How can I get sleep Paralysis?

I used to get sleep paralysis ALL the time. At least every other time I slept. So the only thing I can offer you, in an attempt to help you experience it yourself, is to write down my experiences.

Anyway, whenever I experienced it... it involved a feeling of extreme urgency. I could see everything around me and I desperately wanted to wake up. I would get all sweaty because my muscles were trying so incredibly hard just to move the sheets off of myself.
I mean, when I experience sleep paralysis... I don't see any ghosts or shadows, and I don't hallucinate. It's just normal.
If anything, I think I leave my body. I'm lying there, with my consciousness (since it's the only thing that's awake) trying very very hard to accomplish the usual things I do to wake myself up.
I put all my mental energy into getting the sheets off of my body, maybe trying to swing my legs over to the side of the bed (but since I'm paralyzed, all of this is futile.)

I feel that it's possible that my consciousness leaves my body during this time, because after my failed attempt at getting my body out of bed. I end up 'walking' around the room turning on all the lights (except, of course, this isn't really happening because my body is still lying in bed). And I always get frustrated, because none of the lights I'm trying to turn on actually turn on. Sillily enough.... occasionally my consciousness ends up in my car trying to turn on the engine so I can go to Dunkin Donuts and get a coffee. But, obviously, since I'm not really sitting in my car - nothing works.
Eventually I am woken up naturally, and I find myself covered in sweat and just relieved that I've finally accomplished what I've been trying to accomplish all along.


Most of the time I had the experience, it would be during a nap rather than during a full nights sleep. Because in order to get sleep paralysis, you have to feel a sense of urgency. Almost every time I got it it was during a nap I took in the day time before class. I'd have about 4 hours in between classes and I'd be so mentally exhausted that I would need some sleep. I'd set up my alarm and then pass out. The difficulty was that my consciousness would try to stay alert (so that I would hear the alarm). I would be asleep, but with every noise I would wake up, then fall asleep again, and then wake up and so on... After the first half hour or so of this, my body would finally crash completely. And that's when I would start to notice the paralysis. I'd dream that my alarm went off... and I would panic. Ya know, "Oh crap, I need to get up to make it class on time!"
My eyes would open, because I could see everything around me... and then begins the whole struggle that I documented in the first few paragraphs.

So I would recommend that (with an exhausted mind) you take a nap a few hours before some kind of important event. After all, that always caused sleep paralysis for me.

You do NOT want sleep paralysis....I don't know why you're looking into that if you really want to astral project. Someone lied to you about sleep paralysis being the key to astral projection.
Just research meditation and astral projection.

And whatever you do, DONT listen to Ilyich. Keep researching sleep paralysis, just don't listen to Ilyich.

Why do you think sleep paralysis isn't the key? It's even recommended by the Monroe Institute. Personally, meditation hasn't done anything for me as far as astral projection goes. Sleep paralysis is the only way I've managed to disconnect from my body.

And I agree, definitely don't start messing with medication to induce an experience. Way too dangerous.

All of my lucid dreams turn out bad. When you fall asleep you first start out in nothingness. As you realize you're awake you get a feeling that I can't really describe, but I guess you could call it dread, because it DOES NOT feel good. Then after that you realize your awake somewhere else, or not in yourself, things seem to look at you strangely, or avoid telling you information. When I did this I eventually realized I was awake. So anyway, I remember I saw a cell phone in one of my dreams. I had to remember what the senders info was so I could contact it in the real world (I know, sounds crazy but it was a dream, and I was aware). In the end everyone tried to prevent me from getting that number. I died in the dream, which trigger me basically spazzing and apparently making strange noises throughout the night. I then was in "blank" and finally I woke up.
The only thing I remember from the cellphone was that it was "[email protected]" (it was an email). I can't actually remember where the t or the r were, but I know they were after the "@". And the senders first part before the domain was just "1".

If anyone can explain of experience, or let me know more about these strange occurrences, please let me know.

Every time I have had SP I have fallen asleep on my back and also what seems to trigger it is if I have been without sleep for one or two nights and then fall asleep on my back.
It is NOT a good experience, I have always felt AND seen evil and been terrified.
Not being able to move or speak or scream and feeling that you are in the presence of an absolute evil force is not something I would wish on anyone!
Try it if you must but be aware that it is not a good experience!

