Astral Projection

[Khamsin]

I've read in dreams before, but nothing major. No reading books and reciting paragraphs, just simple short text or specific characters.

I rarely have lucid dreaming, though I more often have a hint of it in my dreams. e.g. if I am in a dream, and on the occasion that I suspect it, I might try to focus on detail just to check... knowing that if I was dreaming, I would not be able to see exact detail up close, like the texture of a wall or strands of fuzz on my shirt, or even hear normal ambient sounds like the faint sound of the HVAC system in the background in a building or of traffic outside. That was always my reality check, though I've never really gone further and controlled the dream, I just sorta knew and then let everything continue. Most dreams I forget, anyway.

I've never had any out of body experiences, and I've certainly never seen a rubber ball turn into a happy gnome turn into an evil clown, which means I've never experienced astral projection, either.

[Avé]

I tried to do it once, me and a friend were trying to fly over and spy on his hot neighbor in the shower. Didn't work though.

[Senoska]

So... every astral projector person sees a little ball that turns into a gnome that turns into an evil clown, or was that just an example?

The rest of the thread made more sense than the OP.

people would call this a bad trip, it doesnt happan every time how ever it has apperntly happand more then once. Everyone I have personaly [irl] talked to about this all have had the same accounts. This doesnt mean it has to happan. The best way to sum it up is "If you open up your mind to them it will happan"

Also, for any ozzy fans, listen to the words of "Over the mountian" I'll see if I can host it somewere for those that dont want to search it.

[Senoska]

Ozzy - Over the mountain



LYRICS:

Over the mountain, take me across the sky

Something in my vision, something deep inside

Where did I wander, where d'ya think I wandered to

I've seen life's magic astral plane I travel through



I heard them tell me that this land of dreams was now

I told them I had ridden shooting stars

And said I'd show them how



Over and over, always tried to get away

Living in a daydream, only place I had to stay

Fever of a breakout burning in me miles wide

People around me talking to the walls inside



I heard them tell me that this land of dreams was now

I told them I had ridden shooting stars

And said I'd show them how



Don't need no astrology, it's inside of you and me

You don't need a ticket to fly with me, I'm free, yeah



Over and under, in between the ups and downs

Mind on a carpet, magic ride goes 'round and round

Over the mountain, kissing silver inlaid clouds

Watching my body disappear into the crowd



Don't need no astrology, it's inside of you and me

You don't need a ticket to fly with me, I'm free, yea

[Anyway]

I think the crackhead on that site is seriously just sleep walking. He says he doesn't even look at his body so how could he know if he was really "astral projecting" or not.


Edit: Btw the entire time I was reading that site all I could think of was Donnie Darko.

[levish]

i've had a few lucid dreams

<.<;

Made the dream into a james bond(ish) sort of movie in one of them, now that was serious fun.

[Nuriko]

I rarely ever remember my dreams, and the rare times I do remember them when I wake up, I forget it in a matter of moments. However, once in awhile if I go to sleep at an awkward time (like take a nap after work), I'll occationally experience what feels like a lucid dream as in I'll have partial control over it and have some knowing that if I'm not careful I might wake up and end the dream before I want to. What gets wierd about it though (and I don't know if I can explain this properly, but I'll try) is that sometimes I do knowingly wake up during it...only I'm not awake, I'm still in the dream but I think I'm awake. Usually something out of the norm happens pretty fast and that tells me I'm still in the dream so I try to wake myself again and usually then I finally do wake up.

I did some "research" (read through this site: http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.com/stages/index.shtml) once about sleep in general and I've heard it many other places that you only dream during stage 5 (REM) which usually occurs around 90-120 minutes after initially falling asleep. However the times I have those lucid-dreaming like experiences, I'll look at my alarm clock after waking up and see that I've only been asleep for no more than 30-40 minutes. So if I wasn't even in REM stage, were they really dreams?

[Dustybrown]

I get lucid dreaming all the time. Sometimes, it's just the fact that I am aware I'm dreaming and can alter things in the dream to what I want to alter it to. Other times I'll be aware I'm dreaming but I can't change anything. There are times when I have really bad dreams (crazy things, people being tortured, people being set on fire, zombies ... I know ... Zombies ...) but if something bad is going to happen to me in these dreams I'm usually 100% aware I'm dreaming at that point, and I wake myself up.

The worst thing I get though is sleep paralysis. I'll wake up and be completely aware I'm awake, but my body is still asleep (so to speak) and so I can't move at all. I have to "will" my body to move and wake myself up fully. It takes a lot of concentration to either move my hand or something, and that will usually wake me up. Sometimes I'm still dreaming and I can see the room, but it will be warped, like on fire or something and yet I know it's just a dream. Other times it will happen and I'll just go back to full on sleep and wake up as normal, no more sleep paralysis or anything.

After having that I've no desire ever to have an out of body experience at all. I have tried to control my dreams to be what I want them to be, but I'm completely unable to do it at will. Sometimes I will just be aware I'm dreaming and if I don't wake up, then I can alter things to what I want. But it's so random.

