Near OBE, or just dreams?

[Arithmetic]

Hi everyone, first time poster here.  I've recently had experiences of a certain nature that I don't feel I can discuss with family and friends.  They are all staunchly Atheist and would almost certainly be dismissive and likely lose respect for me should I mention it.

I have had experiences in life, though I'm not sure I've ever had a full-blown OBE. I have experienced Sleep Paralysis many times, sometimes with the presence of a (negative) entity, though I've never actually seen anything, just felt a presence that seemed malign.

Also, I have always had what I thought was just a recurring dream where I'm lying in bed and I try to get up, put I'm 'pulled' back down, several times. I was always amazed that during these 'episodes' I was able to 'see' my room how it actually was at the time (over many years this happened in many different rooms). Basically it just didn't feel like a dream, more like I was trying to move out of my own body but could never quite make it before 'snapping back.' During these episodes I am fully aware of what's going on, to the point that I often become frustrated that I can't 'get out.' It feels very different from a dream as I feel much more 'present' than I do while dreaming, even lucid dreaming. The transition from this to waking is often seamless, with me actually being in the position I 'dreamt' I was in.

Recently though, I've had a few experiences lately which brought about a resurgence in my research of AP and lucid dreaming.The first was about a week ago:

I awoke with the sensation of 'coming back' into my body. The best way I can describe it is that it was like the feeling of bouncing back up as if I had jumped into bed, the only thing is that I wasn't physically moving (and certainly not jumping!). As always, these experiences are difficult to describe, but I feel almost certain that this was something out of the ordinary. It just felt very different.

Then, two nights ago, I had another experience in which I realized I was dreaming and became lucid. At that point I attempted to detach from my body. Everything went black and I felt the vibrations commonly associated with AP. That's as far as it got, but I think I may have been close!

What do you guys think? Does it sound like the things I'm experiencing involuntarily are AP related? Or perhaps they could just be combinations of vivid dreams and SP?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to any and all responses.

Best wishes,

Arithmetic

[Szaxx]

Welcome to the Pulse Arithmetic.
Classic explanation of whats expected.
Everything fits the bill.
Your awareness in these experiences defines the dream/projection state. If you had full physical awareness without the typical following the preset routine of a dream then you have been successful in projecting.
As it's early days for you there's plenty of things to read on this site that will fill in many questions you have.
These are in the stickies, the darker blue background topics heading each menu from the home button.
Have a read and any further questions will be answered.

[Xanth]

When you begin to have a lot of your own experiences, and you begin to analyze them and compared them to one another... as long as you're not hooked on mystical labels, you'll begin to see a pattern:  That what we call "dreams" don't actually exist.  You don't dream... you never have.  In the time you've been sleeping, you've never had a "dream".  Not sure how much clearer I can say that.  LoL

What you have been doing is projecting.  This happens each and every night of your life (and even right this very second, but that takes a bit more explaining) and you've never realized it because you've been stuck on this human concept of "dreaming".  What humans call a "dream" is a "projection where you simply don't realize you're projecting".  That then makes an "astral projection" as a projection in which you DO know you're dreaming.  

Now, you might be saying to yourself, "but that's what a lucid dream is silly!", well you'd be right... but then "lucid dreams" don't exist either.  It's just a label people give to an experience where they're "awake" while dreaming.  Sound familiar?

So if you were "dreaming" and you realized you were dreaming, then you're projecting consciously.  The only major separation/distinction is "unconsciously projecting" (dream) and "consciously projecting" (projection).  Now there are further distinctions in the "consciously projection" category, which have to do with just how much awareness you have (which I explain further in my free eBook http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39504726/Phasing_Primer.pdf), but for the most part you don't need to worry about them just yet... or ever really.  Just focus on "becoming aware while dreaming" and go from there. 

[Astralzombie]

I suggest that you read up on sleep paralysis so that you can understand why you perceive a negative entity in your presence but there really isn't.

Of course everything I said isn't true if you have to share a room with an in-law because that would make the negative presence very valid and your life may be in danger.

[Arithmetic]

Szaxx: Thanks, I will be looking through the stickies more in the coming days. I guess I was just looking for some personal validation here as I'm still very new to all this in terms of consciously trying to project oneself.

Xanth: I think I'm a bit guilty of over-applying 'labels' to my experiences! I've begun reading your ebook; only 12 pages in but it's great stuff! It's very good to read something explaining all this in simple terms. Before I thought it was going to take a while to get my head around it, but you have a great way with words!

Astralzombie: No in-laws just yet, but I'll keep an eye out!  I definitely will take this advice, as from what I've read so far (or at least what I've understood from what I've read) is that this could be a projection of my own negativity in some form. So I feel that is worth understanding more about as I continue to train myself to experience this level of consciousness!

Thanks guys for the help and I hope to have more experiences and discussions in the near future!

Arithmetic

[Xanth]

Thank you for the kind words regarding my book, it's much appreciated.  As for labels... Yeah we're all quite guilty of over using them.  Hehe

We kind of have to use labels if we're to communicate our experiences though.  As such I had to create my own to define my experiences to myself and convey what I was experiencing better to others.  

Calling my experiences a lucid dream or an astral projection simply didn't work for me anymore as the terms have lost all meaning to me.  Not to mention that those labels usually already come fully loaded with baggage in people's minds.

[Lionheart]

Then, two nights ago, I had another experience in which I realized I was dreaming and became lucid. At that point I attempted to detach from my body. Everything went black and I felt the vibrations commonly associated with AP. That's as far as it got, but I think I may have been close!

Hello and Welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

In my opinion, this is where most people go wrong. They become Lucid in a Dream, then they think they have to return and detach from the body, when they have actually already successfully shifted to the NPR (Non Physical Realms/Reality).

At that point you don't need to detach from the body, all you need to do is change your intent. Thought = action there, so you will end up where you wish.

By thinking of detaching from your body, you are now focusing directly on your body, which in turn "returns" you to this physical focus. Now you have to start the whole process over again. You already have the vibrations, but now you need to lose your physical focus all over again. I'm sure you could see why this is a waste of time and counterproductive.

If people realized that becoming conscious in a "Dream" is all they really need. They would see that AP really is that simple. 

[Arithmetic]

Hello and Welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

In my opinion, this is where most people go wrong. They become Lucid in a Dream, then they think they have to return and detach from the body, when they have actually already successfully shifted to the NPR (Non Physical Realms/Reality).

At that point you don't need to detach from the body, all you need to do is change your intent. Thought = action there, so you will end up where you wish.

By thinking of detaching from your body, you are now focusing directly on your body, which in turn "returns" you to this physical focus. Now you have to start the whole process over again. You already have the vibrations, but now you need to lose your physical focus all over again. I'm sure you could see why this is a waste of time and counterproductive.

If people realized that becoming conscious in a "Dream" is all they really need. They would see that AP really is that simple. 

This makes a lot of sense! Thank you Lionheart for the insight. This explains why I almost always wake up as soon as I realize I'm dreaming, I'm just focusing too strongly on the physical world. Thanks for the help!

Arithmetic