Was this astral projection? Or a dream?

[LiveNobody]

For context, I had a short accidental 1-hour nap during 1 am - 2 am and then stayed awake till 5:45 am and decided to try and get some sleep and this is what happened:

I laid in bed on my side like I would when I usually go to sleep (I haven't tried to AP in months since I couldn't reach the vibrational stage everyone was talking about) since my body was so tired it didn't take long till my body felt extremely heavy and I got this feeling of overwhelming dread. I tried to stop it but as I open my eyes I couldn't move and knew I had hit sleep paralysis. Instead of fighting it, I closed my eyes again and tried sleeping, only to hear someone talking and my body getting progressively heavier, I felt my body sink into my bed and knew I was going to enter a dream, at least that's what I thought. Before I knew it I was in my room but with the lights on (in reality it was light outside with no lights on in the room obviously) with my sight being very limited like I was narrowing my eyes and blury, my body felt extremely heavy and I only took a few steps before feeling something pick me up. This thing did it effortlessly and put me back in my bed (I didn't look over to see if I could see my body sleeping... I was just so scared about what was happening). I then sat up on the bed and felt multiple dark presences around me trying to touch me, they felt heavy and just dark as they touched me and my vision went to black. After a few seconds I telepathically called out M to help me and felt something carry me in their arms, their touch was the complete opposite, my vision turns white, it felt light (as in like good, opposite to what the dark felt like), warm and I felt safe as I felt him / her hand gently stroke the back of my neck for a few seconds. Before long I was standing in my room again with no dark presence around me (Or M), instead, it was just me in my room with my body still feeling heavy and hard to control. I looked around and saw the TV was on with the Filmstones cartoon (been a while since I've seen that). I then remembered that the first thing you should do when you AP is go look in the mirror, I tried to make my way out of my room, where the door was already open (in reality the door was actually closed), once I took a step out of the door I fell but in a weird way like I was defying gravity. I got back to my feet and slowly made my way to the bathroom. As I entered the bathroom I noticed that only my shadow was showing behind me but nothing else, like I was invisible. When I got closer to the mirror holding it I could see the bathroom that I was looking at through the mirror wasn't ours, it had white and green flower tiles around it which ours doesn't even resemble that. The more I looked into the mirror the more the mirror faded away until it disappeared and was replaced with some white tiles on the wall. I then woke up in my body immediately and checked my phone. It had only been about 20ish minutes since I went to sleep, and now I'm here writing this.

From what I've learnt over the past few months of looking into AP is that some of the things I experienced say it was a successful AP, and some things lead me to believe that it was a dream... For example the room not being exactly the way it should be (lights on, TV on and door open) as well as the bathroom mirror vanishing and when looking into the mirror it wasn't my bathroom. I'm only really curious if this was an AP or not... I've never felt my body go that heavy before even when I have a lucid dream on the rare occasion. If there's anything you wish to ask about what else happened I'll try my best to give you answers, I think that I've pretty much written down every last detail that I experience here anyway.

So please if someone could direct me whether or not this sounds like an AP (or maybe a weird hybrid between the two if that exists?) that would be great. Thanks for reading!

[Kitsune]

It sounds exactly like AP. Often Astral projection can be achieved through dreams, although there are many inter-connected layers between Astral Projection, Sleep Paralysis, the Dreamscape, etc.

Each layer has a 'flavor' or quality to them, and is one way to tell them apart, and the air or energy surrounding you will also feel different.

[LiveNobody]

It sounds exactly like AP. Often Astral projection can be achieved through dreams, although there are many inter-connected layers between Astral Projection, Sleep Paralysis, the Dreamscape, etc.

Each layer has a 'flavor' or quality to them, and is one way to tell them apart, and the air or energy surrounding you will also feel different.

Thanks so much for confirming this, I've honestly been a bit skeptical about APing as I had been trying to do it for a long time but gave up on it and focused on dreams. It was such a weird experience and it just happened out of nowhere so I was kinda scared and disorientated about what was happening. Definitely going to try and practise entering AP purposely more after experiencing this, thanks again!

[Kitsune]

It sounds exactly like AP. Often Astral projection can be achieved through dreams, although there are many inter-connected layers between Astral Projection, Sleep Paralysis, the Dreamscape, etc.

Each layer has a 'flavor' or quality to them, and is one way to tell them apart, and the air or energy surrounding you will also feel different.

Thanks so much for confirming this, I've honestly been a bit skeptical about APing as I had been trying to do it for a long time but gave up on it and focused on dreams. It was such a weird experience and it just happened out of nowhere so I was kinda scared and disorientated about what was happening. Definitely going to try and practise entering AP purposely more after experiencing this, thanks again!

You're welcome! I've personally found that getting into the astral works very different than how people tend to describe it as. I made this post describing what getting into the astral is like for me, and it may be helpful to you.
viewtopic.php?f=276&t=79738

That said, some things you need to experience firsthand to really begin to understand how it works. And with anything, practice and experiment to find the best method for you, as what works for some people might not for others.

[LiveNobody]

You're welcome! I've personally found that getting into the astral works very different than how people tend to describe it as. I made this post describing what getting into the astral is like for me, and it may be helpful to you.
viewtopic.php?f=276&t=79738

That said, some things you need to experience firsthand to really begin to understand how it works. And with anything, practice and experiment to find the best method for you, as what works for some people might not for others.

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely take a look at it. I've tried to AP loads of times before but eventually gave up on it thinking that it was just a really lucid dream that people were in and that AP was misinterpreted as something more. Now I realise how different it feels to be in the Astral Plane and in a dream.

One last question, and I realise you probably won't be able to answer with very much detail or maybe at all as you didn't experience this first hand, but I'll ask in hopes of some kinda answer anyway. The dark figures that I mentioned in my experience what could they be interpreted as? Like, when I went through this experience I thought that they were just all my negativity (I'm quite the negative thinker) that had become 'real' in a sense in the astral plane. Or are these just other spirits/entities that just so happened to pass me by and stayed till I fully projected just to scare me off? And if these are other spirits/entities, how would I know if they are still lingering about and just waiting for the next time I Astral Project? Again, I don't expect you to answer any of these with much detail, or at all since each experience is different but if possible I would like to have some sort of info about these things.

Thanks again, and stay safe out there.

[Kitsune]

Not everything is as we first imagine it to be, and often the reality of the situation is vastly different that the first impression. Sometimes we need to take a step back and observe in a calm state of mind before jumping to conclusions, and you may find that things are not as scary or sinister as you first thought.