My recent experience of sleep paralysis

I've experienced sleep paralysis for over 35 years off and on. It used to happen a lot more often when I was younger. Now it's maybe once or twice a year and doesn't bother me that much.

For me, there was never any other presence, just me or no one memorable. The panic gets easier over time, as you realize what's happening while it's happening. I could never resist the urge to "shake" myself awake little by little. It just felt wrong to not fight that state. In time, you'll learn to bring yourself out of it even more quickly.

I should mention I don't have many positive dreams, mine are almost all negative. Any given situation, any little worry, instantly happens while I'm dreaming. Anytime I'm right at the moment something great might happen, it never does, feels very deliberate. Really sucks to never have good dreams, but I do a little better in real life, at least sometimes good things happen. I bring this up because I think we can all experience this for different reasons, I think mine is psychological baggage.

I'll admit I'm curious about the OOBE and astral projection stuff, maybe I'll try to ride it out next time.

Reading through your post actually sent shivers down my spine. Probably about 4 years ago I had a very similar experience to yours. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, and there was an extremely loud hum, my vision was very fuzzy and a shade of blue as you described. I had a sense of impending doom, but not of an entity. I remember laying there wondering if I was dead, and panicking a lot, the next thing I know it felt like I was sucked out of my body and into the middle of my bedroom above my body. As you said, it was like I was seeing with my soul, and I had an awareness of everything around me 3 dimensionally. All the fear and confusion disappeared and I was overcome with euphoria. This lasted maybe 3 or 4 seconds, then I was sucked back into my body just like I left it. I immediately shot up out of bed and I was kinda shocked and shaken up. Funnily enough I went online and began googling straight away, and started reading about sleep paralysis and astral projection. Now I know what it is I would love to take control of it, but I have had the paralysis a few times since then, but nowhere near as intensely. It was an amazing experience. Sorry if my writing is a little off, I wrote this on my iphone.

When I have sleep paralysis (not very common for me), I'm conscious but my body is not. I can barely open my eyes but it requires force, and if I let go of the force they close. I cannot move at all.

It is very frustrating. But I have learned to let go, meaning that I don't fight it. I just try to go back to sleep. Very shortly I finally gain control of my body.I feel goosebumps roll down from the top to the bottom of my body as soon as I regain control. The goosebumps are the signal that let me know that I can move again.

Sleep paralysis is annoying

reply to post by thruthseek3r

i have truly had this experience, when i still lived at my parents house i used to have these glow in the dark stars on my ceiling . One night i was in a deep sleep, and i suddenly tried to awake but i couldn't move i tried to call out to my mother but no words came out, all of a sudden the stars on my ceiling began to glow bright and in the corner of my room smoke billowed threw out and i saw a dark figure in the corner with large horns. After i saw this i tried to call out again but nothing came out, i felt as if i was trying to scream as loud as i could and i just started screaming dear lord dear Jesus help me! After i said this strangely i was awake and able to move, this had happened before but not as detailed for years i dismissed this but in recent years i have come to realized this was a very real event it hasn't happened since. I have never been a deeply religious person but this event made me think again, and in recent years finding out about occult in government i think its totally real and what ever was in the room with me was a product of my sheelpe state at the time

I would have sleep paralysis very often, maybe around every other night until I figured out exactly how to make it stop happening.

One of my more vivid memories of this experience is my attempts to get up out of bed. It would seem that I could slowly make my way forward, but there felt as though a rubber band was connected to my bed (body?). After I would reach a certain point, I'd suddenly snap back into place where I was laying on the bed.

This was of course, accompanied with trouble breathing and immense panic until I somehow went back to sleep.

You are super close to an out of body experience. Relax and enjoy. You have nothing to fear...except maybe Paschar0's avatar.

Here are some ways to wake from SP.
dreamstudies.org...

I personally use, rapid blinking, controlled breathing, or focus on clenching one fist.

Oh boy....where to start. had a not so nice episode of sleep paralysis last nite, lots of dark laughter and the feeling of being forcefully pressed into my bed. I have SP very frequently, most of the time the experiences are rather unnerving, but every once in a while it is nice and comfy and its like i'm outta my body. I frequently see, hear and experience things that really confuse and frighten my wife when we discuss it. i could go on for hours really, and when i do talk about it, sometimes it sounds sooo far fetched, but I started experiencing sleep paralysis shortly after i tried to induce an OBE on my own. Since that afternoon, 20 yrs ago, its made for some rather interesting nights. As frightening as some of my nights have been, i'm still in one piece and strangely enough i sometimes look forward to my next episode...i never know what i'm going to encounter, its fascinating and frightening all at the same time. I've done tons of research on it over the years and can see arguments for both sides of the fence, paranormal vs. scientific. so, to be fair, i'm kinda biased on the subject, but here is what i ask people to remember...2+2 = 4 but so does 3+1.

