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So I was woken up by my roommate this morning, and decided I'd try to relax and see what happens. So I began feeling the usual things, a deep relaxation set in an a rush of noise and vibrations flew by. I was out, I remember thinking about how I wanted to go "see the stars." this is referring to an OBE I had last week where I was flying through what seemed to be an endless black void with stars everywhere.

Suddenly, I saw two hands shoot through my wall and grab me, and pulled me through. It was my guide I was sure. So I was pulled out of my apartment and super quickly was out in what seemed like deep space, with the stars everywhere again. I remember thinking to myself, "I want to visit the Island again." I saw my guide who was with me stop and he pointed down and to the left towards what I was assuming to be the astral pulse island. I shot down for it with him. I remember splashing into water and everything going black.

I popped out of the water with my guide and saw this Island probably around 100 feet away. It wasn't the right place so I was disappointed, but either way I wanted to explore it. We started swimming towards it, the water was a bit choppy. The island looked very dry, almost desert like. It had no pyramid which is how I knew I was at the wrong place. But as we swam towards this island my vision faded and I started to wake up.

Kind of disappointing that I woke up, but still a good experience.

So I had this very long, very intricate lucid dream last week. I had parts where I was more aware than others, but it ended with me getting on a bus, or a transport of some kind. I saw my grandpa on it(he's deceased) I went to sit next to him, I said, "hey grandpa" kind of solemnly, he replied, "hey buddy." He seemed like his old self, just happy to see me with a smile.
It was then I noticed he was eating an apple.
"how are you?"
"I'm good, I'm good," he replied.
"So, what's it like?" I asked sort of sadly, I could feel my love and sadness pouring in.
"it's kind of like an apple," he said looking at the one he was eating, "once you bite it in, you want more."

I woke up after this.

I know it might be a poor analogy to others, but to me it's the best one. It was the perfect metaphor for me because I don't really like apples....sort of. I always see apples in my house, and I always think, nah, I don't want that. But occasionally I'll grab one just to be healthy when I want a snack, and every time I take that first bite and I think to myself, "wow, apples are delicious." So this metaphor was just sublime for me, I woke up a little teary eyed from it, I just thought I'd share this experience because it's been one of my favorite.

I remember drifting away, noticing my subconscious take over. A scene was being played out, and I was part of it. Playing some sort of card game with friends. Soon the scene came into vision. I waited a little before I attempted to move. I moved and I was out in the dream world. I was laying on the ground with my friend jimmy near by. He sort of asked me, what do you want to do? I replied, "I want to meet my guide." I thought about it, places my intent on it, and suddenly found myself being pulled across the room into a much darker place, which turned out to be my room. I saw a dark hooded shadow figure approach me, I was a little anxious, but not afraid. The figure looked a lot like death with its black hooded cloak, but it was not threatening. It grabbed at me, and I felt it strapping me into something, I felt its hands grabbing me, though it had no hands when I first saw it. The hands felt strong, with hairy forearms, they felt a lot like my fathers. I think this entity felt this way to make me more comfortable, afterall I would not be afraid of my father. I wasn't sure what was happening but I trusted this entity. Soon it would all be clear. He strapped this thing on me, and told me I had to get used to this to be able to go up there, as he pointed upwards. At this point he had a face, maybe to be able to talk to me. I got a little apprehensive, I wasn't sure if he was talking about dying, I'm not totally afraid of death, just I feel I have so much left to do here. I asked if I would be able to come back down still, he was confused. I further explained asking if I would be stuck up there, he then told me no, to come up and down. He said this in a friendly way, sort of realizing my fear, and finding it a silly question. Then he grabbed me around my torso, bent his knees, and jumped and we flew around 40-50 feet in the air, but did it extremely quickly. As I started down I saw the thing strapped to me was a parachute(again, I think to make me more comfortable). We did it again and as I was falling down again my vision started to fade as if I was waking up(probably why he was having me practice this feeling).
 I found my eyes open in my bed, I want sure if was awake, i didn't remember opening my eyes. I performed a reality check and found I was still dreaming. Almost instantly I was pulled backwards off my lofted bed, I landed softly next to my dresser. There was this same cloaked figure, he propped me up on my feet, and we began this drill again as he shot us up in the air, floated back down, then repeated a couple more times. Again after a couple my vision faded and I found my eyes open in my bed. I hopped out still excited, I asked out loud, am I still dreaming? And then realized I just woke up my roommate. He seemed annoyed and confused. I felt bad, I decided to use the bathroom while I was up then go back to bed, I found out after when i woke up that my roommate wasn't even in the room and I was still indeed asleep. 

