Interesting, I myself have had similar experiences where I would be in a dream and then "astral project". I think that it would just make me somewhat lucid... and then I'd return to the dream thinking it was real.
They certainly are confusing experiences, but I feel that I didnt actually project, just stayed in the same dream but gained an odd form of lucidity... but you're experience may have been different.
My experiences have been really strange because I didn't know it was a dream, but I knew I wasn't physical and was able to bend reality and do everything you can in a lucid dream.
Once in one of these dreams I got stuck in this fake real-time zone and was able to talk to a friend to try and find a way to bring me back... it was more of an adventure then anything scary
Sylvan Muldoon, who along with Hereward Carrington wrote The Projection of the Astral Body, very often would project from dreams. Muldoon's experiences related that when he found he was lucid in a dream, he would make a conscious decision to project, and that is how he began a good many projections.
So, Reality, it seems that you may have been able to astral project from a dream as well.
I went completely lucid this morning heh. What hooked me was that I realized that I was going to attack a ghost in my old house basement (or something like that), and that I always do this and I always end up getting my butt kicked and I realized I was dreaming. So I stopped everything in the dream and started announcing.
"I AM GOING TO ASTRALLY PROJECT NOW"
"I AM GOING TO OBE NOW"
"I AM GOING TO ASTRALLY PROJECT NOW"
"I AM GOING TO OBE NOW"
"I AM GOING TO ASTRALLY PROJECT NOW"
"I AM GOING TO OBE NOW"
Then I slid into waking consciousness and that was it. I was sort of in a position to project but essentially it didn't work.
Funny how some people can do it and others have real problems.
Jason.
Maybe the difference is that you Jason, tried to hard? I sort of slipped away, surrendered'1, and I must add that the way I perceived the atmhosphere of the room was very peaceful.
Anyway this was particularly strange for me to happen. The previous times I definetly projected[x1] or got close to[x2] were caused by dreams that zapped me to the vibrational state. The first time came unexpected and not intentionally, I got 'scared' and talked in myself 'no I dont want to project I'm not ready'. Something I regretted afterwards. Well to the point, some thoughts seem to trigger a projection. The second time I just went to sleep, pretty highly energized, and thought if I'm truly destined to travel the astral in this lifetime, then project at night! And it happened! A very disturbing dream(let's just say I lost some precious body parts and bleeded to death) got me to the vibrational state, immediately realizing this and feeling the upwards motions I just thought of going out and out I went! The third time I conciously held myself in[to try something different], and woke up =/
Now I know that when I say, "just thought of going out and out I went", sounds way too easy, and might be misleading. But I think it really is that easy when you find yourself in that vibrational state! Under condition that you realize what's happening, and use your free will to decide what you will do :D
1 :this might be a key, because I believe when you can surrender there's no hidden fear left
~Reality
And thanks for being bothered to read all this!
I'm going to try to write this down as clear as possible, but I think I might actually have projected inside a dream!
The Dream - I was having a dream about a competition at my athletics club, waiting inside a room with a bunch of people. Then I just laid down on a training mat.
Projection? And for some reason I thought of projecting and observing everyone through my astral entity(smiles at the thought). I just kind of sank out of my body, it went really quick. And I found myself at the bottom of an ocean..(no fish though). WITH MY FULL CONCIOUSNESS! So realizing this, I thought that I should teleport to some cool place! I tried to teleport myself to a small island with two palmtree's. But nothing aaahhh!
Then I decided I should try to get back to the location of my dream. Saw a few people in my so called ocean, and before I knew it I was back in the room of my dream. And at first nobody noticed me. Hehe I also did some kind of telekinetic trick that catched them of guard ..*grins*..But to my shocking surpise one person [actually someone I know pretty well] starting talking to me. And I was like WTF... you arent supposed to notice me !!! ....lol...After that nothing significant happened and woke up.
Conclusion?
So the strange thing is, that while I could possibly have actually performed a projection, I wasn't aware that the dream wasn't real...Which quickly draws to thinking that it might as well have been a lucid dream...But the projection felt so real!
reality