No gnomes or red eye things here btw. Just zombies. Lotsa zombies. (/.\)

[Maguspk]

I want to do this. I've never actually controlled a dream that I can remember though. I've heard that being able to control your dreams is an indicator of your genius level. That if you can control your dreams you are intelligent, but if you can remember your dreams you are even more intelligent.

I hardly remember my dreams, let's be honest, most of us don't.
I hardly control my dreams, let's be honest, most of us don't.

I would be very interested to hear an actual account of a OBE though and not bullshit that's made up. I would love to try this, it's very intriguing. From now on I think I will get closer and closer to achieving lucid dreaming now that I know what it's called and now that I know how it works and what it's like. I knew since I was a kid certain people could do this though. I remember my mom getting angry with me one day because she said I was lying when I said I couldn't control my dreams. My mom is an extremely intelligent person, she has a high school diploma and that's it, yet she's the VP of the largest investment corporation in the world (or is it the third largest?). Anyway, I guess lucid dreaming was so natural for her, because of her genius, that it was hard to understand why anyone else, or her child for that matter, couldn't achieve it. I guess I'm a dissapointment

/comfort

People dream differently because our brains are wired differently. Like I was amazed to find out that people are not supposed to be able to read in dreams because I am able to read things. (Newspapers, books, linkshell chat.) Some people supposedly dream in black and white, but that's just weird.

I've read in my dreams before but not often. I think the most interesting things said so far is how the OP referred to seeing balls turning into clowns as a "bad trip". Maybe your friends are doing shrooms lol.

[Brien]

I want to do this. I've never actually controlled a dream that I can remember though. I've heard that being able to control your dreams is an indicator of your genius level. That if you can control your dreams you are intelligent, but if you can remember your dreams you are even more intelligent.

I hardly remember my dreams, let's be honest, most of us don't.
I hardly control my dreams, let's be honest, most of us don't.

I would be very interested to hear an actual account of a OBE though and not bullshit that's made up. I would love to try this, it's very intriguing. From now on I think I will get closer and closer to achieving lucid dreaming now that I know what it's called and now that I know how it works and what it's like. I knew since I was a kid certain people could do this though. I remember my mom getting angry with me one day because she said I was lying when I said I couldn't control my dreams. My mom is an extremely intelligent person, she has a high school diploma and that's it, yet she's the VP of the largest investment corporation in the world (or is it the third largest?). Anyway, I guess lucid dreaming was so natural for her, because of her genius, that it was hard to understand why anyone else, or her child for that matter, couldn't achieve it. I guess I'm a dissapointment

this may help, skip to the part 2


http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dreams-faq/lucid-dreaming-faq/

(2.11 for all you SAMs lol)

[Senoska]

I've read in my dreams before but not often. I think the most interesting things said so far is how the OP referred to seeing balls turning into clowns as a "bad trip". Maybe your friends are doing shrooms lol.

They arnt doing shrooms, its just a bad trip that reoccures more then once in differnt people. One could almost say a city in the astral plane? Who knows. It has nothing to do with drugs and I'm 110% positive about this.

[Maguspk]

I've read everything on this site: http://www.jonasridgeway.com/

It's a VERY interesting read. Although at some points I was basically convinced that an OBE was simply an enhanced dream, this changed my mind. In the FAQ they discuss being able to have Astral Plane mini-vacations and meetings. In order to do this two or more parties must agree on what happened. And this brings up another point, those two people honestly know if the other was truly there because the chances of "dreaming" the same things are slim to none. So I wonder, are they lying to eachother, lying to the world, or is OBE really real?

I was also thinking some of this could potentially be dangerous for those of us sleepwalkers. It might so happen that during one of these OBE's your physical body accompanies you. Since we are, once achieving OBE status, accustomed to not fear anything in the astral plane, we may simply jump out of a high story window, or do something stupid like stab ourselves for "fun". Could we potentially do something dangerous accidentally during an OBE? Does anyone know, or has anyone read something like this in a FAQ? I'm very worried that this might happen in one of my OBE's in the future, although I haven't even achieved a lucid dream yet, but I'm definetely going to journal and try to achieve it.

[Senoska]

Try the "falling out of bed" trick he was refering too, assuming you do it right you will fall and wake yourself up.

[Yoshin]

I did some "research" (read through this site: http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.com/stages/index.shtml) once about sleep in general and I've heard it many other places that you only dream during stage 5 (REM) which usually occurs around 90-120 minutes after initially falling asleep. However the times I have those lucid-dreaming like experiences, I'll look at my alarm clock after waking up and see that I've only been asleep for no more than 30-40 minutes. So if I wasn't even in REM stage, were they really dreams?

