I JUST woke up from Sleep Paralysis, multiple times

Hi guys.

This is the third time I've had Sleep Paralysis and remembered it without shrugging it off as a hazy dream. I've made threads about it here on ATS before. I think my most recent thread was sometime last year.

Anyway. Man. This was SCARY. A complete trip out. I had it 2 or 3 times in a row just a while ago. The most recent one being just a few minutes ago.

It's 9:09 P.M right now as I'm typing this. What happened was my mother came out of her room, passed me on her way to the kitchen and woke me up. But only briefly because I was so tired, so I fell back asleep automatically. I then had sleep paralysis, was completely aware of it, recognized my surroundings, but couldn't turn around like I desperately wanted to, and couldn't shout.

I then woke up. Fell immidiately asleep AGAIN, had Sleep Paralysis ANOTHER TIME, then woke up, fell asleep AGAIN, and had it a third time. Now this third time is the one I remember the most.

First of all, let me point out that I almost shrugged it off as a nightmare despite my pretty deep knowledge on Sleep Paralysis. What made me think it was a nightmare is that I felt a presence in the sofa right next to my bed, and I percieved it as my brother. The reason being that my brother has slept in the couch next to my bed many times.

The only thing is that he's not here. He hasn't been here for 2 months, and he won't be for another 4. Infact, he's on the other side of the globe. But I still for some reason was convinced it was my brother, because I couldn't turn around, and I FELT him in the couch. Then I remeber thinking I was screaming, but nothing coming out. And that "entity" which I thought was my brother, got annoyed by my "fake screaming" and I could feel he was close to like hurting me or something. But I don't remember anything actually happening.

Here's the big catch. I have a old-fashioned (not an actual antique) alarm clock on the windowsill right by my bed. It's basically right infront of my eyes if I'm lying towards the window, which was the side I was lying against. And I remember me being completely aware of the fact that I had Sleep Paralysis and desperately wanting to be able to move. Here's what I did, during the Sleep Paralysis. I actually took note of the time, almost as if I was planning, while having sleep paralysis, to remember it and prove it, because I was so aware.

The time I memorized: 8:50. Sure enough, when I woke up, the time was exactly 9:00. I almost forgot about the fact that I had noted the time during my paralysis, which is why I almost shrugged it off as a nightmare. As soon as I remembered it, and looked at my alarm clock, I knew I had gotten myself proof.

What's weird is that I felt all these "presences". Evil ones. Who kept moving around behind me. Making me feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable and helpless.

Here's another scary memory from the paralysis. I remember I turned on (don't know how, considering it was sleep PARALYSIS, which is also another thing that leads me to believe it was a nightmare) the alarm on the alarm clock in an attempt to "wake myself up" from the paralysis so I could finally move and find out what was behind me. And I distinctly heard the sound of the clock, but it didn't wake me up. And I was still in the paralyzed state. Even though I had somehow turned on the alarm to try and wake myself up. Oh, and what I remember is that I turned it on, but still wasn't able to turn around. I was turning it on to desperately wake myself up so I could turn around.

Another thing I remember is that even though I recognized the clock, the windowsill, and everything on that respective side of my bed (even the more modern but non-working alarm clock a little above my vision that has a slight reflection to it. I remember even looking at myself, during the paralysis, in the reflection), everything around me still somehow felt so alien. As if it kept shifting, constantly, from being my recognizable area where I sleep, to being a place that was reminiscent, but still not the same. I also remember all those times I tried turning around, and just ending up with my eyes desperately glaring at the clock. And it every time being EXACTLY at 08:50. It's almost like time stood still.

I'm sorry for this wall of a textial mess. I just had so much to say, and couldn't be bothered to proof read it all. I kept remembering new stuff. I'll post if there's anything else I remember.

Anyway. Was this Sleep Paralysis? Or was it just my brain trying to recreate Sleep Paralysis (considering I've known about it for a long time, and knowing most of how it works), and thus just being a nightmare OF sleep paralysis, rather than actual Sleep Paralysis?

I can't believe I'm asking this question again, despite all my knowledge. I was so convinced during my "paralysis" that it was just that I was experiencing. FML.

I still need to wake up. It all just feels so unreal and scary.

I read some more on this and I know for a fact that I had Sleep Paralysis. I thought it wasn't possible to have dream-like sensations, but clearly you can. Because the two other times I had Sleep Paralysis that I remember, I didn't have any dream-like sensation. Only in this last one.

But FML it was scary. Mostly because of the fact that I saw the time, and then woke up for real 10 minutes later. I also remember thinking I had finally woke up multiple times, but then realizing I was still paralyzed. Man o man.

EDIT: I don't really know why I made another thread when it was so obvious. I guess I was just so intrigued. It hasn't happened in ages, and it's f'ing scary, especially when you remember it this well ;p

reply to post by ZikhaN


Although I have not experienced the feeling that someone or something is in the room with me when they are not there, I have experienced sleep paralysis multiple times during one period of sleep.

