Sleep Paralysis?

I read this when it was originally posted on 27th Feb and promised myself I would reply so I reactivated my account.

I too have experienced sleep paralysis and to some extent I believe a OOBE. It was when I was about 16/17 - college age. I was in the house alone as my folks were on holiday. It was about 3pm and I'd been smoking so was a little baked. I decided to have a lie down in my bed and eventually drifted off to sleep; nothing unusual there - except for when I came to wake up.

I had the TV on in the background and when I began to wake I could hear the TV. Eventually I opened my eyes and found "myself" in the upper corner of my bedroom looking down on myself led in bed. The sound from the TV was coinciding with what was on the screen at the time - i.e. if I glanced from looking at myself to the TV which was at the foot of my bed. For me to be in this position I was apparently on top of a book case which only had a 2' gap from the top to the ceiling - I'm 6'2" so couldn't have been sleep walking!

I remember thinking to myself "this is a dream" and was convinced I was about to wake up. "Some time" passed by (I quote as I really wasn't conscious of "time" being apparent) and there was no sign of waking up so I "climbed down" from the book case and decided to go over to my bed and lie down on top of myself (yeah sounds weird typing it too!).

Now as is the norm in dreams you can say that you dreamt about someone/something/somewhere but it wasn't actually them/that - you know what I mean? Like "I had a dream about being in the shop but it wasn't the shop it was a boat" (rubbish example but gets my point across). This wasn't the case here - it was a complete facsimile of my room - even my keys on the dresser and as I've said the TV and show that was on.

I led down on "me" and suddenly felt like I'd been hit by a defibrillator and it felt like I jolted violently. My eyes suddenly opened really wide - so much so I could feel my eyelids stretching like they were going to tear. I could still see and hear the TV and attempted to get out of bed but I couldn't move. It's like my brain was working to send the signals to my limbs but they weren't receiving them. I started to panic and attempted to reach for my phone - again nothing. I tried to make a noise but all I could do was make a very quiet stifled moan.

Long story short; I decided to try to go back to sleep which apparently hit some sort of reset switch resulting in me waking up.

It's never happened again but I can clearly remember that experience and I don't know what caused it. I subsequently took part in an OOBE study carried out by Manchester University which affirmed to me that I wasn't alone in this and then learnt of "Sleep Paralysis".

I always like to read and hear of other peoples experiences as sometimes it can be frowned upon and you'll end up getting ducked or burnt at the stake if you talk to "normal" people about it...

reply to post by docnorton


GOLDSMITHS COLLEGE London will still try and convince you that it is all in the mind. Their chief honcho is a humanist ... its not rocket science when you weigh up whose on your side and why? hx

Sleep paralysis happens when the body is still under orders from the brain to be still. This happens so we do not act out our dreams and harm ourselves. I believe this can happen when I body's do not behave correctly and keep us immobile or when an outside entity creates the situation using our body against us.

Fear makes breaking the hold very very difficult. If fear was enough to break the "hold" then we would break it and be able to move during a nightmare.

What has worked for many abductees I have worked with is going into righteous anger. This seems to change the brainwaves and allow instant movement. The thoughts (without ANY fear) of "How dare you do this to me!" or "You have NO right to hold me!" should allow instant movement. This works in either case, when the body is not working right or when the PS is induced by another entity.

I have had SP frequently in past years and was always able to instantly break it when I wished. Righteous anger is the trick guys.

I've been the subject of SP on many, many occasions...
I was disturbed to learn that it is attempted murder and that it is but a mere game titled "Light As A Feather... Stiff As A Board!"
In your most tranquil moment(s)... you are the victim of a vicious attack which caters to the magnesium/magnate metal of the body and to the iron of the bones and blood...
Your mind opens up in unto awareness but has no grip on the body because the witch has her iron and magnesium fixated on your body. It's suppose kill you (suffocation)... but the key is in your feet.
They are never ever paralysed! You can start by knowing it's an attack and then realizing you control your emotions to stay the heart. Then start to wave your feet side to side. She'll begin to exert her force... which means you've entered in unto her mind! It means she must now apply more strength.
She cannot endure too long. Be patient... but continue to wiggle your feet as they are the key to breaking free...
She will tire and you will prevail. Your legs break free... then your body... then the mind takes control and you rise up and out of death. YAY!
Light as a feather... Stiff as board... The witch's due!