REM doesn't have to occur only 90-120 minutes into the sleep cycle. For instance, there is a sleep schedule that involves sleeping 20-30 minutes every 4 to 6 hours, which for the first week is extremly rough on the body because you don't spend much time in REM. However, after about a week your body adapts and will enter REM almost instantly when you sleep. You probably just enter it quickly, possibly due to not sleeping very long on a regular basis.

I did a lot of research a few weeks back on Lucid dreaming, its quite interesting. It would be fun to be able to control your dreams each night, I would actually look forward to going to sleep

I dont think that you actually leave your body during Astral Projection. I think its more of a forced dream-like state, like forcing yourself to have a lucid dream. The idea of meeting someone during Astral Projection or "Shared Dreaming" is really interesting, but its quite unlikely I think. I still do some reading about Shared Dreaming, its a really intriguing subject

[Skyylya]

I know a lot about Lucid Dreaming, and as 90% of my dreams are lucid dreams i'm quite fond of them. Last spring i lead a seminar discussion at my college on Lucid dreams and sleep disorders in general.

While i don't mean to be offensive to anyone who actually takes this seriously....it's all just a sham (the OBE's not lucid dreaming). People like this, miss cleo, the edwards guy who thinks he can speak with the dead are just parlor tricks to make money. Scientology anyone? I don't get suprised anymore when i read about crap like this and how many people can take it seriously. Is the real world that bad(i know) that you have to search for such ludicrous concepts such as an outer-body-experience and some nonsense like an astral plane?

OBE's are crap, zodiac signs are crap, psychics don't exist. You live in a real world so you better get used to it and realize that there is no astral plane or altered dimension of reality for you to send your spirit to.

I read through the FAQ, everything that he describes is derived from some stage of dreaming. There are multiple stages, such as REM stage with dreams which are extremely vivid, where things exist in a sort of pastel coloring fashion (The movie "What Dreams May Come" is a good example of this) and you have wierd things like purple elephants with wings and all sorts of crazy non-sensical things. And there are the Lucid dreams which people have referred to where things are generally normal except you have a certain amount of control over what does or doesn't happen or what is or isn't in your dream.

Lucid dreams are most common in people who have some sort of lasting pain either due to medication, or a surgery or some disease that cause a great deal of physical pain. Making it difficult to have regularity in the sleep cycle; thus, you tend to cycle between the first 2-3 stages, instead of all 4 stages and REM sleep. I first started lucid dreaming after my shoulder surgery in the fall of 2002. Due to the pain killers and the pain itself i developed quite a bad case of insomnia, and since that is like being in a state of constant sleep and awakeness all the time, it was quite conducive to having lucid dreams

Lucid dreaming isn’t for everyone, but you can try to train yourself to do it. You can start with little things like, keeping a small journal next to your bed, and as soon as you wake up write down whatever it was that you remember. The ultimate trick is to help yourself realize when you are dreaming.

Since you are not fully asleep in the first 2-3 stages of the sleep cycle, you are also 'partially' awake, albeit very little. Since you are somewhat awake you can work on recognizing when you are sleeping and when you are dreaming. Once you can get lucky with this realization you will be able to lucid dream, sort of on command. It's not an exact science being able to lucid dream, but it is possible to learn to do it. It's a matter of mental control and, I don't like to use this term, but willing it to happen.

Most people can't or don't Lucid dream because most people can't recognize that they are dreaming while doing it. Our mind dreams for reasons that haven't been uncovered by science yet, but there are theory's, such as memory encoding and neural organization (similar to plasticity) that people are looking into.

[Maguspk]

I'm only 17 so I consider myself a little naive at times still. But I can't help but do that little laugh/giggle everytime I think about the possibility of being able to have lucid dreams in the future. This is such an exciting concept to me. When Skylaa mentioned simply training yourself to realize when you're dreaming by keeping a journal I giggled, because it seems so easy. I only hope that by keeping a journal I can experience them soon. I am doing everything that the faq suggests, and I don't really think OBE's are you leaving the body, simply your body being able to formulate a simulation of what you want to happen.

I didn't think I'd actually desire lucid dreaming, but now I do. I want it so bad, I think about it often and I hope I can achieve it soon. Like someone mentioned earlier, I'm really excited about the fact that I could possibly "look forward to going to sleep". How awesome would that be, to know that there is a good chance when you go to sleep and dream you will recognize it and exploit it. Oh gosh that is so kewl! /childishgiggle

[macbain24]

I have dreams where I jump around like the hulk every once in a while. It's scary though cuz hulk jumps are so damn high.

[Brennon]

I thought you were talking about *this* kind of Astral Projection

Now i'm disappointed

[Maguspk]

I started my journal of dreams this afternoon. I believe that is the first step to obtaining lucid dreams, is to journal your dreams which will allow you to realize you are dreaming more often so you will be able to identify when you're dreaming whilst in the dream.

Is anyone else journaling in hopes to soon obtain lucid dreaming?

[Effrenat]

yeah Magus i plan on doing the journal tonight and hence forth keep me updated with how it goes lol