I have asthma, and most commonly when I experience sleep paralysis I also feel as if I cannot breath, I wake up and cannot move or talk I struggle to stay awake but drift back into sleep, only to wake up unable to move or talk, and in my mind I know if I can just pull myself out of this and be able to move or talk it will go away.

Once I was actually able to force out my husbands name and he helped pull me out of it.

"Waking up" while still in sleep paralysis, which is 100% natural, means you're still in a state of hypnagogia and thus suffer hypnagogic hallucinations. You're fine and safe, OP.

-snip-

Its an interesting experience.

If you are having issues waking up your body, try to blink rapidly, or focus on your breathing and try to increase your breath rate.

i know most people dont believe this and will laugh it off but to me sp is demonic in nature and what you've been through i've as well. dismissing it as a medical condition or sleep deprivation is ignoring the true nature of the phenomena and trying to be rational about it when there's nothing rational about the supernatural.

I read your whole post then get to the bottom and you say you couldn't be bothered to proof read it. Made me feel like, why should I have bothered to read it.

Anyway, I had this in my late teens quite often. I haven't had it in years but when I did it was scary as hell. Just the feeling that your helpless. I used to try and scream and scream until I could move again. Always had a hard time falling asleep again afterwards. I don't think I ever did it 3 times in a row like you described. That would be quite the experience.


Strict

reply to post by Picollo30


To be fair, it's ATS we're on :p So while I won't laugh, I will have a hard time leveling with you on that.

Another reason why I'm convinced it's normal, is the fact that many people, including myself, sleep with half-open eyes (in my case atleast, some have almost fully open) druing REM sleep. And it makes sense that being fatigued or stressed can impair the senses temporarily, allowing something like only your conciousness to be activated, but not allowing your muscles (which automatically become relaxed during deep and REM sleep) to activate. Hence causing the mix of conciousness and a dream-like state, while being paralyzed.

From what I read, the part of feeling uneasy/scared and exposed/helpless is because of a defence mechanism that us human have in our brain. Which lets us perceive danger before it happens. Something like that. And as for the evil presence, I'll let the this paragraph explain it for you:

Many people that experience sleep paralysis are struck with a deep sense of terror, because they sense a menacing presence in the room while paralyzed—hereafter referred to as the intruder. This phenomenon is believed to be the result of a hyper vigilant state created in the midbrain.[7] More specifically, the emergency response activates in the brain when individuals wake up paralyzed and feel vulnerable to attack.[15] This helplessness can intensify the effects of the threat response well above the level typical to normal dreams; this could explain why hallucinations during sleep paralysis are so vivid.[15] Normally the threat activated vigilance system is a protective mechanism the body uses to differentiate between dangerous situations and determine whether the fear response is appropriate.[15] This threat vigilance system is evolutionarily biased to interpret ambiguous stimuli as dangerous, because "erring on the side of caution" increases survival chances.[15] This could explain why those who experience sleep paralysis generally believe the presence they sense is evil.

I mean it makes perfect sense.

reply to post by Strictsum


It would be fair to say that if it wasn't readable. It's not like I typed endless sentences with a spell mistake every other word.

And yes, it was a hell of an experience. I was genuinly creeped out, and felt uncomfortable even while typing the OP.

NOTE: I wrote "9:09 PM" in my OP for some reason, I meant 9:09 AM.

New edit: I just realized that the part in my OP where I meantion my surroundings shifting between my familiar surrounding to a familiar yet unfamiliar surrounding, must have been either an out of body experience, or a so-called "vestibular-motor hallucination". Considering there'd be no way for me to see my "surrounding" (and I was refering to what was behind me) as I was facing the windowsill.

Originally posted by Picollo30ignoring the true nature of the phenomena and trying to be rational about it when there's nothing rational about the supernatural.

Sleep paralysis IS natural though...?

reply to post by Cyprex


You know what. After reflecting a bit, I now genuinly believe that Sleep Paralysis can be manipulated by the victim. I remember being so INCREDIBLY aware of my surroundings, and being so insanely "concious", that at certain points I couldn't tell if I was awake or still paralyzed. I remember multiple times thinking I had finally woken up, which I hadn't.

While I don't want to experience another Sleep Paralysis, if I do in worst case scenario, I will try to win over it =)

Oh, and thanks for the advice. It's good to have it in my bag of tricks for next time ^^ Now I almost want to have another SP Okay I don't. But # it would be awesome to win over it, and wake up faster than you'd normally do if you just succumb to it.

Originally posted by Philosophile

Originally posted by Picollo30ignoring the true nature of the phenomena and trying to be rational about it when there's nothing rational about the supernatural.

Sleep paralysis IS natural though...?

is it? or is it the explanation given to us by scientists blaming it on lack of sleep because they dont have all the answers?

i know what i felt and what i've been through. feeling a weight on my back, eyes open couldnt move nor scream and when i asked jesus for help in my mind, the entity dissapeared. two times this happened, everytime more terrifying than the other.

so no, i dont buy the scientists explanations sorry.

reply to post by Picollo30


en.wikipedia.org... and en.wikipedia.org...