If you're living beneath someone... as in the lower level of an apartment complex... you may do well to know your neighbor(s).

The blood and bones of the body contain magnesium and iron... two metals.
The former is magnetic and the latter is its victim.
If her blood and bones are strong she can overpower you in your time of tranquility.
This is the best time for her to attack. She can focus her strength and subdue you.
This happens when your asleep because it is the best time to exert the metals over the metals in your body.
You are light as a feather in the sense she can exert her power over your blood and bones... and then you become stiff as a board in the sense that she has total grasp of your body. BUT! Not over your feet.
The feet... don't ask me why... Is the portion of the body that she can not grasp and bind.
It may at times be hard to break free... especially if she is strong. But in all cases you must not give up! She is trying to kill you. Try... Try... Try again.

Also... The witch fears awareness. Those who adore you spill into her mind with telepathy... but with a force to be rekconned with. They are aware of her and come to your rescue. It is a powerful blast of energy that fixates her mind and stuns her and then she breaks concentration and flees for her life. She fears that because it can kill her.
A 100 blasts like that in bombardment can cause her to hyperventilate to the point of suffocation and she can die.

Anyhow... wiggle your Damn feet and live!

reply to post by samstone11


You need to watch the latest episode of 'Ancient Aliens', it goes into great detail about SP and Alien Abductions (A possible link between the 2)... very interesting if you believe there is more to SP than what you/we are told. And especially interesting if you have ever had sex with this entity which visits!

Its called 'Alien Breeders' Season 6 Episode 19.

www.vodly.to...

reply to post by Pinocchio


Wild..
But most people never were under any kind of witch attack and still do have SP.
Be carefull to not harm any innocent people because of your dreamy delusional astral games.

reply to post by PapagiorgioCZ


Kindly noted...
Yet... even still... hurt usually comes about when they break.
So... it's not likely to be or my feelings. Yay to that.
Thanks again.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences here (and their interpretations of them)- it's been an interesting read.
I've experienced SP on a fairly regular basis for as long as I can remember - more frequently if I'm exceptionally tired or unwell. I should probably point out that I believe it to be a perfectly natural, explicable phenomenon rather than anything psychic, demonic or abduction related . . . but I can certainly relate to a lot of the stories told here.

The OP asked whether anyone has had a 'positive' SP incident and I have to say 'yes'. It may have scared me as a child but I now find it a very calming almost liberating experience
Some people say they feel like their body is being held down, but I'd describe it more as a feeling of extreme weight in the body and limbs sometimes accompanied by a sense that the rest of the room/physical environment is also too 'thick' and 'heavy'.
The best way I can articulate it for people who haven't experienced it for themselves is a feeling of 'inhabiting' your body but being slightly disconnected from it rather than it being a part of you.

The reason I say that I find it liberating is the opportunity to be completely at peace and alone with your thoughts away from any concerns about physical comfort or needs. I mean, you can't move, so there's really no point thinking about what your body wants and it really is surprising when you think about it how much of our waking lives are spent looking after our bodies and addressing hunger, thirst and other needs.

I think that during these moments you're probably more in tune with your subconscious thoughts than at any other time. Many times during an SP episode I've thought back on events of previous days. Maybe I've thought that friend B wasn't quite themselves when we last spoke and during SP I've replayed little nuances and hints at what's troubling them that I hadn't consciously noticed at the time.

Sometimes the tail end of a dream lingers on into a SP episode too, which is an amazing experience in itself. Even nightmares have no power to frighten you when you know that you're dreaming - it's more like being the star in your very own film and if you don't like the way things are going you can just hit the rewind button and replay it a different way.

Since everyone else has shared, I'll add in a couple of my own stories later but I think I'll end this post here.
My main reason for posting was to reassure the OP that it's not something to be afraid of.
I still believe that it's nothing more than your body being stuck in sleep mode, while you're brain is awake or perhaps in a state somewhere between dreaming and full consciousness . . . and it really can be a pleasant and rewarding experience if you go with it and accept it for what it is

For anyone else who's enjoyed reading other people's accounts, I thought I'd also share two of the most bizarre SP experiences that I've had. Both of these actually occurred when I was very unwell, so they lend weight in my mind to the 'sleeping body / conscious mind' theory - they also seem pretty typical of SP hallucinations experienced by other people.