So now I'm awake and trying to fall back asleep. A couple quick dreams pass by, nothing that lasts more than 10 minutes or so. But I found myself again in a dream area. Somehow I realized I wasn't in physical reality, so I came out, and said out loud that I wanted to see my guide, and I was pulled backwards out of this dream scene and crashed into this room. There was the cloaked figure again across the room from me, he swooped towards my and stopped right in front of my face. He grabbed me again and we started doing the whole jumping routine for a few jumps, I concentrated hard on maintaining awareness and not allowing my vision to fade. I asked him if I had to do this to get better at not waking up during projections, he said yes. 
After he was satisfied, we stopped the routine and began walking together outside. I asked if we were in the lower astral. The people seemed like slobs, their was this smog in the distance, and it was basically one long party, slightly barbaric. If you've ever seen the movie "Little Nickie" it was kind of like that, just people, mostly ugly, and just a party. He responded to me with, "kind of." I didn't go any further into it. Music was blasting and I really couldn't hear much, I asked him to turn it down, and he did. It got down to a nice background level. I asked him why he always appeared in his black cloak, he said he doesn't really have a form, but just takes one for my sake. I noticed as we walked around he body and face kept on changing with features from all sorts of people who I know. I told him I didn't have much time, because my alarm was going to ring soon, he wasn't too worried about it. But soon enough I heard my alarm playing while in this non physical place, and I said, "that's my alarm, I have to go." I'm not sure if he responded, but I woke up, and started getting ready for my day. 
 

So this morning I got up early, around 5, then decided to try to project, so I relaxed myself and soon heard a ringing in my ears. Then slowly but surely heard how it changed and grew, slowly got sudden vibrations here and there, then boom, I was ripped out. I felt as if I was flying through some loop which I experience commonly. Slowly the loop straightened out and the area was filled with stars as if I was shooting across space going the speed of light. The scene shifted a little and I touched down on some water, physically on top of it, the scene was very dark, as if it was nighttime. I ran for awhile over this water before I decided to fly again. While I was flying I remembered wanting to visit the island. Now I got back up to that extreme speed I had before and was again shooting past thousands of stars. I thought about the island, and then tool a dive and shot down right into one of the "stars"

I was plunged underwater, and I remembered I pictured the island in my head. I surfaces and there it was. Hyper realistic, I began swimming towards it. The waves were strong, it was windy, almost storming out, but I kept trudging along. I tried to fly, but couldn't get a grasp on it while I was in the water. So I got to the island, got out, and looked out at the trees, seeing the top of the pyramid booming over everything. I'm not sure if I lost awareness here but I walked into the trees. Soon I saw a group of four people who I called over. They introduced themselves, it was 4 women, two friends and their mothers? Im not sure if there were 2 moms or just 1. The mother looked young, though her hair showed her age, with grey here and there. They said they were from Connecticut, and asked "how far have you come to get here?" to which I was excited to reply that I too was from Connecticut. They looked surprised. I got a little distracted because I heard another voice further in the woods, I made out another lady. Older, maybe mid 40s-50s. Now the four girls before went inside this strange place made of wood. Almost like a wooden jungle gym or something.

This is where it got weird. I saw a dragon, it moved slow, and it was slowly beating this other wooden treehouse sort of thing. I remember watching it. The lady who was deeper in the trees came out, and told us all not to worry about him. He was angry/sad, it seemed like someone destroyed his home, or something dear to him and now he was trying to get even. She calmed him down and the dragon became a man, an elderly man, and she was consoling him about something. He was clearly sad, eyes tearing up, he hugged the other last as she pat his back. I woke up here. Pretty strange ending, the island looked better than I could have imagined though, it seemed very dark and stormy there though, not sure why. I wish I could have explored more.

