Difference between Astral Projection and OBE? Is what I'm doing right?

[LunaLunacy]

Now I've noticed through looking through alot of posts that people relate their astral projections to OBEs ("I was on the ceiling looking down at my body") What is the difference? (if there is any)
I'm quite sure I have astral projection down but I usually would appear in a different environment unlike the ones that I would see in every day life. I barely ever have had the experience when projecting to actually step out of my body and look back at my body. Is this normal?

Sorry if what I'm trying to say sounds a bit confusing but here are some more clear cut questions I can rephrase...

1.) Is there a difference between astral projection and OBEs? If so what are they? (alot of websites and people seem to have different personal views on this.)
2.) When astral projecting, is it normal just to appear in these strange fantastical environments unlike the ones physically present?
3.) I, up to this point, have been assured I have been astral projecting, but I have never actually left my body similar to an OBE where people describe it as "I was on the ceiling looking down", or "looking at my body asleep while i'm floating above it". Am I doing my Astral Projections just in a different way or am I just horribly confused?


Thank you for your time. I understand my thoughts are a bit jumbled but I would still love to hear your guy's input.

[ButterflyWoman]

I've always taken the terms to be interchangeable. Or, more like, OBE is very general and covers a lot of different kinds of experience, and AP is a specific kind of OBE.

As for your second question, that is, yet again, a specific kind of experience that can be called a type of OBE. The usual word for it is "phasing", where there is no obvious "exit" and no "exit symptoms", etc. This is my usual experience, in fact.

FWIW, not everyone "leaves their body". For me, it's more like just a switch of awareness and focus. Sometimes, I remain completely aware of my physical body and surroundings while simultaneously "going" somewhere else. This is frequently termed "split consciousness" and I do it naturally, but I understand it can be learned.

Basically, I think terms are only useful if you're trying to compare notes with someone, in that you should get some understanding and agreement on what you're talking about. Other than that, words are just words and labels are not always particularly useful.

[susan]

Hi LunaLunacy,I can only give you what I experience.
To be aware of your body feeling lighter and raising and leaving the physical,is an Out Of Body but does not mean you are in the Astral when you see your bedroom and float down stairs.Robert Bruce calls this Real Time Zone. Therefore in my way of looking at it is an OBE is not always an Astral Projection. Just depends where you end up,it can turn into one.
To then attempt to travel by shooting up,sideways,down,looking for a portal,etc in your astral body you can find yourself in the Astral.
You can visit the Astral without being aware of the leaving body stage.Your consciousness has already left before you become aware and realise you are experiencing something.
To sum up in my opinion.
An astral projection is an OBE.
An OBE may not be an Astral Projection ,just depends if you stay in Real Time Zone.

[CFTraveler]

Now I've noticed through looking through alot of posts that people relate their astral projections to OBEs ("I was on the ceiling looking down at my body") What is the difference? (if there is any)
I'm quite sure I have astral projection down but I usually would appear in a different environment unlike the ones that I would see in every day life. I barely ever have had the experience when projecting to actually step out of my body and look back at my body. Is this normal?

Hi LL. I'm going to answer the question how I understand projection.
Projection is having your perception in an environment. It can be in degrees of physicality, from the completely physical to the completely nonphysical. They are all projections of consciousness, but they experience different types of environments.
I try to tailor the name to the descriptor, but many people use them interchaengably. So I'll try to describe what I'm trying to say.
If I'm dreaming I'm projecting my consciousness to a nonphysical environment. It's largely mental, and astral, because usually there is no lucidity and the content is subconsciously formed. So in a dream it can be said that you are astral projecting without lucidity. Of course, we call it 'regular dream'.

In a lucid dream, like a normal dream, you are still projecting to the astral, usually starting out nonlucid (unless you're phasing or WILDing)- there is no physical (etheric) component to the environment- it's mostly mental and astral. But, when you become lucid, you now have the capacity to transcend the boundaries of the dreamscape, and go towards the collective astral. If you leave the dreamscape lucidly, you projected into the astral from a dream, if you phase or WILD, you astral projected.

A Remote View (or clairvoyant experience) is what you've described in your post- I still call it projecting, but you have not moved out of your body so it's not an OBE- it's a projection of consciousness, and if you've phased (moved into the scape) it's an AP, if you just observed from the clear vantage of your body, it's a clairvoyant vision /aka Remote View, if done within certain protocols.

1.) Is there a difference between astral projection and OBEs? If so what are they? (alot of websites and people seem to have different personal views on this.)

An OBE is a type of AP. Most OBES are projections to the real time zone or etheric plane. It is the experience of leaving your body. It's technically an AP because some authors include the etheric (or real time) as a subset of the astral, therefore it would be considered a type of AP. However, for clarity about the type of experience I had, I only call it an OBE if I have a clear exit and find myself in the realtime zone, and an AP if I experience the Astral directly, without starting out in the realtime zone (or the etheric). It's my preference, because I prefer environmental descriptors.

2.) When astral projecting, is it normal just to appear in these strange fantastical environments unlike the ones physically present?

If you're phasing, yes. I find that most newbies OBE into the etheric first and then go astral from there, and after some time they start phasing, at least it's how I do it now.

3.) I, up to this point, have been assured I have been astral projecting, but I have never actually left my body similar to an OBE where people describe it as "I was on the ceiling looking down", or "looking at my body asleep while i'm floating above it". Am I doing my Astral Projections just in a different way or am I just horribly confused?

What you are describing is a realtime OBE (or OBE into the etheric.) Most people start with this, and continue on to Astral Projection, or phasing, what I call a projection to the astral proper.

I hope this didn't confuse you even more. Now I'm going to go back and see what everyone else wrote.

