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 Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I feel like I'm almost 'stuck' to the bed. It feels like a sort of magnetic pull especially around my head and I can't move. The air feels thick and heavy and I can hear a sound like if I was listening to a seashell - the wind, the sea, etc. I feel and hear the same sounds and sensations in False Awakenings. In those situations I would wrest myself up from my bed, the atmosphere would clear and I would continue my dream/projection without any fuss. What I do here is I keep my mind awake until I tire myself out eventually. It's a split-second decision to make before panic sets in.
 
It feels like I might be wasting a chance to finally have that elusive conscious projection. I can think clearly then and I actually consider this but my fear always gets the better of me in the end. Basically I'm asking how close I would be to a full-blown projection if I let it run it's course naturally i.e. what to expect and actually if it's worth pursuing in the first place. Also obviously what method to use once I've made the decision to go further. 

 
It started off with me being semi-lucid at a party. When I got lucid I left. I had a little fun whooshing around, upside down doing loop de loops and so on.. This was all on a stairwell. Anyway, I got bored of that and wanted to get out of the building. I found a door and tried to visualise the outside as I turned the handle and opened it. I ended up at another party. I left and tried more doors to the same result. I went down more flights of stairs (this was like an apartment block) and tried more doors and again another room full of people. I went in and found another door again the same. This went on for the whole dream - a room leading to another room leading to another. One time through some kind of trick I cant remember, I got outside but as soon as I started walking I was back indoors. In some of the rooms there were windows and I could see the outside clearly enough - mostly the sky but I just couldn't get out of there!

Through all of this I had this feeling that I was going to swallow my tongue in the physical and that maybe I should just wake up but I continued anyway. This was accompanied by a constant ache in my throat. When I finally awoke the ache was still there it soon subsided and I think I was grinding my teeth too.

This was also the most drawn out AP/LD I've had - I faded in and out a little but it was very faint. I suspect the throatache kept me grounded in a way. My movement and vision was good and I didn't lose my head despite it being a confusing experience.
So... what should I have done or what should I do next time a similar situation arises?  

49 AP/LDs (they are one and the same, I think) for me this year!

  I'm excluding very brief but fully lucid experiences, semi-lucids and false awakenings. Practically all my APs come in clusters and so are counted as one long projection. If they happened at different points in the same day i.e. one in the morning then one in the evening, it's counted as two separate experiences.

The rest:
3 fully lucid but very brief
Couple of false awakenings
8 semi-lucids

So get out your dream recall diaries and join in!

When I was nominally an atheist the lack of an afterlife was a great source of comfort to me.

Is there still the choice to opt out of existence once and for all? I mean after death.

And no, I'm not suicidal...

Maybe its ego-driven:an unhealthy attachment to my physical being that, this life has to be the only one or something. Still eternal nothingness sounds rather wonderful.

This has been the recurring theme in my dreams this year. I keep finding kids in mild peril like crawling on stairways, on slopes or landscapes that start sloping once I'm there etc. Generally they're unattended and unaware of any danger. Sometimes there's two or more and I'm trying to carry them all. Another slightly less common scenario is that they are crying and I'm trying to comfort them. In both cases as I hold them they usually shrink and sometimes they speak. These dreams are quite frantic and awkward.

Can anyone interpret this for me?  Its been my most common dream for most of the year and it's gotta signify something, right? The sites I've looked up have been too vague, too general and I'm not especially intuitive by nature. Thanks.

 
Now that I can project from lucid dreams, I feel I've come full circle in a way. This time last year I was wandering around my dreams only they were a bit lifeless. Now my awareness has improved, my vision once aware is near-perfect and my movement is smoother than its ever been. My non-lucid dreams are also more vivid and memorable. This is all from treating my LDs as APs.

But I don't know what to do next. I know my work isn't complete but I feel a bit directionless and I think I need something to aim for, something to focus my energies on.

Here is a list of things I can't do as a starting point:

AP/LD at will though I can sometimes tell when its going to happen based on my sleep pattern.

Hang around in the void ~ its the best part of any projection for me just floating there but I'm always dropped into a scene even when I protest as I feel the shift and the scene materialises.

Can't taste anything. For some reason I wanna eat in the NPR! My other senses have gotten stronger but not taste or smell, really...

These are what instantly spring to mind so any tips on how to improve in these areas would be appreciated. But really I'm open to anything that'll help me progress.

When I'm in the void (or what I believe to be the void) I tend to automatically talk to it like I'm talking to a person, like there is someone watching or listening out there in the darkness. I experiment with different commands like 'Take me to my higher self', 'Take me where I need to be' etc.

