Out of body experience

Not a dream per se but related and therefore worth posting here.

This morning, I had what I can only describe as an out of body experience. It was about 3am and I was lying in my bed facing the ceiling. When I was younger, I didn't like facing this way when going to sleep it seemed to induce nightmares, but this doesn't happen now.

Anyway, I was lying awake with my eyes closed, totally relaxed, my mind empty of any real thoughts. I then felt as though I literally floated away from my own body, swimming around my room in slow motion. I could not really make much out because it was so dark, but I knew I was out of my body. My laptop is near my bed and even though I switch it off at night, the battery and standby lights are still visible and result in a pale light, which I could see perfectly from where I was (the rightmost corner of my room, facing my bed).

I then felt myself floating upwards through the ceiling (which would take me into the kitchen of the person who lives above me), but instead of floating into my neighbour's kitchen, I found myself in a dark, vertical tunnel and I was slowly "swimming" up it. I don't know where it lead, but I was conscious of myself the whole time. There were also boundaries that appeared as soon as I floated too far in a particular direction.

Strangely, even though I knew I was floating outside of my body, I felt totally calm. At the same time, I was also aware of my physical body even though I could no longer feel it. I could hear myself snoring and even felt my eyelids opening. The only way I can describe this sensation is to say that I was aware of my physical body even though I was not in it. Eventually, because I was aware of the fact that I was outside of my body, I became a little worried about not being able to return, so I found myself looking back down the dark vertical tunnel and felt as though I was tugging some kind of cord that lead back to my body. I then woke up properly, feeling very calm and relaxed.

What is interesting about this experience is that I am of the opinion that we do "travel" in our sleep, so this out-of-body experience felt almost as though I was consciously aware of the fact that I was travelling. I've also had many flying dreams in the past where the flying felt a lot like the floating and "swimming" I was doing out of my body. Now I think I understand why.

I also had a very similar out of body experience when I was about 12, but I was not aware of what was happening at the time and dismissed it as a weird dream. In that particular experience, I felt myself "swimming" around my bedroom at slow motion, but it felt very uncomfortable and disorientating, likely due to the fact that I didn't understand what was going on.

I cannot tell you how long this experience lasted, but it has left me with absolutely no doubt that we travel away from our bodies in our sleep.