Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Have you ever had an out of body experience?

41 replies

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 22:59

I'm not at all into the paronormal and am generally very scientific/evidence-based, so never believed in out of body experiences. However, when I was in labour with my eldest, now 9, at the most difficult part just before and as I was pushing, I suddenly "left" my body. I remember very vividly watching myself from the ceiling up to my right and thinking "oh this is exciting!". It was as if the pain belonged to someone else and although I could feel it and I could push, it was a huge relief as I'd been starting to struggle up to that point.

I also used to have strange hallucinations as I was falling asleep, like my body became huge, or my bed started rocking back and forth, or the door suddenly appeared miles and miles away. It was strangely comforting! It doesn't happen so much any more but does very occasionally.

Has either of these happened to anyone else, and do you think they're related?

OP posts:

FauxPsychic · 29/10/2021 23:03

Lol...here we go again with the "I'm not into it and don't believe it at all but here's a personal story that suggests I believe it...maybe a little".

I'd say mine but you'd need evidence - won't you? - so no need.

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 23:05

Well I don't believe that it's paronormal, but I obviously now believe it exists. At a guess I'd say it's some kind of coping mechanism when you're in pain. Just wondering how common it is.

OP posts:

XenoBitch · 29/10/2021 23:07

Sounds like Alice in Wonderland syndrome. I had it a lot as child, teen and early 20s.

Mine was the feeling I filled the room and my face was up against a wall that was physically metres away. It was not exciting for me... it was terrifying and I would often scream out.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General health Spooky & paranormal

BingoandBluey · 29/10/2021 23:08

Not paranormal but the midwives told me to have a look when dc2 was coming out as I'd be able to see the head coming out of me and I said "no I can't look because I'm pretending this isn't actually happening!"

FauxPsychic · 29/10/2021 23:09

Isn't the lack of belief about it not existing? If you believe it happens or have happened, does it matter if it's called paranormal or normal or abnormal?

furbabymama87 · 29/10/2021 23:12

Some nights as I'm about to fall asleep I feel myself rise up and hover above the bed before dropping back down. At the time I accept what's happening and think it's nothing unusual. By morning I don't know if I dreamt it.

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 23:12

Ooh I didn't realise it had a name Xeno - I'll look it up, thank you. Sorry that your experience was so frightening though, that sounds awful.

Bingo - that made me lol! I also tried to escape, telling my dh at about 9cm "I'd like to stop and go home now and try again tomorrow"

OP posts:

GrandmasCat · 29/10/2021 23:12

I had something like that but was very unpleasant to the point I started losing sleep to avoid it.

It wasn’t paranormal at all just some kind of sleep disturbance I get when I go through particularly stressful times (ie bereavement, massive change, etc)

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 23:14

Faux Psychic, yes I guess that's true - then I very much do now believe in out of body experiences 😂

OP posts:

PivotPivotPivottt · 29/10/2021 23:14

I suffer from sleep paralysis and often feel like I'm floating around the room when I have an episode. Other times I'm thrown around! I don't see myself underneath though so I'm happy to assume it's just my imagination . A few years back I had a very vivid episode where I felt I was thrown off my bed and I could see everything that was underneath my bed including a red light from an extension plug. That felt very real and it still freaks me out when I think about it.

FauxPsychic · 29/10/2021 23:15

Now you're talking!
I like reading threads like these though. Fascinating stories.

GrandmasCat · 29/10/2021 23:16

Some info on sleep paralysis and out of body “experiences” www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070305202657.htm

Bontanics · 29/10/2021 23:19

I've had that outer body experience several times. Same feeling with looking down on myself from the ceiling and I even distinctly remember the feeling of floating back down and going back into my body again. I think the lack of sleep and hallucinogenics probably had something to do with it.

secretbookcase · 29/10/2021 23:23

I've had very mild versions of Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Usually when I walk down a specific street in our village and usually when wearing a specific pair of jeans I suddenly feel super tall. Like a giant looking down from a great height (I'm short) It lasts for about 200m and then I become normal size again. It's a pleasant but slightly weird feeling. Never realised until writing it down that it always occurs in the same street.