This is an awesome topic because I remember thinking 'What the heck just happened' the first time I experienced this too.
About my experiences: Typically, I am about to fall asleep when I start to get this very loud 'buzzing' in my ear. Its really like charlie Browns teacher/parents when they talk to him but very long and drawn out, If I try to gain control of my body at this point I won't have the oobe but if I try to go right back to sleep it will usually happen again. Well, when I was at my parents house my mom was sitting watching TV and I Was supposed to take a nap on the couch. Right. Well I woke up and said, MOM! I just floated up to the ceiling and kinda controlled myself to float down to the ground and back up almost like I bounced off the floor. ... I had these before and they alays start with the loud hum in my ears. When I was alone at my own house once, I had this happen and saw a shadow person standing in the doorway to my kitchen. (always been afraid of the dark, so I usually sleep on couches with the TV on. I also had my kitchen light on this time. so the shadow person was in the doorway to the kitchen). That freaked me out and made me not like the SP thing. So since then I have fought it off at the buzzing hum instead of embracing the floating around. But I want to astral project, so I might try to invite it to happen. IDK.
My thoughts on this SP: I think this has everything to do with the way we experience and interpret our lives, spirituality, etc. I have always thought I could sense or fell presences and always had what my parents called a vivid imagination. With life having so many mysteries and unknowns, I think our imagination may not be too far from the truth. Like many have said already, I think that your sub-conscious kind of guides you through these experiences until you realize that you are in control with your thoughts. I have not controlled my experiences before but it sounds like you can. I think it would be pretty amazing to think of... IDK, Venus and see what's there, or see if you can make contact with some being. I also feel that many of the shadow people or things we consider 'demonic' could be just another entity that you can now see while in this soul traveling mode. Maybe what we think of as a demon is no more than an entity that exists here with us but in the other realm. Or just your mind playing tricks on you. (as in- you not realizing that your sub-conscious brought it for you to see becasue you were feeling fear. Or something like that anyways.)

reply to post by thruthseek3r


Now when you enter REM (relative eye movement) sleep the brain shuts down direct motor control of the body to prevent you acting out the experience, some types of Sleep paralysis may be simply the switch being delayed for some reason so you are awake in your mind but your body remains in a state of sleep.
I also believe in the soul so I also believe that sleep paralysis may be a first step to soul or conscious projection outside the body and as someone whom has also experienced it along with my own share of paranormal activity I am on your side in this matter, scary experience is it not.

I had sleep paralysis almost every day for four months when I was younger, and still have one from time to time. It was caused by incredible stress and tired body. The more experiences I had, the harder it was for me to go to sleep and the more tired I became the more experiences I had and this went on for a long time. I was thinking about suicide at one point. So you might say I am a veteran in this case.

And it is normal for people that had this experience once or twice to be confused, but it is hard for me to believe that people who claim here that had it many times still believe that it is something else, than just psychological problem.

The incredible panic and fear is natural. I had times, when I was sure, that there is something still behind my bed when I got out of paralysis. I could feel it's presence even after waking up and as a 19 year old grown man I cried in panic. I thought there were some patterns that couldn't be coincidence at first.

For example, there were similarities in hallucinations. I saw more than once, two blue heads talking in strange language, shouting angry at me and at themselves. They looked human, but didn't felt human at all. And that language was so different it is even hard to explain. Also, lots and lots of white figures at my feet, behind my bed, behind the window. Most of the time the hallucinations were partial, meaning that I saw actuall room, but things started appearing inside it that shouldn't. But sometimes, even the room changed and I was sure I was in my second house before I woke up. Also sometimes I had visions in daylight, while there was still dark in reality. Sun played interesting role. Sun always had face. For some time I was sure I am seing different dimention.

But... the more this happened to me, the more randomness I saw. It is easy to jump into bad conclusion, when something happens to you lets say 5 times in your lifetime and you see similarities. But when it happens like in my case... I just saw the randomness. And the more I studied it on my own, the more I realized that the similarities were just my greatest fears comming out. In the end it was all "mine", from my head. There was nothing that I coudn't imagine by myself even though it was scaring me to death. I would imagine, that visiting other dimensions, or seeing something out of this world, I would encounter shapes I can't imagine.

Also when it comes to OBE. When I read about it, I really don't see anything in common with sleep paralysis. Those are two different things, unless your experiences with paralysis are different tha mine.

I discovered that I got paralysis the more tired I was. For example, after riding in a car for whole day it was 100% chance. Or when I slept to little last night. It wouldn't make any sense if a man experienced something out of this world because he is tired. It would make more sense, that he was seeing things, because he is tired. How being tired would make you do something special, just isn't logical in my opinion. You are sick because you are tired, that makes sense.

Also, what is really important and what made me jump into my conclusions, was the way I got healed out of it. I actually seeked help, instead of hiding it from the world and getting more crazy theories by myself that would just get me deeper in my ignorance, like some people I see here.

And I found out that the incredible panic sensation is not a must in this kind of sickeness. Since it is all in my head it can be fought. So after four months I finally learned to eliminate the fear and I began to see positive hallucinations. After that I basically got healed.

