Just sharing an experience I've had.

I just want to share an experience I've recently had and would like to hear what other people think.

I'm not spiritual. Never have been. I'm not religious and I don't believe in many things that cant be explained by science & maths. My friends and family think i'm particularly stubborn when it comes to this kind of thing as well. Which is why i'm surprised by my own story right now.

One morning a year or 2 ago I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by my girlfriend leaving for work. It was about 6 am. I began drifting off to sleep again but was quickly woken up by what seemed like a lot of voices, all talking as if I was in a busy place. The voices didn't stop when I awoke so tried to sit up in bed but found myself completely paralysed. I couldn't move my head, arms, legs or anything and believe me I was trying. All I could do was close my eyes, and i'll admit I was terrified. I lay there for a minute until the voices stopped and I was able to move again. I had no idea what had happened to me. Though I remember as a child an old friend telling me that his mother suffered from sleep paralysis so I thought maybe it was something similar. I still to this day have never mentioned it to anyone including my girlfriend.

It hadn't happened since and I found it easy to put to the back of my mind like a bad dream. But several months ago I was watching TED Talks on youtube and I watched a TED Talk about out of body experiences. Ordinarily I would have watched, then quickly moved on from this video. Probably never thinking about it again, if it wasn't for one specific statement. The woman doing the talk said that she was able to astral project and had been studying it for many years and that one of the strangest sensations she experiences is one of being completely paralysed. She explains it as one of the first stages of astral projecting. This got my attention because it had happened to me and I remember exactly how I felt at the time. This video led me to start researching a little more on astral projection. I even read a "how to" guide and tried it unsuccessfully. I dismissed it as nonsense, forgot about it and went on as normal.

Then last week the experience happened to me again. This time no voices. I was on my own in bed again but the room was silent. This was coincidentally only a few days after I watched Doctor Strange which you may or may not know involves a lot of astral projection. I just couldn't help myself so I started looking into it again. Everything I read about it from all sources all claim the same things. Every account i have read and every video i've watched all say the same. You become paralysed, experience heavy vibrations and eventually move up and away from your body. They also give the exact same set of instructions on how to achieve it with a few minor alterations regarding actually getting up which come down to personal preference. So I spent the last week just giving it a go in bed at night before I went to sleep. Every time being unsuccessful.

Last night I was woken up by our cat scratching at the bedroom door. She does this most nights as we don't have a cat flap and she won't ever use her litter tray so she wakes us up so we can let her outside. It was 5:09 am when I got back into bed and I decided to try again. And again it appeared to be unsuccessful. It felt like I was falling asleep. I thought I heard my girlfriend call my name because it woke me up and now I was stuck again. I couldn't move at all but because i'd been trying all week I wasn't scared this time. Then I felt immense vibrations along with some noise. It felt like it was coming through my ears and moving down my neck and back. I managed to sit up while the vibrations were still happening and I felt very aware and alert. I wondered if I was actually projecting now because just a moment ago before the vibrations I was completely stuck and when I felt the vibrations I was able to sit up. I was too afraid to turn around and look back at where I would have been lying. So I lay back down and lay there for a minute until things calmed down and went quiet again. I had a quick look at my girlfriend asleep and then I went to sleep myself.

I don't know what to make of it really. I'm not sure what to call it I am just wondering if anyone can relate to it and has something interesting to say about it?

I'm going to try again tonight and see what happens. Though part of me is thinking it was just a weird dream.

Isn't it funny how sleep paralysis is always related to some weird experience?

I've seen people talking about seeing itself outside the body, hearing or seeing things that can't be explained by our current knowledge.

Maybe the paralysis itself happens when we get access to "something" that is not in our current spectrum of vision or dimension *for lack of a better word*...

So much we don't know.

a reply to: Silicis n Volvo

It sounds like you were dreaming you were awake. It happens all the time.

I've had many dreams where I thought I had the power telekinesis. And when I focused my power on myself I was able to fly around my neighborhood in my dream.

There was one time I had dream where I was an extraterrestrial walking around talking with other extraterrestrials.

And one time, I had a dream I built a time travel device. And using it I went into the future to prevent myself from destroying the time travel device in the future. I was sitting on one side of the portal and I actually saw myself come through the portal. At that point I woke up.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Silicis n Volvo

It sounds like you were dreaming you were awake. It happens all the time.

Sure i'm open to that explanation. Though I cant really relate to the examples you've given.

