| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 8/8/2008 7:30:45 PM | | Wykipedia is very enlightening on this topic. After confirming the info on this thread, it lists more than a dozen folk traditions that attribute this experience to some kind of demon holding you down. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 8/8/2008 8:54:25 PM | | I have had a couple of dreams where I was awake but could not move. Once I could hear my mother talking to my father as they went down the hall to bed. She even stopped at my closed door to say good night. My eyes were open - I could see my bedroom - but I was totally paralysed, stuck in the middle of a really nasty dream and tried to talk but couldn't - I was massively freaked out. I used to fight these type of dreams and force myself awake but now I try to just relax and not freak out. I used to sleepwalk as a child (most of my family did) so there may be some neurological thing going on - maybe we don't get fully asleep before we start dreaming. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/1/2008 10:51:39 PM | | I have only had it happen one time when i was a junior in high school and i had NO CLUE what was happening. I don't even remember if i was dreaming before it happened or what, but i woke up and like everyone else, could only move my eyes. It also felt like someone was tickling my sides really hard but i couldn't move my hands to stop it. It was weird. Then I finally snapped out of it after a minute or two but my sides still hurt from being tickled. I don't understand why i felt that, but it was scary! | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/2/2008 4:17:23 AM | | i've actually been experiencing this since i was a very little girl. i have heard several explainations from the supernatural to the scientific. i think that answer may vary from person to person or be a combination of the two. for me it is usually very frightening and panic inducing, it does not feel benevolent at all. i've noticed most people who experience it are also vivid dreamers. i know that i am, and can often become aware that i am dreaming. i also used to sleep walk, anyone else have such a correlation? as a little girl my parents would find me standing in different places in our house, eyes open, talking to someone who wasn't there. i remember a lot of times waking up from these episodes pretty scared and confused, once i was standing outside the house at the edge of our swimming pool. didn't mean to turn this into a sleep walking post. in any case has anyone else prone to sleep paralysis also been known to sleep walk? seems like polar opposites, eh? | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/2/2008 2:51:38 PM | | I had this problem a lot from my early teens until my mid twenties. By alot It happened abot 30 to 40 times a year. Now it happens maybe twice a year. For me, I would be having a bad dream and wake up and cannot move no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to yell out or scream but I was unable to do this also. This would last for about 30 seconds at the most. If I went right back to sleep I would have the same experience again. At times I would think I was dreaming while I was awake. I never understood why this happened and still can't explain it. As I got older I could feel this start to happen as I was sleeping or somehow recognize it was going to happen. I don't think I was totally asleep or totally awake, however you what to put it. I would wake up and get up and walk around to try to get my senses back before I went back to sleep. Once I dreamed I woke up because I thought this was happening. I thought I was going to my kitchen to get something to drink and try to settle myself down. Well my neighbor was in my kitchen and he wanted to kill me. At that point I woke up from the dream I thought I already woke up from. That was by far the one that freaked me out the most. I always wake up not being able to move and being terrified. I had someone seriously tell me that I was being abducted by aliens...... I don't believe this. As strange as this might sound, I wish I had this happen more than a few times a year now. As much as this scares me it totally facinates me. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/2/2008 3:12:32 PM | My siblings and I all walked in our sleep as children. I haven't walked in my sleep since a little kid but even when my sister was 16, she would sleep walk.
I have these sleep paralysis dreams now as an adult and like Tas, I can kind of get a sense when one is coming on and I'll try to prevent it from happening. I've done the same thing where I think I'm finally awake only to realize I'm still dreaming. Once I did it three times in a row - jeez - talk about freaky.
I have what I call "flung" dreams also - similar to flying but I am not in control. These dreams really bother me. It is like an out of body experience where I am just picked up and tossed about by some unseen thing. I used to get scared and then I got mad, now I just go limp and try not to resist. All the same, I like these dreams least of all. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/13/2008 12:11:11 AM | | Wow... This happens to me too.. I've always felt that it is some type of possession. I have to "will" myself out of it. Can anyone assure me not to be afraid the next time it happens? | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/13/2008 9:00:41 AM | Some people would tell you to have a prayer of power (whatever your belief system is - something that gives you strength) and to use it when you are feeling out of control during a dream. Even if you just look at it in scientific terms and say that it is your subconscious acting up, having a powerful phrase to say to break that momentum is still helpful.
Some people will say that it is "demons" and "entities." I get a little more leary about that because it is taking the power away from you and putting it out of your control. I think we do have control over our dreams, even if there ARE other things messing with us while we are asleep - the key is to figure out what works for you.
I am more prone to have these dreams when I let myself get very tired and sleep-deprived so I work at it from the preventitive side - I try to get adequate sleep and keep sort of a protective shell around my house (As I go to sleep at night, I envision my house and yard encased in a big bubble of security). Again, even if this is in my head, it seems to work. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/13/2008 12:15:27 PM | This is why I had to stop smoking pot, something about the drug can bring this on and I find it to be a horrible experience. Usually my face is kind of down in my pillow and I feel I cannot breathe even though I obviously can. I am trying, in my head, to move my face up and move my arms, etc., as I feel totally uncomfortable but can't move. It's a panicky feeling, and I hate it. When it first happened it scared the crap out of me, but now that I know what it is, it just pisses me off but you can't do a thing until your body starts moving. It has let me know that if I'm ever in a coma and my kids keep me alive, I'm going to wring their little necks!
It has happened a couple of times without pot but a whole lot of times with it. As for the voice(s) they are my own, just as I often hear my name screamed at me until I wake up when I'm having a bad dream or about to figure out something in a dream I'm not emotionally ready to handle yet. It's my own head voices, nothing demonic or other-worldly, just the amazing brain at work. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/13/2008 12:33:01 PM | | Sleep paralysis is indeed an interesting phenomenon. Many will try to attribute it to demons or something spiritual, but there is so much evidence against that. As an example, people from differing cultures often have sleep paralysis experiences that mirror their preconceived notions, showing that it is a product of the person's internal processes rather than some external supernatural force. Many cultures see demons, and in my own experience as a child, I saw UFOs and aliens that were paralyzing me with some alien technology. Had I grew up in a culture with mythology about evil banana trees, I suspect I would have seen evil banana trees holding me down. | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/14/2008 5:11:54 AM | Thank you for your input on this. I have realized that in all cases of this event occurring to me, it has been during a time of sleep deprivation. I guess this topic is a good example of
Science vs Religion ? | |
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| Sleep Paralysis
Posted: 9/14/2008 9:40:43 AM | With practice you can allow your body to go to sleep and keep your mind awake. I rarely allow my mind to go to sleep unless I truly need some down time to allow it to re-organize itself. I find that state extremely fun. You can create any world you like and do what ever you like. I spend the time in my own constructed world of Chthonia, the world that my fantasy fiction novels are based in. The state gives you a sensation that you are out of your body, hence the “out of body” experiences people have. I enjoy it immensely.
You can have a bad experience during this state of mind if you have not practiced controlling it. Your subconscious will form images for your conscious mind to see, generally based on your fears if you are a fearful person. Your subconscious often is able to process information your conscious mind can not and come to conclusions which you also may see, hence where people get “premonitions” from. It is also the culprit in many people believe they have been abducted by aliens!
There is a ton of scientific research in regards too this state of mind to read. There are als a ton of books that teach you to do it. | |
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