thoughts on astral projection/lucid dreaming

hello, I had a few bad replies from my other post about your thoughts on the paranormal, they said it was a too big of subject and to be more specific, so
i want to know your thoughts about astral projection and lucid dreaming,

I think these are very real things, but not to be "played" with.
and should be taken seriously.

so, please tell me your thoughts about this,
all are welcome

reply to post by comiesk8er


Lucid dreaming for me is realizing I am in a dream and being able to control it.I do it when I get nightmares and I am able to take control.
Astral projection I think is a bit of a flaky one for me tho.Never had experience with it.I heard of people doing it but there is no proof so its not real to me other then reading about it in books.
Welcome to ATS fellow Canuck!!

what you had was an astral projection i think, lucid dreaming is seeing something that hasent happend yet (im pretty sure, plz done hate me for getting it wrong)

and thanks for the welcome, but im not a canuck,

I have had prophetic dreams b4 but I call them dreams bcuz nobody proved I left my body.It was a dream to me.The dreams I have where I fly are the ones I suspect might be astral travel but still no way for me to say other then it was a dream.Whats yer definition of astral travel?Mine is a flying dream.

Lucid dreaming is realizing you are asleep and having a dream and are aware of that fact.
I'm easy...theres alot of jerks on here and I don't fancy being rude so your safe.

last night i had a very vivid dream, very brilliant colors....
there were two moons in the sky, they were very bright and very large, everyone was looking at them. then they converged into one and became one big moon that reflected and magnified certain parts of the earth. I saw brilliant blue wates with golden fish swimming, like looking from above. I wasn't fearful, but anxious.....I felt like this was a good thing.
While the dream may not be that strange....I told my daughter about the dream today and she said, yes, I had a very similar dream....two moons, in the sky and she was scared. She knew there was a big change coming and she didn't want them to come together because she didn't know what was going to happen when they did. When they came together it was like the whole earth became quiet and she had flashes of thought saying things like, pollution is getting better, the water is cleaner, like it was fixing the earth. How bizarre that we would have such similar dreams on the same night?

Flying dreams and astral projection are extremely different. When astral travel commences, you undergo intense vibrations, and a it feels like there's an earthquake inside your head. There are sometimes distorted and warped voices, static noises, and the sound that you hear when you put your head outside a window of a car travelling at around 100kph.

This part is where your body ceases to have the ability to move (sleep paralysis) and many people often see hallucinations. Some will even experience a sensation of spinning around.

It's these stages that can potentially lead to an astral projection. That is if you're willing to free yourself from the fear of the situation, because it's one of the most unusual feelings a human can possibly have, in my opinion. It feels as if the very life you have is being taken away from you.

If you succeed in this stage, you may hear or feel a pop and half of the time, you will appear above your own physical body. It's not really easy to travel around in your astral body, and for me it's quite exhausting sometimes. If completely mastered, you are able to travel around with your own will outside of your body. It's definitely beyond dreaming, but dreaming stages allow you to initiate this. You have to experience it to believe it. It's unreal. Especially when you float through things. Your body ends up feeling a vibrational sensation. It's quite creepy, but totally awesome.

reply to post by Angry Potato


No offence to you but I don't believe in it really.People talk about it but I have yet to see someone prove it...like I will put an object in a dif room and you go to sleep and wake up and tell me what it is.Its just stuff I read in books.Just a fairy tale to me.
There has been alot written about it but I still doubt unless it can be proved to me.Much like religion.LOL
No offence meant by the way.

Nah, that's cool. I was pretty sceptical of it myself, until I actually achieved. I still try and achieve it these days but often fail. If it ever does happen you, you'll know it's real.

That's if i does, though. It's a pretty cool feeling. I don't think its one of those things that people can prove neither. It's like trying to prove what someone actually had a dream about.

reply to post by Angry Potato


Trying to prove what I dreamt about would be tough I agree.Its a 50 50 thing.I can't prove it doesn't exist either.

