What I say is only based on my experience, of course, but the experiences you mention sound familiar to me.

The first two sound very much like you were on the boundary of an OOBE, but didn’t quite make it (due to the fear affecting your concentration), and that you fell back into the sleep paralysis state.

The third experience sounds to me like a lucid dream. I say this because you don’t mention passing through the ‘whirlwind’ or ‘buzzing’ phase. (For me, this ‘buzzing’ sensation is the sine qua non of an OOBE.) I also say this because it sounds as if you were instinctively practising some of the techniques known to help induce lucid dreams, which I’ve discussed elsewhere on this site.

You might also find interesting another article I’ve written previously which attempts to provide some sort of map for recognising these states and understanding the routes between them. Like I said, this is all based on personal experience, so if you can replicate or contradict any of this, I’d be very interested to hear!

Best wishes!

The first two times I was trying to sleep, the third time meditating. Every time it all started with whirlwind-like noise that seemed to originate from inside my head, an intense dread of what was going on and an inability to move. The first time started with an actual experience of my awareness being that whirlwind – a jumbled moving mess that gave way to a more normal experience of myself eventually. I spent about 10 minutes trying to get my body to move, to scream for help, alternating with trying to ease into whatever was happening (unsuccessfully). The scary thing was that I was completely and utterly conscious, there was no dream like quality to it at all.

The second time I was resolved not to freak out (and managed to stay with it for a while), but then used all my willpower to force myself out of it and in a couple of minutes managed to ‘wake’ myself up.

The third time was slightly less menacing but a lot more startling – I was lying on the floor and using all my willpower to attempt to raise myself off the floor, only to feel my upper body or limbs move (with a lot of effort and strain) but not be able to see them. This kept on going for a while until I ‘woke up’ all of a sudden, only to find out (with much joy) that I could move and that I could actually see the parts of my body that were moving move.

Would you be able to offer any advice on working with these states, or at least an explanation of what is going on, a reassurance that I am not in danger of going completely mad?