I've heard and read a bit about phasing but was curious about something which has happened to me a couple of times. It seems like sometimes in my dreams that aren't lucid I decide to meditate. Last night was one of these, I remember being in this fairly nice eating area or sorts, kind of like a place to go outside and sit at a table, the floor was made from a brilliant white sandstone or something to that effect. I remember I was sitting at the table and felt extremely relaxed in the nice sunny weather, and I let my eyelids closed and felt(or at least perceived) some vibrations and an increasingly loud noise. I remember placing my intent to go to the Astral Pulse Island but I kept losing that fleeting feeling, the noise and everything would increase but then slow down, and pick back up. I eventually called it quits, though the later parts of my dream were set at a beach so I possibly redirected my dream.

Would this work is what I'm wondering. I know ive had dreams before where I am sitting somewhere comfortable and I shut my eyes and "project" as if I were awake. But I don't know if it's all just a dream or if I could potentially contact my guide or experience the astral in this state. Any thoughts?

So, I'm not sure what it is, if it's just my mind being tired or what, but when I project or have a false awakening or phase from a lucid dream, I've been tending to have a horrible perception and control. As if it's extremely unstable. A good example was last night, I put on the 4hz brown noise and began doing a mantra just to test it out, I've never really experimented with them before. So some time passed, I'm not sure how much, but I remember watching the patterns or colors swirl, and then I was in a sort of "dream scene" except i was detached from it. I could still feel the sensations of my body even though I was watching this scene unfold. (the scene was some starcraft game I used to play, as if i was playing it then)

So, the scene goes on not long, maybe 20 seconds? Then it fades to black. And I feel this extremely intense shaking and the super loud noise. Now I'm used to these things to an extent and I just said, "this is good, relax through it, this is good." Now the shaking became ridiculous, I remember I felt(or thought I felt) my teeth smacking against each other and my arm absolutely flailing around. But then I tired to separate by thinking of floating away, and I did float up a bit, then my body began falling in this endless loop. it was as if I was being spun around my feet vertically, going head over heels every time, except that I was always moving down through the same scene. I started to get control of this, and moving helped me to stop falling, I was just worried that I wasnt fully separated. So I moved a bit and everything was super dark and distorted, sort of scary looking. I told myself, "I have nothing to fear here, no harm can come to me." And I was confident in this, though I was getting bad vibes from the environment, it looked sort of like my basement in my house with the lights off, which could be normal, because the lights would be off haha, I never thought that I could of just gone to the RTZ in my basement. Anyways, my vision was only partial and I opened my right eye since it seemed to be shut, but unfortunately I opened my physical eye and woke up with my body in sleep paralysis, an odd feeling.

A few weeks ago I had a similar experience except it came from phasing, I also ended up in my basement, extremely dark and spinning in circles around the room while the tv was on. I remember a horrible feeling that time, as if something wanted me to leave or get out. I think I remember voices, and I assumed them to be saying something like, "get out." Needless to say I forced my eyelids open that time. I've gained more control over my fear since then though, so I was sad to see last night's work out so poorly.

Anyways, the past handful of OBE's I've had since I moved back into school are mostly distinguished with being very very difficult to move around, to speak, and to see. I went into one from meditation a couple days ago and I only had partial vision. I rubbed my hands together and felt their sensation but it was difficult to do. I tried to command "clarity now" but my voice was but a squeak, I then tried again, this time with all my might to shout it, and ended up waking myself.

So what's going on? Do I just not have my "Astral Legs" yet, sort of like sea legs, or am I just a little run down from school? The possibility of projecting to the RTZ of my basement is likely since that normally is where I spend my time when I'm home, and both times were during the night. Though I don't know what would explain the bad feeling I get from there. I guess I must face it, that's my next plan of course right now if it happens again, but any suggestions on not waking myself up, or any thoughts on these occurrences? 
I'm happy something is happening over nothing though, I'd rather have a ton of bad OBE's than none at all, practice is a success in my book.

