Hi all, I’m new to posting here, so I’m sorry if this is in the wrong place! I’ve been having lucid dreams sporadically for several years. I also have other experiences that I would describe as out of body experiences. It usually begins in sleep paralysis (which used to be terrifying until I learned how to use it to my advantage). When I feel the sleep paralysis vibrations coming on, I relax into them and don’t allow myself to be fearful, until I feel myself “release” which would be the best way to describe it. It feels like my dream self is disconnecting from my physical body. Sometimes it takes me awhile to get acclimated and “see”, and other times everything is crystal clear right away. I’m usually in my room by my bed or on the floor next to my bed, and use my mind to maneuver myself through my door/wall/ceiling into other parts of my house. I usually have no problem floating or flying, although sometimes I feel out of control (as if I am stuck under a strong current or wave in the ocean). My issue is that I’m not sure if these are lucid dreams or OBEs. Everything in my room looks real, and usually the darkness or light coming through the windows will match the time of day I’m experiencing this. What throws me off is that sometimes there will be a random thing different, like a mirror on the wall that isn’t really there. Also, my two dogs always seem to interact with me/look at me/follow me around the house in this state, as if they can see me. However, when I snap out of this LD/OBE state, my dogs are usually sound asleep on their beds. Any idea what’s really going on here?
There are no OBE’s. It was just a dream. 
Thanks for your help, DTDownUnder!
Good post DTDownUnder
SpiralFetish, I would say what you are experiencing looks like an OBE
Not everyone is willing to accept OBEs are real.
Myself was highly skeptical about them until a couple of months ago, when I started my quest to find out by myself.
Now that I experienced them firsthand I am convinced OBEs exist and are wholly different than LD, but of course I fully understand skepticism…
I suggest you some books about OBEs that you could read to find out more:
- Robert Monroe - Journeys out of the Body
- Robert Peterson - Out of Body Experience
- Robert Bruce - Astral Dynamics
No typo, all those guys are really called Bruce 
Thank you GenghisKhan. I am also convinced they are different - The thing that throws me off is that things sometimes appear out of place in my room/house. But Maybe that is because I am essentially in a different vibration/dimension of the same space. Also, thank you for the book suggestions. Its ironic because I actually JUST purchased Robert Bruce- Astral Dynamics and plan to start reading it this week. I’ve also read a lot/watched documentaries about Robert Monroe & the Monroe Institute. Fascinating stuff. I will be sure to check out Robert Peterson, too. Sweet Dreams!
Those books also offer some possible explanations about why you find out of place / out of ordinary stuff while navigating the Real Time Zone / Locale I / Here and Now
I find the various accounts from different authors being quite similar, bar some surface differences
Good read and happy LD / OBE / whatever !
There’s also this long-winded discussion on the differences between OBEs and LDs.
ld4all.com/forum/viewtopic.p … hlight=obe
Personally, I like to remind people that the “E” in OBE is the most important letter. Whether you accept the reality of true out-of-body travel or not, people do regularly have the experience of leaving their bodies. People came up with the term “OBE” because it largely feels like leaving your body.
By contrast, people can have lucid dreams for years and never experience anything like a double seeming to separate from their bodies while they’re conscious and aware of their physical surroundings.
Thank you for the link - And you are right about the experience of it being the most important aspect. Experience is everything, IMO. You can tell someone about lucid dreaming or OBE’s all day, but until they have one for themselves they will never be able to grasp the awe of it. For me, LDs & OBE’s are very much related, but there is a difference in how they feel. Sometimes I will have an OBE that will seem to morph into a lucid dream, and vice versa. Astral travel maybe? Sometimes I will be having lucid dreams and then feel almost like a suction vacuum sensation, as if I am being pulled backwards or pushed forwards down a tunnel. This has happened many times, and then I will find myself in my room or in a part of my house, outside my body. I even remembered to “reach back” once and “felt” a rope coming out of the base of my skull - wondering if this was the silver cord I’ve read about. I couldn’t see it. And then there’s other times when I don’t have “hands” or an “etheric body” - I just feel like I am like a bubble of consciousness floating around my house, getting bigger and smaller in size. I read a great book called Dreams of Awakening by LD teacher, Charlie Morley, that gave me some good tips. I experienced a lot of weird dream stuff while reading that book - Almost as if just reading or thinking about lucid dreaming can enhance lucid dreaming. Journaling & drawing my dreams definitely has helped.