Wow that is just strange. I really dont understand why you would want to wish sleep paralysis on yourself. Its the most horrid thing I have ever, and still experience from time to time. I used to years ago get it a lot, but now its only occurs once maybe twice a year. I recall seeing another post on someone explaining what sleep paralysis may be, that its a form of astral projection, but after some thought and more experiences I know this was not the answer. I constantly have to fight with "something" to get my soul back. I know that sounds weird but its the only way I can explain it. I hear and feel these bells tinkling, and that is my first indication that something is coming. I can not describe the feelings as I dont have the words for it, but it is the most horrid thing I have ever experienced and want to stop the experience. The only thing I have found, and sometimes its hard to "find myself", that helps me is a little prayer that was developed for me at a youth group years ago, but as I said its only sometimes that I can get to this. I can feel things in my head, and it makes me very dizzy. Also as said above not moving, not having ANY control over your own body is terrifying. I am sure there are others out there that agree with me, as stated earlier, no one has reported a "nice" experience with sleep paralysis.
If you do manage it good luck. Let me know what is on the other end of this thing or things...

Thanks for all the replies guys! @Ilyich I will not take medication, I want to do it naturally, but thanks for the reply anyway.
Another thing, when I go to sleep it's hard for me not to move my body, when I am really relaxed suddenly my brain tells me to swallow and I do and than I'm out of my relaxed state and after that I give it up and go to sleep.

But I'll keep trying, and if I get it soon I will post my experience here.

reply to post by Jauk3


Get really drunk, go to sleep, set alarm clock or get someone to wake you after a few hours sleep (i often woke for the loo and then could not get back to sleep). Stay awake till the following night. I would get sleep paralysis every time and i can honestly say fighting your way out of it is horrible, especially when you fall straight back into it when you drift off again. Maybe its a combo of sleep deprivation and dehydration of the brain that kicks it in.

Please do this at your own Risk! I found out the horrible way.

Originally posted by ZiggyStardust
you don't need to go through sleep paralysis to astral travel. i've unwillingly experienced sleep paralysis and it is scary and unpleasant. i've been experimenting with astral travel lately and so far i have been able to snap myself out of it at will (with sleep paralysis i couldn't).
the best tricks i have learned to successfully begin astral travel is to focus on the slight ringing noise inside your head. push all thoughts aside. listen and do not talk. and of course your body has to be completely relaxed. hope this helps!

edit on 29-2-2012 by ZiggyStardust because: typo

I agree with you.
Sleep paralysis is frightening and relaxation is needed for astral travel.
It's impossible to relax when you experience sleep paralysis.

The only way I get out of it for me is trying to relax and make muted sounds to wake my wife, who in turn wakes me out of it.

Originally posted by lambros56


I agree with you.
Sleep paralysis is frightening and relaxation is needed for astral travel.
It's impossible to relax when you experience sleep paralysis.

The only way I get out of it for me is trying to relax and make muted sounds to wake my wife, who in turn wakes me out of it.

edit on 1-3-2012 by lambros56 because: Pressed the reply button before I wrote anything.

Maybe it's impossible for some people, but it might be possible for other people.
Thats why I want to try it out and see if it's possible for me to relax and use it to have an OBE.
And if I cannot relax after multiple SP's I will start using meditation.

