[SinyugiN]

Alright... as far as it seems, many of us have been pulled into a dreamscape, while we are trying to OBE. that's sad =(
but the question IS... how do you determine whether you're dreaming or projecting? =\ for example, in my last post, i described the following scenario: Ibecame lucid in a dream and tried to have an OBE. The problem was, i didn't separate from my body, i just dublicated it. And i could not get out of my dream too..
This morning i was trying to project... unseccessfully.... I spend 1:30 hours on my bed, and eventually gave up. I was still sleepy though. so i took a nap. I remember hypnagogic images forming in front of my closed eyes, taking different shapes. But somehow, i suspect, i saw those images when i was already asleep and they just were a part of my dream. Then I found myself on my street. I was lucid, but i was EXHAUSTED for some reason. for the first time i found myself exhausted in a dream. I ended up fainting. how shameful, can't even stand like a man inside my very own dream. I mean, i suspect that it wasn't a projection because it was all blurry like a dream. I was totally aware that i was trying to project though and fallen asleep.
Right now, i'm thinking...My thoughts were all focused on OBE before i felt asleep, that's why i dreamt of it. I don't know...

Anyways... so, how would i know whether i am projecting, or dreaming? I'm very disillusioned right now...

P.S. what about the exhaustion thing... has it ever happened to anyone else?

[MexicoCity]

http://forums.astraldynamics.com/viewtopic.php?t=5023
Should explain it fairly clearly.
And if it wasn't:
There are a variety of projections.
All are projections. We differentiate astral projection from a dream, lucid or not, arbitrarily because in a standard dream we wake up to the dream, there is no sensation of 'going to it', so we don't call it a projection, although it is.
The other types of projections depend on the exit-
You can consciously project to the astral directly without the perception of having left your body, but there is also a movement or change of state that is perceived. We classify that as an astral or mental projection. We also call it phasing, which is a systematic approach to 'moving into' your hypnagogics.
You can have a good old fashioned OBE to the RTZ, in which you experience an exit from your body, with corresponding symptoms, and move around the RTZ. (real time zone). From there you can phase out to the 'astral proper', or stay around and have it turn into a dream.

I hope this clears it up. Have you read Robert's Treatise?
http://www.astraldynamics.com/tutorials/?BoardID=65

[SinyugiN]

thanks CFTraveler. that certainly made a few things clear for me
and thanks for the link, i haven't read it.

[SinyugiN]

Oh, and by the way, CFTraveler, i remember you were talking something about a "low energy projection" i gathered it's not what anyone would be aming for...so i was wondering... how do you avoid it? how would you get a "high energy projection" ?

[MexicoCity]

Do lots of energy work! NEW is good, for example. 'Energy Raising' is an excellent way to get 'charged up'.