I am a avid astral projector and I assure you without a doubt it is real.

The way it occurs for me is I will be laying in bed and feel sleep paralysis set in. I then roll myself out of my body - feeling as if I am going to fall off the bed - but then float down to my floor. When I open my eyes, I am on the floor on my room, so then I stand up and proceed to leave my room through the door, wall, or anything else that may be in the way.

While on the way to seperation during astral travel you will experience things that may or may not scare the living hell out of you. You may see shadows moving, hear voices, millions of sounds chattering incoherently, loud rushing sounds like wind or a train wooshing through your room, and a distict physical feeling surrounding your body. Often you cannot move physically, but this allows you to move your astral body without waking yourself up. Sleep paralysis is a very tough feeling to get used to though.

Also, when I exit my body, I find rolling out the best method. If I fall through my bed, which some people use, it is much too intense of a feeling - like the rides in the amusement park that drop you very fast - and it often wakes me up. IF I can control myself and continue falling then I can successfuly seperate, but would much rather have a suddle exit through the side of my body.

There is no boundries when you exit. You are free to do as you will. I usually fly around, use telekenesis to move objects, and ask questions to beings that I encounter about life situations. Sometimes its hard to control yourself, almost like being in zero gravity just tumbling around, but once you get your bearings you can move much easier. When I first began I would "swim" through the air, but now its more of a mental travel.

You are 100% capable of experiencing this if you are patient and willing to learn. Read up on something called then Monroe Technique and you will get the basics of astral travel.

Lucid dreaming to me is a bit different and usually occurs while I am dreaming. I often find myself in unfamiliar places and worlds. On the other hand, in astral travel I end up next to my bed in my room after exiting. With lucid dreaming things are more "fantasy", much like your normal dreams, just you are able to take control of them.

Either way, both are such amazing experiences and because of them dreaming is one of my favorite activities. I find if I take a nap during the day then I can usually astral travel most of the time. If I try at night I am usually too tired and fall into a deep REM sleep, instead of being able to control the state between sleeping and waking needed for astral projection.

You really should look into it more instead of dismissing it outright. There is much more to life then many people realize, and this is just one of the little things that has been around for thousands of years just waiting to be unlocked.

I wish you the best in your studies and hope one day you can achieve such a wonderful thing.

Originally posted by Angry Potato
Flying dreams and astral projection are extremely different.

I used to think this too, but now I'm not so sure. Now I lean towards thinking that flying and/or lucid dreams are a variation of the 'out-of-body experience'. Maybe you somehow sleep through that roaring/rushing/vibrational sensation. I've had flying dreams that I simply dismissed as dreams: "I know this place well, and I know there are no ferris wheels right there." ...Now I think that you can be projecting and dreaming at the same time. Rather like sleepwalking; you might see your 'actual' surroundings, but with elements from your dream world mixed in.

I think that you can have completely solitary, internal dreams too, but I think some dreams, especially lucid ones, are visits to a 'place' that is shared by others.

There are quite a few threads here about this - use the search feature for "lucid dreams" or simply the word "Akashic".

[edit on 12/11/2008 by Teratoma]

Well.. while I am still skeptical about Astral Projection, I was also skeptical about Lucid Dreaming until I had a couple.

I used the clock technique - where you look at a digital clock and say it out loud once every hour every day - after several weeks you will start to do this in your dreams - and when you recognize you can't read a digital clock in a dream you immediately become in control of your dream.

(works every time for me - just be patient it can take up to a month before you have your first one)

I will have to look up this Monroe technique for Astral Projection - but if Astral Projection works - why don't people use it to gain information on their competitors or enemies?

I know the temptation would be great to do so for me...

reply to post by TruthMagnet


well, the CIA had Project: Stargate starting in the late 1960s, which involved 'remote viewing'.

Not exactly the same as astral projection, but I believe all these things are part of the same phenomena.

