Which ones should I relate?

Other conditions around the time of experience.          
I started suffering from sleep-paralysis related phenomena (mind awake, body asleep and paralyzed) since I was a teenager. I learnt how to wake my body up with a method of my own, though it took me a while to find such a method. I had my first partial OBE at the age of 29 when, in addition to the vibrations experienced with sleep paralysis, my arms and legs starting flying away. Since then, I learnt that I could get out of sleep paralysis by having an OBE and started actively experimenting at weekends, and reading all I could on the topic. This allowed me to learn and control the phenomenon, to deliberately induce it and to avoid having one when I did not feel like it. When I was expecting my son in 1997, I developed an irrational fear of harming him, and resisted the only spontaneous experience I had, when I found myself floating just below the ceiling. To date, I still do not like to have OBEs if I am alone at home with my son, but the vibration aspect as now almost disappeared; experiences are rarer, but more profound, and most of them have a mystical aspect.           

Experience circumstances:                 
             
Other circumstances around the time of experience            
I believe I have always had a predisposition for the mind-awake/body asleep experience, which started occurring as a teenager whenever I happened to have coffee late in the afternoon or evening, when I went to bed with an overactive mind, owing to having spent a lot of time on my books, or when I was physically tired and happened to take a nap in the afternoon.             

These changes resulting from your experience have been:         Positive

Over time, the changes from your experience:          Increase

Was your experience(s) consciously and deliberately induced?             Many times I managed to consciously deliberately induce my OBEs. My early experiences contained unsettling aspects due to my propensity to depression in those years, but they have gradually become more positive, and the latest have been definitely mystical.

Any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?     Uncertain            Caffeine taken late in the evening or during the night may increase the chance of having an OBE

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words? Uncertain      Some of my recent mystical experiences have been difficult to explain

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          Uncertain            Stress and sleep depletion seem to make the experience more likely to happen

What was your level of consciousness and alertness during the experience?           My level of lucidity can vary. I have had experiences in which I was completely "awake" with my mind, such as when I found myself floating under my bed in the dark room and saw the dust sitting on the floor, or when I visited what I consider Heaven to check on a friend who had recently died, and everything was so solid that I had difficulties returning to my body.  

Other times I am less lucid, but still aware of being in the other reality, and willing to explore.

            Was the experience dream like in any way?   Some of my recent mystical experiences were not focused on being OUT OF THE BODY, but rather in another realm that is WITHIN. In these experiences I could say I was in a dreamlike setting, lacking which I would have been unable to process the experience itself. The mystical experiences can also happen when in meditation, and in those cases I need to write them down straight away, or I would forget the essence, which my waking mind is unable to fully process.

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     Yes     Between 1990 (when I had my first OBE) and now, I have chiefly experienced separation form the physical body. However in recent mystical dreams, lucid dreams and experiences in meditation, I no longer experience separation from the body, but rather seem to travel in an inward realm

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            Some of the early experiences have been very unsettling, such as when I once deliberately left the body (having consciously induced the OBE) and 'heard' my physical body calling me back; or - again in those early years - when I was rather depressed, I have a few times been attacked in my OBE by a woman dressed in black, whom I immediately recognized as a projection of my lower/depressed energy. 

I have had the most emotional experiences when meeting with deceased relatives and/or friends, emotions which are sometimes so intense and complex that they cannot be broken down into individual components. 

I have also experience uplifting mystical emotions when recently faced with an angelic being who appeared in my bedroom while I was out of body and seemed to fill the whole room. This being attracted me as a magnet would, and allowed me to see my room and life circumstances from a purely spiritual perspective and appreciate all the love that filled my life irrespective of the difficult and distressing circumstances.

Did you hear any unusual sounds or noises?           Most of my OBEs have been accompanied by the classical vibrations, especially in the first part and before my recent journeys inward. 

The sound I felt ever since I started experiencing sleep paralysis was like that of being inside a food mixer.

LOCATION DESCRIPTION:  Did you recognize any familiar locations or any locations from familiar religious teachings or encounter any locations inhabited by incredible or amazing creatures?    Yes            I have had OBEs in an astral version of my house.

I have had OBEs in an apparent parallel/potential future version of my house.

I have had OBEs in what I understood to be the Afterlife (these have chiefly come across as rooms/parts of buildings)

The most mystical experience I have recently had had to do with a breathtaking landscape, where I was not only a witness but which I felt part of-

Did you see a light?           Yes     I once saw an angelic being which came across as a light which filled my whole room (I can describe this experience in detail). The moment I saw this being of light I was magnetically attracted by it and instantly let go of what had been my previous concerns in my experience

Did you meet or see any other beings?           Yes     I have met several deceased family members and/or friends. The main drive behind my OBE experiences have been to find evidence about what happens after physical death. 

Only a few times, in the very beginning, I met what I always believed to be a projection of my negative/depressed emotions of the time: a woman dressed in black who tried to 'physically' attack me

Did you experiment while out of the body or in another, altered state? Yes    

Yes I attempted to visit physically alive people.

Most of the times, I have attempted to visit deceased people to make sure they were safe. In a few cases I saw or was given information which I could not have known and which proved to be true or which related to the future and which did come true. (I can provide details of individual accounts)

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          Yes     Yes, on a few occasions.

