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Projecting from a lucid dream just takes you into the OBE. To project higher, you'd still need to know how to get there, and the techniques. Only speaking from my own experience here. Maybe others find themselves shooting into the astral planes easier.

I feel for ya. I've had lots of nights like that, where I felt so close... I think trying is like the affirmations - try for 50 nights for 1 success. Sometimes I'd be happy with one success in 50 tries... And it only takes 1 success to make you ready for the next 50.

Good luck!!

When attempting astral projecting, I consider laying on my back improtant, not because its the stereotype, but because it keeps me uncomfortable. I hate sleeping on my back. I can only drift off to sleep if I'm super tired.

But then, in the mornings when I'm not trying to astral project it doesn't matter what position I'm in, as long as I can catch the razor's edge of opportunity.

But for the record, the head of the bed faces NorthWest.

Hmmmm....  

Lucid Dreaming: easy for me to do, and do so frequently... never had 360 vision, despite Waking Life claims ( I liked the movie, btw...). In Lucid dreaming everything is a solid illusion. Travel is quick and easy.  

Astral Projection (RTZ experiences): Hard to do, sometimes vision is tough to find, I'm incorporeal. Travel can be difficult.

Similarities: Both can feel dream-like. Weird things happen in both.

I don't want them to be the same, but I want astral projection to be as easy as lucid dreaming. I like to play with possibilities when in either mode, and experiences feel different to me when tried between lucid dreaming and astral projecting.

I vote they are different.

Some of the conversations in it were interesting, some were not. Overall, really enjoyed the movie.    Mainly because it took a look at dreams and death, with a bunch of existentialism for flavor.

catmeow - That's funny, we both posted at about the same time about having no reflection. I enjoy reading that others have similar experiences. It gives me a feeling of not being alone in this weird hobby.

I have had a lot of fun looking into mirrors. I usually see very "themed" versions of myself. I've seen myself with a mohawk, long stringy "witch" hair and wearing a witch hat, etc... The only thing that has bothered me is having no reflection.  I've never walked into one.

Yesterday morning was great for me, I was able to repeatedly step back into my lucid dreams every time I woke up, without any annoying false awakenings or drifting off into other dreams.

Anyway! For one of these lucid dreams I managed to pop out and astral project. During my short time out-of-body, I had two new experiences. I'm still an amateur with astral projecting, so these baby steps are very exciting for me, so bear with me.

The first new experience was astral projecting to another location, instead of directly next to my body. This was a first for me, though I've read that many people learn to project by choosing a destination away from their bodies. I astrally found myself at my parents' house, where I was raised.

The second new experience was that of walking through walls. I have strong limitations imposed on me by my mind when it comes to astral projecting, such as difficulty flying, etc. But my goal this time was to walk through a wall, which I'd never done before. I had to really focus to get my hand to pass through. The sensation was different. It felt very grainy. I don't know how else to describe it. Once most of my arm was in, I stepped forward, which brought my face into contact. That was very interesting, as my astral vision moved through the material of the wall, and being able to see everything I was passing through up close. I ended up back in my body shortly thereafter, however.

When I talk with friends and co-workers about ghosts, the majority (maybe around 75%-90%???) say they've either seen or felt a ghost. But this is the first person (and a relation) that I've spoken to who also believes in them visiting in dreams.

Of course I mean in person, not otherwise on the internet. I only know one other person here locally that practices lucid dreaming.

So do you both feel that the ghost visits are stronger because of the family relationship, or just easier to recognize because they're family? I don't know if other ghosts would be interested in visiting me, as I'm much more likely to write off other people in my dreams as only dreams.

I have believed in ghosts visiting me in my dreams for a very long time. When my great grandmother died when I was six (or seven?), she appeared in a dream to say goodbye. When my grandfather died, he started to visit me in my dreams. Then when my grandmother passed away, she too started visiting me in my dreams. When I am lucid, I can talk with them easier (I've posted a little about these a while back).

I'm not talking about ghostly manifestations. That's something altogether different. Sort of related, but I'm not going into that here. I'm not one of these so-called psychics like John Edwards or anything, and if I see a manifested ghost it tends to scare me.

