Can someone please help explain what I experienced. It wasn't a lucid dream - possibly an A.P.

[MistDragon]

After days upon days of no lucid dreams or even any signs of them I finally had "something" happen today. However it falls more under the "Astral Projection" category I suppose. I was out at the club late night, came home by 3 and was in bed by 4 am. Woke up around 11 then laid down to watch "Time Bandits" by Terry Gilliam and started to drift off. It was light out and as I closed my eye I noticed some major visualizations. I even opened my eyes up and saw them so I knew something was about to happen. My body started to vibrate and tingle slightly. Then I heard two sets of very odd noises. First I heard some voice in a deep tone say my name twice. Then I Heard a deep knocking sound and each time it happened the whole house felt like it was shaking. Again, recognizing these sounds for what they were I tried to calm myself down and focus on the vibrations. I could feel them build up in my body until I was almost taken over by them... but noises outside broke my concentration and like water flowing out of a funnel it slowly came to a stop. I was able to refocus and the vibrations built up and up and up until my entire body was engulfed and I felt like I was being pulled upward. I found myself in a world of technicolor light. Imagine a huge blank canvas around you with no definition just strong colors. I remember not knowing what to do. I also remember being slightly aware of my physical body. I felt like I was in another location but still lying down in bed at the same time. Control was not really there. It was definitely NOT a lucid dream. I believe this all took place in an "astral realm". I felt like a child trying to control it. I tried to manipulate it like a dream and create an environment but at first the best I could do felt like I was a child dragging a paint brush across the field. I then tried to focus on my body and remembered rolling, spinning, flying but again unlike a lucid dream, control was murky and I felt VERY limited in what I could actually do. I focused as hard as I could and I created a "mall" around me. Store fronts and people appeared. But it was as if it was all made out of the colored light I described above. I remember the people being of different ages but could not recall any specific features. I tried to engage one of them but I ended up waking myself up. I felt myself drain from that reality back into my body. I started again and soon found myself back in this realm. Accepting that I had limited control I left the world form itself around me. I remember being in a house, possibly a castle and then a war scene. But again nothing was normal in color. It was as if it was made out of that strange colored light. I felt like a foreigner in a strange land. I don't think I actually "moved" my astral body at all the entire time. I think the environment just shifted around me. I drifted in and out a few times then by 2 pm I woke up and stopped the process. I have literally no idea what I experienced so I am going to post this in the forums to see if anyone can help explain what happened

[Graves]

I don't think you should class ''no control'' as ''not a lucid'' as control plays no part in whether it's a dream or not. I've had my fair share of lucid dreams where I haven't been able to control it in the slightest.

[MistDragon]

The "no control" aspect was not the main factor in my feeling this wasn't a lucid dream. When I lucid dream it is ALWAYS in a real world setting. This took place in a technicolor field of light. I have never experienced this before. In my lucid dreams I have various amounts of control. But when I am as aware as I have described above I am able to attain control and manipulate my environments and abilities with relative ease. This was like being in two places at once. I was almost always aware to some degree of my body in bed while I was in another place at the same time. I believe this took place on an Astral Realm because of the environment. I remember not having any idea what to do... at all. It was like a multicolored blank slate as I stated. The only thing I could think to do was manipulate the colors like a child would with a paint brush at first. It wasn't until I stopped really trying to manipulate it that things started to take shape on their own but even then it wasn't "REAL" looking. It was multicolored and obviously a "copy" of a "real" world object made out of the environment I described.

[Graves]

This was like being in two places at once. I was almost always aware to some degree of my body in bed while I was in another place at the same time. Regardless of whether it was a lucid or ''astral'' experience, isn't that a bad thing? I've done my fair share of research into both fields and in neither are you supposed to hold on to the physical world while experiencing whatever it is - perhaps this explains your inability to control things. It just sounds like being half awake/half dreaming; simultaneous experience of both realities, and could potentially serve as a hindrance to other elements of such. Before you pass me off as a non-believer, I don't doubt that astral projection is possible, I just see no reason to believe that what people are experiencing isn't just strange lucid dreams. I've had a few ''projections'' in my time, but all of which were dreams when analysed out of the box. I believe this took place on an Astral Realm because of the environment. I remember not having any idea what to do... at all. It was like a multicolored blank slate as I stated. The only thing I could think to do was manipulate the colors like a child would with a paint brush at first. It wasn't until I stopped really trying to manipulate it that things started to take shape on their own but even then it wasn't "REAL" looking. It was multicolored and obviously a "copy" of a "real" world object made out of the environment I described. How does that suggest things being a ''copy''? I'm confused. Also, in regard to the title change, if you're absolutely sure it's not a lucid dream, but you're not sure if it's an A.P, what does that leave if it's not a projection?

[MistDragon]

Title change? I don't know what you mean by that. By copy I mean imagine a house but instead of stone or wood it was made of a colored light. It was as if the light was trying to mimic reality because I was trying to give it shape. So the best it could do was to create the images out of the light. People places and things did not appear "real" they appeared like shapes of colored light. Again I interpret this as my own mind trying to create a world that I know but using this base material as material. I think this is what happened because I remember trying to create a reality out of it. I don't know what I experienced, that is why I am asking people for their suggestions or experiences.

[Graves]

Ah, it must be my eyes playing tricks on me. ''Also, in regard to the title''* then. It still sounds like a dream-world to me. The astral plane is supposedly real-world places in a reality which isn't real-world, per se. Surely it would all be laid out for you in all its splendour because it wouldn't need to try to form? - it's already there, people only gain entry into it. In dreams, the world must form beforehand, and it sounds like you were caught up in that formation or something along those lines (which, again, could explain your inability to control things), only this time it was fairly whacked up (for lack of a better phrase).

[Din]

I did a bit of research into AP for the past couple years or so. I would say that it'd fall into that category. Astral Projection isn't necessarily entry into a world, but rather, the sensation of the separation of consciousness from the body. Your experience runs many parallels with these experiences. That is - vibrations, the sensation of leaving the body, and the creation of matter from focus. I've read similar experiences where the subject has entered a sort of "training space", and is able to create objects from their mind. (One person in particular summoned a few family members.) It sounds like Astral Projection. Is Astral Projection actually Astral Projection? I don't know, and I don't intend to get involved in that debate. But, it does happen. And it sounds like that might be the case with your experience.

[MistDragon]

@Din In the past I have had similar experiences but been "too afraid" to actually let the feeling continue to the point where I felt lifted out of my body. A pretty bad mental block. So I have been waiting to re-experience this for a while now. I have done very light research on the subject and it did seem to me that it could have taken place in an "astral realm" vs a dream space. I do believe there is a strong link between A.P. and L.D. and think that they may even take place in the same "space". I think that possibly the difference is the entry method. What I think I experienced is similar to what some people experience through certain types of drug use however I was in control of my self, not the drug as I was not on anything. It is interesting to see you use the term "training space" because I was reminded of being in a "sandbox" mode of a game without any boundaries or rules. Since it was my first time in this state I had no idea how to even manipulate things so I was like a child. I am a painter so my instincts told to try to manipulate the colors like with a paint brush. It was by far the strangest experience I have ever had.