It was an out of body experience,it is relatively common,though I have never had one,at least I don't think I have .I have had visions/vivid dreams which are similar I believe. Some people can have an OOBE easily,its down to the individual.
Far as I know you have to be careful doing this as it can cause anxiety or distress.why it happend i have no idea but our consiousness is not what we think it is.

You say " of self-awareness or self-beingness after departing this world? You are getting that the wrong way round in my view ,you have these things now,trouble is most of us take that for granted,but we should not be so blase about that. This life is not the status quo, it is the creation something(conciousness) out of something else.

Tomm, you can get a better idea of what happens after death by studying the biological bases for self-awareness/consciousness/mind. A simplistic description goes like this: Our brain is not an isolated entity in our body. It receives inputs from every part of the body including itself. What that means is that every experience we have, no matter what it is or how insignificant it is, is passed through the brain and processed there. All of this is the 'self', the who we are.

Now, unlike it is commonly thought, the brain never ceases to function. If it did, we would die. When we sleep, there are times during that rest period when its activity reduces slightly, but there are also times when it is just as active as it would be during any physical/mental activity in the waking world. The dream state is one of those times, and our dreams are a product of essentially random thoughts (dreams can also be well organized and/or suggested) that we sometimes remember upon waking up. Dreams can be total nonsense, or they can be extremely realistic and apparently rational. They can be indistinguishable from our conscious reality.

In order for all of this to take place, the brain must be functioning and that requires blood supply carrying adequate oxygen and nutrients. The brain is a prodigious drain on the body. Anyone who has ever crammed for an important exam can attest to the fatigue that follows one of those sessions -- and there has been no real physical activity.

When the body is dying, all those connections to every part of the body begin breaking down. The brain loses experiential contact with the body. When the blood flow to the brain ceases, the brain itself begins to break down, but it remains cognizant of itself for a short period after the body is quite dead. This is the extent of 'afterlife'. When the brain no longer functions, there is no more self -- no more you.

Anything one would like to have after that point is necessarily drawing on the supernatural ideas we have been plagued with for so long. You are certainly free to cling to this notion of a peaceful existence after death if it makes you more comfortable, but I suggest that is nothing more than wishful thinking and may be the result of a fear of no longer being alive.

I'm an atheist and I don't think we experience anything after death. I don't believe in any sort of spirit world, plane, or dimension. People may argue over exactly what they would define as death and therefore some debate may exist about experiences after death, but I find that rather pointless. I think even then, most of us get the general idea of the long term outlook on the meaning.

I am still trying to decide on details to put into a will as to how to handle my remains. Burial, cremation, donate my body for science and/or organ harvest. The one aspect that concerns me most relates to the brain. Clearly it is the key to everything we experience. My biggest fear, probably a ridiculous one, is the idea of the brain still experiencing SOMETHING, beyond death.

If I donated for organs or research, is it possible to have negative experiences, in the short term, after death, but during organ harvesting. I mean we do hear of stories that people experience the surgical procedures when they have supposedly been put under. If the brain is donated for research, might one possibly have experiences through artificial animation? I know these are far stretches, but I have a hard time letting go of these fears.

You can dream if you have a functioning brain (like when you're asleep). After you die, your brain will cease to function. The lights go out completely, permanently. If you can't imagine that, it's for a lack of trying. The way it has been explained for ages is "remember what it was like before you were born? That's what it's like after you're dead.

I’ve been reading about these types of experiences in Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World.” I definitely recommend it to understand the science behind such experiences.

no not a view of afterlife..Its a copulation of daily thoughts, Been on a few, scary at first wanted to get back to body fast,,The I realize it is very usefull need to be annualized Like a dream.best
advice use three or more.. Freud ? haha maybe not..

Many people have these mystical experiences that drives them to find answers. You're an exception in that you're seeking answers outside of conventional religion. Good on you. I mean that.

Sounds to me like you got a rush of natural MDMA, I forget what it's called, but the brain produces it naturally. It's called the "god drug". Ayahuasca is related, and is used for guided shamanic trips into the netherworld... People who experience it describe it as incredible.

Sam Harris has lectured on this; look him up on Youtube.

The problem as I see it is belief itself. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but they're pointless. What you believe is irrelevant. What is? What is the reality?