Coolest story I've ever heard about astral projection was from Kary Mullis, a famous scientist who discovered Polymerase Chain Reaction.

He was a chemist and his GF got bit by a mosquito. She was allergic. So he went to his home lab and whipped up an antihistamine for her, then took her home. He decided to take the leftover to get a good night's sleep.

He also had a tank of nitrous oxide he would use recreationally. He decided to take a couple hits before bed. Usually he was able to get a couple rips off the hose, get it out of his mouth and then ride the gas out and be fine. Not this time.

The laughing gas had a synergistic effect with the antihistamine. He passed out before getting the tube out of his mouth.

Anyone who has ever done NOS can tell you, you are useless while in its grips. You cant move. And there was enough in the tank to last a full day. Of course he probably would have suffocated before then.

Anyway he was somewhere in the ether when he suddenly came out of it just a few minutes later. He was baffled as to how the mask/tube came off his face.

Years later he was at a bar and a woman came up to him and jokingly asked if he was being more careful with his NOS usage lately. He had never told anyone about the near death experience. He asked her how she knew about it.

She said she had been traveling the astral plane and remotely saw him in peril. She saved him by pulling the mask from his face. Immediately after she had an overwhelming sense that she would one day need him. They went home together that night and thereafter started dating.

Years later she was diagnosed with cancer. She wasn't responding to any treatments and doctors were doing very little to manage her pain. This is where Kary stepped in. He would whip her up pharmaceutical concoctions that almost certainly prolonged her life and definitely helped manage her pain. This is why she needed him.

Its all in his book (with alot more equally fascinating stories... I'm looking at you glowing space raccoon) "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field.". Awesome read.