Duckypoohs · 29/10/2021 23:23

Mumsnet is not the place to share any kinds of unusual stories, people are very entrenched in a materialist world view and will automatically shoot down any kind of odd experience. No kind of curiosity, what can one do.

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 23:27

These stories are really interesting, thanks
for sharing. Sorry to hear that they're so unpleasant for some people, I'm feeling lucky that mine have all been fairly benign. I'll have a look at the article GrandmasCat.
Safe to say there were no hallucinogens involved during my out of body experience Botanics, unless you count the gas and air!

OP posts:

FauxPsychic · 29/10/2021 23:28

I agree. That's why many people typically start with the disclaimer: I don't believe this stuff. I'm not one of them but...

Otherwise they'd be accused of woo, flat earth, antivax, etc.

It's a form of self-preservation, I've found.

DoesHePlayTheFiddle · 29/10/2021 23:28

Many, many times. From earliest childhood until a 'bad trip' around the age of forty. I've had sleep paralysis a few times - it's horrible.
With the o.o.b, I'd often find myself lurking near the town hall clock, watching the people down below in the square.

DoesHePlayTheFiddle · 29/10/2021 23:29

Oh, and my mum spent years - decades - flying over the rainforest. She said it was dull.

Spongeboob · 29/10/2021 23:37

I started off with sleep paralysis but only while napping in the day, several years down the line I've been able to lucid dream and move myself about at will when I'm "stuck" and fully aware that I am. Odd movements like a broken puppet but I can control it rather than being locked in and panicking.

Spongeboob · 29/10/2021 23:38

I wake up in the exact position I went to sleep in btw and it takes time for my body to unlock. I'm not suddenly in the garden pretending to be a fountain or anything

PivotPivotPivottt · 29/10/2021 23:49

@Spongeboob I can make myself come out of sleep paralysis as well now. Sometimes when I feeling I'm holding my phone and trying to use it and it feels so real or I'm gripping onto the duvet but when I wake up my phone isn't near me. I first had it aged 13 and it was terrifying as it came with a high pitched sound. My mum didn't really believe me until I was older and done some research! It took about 10 years before I learnt that if I slowly try to move my fingers and toes then I can bring myself out of it. I have to stay awake for a few minutes though which is hard when I'm really tired (one of my main triggers) as if I fall back asleep straight away I go back into paralysis. I've had it 17 years now and it still scares me although I don't get it as severe as I used to. When I had a newborn and was sleep deprived I went through a lot of bad episodes where I had it everytime I fell asleep. I would get a loud ibration in my head which a bit of googled showed as exploding head syndrome. Thankfully I've never had that since it was horrible.

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 29/10/2021 23:52

I've been down a Google rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome - that's exactly what it is, thank you Xeno! I had it the other night for the first time in years and it jogged my memory. Apparently its quite rare in adults. Although the articles shared above said that 6% of people have had an oob experience, so not that uncommon at all!

SpngeBob, did you teach yourself to lucid dream? I have heard people who have deliberately worked out how, it sounds quite fun! Sleep paralysis sounds miserable though for those who have that.

OP posts:

XenoBitch · 29/10/2021 23:59

I also lucid dream. I don't use any particular techniques to make it happen... it appears to have run in my family. Comes naturally.

If you want to try and force it... have a mid day nap on your sofa. They seem to occur a lot there.

Phoenixrising2020 · 30/10/2021 00:05

During a massively traumatic experience at the age of 4, I was able to see exactly what happened from the ceiling. It was an incredibly frightening trigger and so whatever happened was linked to that, but I don't remember it as supernatural. I can only think that it was some sort of response to extreme danger and one that we will understand more with the accrument of scientific knowledge. I feel my brain protected me.

Flip

1 2