Uncertain, Did I AP? Am I going in the right direction? Options

Hi, everyone. I'll try to make this short.

I've been attempting astral projection, but one night whilst dreaming, I had a dream (seemingly) I was in my room in my bed, and as I try to get up to reach something, I go right back onto my bed as if I had not gotten up. It was reminiscent of those occurrences where you're sleeping and you have to get up for something, then you have a dream you just did that task, but you really didn't.

When I ended up back on my bed, I tried the task again (I don't remember what I was trying to do), I got up, in the process of doing the task, I was transported back onto the bed, and I finally realized that I was sleeping, and that I was sleep paralyzed. It didn't fully occur to me I was actually dreaming though, just enough to where I was calm.

I then said to myself that since I'm in this state, I'll try AP. I shift my consciousness away from my body and immediately I'm floating at the side of my bed in a milky white body with no torso or legs.

There's a little more to the story but I'll stop there. My question is, does anyone think this was an astral projection from a dream or not?

- I've heard when you AP, your vision becomes 360 degrees, mine was not. My vision was a normal first person viewpoint. I would love clarification on this.
- I did feel as if I was disconnected from my actual 'dream' body when this was happening, and the event itself is still quite vivid.

Thanks.

Like others have already mentioned, a good way to distinguish between dreaming and the astral is by the environment. The astral area will be more real and things won't move around on you like they probably do in dreams. I think the best way to recognize you are in the astral is by that feeling of shaking you get when your doing astral stuff. When you first are getting out of your body it might feel like your have electricity running through your body, or that there's an earthquake inside you, the feeling is really hard to miss. But it's also important not to loose consciousness during that period or else you will probably start dreaming instead of stepping out into the astral area. Last week that happened to me and I woke up in my dream and realized I missed that opportunity because I wasn't focused.

About the ego question: I work with magic to help build my ego. Other people work with magic to transcend it. Both sorts of people can do various practices to help them with their goal. If I were you I would make a list on paper and figure out what you want from life. Don't assume anything or feel bad about anything, or embarrassed. It's like standing in front of the mirror naked because you want to change your body. It might feel awkward at first but in the long run you probably won't achieve goals that you are clear about wanting. Some people think that wanting more money is a bad use of magic. It's banal, it's bad form, it's immoral... and on and on and on. But set that prejudice aside and just think about what you want from magic, then you will have a better idea about how to proceed.

I think meditating is a great and essential part of magic. But be aware of your goals. Think about whether you are trying to bring your ego to the world or if you are trying to bring the world to you. Because I work primarily for the service of my ego, I bring everything down to me, most of the time. If you are trying to transcend your ego and body and gain union with the outside, then your meditation should be different than if you were trying to strengthen your mind for personal reasons.

I don't want to end on a bad note (or use bad cliches like that) but I want you to be aware of an unpleasant side effect of astral projecting that I occasionally experience, usually my return to my body. It can feel like you are paralyzed and stuck, and that something terrible is happening. It's like that feeling you get when you sleep on your arm wrong and can't move it for a few seconds because the blood got cut off from circulating, only on your whole body. It's not that you are doing anything wrong but if you run in to it from time to time just know that it's a natural thing. It helps to stay calm and not struggle if it happens.

Good luck with everything.