I think I've experienced this before - it's definitely related to sleep paralysis. I feel like I'm awake - my consciousness and thoughts are clear, if a little 'groggy'. I can feel the bed, blankets and sheets, and the distinct feeling that my eyes are closed. But I can SEE! And it's not my room - it's usually a cozy little den with a fireplace, mantle and bookshelves. If I try to look around too much, I wake up completely.

I still don't think it is a dream. Closely related in property, perhaps, but I'm not too sure that I'd dismiss it as just a dream.

One time, where I suspect an entity wanted to pull me out of my body (a positive entity, I think), I experienced something quite weird. At the time, I was a bit concerned and wanted to disengage an OOBE state. With my eyes closed I saw a white orb glide into my vision.

After that occured, my astral body, if you will, ascended toward my bedroom celing. I tried to disengage so tried to open my eyes. As I opeed my eyes, I saw my room just as it is, except I could only open my eyes quarter of the way. The paralysis jammed them shut again, and I continued my ascent toward my ceiling. Then I opened my eyes a quarter of the way again only to get them shut on me again.

Although I got to this stage in a dream state, I have doubts that my other self ascending towards the ceiling was a dream state, because I was continually fluctuating between my physical vision and my astral vision. If it were a lucid dream it would require the utmost concentration, and if you did open your eyes, you'd disengage immediately (possibly). I don't really have lucid dreams too much, but I still feel that the OOBE and lucid dreams are two different things. Even while lucid in a dream you can tell you're dreaming, but when you're physically floating around and looking at your surroundings as if you were controlling your physical body, and the time that you are out of your body is relative to the time that it is in the physical world, as opposed to the timeless dream realm, you will definitely notice that it's definitely of another nature to that of a dream.

Some things defy logic and can never be understood by using logical means to discover an answer. I just wish everyone could understand that. It's true that something need not be supernatural, but something that can't be defined can exist. Therefore if anyone needs proof to verify my claims, I can't.

reply to post by Angry Potato


Are you replying to me? Maybe you misunderstood. I said I used to dismiss them as dreams but now I think they are something more. On top of that I think you can experience BOTH at the same time - an out of body experience while the brain is still dreaming.

I dunno if I can articulate this, but I think the physical body is a sort of 'ball-and-chain', with filters to limit your conscious intake to the 5 senses.

I think '___' 'loosens the binds' so-to-speak, and enables us to experience this plain of existence and others without the shackles of flesh, friction and gravity.

So some dreams are solitary, inward experiences, but others are visits to a place where we can interact with others who are in the same state, or possibly not even human.

We think of the 3rd dimension as 'reality' because this is where we spend most of our time, but who's to say the dream world is any less 'real'?

Oh. So we're on the same team. Coo' coo' .

I have become interested in astral projection recently and intend to try it in the near future. I suppose trying it for yourself is the only way to know whether it is real or not.

As for lucid dreaming ive never had one but lucid dreaming can lead to an OBE apparently because your conscious mind and subconscious mind come together and you get a higher state of consciousness or so i have read.

hmmm... interesting, and yes, it is a good idea to try it for yourself before u trash the idea like alot of other people,
i like the idea the one guy had about looking at a digital clock and reading the time out loud every hour, every day, eventually he sed you start to do it in ur sleep,
and u notice it then become conscious and have a lucid dream,
im gonna try it
hope it helps anyone else who tries it

Originally posted by comiesk8er
hmmm... interesting, and yes, it is a good idea to try it for yourself before u trash the idea like alot of other people,
i like the idea the one guy had about looking at a digital clock and reading the time out loud every hour, every day, eventually he sed you start to do it in ur sleep,
and u notice it then become conscious and have a lucid dream,
im gonna try it
hope it helps anyone else who tries it

Yes thats one method another is to ask yourself 30 times a day am i dreaming and you will start to do it in your dreams i have never tried it but in theory it should work.

I have read alot of stuff thats puts me off trying things like this though well atleast on my own anyway. I will probably get round to it when i have some spare time though.

Someone should make meditation clubs where likeminded people can try things like OBE and deep meditation in groups.