So far I've only listened to the first wave from TMI, but I can't help but think Im not seeing the results I should, that either I'm achieving these focus states fairly easily at this point, or that I'm not. I for the first time did intro to focus 12 yesterday and found a nice experience with small differences between what I perceive as focus 10. Typically in focus 10 my body feels numb, I keep my mind off it, I see swirls of colors which turn into very defined patterns. When I was supposed to go into focus 12 I felt the blackness grow in terms of darker color and more depth, not an infinite depth, but it was to the point where I could see an area "infront" of my eyes. I also notice I more easily lose my focus at this point, sometimes having meaningless side conversations within myself, basically a dream without visuals.

Now the main thing I'm wondering is am I getting into focus 10, and 12? Now I ask this because I still have not successfully done track 5 from wave one, where you're supposed to turn like a log and float upwards. I've not managed to achieve this, though I may be taking it too literally. Should I continue practicing this track or should I move to practicing wave 2, with focus 12 and these things?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

So I just meditated for the past hour, I was listening to track 2 of TMI, intro to focus 10 just because I really felt like slowing things down and relaxing really. My ipod was on shuffle and I actually got around 10 minutes into another track afterwards haha. But the thing I noticed was my body very quickly went into deep relaxation, and I had times where I remember sort of conversations, as if I was having an argument between myself, then when I noticed this, I completely forgot what it was that was being said, or thought rather.
I find that if I'm very focused, I tend to take much longer to relax, for example if my mind is more aware when I try to fall asleep, I often end up taking a very long time to fall asleep, if not not being able to fall asleep at all. So a lot of the times my focus goes away, but I feel as if I'm in a deeper focus state when it does, because when I notice what Im doing, I always become much more aware. It's also possible that I went into the void, because I remember the back of my eyelids looking much different after I noticed I was sort of playing out this scene in my own head.

Right now for TMI i use the scene which Frank described awhile ago in one of his posts, about seeing a butler of types to help him with his energy conversion box, then moving towards the focus 10 hut and such. Should I really put a lot of focus on that? And attempt to make that scene the only one which matters, or is it okay to sort of think of nothing and have things happen?

I was curious if anyone has read or is reading any books retaining to the nature of OBE's and that topic. Either a book about ones attempts and techniques, or a book more retaining to the science behind it, or the metaphysics of it? All suggestions would be welcome, I'm just finding myself wanting to read and know more and more about anything to do with astral projecting and the non physical.

I just noticed the book recommendation section in the forum haha, I'm sorry for that. Still any suggestions are welcome.

So I live in a 4 person apartment and share a room with my friend. I rarely find time with the place to myself to meditate quietly, only here and there. I've been considering buying earplugs possibly, though I would have to cut out the binaurel beats and such for those times. It seems like it would be pleasant enough to simply not have any physical hearing sense.

I'm also trying to decide whether I want to invest in a blindfold of some sorts, I notice a lot Im worried my eyelids aren't closed or I'm figeting with them. My roommate also like to come in and turn our bathroom light on with the door open which shines right into the room. But I feel like it might be good to completely take away my physical site and hearing? Any thoughts on this, or has anyone tried this? Could also be a good reality check for false awakenings and such, if I can see.

Hey, just some random poems I've written through the past year or so, not the best, but I guess writing is more for the author than the reader. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.
Poem 1
A final thought of innocence,
Like two children holding hands,
Never caught yet always coined,
A trick for corporate brands.
A desperate cry for happiness,
As if such a word was found,
A too common misconception,
Its a shout without a sound.
A shot at love is all he asks,
But his eye is weak in aim.
He sets his sights far too high
And finds only himself to blame.

Poem 2
When I was sick I couldn't sleep.
She said, "Maybe if you dreamed of me."
Now she's gone except in dreams.
And yet I still can't fall asleep.
Ive counted all these endless sheep.
Played Houdini in tangled sheets.
I pray to God my soul to keep.
But it feels like hell in all this heat

Poem 3
Maybe I'm addicted to that burning in my lungs,
Maybe I'm addicted cursed my mother's tongue.
Maybe I'm addicted to the happiness of life,
Or maybe I'm addicted to fleeing from the knife.
And better still, an addiction kills
I've seen many attest to that.
So maybe I'm addicted,
But I don't want to ever go back.

