Astral Travelling or Something Else - Please Help!!!

[AngelGirl]

Over the past few years, I have researched on and off about Astral Travel. I have read a heap of info and experiences that other people have had, yet I am still not sure if I have actually Astral Travelled myself. I'm hoping that you guys can give me some clarification on this please....

A few years ago, I was in bed, asleep, when I started realising that I could not move my body, and was neither asleep nor awake. Nor entirely in my bed. I was in a room somewhere in my house, feeling scared and it was pitch black. I tried turning on my light switch, but it wouldn't work. The more I tried to turn it on without success, the more scared I became. I was trying to force myself awake, but my eyes felt like they were glued shut. Then, I felt someone sit on my bed. I lived alone and there was no one else at my house at the time. This really freaked me out. I kept trying to wake up, and turn on some lights, but I couldn't. I then felt a warm presence enter my body. After it had covered my entire body, I was finally able to move. I jumped out of bed, and thankfully, I could actually turn my lights on. I called a friend of mine because I was totally freaked out and thought my house was haunted, and she told me that I had probably Astral Travelled.

Over the next couple of years whenever I went to bed early (before 8pm); the same thing would happen to me, (minus the feeling of somebody sitting on my bed).

Each time, I could never remember where I had been (or what I had dreamt of), I only ever became conscious of my body being numb and me wanting and trying to wake up but I couldn't. On every occasion this happened, my house was completely dark and no matter how hard I tried to turn my lights on, they would not work. This would happen for a few seconds (although it felt much longer) until, I could finally force my eyes open, move my body and get up out of bed.

On only two of these occasions, I have been able to recall what had happened prior to this.

I remember being in someone's house. I can vividly remember walking up someone's front steps, going through their door and into to their house. I had never seen this house before in my life, yet I can still vividly see everything about it, as well as the people who were sleeping in it. On the other occasion, I went visiting my neighbour's houses. I can still feel myself standing in their lounge rooms. I can also remember flying across the apartment complex where I lived.

I have always been able to remember a lot of my dreams, and on these two occasions, I didn't feel like I was dreaming. I could actually feel myself being there. After both of these occasions, I went through the routine of struggling to wake up again, being numb, scared and unable to turn on my lights. I began to think that I was Astral Travelling, but wasn't sure if I was or not.

I started wanting to Astral Travel, and to be able to control it too because I was starting to have these episodes every couple of weeks and I started to feel a little more confident, and even less scared.

Then, last year, I was alone in bed, and I felt as though I was very close to leaving my body again, when a lady appeared in front of me. I had never seen her before in my life, yet I can still recall every feature of her face. She didn't say or do anything; she just sat there and stared at me. I had been asking for my Guardian Angel to protect me as I astral travelled, but I couldn't tell whether she was, in fact there to help me, or there to hurt me. The fact that she didn't move and kept staring at me scared the s*%t out of me and forced myself back to consciousness. I jumped out of bed, swearing to myself that I would never try to astral travel again. I haven't had another experience since that night.


Can anyone please tell me - had I been astral travelling??

Thanks in advance, and sorry for such a long post 

[Skippy]

I'm not sure, AngelGirl.

You could have been astral travelling. Some of what you described sounds similar to astral travel, but some of what you described also sounds different to most accounts of astral travel that I've read.

It's possible that you did project unconsciously and then "woke up" as it were, in the astral world.

[Novice]

What you have described sounds like OBEs to me. Your body being numb and unable to move or paralyzed is called sleep paralysis. The fact that your mind is awake at the same time is what is called the "mind awake/body asleep" state. Its critical to achieving OBE. Many people OBE in their home or childhood homes. Sometimes you consciously find yourself somewhere unsure of how you got there. Basically you are unable to remain conscious during the complete transition to wherever you find yourself. Being unable to see at first is also a common side affect. With practice, your sight starts to awaken, as you've described.

As for hearing noises, seeing people, etc, it is not uncommon. Who and what they are is a seperate issue. Sometimes they are other people who are also OBE but usually unaware at the time. They just seem to wonder around almost like zombies -- they are harmless though. Some of them are dream characters. Even though you are in the etheric plane, all planes respond to thoughts, feelings, and consciousness or awareness. Meaning you can be aware that you are OBE, but if your awareness level (also called lucidity) isn't very high, you will also perceive a lot of dream overlays, which can make the etheric and astral planes seem extremely strange and distorted. But its all related to your awareness and perception at the time.

It is also possible to meet other entities while out. I don't recall meeting any in the etheric, but I have done it quite often within the astral. These people could be deceased individuals or others (guardian spirits, angels, whatever you want to call them).