Cheers.

I've had many experiences of SP, though not in a few years now. At one point it'd become so common that I had a signal for my wife whereby I would rock my foot back and forth enough to wake her up so she could then wake me up.

I was giving it a lot of thought at the time trying to "figure it out." I was conscious enough during SP that I would know to give her the signal, and at times when she would shake me, I would think to myself, "harder! that wasn't hard enough!" I could hear her say my name as she shook me.

But there were instances when i would take mental notes of what I could see around the room while paralyzed - a sock on the floor perhaps or a hair brush on the dresser. When I would wake Id immediately take an inventory and things often times didn't match exactly. This led me to believe that what I was "seeing" was the image my mind was able to capture prior to falling asleep, not what i was observing as I lay there.

I might add that I also suffered night terror as a child. And during the time I was experiencing SP I was also a lucid dreamer. It must all be tied together somehow.

sleep paralysis can be explained by science, but can also be explained by metaphysics too. I have read that it is a state that the body goes through before an actual OOBE (out of body experience). This paralysis, together with various cracklings, whistlings,, snappings, etc are the precursors to the separation of the physical with the astral. It is said that if you relax and let this happen, the next experience will be that you are out of body.

Something which may help explain the 'evil entity behind' phenomena - I used to wake up with the idea that I had been 'chased' back into my body by someone. One day I realised that what I was feeling is my astral body returning and my mind in my physical body is aware of this just before the astral body returns completely and merges with my physical. Like a shift of perspective from the astral to the physical while the astral is not quite merged back in yet. Since that, I no longer feel frightened because I "know" what it is and that it is just a part of me returning after a session partying in the astral.

Now, whether this rings true for you or not, I dont know, but it has certainly helped me understand these feelings of being chased or someone behind me. Evil is often perceived as something we dont know or understand and often we use our religious beliefs (or former religious beliefs) as a basis for explaining to ourselves what these unknown feelings/sensations are.

Almost all "sleep paralysis" testimonies claim to sense, hear, feel, or see a "presence" or "evil" entity. Must all be a coincidence.



Maybe sleep paralysis mimics these "attacks" from entities.
Kind of like chemtrails mimic contrails on a cold day. Another coincidence.

Scary stuff OP.
Great thread no doubt.
Sleeep paralysis is indeed scary...in fact you are dead whilst it is occurring.
But relax in the end we all wake up?

Originally posted by Picollo30
i know what i felt and what i've been through. feeling a weight on my back, eyes open couldnt move nor scream and when i asked jesus for help in my mind, the entity dissapeared. two times this happened, everytime more terrifying than the other.

Me too man, whenever I have sleep paralysis (3 times), I immediately, without even thinking, shout for Jesus to help (though it barely comes out as a whisper), and always right then my sleep paralysis is gone. I'm not saying it's an evil entity, or that Jesus is really helping me, but it always works for me, for whatever reason. Crazy thing is the first time I ever had sleep paralysis was literally the very same night I decided I would call on Jesus if I was ever abducted by aliens (I've heard sometimes that works?). And this was back when I was an atheist, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Never had S.P. in thousands of nights of sleep, then the first night I decide I would call on Jesus if I ever needed to, and it happened. That really messed my mind up.

Sleep Paralysis is also associated with Narcolepsy. I have never been tested but besides the sleep paralysis I also have a strange dream pattern that my husband at first found very disturbing, due to his worries regarding this I did some searching online and found that the dream issue is a major symptom of Narcolepsy.

See I start dreaming as soon as I fall asleep, so fast that I can be talking to my hubby, things go quiet for a few moments and I've fallen asleep and am dreaming, he's woken me up at that stage thinking there was no way I could have fallen asleep so fast and I could tell him what I was dreaming.

In a typical sleep cycle, we initially enter the early stages of sleep followed by deeper sleep stages and ultimately (after about 90 minutes) rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. For people suffering from narcolepsy, REM sleep occurs almost immediately in the sleep cycle, as well as periodically during the waking hours. It is in REM sleep that we can experience dreams and muscle paralysis -- which explains some of the symptoms of narcolepsy.

source

REM sleep is the stage where dreams occur...

Could be built up anxiety. Sounds like you had a mini anxiety attack, but only during your sleep.

Could be too much caffeine also.

I get that way every now and then - when I do 'wake' I try to relax and breath deeply. Also focusing on relaxing the tongue (usually by pushing the tongue out between my teeth and biting down on the tongue a bit - to help keep it from getting knotted up). If that doesn't work, I'd try tensing my body up at once - holding it for a few seconds - then relax and focus on the calm feeling of the relax.

Hope you do better sir.

-CN

[edit] When you breath deeply - focus on the belly, try to breath with your belly instead of your chest. The balloon thingies in your chest are more concentrated in the lower part of your lungs - the belly breathing ensures you fill that area up.