Did you notice how your 5 senses were working, and if so, how were they different?          Yes            Communication often takes place telepathically.

In my early OBEs I had difficulties using my sight, due to my fear. I have always been terrified of seeing my physical body, but I have heard my body breath, I have touched my body and put my hand/arm through it. I often look at my astral self in astral mirrors, and have often seen different versions of me, which used to be uglier than my physical self in the early yeas when I was sad or depressed, but which look much better now that I am more spiritually balanced

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   Yes     There need not be distinct locations. Through thought I can often move instantly from one location to another. 

I have had experiences of being out of time, but basically in recent meditations or mystical dreams, not in OBEs

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?    Yes     But basically in meditation or mystical dreams. What I call OBEs are experiences in which my ordinary waking mind is AWAKE and my body is ASLEEP. So my brain tends to act as a reduction valve as it would when I am awake, though I have received information which I could not have known on my own.

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?             Yes     Since most of my OBEs have been the outcome of a conscious effort to visit the Afterlife and deceased family members/friends, I have deliberately used gateways to break through to the Other Side: usually mirrors, but also walls or a wardrobe in my bedroom.

Did you become aware of future events?       Yes     Once in an OBE in 1994 (I can provide a complete account) I was given detailed information.

In a more recent OBE from a few years ago I met and took in my arms my little niece (around 1 year old in the OBE) who was only born this February, after many years of my sister hoping to have a baby with no success.

In another OBE dating back to some 10 years ago I visited with my sister as she would have been 10 years later and asked her for details of our future. She gave me information I could not have possible known and which proved true, but this was an alternative future reality, in which my sister appeared to be very wealthy but also sad. The part about being wealthy and sad (presumably without children) has not manifested (thanks God)

Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?       No response            In OBES I have always taken it for granted that I would return. But in the two most critical experiences, in which I had the longest and most detailed visit with deceased friends, in both those cases I ended up losing interest in returning and contemplating what it would be like if I had died (I can provide a detailed account of both)

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?         Yes     As time goes by, since my earliest OBEs in 1990, my innate need to find out about life after death and the opportunities to deepen this understanding have gradually increased, along with my approach to life becoming increasingly spiritual, in the face of difficult life circumstances. In particular, my experiences in meditation seem to have led to times in which can grasp more about universal principles or have access to complex mystical knowing

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?   Yes     I have gradually switched from being a traditional Catholic to wanting to become the sort of person I feel Jesus was trying to get us be. I am quite sure that Jesus' message has been deliberately manipulated by the various religions, but trust in the existence of a healthy core in all religions, which I am sure are all path leading to Heaven

How has the experience affected your relationships? Daily life? Religious practices? Career choices?       I have always tried to share my experiences with as many people as I could. I have become part of message boards with people who have my same experiences. I have worked as a translator for professional mediums and acting in that capacity has given me the greatest possible satisfactions (it is like being a switchboard operator allowing physically alive people to talk to their loved ones in Heaven). I try to meditate every day and allow for my son (9 years old) to grow within a healthy spiritual community which is our parish church. I am teaching him not to focus on the aspects of religion that cause conflict, but on those that allows us to be witnesses of God love, hoping that he and other may gradually change our society into a more tolerant and loving one.

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?         No response            Yes, it changes and improves every day, despite practical difficulties. I believe the experiences would have no meaning if they did not happen within a life filled with practical situations, people, challenges. The OBEs and mystical experiences have meaning as part of this physical life, they do not simply help bring light along an apparently dark path, but they become part of the path, and they help bring people together, become more tolerant and see the beauty of creation even in the ugliest situations.

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes     I usually share the experiences with those who I know will understand them and believe them (at least in part). I encourage them to share similar experiences. Especially the bereaved seem to like to talk to me, even though it has taken me several years to learn and convey whatever it is I need would be helpful for them without forcing on them any belief that would not prove helpful

What emotions did you experience following your experience?  Apart from the few unsettling experiences I have had in the beginning (such as when I 'heard' my body calling me back, as I was trying to leave for an OBE), I usually feel overexcited and recharged.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?      The worst experiences were in the beginning, when I was in a mood that negatively influenced the experiences themselves.  

The best part has to do with mystical experiences. 

But part of the experience also comes in the long-run, when I am able to view the experience in its full context (including future events) and the impact it had on me on my loved ones over time.

Is there anything else you would like to add concerning the experience?        I would be pleased to related individual accounts that can prove especially significant.

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?         Yes     I have had so many that I do not think substances have any effect on what happens to me (save for caffeine, as I explained)

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?               No       No, I realise I need to provide at least a few individual and significant accounts.


Please offer any suggestions you may have to improve this questionnaire.    I am not sure. I guess I could have taken more time to fill this in, since it is about hundreds of experiences over a period of 17 years. I believe that my efforts to understand mediumship, NDEs, life after death as reported by deep-trance mediums in the 19th and early 20th century, discussions with other people having my same experience and talks with bereaved people are all valuable aspects of these last 17 years and all contributing to what happens to me and the sort of person I am trying to be