It is not impossible to relax while having sleep paralysis. Over the years I have learned to deal with it and I can ALWAYS tell if its going to happen. Since I am so used to the experience, when I feel it coming or it happens I just remain calm (knowing I can't move) and take a couple of deep breaths and it will go away. I first experienced it when I was young (around 7 or 8) lets just say its not exactly the best feeling in the world. I have had numerous experiences where I have almost choked from my own saliva from being paralyzed while on my back which made the experience even worse! (since your whole body is paralyzed its very hard to swallow) As I got older I learned how it triggered. It usually happened if the my light was turned on and I was sleeping on my back. Another way it triggered is if I was falling into the initial sleeping phase but also still thinking to myself in my head which means I was still awake in a sense but my body had entered the stage where it automatically paralyzes itself. As far as astral projecting I have had 2 experiences I can remember where I felt like I was flying or being pulled with immense force which was actually quite fun, it would only happen if I was calm though, if you panic and try to break out it makes the situation worse. Also when I felt like I was flying there was a noise like when you have your head out a car window while going real fast, I could also hear thunder because it was a stormy night which sounded quite awesome while under sleep paralysis. The other experience was after a night of drinking, I went to bed and as soon as I shut my eyes I felt the sensation I am so used to and entered sleep paralysis, I was telling myself that I would astral project and was picturing myself moving up and I could feel my astral body starting to come out but I only got to a certain level then it was over and my paralysis broke. I never had my eyes open during these experiences because I always felt scared when opening my eyes during sleep paralysis (everything is blurry in a way and somethings you see may look like monsters/entities). I am only 18 but I feel I am so close to astral projecting and have been for a while now, I have recently started to really try to project and will report here once I do.

Peace

Originally posted by Jauk3
I am interested in the paranormal and I would love to Astral Project or Lucid dream, I've had no succes yet.
I never had sleep paralysis but I did alot of research about it, I am not afraid of it and I have no fear, because I have nothing to loose.
The reason why I want sleep paralysis is because I want to Astral Project or have lucid dreams, and I've read that it's the gate to astral travel. I've tried different kinds of methods like the ''Mind awake, Body asleep'' repeating method but it didn't work for me, I have also tried Brainwave entrainment like Binaural beats, Monaural beats and Isochronic tones but it all didn't do much to except put me into a nice sleep.

Does anyone have any good tips for me how to get sleep paralysis?

(forgive me if my English is not good, I am not the best at it)

edit on 29-2-2012 by Jauk3 because: (no reason given)

Try taking 2-3 naps a day as well as normal sleep schedule.

reply to post by Jauk3


I saw a show on the discovery channel where they reproduced sleep paralysis in the lab over and over,
their key was a blindfold with blinking led lights, I would give that a shot if you really want to reproduce it.
It is a natural thing, nothing paranormal about it, it's happened to me half a dozen times that I can
remember.

Hello! I found this site a couple months ago by accident when I was bored and googling various paranormal stuff, but I wanted to add my experiences to this thread so I decided to make an account.

I only wanted to chime in because my sleep paralysis experiences, though rare, have been slightly different than those posted thus far.

All of my experiences occurred on my side, I wanted to point this out since sleeping on your back has been suggested to be a trigger (very well may be in many people) and have never occurred when napping. The first time it happened was when I was 18. My mind became aware, and I was locked down facing the wall feeling nothing but panic. My girlfriend was sleeping behind me but try as I might I could not yell her name. Strange as it seems, there is an element of "somethings gonna get me" that just can't be described. I had never felt so helpless...when at last I could move I felt relieved, but stressed out and confused as to what happened.

This occured once or twice more at random times that same year then stopped. When I turned 24 it happened again, this time I woke up facing my girlfriend who had her back to me. Behind me was open space and I was convinced something was there to get me but the feelin was amplified by 100 compared to when I was 18. Just awful!!!

It was at that point that I researched and found out about sleep paralysis, and armed with that knowledge I was confident I could handle and get through the situation should it occur again. To say I was wrong would be an understatement. It happened to me again at 26 and it was the worst experience I ever had! Up till that point I was just glad I had never experienced the hallucinations reported by other people, and it may very well be that my knowledge of that possibility triggered this next one to happen:

I become aware and I'm staring at the back of my girlfriends head (same girl through all this btw (: ) and cannot move. I told myself at this point to stay calm and eventually I'd regain movement. The next thing I knew this pulsing started from deep within me and I realized it was my heartbeat. It grew until my head was beating like a drum, not in a painful way...I cannot describe it other than it felt like my arteries pulsing intensely.

As the intensity was reaching what I guess you could call the climax, I felt myself being pulled out of my body but the back of my head. Imaging laying in a fetal position and being forced into an arched back position. As this was happening I was aware that my actual body wasn't movin at all. It's like a strong magnet was sucking be backwards.

