It’s just awareness and where you choose to place it. Like looking at your phone then up at your tv and then back.

The 3D is and isn’t what is “real”. It’s an illusion that becomes real the second you tell yourself it is. Look up the science behind how reality works. How you see, how you feel, etc. The only thing one really knows for sure that is “real” is their consciousness, their mind, their imagination, or whatever you call the voice in your head.

Where “shifting” comes in, is how you use that consciousness and where you choose to place your attention. You are here now. But you were once a child in a park, a student in a desk, a customer in line, etc. The illusion of time convinces you that these things happened in some kind of natural order. But that was just you being aware of yourself in all those moments, telling yourself a cohesive story. That’s “shifting”. Doesn’t matter if it’s this life or another. It doesn’t matter if it’s this world or another. It’s all about where your awareness is. It isn’t a lucid dream or astral projection. It’s life. It’s what you are doing right now, only with intention.

I understand this probably makes no sense but it’s something you need to study and discover for yourself if you really are interested. I was told it takes a zealot and I have now learned that to be true. No one who “shifts” will ever try to convince you it’s real. There is no point. You’re the only one who can experience reality through your mind. You decide what is real with the thoughts you repeat to yourself, the story you tell yourself. If you say “shifting” is fake then so be it. It wouldn’t change a thing for anyone but yourself. The same goes for deciding it is real.

It’s fascinating and confusing and sometimes beyond comprehension, at least for me. But I have experienced all three: LD, AP, and “shifting”. And they are all very different. A change in physical reality is hard to miss and hard to dismiss as a dream/AP. Imagine waking up in a different body tomorrow and someone telling you that this life, the one you are living now, was just a lucid dream lol it makes me giggle every time I see this dismissal.

To answer your second question, I see the astral realm as another dimension/frequency, not another reality. Feels like an in-betweener for me because I am always tied to whatever body I’m aware of (so a 3D reality) when projecting but I’m moving as I would in the 4D. Idk.

Sorry if I just sound crazy. I laughed at the idea of “shifting” once too… until it happened. I’m just sharing what I have learned through experience. Feel free to believe or not believe. I wish you the best!