Astral projection vs. lucid dreaming?

>>18368457
So my question is this: How do I know, from such a short experience, whether this was a true OBE or just another lucid dream? Part of why I'm skeptical is that my environment was pretty blurry and surreal, and that I can't recall the experience very well now. How "real" is the astral realm supposed to feel?

It seems that every time I've asked this question here before--that is, when you're APing, how do you know for SURE that you are APing, and not just in a lucid dream--I've gotten really useless answers that are either irrelevant to the question or just vague and non-specific. Google yields similar results.

What do you guys think? Lemme know if you wanna know anything else.

>>18368461
well they are very similar, but they are different.

The proof for me was when I projected and then met up with someone I knew who was also projecting and then we talked about it the next day.

Other than that, the only way to tell is how they feel and how they start. In my experience if you feel the sensation of leaving your body, then its a projection. Also in lucid dreams you can generally control what goes on around you and what you can do. Not being able to go outside of your room is pretty typical of early AP. Also Astral projections are harder to remember the longer they go on unless you project often.

the two work off similar parts of the memory and mind, but they are different. Once youve done both you can start to tell the difference on your own. AP "feels" more "real" than dreams.

Its also possible to turn a lucid dream into an astral projection. When you get decent enough at LD you can manipulate the sensations you feel in the dream, Like falling or seperating from your body. The first projection I ever did on purpose, I went from a lucid dream where I was on a red beach near a castle/lighthouse thing to floating around my room. Once I realized I was dreaming I triggered a sensation of falling, then my vision got really colorful and blurry, I felt the typical "vibrations" and then I was staring at my own ceiling a few feet above my body.


TL;DR you had an Astral Projection, congratulations, Keep at it.

>>18370245
Yay I just discovered that I probably have some experience on AP...OP story is very close to mine, my only problem is that I'm "blind", I can't see when doing AP-like stuff I only get impressions of imagery...

I'm still skeptical about some aspects of it, but I want to know, have you ever experienced/heard about other "dimensions"? What about the "no-dimension in between"? What of its inhabitants and it's intentions?

>>18372258
I've read about other dimensions and stuff but have little to no experience with it when it comes to AP. trying to do anything while astral projecting takes a lot of practice and time to get decent at, especially enough to "travel" between realms.

The blind-ness thing is pretty common too. It has something to do with a lack of energy or something or so I've read. I find that when this happens to me it usually clears up with in a few seconds of actually being out of body, and the rest is a matter of memory

for the inbetween stuff, I would imagine its just your typical void. and anything that exist there, exist in such a fashion that their intentions are inconsequential to you and your being. The only thing I know about the realms from personal experience is that they are less objective and more subjective than our own and in varying degrees. Things aren't as solid in their state of existence as we are and can much more easily be changed or change on their own.

Theres a myth floating around that astral beings or demons can take your body or cause you serious harm while out and about, but this is total crap. sure you can get into some heavy stuff I dont doubt, but because we exist in such an objective way, subjective entities don't really have power over us in any sort of real way, They can only mess with the things you allow to be more subjective. The worst they can do is scare you into believing what they want you to believe, by playing head games with you.

And even if by some chance your astral body is destroyed or harmed during a projection its not that bad. its not your actual soul out there flying around, merely a PROJECTION of it.

>>18372499
Thanks, I asked it out of curiosity due to some experience I had (which I'm not totally sure I myself believe)...here is what I can remember:

>>one of those creatures "found" me
>>it felt very bizarre but not threatening
>>we communicated throught intention and imagery
>>it displayed some curiosity about me and offered to help me AP
>>I accepted, but after a "vibration" surge I was still attached to my body
>>the creature showed some surprise that it had been unable to pull me out on its own
>>we try again, but this time I put in some effort too
>>blank memories
>>I can feel that I'm in the "void", there is a mass of colors and "ideas" before me
>>it's the being and I can't comprehend nothing of its existence.
>>the being kind explained to me that he was an native, and because of that he also had an abstract/subjective nature, but still does not offer an identity.
>>we "talk" some more, I believe there were other beings but I can't properly remember this part
>>blank
>>cont.

>>18372873

>>I'm dreaming that I'm at my uni.
>>I talk with my friend about some math/physics stuff and my knowledge doesn't match what they are speaking about (constants much larger or much smaller than it should be, multiplications in a calculator giving plain wrong answers)
>>Still not lucid I realize that it was not our own reality that I was experiencing.
>>I go full lucid with the impression that this dream was a set-up for me to understand alternate dimesions.
>>I lose plain visual perception and AP feeling returns.
>>I try to translocate to another dimension
>>It works and feels awesome
>>I'm at another location and still most lucid dreaming and still with AP feeling
>>I'm so excited that I keep jumping around just to get the hang of it
>>can't quite remember most of my jumps, but I came back to my body at least once ( I lost all my visual impression but could feel my bed linen)
>>I decide to experiment even more with it, I'm somewhere in a stairway, I grab a protuding nail (I remember feeling its form but not its temperature) and try to jump somewhere else while staying there (tried to bilocate)
>>It feels very weird but not bad, as if I'm stuck somewhere almost in both places at the same time
>>Wake up, feeling an incredible awe
>>Since this, I'm more capable at AP, still not able to completely leave my body on my own but I can move kind of like a shadow around me...

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>>18370245
This is quite helpful, thanks!

>Other than that, the only way to tell is how they feel and how they start.
I was reading about this on an AP blog I found while googling. The author emphasized that the sensation preceding the experience (i.e. the vibrations) is one of the give-aways. So yeah, I'm happy to hear this, cause that buzzing is pretty distinctive and I've never felt anything like it during lucid dreams.

I was more surprised than anything that it just happened without any prior planning or prep. Though tell you what, I've been doing these 3-minute breathing exercises (pretty much meditation by another name, I suppose) daily this week as a mini-assignment for my stress psychology class, so I'm convinced that it had something to do with that. I just can't believe that such a tiny thing made such a big difference, and so early on in the routine, at that. I'm definitely going to keep them up. :D