Was this an OBE

[COCM]

I learnt about astral projection about a week ago. I've been trying a ton of different methods without any success, but last night during my dream I realised that I could breath underwater. This made me realise that I was dreaming, so I imediatly tried to remember what I was supposed to do. I started looking around me and focusing on everything, while feeling the textures of everything with my hands. Everything was becoming really clear and then I remembered that some people said to try and leave the dream and go back to your body and project out of it. Then I said outloud "I will know exit this dream!" Everything went dark and I started falling. It felt like i was being sucked back into my body, but then stupidly as i hit my body I opened my eyes and woke up.

I was really anoyed and wanted to go back to sleep, but then I noticed there was something different about my room. It was deffinitly my room, but some of the things in it had been moved about to different places. I got up and looked around my house and everything felt different and was moved around. I looked for my parents and asked them why everthing had been moved and they said something to me, and then I woke up, exept this time I was actually awake. Everything had seemed real and I was sure I was awake, but I wasn't, so do you think this was an OBE?

[daytona955]

Sounds like you may have had a 'false awakening'. I'm pretty new to this myself, I've had two semi-conscious OBE's but quite a few times when I've really been trying hard in the early hours of the morning, I end up thinking that I've woken up. Everything seems real but then I wake up again!!
I'd wait to see what some more experienced people say, but that's how it seems to me. In any case you've made some definite progress! Good luck for your future attempts!

[Timandra]

Hi COCM, it seems like you had a lucid dream and a false awakening, which is very good after just a week. When you want to project you want to be out of your body, so why go back to your body in a lucid dream? Just be aware that you're out and the LD will change and turn into an OBE. When I turn lucid I just fly up and out of the dreamscenario.
A good thing to do are reality checks during the day, so you will do them also in dreams/false awakenings and you'll get more chances to project.

And just try a few methods instead of lots, and one method at a time for a few weeks before going to the next one, I think that will work much better. And welcome to the Astral Pulse! 

[Astral316]

Ask yourself two things...

"Did my experience feel as real as (or more real than) my physical life?" and "Was I aware of my physical life?"

If you answer yes to both questions you had an OBE. If you answer yes only to one question, you had a lucid dream.

I think false awakenings can be OBEs or lucid dreams. I say this because I've had OBEs where I had to ask myself "Is this the physical or am I projecting?" Sometimes I was wrong and other times I was right, but that doesn't change the nature of the experience or turn an answer from one of the above questions to "no."

[NickisDank]

Yea when your Lucid Dreaming you can convert it to OB by simply just being aware that your actually dreaming if you know what i mean

[Xanth]

I think false awakenings can be OBEs or lucid dreams. I say this because I've had OBEs where I had to ask myself "Is this the physical or am I projecting?" Sometimes I was wrong and other times I was right, but that doesn't change the nature of the experience or turn an answer from one of the above questions to "no."

Obviously, this is only my opinion, but... *ALL* experiences that don't take place while you're awake, aware and here in the physical are "projections".  *Everything*.

Dreams...
Lucid Dreams...
OBEs...
Astral Projections...
False Awakenings...

Everything.  They're all "non-physical experiences" of slightly different flavours.

[catmeow]

Ask yourself two things...

"Did my experience feel as real as (or more real than) my physical life?" and "Was I aware of my physical life?"

If you answer yes to both questions you had an OBE. If you answer yes only to one question, you had a lucid dream.

I think that's a very good answer.  During an OBE there is typically no question about the "reality" of the experience.  If there is a question about it, then you are probably having an LD.  LD is private, internal. OBE is public, external. imo.

There has been a lot of debate as to the nature of LD and OBE, but whatever the truth, those two tests are extremely good tests.

[tweed]

I agree with Xanth on this.. My experiences are, the definitions are not always so defined. Like for the longest time I have a few lucid dreams but they are not like my friends' lucid dreams. Theirs are like the experiences written about all over the Internet that I see but in my case, I am still in bed, and feel my bed, hear birds outside the "real" window.. and the dream is rather just like a TV screen in front of me and I can choose to move wherever and do things, like a video game ...I don't actually feel like I'm in the dream, not 100% anyway. It changes though, I was on a sailboat once and felt a realistic sensation of the boat almost tipping over and then in the next scene I feel I am in my bed again with the screen in front of me.

Lately a funny thing is happening, that I am not having OBEs but instead having dreams about OBEs... In any case I am always learning new things and I always do the things I would do if I was conscious so I'm not complaining  

[Astral316]

Obviously, this is only my opinion, but... *ALL* experiences that don't take place while you're awake, aware and here in the physical are "projections".  *Everything*.