This kept going, I was being "peeled" alway from my body, after my head was out my shoulders and torso
started separating (it was at this point you can imagine the arch) and I became afraid. As I was thinking to myself "I'm gonna fall onto the floor!" I heard a deep vicious growl which terrified me beyond anything I have ever felt in my life and I snapped back into my body and could move.

I didn't go back to bed because the dread I felt. I immediately got serious about finding out what the hell had just happened to me, and that's when I stumbled upon astral projection. I feel other experiences I had as a child could be attributed to this sort of thing. It appears some of us are more sensitive to this than others, and while some people spend time trying to do it without success, others experience it (like me) without trying. I'm very interested in the subject, but after that particular experience it makes me uneasy to think about trying to do I on purpose.

I'm 27 now and hoping to never experience sleep paralysis again!

I do have one other experience but it's projection related and didn't involve paralysis so it may be for another thread...hoping I haven't worn out my welcome in this one, lol. Sorry for any errors, it took me forever to type this out on my iPhone.

I used to suffer from sleep paralysis quite regularly after a near death experience when i was 7. It lasted for about 6 years until i hit puberty at 13 then almost entirely ceased.

I experience intermittent occurrences now from time to time, one of the more recent episodes in the past 6 months i felt myself coming out of my body at which point i usually struggle and try to wake myself up. In this instance i relaxed and went with it and felt my astral self travel in a 360 degree arc around my room pivoting from where my feet were over what must have been about 90-120 seconds.

They are usually unpleasant experiences but this time was quite neutral.

A friend of mine suffers quite badly and filmed himself a few months back a revealed an Orb of light streaming near his body as he slept. Pretty strange actually.

Video here - youtu.be...

With the right mindset, SP can be a really cool experience. Atleast if you're like me and find these surreal states interesting. I understand having them regularly would a real pain in the ass though. I myself find them even better than lucid dreaming because of the lack of control, you're submitting yourself to your subconcius and there's no fighting what it will throw at you (mind you, I hallucinate a lot when I have SP).

I've had a few of them and as many have said, I've found falling a sleep on your back and being sleep-deprived does raise the probability. If you're seriously considering trying this, take some time to prepare your mind to get most out of the experience; dont fight the paralysis, dont panic (this is hard). Remember there ain't anyone in your room and no-one is going to abduct you or anything other silly stuff, while paralysed, try to fight away this kinda thoughts. In this state your mind is in a very suggestive state, and so ofcourse the first thing that will pop in your mind is the fear of fearing an imagined presence, because that's what you've read all over the net.

One of my best (and most frightening) experience was the first time. I woke up to weird feedback loop that kinda sounded like a woman screaming and noticed I couldn't move, I also saw some very strange and interesting hallucinations, like some kind of glowing writing all over the walls of my room, they looked like some ancient runes. I had already read about SPs and immediatly knew what was going on so I didn't panic at first, but the feedback loop sound started getting on me pretty badly as it was getting louder and louder with every 'loop', I felt like my head was about to explode and started getting very anxious and panicked, this is where I went wrong and kinda ruined the experience. Soon the paralysis ended and my heart was beating so fast I thought it was about to burst, took a long while to calm down and eventually fall a sleep. Next morning I felt excited and started recalling and analyzing the event.

So yeah, if you like to experiment and see what kinda tricks your mind can show you, SP can be a great tool!

Dear OP:

May I just ask, ARE YOU INSANE?!

Why in the world would you want to experience that? I had it again about a week ago.. It was horrible, I was in tears. If you want to see things, why don't you just meditate? The things you see during SP are usually not pretty.

Be warned.

Originally posted by lambros56
I find it happens to me when I have a lack of sleep over a period of a few days of hard physical labour.

This.
And yes, it's a horrible feeling.

But what about sleepwalkers, do they lack this chemical or whatever it is that more or less paralyze you while you sleep?
Or is it only during a certain sleep phaze it kicks in?

Originally posted by The_Seeker
...I can not describe the feelings as I dont have the words for it, but it is the most horrid thing I have ever experienced and want to stop the experience.

If you are serious about stopping it, this group has a 100% success rate.

stopsleepparalysis.org...

To the OP, please reconsider trying to experiance sleep paralysis, it is nothing to be played with.