The first happened about 15 years ago when I was suffering a very nasty bout of gastroenteritis.
I 'woke' in bed in a state of SP to find a little creature sitting cross-legged on top of the TV watching me . . . yes, I know that sounds insane
The 'creature' for want of a better word was about a foot tall, completely naked with leathery skin and vaguely reptilian in appearance.
If I had to equate it to something people would recognise I'd compare it to a Gremlin from the film of the same name, but it was altogether rounder and plumper and instead of the pointy ears it just had little holes in the sides of its head where ears should have been.
There was no sense of fear, or threat. Just complete curiosity about what I was seeing combined with the knowledge that it was an hallucination and if I wanted to I could think it out of existence just as easily as it had appeared. For its part it was just staring back at me mirroring the same curiosity that I felt.
I don't know how long this went on for, but it seemed a long time. Then my stomach decided to rebel about the half glass of water I'd drunk earlier and I snapped out of my state of paralysis to lunge for the sick bowl at the side of the bed (sorry for the mental image) . . . when I looked back it had gone so had that SP episode.

The second experience is probably the only one that's actually frightened me.
I had a confirmed case of swine flu in the 2009 UK outbreak and was dosing on the sofa pretty much totally incapacitated.
Again I half woke in a state of SP, this time to find a dark figure standing over me watching. There was a definite sense that it was a female figure and elderly, but her features were shaded under a hood so I couldn't make out the details with any real clarity.

Unlike every other SP experience I've had there was something ominous and very frightening about this particular hallucination.
And while normally I feel complete control during SP and know that I can wake out of it any time that I want to . . . this time, despite not liking what was happening I found my eyelids weighted closed and felt a complete lack of ability to influence or rewind what was going on.
There was a moment when she seemed to register that I was conscious and looking back at her, then she moved closer and started to reach her right hand out towards me.
The moment that I totally freaked out was when she actually touched me on the wrist. You see, instead of the very human, fleshy hand that I could see her touch me with, what I could actually feel was cold, bony and almost skeletal.
With that I jolted fully awake, heart pounding, cold sweat the lot . . . not the slow, controlled rise out of SP that I usually manage.

Despite what I've said about finding SP a pleasant experience, that particular one is an instance I NEVER want to have again.
And for the record, neither do I ever want to experience swine flu again !!!

Sexuality repeals anxiety too so maybe it could actualy turn SP into something nice.
See you in the next dreamy thread.

Last night my wife had an episode of sleep paralysis, She said she was sleeping around 12:30 /1am then woke up to different scents in the air. She asked if it was my mom. My mom passed several months back and I will write a story on that soon.
Anyways she saw a black figure come up to her as she laid in bed and I guess she said it was putting pressure on her chest and started choking her. She tried to scream for help and for me. When she broke free she said she went to me and that I was on the computer. Well she must have been in a dream state since she never came to me nor was I on the computer I was watching tv until 3am. The next morning she text me at work and told me about this event. I asked her why she didn't wake me up and tell me, but she thought she already talked with me. I told her she had a sleep paralysis event. My wife had no clue what sleep paralysis was. She never heard of it and once she started to read on it she realized it was exactly what she had. She said it was truly scary and would not wish this on anyone. She also realizes it was just a very vivid dream and things like talking with me never happened.

now if sleep paralysis is something more, I will be doing my best to destroy any presents that is not welcome in my home. Like I said I will tell my story soon.
Believe me, I'm an angry MF'r right now and I got a beef with this whole paranormal circus.

a reply to: QueenofSpades

Sleep paralysis can in fact coincide with hallucinations. Dreaming while awake. But sometimes dreams have a spiritual message. So can sleep paralysis.

Sleep paralysis can be induced by a number of pharmaceuticals.

Sleep paralysis can be linked to victims who unknowingly participated in psychological experimentation.

It can also be linked to military service.

It can also be linked to demonic contact.

I have personally been a victim of it. When I was younger, there was a time when it happened to me so much that I was afraid to go to sleep. At times it seemed like it was every time I dozed off. I can't know for certain what caused it. Never hallucinated with it, though. I can't even remember any auditory hallucinations, let alone physical. Just intense fear. It happened A LOT at some points in my youth.