Dreams...
Lucid Dreams...
OBEs...
Astral Projections...
False Awakenings...

Everything.  They're all "non-physical experiences" of slightly different flavours.

Well isn't that like saying, "Hot... cold... luke warm... all of it is temperature with varying degrees of heat energy"? Just because there's a continuum doesn't mean general distinctions shouldn't be made. I mean that is why this place is here, right? I doubt people visit Astral Pulse forums to learn how to have a conventional dream.

I'm just saying a false awakening is an independent feature on the continuum of conventional dreams, lucid dreams, and that third option (which I refer to as OBEs or projections interchangably.)

[catmeow]

Well isn't that like saying, "Hot... cold... luke warm... all of it is temperature with varying degrees of heat energy"? Just because there's a continuum doesn't mean general distinctions shouldn't be made.

Agree again.  We could liken the OBE "spectrum" (or "continuum") to the electromagnetic spectrum which consists of

Radio waves (longest wavelength)
Microwave
Infrared
Visible light
Ultraviolet light
X-rays
Gamma rays (shortest wavelength)

If science had just said "oh these are all the same things but just different wavelengths" we would never have made any progress in understanding and harnassing them.  While these are all forms of electromagnetic radiation, they each have entirely different characteristics and capabilities.  You can't for instance use visible light to take X-ray photographs or for cooking food in microwave ovens.

In order to utilise LDs, APs OBEs etc we need to understand and take advantage of the differences. For instance, I believe LDs take place in a personal (non-concensus) reality.  In other words, fantasy. While they can be fantastically vivid and enjoyable experiences, it is still just a personal experience. I would prefer to interact with real consciousnesses.  This is where AP comes in because I believe APs take place in a concensus environment. OBEs by my definition are real experiences in the RTZ.  AP and OBE are characterised by heightened consciousness (including full memory) and LDs by reduced consciousness. Anyway, that is my experience and interpretation of them.

[tweed]

Thanks for writing those, guys.

Just want to add there is another 'system' perhaps for terms.. terminology. This is what I started with. According to Frank Kepple, he uses what's called focus levels. Focus 1 is physical reality, Focus 2 is the personal reality (catmeow just mentioned as parallel to LD). Focus 3 is the wider shared reality and Focus 4--I haven't read much about this one... There is also a wider physical reality.
Under Robert Monroe, there is a bunch more focus levels.. Focus 1, 3, 10, 13, 15, 21, 27 etc. I tend to go with Frank's because it's less information   The same with how I do everything, like the OBE, I find the simpler I can make it the better. Otherwise I get confused. I kind of think a lot of what I had read about inducing OBE is too much and maybe what made my progress take longer. Too many techniques, etc. But some people are very good with all this info.

[Xanth]

Thanks for writing those, guys.

Just want to add there is another 'system' perhaps for terms.. terminology. This is what I started with. According to Frank Kepple, he uses what's called focus levels. Focus 1 is physical reality, Focus 2 is the personal reality (catmeow just mentioned as parallel to LD). Focus 3 is the wider shared reality and Focus 4--I haven't read much about this one... There is also a wider physical reality.
Under Robert Monroe, there is a bunch more focus levels.. Focus 1, 3, 10, 13, 15, 21, 27 etc. I tend to go with Frank's because it's less information   The same with how I do everything, like the OBE, I find the simpler I can make it the better. Otherwise I get confused. I kind of think a lot of what I had read about inducing OBE is too much and maybe what made my progress take longer. Too many techniques, etc. But some people are very good with all this info.

Frank's model incorporates Monroe's model.

http://www.astralpulse.com/frankkepple.html

Monroe's Focus C1, 3, 10 = my Focus 1
Monroe Focus 12, 15 & 21 = my Focus 2
Monroe Focus 23, 24, 25, 26 & 27 = my Focus 3
Here the comparison ends, as my Focus 4 has no Monroe counterpart.

Note: I edited the first line to include his newest theories that came directly from his newsletters prior to his disappearance, whereby he included Focus 3 and 10 within his own Focus 1 oC.

In my opinion, it's better to learn Monroe's model first... then apply it later on to Franks.  It's a bit more of a go-around... but, in the end, I think you'll have a more rounded knowledge-base. 

[tweed]

Yea it's a good idea  I found a list of the focus levels on wiki.. posted them in this other thread: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_astral_chat/monroe_focus_levels-t20082.0.html