All I can say to people that have this problem. The most important thing is to realize you have it while you are in it. And when you do, no matter what happens, you shouldn't struggle to move! It is all in your head, so you must use that head to make it stop. If you'll try to eliminate hallucinations, you will become more closer to reality and your body will wake up.And when you'll realise you can control it, you will know that it was YOU all along.

Thought I'd share my story, maybe it will help some people. Don't care if someone believes me or not. I am happy this is over and I hope no one will ever have my experiences.

Thank you all for your replies, I really enjoyed reading all of your posts (yes I read them carefully one by one even if I did not reply to them all) and will take into consideration everything you told me because some of the ATSers had some things i could relate to.


Thruthseek3r

Hello, as someone who's experienced sleep paralysis for 6-7years, with increasing regularity and intensity, as well as having lifelong intimacy with the dream world itself, I've learnt a a great deal of the different types of dreams, it's symbology and come to my own theories and hypothesis. Granted what I know is surely less than the tip of the iceberg and expressed through my own perceptions, but hopefully my own experience and ideas may help you with your own conclusions.

Personally I think sleep paralysis is the previously unwanted and unaware state of then being aware of your 'astral body' or 'spirit body' being within your physical body and mind. In other words, your body is paralysed and your physical mind asleep and your conscious awareness is within the spirit mind and body and is panicked by the paralysis. After years of researching others ideas and experiences I found purely scientific explanations unsatisfactory, and was lead to read of others theories of the spirit body and astral world.

For me, and others I know who experience this, sleep paralysis is often triggered by a state of anxiety in waking life, and this anxiety is increased once awake within the sleep. It is of my own ideas that the high level of anxiety is somehow beyond comprehension for other dreams (such as subconscious dreams) and you are pushed into your spirit body in order to find the greater answers required.

I have also on a couple of occasions felt similar sensations whereby I have 'sunken' back inside myself, turned around and rose out of my body. Here I've rushed to fly out of the window or such and the overexcitement has snapped me back into my physical body - this has also been the case with sleep paralysis and i've found serene indifference and peaceful wonderment are a key to continuation of the astral state.

One great tip I learned for controlling the sleep paralysis state and handling the intense fear within, is to concentrate on your breath. It's very flurking difficult granted, but once you get control of your breath your panic state subsides, from here you can practice moving. For years, when I tried to move I could only feel myself moving slightly, but my physical wasn't actually moving at all. It wasn't until I considered the spirit body separate from the physical that I managed to harness this sensation.

In recent years I have found I have been able to, through control of breath, relax and consciously extract my spirit from my body, a sensation which was accompanied by excessive sounds of static electricity, sensations of 'ripping' out of myself and feelings of being the embodiment of electric blues. What this means exactly I am unsure.

There have been times I have come out of my body and found myself within a realm where my subconscious has entered and have had to battle with myself, and when under threat was able to turn myself into mist, fly out of my room then re-enter. Other times I've realised that the world is entirely of my own making and have been able to form my surroundings - again excitement has inhibited this and i've snapped back into my body.

I've found that as I end up in this state more and more I have learnt to be aware of other things aside from breathing. Concentrating on looking with my eyes (including the third) has brought about kaleidoscopic imagery and can sometime lead on to other sorts of dreams, and concentrating on sounds I often hear intense (sometimes overwhelming) sounds of what I can only describe to be static electricity. The other night when I heard this I also heard someone repeatedly saying 'Hi!' and though non-threatening still added to my panic as I felt someone was there and I was unable to move or do anything about it.

Recently I've been attempting to induce this state consciously by laying on my back, very still with my awareness entirely on my mind, being sure to ignore my body telling me it itches/wants to roll over etc. I could feel myself heading towards this state, however the fear of the fear holds me back dramatically. I suppose I need to learn there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

I'd also like to add my opinions regarding abduction as this seems to be fairly common. I've often considered that if 'aliens' were to visit our earth, they would do so in a manner beyond our common perception. The astral plane (as I believe it to be four dimensional+) would be more suited I reckon. Therefore I could imagine that peoples astral selves may have been abducted and/or have come into contact with beings from other planets, planes of life or other not-yet-thought of realms.

I would like to add that there is also the possibility that dark figures in sleep paralysis are actually part of the self, perhaps an embodiment of the shadow or parts of your self that wish to stop yourself from coming out of your body. The dream world is a highly complex realm and I believe we are only beginning to scratch the surface. Trust yourself, and listen to your instincts.

reply to post by spartacus699


I've also been experiencing the exact same thing, the past three weeks i have floated to the ceiling while asleep three times, but every time i have floated, i have woken literally a minute later, in pure fear, shaking/sweating, I've never felt as much fear to be honest, but every time i float, i just kind of stay stuck to the ceiling, but i can see everything below me, even myself sleeping, and when i try to scream at my partner to help me, i physically can't make a sound!

I was always a strong dis-believer about paranormal happenings, but these past few weeks have COMPLETELY changed my view on literally everything.