Who's felt this before?

[psychonaut]

Well, I was laying on my chest trying to go to sleep last night and had trouble to actually do so. Anyways, I started seeing pulses of "light/color" and then felt my mid body and arms, which were at my sides, rock side to side. I enjoyed the sensation but I could stop it whenever I wanted to. The swaying/vibrating side to side was probably 2 or 3 inches. I'm guessing it was my astral body because at the same time I could feel by physical body was completely still except for my breathing. It was a first for me. Has any one experienced this before? Was I going out-of-body?
Thanks,
AJ

[kiwibonga]

Many things can trigger movement sensations -- sometimes they are actually energy movements, but it's not easy to tell. Usually, they occur at a stage where you are somewhat sleepy, but still too awake to project.

You shouldn't expect to be able to just jump out of body while you're still awake -- it can happen, but it's very rare, and often accidental.

The biggest challenge is not really to become aware of a subtle body and jump out, it's reaching the proper state. What you want to do is fall asleep while remaining aware. It takes quite a bit of practice, but if you learn to master it, you'll most likely find yourself out of body without any visible effort.

http://www.geocities.com/octanolboy/do_obe.pdf -- this document explains the different stages you will experience pretty well
http://www.robertpeterson.org/chap07.html -- scroll down to the exercise there, the arm trick is particularly helpful to practice not falling asleep completely and staying in the trance state (and if you haven't read Robert Peterson's book, it's definitely worth a read!)

[Kodemaster]

Those are typical trance sensations, but you weren't out of body. However, you are on the right track. Keep on practicing!

Jen

[psychonaut]

kiwi,

Thanks for the reply with the interesting links 

jen,

Never felt a trance before then, I guess. I know I wasn't oob, I've only REALLY been out once, but I felt looser that night like I might have almost done it. Maybe it was the concern in the back of my mind that I had to get up to work in a few hours that kept me in    Thanks.