Fear is the last thing you want to take with you when traveling though. You really should try and work past any fear you have. Because whatever you think or fear while out, you will start to experience. You don't HAVE to experience it, but because you were thinking of it or feeling it, you WILL experience it. Essentially you create your own experiences while out. So I would try and work through whatever fears you have of doing this before you try it again. You may end up scaring yourself so bad, you never want to do it again.

[catmeow]

Hi AngelGirl

That certainly sounds like OBE to me.  The experience you describe is called sleep paralysis and is well known.  There is some debate as to whether sleep paralysis precedes or follows OBE.  Robert Bruce (I think) argues that sleep paralysis occurs AFTER an OBE (it's either RB or another author).  RB also describes that the major problem with OBE is actual memory recall of the experience.  He says that many many OBE's are simply forgotton because the memory of the experience is lost in the transition from the OBE state back to the physical state.  He also talks of a "mind-split" whereby your consciousness splits into two identical copies - one goes off astral travelling, while the other copy remains in the physical.  When the "roaming" copy returns, it carries back all of the memories of the astral adventure but these will only be remembered if the "roaming" memories succesfully transfer back into the physical brain.  Otherwise all you remember is lying in bed doing nothing.

Your experiences sound as if they fall perfectly in line with all of these notions.  In other words you have been going OBE many times but have only remembered it twice.  On all other occasions all you remembered was lying in bed experiencing sleep paralysis, whilst in fact a part of you had been "roaming" around your neighbourhood!

Don't worry about the strange experience of feeling someone sit on your bed, or indeed of having an observer in your room staring at you.  I have experienced both, although admittedly the latter unnerved me and forced me to break the sleep paralysis to get out of there!  However, it only occurred once or twice and I never suffered any lasting ill effects!  I'm very familiar with the sensation of someone sitting on my bed.  It never amounts to anything (I don't see who it is and they don't bother me) and nowadays I just ignore the sensation.

I think you should stick at it and don't worry.  Next time you find yourself "roaming" around your neighborhood make a special attempt to REMEMBER the experience when you return to your body.

Robert Bruce's excellent book is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Astral-Dynamics-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/B000HWY5MU/sr=8-1/qid=1166570246

[CFTraveler]

catmeow wrote:

Robert Bruce (I think) argues that sleep paralysis occurs AFTER an OBE (it's either RB or another author).  RB also describes that the major problem with OBE is actual memory recall of the experience. 

I got curious about this, and found this in his treatise: 

Many problems arise when the OBE exit happens unnoticed, and the physical/etheric mind (original copy) stays awake.  When this happens, varying degrees of paralysis will be experienced along with various types of OBE exit related phenomena, as mentioned above.  So as you can see, trying to stop this occurring after this much has already happened can be a difficult proposition, as an OBE is already in full progress. The fear experienced by suddenly finding oneself paralysed can be intense and even traumatizing. This usually causes strong physical body memories and this stops OBE memories from downloading.

the link to the original is http://www.astraldynamics.com/search.asp?Search=paralysis&Type=1&ReferenceID=472

[AngelGirl]

Thanks for your help guys, that certainly clears things up for me. For the first time in a year, I had another experience last night. I don't remember anything except for th struggling to wake up again, but I think that as time goes on, I will be able to remembere much more. It is the first time in a year that I have allowed myself to have an OBE.

Thanks again for all of your help. Now, I'm off to find that Robert Bruce book you mentioned. Take care 

[Astir]

Hi AngelGirl

That certainly sounds like OBE to me.  The experience you describe is called sleep paralysis and is well known.  There is some debate as to whether sleep paralysis precedes or follows OBE. 

For me, sleep paralysis definitely precedes an OBE...but that does not mean that it couldn't also follow. I just remember only OBE's that follow going into sleep paralysis. It really doesn't feel like I can go out of body unless I go into sleep paralysis, but it's possible I've only trained my mind to believe that so I could use it as a door out.

[CFTraveler]

For me, sleep paralysis definitely precedes an OBE...but that does not mean that it couldn't also follow. I just remember only OBE's that follow going into sleep paralysis. It really doesn't feel like I can go out of body unless I go into sleep paralysis, but it's possible I've only trained my mind to believe that so I could use it as a door out.

I'm comfortable saying that most people need to be paralyzed to go out, and some don't.  Also it depends on the type of projection.  I can't do an RTZ OBE without being paralyzed, but I've phased into the astral without being paralyzed, since I didn't need to move 'anything' to merge into the background.  Just a thought.