Thread: Question about astral projection. (changed surroundings)

Originally Posted by Nam3less One

. have ended in me mysteriously floating back to where my bedroom is located,... the place where I am sleeping,... as if, either theoretically or literally, my dream body is returning to my physical body.

Ok that's a bit bizarre because thats the exact same thing that happens to me.

When i have sleep paralysis and i manage to wriggle out of my body, i seem to always end up getting dragged back to my body by some unseen force. if i'm walk its pulling me, if im floating it drags me across the air and back into my own body.

Originally Posted by NameL3ss One

"What is your take on this phenomena? Is it all subconscious, or could it be a distorted OBE? Is there even a such thing as a 'distorted OBE', or am I just making that term up? ...
Thoughts? Comments? Ridicule?"

I have no idea really, it's probably just your subconscious in my opinion. But i have done quite a considerable amount of research on this phenomenon so i will try and tell you what other sources say.

Basically when you have an OOBE, you are either on this plane, i believe the ethereal plane or you are on another plane which looks almost exactly like this one except is sort of like an alice in wonderland type thing. Its essentially the same reality except because its on a different plane there are add ons, different features like doors that go nowhere, buildings where there were none previously. etc.

"Do you ever experience an 'alternate reality' form of OBEing? Or is distinguishing OBE not that simple?"

There are several different "astral planes" of reality when astral projecting. A list of the planes and descriptions can be found here: http://www.lucidcrossroads.co.uk/astral.htm#planes

It sounds like what you are experiencing to me is somewhere between either the lower astral plane or the middle astral plane. In our dream state, most of us enter a lower astral plane that may seem similar to our physical world.

In my personal experience, I have visited both of these planes, as well as higher planes. In one instance I can distinctly remember, my world was similar, but different. A more heavenly aspect of the Earth realm.
I will post an excerpt from one of my experiences for your personal reference:

I closed my eyes and I was then uplifted out of my body entirely and floating above the ground. At first it seemed as though I traveled into my roommate's room and over his bed. I then passed through his bedroom wall into our living room. (In reality, this wall faces another apartment.) My eyes were closed and everything was dark and I thought, "But, I want to see." My spirit guide said "then open your eyes." I figured that when I opened my eyes, I would return to the same spot as I was in my bed.

When I opened my eyes, I was in my living room which was seemingly the same except my front door was facing south rather than east (the direction it faces in reality). I almost felt as if I were a ghost or a spirit being with my sense of floating so I wasn't sure if I could pass through walls or not. I felt the door and the wall and pressed against it to make sure. I opened the door and the outside world was completely different from our reality.

I saw a neighbor, an old man, (not a neighbor in reality) he was upstairs and remember either wondering or asking my spirit guide if he could see me. I had the feeling he could not but still am not sure.

My clothes were different, I was wearing a nightgown-like dress instead of the pj's I normally wear. The outside was green and lush, and it had just recently rained. It was almost like a tropical rain forest where there was many exotic plants but few trees. The ground was also swampy but beautiful in the sense that lots of pretty plants grew on it, but it would not be traveling ground. (I live in the desert, just to side note the contrast of this experience from my reality.)

I continued floating above the beautiful landscape trying to flap my arms to go higher with no avail. I asked how I could go higher and I got an idea of pushing myself off of the ground and forcing myself higher. Since I often fly in my dreams, most of the time I have success with this method of flying, but this time and in my conscious state of mind, I would go higher but then slowly descend back down to my hovering place.

I then wondered where I could go in this new world. Although things were different in this new reality, they were very familiar, and much more beautiful. I then changed scenes and I was in Long Beach, near my old apartment on ocean blvd. I was still questioning if people could see me and how they would react to see that I was flying (floating). I wanted to fly higher than I was going and over the tops of buildings so I managed to push myself off of these buildings to get higher. I saw a girl that worked for the maintenance man of my old apartment in Long beach (not a person in reality). She seemed to look at me but didn't acknowledge that I was there and had an unfriendly aura about her so I moved on.

It was like someone asked me where I wanted to go and I responded "the beach" so we moved down the coast to Long Beach. I then said "not this beach." And it abruptly changed scenes to my favorite spot in laguna beach. I was alone watching the ocean and meditating in this beautiful place until I woke myself up.

I have several different theories developing about what happens when we astral project. One of the first ones I developed, is that we simply experience this phenomena of OOBE, and then go into a lucid dream state, entering one of the seven astral planes described above. However, the more that I experience this phenomena, and the more research I do about it, the closer I am to developing a theory that we are actually travelling through a wormhole to a different dimension or time. But, that is a whole other discussion.

Originally Posted by Soros

When i have sleep paralysis and i manage to wriggle out of my body, i seem to always end up getting dragged back to my body by some unseen force. if i'm walk its pulling me, if im floating it drags me across the air and back into my own body.

Its good to know that someone knows what I'm talking about. =)
Its hard to figure out which is subconscious and which is an OOBE sometimes. I'm sure we human beings OOBE more than we are aware, especially during deep REM sleep. ... Thats just a theory tho. *shrug*

Originally Posted by raquelalexis

There are several different "astral planes" of reality when astral projecting. A list of the planes and descriptions can be found here: http://www.lucidcrossroads.co.uk/astral.htm#planes

It sounds like what you are experiencing to me is somewhere between either the lower astral plane or the middle astral plane. In our dream state, most of us enter a lower astral plane that may seem similar to our physical world.

Interesting that you invoke the 7 Planes idea. Its a very Buddhist ideal. =)

I'm personally someone who likes to dig into understanding different ideals in spirituality/metaphysics. Its my estimation, from what I've learned personally, that planes are not really limited to 7 planes, just as chakras are not really limited to 7 chakras (as many theorize, there are a multitude of mid-to-lesser chakras in the human body.) I guess it all has to do with ones process of arrangement.

Your story is very interesting. Also,... good to know I'm not just 'waving my arms on some desert island hoping to attract attention of a nearby plane' as far as this topic is concerned. I feel it would be monumental to figure out, despite al the clutter of 'random surroundings', whether dreams like these are 'interplanar projections' or 'subconscious creations'. ... Dreaming is something I want to learn much more about. I believe it will unlock a perceptional understanding of things that I have been both logically and psychologically theorizing myself.

...

Originally Posted by raquelalexis

I have several different theories developing about what happens when we astral project. One of the first ones I developed, is that we simply experience this phenomena of OOBE, and then go into a lucid dream state, entering one of the seven astral planes described above. However, the more that I experience this phenomena, and the more research I do about it, the closer I am to developing a theory that we are actually travelling through a wormhole to a different dimension or time. But, that is a whole other discussion.

...

Wormhole? Dimension you say? =D
As someone who likes digging into metaphysics myself, I think I might have some interesting concepts to throw your way on this topic.

And in the interest of not derailing the thread, I'm going to add you to my AIM! ^_^