Astral travel--dream breakthrough?

[Kuroyue]

Last night I had a very long and vivid dream. So vivid, in fact, that I accidentally thought "Wow, this is so vivid, it's almost real!" And that's when I suddenly became aware that this was a dream, and not reality. I had complete control then, and, not wanting to waste this precious chance, I wanted to try and break free from the dream and into the astral plane. So I concentrated, and suddenly the dream broke, and everything was pitch black, and I couldn't move (and I was fully concious). After a few seconds passed, I was in another land. After discovering that I could fly, pass through walls, and stretch my fingers, I figured I had finally succeeded, and then began to explore for awhile before I woke up.

When I woke up, I realized that I didn't succeed. After the pitch black I experience, my mind had simply conjured up another dreamland for me to occupy, only that this time I had more control (hence the flying, finger-stretching, wall-passing, etc). If I had been in the real astral plane, I would have seen my physical body next to me, and I would have been in my room, at my house, and I was supposed to stay as emotionless as possible. None of that happened after the pitch black part, so it really was another dream. What went wrong? After the first dream broke, I was supposed to break into the astral plane, I think, but instead I got sent into another dreamland. Huh?

For those of you who have done astral travel before, can you explain what happened? Is there really a way to access the astral through dreams?  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

First of all, you lucky $^@#$^%^@#^ I rarely remember my dreams, let alone have lucid ones.  

[Starlock]

I don't have any dreams OTHER than lucid dreams (presuming "lucid dreams" are defined as dreams in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming and can, if desired, control the course of the dream at will). I'm not a huge believer in astral-anything, however, though I suppose that depends on how you define "astral." There are many levels of consciousness for sure... many wavelenths the brain can operate on. I'd say that dreams, meditation, and everything else, are simply varying frequencies of brain operation, including the experience of the original poster. I would honestly put off categorizing and labeling the experience and simply look at it for what it is. As soon as you stick a label on your experience, you categorize it and develop expectations about what it is "supposed" to be. That can stifle the manifestation of future experiences.  

[Kuroyue]

Yeah, I get what you mean, but I was trying to get one of those out-of-body experiences. It's known specifically as astral travel or astral projection. Some people do that by accident randomly or in crises, but there's tons of techniques to do it intentionally...although it's very hard, and requires lots of concentration.

By the way, I envy you. I almost never have any lucid dreams. crying They're all by accident, and I have little to no awareness.  

[Starlock]

Suzuroi

Yeah, I get what you mean, but I was trying to get one of those out-of-body experiences. It's known specifically as astral travel or astral projection. Some people do that by accident randomly or in crises, but there's tons of techniques to do it intentionally...although it's very hard, and requires lots of concentration.

By the way, I envy you. I almost never have any lucid dreams. crying They're all by accident, and I have little to no awareness.

I'm not sure how much merit there is to OOBEs (out of body experiences) as I haven't precisely had one myself. The closest thing I had to one was when I was doing a meditation I somehow slipped into some other state where I was seeing this odd grid of blue contour lines that appeared to be the vectorized surfaces of objects. By some reports, this might be seeing another plane... but I've no idea. It has only happened once and I have not tried to duplicate the effect a second time. It was very strange though... my eyes were closed yet it clearly felt that they were open because I was seeing all this strange blue framework stuff. I suspect that true astral experiences (however you classify astral) are varied, not uniformly the "looking down on one's body" thing.

Don't envy the lucidity too much. While I'm always aware I'm dreaming, 90% of the time I never bother to exercise the power associated with it. I just let the dreams flow on their own. Then again, I'm not plauged by bad dreams.  

[Kuroyue]

I love lucid dreams. They give me control! 3nodding It's fun to mess around with all the random people in your dreams and see what reactions they give you. There are endless possibilities when you control your own realm. I'd exercise the power whenever I can, as much as possible. First thing on my list: go exploring. #2: bug off the other people in my dream. #3: try to break out of the dream and make it into an astral experience. #4: uhh....try weird stuff. xd

By the way, the dimension that you were talking about doesn't sound like the astral plane. There are lots of dimensions out there, but I highly doubt that's the astral plane. The astral plane is largely influenced by your mind, like the conciousness, unconcious, the egos, and it looks and feels like the real world, except with negative entities. You can see symbols there that could be personal to you, meet other people who are astral projecting, fly, pass through solid objects, and stretch your body like rubber. I think the dream world is also the astral world, because it's made up by your mind. The one you were talking about seems to be a completely different plane. That's just my guess. confused It sounds really interesting, I've never heard of something like that before.  