Poem 4
The sun shines through this day
But my mind follows the shade
An abyss of black, the coldest gaze
I see them through the fog
Eyes locked in an attempt to keep them safe
Hands running marathons down her body
Buried under the influence
Her nails claw for freedom into his back
Lustful lips lovelessly lingering,
Gently moving, softly speaking..
Whispering sweet nothings to each other

Poem 5
Day to night the words have shifted once again,
Into the dark, into the lonely.
The world lost in rivers and streams upon our cheeks.
Each drop a promise, only to be broken on the ground.
Our eyes, restlessly searching for a home
Until they meet and find each other
Let these tired eyes rest upon yours,
hear them gently whisper my intentions,
none as true, none so blue.

Poem 6
My heart falls with the sun
As the moon greets my eyes
The coldness of the stars
Reveals my disguise

And as the night passes
Your face fills my mind
A soothing sunshine
Like none of it's kind
The warmth of your heart
Melts the frost in my eye
The strength of your love
Delays my goodbye

Haha, so I've been trying to do the playing card trick, but I can't quite seem to get it down. I always turn the card over and find just ridiculous things on it, one time it looked like an exam notecard, and the others it looks like it has tons of different suits and/or number. This morning I found I was in an OBE, I got up, and was in my room. I saw my door that leads out to the common room of my apartment, it had a poster on it though which was strange. I was about to open it when I realized what fun is that? So i slowly pushed my hand through it and felt this strange sensation up my hand and arm. I walked through and came out in my common room. From here I saw my roommate's deck of cards sitting on the table, I figured I'd see if I could look at the top card. So I grabbed it and flipped it over, it was a strange card with 8's and 9's on it, as well as both the clubs and spades suits, so I had no idea what to get from it, I just guessed 8 of clubs. (Turned out to be queen of spades) After this my roommates came in the door and were talking and such, I began thinking about floating, and I started floating up into the room above me, which had 3 fairly cute girls in it. From here I "woke up" with a false awakening, in which I got ready for my classes, and after that I actually woke up. A pretty brief experience, but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

I can't really get into too many details, I woke up around 7, and then went back to sleep. Anyways, I found myself going from dream to dream very quickly, it was strange. I don't remember all of it, for it seems like it lasted hours and hours. But I would have a dream, then have a false awakening, and then have another dream, at least 5 or 6 times. At one point I had had enough and wanted to wake up. So I just tried to open my eyelids, and I thought I was successful, until I performed a reality check and found I was not. I continued to try to wake myself up, and had at least 5, and possibly up to 10 false awakenings in a row. I would just keep waking up in a different position or such, I'd check if i was sleeping, find that I was, and "fall back asleep." Once I did decide to get up, out of my bed, I found myself staggering around, disoriented. It felt so very difficult to move, and to concentrate on anything, I barely made it out my room, and spent maybe a few minutes in my living room before I had given up and something else took place.

Before this I also had an experience where I entered the void, and consciously went into a dream. I then though about falling in the dream, like sky diving was my goal. Everything started falling and began turning darker. I ended up in my parents basement, spinning in circles as if I was in a tornado. I eventually hit the ground and could barely stand or think. Everything was dark and creepy, I tried to remain calm, my chest felt like it was pounding in an out, not my heart, but my entire chest. Not sure if it was a dream or AP, I started shouting "clarity now!" hoping it would help, but it just seemed to fade into everything else. I had a bad feeling about this place for whatever reason, and I was just trying to calm down, and think about how nice it would be for someone to come and help me out. This didn't really work, and I began saying "help" out loud. I kept thinking I was hearing a voice telling me to leave, or something to that sort, it was just a feeling I was getting. So I tried opening my eyelids, ended up having a false awakening, then waking up right after that.

Any suggestions for optimizing these false awakenings? When I have them I just feel so lethargic like I don't want to get out of bed or move. And once I do I still feel like I can barely control my body and my thoughts.

