Lucid dream vs OBE

[jzinser]

Ok so I had a long session today... I tried to induce an OBE for several hours but fell asleep several times in between, had lots of false awakenings and well it got kinda weird.

On the last of it I though I was having an OBE, I raised and I could see my body... I walked around the room and tried to pass my hand through the closet door, I couldn't do it at first and I started doubting if I was really awake or not. I tried a second time, pushed hard and finally succeeded!! My fingers started going through the door and into the closet. I walked outside the room... found my sister on the hallway and she could see me, she was a bit scared but curious as well. I entered my mothers room and wanted to fly through the roof, I could jump really high, my head could touch the ceiling... then I was back.

The thing is all the rooms were different, my sister was not really there and it was not like my house at all.. and it did not feel like the last OBE i had. Is this common? to confuse an OBE with a lucid dream? If it happens again what could I do to check and turn it into a real OBE?

Thanks!

[CFTraveler]

This is common and happens often. You start out with a real time OBE and then your subconscious steps in and introduces reality fluctuations into the scene. Then it turns into an astral simulation, which, if worked correctly, can turn into a projection into the astral.
Robert has talked about these reality fluctuations in his works (all the OBE books and his online treatise). They are caused by differences in perception (you're not looking with eyes, but with an expanded energy body) and are constantly interpreting energy signatures, and the minute this happens the subconscious (it's part if its job) starts comparing input with memory and all objectivity goes out the window.
It's ok, it's a great opportunity for self-examination.

[jzinser]

Thanks Traveler, the thing is I don't think it was an OBE... I think I confused a lucid dream with an OBE. Does this happen, is it possible???

It happened again last night, there were some differences as well. The most remarkable one is I tried to get back to my body and I couldn't until I actually walked back to it and kind of laid on top of it. This makes me think it was a dream as well, I could see my body moving like it was in pain or struggling.

Is there any way to stay in real-time longer? Any grounding techniques or something like that?

[CFTraveler]

A lucid dream that you wake up in is an astral projection but not an OBE. But if you have the experience of going out of your body, you are having an out of body experience, whether you 'land' in the rtz, astral plane, or personal plane (dreamland). Your dreaming mind takes charge of your perception, but it's an out of body experience to a dream.

Robert recommends doing energy work to extend time or assist in the exit itself, but I have never been able to really understand why sometimes things are real 'realtime' and other times it's not. So I kind of go with what I find and work with that.

[jzinser]

Thanks CFT.

I am a bit confused tho... what is the difference between an astral projection and an OBE?

[CFTraveler]

The out of body experience is what it sounds like, it doesn't matter where you 'land'.
In an astral projection (a projection of consciousness into the astral plane) you usually land in the astral plane, (not the rtz) and sometimes you do it via a lucid dream, which has no exit.
But really, it's two different ways of saying essentially the same thing. Both are equally valid.

[jzinser]

Right, but a lucid dream is different form an astral projection right? If you stay within the dream world you are just conscious about dreaming which doesn't mean that you are in you rtz double or astral double... right?

[CFTraveler]

It's different in that you didn't arrive there consciously, and usually lucid dreams start out as non lucid dream experiences in the personal area of the astral, while usually an astral projection takes place in the collective areas of the astral, where what you see is not solely your own creation.
So yes, right.

[jzinser]

Thanks again!

By the way... on Sunday night the following happened: I had been 'training' and getting in and out of trance for about 3 hours, I could feel the vibrations but I haven't been able to let go completely, I get a little tense and then I break the state...but I am definitely improving. So I broke it and decided it was time to sleep.

Im not sure how much time passed from this moment but I suddenly felt like a cloud, I could start seeing a bit and I looked down at my body. I went down next to it, my dog was sleeping beside me... I started touching her ans she freaked out a bit, then she got calm. I walked around a bit. trying to get away from my body. At this point everything seemed normal, all the objects in my room, the possition of my body and my dog, etc. Then I went through the wall into my sister's room. The room was pretty similar but differences started to appear, I was not in the true rtz by then.I could see my room through the wall and some other stuff. Is it common that once you switch rooms or landscapes the rtz starts getting distorted??

Thanks :)

[ButterflyWoman]

Right, but a lucid dream is different form an astral projection right?
Not always. I don't think I've ever had a lucid dream where I felt it was in any way astral. I've always had them within my own, personal dreamspace, which is generated by my sleeping mind, and it changes constantly.

[outofbodydude]

I think it is erroneous to hold astral projections to be superior to lucid dreams. In my experience, they are both valid means of exploring nonphysical reality and accessing deeper layers of self. Many times a single projection experience can have elements of both. One way to check which way the experience is leaning is to attempt to change your environment in some way. This is almost effortlessly done in lucid dreams, whereas it is not so easily achieved during astral projections.

[ButterflyWoman]

I think it is erroneous to hold astral projections to be superior to lucid dreams. In my experience, they are both valid means of exploring nonphysical reality and accessing deeper layers of self.
Seconded! I've had greater and more frequent insights from dreams (lucid or otherwise) than I ever have from OBE.

[CFTraveler]

Me three. (Agree.)

[IA56]

Me four (too)

Love
ia