Need advice on my near out of body experience

[nyquil]

Hey guys,

I have tried to Astral Project for the past few days, and here's exactly what happened.

I was laying on my bed at night with all the lights shut off, and after about 40-50 minutes of deep breathing i felt as if my body was getting heavier as though i was starting to sink slowly into the bed - a feeling as if my body was getting slowly lowered deeper and deeper... however, i was completely conscious at the time.

The next thing that happened was that it seemed like as if my mind's eye had opened and eventhough my eyes were closed it seemed like as if i was starting to see through a fog until i could actually see what was on top of me... i opened my eyes and saw a million of little tiny white particles floating and swirling around on top of my body (like electrons swirling around a neucleus) since this was the first time i had ever seen anything out of the norm, i moved my arm to that area and all of a sudden all the hair on my arm stood right up..... and after a while i ended the session right there. (Was I seeing my own body energy?)

The next 3 days i attempted to Astral Project by going through with the same ritual... and achieved the meditative state like the first.... and like the first day, with my eyes closed i started to see an image of a greenish and misty figure hovering right on top of me.... (then i opened my eyes, and the misty figure was still there, hovering.

On the first day i couldn't make out who it was, but i knew it was a mist with a face... then the second day, i saw the same thing, but the face seemed to be cleared this time as i could make out an eye and some other vague and blurry facial figures. Of course i was a little freaked out again and just decided to pull over my bed cover and tried to think happy thoughts and fall asleep. Then again, the third night, i saw the same misty facial figure hovering above me when i was trying to astral project... but this time i could make out the nose and the lips.... and again, i stopped what i was doing at the time.

Later on i read Bruce's book and from how the book explained, i think i saw my own projected double, and now that i think about it, the face does look similar to mine..... and from the book it seems like this is the stage right before the actual astral projection where the body actually leaves the body, so i was actually very close to an actual projection..

I was wondering if anyone has any experiences similar to mine?

In addition, how could I get past this stage? It seems like i'm completely conscious when i was seeing my projected double, and even after i got freaked out by it and tried to sleep it off... i could seel see the greenish misty figure hovering above me when i open my eyes..... it seemed like i opened something and eventhough i was no longer meditating the gate still stayed opened.... i noticed this because i didn't know what it was at first and was really scared of it thinking that it might be some spirit i'm seeing.... and all i was trying to do was cover myself up in ym blanket and try to sleep it off and forget about it, and somehow i could still see it somehow. until i tried to focus my mind off of it or until i actually fell asleep.

Can i have my eyes open and can i be conscious when trying to transition  from the stage i experienced to the stage where i want to be (the stage where i actually astral project?)  'cuz for 3-4 consecutive nights i have been in a conscious stage when i saw my projected double, but not sure how i should progress to actually achieve an OBE

[nyquil]

this actually happened 6 years ago and I had no prior meditation practices or any prior astral projection attempts. I think that's probably why i was so freaked out, 'cuz i tried to astral project and meditate for the first time and didn't know what to expect, and it just seemed like everytime i attempt i see something that's out of the norm.... like the body energy, and the misty figure hovering on top of me (my projected double?)

I haven't really tried since then since i was so freaked out about being possessed by spirits and what not..... but after reading bruce's book and realized that what i saw was probably my own projected double, it made me want to finish what i started 6 years ago and see what other spiritual enlightement i could obtain... since it was so easy for me to see my projected double, and my own body energy-- the process just seemed natural to me and came with ease.... i'm not really trying to sound cocky or anything, and i'm sure lots of you probably went through the same thing... but i believe that each person's energy field, or the way we are built up are different, and for some people, spriritual enlightement might be easier to experienced than others, just like how some people will never believe a word we tell them of our own experiences when we tell them, and they will forever not know some of the age-old-questinos such as: are there spirits in the world, do spiritual energy exists, is there life after death..... things in that nature... from my few attempts in astral projection, it seemd like i could be down the same path as many of you who have already walked the path, which is why I i would like to continue my journey and see for myself what else is exactly out there.

[T.L.]

     I dont know what to say about you seeing your double from the physical standpoint. My transition into projection is rather smooth, and if I experience anything while transitioning it is mostly from the astral point of view. One thing I can say that you have experienced that I have myself is that when I first get out depending on my perception, I do see very very small white floating dots all over the place. Also before I make the transition a lot of times the hair on different parts of me is standing on end too. I never really pondered on what I thought the white dots are.
    The way it looks would be just like if you were to open up the curtain on your window on a very sunny day to see all the dust being illuminated. So I naturally assumed that in a different state of perception you would see all the dust without the need for it to be illuminated. I guess assumptions are never any good. So if it's really not just dust we are seeing I have no clue. I am as curious as the next person, but my curiousity leads me in what I feel are more important matters such as different dimensions, astral areas etc..  I am glad though that others experience some of the same things, normally because of the different ways people perceive things we always get conflicting or different experiences. For instance when projecting I might see a really brilliant collection of energy that seems to radiate so bright it nearly blinds me and coming into contact with it brings past memories or future memories into the foreground of my mind, if another person who is religious experiences the same exact situation they would say that it was god and god gave them a vision. So you can see how many different people will perceive the same situation differently.