First astral projection, or a near death experience? Please help me!

[Oyasumi]

Hi, my name is Valerie and I am 18 years old and I would like to share something very disturbing that has happened to me last night that I can not seem to shake off. I believe that I had my very first out of body experience, but I am not sure if that was what it was or whether it was a near death experience. Here is what I wrote down earlier today of my recount of the dream/astral projection:

I was lying on my side in my bed, when I "woke up" in what felt like an extremely vivid dream. There was an intense pressure in my entire head, and a really low pitched and loud vibration/ringing in my ears. In the "dream" there was something tall, standing over me. It also felt like other beings were standing around me on my bed, but I could not see them, I could just feel that they were there watching. One was very tall while the others seemed either smaller or more distant, but at the same time, nobody was there, like they were either shadows or invisible. I then tried to call out to somebody, like my mom, to wake me up or to come into the room. But I couldn't do any of that, so I tried to relax and take slow, deep breaths but the pain and loud humming noise still did not go away. It was then that I somehow willed myself out of my body and across my room. While I was moving across the room, I still felt paralyzed in the same position I was sleeping in (on my side, mouth open, arms curled in front of me), only now standing upright and moving. I sort of teleported to my door, and somehow managed to turn the doorknob (?), by very slowly moving my arms with all of my strength, which felt like were under intense pressure. Suddenly, I could only see out of my peripheral vision, while straight out in front of me was pitch black with a very tiny pinhole of light like the classic light at the end of the tunnel. If I stared at it too long, or tried to wonder what it was, it would drastically get bigger and tried to pull me in extremely fast. I resisted as much as I could, because I knew that if I went in I wouldn't come back. It would fade in and out of my vision while I was still slowly trying to move outside into the hallway and toward my parent's room. I remember trying to move my arms at this point and bang them against the walls for someone to hear, but they felt extremely weak and wouldn't make any noise when I did so, all the meanwhile my head still feeling like it was about to explode and the loud ringing/vibration continued. I managed to somehow shift or float across the hallway and into my parent's room and I remember seeing my mom sleeping on her side facing toward where i was. I collapsed and kneeled down next to the bed, and I tried to speak, but I couldn't move my mouth and all that could come out were sounds. I tried to shake her awake with my elbows because my arms were still stuck and I could not bend them straight. The light that was trying to suck me in was getting really bad this time, and I knew things had to hurry up. She seemed different, not like my actual mom, but she still woke up anyway and proceeded to shake me awake. All of a sudden the paralysis was completely gone, the light disappeared and I felt a huge weight was lifted off of me. I was scared and confused and kept asking her "what happened? what just happened to me? what happened?" She just replied with "I don't know, but a lot has been happening." Next thing I knew, my eyes opened and I was lying in my bed on my left side back where I started, with my mouth still open and my arms and body still in the exact same position as in my dream.

The entire time I was scared to death, I could not shake the intense fear that was going through me and it was one of the worst nightmares I have ever had. What was that white light that I saw? Why didn't it feel like the peaceful light that people with near death experiences voluntarily go to, while this one was trying to suck me in with great intensity? Who were those shadowy beings that I sensed around me? And how was my mom able to shake me out of it in the end, if I really were astral projecting/having a NDE? Also, how come this happened out of nowhere during my sleep? I have always had lucid dreams where I know I am dreaming, some sleep paralysis and even fuzzy memories of astral projection, but it was never this intense or ever this real of a feeling. I am so confused and very disturbed right now I am so afraid to go back to sleep, I don't know what to think...Please help me!

[blis]

I'm intrigued by your mums comment. Have you asked her what she meant by alot has been happening?

Just to get this straight, you tried to wake your mum up while you were out of body, and she woke up and came to your room and woke you up? Did she remember you trying to wake her up?

[jkjk8991]

Sounds like a first OBE. Its not uncommon for people to be brought different places in their first OBE or when they aren't trying to OBE. The white light it unknown to me, though my guess is that you were being brought to some place on the astral plane. I've had an experience with a small blue light before which grew rapidly and essentially shot me into the border of the sky, it was strange, but I was safe and not worried. So the white light could have simply been some random bright place, I can't say for certain, but I can reassure you that you were completely safe, astral projections aren't going to hurt you, you'll never be in any physical danger. Next time try to relax, and just know that you are safe, and that what is happening is a good thing.

Now for the sleep paralysis you were experiencing, my bet is that your mind simply was so fixated on your physical body still, that your perception and senses kept constant with your physical senses. Just imagine yourself being a point of consciousness rather than this physical body. The more you ignore, or don't think about your physical body, the more you'll easily be able to dissociate from it.

All in all we must take the good from this experience, I know it seems like a horrible thing but the more you have these bad things happen and wake up okay in your bed, the more you realize you have nothing to fear, and that no matter what you'll be safe and sound in your bed. Best of luck to you, I really hope this doesn't discourage you from the endless realm of possiblities of the non physical world.

Keep dreaming,
Jeff  

[Orion-]

Many people fear the unknown. Fear is something that can really destroy good experiences, like yours. It was useful though, because now you might learn why you felt so much fear. The light you saw was probably something that would take you to the astral. It wasn't going to kill you, and you were very afraid because you didn't understand it. You had a lot of fear for this unknown thing and because of that you made your fear even bigger. This is why it was scary, not because this light wasn't a good thing.