So my mother stopped by today to drop off presents for my kids for Christmas. I decided I to quiz her if she had ever seen ghosts. She had a bunch of sories about seeing spirits, but the exciting part was that she had dream visitations as well. She's had visitations from her parents, plus her brother who died awhile back.

This begins to back up some of my theories about ghosts and dreams. I'm starting to believe we have an ancestral family spirit-thing going on. We aren't native american or oriental or any other culture that puts any faith into ancestors watching over us, just the average caucasian family that wouldn't have any foundation in ancestral spirits. Yet to me, I think a few of us in our family are able to keep a connection.

As a side note, neither of my sisters believe in this, and there are a few cousins I have yet to talk to. My aunt (mother's sister) believes strongly in ghosts, but doesn't dream about them. She's told me she feels she has offended her parents in some way. That is why she can't dream of them.

I am another who can project from the lucid dream, but has trouble from the conscious state, but here is where my understanding now lies at projecting consciously:

You have to master a trance state where your body is drifting off to sleep but you keep your mind awake. It makes sense to me, but it's very difficult. When my body wants to go to sleep, its amazing how well it can tell my mind to let it roll over and forget about projecting.    I wish I had stronger willpower.  

Dream sharing would be cool, but she was already awake.

I think what confused me is she was thinking of me doing something which I hadn't experienced, therefore it would have to be her dream, not mine. Weird dream logic. But it was enough to make me think lucidly.

It's not like you took your eyes out of body either. If your astral sight doesn't see something, its no big deal. Heck, with my regualr eyes I'm not that observant either, so why should astral sight be any better? Especially when astral sight has to interpret things differently.

I like to have my goals ready ahead of time before I project, so I'm not just walking around my house thinking... "This is cool... what do I want to do?" That way you can start experimenting immediately, since time is often short. For me, it's things like... walking through walls, practicing flying, shapechanging, looking in mirrors, etc.

Reality checks by themselves don't work for me either. As Selski said, you've got to really stop in your tracks and wonder.

My method of making reality checks work is by chanmging my philosophy about reality. I got this method from reading about Tibetian Dream Yoga (do a Google search). Start looking at all of reality as an illusion, and it will carry over into your dreams. This is a big philosophical outlook change, so it's not as easy. If you study zen, it gets easier.

I had a slightly different induction into a lucid dream yesterday, and couldn't tell immediately if I was dreaming or if the other person in my dream (my wife) was the dreamer.

Here's the dream: I was in my kitchen talking with my wife. She was scolding me because her brother told her I'd done something I shouldn't have (which I can't remember). I told her I didn't do it. Then I realized that this situation could only be a dream, because it never happened. I didn't know which one of us was dreaming, so I told her that either she was dreaming or I was. I then realized it would have to be me, and entered into a lucid dream. I didn't do anything experimental, it broke down from there into a libido-controlled dream.

It could be a thought form??!
Rob Bruce says that when you project, you might see bits of furniture in your house that arent normally there. These are the thought forms of the previous owners of the house. Have a look (in the physical) where the tv is, to see if theres any screw holes or anything, where a tv bracket might have been.
Just a thought???

I've considered this, but I'd have to poke through the paint in the room. I need the wife's blessing before I can get away with that (or maybe I'll have to be covert...). I'm also considering the possibility of it being a "gate" to the astral planes as well, but that is something for experimentation next time.  

I just realized this morning that every time I astral project I see a television mounted on my bedroom wall, that isn't really there. As I go through the exit symptoms, I focus on this television, fully accepting its presence as real.

I'd never realized its always been there until this morning, when I was thinking about it. It's in all of my notes, ironically, but I've never really given it much thought. But, now when I see this television, I'll know I'm out of body.

To me this is really strange, I don't know what the television symbolizes personally, or why I'd have one mounted there on the wall. However, now when I see that television I think its going to make projecting easier, as I'll know I'm out, I just need to roll.

This is kind of a weirder topic for me, and I can't get the search function to work on these forums (grumble), so I'm asking:

What does everyone have on invisibility?

I'm looking for links, spells, associations w/color, crystals, etc. Basically anything you've read, heard, or practiced.  

I stumbled across a web site saying that a lot of secret orgs develop a type of cloud, but I couldn't find details past that. Not that I was interested then, but then I started having dreams about becoming invisible, and so my curiosity is piqued. []

Thanks!

