Sleep Paralysis

Every once in a while I'll have this strange experience while trying to fall asleep (more often when I wake up in the middle of the night and i try to fall back asleep). I'll close my eyes and after a minute or so, I won't be able to open them, I won't even be able to move, but I'm still conscious. Sometimes I'll hear strange electronic sounds. I get a little scared whenever it happens, and if I want to come out of it I have to try really hard to get up, like jolt my eyes open and jump out of bed. This has been happening to me as long as I can remember, and I've kind of gotten used to it. I just wanted to know if anyone else experiences something like this, or has read about anything that fits that description. Is there some chemical in your brain that could cause this, or could i have some sort of fatal neurological disorder? Any information would be welcome.

[Alquimista]

Not completely the same but I had one weird night few days ago. Was deadtired and took a xanax .. or few... to doze off. The whole night is a blurr - I remember woking up several times, sometimes INSIDE my dream. There were many points when I couldnt understand was I dreaming or was I awake. Scared the shit out of me at first but later on the night I actually started to enojy that mess. Can anyone perhaps tell me what was going on? Most spaced out 'sleep' ever.

[Decstar]

Originally Posted by Alquimista

Not completely the same but I had one weird night few days ago. Was deadtired and took a xanax .. or few... to doze off. The whole night is a blurr - I remember woking up several times, sometimes INSIDE my dream. There were many points when I couldnt understand was I dreaming or was I awake. Scared the shit out of me at first but later on the night I actually started to enojy that mess. Can anyone perhaps tell me what was going on? Most spaced out 'sleep' ever.

Yeah, that happens me from time to time. I have a dream, and in that dream I dream that I wake up from the dream, and I think that everything that went on before was a dream but now I am awake. But then I wake up from that experience and I realise that the whole thing was a dream. And then I wake up from that, realise that that was still the dream, and so it goes, over and over until I finally wake up for real and at that moment I'm convinced I'm still asleep!

But maybe I am still asleep, and everything that has happened since has also been part of the dream which I will eventually wake up from. Now that's a trippy thought!

But really, life itself is just imagined. What we think of as reality is just our minds interpretation of signals. It is only real inside our minds and everywhere else it is just signals. It is much the same as these words you are reading right now only exist as written words on your monitor. Everywhere else they are just electrical signals. In fact when you get right down to what things are made of at the sub atomic level, what we commonly think of as solid matter doesn't even exist as anything other than waves of energy vibrating in space.

[par excellence.]

1. OOBE

2. Astral Projection

3. Remote Viewing

4. Sleep Paralysis



Most likely one of those... nothing serious at all. Google is your friend.

[D.U.M.B]

I have gotten that sleep paralysis thing before. It's really scary, but I usually ended up asleep within minutes. Still scary expierences though

[windtraveler]

Xentity, sounds like it was sleep paralysis. It happens to a lot of people and its nothing serious. It is when your body falls asleep but your mind doesnt. During the REM stage of sleep, your body remains pretty much paralyzed to keep you from moving around and acting out your dreams. Ever have a dream where you are running from a monster or from the police and can't seem to run? It used to happen to me all the time. But i think there are other threads on the forum that discuss this.

Sleep and what happens to us during that time really fascinate me.

Thanks for the info everybody. I did some reading on sleep paralysis, and found out that some people use it to enter a lucid dream state.

So yesterday, i was nodding off, while watching tv, and found myself in sleep paralysis. This time, instead of trying to come out of it, like I usually do, I went with it. At first, I heard this strange sound, like wind rushing past my hears, but a little different. I felt this pressure on my pelvis, like somebody was on top of it, moving up and down, that was enjoyable (I am horny bastard after all). Then I felt myself floating in the air, then do a flip in the air, then float gently down to the floor and touch the carpet; I could feel the carpet brush against my face. I thought I had fallen on to the floor, so I fought to come out of it. When I awoke, I found myself in the same position that I fell asleep in. I wouldn't really call that lucid dreaming, because there was no vision, just sound and touch, but its a start.

Has anyone else had an experience, where they used sleep parlysis to lucid dream?

[white_lighter]

hmm i dont see how you use sleep paralysis for lucid dreaming since it sp only happends when your awake but yea i have that it use to only happend when i had nightmares i would wake up and try to scream or get up and not be able to move but now it just happends at random even happend last night you kinda get use to it after awhile though but its still a bitch

[Zo|\|e]

Sleep paralysis could be used to enter a lucid dream but you'd probably have to have some experience withlucid dreams and the whole sleep thing to take advantage of sleep paralysis..


