'Seeing' surroundings while sleeping?

rNOW
By rNOW,
So I watched Leo's video on body awareness/relaxation and applied the technique. It is amazing and very relaxing. BUT, weird things started happening. One such thing is - I notice that I wake up while still being asleep, as in mind awake, body asleep. Often times, I 'see' things in my room. The most prominent things in my room are the ceiling fan, the AC and the window and I happen to see them with my eyes closed in this mind-awake-body-asleep state. It doesn't seem like a dream, because they are exactly in the same location as I see them from my sleeping position. I could also read the temperature on the AC and then confirmed it when I 'woke up'. Another time in this state, I was staring at the window and thought I need to turn my head and the window turned along with my head, but I couldn't move my physical head because I was probably in this sleep-paralysis state.  This usually lasts only a few seconds before I realize that my eyes are actually closed and then I freak out and start rationalizing it - "How in the world is this possible", or "AM I GOING BLIND OR CRAZY OR BOTH?" And that is when I break out of this state and wake up.  Now I've heard of people who can see with their eyes blindfolded but that is a voluntary choice they can exercise while being awake, but this seems to be different? I do not think I consciously choose it, it just happens when I sleep after being extremely exhausted.  Is this 'normal'?