Well, here's my two cents. As someone who, for years, has had a massive interest in studying sleep, dreams and their associated phenomena; and is also a heavily practiced and experienced lucid dreamer, I feel the record needs to be set straight on a few things relating to sleep paralysis.

Firstly, sleep paralysis happens to everybody. And it happens every single time you go to sleep. There are no individual 'victims' of sleep paralysis; though some people suffer regularly from experiencing lingering sleep paralysis when they wake up, and some people will have rare episodes of awakening whilst still in this state, most people will never consciously experience it. However, it still happens to them. I have to say to people who claim that this is related to alien visitation or demons, those creatures most be very busy if that were true!

If you practice lucid dreaming, you will no doubt become very familiar with the sleep paralysis state. In fact, the most powerful and best techniques for lucid dreaming involve passing from the waking state to the sleeping state without a loss of consciousness. This technique involves consciously entering sleep paralysis, and it is something that I myself have performed many times. This is, in fact, all the proof you need to demonstrate that this phenomena is indeed related to the brilliance of the human mind, and not extra-terrestrial in nature. Anyone can experience this state willingly if they know how, and are determined.

All the fear-mongering about sleep paralysis doesn't help at all in letting people cope with it. It's just the same as in days of old when sleep paralysis was blamed on vampires, because there was little understanding of what it actually was. The fear comes from lack of understanding and panic. However, if you understand what sleep paralysis actually is, that it is perfectly normal and happens to you every single night (usually without you knowing), and that all of the hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations that you are experiencing are all in your mind and cannot physically hurt you in any way, then you will find yourself automatically in a much calmer, and more relaxed mind set. And once that happens, the hallucinations you have will, more often than not, also be much calmer, friendlier and more subdued. The reason most people have scary hallucinations is because of a combination of fear of the unknown and the fact that you cannot move; this is enough for almost anyone to panic if they do not understand what is happening, and therefore the experiences you have will echo your psychological state of mind. It is all about understanding and acceptance. As strange as it may be to believe, I actually enjoy sleep paralysis episodes, and due to a combined awareness of the subject and ability to remain calm, I almost never have fearsome hallucinations and have been able to use many of the experience as the building blocks for re-entering an amazing, peaceful dream.

Ultimately, it's all about understanding and changing what sleep paralysis means to you and your brain. If you fear it, then it is more than likely that you will have fearful experiences. But, if you embrace it and raise your understanding of what it is, then you will more than likely have good experiences.

the first time that I had sleep paralysis I had a very demonic experience in my dream too.

As weird as it seems, I was a female detective in the 1970s, almost EXACTLY like Farah Fawcett in Charlies angels. The entire dream, I was trting to track down the bad guy with my partner who was this gorgeous guy called Justin. Right at the end of the dream as I had the perp on the ground and hand cuffed, I looked up to my partner as said, "Oh my God, I cant believe we finally have caught him! Isnt this great?" - and he just kept staring at me with this horrible glare on his face - so I said his name, which I cant remember and then he morphed right infront of my eyes into this demonic form and slashed at my chest- it was then that I woke up and had the sleep paralysis.

originally posted by: samstone11
Unfortunately, I can say I have personally experienced sleep paralysis (SP) and it was, for me, a very frightening thing. I have recently seen more than a few posts here on ATS as well as on the internet where SP has been blamed for a lot of things. My questions are somewhat ambiguous because I'm not certain how to frame them, but I am curious how many of us have had the experience and are certain that was what occurred? Can we be sure? Does it often accompany a traumatic lucid dream? Has anyone ever had a positive SP? Is that possible? If SP is going to take the blame for so much of the realm of the unknown, I guess I should try to learn more about other people's experiences so I can form a more educated opinion as to how much I may or may not be willing to accept as the answer for specific occurrences.

Let me say I am quite hesitant to believe it can be as guilty as it is accused, but I would appreciate other's stories regarding what has happened to them as well as answers to some of my questions above.

Thanks for any input.

It's happen to me. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that SP happens quite often to lots of people. Don't worry too much about it. You get SP when your brain wakes up faster then the rest your body hence why you feel like you can't move, and the panicking feeling doesn't help either. Don't worry ain't a ghost attacking you.