[Hitara the Brave]

Dont try to control it.

I used to do that, and I got stuck in this gray field which I named it no-mans land.

My grandfather (This was after he died by the way) would always have to come rescue me out of that area.

I learned after a while to let your sub-concince(sp?) to guide you. Otherwise, it'll keep happening.

Im currently 17 and have been Astral Projecting since I was 14.

I've recently figgured out how to get into other's peoples dreams and mess with them or just to talk with them.

My friend Christine never beleved me when I told her I could do it.

One night, I appeared in her dream, asked her about the next day, and she was like "O_O;;; THAT REALLY HAPPENED?"

I was like "Yeah..."  

[The Bookwyrm]

Kuroyue

Yeah, I get what you mean, but I was trying to get one of those out-of-body experiences. It's known specifically as astral travel or astral projection. Some people do that by accident randomly or in crises, but there's tons of techniques to do it intentionally...although it's very hard, and requires lots of concentration.

Mind you, I've only heard very little on the Astral Plane, but I've never heard it described as being exactly like that. Yes, I've heard stories of people being able to see their own bodies, but that was usually before entering; astral projection is typically something different than an "out of body experience" which is traditionally triggered when the brain begins to shut itself down during death. confused  

[Pelta]

Kuroyue

When I woke up, I realized that I didn't succeed. After the pitch black I experience, my mind had simply conjured up another dreamland for me to occupy, only that this time I had more control (hence the flying, finger-stretching, wall-passing, etc).

That IS astral travel. The astral plane according to many traditions is the one that the mind manifests on. Ie. Ideas, symbols, concepts and crazy s**t appears there before it manifests on the physical plane. Dreams are created by your mind. Travelling around through your dream and being fully aware and in control is astral travel.

Quote:

If I had been in the real astral plane, I would have seen my physical body next to me, and I would have been in my room, at my house, and I was supposed to stay as emotionless as possible.

Where on earth did you read that? For one, the "real astral plane" is the one you were on when you were lucid dreaming. What you're talking about is projecting your astral self into the physical world and wandering about without your body. That doesn't mean the spirit's confined to this plane. If you ask me, the other ones are far more interesting.

And perhaps the next time it happens you should think of where you want to go as opposed to 'breaking' something. You're not going to get anywhere good if you don't specify where you want to go.  

[Kuroyue]

UnholyKnightOfDarkness

Dont try to control it.

I used to do that, and I got stuck in this gray field which I named it no-mans land.

My grandfather (This was after he died by the way) would always have to come rescue me out of that area.

I learned after a while to let your sub-concince(sp?) to guide you. Otherwise, it'll keep happening.

Im currently 17 and have been Astral Projecting since I was 14.

I've recently figgured out how to get into other's peoples dreams and mess with them or just to talk with them.

My friend Christine never beleved me when I told her I could do it.

One night, I appeared in her dream, asked her about the next day, and she was like "O_O;;; THAT REALLY HAPPENED?"

I was like "Yeah..."

I've heard of another person who first met his lover in a dream, and it turned out she was a real person pretending to be his dream guide (they got married eventually). This guy also knew how to enter other people's dreams, but he mentioned there being a "bridge" of some sort that connects one dream to another, and when you enter a dream, you have to come from behind the dreamer and they can't see you entering.

At least, that's what that guy said on a forum. Do you have a similar method? I want to try too, but I'm not sure how to get to the "bridge" in the first place...  

[Kuroyue]

missmagpie

Kuroyue

When I woke up, I realized that I didn't succeed. After the pitch black I experience, my mind had simply conjured up another dreamland for me to occupy, only that this time I had more control (hence the flying, finger-stretching, wall-passing, etc).

That IS astral travel. The astral plane according to many traditions is the one that the mind manifests on. Ie. Ideas, symbols, concepts and crazy s**t appears there before it manifests on the physical plane. Dreams are created by your mind. Travelling around through your dream and being fully aware and in control is astral travel.

Quote:

If I had been in the real astral plane, I would have seen my physical body next to me, and I would have been in my room, at my house, and I was supposed to stay as emotionless as possible.

Where on earth did you read that? For one, the "real astral plane" is the one you were on when you were lucid dreaming. What you're talking about is projecting your astral self into the physical world and wandering about without your body. That doesn't mean the spirit's confined to this plane. If you ask me, the other ones are far more interesting.

And perhaps the next time it happens you should think of where you want to go as opposed to 'breaking' something. You're not going to get anywhere good if you don't specify where you want to go.