Last night during a lucid dream I decided I wanted to confront the idea that my dream was an illusion and tried to walk through a wall.

The first two attempts resulted in walking into the wall, and bouncing off. The third attempt, the wall warped to let me pass through it. Since that wasn't my intention, I turned and walked through it again, this time getting the desired experience of walking directly through the wall.

I bring this up to point out for those hampered by limitations in dreams (such as trouble flying or whatever), by examining the dream world as an illusion and confronting it as such, you can more easily bypass things your mind might hamper you from. Despite it taking me 4 tries to get walking through a wall right.

On a side note, it was snowing in my dream, and it still suprises me to be able to feel the cold and wetness of snow in a dream, even while realizing it's just an illusion. []

First a disclaimer: I am not familiar with the process of phasing except for what I've read on these boards, so I have no idea how it applies to the below. I wouldn't mind insight into it, however.

For the past two months, my goal has been to consciously AP, instead of through lucid dreaming. To do this, I've been practicing every night when I go to bed to maintain consciousness as my body falls asleep.

Lying in a prone position on my back, I've used an elevated arm to make sure I can't fall asleep prematurely. Once I reach hypnogogic imagery, I lower my arm and go with it. Value: High.

I tried a recording of my voice, which would play every hour, telling me that I was dreaming. All it did was wake me up. Every time. Value: Low.

For a short period, I used a brainwave cd (the free mp3 from these forums). I have mixed feelings about this. It felt the lazy way for me. I feel the only way I'll ever succeed is through willpower, so I eventually quit using the brainwave cd. I can reach the same relaxed state through meditation and breathing excercises just as fast. Value: Mid.

At this point, I'm able to keep awareness for an hour or two, experiencing hypnogogic imagery and exit symptoms. I still cannot consciously AP at this point, but I get swept up in the hypnogogic imagery. In some ways, this altered state of consciousness has been as fun as lucid dreaming and my astral projections, but still isn't my goal. The rope technique isn't working for me (or any other method other than lucid dreaming to induce).

I've reached a point where I don't care about reaching my goal immediately. The pushing of the mind to maintain awareness and meditation has been very rewarding in growth toward states of mind I've been unfamiliar with, and I'm sure there's more coming up in the future to learn and discover. Besides, eventually my defenses are going to eventually have to screw up and let me out of body. []

My major success to AP is from lucid dreaming. My last success was on July 9th. Since then, I've gone back to keeping a dream journal, and am recalling up to 4 dreams a night. However, I've had no luck of lucidity. I'm pretty sure I can do an AP if lucid, so I'm playing with an idea I found in a book called Lucid Dreaming.

I am making a recording of 1 hour. It will all be silence except for 3 seconds. Once an hour (it'll be set up on repeat), the 3 sec recording will play. All it'll say is "Garth, you're dreaming." Once I start dreaming, I should hear my voice reminding me. [] Once lucid, I'll see if I can maintain a level of AP success from lucidity. I'll post results.

I have a weird dream hang-up. In my dreams, I frequently visit the home where I grew up, and my deceased parents who are also always there. Maybe that's not weird. But what is to me is that if I'm lucid and go to the house in a dream, they are also there. Often when I'm trying new things in lucid dreams, they'll tag along and discuss things with me. There is never the thought that they are ghosts, though often I've felt like I'm a ghost to them.  

When my grandmother died, I dreamt of her visiting me to tell me goodbye (I was very young). Never dreamed of her again. When my father died, he began to visit in my dreams. My mother joined him in the dreams following her death, two years later.

On a side note, I have an aunt who now lives in that house. She says that she is afraid there are hard feelings between her and my parents, because she never dreams of them. []

So if you are sitting in your living room and either a shadowy creature or a being of light passes through the room, what would you say allowed such things? (Not considering schitzophrenia here)

Is it the NEW energy workings opening up the brow chakra? Is it the development of astral site from roaming about out of body? Is it something else I'm not considering?

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the site, obviously, and am also sort of a newbie projector. I've only got a handful of conscious projections under my belt, though I've been a compentent lucid dreamer for 5 years. If it weren't for lucid dreaming, I still would not be able to get out of my body. I've only got 100 pages left to read of Astral Dynamics, but I've found it very inspirational and thought provoking.

The Astral Pwka