Now when you have SP, but witness a apparition appearing in front of you while it happen then that's another story. If you fell back asleep after the apparition/SP experience, then it was probably a bad dream. But if you were So freaked out that you just saw/experience that you stayed awake the rest of the night, then maybe you got something supernatural here.

Ed Warren/demonlogist made a lot of sense when he said, " you know when someone is telling you a fake ghost story, when they tell you they fall back asleep after witnessing something like that, instead of staying awake." What he meant was, a normal sane person wouldn't just go back to sleep after an event like that, unless they were dreaming it up.

I've never had the real classic case of sleep paralysis, it's always been combined with shadows choking me and stuff, pretty gruesome.

Last week I had one. I was waking up from a dream and thought I was awake in bed (but another one than usual, didn't see that at first) when two really real hands were felt on my upper legs... That quite startled me, but I understood it had to be an identity and I did perceive a large shadow hovering over me. I wanted to say stuff to it but it choked me, I couldn't move of speak for a few moments.
Having experienced this before (and read quite a lot on dreams and occult sciences) I could set my fear aside and project some positivity on it and cease my strong desire to struggle. I managed to get hold (with hands and energy) on the entity. That combined with the positive energy I sent it, it transformed in a lesser demon of some sort. Quite recognizable as you would imagine it (gnarling teeth etc). It struggled in my hands like a wild cat when I took it to the window and cast it outwards where it immediately became air inside some small clothes and the wind took it away. I automatically chanted an 'aum' which was strongly reflected and enhanced by someone else outside some distance away, so I felt all was good.
Went back in the dream bed, went to sleep (I've experienced layered dreams like this so so many times) and woke up in my real bed/life, somewhat disturbed (duh) but happy how I'd handled it.

always down for a good SP thread. I first started being aware of SP when I was just entering college. i feel like i unlocked it so to speak. i was studying OBE's and was practicing a technique to induce them. i spent the better part of an afternoon working on it to no avail. however that same night I had my first episode of SP and man, what an experience. I was terrified, didn't go back to sleep and didn't sleep well the following night either. I've been experiencing them very regularly for the past 20+ years now, almost on a weekly basis, sometimes 4-5 nights a week and have gotten to a point where i can induce them. for the record, i see shadow people (not all the time), hear people laughing or talking, and sometimes its directed at me. its never been in a threatening manner, more like a look here he is, or hey...you! that's not to say it doesn't startle me, cause it usually does. i also, from time to time, experience that overwhelming fear yet sometimes its extremely tranquil (usually when I induce it on my own). i'm also now able to experience what i believe are OBE's. i'm still not very good at them, very short in duration but its pretty cool. I've researched SP sooooo much and can see both sides of the coin have merit when it comes to natural vs. supernatural. i lean toward the latter but i'll leave it at this: 2+2=4 but so does 3+1...

HOLD UP!

I used to self experiment with sleep paralysis and the result was being so aware of it when it did happen I was able to let go and lucid dream right after. Some of the best lucid dreams were brought out about this way.

How did I "experiment" with sleep paralysis? I studied up on it so much, induced it by sleeping terribly and letting the sleep paralysis go to the extremes. For example panicking as hard as possible vs. relaxing and letting the sleep paralysis dissipate mid dream.

I actually did write this to another dream subject but what the heck, I'll just copypaste it here because it's basically the same topic

I've been lucid dreaming all my life. Actually in my youth I was surprised that other people didn't either remember their dreams or wasn't able to control them. I'm able to even wake up intentionally if I'm having a troublesome dream "ok had enough of this nonsense"

But there's also more to this, sleep paralysis isn't fun. Loud banging crackle, like an explosion but implosion in my head. It's always horrifying even though I know that relaxing myself it stops faster but still. Sometimes I have a dream within a dream within a dream within… you'll get the point and that's not fun. Because they are so real you think you're awake in your own house but you're not and usually in lucid dreams like this there are these "shadow people". I'm actually quite amazed to hear that these black figures are worldwide phenomenon because I thought they're just boogies in my dreams.

I could go on and on about my dream world but it's such a large subject.

I forgot to add, for me, I get happy when it happens because i know that i can trigger the lucid dreaming right after.