Hm...good point. Next time I have a chance, I'll concentrate on my destination, especially because it's a point that is usually stressed a lot (at least, where I learned it). As far as the "real astral plane" goes, yeah, I know I'm in the astral plane when I'm dreaming, but most of the time I hear others mention it, they usually mean wandering about the physical world without a body.  

[x0DarkTiger0x]

UnholyKnightOfDarkness

Dont try to control it.

I used to do that, and I got stuck in this gray field which I named it no-mans land.

My grandfather (This was after he died by the way) would always have to come rescue me out of that area.

I learned after a while to let your sub-concince(sp?) to guide you. Otherwise, it'll keep happening.

Im currently 17 and have been Astral Projecting since I was 14.

I've recently figgured out how to get into other's peoples dreams and mess with them or just to talk with them.

My friend Christine never beleved me when I told her I could do it.

One night, I appeared in her dream, asked her about the next day, and she was like "O_O;;; THAT REALLY HAPPENED?"

I was like "Yeah..."

'No-mans land' huh? Did you end up there because you over controlled in a dream? I've only slightly controlled 2 dreams that I can recall, but if dumb evil spirits, at least I think there evil sweatdrop , would stop attacking me in my dreams I wouldn't have to. So I hope I don't end up there. I don't think I'd have some one to help me out of a place like that. sad

eek And you've astral projecting sense 14! Man, I've only managed to do that ONCE and it lasted like oh, 5 seconds! When I realized what was happening, I thought 'Oh cool!' and went WAM, back in my body. Not cool. >.< And that was like 4 years ago! I need to work on it more. sweatdrop

So are you a 'natural' when it comes to astral projection?  

[Kuroyue]

x0DarkTiger0x

UnholyKnightOfDarkness

Dont try to control it.

I used to do that, and I got stuck in this gray field which I named it no-mans land.

My grandfather (This was after he died by the way) would always have to come rescue me out of that area.

I learned after a while to let your sub-concince(sp?) to guide you. Otherwise, it'll keep happening.

Im currently 17 and have been Astral Projecting since I was 14.

I've recently figgured out how to get into other's peoples dreams and mess with them or just to talk with them.

My friend Christine never beleved me when I told her I could do it.

One night, I appeared in her dream, asked her about the next day, and she was like "O_O;;; THAT REALLY HAPPENED?"

I was like "Yeah..."

'No-mans land' huh? Did you end up there because you over controlled in a dream? I've only slightly controlled 2 dreams that I can recall, but if dumb evil spirits, at least I think there evil sweatdrop , would stop attacking me in my dreams I wouldn't have to. So I hope I don't end up there. I don't think I'd have some one to help me out of a place like that. sad

eek And you've astral projecting sense 14! Man, I've only managed to do that ONCE and it lasted like oh, 5 seconds! When I realized what was happening, I thought 'Oh cool!' and went WAM, back in my body. Not cool. >.< And that was like 4 years ago! I need to work on it more. sweatdrop

So are you a 'natural' when it comes to astral projection?

You're lucky you even did it once! But a good advice is to remain as calm and as emotionless as possible; it helps you stay out on the astral plane longer, so be sure to rein in your excitement next time. A lot of others did the same thing, I've heard.  

[Kakure Basho]

Starlock

I don't have any dreams OTHER than lucid dreams (presuming "lucid dreams" are defined as dreams in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming and can, if desired, control the course of the dream at will). I'm not a huge believer in astral-anything, however, though I suppose that depends on how you define "astral." There are many levels of consciousness for sure... many wavelenths the brain can operate on. I'd say that dreams, meditation, and everything else, are simply varying frequencies of brain operation, including the experience of the original poster. I would honestly put off categorizing and labeling the experience and simply look at it for what it is. As soon as you stick a label on your experience, you categorize it and develop expectations about what it is "supposed" to be. That can stifle the manifestation of future experiences.

I have to agree here. I usually only have lucid dreams...and while I believe in astral travel, I wouldnt reccommend trying to categorize this particular experience. I think the experience varies for everyone honestly, but if you try to put a label on something and raise your expectations, you are only going to disappoint yourself.  

[DR490N]

I'd like ot correct you here.
most of the time i'm both astral and physical at the same time, being a vampire and otherkin. Astral does not neccessarily mean that you're out of body. also, it isnt that uncommon to not see yourself go back to the body or leave the body. sometimes you just sorta shoot out.
However, I do agree that you likely simply dreamed the entire thing.