I’ve made Astral Projection posts of this nature in the past, but as I’ve re-read them, they’ve seemed confusing, even to myself! And I wrote them! LOL
So I wanted to see if I couldn’t clarify things further.

I want to explain why “labeling” your experience in an attempt to categorize and define them is a bad idea, especially when you’re just starting out.

When I first started attempting to explore the non-physical, 10+ years ago, I had terms like “out of body experience”, “astral projection”, “lucid dream” and more all knocking around my skull. The only experience I had originally known about were lucid dreams, as I’ve been having those for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until I really started putting the puzzle pieces together within the last 2 – 3 years that I figured out the actual nature of those experiences.

I found that there is one constant, one commonality, that linked all of these, supposedly, separate experiences/labels… dreams, lucid dreams, astral projections, out of body experiences, false awakenings, etc… there is one factor which everyone seems to completely ignore: YOU. Well, more to the point, Consciousness! Because you ARE consciousness. This is why these experiences all feel “different” and “separate”, because the “YOU” is different in each case.

YOU are the label. YOU are the definition.

How did I figure this out? What experiences did I have which gave me this conclusion? I have directly experienced the full spectrum of, what I can only describe as, “levels of awareness” within a single non-physical experience. I have started an experience with a dream awareness (normal dream), then become lucidly aware (lucid dream), then initiated a technique and brought forth my full waking awareness bringing me to an astral awareness (full astral projection). “Awareness”, to me, is a point along this spectrum. At each “level”, it feels like a different and completely separate experience. I can completely understand why people feel this way, but these aren’t experiences which you “have”… they’re experiences which you “are”. There is a vast difference between those two statements.

That spectrum looks kind of like this:

(Keep in mind that these are MY metaphors… MY labels. But I ask you to try and identify these labels in comparison to the ones you use. I try to make the comparison as obvious as I can using words and terms which people “mostly” agree upon. LoL)

“Dream Awareness” …… “Lucid Awareness” …… “Astral Awareness”

On the left of this spectrum, you have the experience which you don’t realize you’re in the non-physical. Essentially, it’s you dreaming… it’s you experiencing a reality that isn’t this physical reality, you just don’t realize that fact. It’s you having a dream awareness. You have to have a very base level of awareness in order to experience this, otherwise you won’t directly experience the event, so you’ll have zero chance of remembering it (which would be any experience taking place to the left of this point). If you’ve ever awoken in the morning with brief flashes of symbols and images from the dreams you had during the night, then you had a dream awareness experience, but you were just on the very cusp of having the bare minimum level of awareness in order to remember the experience.

On the far right, you have the experience which you do realize you’re in the non-physical *AND* you have the same awareness which you have right now while reading this post. You’re wide awake and fully aware of who you are with all your memories of such. THIS experience is what most people (and myself) would consider the “holy grail” of projections. It’s what most people refer to as an Astral Projection. It’s you experiencing the non-physical with an astral awareness.

I should point out, too, that your awareness can move both ways along this spectrum. You can gain awareness, and lose awareness.

So far I’ve described the two ends of the spectrum. Where does a “lucid awareness” fit into all this then?

Well, in the middle is the point where we have become “aware” that we’re in the non-physical and experiencing a reality that isn’t this physical reality. Anything to the left of this point is a “dream awareness experience”, or as most people call them, a “normal dream” (it’s important to point out here that the further right you move from the far left, the more “clear” and “vivid” your experience will become until you actually become lucidly aware). It’s at this point that the only thing you have is a base awareness that you’re in the non-physical. At this time, the closer you can bring your awareness to your full waking awareness, the further to the right you’ll move along this spectrum towards the “astral awareness” (aka, full astral projection). I have some techniques I’ve written about on my website to accomplish this. If you can’t find them, please let me know and I’ll provide the links.

So, as you can see, an astral projection is just a “dream” where you have a full waking awareness. However, don’t let the “just” fool you… what most people consider a “dream”, as I mentioned above, doesn’t exist. There is no such fundamental experience called a “dream”. There is only you experiencing the non-physical unknowingly!

This is why labeling an experience is a waste of time, because they’re all the same experience. What differs is only how consciously aware you are during the experience. This is why I don’t really worry too much if I had a lucid awareness experience or an astral awareness experience, because I know that what’s important is that I was consciously aware in the non-physical! I have a set of goals which I always keep solidly in my mind, so even if I’m only lucidly aware, I still remember enough to do them… such as meeting a guide. Sometimes it works out, other times it doesn’t… but as I said, in the end, I’m happy that I had an experience outside this physical reality.

I have a challenge for anyone who can project. Try to experience the full spectrum of awareness in a single non-physical experience. If you manage it, try to take note how each “level” feels compared to the last.