Dream or spontaneous astral projection

Hi
I have had several experiences while sleeping during the last months that I am not sure of their nature. Are they normal dreams or AP

Well, my old mother has been sick for a while and I always worry about her. She is living in my house and I have had Several “dreams” in which I separate from my body and go to her room to check on her; sometimes I cross doors instead of opening them, well Just because I can; the first time this happened I found 2 babies laying with her on her bed [while she was asleep]; I got nervous and I challenged them spiritually and they reacted by smiling at me [as if they did not know what was going on]. Last night I came back home extremely tired from a bike race, fell asleep (due to deep exhaustion) while watching TV and then went up to my room to sleep ... well, the experiences happened again in my sleep, but this time 2 or 3 times: the first time i went to check on my mother as usual, and I found my sister embracing her while she was asleep. Btw my dog [who sleeps in my room] has wanted to stay and sleep in her room lately, not every night but quite often. I wonder if he is somehow “protecting” her? This situation happened again but I cannot recall it and then the 3rd time that this experience happened last night, instead of going to check on my mother, I decided to go down stairs and got out to the driveway; Once there , I started walking, opened my arms which slowly became black feathery wings and I took off flying but don’t remember much after that ...

Do you have any insight? thank you

[DreamingSweetly]

I would say they are dreams.

[Altair]

Dreams and astral projection are related. But many dreams are vague and blurry and we are in lower awareness compared to lucid dreams on the other hand. It's a 'replica realm' of active thought and energy. And where you are, perhaps just in thoughts and brain activity or a full blown astral projection, depends on your level of awareness. You can also become aware later on, you don't have to consciously project at all.

[NoOne]

Flying would generally indicate a Lucid Dream, especially if you're floating around. It depends on how aware you were of your own body during the dream, which is something only you can know. Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection are somewhat similar to each other, the difference is in the level of awareness and consciousness. Also, you generally have to be awake during Astral Projection, but you can be in a deep meditative state. The precise state of mind present in both cases is known as Yoga Nidra, or the Yogi's sleep.

Ok it has been most likely lucid dreaming then because although my level of awareness is limited , I can certainly make decisions. What is interesting is that I don’t go out of certain lines or explore new things; mostly it is always the same

[Labyrinthus]

I would say these are more than just 'dreams'.

When you say you 'separate' from your body you need to provide more detail for a more detailed answer to be given.

My mother also saw two babies, floating over by the wall, before she passed away, a few months later. She saw other things no one else could see.

well, the first time that I "separated" while sleeping, it felt very strange. I basically felt paralyzed, I was semi-aware but could not move my body and for a moment I panicked a bit. I gathered myself and kept insisting and finally could sit but then I realized that what was sitting on my bed was my nonphysical manifestation and my body was still laying in bed. After that I stood up, walked around a bit, in that state my sight is a bit blurry like I cannot focus on anything [except certain things that just happen apparently out of my control and over which I can partially focus] and I am not 100% aware but halfway between awoken and asleep.

A few years ago I had an experience in which I was shocked to see that I had big beautiful jet black feathery wings in a dream, I unfolded the wings, crossed some walls, took a flight, exorcised some beings, etc ... recently I tried to repeat that experience after separating from my body and kind of achieved it but it was not so clear or impressive as the 1st dream. That 1st experience was not related to separating from my body, but it happened after a nested dream ("woke up" from a nested dream and found myself in that state, with a also a semi-lucid awareness level)

All the other alike experiences, the separation stage has been spontaneous and I cannot recall much from that. It is like I start recalling after I am out of my body.

PS: The very first time that I remember something like this happening was 15 years ago. Let me just say that I was in a confined place against my will (I had done nothing wrong but that was the procedure). I was not happy at all with being there and to kill time I started reading books about metaphysics and spiritual matters. Well, one day I went to sleep [at noon] and suddenly found myself floating out of the place where I was, it was hard at the beginning because I needed to overcome some mental barriers (cross walls, etc) but I wandered for a while, then freaked out and found myself back in my awaken body.

[Labyrinthus]

These are clean, textbook variety projections of consciousness. Call them astral projections if you like and do not listen to the naysayers. We could nitpik about how deep into the actual astral realm you got but clearly this was at least etheric. Your ability to navigate, even though a bit rough, was still in the good to very good category. What you describe here is what I would place as "above average" in the ability/skill level arena. The paralysis you describe sounds like what is called "sleep paralysis" and is a common transition phenomenon prior to projection. The "nesting" you describe sounds like what is called "false awakening".