A strange, lovely experience

I'd like to share my rather strange experience that occurred last night. It has resulted in me really thinking about how our minds work, and to a lesser degree even reincarnation or other realms. So here's what happened:

I was lying on the couch downstairs watching TV and feeling dosy. My girlfriend was in bed upstairs. I guess it would have been shortly after midnight that I dropped off to sleep for about 20 mins or so. When I woke up, I was having one of the most intense but strange experiences. Aswell as sweating profusley, I felt like I was floating, not in the air, but as though in a thick liquid I couldnt see, so my movements felt slow. This was accompanied by an utterly undescribable sensation, extremely pleasurable in such a weird way that I cant really explain. It was like everything was amazing, I was totally elated, and felt physically warm and sensitive all over. These words dont do justice, I cant really describe it.

So I went up to bed, and quickly fell asleep in this altered type state. And the whole night, I had what seemed more than a dream, of a place by the sea that I lived, but knew wasnt home. I knew the people well, but couldnt remember names. When they spoke, I knew what they were saying, but couldnt understand the words. I felt unbelievably happy to be in that place that was so familiar, but that I didnt know. The place in the dream was like home, but I knew it wasnt. And the main feeling, just like when I fell asleep on the couch, was profound excitement.

I am wondering if others have had similar experiences? I know lots about dream psychology and disorders etc. All my life I have had a sleep disorder with sleep paralysis and waking nightmares. But this was something very unique, and unbelievably strange. I can vividly remember every detail from the dream aswell, which is unusual. In fact, its all I can think about! Were chemicals otherwise unused being released in my brain? Did something trigger this, i.e something consumed in food that caused a reaction? Did I glimpse another reality even, or a past life?

I would be interested in peoples views/experiences.

It's certainly possible that you remembered something from a past experience. I have some interesting memories myself. I feel as though I jump from one experience (life) to another, and often time cross paths with people are are essentially 'playing along' with me. It makes sense in a way that sometimes we seem to recognize people we haven't met... at least not in this life.