OBE or a dream?

[dayglowdaisy]

Hello all! I have been reading this forum for a while but this is my first post   I am new to the world of self-induced OBEs, but have been researching them and practicing some of the techniques for the last month or so.  Anyway, I had an experience last night and I was unsure if it was an OBE or just a lucid dream...here goes.

So I went to sleep after midnight but was having trouble falling asleep and relaxing, it took me about an hour before I finally started to doze off. I was not doing any practices at the time, just trying to get some sleep. The next thing I know, everything seems really dark but I am aware I am in my bed and my body is asleep. No weird sounds or strange vibrations though, maybe just a tingle of energy. I ask for awareness and all of a sudden, I feel like I am floating above my body! "Oh my god it's finally happening" I think and get excited.  I feel myself come back down from floating, but then I remember to try some techniques that I read about.  I then tell myself to roll out of my body, and it works! I feel like I am floating down through the floor into the living room below.  Everything is really dark.  I see some physical items through the darkness and try to move them but I can't really grasp anything.  I know my boyfriend is on the couch but I can't really see what he's doing and he does not see me.  I then decide that I want to go outside and try flying...However, when I get to the door I have trouble going through it.  Eventually, i sort of phase through it and am on the front door stoop, and remember the higher self technique, who doesn't want to see their higher self?  So I ask to and nothing really happens, but then I find myself  back in the bedroom.  I realize "wow - I just had an OBE" and try to run downstairs to tell my boyfriend.  Then I just wake up. It's about 2 am at this time.

I find myself wondering if this was a dream because there was no real clarity and control, I was all over the place.  However I was definitely lucid and trying to control it.  I also did not have any pre OBE vibrations or the sensation of being tugged back into the body.  Any thoughts would be great! I am excited because the actual experience of floating out of m body was very real, as was rolling out and sinking through the floor.

Thanks everyone! Nice to meet all of you!

~Jessica

[Xanth]

Hi there Jessica!

Welcome to the forums!

I believe you're actually asking the wrong question.
What you should be asking yourself is "How consciously aware were you during your non-physical experience?"

This is because I believe that all of those "types" of experiences you list (dream, lucid dream, OBE/AP) are all non-physical experiences. They're all the same thing that happen in the same area of consciousness.  What separates the experience, what allows you to categorize them is "how consciously aware you were DURING the experience".

If you only realized you were dreaming, then you had what I call a "lucid awareness experience".
If you realized you were dreaming AND you had what I call a "waking awareness" (meaning you had the same awareness that you have right now while awake, or as close to it as possible), then you had what I call an "astral awareness experience".

All of this is just my perception on things... I'm sure others will share theirs. 

[dayglowdaisy]

Thanks for the input Xanth!! I am excited because I feel like I am FINALLY getting to the point where I can really start controlling these experiences.  I would have to say that this was definitely an astral awareness situation because I was fully aware and trying to control myself. I knew my body was asleep but my non-physical mind was not.  However, since it was my first time I was kind of all over the place  

This is truly an exciting day for me because I feel like I finally "broke the seal" and am being prepped for some awesome adventures.  Oh yeah one other thing - I felt like someone was there helping me out of my body but I couldn't see them? I look forward to meeting my guides soon

[NoY]

I love the name Jessica i even named my PC Jessica
i think because of the Dune books
Anywho Welcome to the Pulse 

:NoY:

[dayglowdaisy]

Thanks! I am happy to be here. Looking forward to hearing everyone's opinions and sharing more experiences as they come

[c0sm0nautt]

This is because I believe that all of those "types" of experiences you list (dream, lucid dream, OBE/AP) are all non-physical experiences. They're all the same thing that happen in the same area of consciousness.  What separates the experience, what allows you to categorize them is "how consciously aware you were DURING the experience".

If you only realized you were dreaming, then you had what I call a "lucid awareness experience".
If you realized you were dreaming AND you had what I call a "waking awareness" (meaning you had the same awareness that you have right now while awake, or as close to it as possible), then you had what I call an "astral awareness experience".

I've always differentiated lucid dreams from OBEs by the local they take place, but your model is good too. In almost all of my lucid dreams I feel like I am awake, have full senses, feelings, etc. Some of these take place in strange dream environments where I feel like I am interacting with subjective aspects of myself. One took place at an airport, another a supermarket.

In other situations I feel like the location is more objective, and I am interacting with beings who have their own sentience and free will. I may be in a very nice beach area or in space by a planet.

Do you follow Kepple's model of Focus 2 and 3?

[c0sm0nautt]

Opps nvm, you answered it in this thread: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_out_of_body_experiences/ld_or_ap-t33402.0.html

Thanks for the PDF you wrote up. I think I am going to focus my attention on phasing from now on, as opposed to trying to induce normal projection symptoms.

Edit: Just finished reading this http://www3.sympatico.ca/xanth18/Phasing_Primer.pdf. Extremely helpful! I've been struggling getting into Focus 12 and I can't wait to try out the noticing techniques. I was focusing on the feeling of my body hoping to induce vibrations, but in hindsight this was probably keeping my awareness locked in the body. This article should be made a sticky thread in this forum! 

[djed]

Hi Jessica, yes you were certainly 'oob', but in the real time zone, or 'etheric plane' that is close to the physical. You will probably next time fly out through the roof and be in the astral! (This is a more traditional way of looking at the differences of experience)
Good luck,
djed 

[Xanth]

Edit: Just finished reading this http://www3.sympatico.ca/xanth18/Phasing_Primer.pdf. Extremely helpful! I've been struggling getting into Focus 12 and I can't wait to try out the noticing techniques. I was focusing on the feeling of my body hoping to induce vibrations, but in hindsight this was probably keeping my awareness locked in the body. This article should be made a sticky thread in this forum! 

I'm glad you like it.  I did put the download link in my Phasing Primer post in the Astral Consciousness section.
It's basically everything I've learned so far about phasing from reading Franks stuff... mixed with generous portions of my own experiences.
I'm hoping that it's the first of many to come.