[DarkChylde]

Basically, I think terms are only useful if you're trying to compare notes with someone, in that you should get some understanding and agreement on what you're talking about. Other than that, words are just words and labels are not always particularly useful.

[Tutor]

ditto to DC's ditto to BW.

[wstein]

An OBE is an Out of Body Experience. This is a group of related forms of experience where your awareness is outside your body. There are at least a dozen forms of OBE. The more common ones are astral travel, mental projection (phasing), journeying, and dimensional travel (angel, astral being, or alien visitation). Depending on how you view 'out of', dreaming and visions might be included (i do not consider them OBE).

[wstein]

Now I've noticed through looking through alot of posts that people relate their astral projections to OBEs ("I was on the ceiling looking down at my body") What is the difference? (if there is any)

As per post above, astral projection is one form of OBE. Pretty much all spontaneous looking down on your body from the ceiling experiences are the astral travel form.

I'm quite sure I have astral projection down but I usually would appear in a different environment unlike the ones that I would see in every day life. I barely ever have had the experience when projecting to actually step out of my body and look back at my body. Is this normal?

Although most spontaneous astral travelers stay in the Real Time Zone (RTZ) and the astral planes. The RTZ looks nearly identical to the physical with occasional differences. Each of the astral planes looks quite different.

Though few realize it, any form of OBE can take you to an infinite number of other planes or realms. Some of these are not all that different then the space-time continuum in which the Earth exists. Some are so different and bizarre, it hard to even fathom what you are experiencing. While travel to these alternate destinations is uncommon, it’s quite normal.

A note here, for beginners its not always easy to distinguish the look and feel of a dream (lucid, aware, or ordinary) from an OBE experience. To further confuse things, there are OBE ‘exit’ methods that start from a lucid dream and transition to an OBE. Pretty much only experience will sort this out. The biggest clues are continuity and how movement works.

1.) Is there a difference between astral projection and OBEs? If so what are they? (alot of websites and people seem to have different personal views on this.)

Answered in post above.

2.) When astral projecting, is it normal just to appear in these strange fantastical environments unlike the ones physically present?

Yes, answered above. If you go ‘far’ enough it gets even stranger and there may not be any matter or energy to ‘see’.

3.) I, up to this point, have been assured I have been astral projecting, but I have never actually left my body similar to an OBE where people describe it as "I was on the ceiling looking down", or "looking at my body asleep while i'm floating above it". Am I doing my Astral Projections just in a different way or am I just horribly confused?

Either you are still stuck having dreams or you are doing it another way.

[LunaLunacy]

Hi LL. I'm going to answer the question how I understand projection.
Projection is having your perception in an environment. It can be in degrees of physicality, from the completely physical to the completely nonphysical. They are all projections of consciousness, but they experience different types of environments.
I try to tailor the name to the descriptor, but many people use them interchaengably. So I'll try to describe what I'm trying to say.
If I'm dreaming I'm projecting my consciousness to a nonphysical environment. It's largely mental, and astral, because usually there is no lucidity and the content is subconsciously formed. So in a dream it can be said that you are astral projecting without lucidity. Of course, we call it 'regular dream'.

In a lucid dream, like a normal dream, you are still projecting to the astral, usually starting out nonlucid (unless you're phasing or WILDing)- there is no physical (etheric) component to the environment- it's mostly mental and astral. But, when you become lucid, you now have the capacity to transcend the boundaries of the dreamscape, and go towards the collective astral. If you leave the dreamscape lucidly, you projected into the astral from a dream, if you phase or WILD, you astral projected.

A Remote View (or clairvoyant experience) is what you've described in your post- I still call it projecting, but you have not moved out of your body so it's not an OBE- it's a projection of consciousness, and if you've phased (moved into the scape) it's an AP, if you just observed from the clear vantage of your body, it's a clairvoyant vision /aka Remote View, if done within certain protocols.


An OBE is a type of AP. Most OBES are projections to the real time zone or etheric plane. It is the experience of leaving your body. It's technically an AP because some authors include the etheric (or real time) as a subset of the astral, therefore it would be considered a type of AP. However, for clarity about the type of experience I had, I only call it an OBE if I have a clear exit and find myself in the realtime zone, and an AP if I experience the Astral directly, without starting out in the realtime zone (or the etheric). It's my preference, because I prefer environmental descriptors.

If you're phasing, yes. I find that most newbies OBE into the etheric first and then go astral from there, and after some time they start phasing, at least it's how I do it now.

What you are describing is a realtime OBE (or OBE into the etheric.) Most people start with this, and continue on to Astral Projection, or phasing, what I call a projection to the astral proper.

I hope this didn't confuse you even more. Now I'm going to go back and see what everyone else wrote.

Thank you very much. This really helped clear alot of stuff up and I'm very thankful you spent so much time on this post to clear things up for me.

I think the thing that really confused me in the end was I never appeared to start with the realtime OBE. From as far as I can remember back it was more of an instance that merged in phasing and that is what I have known for the longest time.

Thank you very much for you help (This goes for everyone who provided me with some imput) Its really enjoyable to have a source to go to for this sort of research.

[greytraveller]

Hello LunaLunacy
The terms Out of Body Experience and Astral Projection (or astral travel) Are often used interchangeably. Yet there are some differences. Though both experiences occur in nonphysical space and happen when the consciousness separates and exists outside of the physical body an OBE takes place in a realm that DOES have a counterpart in the material world. An AP takes place in a realm (or plane) that does NOT have any physical world counterpart.
This might appear to be a minor distinction. And for most people there is no difference between the two. The difference Is important for the person who has had an AP to a very strange otherworldly location.

Regards
Grey