You need to know that nothing can happen. It won't kill you, so the next time you see it just allow it to happen and have no fear.

Compare it to this: imagine that someone from the year 0 would travel in time, to our age. Things like cars and trains would really scare him, but we know that cars and trains aren't scary. Get it?

[Oyasumi]

I'm intrigued by your mums comment. Have you asked her what she meant by alot has been happening?

Just to get this straight, you tried to wake your mum up while you were out of body, and she woke up and came to your room and woke you up? Did she remember you trying to wake her up?

Ah sorry about not being more specific, what I meant was while I was out of body and in her room, she shook me awake right there, she never came into my room to wake up my physical body. I told her about the dream, she says she couldn't remember anything happening like that, but then again, she also says she never has dreams or can't remember them anymore lol. Perhaps that comment was something formed from inside my mind, and it really wasn't my actual mom, because she seemed very strange and not her usual self.

[Oyasumi]

Sounds like a first OBE. Its not uncommon for people to be brought different places in their first OBE or when they aren't trying to OBE. The white light it unknown to me, though my guess is that you were being brought to some place on the astral plane. I've had an experience with a small blue light before which grew rapidly and essentially shot me into the border of the sky, it was strange, but I was safe and not worried. So the white light could have simply been some random bright place, I can't say for certain, but I can reassure you that you were completely safe, astral projections aren't going to hurt you, you'll never be in any physical danger. Next time try to relax, and just know that you are safe, and that what is happening is a good thing.

Now for the sleep paralysis you were experiencing, my bet is that your mind simply was so fixated on your physical body still, that your perception and senses kept constant with your physical senses. Just imagine yourself being a point of consciousness rather than this physical body. The more you ignore, or don't think about your physical body, the more you'll easily be able to dissociate from it.

All in all we must take the good from this experience, I know it seems like a horrible thing but the more you have these bad things happen and wake up okay in your bed, the more you realize you have nothing to fear, and that no matter what you'll be safe and sound in your bed. Best of luck to you, I really hope this doesn't discourage you from the endless realm of possiblities of the non physical world.

Keep dreaming,
Jeff  

Hi, thank you very much for writing back

I don't remember any specific color of the light, so I assumed it was just a bright white light, it was just very far away, but when I tried to stare at it or look at it, it would pull me in, but I managed to stop it somehow each time. And yes, that would make a lot of sense about my mind still fixated on my physical body! It was all so fast, I didn't know what was happening, there was only one thing on my mind and that was to try and get help, so it would make sense that I was still thinking about the physical. I think what scared me the most was the light and the intense pain in the dream/OBE, otherwise I would not have been as scared. But I'm glad I learned from it and learned from others that it is a normal thing to experience and if it ever happens next time I will be sure to remember it is nothing to be afraid of.

[Oyasumi]

Many people fear the unknown. Fear is something that can really destroy good experiences, like yours. It was useful though, because now you might learn why you felt so much fear. The light you saw was probably something that would take you to the astral. It wasn't going to kill you, and you were very afraid because you didn't understand it. You had a lot of fear for this unknown thing and because of that you made your fear even bigger. This is why it was scary, not because this light wasn't a good thing.

You need to know that nothing can happen. It won't kill you, so the next time you see it just allow it to happen and have no fear.

Compare it to this: imagine that someone from the year 0 would travel in time, to our age. Things like cars and trains would really scare him, but we know that cars and trains aren't scary. Get it?

Yes yes I understand what you mean. But I felt like I was dying, so I couldn't differentiate if that was what was actually happening or not. There was so much pain, so many loud noises and then to top it all off, this bright white light trying to suck me in! It felt like I was trying to fight for my life and there was only one thing on my mind, and that was to find somebody to help me wake up or else I might never wake up again. That's what it felt like at the time at least, but now that I know this is something that happens to people often and the stuff I experienced was typical of a OBE, I doubt I would be scared if it ever happens again.

[Orion-]

There is no death, there is only a change in the way of life.

The pain and loud noises can be things that happen the first time. Next time, just ask or have the intention to remove the pain and make the noises less loud. If you know you can do it then you can do it. Also, if you really want to wake up then again, asking and intending to wake up will wake you up.

[NoY]

Congrats on a cool and interesting OBE 


:NoY:

[CFTraveler]

Congrats on a cool and interesting OBE 


:NoY:

Ditto.

[Boom]

This is definately an interesting and spontaneous OBE.
The fear you had can bring about the darkness and shadowy images that you sensed.   Your own fear can manifest the negative energies you described.  Then amusingly like any child would when faced with a dangerous unknown, you headed off to your mums! I dont mean that in a derogotary way. But that instict is still deep within all of us!   I guess you wanted your mum to snap you out of this strange experience. So your subconcious manifests that thought.

As jkjk8991 said above. The paralysis you felt was because your mind was focussing on your physical body. You were asleep, and therefore was in sleep paralysis.

It was actually a great experience.  Keep reading up about the subjective nature of the non physical, then if this happens again. You can remember what you have learnt and realise your own thoughts will change the very experience you have.

Have you been practicing AP before? or did you just come to this forum as a result of what happened?