I had this amazing experience this morning, and I'm having trouble identifying whether this was a lucid dream or an astral projection experience. Not that this would mean anything compared to the actual experience, but I want to have some clues for next time this happens, so I appreciate any input you could give me.

6am: woke up in my living room, my girlfriend moved to the bedroom to sleep better as the night began (we have a pretty small couch and it's not always comfortable enough for 2 people). I took advance of the fact that I was not very sleepy at the time, smoked 2 joints, listened to some music and then moved to listening to Burt Harding. This guy speaks so simple, and made me come to total peace with what I'm doing, so it's always a pleasure to listen to him.

8am: went to sleep, this weed I smoked stoned me really well and my eyes were having a mind of they're own. Smoking cannabis before sleeping doesn't seem to be such a good idea, though. Anyway, moving on. When falling asleep, I didn't have any intention to LD or AP. I "woke up" - perceived to have opened my eyes - and I was inside a black space. I couldn't see anything at all around me, and I knew that my room wasn't this dark. It didn't have any walls, it was just a dense darkness, if that makes sense. I wanted to be able to see, I was somehow annoyed that I couldn't see where I was or what was happening. Then I remembered something: I read about this over and over again, and it was a symptom of going into a dream. I was completely paralyzed at this point, and I thought, okay, so this is happening, I only need to go with it, and take it slow.

One of 2 things were possible at this point for me: 1) if I was in my room, simply rolling my physical body would make it drop to the floor and I'd wake up; 2) if this was indeed a dream, I would separate from my body and would be able to move to a state in which I would be able to see. I willed myself to roll over, as I was paralyzed, and I felt a sensation of falling, as if I was falling onto the floor, except there was no floor. I was just falling through darkness.

I felt a huge intensity (assumed this to be vibrations); it felt like a huge pressure came simultaneously from inside of me, as well as the outside. Very weird and impossible to explain in words. This "pressure" became almost unbearable, and I had to remember myself to calm down and just see what's going on. As I thought this, everything seemed to stabilize and the intensity went away as I was left on an Orange planet. I mean, everything was glowing with a orange-gold color. My seeing was impaired in this space, I could tell that because I was only perceiving the ground level, as if there was this "plane" existing, floating directly in space. It was like a world on a sheet of paper flying through the Cosmos.

Suddenly, this thought of flying occured to me, and I flexed my legs, and just "jumped" into space, leaving a ring of dust behind, just like a rocket leaves a ring of smoke when it takes off. In a matter of seconds, I accelerated to the speed of light, and not only that, but I transformed, melted into the light as I was speeding up, until I was one with the light and was observing myself travelling through the Universe! As I was moving this way, I thought "this is what death is like and it's so much more exciting than what I was thinking a large part of my life; I embrace it fully". The intensity was once again present and I became a little scared for a bit, not understanding why the vibrations are so powerful, almost distracting.

Soon, I approached a planet, and slowed down with my will, and landed smoothly on the surface. It just seemed a natural thing to do, and I seemed to be re-materializing from the light as I approached the ground, but the transition was almost instantaneous, although, curiously, observable as it developed. The surface of this planet was engraved with some huge green glowing signs. They looked very ancient, and they seemed sacred for some reason. There were some kind of circles and some wavy lines, similar to some tribal sign, but I can't remember the exact shape and arrangement of those things. However, they were glowing brightly, with a warm yellow color, and there was a beautiful green "steam" emanating from them. At this point, I thought I heard water flowing in the bathroom, and I knew I had to get back.

I got again the intense vibrations and in a couple of moments, I was back in my bed, opening my eyes. There was no water flowing, however as soon as I opened my eyes my girlfriend opened the bedroom door, and I thought perhaps my higher self anticipated this for me and returned me to the earth. This was weird, because when I started hearing the water sound, I really believed I was waking up, and I was very convinced that my girlfriend is indeed using the water in the bathroom; this was not the case. This distracted me, and I can't remember what exactly happened, how I got "away" from that place, because I suddenly woke up in my bed. Time was 9am. 1 hour had passed. I woke up feeling very euphoric, and bursted into laughter soon after waking up. At first, what I had experienced was a bit scary, because I was disoriented at some points in the experience (cannabis is responsible for this, again), but after realizing how amazing the whole thing was, that didn't even matter. I overcame my fear of death, which was never there, to begin with, as I see it now. Thoughts are very powerful. That's why the proverb says "beware of what you're thinking, as it might just come true".

I can say I am very glad for working my way towards opening my mind to accept alot of possibilities, and now this all seems like the natural thing to do, life is flowing, and that's that. I AM. I exist, so I am existence itself. There's no boundaries to that, and no bad things about it. It just is, and it's perfect.

Thank you for taking the time to read this unusually long story. I hope you enjoyed it.

It sounds like Astral Projection to me. I've had OBE's before, but I usually project into consensus reality, floating through walls and flying around neighborhoods and trees. It's also possible it was lucid dream. Did the environment stay stable or did it shift around as in a dream? Was there an alien or otherworldly, magical, familiar feeling to it? If so, you may have projected into a higher dimension, maybe the famed "Astral Plane".

Either way, I wouldn't get too caught up with labels. You had an exceptional experience, a true flight of the soul! Be grateful, this may be a sign of spiritual growth. Did you write down your experience? If not, I suggest you start a journal to write down your memorable dreams, psychedelic experiences, and meditation notes so that you can chart your progress and create a contact point between worlds. The more attention you give to the spiritual aspect of your Self, the more frequently you will experience these types of things.

Most people don't realize there are two sides to our being, and that the more you exercise your "energy body" or "dream body" via Astral projection, meditation, lucid dreaming, etc. the more complete we will feel.

This was the strange thing. The environment was stable, I do not recall any transition in the space around me; however, I remember that at times, I was very dizzy and disoriented and my vision would wabble - I do not remember what I saw then, maybe it was just my "seeing" that was not adjusted to that world and that was confusing for me. Also, there was no perceived time, per say, but things followed one another, just as in the consensual reality.



I know that words will never explain those things fully, but these associations are good for when one might need them to trigger memory recall. This is the only purpose for labeling, for me. Yeah, I have started a journal a couple of months back, and I'm adding to it twice a week, sometimes more. Hehehe. Thanks for mentioning spiritual growth; this occurred to me just before reading the forum, a thought manifested linking this experience and a DMT experience in which I witnessed a 5 "headed" spiked flower, blossoming in the Cosmos. I thought that that flower was me; could this have been? Now reading your post gave me the chills and I KNEW that was the case. How could it be otherwise? So thanks again.



I totally agree and feel the same as you do. But we all have our own thing to do, so that's okay. That's the beauty of existence: it will always exist, so we have plenty of time

The beginning of the experience sounds like sleep paralysis to me, which can be used as an entrance into lucid dreams or AP as far as I've heard. It's most definitely an interesting phenomenon, though personally I would avoid terms such as "higher plane" or even "higher self". Who's to say what is higher and lower and what these terms even mean in the convoluted world we are in. The hierarchies we think we perceive might just be figments of our imagination.
Anyway the whole waking up, doing something and then going back to sleep a short while later is apparently something that makes sleep paralysis more probable.

Yes, that's what I thought, as well. But it's not 100% reliable, though; I mean, depends on each person, but it does seem to increase chances for success. The most effective method I found is to wake up in the middle of the night (set an alarm clock or something), then go AP/LD from there directly.

Hmm, I believe this thread is better suited for the "Methods of Exploring Consciousness" forum, rather than this one. If a mod reads this, please move this thread, if you consider it appropriate. Thank you.