Recently, I tried 'Take me home' and I ended up in an apartment just floating from room to room. When this faded I tried the same command  twice more with similar results. Once there was a corpse that came back to life (not scary - I created and neutralised it as it was being created, I think) and there was a woman in the next. In both I again just floated around each room and even ended up in a pantry rifling through the spice rack!    .It was perplexing and I couldn't understand why I was there. When I awoke I finally realised that I'd gotten exactly what I'd asked for  - to go 'home', literally and I then saw the funny side of it.

This has left me wondering if the void has a personality.It seems like someone out there was having a giggle at my expense (which is fair enough, I guess  ). Or maybe the void is the place where other non-physical beings can tune in to us and there isn't just one 'operator'  on the line, so to speak?  But, at the same time, it also seems like something a computer would do - i mean give a literal answer to a deliberately vague or obtuse instruction?

Or maybe I am just reading too much into these things... Whatever the case I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions on this

 
The last time I was lucid I decided that rather than 'jump' into darkness I would hang about in the dream for various reasons. I stepped out of the room I'd gained awareness in and started off down the stairs. I'm not sure if it was a place I knew or not  but I felt like it was only supposed to be maybe a short flight or two. It was very dark and gloomy despite it  being light in the room I'd just left. I ran down because I wanted to explore but the staircase just wouldn't end. I started talking to a tiny toy man on one step. I carried on walking and I saw a baby on another step and picked it up (it's not safe there!) and carried on. I went back up the steps and now the toy had turned into a tiny man and we walked out together into daylight. I saw the baby's mother who then handed me another kid to hold. But by the time I was out I felt that my lucidity was lowered and everything was kind of chaotic after that.

Now, I prefer to go into these things with some kind of game-plan. Lately its been to get lucid, run out of the scene as fast as I can until everything goes black and see where it takes me (I'm still working on this technique). This time though, I actually wanted to explore the present dream and planned as much because I wanted to test a few things out. But I couldn't get out of the building! I feel like there's a message or a lesson this - maybe that I should be focusing on moving onward and upwards instead of dawdling and being complacent? Or maybe something more practical like it was testing my navigation skills in the NPR and I should have willed an exit or walked through the walls or something? Or could it just be a case of if 'it ain't broke...' and I should persist with whatever I was doing first and not try to innovate too much?  Maybe all of the above? I'd appreciate anyone's interpretion.

Hi all!

In my last couple of dreams, when i get lucid, my aim has been to 'break way' from the dream location/situation.This started in a sustained lucid dream where after shifting in and  out of awareness I was 're-awakened' by  a dream character (twice!). I made a firm decision there and then to jump out of the window of the house I was in. I walked briskly on right through the window and into a black hole in the garden. When I usually jump from a height in dreams the overriding thought is about landing safely and on solid ground. This time I just focused on just getting somewhere, anywhere. I was sort of being sucked into blackness and I could feel the wind in my face as I accelerated. I ended up floating in 'outer space' or a dream version of it - a black background with sparkles. I stuck my hand out and it was hazy looking and sort of transparent. For some reason my sleeve was striped (not what I was wearing earlier) and I was relieved I wasn't naked! Other than that I had no bodily awareness.

Fear then arose in me. I thought 'Something nasty will appear because I'm panicking' . I looked around and it felt like I could see all around me at the same time - a weird sensation. I then reasoned that if 'thought = action' here then I probably ought to keep things short and end it straight away. As soon as this was decided I started 'pulling out' of the scene. Right then my rational mind finally turned up and went 'Wait! There's so much I want to do!' or something and instead of waking up I ended up in a false awakening.In it  I tried to record this experience in some busted up notebooks but couldn't find an empty page. When I finally found one I struggled to even get the date down. I guess I woke up after that.

So I basically lasted about 5 seconds in space . Clearly I messed up where it counted right?  I learned (or noticed) however that my rational mind is always one step behind when in the dream-state. Initially I'm more animalistic or something i.e. that my survival or wellbeing is paramount and that's where the fear's coming from, maybe? If I'd waited a little longer I could have made a more sensible decision. Also, that the false awakening at the end was a positive sign because I didn't wake up , I stayed non-physical even if I couldn't capitalise on it. Correct me if I'm wrong on either count, obviously.

Then the other night after attaining lucidity I again power-walked into the abyss . I tried what William Buhlman said : 'Take me to my higher self' and... I ended up in a room with a guy in military fatigues on a sofa who said he was my higher self! I sat on a seat facing him and we made small talk. I kept on asking him 'Are you sure you're my higher self?!' and he seemed unphased and just said 'Yeah' with a smile. But when I tried to talk, to express myself, he started rambling. He then stood up, walked away from me and jumped into a hole in the floor, looked like a golf hole. I tried calling after him but to no avail. Somehow after that I ended up on an empty street. It was sunny but everything looked hazy. I just stood there without a clue. Its the first time in a dream that I didn't feel rushed just clueless and dopey.

