Seeing My Own Body And Converting A Lucid Dream Into An OBE?

Monday 14th April 2014
Time: Not sure - 5 - 6.30am/7am
Where: In bed
Weather: Clear
Techniques used: Moving energy up and down the body. "Now I am out of body" affirmation from Adventures Beyond the Body by William Buhlman.
Goal: To see my physical body

I had been reading William Buhlmans book the previous day, and I think it really inspired me so I had did some energy work and affirmations before falling asleep that night. I woke at some point in the early hours of the morning and began repeating "now I am out of body" to myself as I went back to sleep - or perhaps I projected straight away; I'm not sure. I'm a bit confused because I had a lot of vivid dreams that night - I may have been lucid or semi lucid for part of them - I've got a feeling I was. I do remember one part clearly where I saw a bottle of beautiful sparkling liquid which had a label on it that read 'Astral 2' - the name of an MP3 I had downloaded the day before. I think my subconscious was trying to tell me something!
This felt like a very long experience, but I don't know how long it lasted for in waking reality. I felt fairly lucid most of the time - I could think clearly, make decisions and remember things.

I think I drifted off and woke up momentarily - I felt 'different' and sat up and realised that I was sitting up out of my body - I couldn't see anything, but I felt that I had drifted over to more my husbands side of the bed. I tell myself not to be constrained by what I should or shouldn't be able to do and just decided to be off the bed by the door. As I stepped away from the bed my vision came. There was bright sunlight in the room (more than there would have been in waking reality) and everything looked hyper real - if a little out of focus. I was stood in the doorway looking towards the landing and I decided to muster my control and try looking at my physical body (I'd never managed this before). I turned towards the bed and saw a body shaped lump under what looked like a midnight blue throw (my sheets are dark purple) - it became a little clearer and what looked like my head moved about on the pillow, but I seemed to be wearing a black hood (??). I remember seeing a flash of purple - which in hindsight must have been my hair (I'm very attached to my purple streak). I wasn't aware of my husband being in bed next to me - but to be fair I wasn't looking for him - my intention was to see myself. At this point my perspective changed and I felt that I had returned to my body. I woke up and thought my projection had ended but something felt 'off'. The thought popped into my head that it might be a false awakening (where you think you've woken up in 'reality' but you haven't) and tried pinching my nose and breathing through it (a reality test) - I could still breathe through my nose and realised that I was still out of my body.
I was in a bed that wasn't mine in the middle of a big open plan room with wooden floors with old looking wooden tables and items around the room and a doorway off some way to the bottom right of the bed. I got up and walked over to a mezzanine area across the room to the left of the bed. I thought I'd give it a shot so I said "I'm conscious I am dreaming and I want to have an out of body experience" (even though I was scared of the vibrations and losing control that I had experienced before). Light flickered on the walls of the mezzanine like a TV screen or a portal opening. I could see images of Tinkerbell (what the heck??) moving on these patches of light. This didn't seem right to me (unsurprisingly) - maybe I was still scared and stopping myself - maybe Tinkerbell was telling me to stop being a wussy little fairy ;) I moved my focus away from the screens/portals and 'girded my loins'. I said firmly "I am conscious I am dreaming and I want to have an out of body experience". The vibrations started strongly and I started travelling upwards quickly - I started to lose my nerve; I felt so out of control - but I knew I'd never forgive myself if I didn't - so I held on.
After a few seconds (it seemed) it stopped and I came to rest on a big field with a view of rolling hills - it reminded me of the view from my parents house. There was a big glass building - a house - with lots of people inside and outside. Everything already looked very clear, so I don't know why I bothered, but I said "clarity now" to increase my lucidity. I said it again and I noticed a very slight difference in the sharpness of my vision (duh!).
At this point I reflected that my mind felt exactly as it did in waking life (yes, I'm that dumb in waking reality too) - I felt completely clear and able to think. I went into the house (everything gets a bit less lucid here) and there were a group of people around a large table - I think I was telling them what I was doing and why I was there. I was talking to a lady on my right with dark hair in particular and I gave her a large crystal that had ferns inside it (out of a bag that I suddenly seemed to have acquired!). She took it gratefully and seemed amazed and intrigued by it. I had a moment of meanness as it was beautiful (I love crystals) and offered her the choice of another one (idiot! - an obvious loss of lucidity here!). I soon got over it and let it go generously.
I suddenly realised I had been out of my body for a long time (more lucid now) and that there was a good chance I would forget this. I said I had to go and started to think about going back to my body. I had an idea of writing it down on a notepad that was on the table to remind me - but realised that was spectacularly stupid. I started trying to put things away in my bag (loss of lucidity again) and I lost awareness here - I may have returned to my body or it turned into a normal dream. I don't remember waking up until later (about 7am).

Notes: It seems clear that my subconscious had a pretty strong effect on some of the stuff I experienced - Tinkerbell for example. What does the black hood on my head mean?
P.S. I remembered later that I had also asked the group around the table if the building or site had anything to do with the village I live and work in because it felt very familiar to me.

How Can We Improve Our Out Of Body Memory And Recall?

Remembering clearly what happened in an out of body experience or lucid dream is something that I've been having issues with - falling asleep instead of immediately noting everything down in my journal probably has a lot to do with this! So; apart from telling myself to 'man up' and write everything down instead of lazily falling asleep- what can I do??

I've been thinking about this a lot, and the more I think about it the more I realise that my memory sucks in waking life too. Perhaps improving our day to day ability to remember things will improve our memory of what we get up to when we're not in our bodies?

So, I've set myself some homework and this what I've come up with:
I'm big on visualizing - so, I'm going to try and remember my shopping list (which I usually forget - go figure!). I'm going to try rehearsing my shopping trip in my imagination (this would work well if you usually go to the same shop and know where everything is). Sit quietly at home before your weekly shop with your list in hand and mentally see yourself walking through the entrance of the store and walking around picking up everything you need and putting it in your basket. It might take a few goes of doing this run through before you feel confidant you can go to the shop and put into practice what you've rehearsed. I'm giving this a go on my next shopping trip; either it'll work and I'll be a memory genius - or the kids will starve. Good luck kids!

In my quest for a better memory I found this great article called "7 tips to improve your memory" and I particularly like #3 which suggests giving greater awareness to your everyday life and weaning yourself off the habit of "continuous partial attention" - you can find the article here: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20723699,00.html

William Buhlman (in his book Adventures Beyond the Body - it's brilliant I highly recommend it - you can visit his site at http://www.astralinfo.org) suggests that while you're in an out of body experience (or lucid dream) that you should say "I remember all". This feels like it would work to me, as it sends a very powerful message to your subconscious that remembering your experience is important and gives you an anchor with which to focus your mind. I haven't tried this yet - but it's on my 'to do' list! Another idea is to write down an affirmation along the lines of "I remember everything I experience" on a piece of paper and putting it under your pillow. Re-read this every night to remember your dreams or out of body experiences and increase your lucidity.