This morning I passed out with headphones in playing lucid dreaming isochronic tones. I fell into a dream, I was in a room with a few friends who were talking. I remember I fell asleep with a pillow on my chest, with my arms around it, and this was the position i had in the chair I was sitting on in my dream. In the dream I started feeling super tired, and my I remember feeling as if my pillow I was holding was like a cloud, and as if I was floating in the chair, just the epitome of comfort. My eyes closed and I kinda thought to myself, maybe I should try to astral project. So I sat up, and as I looked behind me my dream physical body I guess you'd call it, was left in the chair, and I began walking around the room, listening to the conversation of the others kids in it. I began predicting what they were going to say, which makes sense since it was in my own dream world. I noticed my friend trying to wake me, so I decided to go back into my body and wake up and tell them about what just happened. I sat back in the chair, and my friend shook me awake. It felt as if I was ripped 4 or 5 inches over, as if where I was sitting wasn't quite lined up with my body and I got pulled back to the right spot. I found that pretty interesting.

Now I was awake, though I checked and found I was still asleep(a dream false awakening haha) and next thing I know it was just me and my friend Paul in this room, and there was no doors or windows. I remembered a post someone suggested to help getting out to another area in the astral, which was falling down backwards. So I promptly said later to my friend, and fell back. The fall lasted much longer than it should have, and it had a unpleasant effect of my vision becoming distorted and returning to the void, and it felt as if my body hit at separate times, as if i hit the ground multiple times.

Next I found myself in a large house, with a decent amount of people. I began thinking how nice it would be to have a guide, and kinda curious if I could find one around here. (I'm not sure if it counted as an AP, but I came there consciously through the void and felt a great amount of awareness, so I figured I might as well try to do some astral things) As I walked around the house I caught a few glances from people, hoping they were my guide, but each time they turned away, until I saw a friend, who started talking to me. Her name is Alyssa, and I figured I might as well ask her for some help. She suggested spinning and thinking of a new area, I tried to do this and teleport to the Astral Pulse Island to see it, but to no avail. I found I was spinning super slowly, and just couldn't leave this false reality. I remember looking around after, and just seeing the room, how vivid it was, how totally similar my perception was to real life, I really liked that part. I then talked to the girl Alyssa for awhile, though I really can't recall what we were discussing, I knew I should've wrote it down right away when I woke up, but I just wanted to get back to dreaming.

I still haven't had an extremely memorable AP, mostly just wandering around and talking to people, though again, no memorable conversations, might be my dream recall ability thats lacking in this case. The main thing I enjoyed was just taking a moment to really look around, and notice how alike it was to waking life. Thats the main reason I figured it was an AP, my level of awareness was fairly high, though I wasn't able to control it like I would in a dream. In dreams I've been able to change the location and scene by just closing my eyes and shifting it. This time I closed my eyes but was still able to see through my eyelids, and even spinning and thinking didn't shift my location.

Anyways, I'm excited because this morning makes it 4 mornings in a row for leaving my body, I might try to do that card trick soon to see if I can guess it. I tried before, though I was very lazy and made my own cards haha. When I projected and looked at the card it looked like one of my cards I used for an exam notecard, with writing everywhere, and I could make out a couple darker lines, I figured it was a big K. In reality, it was just a straight line. I felt like an idiot because it was supposed to be the number one, but I just drew it as a vertical line. Haha, so that didn't work out. Not the most amazing of experiences, but I enjoyed it, I still need to try and get to different places and meet a guide who will actually help me. Hopefully I'll make it out to the Astral Pulse Island soon, I think it would be a great place to visit.

Does anyone still visit the Island? I'm curious as I've started to AP and think the challenge of reaching the Island would help me progress in going deeper into myself somehow. I always project right in my house and I haven't been able to do much with it yet, and being somewhere rather than my house would be very fun and interesting I feel like. Every time I'm at my house I tend to see many people, family or friends, and it distracts me a lot because I always question it. I'd like to find someplace without anyone I know around. Even to be with only myself would be interesting. So do you think I could still reach the Island if I myself memorize it and believe I can? I've heard the more people who know about, or focus on a certain place, the more it exists in the astral or something to that extent. Also has anyone thought about trying to meet someone there? I would like to try to reach the Island, and if someone else was also there I would find that twice as amazing. Is meeting someone there still possible?

