Astral Projection or Lucid Dream?

[dpk38]

After 10 months since I started, I had  my first successful separation/ projection a few days ago, or that's what I thought. This is what happened.

It was afternoon and I got into bed, hoping to project. I placed a strong intent. I don't usually practice any special technique, I just try to induce mind awake body asleep state.
After, say a half hour, I had the separation symptoms: serious vibes and a feeling of separation. I've had these before, but I never could separate completely.
Now, suddenly all the symptoms die. My vision is still blacked out and I have no idea whether I had separated.
Every time I have a lucid dream (4 times till date), I test it out by flying (by intending to fly). This time, I suddenly began flying even without intending too. My flight was a bit different, as in it was way faster and my jaws began to hurt as I increased my speed (? I guess some things can never be explained). With this I could confirm it was an oobe, but was it a projection? My vision was still all dark. I was scared to open my eyes to check it out because I feared I might end up opening my real eyes. But I tried to do it anyway ( just a little bit), and guess what, I did begin seeing my physical body, just like normal. This wasn't my astral vision, but the usual one. So I closed it immediately. Here comes the worst part (to confuse the situation even more) I was wearing a sleep mask before going to bed which means I could've never seen my body even if I tried opening my eyes!
I couldn't stand up properly, like as if the gravity went nuts.
Then later I had a partial vision. I saw my mom trying to wake me up by sprinkling water. But in reality this had never happened. Then I found a huge mirror by my side on the wall where I saw a deformed image of my face. I looked different with very few similarities. In reality, I had no mirror in my room at all.

So what was this? A projection which turned into a dream or a lucid dream itself?
The reason I am still doubting it could be a projection is because the separation symptoms were so accurate and perfect!

[ThaomasOfGrey]

Congrats on your first major success. I have been caught out by forgetting my sleep mask once before as well. It is common for my eyes to open automatically during meditation so I was unsurprised that a seemingly normal vision image to appear. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized I had the mask on. The experience really felt like a false awakening and it leaves you doubting what you experienced.

It does sound like you had a projection that descended into some kind of lucid dream. My first time I was unable to fly but I did have the dark separation and a gentle floating with the vision coming in later. Last night I became lucid enough towards the end of a dream to remember to attempt an astral projection. This time I had no trouble flying at all and I experienced the incredible speed you describe.

I think you may have mistaken normal vision for an accurate mental perception. I have also been fooled by seeing out the bottom of a mask that doesn't completely block vision though.

[dpk38]

Congrats on your first major success. I have been caught out by forgetting my sleep mask once before as well. It is common for my eyes to open automatically during meditation so I was unsurprised that a seemingly normal vision image to appear. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized I had the mask on. The experience really felt like a false awakening and it leaves you doubting what you experienced.

Happy to see someone with a similar experience!

[Xanth]

After 10 months since I started, I had  my first successful separation/ projection a few days ago, or that's what I thought. This is what happened.

It was afternoon and I got into bed, hoping to project. I placed a strong intent. I don't usually practice any special technique, I just try to induce mind awake body asleep state.
After, say a half hour, I had the separation symptoms: serious vibes and a feeling of separation. I've had these before, but I never could separate completely.
Now, suddenly all the symptoms die. My vision is still blacked out and I have no idea whether I had separated.
Every time I have a lucid dream (4 times till date), I test it out by flying (by intending to fly). This time, I suddenly began flying even without intending too. My flight was a bit different, as in it was way faster and my jaws began to hurt as I increased my speed (? I guess some things can never be explained). With this I could confirm it was an oobe, but was it a projection? My vision was still all dark. I was scared to open my eyes to check it out because I feared I might end up opening my real eyes. But I tried to do it anyway ( just a little bit), and guess what, I did begin seeing my physical body, just like normal. This wasn't my astral vision, but the usual one. So I closed it immediately. Here comes the worst part (to confuse the situation even more) I was wearing a sleep mask before going to bed which means I could've never seen my body even if I tried opening my eyes!
I couldn't stand up properly, like as if the gravity went nuts.
Then later I had a partial vision. I saw my mom trying to wake me up by sprinkling water. But in reality this had never happened. Then I found a huge mirror by my side on the wall where I saw a deformed image of my face. I looked different with very few similarities. In reality, I had no mirror in my room at all.

So what was this? A projection which turned into a dream or a lucid dream itself?
The reason I am still doubting it could be a projection is because the separation symptoms were so accurate and perfect!

The problem here isn't the experience... it's that you're asking the wrong questions about it.

A projection turned into a dream?  A lucid dream?  You doubt it's a projection because <enter random reason here>...

The main points you need to know:

1.  You were consciously aware while non-physical.

That's it.  That's ALL you need to ever worry about.    It's a projection. 

[dpk38]

The problem here isn't the experience... it's that you're asking the wrong questions about it.

A projection turned into a dream?  A lucid dream?  You doubt it's a projection because <enter random reason here>...

The main points you need to know:

1.  You were consciously aware while non-physical.

That's it.  That's ALL you need to ever worry about.    It's a projection. 

Well, i wanted to visit my friends house to prove my projection. I couldn't achieve it because this wasn't a projection, but a dream.

[EscapeVelocity]

Xanth's point to you is that Yes, this was a projection of your consciousness into a NP Reality. The fact that it was chaotic and changing beyond your ability to keep up with it, is your difficulty with the experience. You can argue the reality of it all you want...we are just trying to help you put it into context.

Like Xanth said, You were conscious within a Non-Physical Reality. That is a beginning.

Whether it is a dream, a lucid dream, a RTZ/Etheric experience...it really doesn't matter...it is something other than Physical Reality...it is a projection or shift of your focus of consciousness. You move on from there...and there will be a lot of confusion along the way...welcome to the club.

[dpk38]

Xanth's point to you is that Yes, this was a projection of your consciousness into a NP Reality. The fact that it was chaotic and changing beyond your ability to keep up with it, is your difficulty with the experience. You can argue the reality of it all you want...we are just trying to help you put it into context.

Like Xanth said, You were conscious within a Non-Physical Reality. That is a beginning.

Whether it is a dream, a lucid dream, a RTZ/Etheric experience...it really doesn't matter...it is something other than Physical Reality...it is a projection or shift of your focus of consciousness. You move on from there...and there will be a lot of confusion along the way...welcome to the club.

Oh..
Hmm.
Thank you,
Glad to join you all!