In the pasti'vedone lots of research on lucid dreaming and haveexplored them many times, my favourite method was allways WILDwhichis a"Wake induced Lucid Dream", basically thismeans falling asleep whilealso staying conscious at the same time.


When performing a WILD you remain consciouswhile passing through the SP (sleep paralysis) stage of entering sleep, which canbe very strange especially the first few times. Normally you brain turns on SP, just before the onset of REM sleep to stop you from actingout your dreamswhile asleep. This is why a lot of people report the buzzing feelings and the rushing sounds while in this state, as your brain is used to recieving stimuli from all your sense when fully awake during the day and when these connections are severed by SP it's like (just to quickly sum up) your just recieving static from those connections..


I've probably not explained the abovetoo well, but for more info check out www.ld4all.com a great forum all about Lucid Dreaming. Also, if you want to fully explore LD's the best bookhastobe"Exploring the world of Lucid dreaming", by Stephen LaBerge the godfather of LD's and the first person to prove them in the lab...

[oggy]

Swim has suffered from sleep paralysis for most of his life and it can be very terrifying. He's not had it since he detoxed, but tonight when he went to bed he thought about it and got goose bumps all over his body and still has them now.

When he gets it he can sense a shadow or 2 in his room and can hear them talking in a strange language, sometimes they will tap Swim on the shoulder or he can have outer body experiences. Just thinking about this sends shivers all over Swims body.

It can be a bit like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4c0o...eature=related

Is there a scientific explanation for this?

[Lobsang]

When he gets it he can sense a shadow or 2 in his room and can hear them talking in a strange language, sometimes they will tap Swim on the shoulder or he can have outer body experiences. Just thinking about this sends shivers all over Swims body.

http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html

[oggy]

Hmmm Swims been getting this just about every night again. He needs to let go of his fear and just enjoy the experience.

Why is it so scary anyway? When it happens on a drug then you can no this isn't real its the drug.

It happened most of last night but then he thought someone was trying to kill him but he couldn't move although he was aware of the dream and being in his living body at the same time.

Now Swim understands that when sleeping your mind detaches itself from the body just like how a Zen buddhist monk would do but still be aware and in control of their unconscious dreaming thoughts.

[poorleno]

Like windtraveler said, totally 'normal' and nothing to worry about. only had it twice and was truly terrifying but I have a feeling it's triggered by oxygen starvation so maybe leave a door or window ajar. Both times I had it (in 36 years! So don't have nightmares..) I noticed the room was very hot and stuffy. It actually threw open a kind of insight onto alien abduction stories as the second time it happened, I felt like a big arm was scooping me off the bed and lifting me into a trapdoor of light on the ceiling. What I was actually seeing was the early sun coming through a gap in the curtains but my brain had transposed its position to appear above me. For some reason, this time I was able to consciously think 'I know what's happening, it's sleep paralysis' and was gently placed 'back' to where I'd started and the light on the ceiling became the light on the window to my side and all was good. Made me think about the doorway amnesia and what would have happened had I been 'lifted' into the door! For some reason, although comforting in some ways, this is one 'explanation' which has left me just as puzzled as the original mystery!

[wellhelm]

This is the epittamy of freaky. Never more terrorized then when this happens. Paralyzed yet thinking of my frozen state that i am fully aware of. Then it quickly go's away and I am to afraid to fall back asleep lol. I am always thinking next time I'll roll with it, but next time I'am freaked......

[oggy]

Last night it happened a lot, panicking at first so I tried to go with it but it felt like something was putting a syringe in my neck. I reminded myself no this is all in my head, I'm doing it to myself. So finally after all the waves of euphoria and whimpering in terror I let myself go. I started to slide of the bottom of the bed but also going down in to the ground. I finally left my body and was like wow this is cool feeling very light, horny and energetic.

I had a wonder about then I came across myself sleeping and I started to move myself about but then I woke myself up so I hid. But as I fell back asleep I found myself back in my body.

Swim wants to learn how to control this.

[wellhelm]

Originally Posted by oggy

Last night it happened a lot, panicking at first so I tried to go with it but it felt like something was putting a syringe in my neck. I reminded myself no this is all in my head, I'm doing it to myself. So finally after all the waves of euphoria and whimpering in terror I let myself go. I started to slide of the bottom of the bed but also going down in to the ground. I finally left my body and was like wow this is cool feeling very light, horny and energetic.

