of a dream, and the best thing about it is that it's a perfect "reality check": once you start feeling these sensations associated with OBEs, you'll know that you're asleep. Such OBEs are spontaneous, that means you've got great chances at having lots of lucidity, without even worrying about how to attain it!

I found myself surrounded by these strange black masses, almost amoeba-like in shape, which seemed to be drifting and moving about in the room. I closed my eyes immediately, and thus drifted back in the body.

In the beginning of OBE you can expect anything, but don't worry and wait, all possible scary or bad effects will go away pretty soon. You can see whatever images or even feel pain, anything may happen during a transition. These effects are unpredictable. Good luck!

A tendency towards OBE's? From one experience?
Cummon man. I mean I don't care if you believe in these things but you can't just say something like that.
I believe in OBE's but probably in a different way. I see it as basically a WILD. I mean when I look at the similarities it's really not possible to tell them apart.

I'm surprised that you are so indignant. Is it really so bad if Icy Rose has some natural easiness towards lucid dreaming?

OBE is different in the very "sensual" way that it starts, in anything else it's like any other lucid dream. When it starts in the way described by the topic-starter it's spontaneous, and this is rather rare to encounter from what I've seen. Most people tend to WILD or attain lucidity inside of a dream, not to attain it as a by-product of OBE-sensations. Icy Rose is lucky.

If this happened once, there was a serious enough reason for it, which is unknown. It looks like Icy Rose has an inclination towards it, and it's very likely that more will happen later.

Actually it happens quite often, if you research it you will find thousands, if not more, stories about people who have had SP. The type of SP that you wake up with. It's when your mind wakes up all the way but your body hasn't yet. These people don't have them all the time just because they had them once, it's quite natural for people to only have one during a life time.

It doesn't mean it's an OBE (in the sense that you are traveling out of your body) and yes you can gain lucidity because your body is already asleep (which is what you try to do during a WILD) so it's easier to go back to a dream straight away.

EDIT: And I definitely did NOT say it was a bad thing that he could 'have a natural easiness towards lucid dreaming'. I'm just saying it's not an OBE.

Originally Posted by tommo

It doesn't mean it's an OBE (in the sense that you are traveling out of your body)

I hoped that I made it clear that I don't think so either. It's comfortable to call a dream with a sensual entry an OBE, though. WILDs are different in that sense.

and yes you can gain lucidity because your body is already asleep (which is what you try to do during a WILD) so it's easier to go back to a dream straight away.

That's the point of misunderstanding. Icy Rose became lucid not after going into SP, but upon feeling distinct sensations while still being inside of the original dream. This is a "spontaneous" OBE, not caused by your own self after experiencing SP or waking up, but happening on its own, right in the midst of a normal dream.

My own statistics and observations lead me to believe that a tendency towards OBE-like dream-entry is more rare in general, and that if a person has an in-dream one, then it means that this tendency is strong, and they will tend to have this kind of experiences often.

While they're interested in lucid dreaming, of course. Nobody says that such things happen completely on their own, it's just a preferred way of a particular person's subconscious to attain lucidity.

Hey Icyrose, I have a question for you: What did your body look like when you were flotting above your real body? I had a similar experience and when I was flotting I looked at my body and I was made of some sort of filamentous, red, orange, yellow light that looked alive. Hard to describe. I want to compare our experience.

That's the problem...once I tried to open my eyes, and saw those shapes, I got really scared, and drifted right back. I didn't have time to look at my body. But, if Arutad is right, and it is likely to happen again, I will definitely try to control it better, and look at my body. What did it feel like for you?

That's the point of misunderstanding. Icy Rose became lucid not after going into SP, but upon feeling distinct sensations while still being inside of the original dream.

Yes, I agree with you...that's why I don't think it was sleep paralysis. I didn't even feel paralyzed, I didn't even try to move, it was all rather sudden. And you're right, it's just as you described.
I was conscious of being asleep when it happened, and then throughout the whole experience, I was thinking quite clearly and rationally, trying to somehow classify it.

Ahhhh, ok I thought you woke up and felt this. Thanx for clarifying both of you.

Arutad what are your statistic. Could you show them to me. I'm curious.

I didn't do a "scientific research". I observed people, talked to various lucid dreamers, read LD-forums.

Maybe you want to read journey out of the body from Robert A. Monroe.

You would definitely have to be open minded to read it, since he says that he actually went out of his body, knowing things he otherwise couldn't have. But he did research with 500 OBEs over 12 years and also interpreted them as what he believes they (and these altered universes) are and mean.

Your experiences do remind me of a part in the book. He floats out of his body and gets attacked in his room, while being in his "second body", but also being able to see his physical body. He needs a lot of tries, because he also always gets scared and escapes back into his body. After a while he cries out for help and recieves it by someone he has met before.

I am only half way through and just got to that part. But your experiences with your OBE sound also very similar to what Monroe is describing, escpecially the vibrations and sensations. Like I said, be open minded, maybe something in there can help you understand or deal with it better. I never had, or can remember anything like that, so I basically have no idea of wether or not is possible. Not ruling anything out though, either.

:-)

(I can post what he thought about these "things" when I continued reading)

Originally Posted by dajo

You would definitely have to be open minded to read it, since he says that he actually went out of his body, knowing things he otherwise couldn't have.

You'd have to be *extremely* open-minded, as he also describes in some of his later books how he met God in his OBEs

One of my LDing friends was a big Monroe's fan until he read about it. That was too much for him.

With Icy Rose's troubles she'd better not read it yet, I think, Monroe treated all the things as "real" without any foundation. Not a good read for somebody who has OBE-fears. As far as I remember, Monroe even believed that he knew the date of his death.

Sorry if that sounded bad, after all, you're reading Monroe now. He wrote great inspirational books anyway, and thanx to him for that, may he rest in peace.