I've had many dreams where I thought I had the power telekinesis. And when I focused my power on myself I was able to fly around my neighborhood in my dream.

There was one time I had dream where I was an extraterrestrial walking around talking with other extraterrestrials.

And one time, I had a dream I built a time travel device. And using it I went into the future to prevent myself from destroying the time travel device in the future. I was sitting on one side of the portal and I actually saw myself come through the portal. At that point I woke up.

They don't really sound anything like what i'm trying to describe. They just sound like dreams.

This was just me, in bed, completely paralysed and then feeling vibrations through my body. I sat up while still vibrating, then lay back down. Waited for a minute for it all to stop and then went to sleep.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Silicis n Volvo

It sounds like you were dreaming you were awake.

No, it sounds exactly like Sleep Paralysis.

In this state you are completely conscious of what's going on in the room and able to relate it back.
Tried and tested by telling my partner exactly what she was doing while I was in it numerous times.
She also confirms I am aware of her as my eyes follow her and I try to respond to what she says verbally, which always comes out as slurred grunting.

a reply to: Ruiner1978

Yeah well as I said I remember a friend as a child telling me about his mom suffering from that and it sounds similar.

I'm going to try and see if I can induce it myself tonight like I did last night and see what else I can make happen because when the vibrations began happening the paralysis went away and I was able to move and sit up while the vibrations continued.

originally posted by: Silicis n Volvo

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Silicis n Volvo

It sounds like you were dreaming you were awake. It happens all the time.

Sure i'm open to that explanation. Though I cant really relate to the examples you've given.

I've had many dreams where I thought I had the power telekinesis. And when I focused my power on myself I was able to fly around my neighborhood in my dream.

There was one time I had dream where I was an extraterrestrial walking around talking with other extraterrestrials.

And one time, I had a dream I built a time travel device. And using it I went into the future to prevent myself from destroying the time travel device in the future. I was sitting on one side of the portal and I actually saw myself come through the portal. At that point I woke up.

They don't really sound anything like what i'm trying to describe. They just sound like dreams.

This was just me, in bed, completely paralysed and then feeling vibrations through my body. I sat up while still vibrating, then lay back down. Waited for a minute for it all to stop and then went to sleep.

Well, I was just describing how strange dreams can be. Your's was strange in the sense it seem so real. Assuming you were dreaming was the explanation.

originally posted by: Silicis n Volvo
a reply to: Ruiner1978

Yeah well as I said I remember a friend as a child telling me about his mom suffering from that and it sounds similar.

I'm going to try and see if I can induce it myself tonight like I did last night and see what else I can make happen because when the vibrations began happening the paralysis went away and I was able to move and sit up while the vibrations continued.

I used to get SP a lot, not so much these days.
There's a video I saw a while ago about a technique, moving/imagining you're moving your fingers at a certain point, to induce lucid dreaming.
When I tried it I went straight into SP.

I'll see if I can find it for ya

Here you go, give that a try.
Like I said, when I tried it I went straight into the state you're talking about in about 5 or 6 seconds, first try.

This sounds like absolutely classic sleep paralysis to me. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic states can be extremely vivid, and involve all sorts of altered perceptions of oneself and surroundings. It can feel absolutely real.

That said, there is - of course - always the possibility of something more at work. I'm agnostic when it comes to the phenomenon, but see no harm in experimenting with it. Many people swear by the experience and believe it happens.

Taking off my skeptical hat and putting on my spiritual one, I would say if you pursue this, do so with a clear intent on peace, love, good will, and positive intentions for yourself and others, and also a degree of vigilance against anything/anyone taking advantage of your "openness" to this experience.

While I oscillate continually between agnosticism, skepticism, and belief (and can be equally comfortable in each "mode" and don't see them as mutually exclusive so long as you know what each of them really is,) I would say in my "experience" and that of others (whether real, or the product of the human psyche which can be pretty wild, especially in or near sleep,) there's not always a way of knowing "what comes down the pike" when you open yourself in this way. Therefore, be cautious. Whether one thinks the negative manifestations some encounter when doing this are spiritual, or psychiatric, the same note of caution applies imho.

Peace.

a reply to: AceWombat04

I sit firmly on the skepticism side for almost all phenomena. With this particular experience it's been a series of events that has got my attention and made me look into it.

I'm going to see if I can make something happen again but if nothing happens and I have no luck for a week or 2 I will most likely put it down to either sleep paralysis or weird dreams