I had a wonder about then I came across myself sleeping and I started to move myself about but then I woke myself up so I hid. But as I fell back asleep I found myself back in my body.

Swim wants to learn how to control this.

In awe, I have always had the feeling during this of "sliding" or moving but could not release out of my body. Simply amazing you could. If it wasn't so terrifying I would give it a shot but im always trying in vain to scream for help lol

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim has always experienced sleep paralysis right before waking. Goes like this:

Swim opens eyes, sees morning, but can't move. Swim panics. Swim tries to reach or scream for help but cant. Swim is not sure whether he awakes directly to this or whether he falls back asleep and wakes back up, but thinks it is #2.

Very bad experience. Worse than any bad trip.

[Panthers007]

The human body becomes effectively paralyzed during R.E.M.-stage sleep. This being the part of the sleep-cycle where you dream. Theories abound why this is, and there is room for more. Try to think of something that is a common-thread when this happens to you. Such as; Were you overly-tired before sleep? Did you have a bad day? Were you having a nightmare? Did you get laid before bed? So forth. Maybe we can find a common-thread with two or more people.

If you do find a commonality, please do post it. This could prove very interesting to that blob of guacamole-paste that resides in back of your eyes.

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim finds Sleep paralysis happens most often if his high "ends" while he is in the last stages of sleep, happening noticably with marijuana,alprazolam and lorazepam, and the morning after cocaine. Being overly tired does fit into the situation too.

[lloydsLSD]

Hi. I'm positive that I've had sleep paralysis before. I've only ever had bad insomnia once in my life and that was what triggered the sleep paralysis I reckon. It was different for me because my eyes were open and I could look around the room but I couldn't move. The 2 times I've had it it would have been scary as I could hear myself breathing but it sounded like it was coming from something at the side of my bed. The one time I actually could see my dog at the end of the bed where he used to sleep and another dog on the floor! Plus I couldn't read the time on my video recorder.

The reason I wasn't scared was because not long before I'd watched a creepy program on TV about Sleep Paralysis, like a day or 2 before, and I instantly knew what was happening. I did have this feeling that something bad was going to happen if I didn't wake up soon though, so I closed my eyes and kept saying to myself "wake up, wake up". On both occasions I felt like I was falling down through the floors really fast before I woke up. That was a really cool feeling though and I don't know how but it felt so real.

[dyingtomorrow]

When SWIM and his bro would shoot lots of heroin they would get sleep paralysis probably 5 out of 7 days of the week. Basically same thing as everyone described, waking up over and over in your dream, not knowing if you are awake or asleep, being paralyzed.

Whenever this would happen SWIM would start yelling in his dream trying to get himself up. This usually translates in real life to small moans. SWIM and his brother shared a studio and learned to wake each other up when they heard the other one making little sounds, knowing that they were in sleep paralysis and needed help getting up.

[RoboCodeine7610]

I know how to induce sleep paralysis on myself but even though I've been trying really hard for like 3 weeks now, I'm never able to have an OBE.I mean I've had them I few times before but never at will...

[psychoshaman]

monkey has had this several times in his life... the last one was whilst i was incarcerated and it was a doosy, scared monkey half to death, monkey sometimes hears a hum before it's about to happen... next time it happens monkey is not going to give into the fear and see what happens (i know it sounds easier said then done)

[Macee]

Its normal, when your body dreams you are paralyzed, so you dont actually move when your sleeping and fall out of bed, its a defense mechanism.

I dont want to go intop specifics but basically your mind got confused in the REM part of your sleep and you are paralyzed but still conscious. There is also the phenomina of seeing someone around your bed like a sillhoette of a person (could also explain some things in the shadow people thread) or when you see someone sitting on you.

It is alot more common when trying to induce the lucid dream state, however can happen when normally trying to sleep.

[psychoshaman]

Originally Posted by Macee

Its normal, when your body dreams you are paralyzed, so you dont actually move when your sleeping and fall out of bed, its a defense mechanism.

I dont want to go intop specifics but basically your mind got confused in the REM part of your sleep and you are paralyzed but still conscious. There is also the phenomina of seeing someone around your bed like a sillhoette of a person (could also explain some things in the shadow people thread) or when you see someone sitting on you.

It is alot more common when trying to induce the lucid dream state, however can happen when normally trying to sleep.

can it be explained away so easily, monkey don't know... i've read the logical aspects of what it is/why it happens and yes the last one monkey had there was a presence, but what if there is more to it than the "logical" aspect... what if...?