I have also felt disoriented some days after obe, especially nights when I have multiple series of vibes with or without projecting. I think we become slightly out of phase between our astral and physical selves and probably running helps to ground us back in the body.

I had somewhat different experience recently so I thought I would post it. I found myself out near my bed but not really able to move much. Was able to pull myself through the wall and was still slugish so I thought maybe I would sit and meditate. I started to repeat a buddhist mantra I use but I just kept moving slowly. Now usually I find myself flying through the trees around my house, I suppose I have some fear about the obe state so maybe that is why I don't just stand around. Anyway I walked a while turned around and walked back toward my house still doing the mantra and had to get all the way back to my house to to get back in my body and wake up. When i woke i found that one arm was mostly asleep. Now usually when i have a slight bodily discomfort i have the sensation in the obe state and usually go back to my body quickly. Does anyone have comments about:

 Doing meditation while obe? Could this have brought me deep into the obe state? I noticed that usually while obe I have no mental chatter, I remember some people reccomend keeping some mental dialog going for focus. I wonder about using something between chatter and just repeating a mantra? Maybe a focusing routine?

Also echoes by Pink Floyd:
Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stares and
Something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can
And no one calls us to the land
And no one crosses there alive
And no one speaks
And no one tries
And no one flies around the sun

And now this is the day you fall
Upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Comes streamin in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide

awareness, practice and more awareness.

I have found that trying to have projections(I use the sleep interuption technique) increases lucid dreams and long epic-type dreams. The only weird thing is that I have so many dreams of astral projections that it gets hard to sort out real ones from dreams-I guess that is why they are connected, at least in some people's opinions.

even scary situations can be delt with when/if they arise.

Not to scare you, but scary things can happen but you need to keep awareness in mind that you can either try to deal with the situation when it arises, or you can just put your awareness back into your body and wake up.

Is it just your psyhic connection?

M-band, that was what I was thinking about. I guess it is time to re-read his books!

I have had obe/dream experiences after hearing/reading about them so I think that just focusing on them for a minute during the day can set us up for them. Remember- an adversion is a focusing on the thing also, even though we think not.

Sounds a little like Robert Monroe? I know there is a lot of mention of focus levels here but didn't he also talk about rings around the earth of different vibratory rates?

back to the original question, what if you look at it as not so much as using energy as getting into a deep enough trance to be able to access other more energetic(to us) realms?
As for myself I find that obe's usually come in bunches, rather than after acquiring a certain amount of "energy"

I think you had a significant obe experience- I have had similar elements in some of mine which I have posted on the old forum and wish I had the time to list the links here-if they are still accesible. keep reading about the subject and keep trying.

I'm sure we all experienced strange things as kids -there was a period when we were not really in our bodies all the time and probably had experiences that remain undecodeable by our logical brains today. The one thing I remember as weird is feeling both small and expanded at the same time. I have since felt similar things while meditating.
The other thing that is presented by Monroe that makes reality weird is the possible interplay/communication  between yourself from different lifetimes.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/ignacio121304.cfm

I think they are the same and different. Same in that you could move from one to the other, but different becuse a good projection has no mental constructs like dreams imagery to intrude.

keep trying, and maybe focus on being outside or somewhere in your house you are comfortable with rather than focusing on your stuck condition.

Sounds astralish to me. You could have phased (see the astral counciousness section for more info) into what monroe called focus 27-unfortunately I am not an expert on on the focus area's so maybe someone else could reply on that. If it is phasing you could coul probably return to the place by intent or focusing on the place or the woman-who may be a guide.

It sounds like a false awakening and a obe/dream experience mixed together.

Night mist, have you researched phasing? Maybe if you have strong visualizing abilities you could use phasing techniques. Unfortunately I can't help much since I have not so good visualizing.

To me the vibes have been like like being tickled with feathers all the way up to being slammed into a wall. Sometimes while relaxing and listening to music they can be very subtle or while sleeping they can be strong enough to wake me.

When I first had obe's it was pretty clear what was an obe and what was a dream, but then I started dreaming about obe's and it got real fuzzy. The dividing line seems to be lucidity, the more lucid the more possibility of it being a classic  obe. Also it seems like at the end of an obe I wake up rather than go into a dream-however it is possible to have an obe degenerate into a dream. If this seems confusing it is because it really is. I think what is important is awareness, no matter what you call it.

Glad to see you posting a lot again Tom, the last I remember is that you were saying your goodbyes. Unfortunately I am not so analytical as some, which reminds me, whatever happened to upstream, he sure had the analytical bent?
As for riding the wave, I feel it as the causative agent for obe's-about once a month I get awakened at least 3 times a night with vibrations and usually a couple of obe's. Unfortunately lately they are not real exciting but I seem to have more awareness of my sleeping body and a more varied range of experiences-such as other times I become lucid in a dream and start flying upwards and experience a sort of obe.

I think their really were matriarchal societies, it was even taught in universities in the US in the 1970's. I think having females in charge would downplay the male warrier aspect. A really good book about this that I highly reccommend is The alphabet Versus the Goddess

I have felt the sinking feeling more as an elevator falling, it is one of my favorite techniques. I think the idea behind the techniques is to isolate a part of your couciousness that can move independent of your physical body and begin to be seperate of it. Another thing I've used that I haven't heard of before is the sensation of being on a swing-you go back and forth enough to begin to feel the seperation-I bet that is why it is so popular in grade school since spiritual seers say that kids are not totally in their body yet.

I have had similar near projection experiences, and had success through the interupted sleep technique. Since you wake at 6 it may not be easy to try daily unless you go to bed early, however if you have a couple days to sleep late you could try then. Basically you wake after 6 hrs of sleep, do energy raising techniques, then try obe techniques or go back to sleep-you may be awakened by vibrations and have obe experiences.