So this morning actually, I found myself ready to project, but then I did the "roll out" method, and found I was already floating above my body. Either way, I got my bearings and stood on my bed. It was slightly strange now, because my wall felt solid, and I couldn't pass through it, I didn't try that hard, but I decided to stop out of my room, and really wished I had someone to help me, kinda gave a hope in my mind I would find a guide. So as I walked down my stairs a dog flew out and surprised me, it started talking as well, not talking with it's mouth, but telepathically. I was very happy to see this, as I remember people saying you can communicate with thoughts in the astral, so I talked to him, and asked him for help. I'm not sure if it turned into a dream, or what, but that dog didn't help me out at all. In fact he almost did the opposite, he literally just talked to me about random things, a lot of things which bothered me. For example, he kept trying to call like, other people and start a party, or he kept talking about vulgar things, like pornography. Its after this where things become somewhat jumbled in my thoughts, idk if it is just my lack of dream recall, or if I sort of gave up the experience and i shifted into a normal dream awareness. I remember trying to shift the scenery to a desert, I felt if I could somehow just be by myself, I could figure stuff out, and possibly just experiment with the astral. But I failed at shifting the scene, and was super disappointed. I remember talking to people, and in mid conversations showing them my hands(which were slightly disformed) and exclaiming to them and myself that I was dreaming. I must have looked at my hands 3 or 4 times throughout this dream just to reassure myself I was dreaming. Now it doesn't seem so long now, but I have a vague memory and feeling that the dream lasted hours and hours, like i was dreaming for half a day. I remember at one point, I was just sitting on my couch, watching tv, gave a look at my hands, saw I was still dreaming, and just sat there staring at the television from boredom.

So basically, I'm disappointed in my own ability to find an explore. I've had 4 projections so far, 2 of which I was woken up during, and the other 2 I shifted into dream awareness. I very excited as I've been able to project 3 times in the past couple days, but I really want to have one of those memorable experiences, I'd like to have conversations with people, or just experience the surreal. Anyways, does anyone have any tips for me to project elsewhere than my room, or to somehow be able to stop the dreamlike features that come after. I feel like now I should have just ignored that dog and went outside and found something else, idk why I couldn't use this logic in my dream, maybe I'm just not as consciously aware as I should be?

So where I live there was a full moon last night, I've heard this effects OBE's to an extent, some say stuff about bad entities, others say it allows for easier OBE's or at least a better chance at an OBE. I'm gonna have to say I'm going with the latter, as since August 11 til this morning I've had 2 false awakenings and 3 astral projections, 2 this morning, both short lived. I find it odd since I've been trying and putting in a lot of work and focus on these things for around 3 weeks, and then suddenly all of these things happen in the matter of a few days. I'm also excited that i did have my first couple astral projections that had me floating out of my bedroom this morning. Though both were short, one my nieces/parents woke me up, the other I looked at my body and began laughing in excitement, which woke me up, I also saw my body kinda give a smile, idk if that actually happened to my physical body, but it was comical. But yeah, I thought it would have taken much longer, im not sure if the moon helped me out, but 3 weeks is certainly a price I'd pay for my experiences with lucid dreams/astral projections so far.

Does anyone else notice more frequent OBE's around full moons?

So this morning I woke up early to do a WILD. Basically got up, ate a little something, used the bathroom, and went back to bed a little after. I remember my body relaxing quite quickly. I felt vibrations soon after, and just tried to passively observe what was occurring in the darkness of my eyelids. I saw a small blue dot, and it grew, and grew. And then it was over half my vision this blue and I immediately thought it to be the sky and felt a rush of falling and became afraid. Which brought me back to the darkness of my eyelids. I thought to myself, no, no, this is a good thing, and I started again. Again i felt the vibrations, and saw a small blue dot, and it grew and grew. And I said to myself, no, I'm not falling, I'm floating. And it consumed my vision and suddenly I was way up in the sky near space, and I had a sort of map in front of me, almost asking where do you want to go? I chose my home, and I began spinning and spinning until finally I was at my bed. I hopped up excited, and began thinking about trying to find someone to help me, a guide. I walked out of my room and saw my brother, I spoke to him though he did not notice. I then went outside and saw my 5 year old niece with my mom, my niece was apparently able to see me and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was gonna fly. My mom was confused as to who my niece was speaking to. But then I saw goodbye to her and I flew over my town, eventually landing in some school. From here I saw my friends, and this is where it became very dreamy and I lost all awareness. At one point my friends acknowledged me, and I told myself that I must've woken up(which obviously doesn't make sense since I was still in the school) And from there they did strange things and the dream shifted much more.