I don't remember the rest unfortunately because when I woke up I had the choice of  recording it which would have woken me right up or try again while I was still dozy and opted for the latter. I remember swirly psychedelic colours and 'diving in' and seeing the same bloke now in a shirt and tie sitting behind a desk. We cordially exchanged  greetings  but as I tried to speak to him (just words - nothing deep) my hearing got fuzzy and he shrunk to about and an inch high and ran away.  I presume I woke up eventually.

So, what do you think? Brushes with the astral proper or just overblown lucid dreams? Should I persist with this technique?  I've been thinking that maybe I should instead just focus on conscious-exit projection or something. I feel like my subconscious really clouds things. Also that it takes aspects of my more successful episodes and flimsily reproduces them to dupe me. What am I doing wrong? Feel free to tear into me if you must but I'd really like some answers please!!

I took a nap this afternoon and I think I came very close to projecting from a lucid dream.

In the first LD I woke up in my bed. I pulled myself out I started thinking 'How do I convert this?' but didn't get out of my room.It faded out and in the next couple I couldn't even get out of bed.

I also had bouts of defective vision: my bedding was imprinted on my eyes. So I started focusing on the 'awakening' process the 'shift' into LD. usually its a slightly nauseous feeling like a lift going downwards and stopping and I then pull myself out of bed. This time I thought that maybe its actually a longer process and the pulling or rolling out of bed was my being impatient. So I decided to let it run its course (to see if it had one really) and just wait things out. Instead of getting up straight away I waited and it was pretty cool! My body felt like it was being contorted into all sorts of crazy positions, all twisted in on itself  like someone was moving my limbs. From 'waking'  on my back, I ended up on my belly. This then subsided and I got up. I found my movements were swifter and smoother.I felt more in sync with the dream environment and the flash of bad vision disappeared with nothing more than a disgruntled thought!

I reminded myself to engage in my environment. So I left the room, tried to observe and absorb all I could and said 'Hi' to anyone in the area. Usually in LD I'm a little rushed, there's an urgency there. I slowed myself up a bit and took everything in. Nearly got distracted a couple of times, even. Each time the dream faded out I ended up in my dream-bed and would have to go through the same routine again. But I persisted and after a couple of these in-and-out scenarios I think I had my brush with AP...

I recall walking down a flight of stairs and the dream began blacking out. Each time this happened I tried to apply myself. This time it felt different I started getting 'dream paralysis' (I made a thread about this already) where I felt a great weight on my chest and the sensation of being throttled. After reading around I've come to the conclusion that this is the dream version of sleep paralysis and a gateway to or a signifier of AP so I was ready to face it. I could feel hands on my throat and my own (non-physical?) hands on top of those .Its a unpleasant experience but this time it was surprisingly short. I felt this intense throbbing or vibration and I could hear funny noises - popping and snapping, sort of.This then changed and I started to see an bright image or images flashing in the distance heading towards me and there was music like a speeded up pop song I couldn't make out the words except finally 'go to bed ' or 'back to bed' and... I woke up in my bed.

The reason I feel this ended abruptly is because (I'm ashamed to say) i freaked out a bit . My mind started babbling and maybe I lost a little focus in the process. Its understandable because its a new experience but the reason I think I finally reached this stage was through being relatively cool-headed and pragmatic y'know? The first part of this post sounds fairly linear but it was really a mishmash of successes interspersed with a lot of lesser episodes, a lot of trial and error. Also, I didn't really have a destination in mind and maybe it would be a better approach to have?

As well this being the closest to projecting I've gotten, its also the most drawn out (it lasted I think around an hour) and well, lucid of the dreams I've had.It just felt different to the preceding lucid dream which felt more like a dark corner of my mind. This felt like I'd stumbled onto something Outside of my imagination, like I was strapped in and things weren't totally in my control or something I dunno!  So.. I just wanted to share it

I could be wrong but I'll try to explain...

Usually it happens upon waking from a dream or lucid dream especially the latter.I feel a sort of magnetic pull like being sucked into sleep. Its like when you're exhausted except then you blackout into a dreamless sleep but with added awareness and no loss of consciousness. There's no voices or vibrations or anything like that -just that pull. my eyelids feel very heavy and almost forced shut and it takes a surprising amount of effort to open them or even think of opening them. Once I'm locked in i then see white - not a flash of light or anything. just bright whiteness that takes over my field of vision. This then fades out and I'm then in an LD. I mostly end up in the previous dream or my bedroom as a default.Then its business as usual for me as far as LDs go.When one ends I go through the same process and so on.

