Hi Matthew and Vicki,
I probably didn't ask my question very well, but I like what both of you have described. I'm not sure if my understanding of these experiences are on the same page as everyone else or not.
What I'm trying to do is understand how people define these. For example, when someone talks about AP are they saying the same thing as when someone else talks about phasing, or lucid dreaming, etc.?
I know Bob Monroe talks about phasing and said that we don't actually go out of body in the truest sense, but instead phase into another state of consciousness. This fits with my experiences though I have seen people walking around fully conscious with what appears to be their astral body being partially "out" of their physical body. I take this to mean that they are not fully incarnated in their physical body because of having a deep fear of being here in the earth plane, so they maintain part of their consciousness in a spiritual dimension as a defense mechanism.
With NDE and also OBE people report seeing their physical body laying on the operating table for example, or sleeping. I'm sure this would lead to us believing that we are not in our body during these experiences. To me and my understanding of this, its more like we are not "in" our body, but instead our body is "in" us and we let go of it when NDE or OBE occurs. In other words to have a true OBE experience we must let go of our physical body as we do in death. That doesn't mean that we can't project back into it or in my thought draw it back into us like people talk about.
To me AP, phasing, lucid dreaming all mean the same thing, our consciousness travels to various dimensions like you mention. Basically I'm just trying to clarify these terms in my own mind to better understand the thoughts of others.
Love, Kathy