My First OBE

[light487]

(For my background, please see my introduction post: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_members_introductions/newbie_from_australia-t34972.0.html )

OBE #1: 25 August, 2011 (Time: Unknown but in early hours of morning)
I can't remember the specifics of the dream I found myself in other than the fact that I was confused to have found myself in a house that seemed to be my home from a feelings point of view but logically I knew that it wasn't the same physical house/apartment I lived in. I began to try working out how I got there and who I was, wondering whether I was suffering from some kind of memory loss. I could remember my full name, date of birth and my address (though the address I thought of was an old address where I lived 10 or so years previous). It didn't make sense to the logical part of my brain and as I stood up, in my dream, to study the area in more detail I had the realization that I was dreaming. "Of course!" I thought to myself, "It's so obvious now. I am dreaming. How could I have not noticed that before? How silly of me." My consciousness and awareness grew and the thought, "I should be fully conscious for this." entered my mind. I felt I should be able to be fully conscious and remain in the dream state.

Instead of remaining in the dream, I found myself back in my bedroom after a few moments but instead of being fully aware of my physical body, I still felt the same kind of awareness as I had just moments ago. I felt sure that I was simply in a heightened state of awareness but in my physical body all the same. As I lay there for a few moments, I noticed a sound very similar to that of heavy rain on a tin roof building up in my ears. I somehow recognized at this point that I was about to have an OBE. What I didn't realize was that I was already having one. The whole experience up to this point, not including the subjective dream state, had lasted only a matter of 10 or 15 seconds.

As my awareness and understanding of what was happening increased, I also noticed a couple of other things that were happening along with the sound in my ears, which I somehow knew was a sound inside my head and not coming from an external, physical, source. The first thing I became aware of was that my head and neck but more specifically my jaw was completely paralyzed but more than that, they felt held in place by some unknown force. Even when I didn't try to move, it felt like there was some force surrounding them to keep them rigid. The second thing i slowly became aware of was that my perception, in relation to my body, was displaced. My physical body was laying on my side facing south but it felt like I was about 6 inches north of that position in the same bodily position. I could clearly see the room in front of me, that is facing south toward my bedroom wall and bedside table. I can't recall how clear the sight was but I knew what I was seeing and at the same time I instinctively knew that my physical eyes were still shut.

At this point I was a little wary of the situation and the rigidity of my jaw was concerning me to an even greater degree but without consciously thinking it, I wanted to try and see what would happen if I went with the flow of things. I began to focus on the sound in my ears but from a feeling point of view rather than audio, I could feel the strong fizzing almost electric feeling of the "sound". I started to attempt pushing this feeling from my head down through my body but quickly grew fearful of the unknown and unfamiliar feelings and situation that was happening so fast. Without much effort I tried to open my physical eyes just like i had done many times when  I had a bad dream. I was immediately back in my physical body opening my eyes, looking at the same wall I was just a moment ago but with my physical eyes. There was no sense of movement or loss of consciousness; I was just astral one moment and physical the next. I made the connection more real by moving my body and my right arm to reach over and touch my partner laying in bed beside me.

One interesting thing I realize as I write this, is that while I was fully astral at the time I had woken from the dream, I still had full awareness of my physical body as well. It was like there were two applications running on the computer but only one had my full focus but both were still running at the same time without any interruption.

EDIT: As per what I said in my "Intro" post in the other forum, I have been making use of "affirmation" and "prayer" techniques to convince my subconscious that I am wanting to have OBEs. One other thing, which may have led to this experience, was another technique I had read about where you spend the day asking yourself "Am I dreaming? If not, how can I tell?". I didn't do this all that regularly at specific intervals as the author of the technique recommends but I would have done it at least 10 times during the day leading up to this experience. So it's possible that while I was dreaming and at that point when things started to not make sense logically that my "Am I dreaming?" question came to the front of my awareness and triggered me to realise I was infact dreaming. As this is just the first, of what I hope to be many, experiences; I can't say for sure.

[Greytraveller]

Hallo light487
Congratulations on your experience. As you found out many OBEs are Not clear cut and obvious events. There is often times a transition from a dream or hypnagogic (half awake and half asleep) state into an OBE. Also confusion is actually rather common, especially with first time projections.
I suspect that you also had some form of sleep paralysis (SP) which can be very unsettling for some people. However, you did quite well overall in dealing with an unfamiliar situation. You should find that future OBEs are less confusing and more enjoyable.

Regards 
Grey

[light487]

Hallo light487
Congratulations on your experience. As you found out many OBEs are Not clear cut and obvious events. There is often times a transition from a dream or hypnagogic (half awake and half asleep) state into an OBE. Also confusion is actually rather common, especially with first time projections.
I suspect that you also had some form of sleep paralysis (SP) which can be very unsettling for some people. However, you did quite well overall in dealing with an unfamiliar situation. You should find that future OBEs are less confusing and more enjoyable.

Regards 
Grey

Thanks for your reply. I feel I should have pushed myself further.. I knew intuitively there was no danger, I was very conscious and aware, thinking quite logically and at the same time passively observing.. but yer.. it just got overhwelming all of a sudden and for no apparent reason. I'll definitely be trying again.. it's just annoying that I passed up this wonderful gift of a chance by chickening out at the very moment that it was happening.

[Greytraveller]

Hallo light
Don't feel bad about anything. You did alright. It's all a Big learning curve. The only way that you can progress is by experience. Next time just relax, try not to get too excited and go a little ways farther. Maybe separate and make it to the wall or door. Or maybe go into another room. A bit further with each experience.

Good luck
Grey