Lucid dreaming and astral projection same thing?

[Midnite]

I know there is already a thread on this topic but I really wanted to make my own.. So after seeing the movie Insidious I was really interested about astral projection. I started to practice after looking up different methods online. I would lay on my bed perfectly still on my back, no moving, swollowing or thinking. Then when I felt heavy vibrations and my heart beating rapidly I would imagine my hands reaching out infront of me, pulling myself up on a rope. This would eventually lift my 'astral body' out of my physical body. I got up out bed and I was amazed. I saw myself sound asleep. Everything looked so real. I went out into the lounge room and saw my mum on the couch watching T.V and soon enough I thought about my body and I was sucked back into it. Anyway, not long after I had my astral projection experience I discovered lucid dreaming. I read about the techniques and saw WILD. I was confused when I read about WILD because all the techniques about basicly the same as astral projecting. The only thing I noticed different was I imagined pulling on a rope but with the WILD technique you are supposed to imagine your dream scene. So are lucid dreaming and astral projection the same thing?? I always thought that lucid dreaming is a vivid dream that you can control, all made up of your imagination. And AP is actually your soul leaving your physical body and exploring and flying around the REAL world. Or is it real? When I projected and came out into the lounge and saw my mum on the couch, was that real? Or was that my imagination because I knew she was there before I projected? As you can probably tell, I'm very confused and want this cleared up. I know I'm not the best writer so sorry if the post is difficult to understand in any way. Thanks for reading.

[smouse]

Ya When I Wild I kind of also refer to it as OBE (out of body experience) because its so different and unbelievable. But I dont really believe in all the astral projection stuff, like demons and angels that actually exist in another realm, thats kind of ridiculous to me. But I've had WILDs where I look at my bed and see myself lying there and everything around me is so real and I can talk to my family memebers and its insane. But its just lucid dreaming in my opinion, the mind is just that good at reproducing things from memories and the imagination in such a life like way.

[Midnite]

*bump*

[Empedocles]

I know there is already a thread on this topic but I really wanted to make my own.. Well, there is not only one thread on this topic, but actually hundreds of threads. A quick forum search would have helped you, but you already said you "really wanted to make your own." It's kind of annoying to see the same kinds of threads over and over again, making it seem as if this board isn't moderated at all. They are the same questions over and over again. "How do I find my Dream Guide?" "Is Dream Sharing possible?" "Was this SP?" "Is AP the same as LD?" etc. I mean DV is great, but it needs to be better moderated, no doubt about it. To answer your question: I believe AP is something different than LD, but also strongly believe that 95% of cases where people think they are having AP, they are actually having LD. Then again, there might be no AP at all, but it's difficult to prove/disprove, seeing how it's next to impossible to do a study on it. If you think you're in AP, do a simple reality test: Find a digital look, remember the time, look away, look back. Voila, if the numbers change, you are most definitely in a lucid dream. Jakob

[sanctispiritus]

I agree 100% with you. Y have had just 4 or 5 of those dreams. They are not exactly like yours. I have never seen my self in bed. In my case , my body levitates for a while and then I stand on the floor, I leve my room and every thing looks almost the same, the living room, the kitchen the garage etc. Outside is a different story. The sky is deep blue and the trees have red leaves.