So, was the initial experience an astral projection? Then as I lost awareness it turned into a dream? Or was the entire thing a dream? Why would I see my brother? I know he's away at Cape Cod for now. So I guess im curious if I actually have an astral projection or if I simply went into a dream with consciousness and dreamt of having an OBE. I was also using Isochronic Tones for a lucid dream, so would this possibly have effected my brain into turning the OBE quickly into a lucid dream?

So I had a few dreams last night, but basically after the dreams, I "woke up." I remember vividly looking at my phone to check the time. Everything was normal except the time was displayed where the battery percentage should be. It was 10:29, which I know realize was ridiculous because I fell back asleep at that time, so effectively no time would have passed in all my dreaming for this to be true. I didn't question it at the time though, I was just sleepy. So then I closed my eyes and felt my body was totally relaxed. I remembered I had headphones on playing a frequency and the sound of running water, so i tried to imagine a night streaming waterfall with the wind blowing at the trees and bushes so sort of try and activate my senses. I felt a huge rush of vibrations and an insanely increasing noise. But then it all faded, I tried again, only imagining a slightly different location, the same thing occured to a degree, then I sort of snapped out of that relaxation and decided to get up(it was 12:30!)

So I'm curious as to how I was able to read my phone, I thought you can't read digital clocks in dreams? Was this a false awakening? Because I remember I was still in my bed. Was my attempt to astral project so fierce because I was already astral and all I had to do was open my eyes?

So a bit ago I decided I really wanted to learn more about lucid dreaming and obe's. I watched documentaries, youtube videos, random websites google found, even spent leisure time simply watching movies about lucid dreaming like Waking Life(very good by the way). Anyways, the first night I decided to try lucid dreaming, I succeeded 3 times(One of which I looked at my disformed hands and woke up from being startled). Anyways, for the past couple nights I have been attempting to have an OBE, I lay down in my bed or couch, and feel this heavy lead blanket pour over my body. I've learned this to be sleep paralysis kicking in, then I hear static noise, and being to feel vibrations. The vibrations became some intense I felt like I was being ripped back and forth like a ribbon thats being, well, ripped back and forth.

Now the first time I thought I was just supposed to wait for something to happen, like for an image to appear in my mind and then I would be out, so I sat there trying my best to relax and not move. The vibrations stopped, and I felt a sort of warmness, Im not sure how to explain it, but it wasn't vibrations, but it wasn't nothing. So I tried to imagine different scenery and sensations but to no avail, I just ended up staring into the darkness of my eyelids until my body woke up.

Last night I tried a number of times, and again heard the noises and felt the vibrations. I learned to try and picture and feel things to hopefully teleport out, but it didnt work. Then I also remembered reading to open my mouth just a little, and somehow it would initiate the exiting process, but it didn't work either. I was listening to the sound of a river flowing, so I tried to make up a scene for that, and feel like, water going past my feet, but it didn't work. Vibrations would come and pass, then come again, I figured I must have woken up at some point and falling back under. I tried to picture a rope hanging down that I was climbing but nothing, I then tried to imagine I was spinning or rolling, and my ears felt strange, which I thought was good, i could feel myself off balance, like the liquid in my ears were pushed in a different direction. But the sensation faded. I remember seeing stars, like all of a sudden things were clear and I was in space, but i realized I didn't want to be in space, so I might have messed that one up by not just relaxing into it. I remember trying to move my astral body, but I wasn't sure how successful I was with that.

Anyways, I am wondering if anyone has experienced this before and knows of something I'm doing wrong. I guess I'm just trying to figure out how to exit, though I know a lot of techniques to do so. I just get lost in the darkness of my eyelids. When will I gain vision? Am I supposed to sense the time to exit and actually try to move or open my eyes? I also read on other's topics about "Gateway Experience" by Robert Monroe, so I was going to check that out to see if it would help me relax and maybe paint a scene for me. I know these things take a lot of practice so as of now I'm thinking I just need to practice more(which is true) but I'd love to know any thoughts or tips anyone has. Thanks a bunch for any answer.