OBE, but much more...

[C u l a i n]

I realize this story could be placed in either "Animals and Pets" or "Dreaming and Sleep Issues," but the fact that it involves an OBE probably overrides the other subjects.

It began with sleep paralysis (I can't stress this enough - began with it). I fully understand what this is and what its causes are. Couldn't move or speak, though trying desperately to do both. My cat Esther was asleep at the foot of the bed with her head against my ankle. I "struggled" with the paralysis for what seemed a long time. Then, a snapping and sucking sound (I vividly remember this sound), and I lifted above myself. It's the only time anything like this has happened. What makes me certain I actually "left" was that Esther had awakened and watched me. Her eyes stayed on me with that rising, like we were maintaining eye contact. Of course there was immense fear because I could see my physical self below, but there was my cat who was watching it happen. She got to her feet and mewed at the air a bit frantically, right at me. I heard the same snapping and sucking again and was back on the bed. In that moment, Esther jumped back as if she were suddenly afraid, or at least startled by the fact that I'd closed that distance instantly. I was just happy to be breathing and able to lift my arms! She came up and sat on my chest, kind of bobbing her head as she sniffed at me with a few glances back upward. We both easily calmed then.

I'm glad she was there - her presence, particularly in her watching me the whole time, felt like some necessary grounding for such an unusual moment. It raises some questions though that I may not otherwise think to ask. First, of course: Anyone with a similar experience, involving something or someone in the physical world keeping your connection to it throughout? Also, why would I distinctly feel every scary second of the rising from myself, but not of the lowering? It's as if there wasn't a lowering - I was here one second and then just jolted back home.