A few notes...

I can think aloud in the white. I might even over-think. I still get a result though so maybe I'm only half-wrong.

I have tried to harness this before, to direct my focus with the same outcome. But if I don't think this through I end up in the same place anyway so..
 
I'm naturally wimpy and I'm beginning to suspect that maybe someone wiser knows that I'm not well-equipped to deal with anything more advanced (not religious btw) and that my LD 'box' is actually the safe place for me or something.

Happens mostly when I nap in the middle of the day (around 4-5 pm) and particularly when I oversleep say till 7-9 that night.

There are the semi-rare instances where I enter a dream as soon as I fall asleep. I find myself in my dream-bed. My limbs are heavy and I have to crawl forcefully off my bed onto the floor. Its a funny sensation like slowly peeling a plaster. Then a normal LD follows. Maybe this is closer to a WILD?

Also, the dreams themselves are becoming more vivid and are lasting longer and I'm less fearful. They're still stilted and uneventful but I guess you take the bad with the good.

I'd like to have a full-blown conscious OBE but while that doesn't seem to be something that'll happen anytime soon while these lucid experiences happen regularly. So I'd like to know if there is there anyway of utilising this transitioning process into something more developed or expansive? I've read the stickies on the site and I'm still struggling.
Thanks

When I lucid dream I usually dream in cycles i.e. from one dream into another, to another etc maybe half a dozen dreams, 2-3 times a week.Normally I'll have at least one where my sight is totally messed up. It tends to feel like my eyelids are glued to my head and I'm effectively staring at my nose,cross-eyed for the duration of the dream. The worst is when the pattern of my bedding is imprinted on my eyes -such a nuisance! Has anybody else ever got this? Demanding clarity never works for me either. So when this occurs , should i just aim to end the dream straight away? I think that non-physical experiences shouldn't be wasted but it gets kinda silly this way.This seems to be a common problem so any tips would be appreciated.

Anyone experienced this? I haven't for a while but I've not really seen it brought up anywhere. Robert Bruce mentioned it briefly in 'Astral Dynamics' where I got the name. For me it was where out of nowhere mid-dream I'd get a heavy crushing pain on my chest and wouldn't be able to breathe or -'dream-breathe'  . RB said its the astral body getting a fright elsewhere while you're dreaming but I'd like to hear other interpretations.

This is a bit of a sloppy post and I apologise in advance especially for the melodramatic title!
Okay so I've been lucid dreaming for a while now. So much so that I don't need to do any affirmations or exercises I just kind of expect it to happen and I LD around 2-3 times a week usually.It normally starts mid-dream with a kind of flickering of awareness or lucidity if you will and its up to me to sort of grab it. Once i'm lucid I find it takes a bit of effort to maintain that state.I don't know if I've read it somewhere or not but I feel like I have to keep moving and I instinctively start running around trying to keep the momentum going and here's where my problems start...
  Firstly I feel this intense sense of dread, almost choking the air. I attribute this to being a natural wimp(!) and nothing scary or dangerous has happened but I doubt that its the best frame of mind to go about this. I try talking to people and they become like blank ciphers even if they were actively engaged in the dream earlier. Also everywhere I go becomes like a stage set sort of flimsy and unreal not dreamlike but what was somewhat definite before lucidity loses this quality e.g. sometimes I find myself in a beautiful or interesting location but as soon as I try to explore I start shifting out of the dream. I find that as long as I keep my focus I can get back into a dream sometimes even the same one.I blackout for a second and I feel like I'm falling or sinking but I'm back and fully lucid. A variation of this happens maybe 5 or 6 times and I wake up with an achy head and neck. once I tried to stay still just it down for a change and I started slipping out again so that made little difference.
There's a few other things I wanna go into(OOBE-lke dreams, weird vision problems etc) but the above is what happens to me pretty much each time I LD and its quite unsatisfying and disappointing. Its not that I have any particular expectations of the NPR (and reading around suggests LD and AP are kind of the same state?) but yeah, I feel a bit trapped and restricted  in this cycle like I'm not progressing.I need some kind of breakthrough cos at the very least my sleeptime isn't really relaxing. Is a change of mindset required, something that simple? Should I set specific goals for myself? Should I attempt AP again (haven't for a while)?
Anyway thanks for reading this

Longtime lurker here and I've finally come out of the woodwork. I've been lucid dreaming regularly for a while now and I'm trying to make the transition into a full blown OOBE, AP or whatever you want to call it...