I want to take the time to take a different approach to this week’s post.\u00a0 I want to cover the differences between lucid dreaming and out of body experiences. Both\u00a0 Lucid dreaming and out of body experiences have similar characteristics when it comes to experience.\u00a0 For example, those who can dream lucidly as well as have an out of body experiences(OBEs) one can control their dream environment, meaning, if I am having a dream about a situation about a relationship or even something as simple as solving an issue one has, the dreamer can interact with that dreamscape. \u00a0 Other similar aspects to these two are one’s awareness of various types of thought.\u00a0 In both lucid dreams and an OBE, these types of methods the dreamer (Lucid dreaming) or the experiencer(OBE) has the capability of awareness of thought.\u00a0 The factors listed are where these two end.<\/p>\n
The differences:<\/strong><\/p>\n Lucid dreaming is a dreamer’s ability to remember one’s dream,<\/strong><\/em> and all people have the ability to experience a lucid dream and with practice, one can achieve lucidity.<\/strong>\u00a0 Lucid dreaming is a great tool to use when one feels stressed and is a great way to relax.\u00a0 Some important factors regarding this dreaming, as opposed to dreaming and forgetting,\u00a0are dreaming with purpose.\u00a0 Before sleeping, the dreamer can remind him or herself that they will remember their dreams.\u00a0 In WikiHow<\/a>, they have given some examples such as:<\/p>\n When I first learned how to lucid dream, I started with yoga.\u00a0 I bought a yoga VHS tape and learned some yoga postures and breathing techniques.\u00a0 From there, I progressed to learning how to make an astral projection. At the time, I bought a book called “How to Astral Project” by Denning and Phillips – Astral Projection will be covered later on in the post.\u00a0 It was through this book and many others I learned how to become aware of my dreams.\u00a0 WikiHow suggests inscribing an “A” on your palm.\u00a0 The method I describe is an advanced method that I used when I learned.\u00a0 Once you are in your dream state and you are having a conversation, I like to use trigger words such as if someone says, “Hey,\u00a0 Peter, have you seen that object that we discussed earlier?”\u00a0 In this conversation, the most meaning for me would either be “object” or “discussed,” and if I hear those terms, I question if I’m awake or asleep.<\/p>\n One dreamer had this experience:<\/p>\n {Came home from practice and fell asleep. I was in such a deep sleep that I fell asleep in my dreams and was dreaming. Then I woke in my dream and started doing stuff around the house only to realize it was a dream too when C. woke me up. \ud83d\ude41 Too bad I didn’t do my homework in my dream and have it be finished when I woke up cause that would have been awesome.}<\/em><\/p>\n This particular dreamer has the potential of having a great lucid dreaming experience.\u00a0 The characteristics of awareness are all there. The knowledge of knowing the acts that was performed on multiple levels is a good characteristic of dream lucidity.\u00a0 Though this person had described being aware after waking, with the proper practice and guidance, the achievement of lucidity or even an OBE is plausible.\u00a0 The methods used on WikiHow of the “A” on the palm would be a good jumping-off point.\u00a0 Eventually, once experience sets in, the use of things around the home could be used as triggers for future lucid abilities.<\/p>\n Methods that I’ve used for my lucid dreaming training are looking at a distant object, for example,\u00a0 a certain brick on a brick wall(or some inanimate object).\u00a0 I’ll displace some energy in that object, either positive or negative(the type isn’t important as so much as it just brings awareness). This method, if one is not highly aware, can add stress physically.\u00a0 I have not seen any studies on this; however, there are some instances within an out of body experience where a person has been affected physically.\u00a0 This has been my experience when it has come to achieving lucidity.\u00a0\u00a0 As a dreamer, you can make it as simple or as complex as you like.\u00a0 For me and my experiences, this was how I was most comfortable with achieving lucidity.<\/p>\n Out of Body Experience(OBE)<\/strong><\/p>\n Out of Body Experience or OBEs is a person’s ability to leave their body at will<\/strong>, hence, “out of body experience.”\u00a0 This term can also be defined as Astral Projection.<\/strong>\u00a0 Throughout this post, I will be using the term OBE and Astral Projection concurrently.\u00a0 There is a similar experience related to OBEs called a “Near Death Experience” or NDE,<\/em> which will not be covered here.\u00a0 The main difference between an OBE and NDE is that an NDE, one must be declared deceased.\u00a0 For resources on near-death books, “Embraced by the Light” by Betty J. Eadie<\/a> is a great read as well as Dannion Brinkley<\/a>‘s book, “Saved By The Light.”\u00a0 A\u00a0 must-read<\/strong> for those interested in NDEs is Raymond A. Moody<\/a>‘s “Life After Life.”\u00a0 He was the first person who coined the term “Near Death Experience,” and this was during the mid-1970s during his NDE studies.\u00a0 So, back to the Out of body experience and what it’s all about.<\/p>\n So, as we recall, an OBE is a person’s ability to leave their body. \u00a0 From my perspective, this is a step up from lucid dreaming mainly because of the person’s ability to actively control their experience(s)<\/em> at any time compared to that of lucid dreaming where one dreams and knows that they are dreaming.\u00a0 In the book “Astral Projection” by Denning and Phillips<\/a>, these authors have described the body of having a silver cord extending from the belly to the projected body.\u00a0 How does one draw upon this? Like most experiences, we start as babies and explore things. Leaving the body is no different.\u00a0 The initial experience is surreal and does take some getting used to.\u00a0\u00a0 While in this state, look around and experience the feeling.<\/p>\n The initial experience won’t belong in duration(at least mine wasn’t).\u00a0 As time progresses within your astral journey, you’ll start developing a certain awareness of your surroundings.\u00a0 The progression of the astral body as compared to the physical body, the astral learns more quickly.\u00a0 If you practice only once or twice a week the experience will increase.\u00a0 For me,\u00a0 it took about a month to get used to the feeling.\u00a0 From this point on everything is all about learning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The best I can describe is that of skydiving.\u00a0 When you jump out of an airplane, you have this falling feeling, and first-time jumpers need to have coached to control and maintain their body positions. This does not mean that once you have your astral experience that you’ll be able to jump out of an airplane \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Like a first-time skydiver, the first time in your astral body, you’ll need to know the same principles of control.\u00a0 Once control is established the experiencer can then can have their own “Choose your own Adventure” experience, which is more fulfilling than the Adventure books. \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 At this point of your OBE, one should treat everything as you are learning everything for the first time.\u00a0 Keeping this mindset has enabled me to do some of the following:<\/p>\n There are more though these are the ones that stick out to me the most.\u00a0 An Out of body experience is a great way of having fun and enjoy everything around you and in your journey many things will come to pass and greater experiences will shape the environment around you.<\/p>\n ===================================================<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n retrieved on: December 2, 2012 from: http:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/Lucid-Dream<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I want to take the time to take a different approach to this week’s post.\u00a0 I want to cover the differences between lucid dreaming and out of body experiences. Both\u00a0 Lucid dreaming and out of body experiences have similar characteristics … Continue reading \n
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