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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:

Sportsnight · 30/10/2021 00:13

I haaaaate sleep paralysis, and have it regularly. I’m going to try the toes thing. I also lucid dream but only very occasionally. I have had one single out of body experience when I was about 16 where I watched myself being told of by a teacher from the ceiling. It was very odd. I can’t say it was painful- though I was very distressed as I wasn’t guilty!

DoesHePlayTheFiddle · 30/10/2021 00:17

Lucid dreaming - before you go to sleep tell yourself you want to be aware when you are dreaming. Your mind will remember and switch it on for you. I've used it to deal with nightmares. It worked but I thought the sleep wasn't so refreshing when the dreams were messed with.

IncessantNameChanger · 30/10/2021 00:19

I had a traumatic first labour. I had a out of body experience but it wasnt paranormal. I internally thought I cant handel this. I was fully aware but kind to of to side of myself ( I knew I wasn't out of my body. I just went into third person mode). The pain and everything was muted and I just didnt care for a while. It's just a protection mode I think. I was at no point near death at all.

I also used to get the feeling of being huge or tiny laying in bed. I would throb all over and feel like I had changed size. Not so much anymore

Interested in this thread?

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Cranncat · 30/10/2021 00:21

@Duckypoohs

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.

It’s less a lack of curiosity than the fact that virtually all the supposedly supernatural or paranormal events are easily explicable.

SquidGame00001 · 30/10/2021 00:22

Yes, I can induce them. It's really cool. Weirdest thing I've ever experienced. Like lucid dreaming but slightly different. I think they are along the same vein. I can only do them when I'm very relaxed.

AutumnInBustletown · 30/10/2021 00:29

Giving birth. I think that's the origin of the term excruciating, it means outside of body? At transition I experienced an out of body feeling

AutumnInBustletown · 30/10/2021 00:33

... oops, that's not the origin of excruciating. You can tell I didn't do latin!

SheisMammyof2 · 30/10/2021 00:34

I've had that 'looking down on myself from the ceiling' out of body experience twice. The first time was the millennium new year's eve after a gallon of vodka and I was so literally out of my mind drunk that it felt like my consciousness left my body to observe at a safe distance. The second time was very traumatic as my DH was speeding through traffic lights to get to the hospital while I held my choking toddler in my arms who I truly believed was dying. He wasn't thankfully, but again it felt like my consciousness just couldn't cope and disassociated to watch from a distance.

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 30/10/2021 00:35

I'm so sorry Phoenix, that sounds awful. I do think it's probably a protective mechanism in our brains. I hope you're okay now

Incessant, that sounds very similar to mine, "muted" is a good way to describe it.

I'm going to have a go at lucid dreaming if I can figure out how. It sounds like it might be linked to the other stuff so maybe my brain is wired in that way too.

OP posts:

Original poster

SadSongsAndWaltzes · 30/10/2021 00:38

That sounds terrifying Mammy, I'm glad your toddler was okay.

Autumn, I did do Latin at school, but I only remember how to conjugate verbs by adding different endings, rather than any actual words to conjugate so I'm no closer than you are 😂

OP posts:

MysticCT · 30/10/2021 00:56

I did, when I had my first CS, I felt like I was floating near the ceiling and could look down on myself. It felt really weird but also calming at the same time.
I think it was because I was very nervous about the procedure and somehow could detach myself from the situation, so I didn't feel like it was happening to me.
I've had two more sections but it never happened again.

DedalusBloom · 30/10/2021 07:38

I used to read a lot of Carlos Casteneda when I was a teenager, which introduced me to lucid dreaming and I taught myself to do it. The ability/ desire to do it tailed off in my 30s and while it still happens spontaneously occasionally I haven't bothered actively trying in years. Agreed that a nap is the nest way to induce it though.

As to OOB, I had a few when younger. Fabulous experiences, discovered I could fly separately from my body, so didn't need to feel 'connected' to it, just flew out of the window and away exploring.

Our minds are incredible.

GrandmasCat · 30/10/2021 22:39

Not Carlos Castaneda… you may wish to google him as a man rather than as a writer…

tiredanddangerous · 30/10/2021 22:50

I guess it doesn't really count as an out of body experience but when I dream I'm not in my own body iyswim. I'm always watching myself. DH recons that's not normal.

DedalusBloom · 31/10/2021 00:29

@GrandmasCat

Not Carlos Castaneda… you may wish to google him as a man rather than as a writer…

Oh yeah, I know he was a dreadful charlatan and has been subsequently debunked, but those books prompted me to do a lot of reading round the subject at the time. The techniques he wrote about lucid dreaming worked for me, anyway.

Midlifemusings · 31/10/2021 01:13

I had an experience similar to you OP. During a medical crisis as a teen, I 'left' my body and watched the medical intervention from a vantage point up near the ceiling looking down. It was from the complete opposite end of the room as to where I was lying. It has been 30 years - I have never had another experience and I can still vividly picture that one.

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