Sleep Paralysis

[Osaid]

Sleep paralysis has been a topic of great interest to me. What exactly is it? I haven't encountered any spiritual teachers talking about the subject, I would love it if Leo made a video on sleep or something. But anyways, people who have sleep paralysis have reported seeing and encountering the exact same phenomenon within the paralysis worldwide, such as seeing "shadow beings." I have encountered one before, it looks like a human silhouette but very real and physical, like a person made of shadow. There is also another shared phenomena i experienced where i had another person's voice repeating exactly what I was thinking to myself in my head. Very trippy. It seems quite similar to a psychedelic trip to me, but much scarier and darker, and less random in terms of hallucinations (I have never had a psychedelic trip, i'm just going off of what I've heard about them). Anyways, I have become very good at dealing with it since i have experienced it around 20 times. I've learned to control it pretty well, so it doesn't bother me too much anymore. Why does it seem like the phenomena experienced in sleep paralysis is connected worldwide? Would be nice to get some insight on it, thanks.

 

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

Its when you are half in REM sleep and half awake. I have experienced it many times in the past, very frightening. Didn't see any entities but always felt like an evil presence. 

If its any coincidence, once my health habits and sleep hygiene improved, I stopped experiencing it. 

[Osaid]

@TrynaBeTurquoise Yea I've also felt that evil presence thing, it's like you can feel that there is some malicious being watching you. I noticed that i would pretty much always get sleep paralysis when i had a very irregular sleep schedule. I would sleep at around 6pm, wake up at 12pm, then sleep again at around 3am. This would pretty much always trigger it for me. (If you're wondering why my schedule was so weird, it was cause of school). But yeah, it is generally said to be caused by stress and bad sleep hygiene as you said.

[Lento]

I would say it's more related to stress and trauma that is stored in the body. I used to experience it on a daily basis in the past before I learned about meditation, healing, shadow work, and spirituality in general. I also used to live in a noisy environment (right next to a huge noisy engine room). It was hell. However, I've never experienced it probably for three consecutive years now. My sleeping schedule is messy but it's comfortable, I sleep whenever I feel tired and wake up whenever I've had enough sleep (I don't sleep much though, average 5-6 hours per 24 hours).

[Billy Shears]

I think I've experienced the same thing last night, I was suddenly awake but couldn't move my body. It lasted only for maybe thirty seconds but it was a terrifying feeling to be trapped inside my body without being able to move it. Fortunately I fell asleep immediately afterwards as far as I can remember. Still I'm not sure if I truly was awake or if it occured during a dream but it felt very real. I wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't found this thread here. Crazy...

[Osaid]

@Billy Shears Seems pretty accurate. You're lucky you didn't see any monsters or anything on top of being paralyzed.

[RickyBalboa]

I might be in the minority here. I had it happen a few times. Once I looked it up and was aware of the range of experiences and symptoms I could expect I no longer feared it. I would notice "oh, arms and legs are frozen". I'd very patiently start to try wiggling my toe, until I develop feeling in my body again. I'd keep going at it until i could move the rest of my  appendages. Once I could move again I would walk around and grab water or pee. Ever since I have been able to identify that I'm frozen and start hearing background voices or presences, I would know instantly what was happening and no longer feared the process. I think as long as you have a goal(in this case it's gently try and start moving without desperate urgency attached to it) in mind, you can calm down about what other things you are experiencing as you know it will end very shortly if you keep calm. That's just my experience though. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by RickyBalboa

[Osaid]

@RickyBalboa Yep, exactly. If you are scared or think about monsters then the monsters will become more prominent. That's how dreams usually work. It's still hard for me to stay completely calm after what I experienced, but just putting my best effort to move and thinking about happy and calming things is what almost always gets me out now. Also, make sure to always keep your eyes closed in sleep paralysis. Always. Sleep paralysis can also be used as a gateway for lucid dreaming (Keep your eyes closed, do your best to move and imagine any situation you want to get up and move towards).

[RickyBalboa]

 

@Osaid If the goal is to go from paralysis back to sleep then I'd agree eyes closed will lend itself to that. I had an interesting experience the other day where I went from dream into paralysis to noticing "oh thats not bull with claws on top of me, thats my fucking drapes I'm staring it" Apparently in my dream I was attacked by a bull that grew claws and started caressing my body aggressively, I sat there unknowingly with my eyes open for like 11 seconds, manipulating my rooms environment to match what was happening in my dream. I couldn't help but laugh after realizing what trick my mind played on me.

This was a very powerful moment that came with much implications about the mind. The idea that your brain can interpret a seemingly normal and familiar environment as something other than that is incredible. My black drapes became (as far as i knew) a bull wearing a black cloak. The reason it wasnt scary was because before I was even in sleep paralysis mode I had already accepted that the bull "got me" and I was gonna die. I just accepted death and whatever happened after that acceptance was just a bonus of "well, lets see what happens now". The letting go mindset has spread into so many aspects of my life now and I have really reaped the benefits. It's helped my psychedelic journeys, sleep paralysis, nightmares, everyday situations that used to frustrate me. etc. road traffic, injuries. 

[Osaid]

@RickyBalboa Its true that it is pretty hard to get up from sleep when you awake from sleep paralysis, but opening your eyes just leaves you vulnerable to all the visual stimuli which could (and usually always) appear. That bull thing is pretty interesting, I think I would be too scared to make that realization when there's a giant monster on top of me though. Maybe the monsters we see in sleep paralysis are strictly manifested by how we perceive the things in our room? Honestly that could explain shadow people, since everyone sleeps in the dark. That thing about hearing voices in our head and all the auditory illusions though, I have no idea.

[CMacD]

I've always get fairly mundane episodes of sleep paralysis once or twice a year. I think I'd usually have a mini dream or hallucination that my mom or someone is trying to wake me up, and I'm trying my hardest to move but there's just this kind of heavy tired feeling keeping me from doing so... or I just calmly realize I'm having sleep paralysis and wait for it to pass.

BUT one time about three years ago during a particularly depressive & stressful time in my life (maybe coincidental, maybe not) I had a more violent intrusive episode. I was taking a nap in the day and drifted off into a dream. In the dream I am pulling out of my driveway and on the first block as I drive away I notice a gorilla is raping/screwing a dog from behind... because I'm still all dream delerious I drive on for a minute, but then suddenly a bit of lucidity kicks into me and I'm like "there's not gorillas on the street in north America, what the fuck is this?" and as I look back I semi awaken from this dream...

only to be in a weird special version of sleep paralysis where every possible bad sensation in my torso is firing at once. I feel LOADS of adrenaline dumping in my chest, and my heart is clearly palpitating very very violently, I'm maybe even feeling chest pain. I am feeling extreme dizziness and pretty much every possible sensation that could hint to me that I am about to die. I can't say I saw a presence but I felt like I was being psychically attacked BADLY. It was actually the moment that I rationalized to myself that there's clearly nothing I can do to stop this and "it's going to be whatever it's going to be, if I'm about to die I might as well embrace and experience this" that it stopped.

[Osaid]

@CMacD I had short bursts of extreme heart palpitations when it came to dreaming but it was independent of sleep paralysis. Nothing other than that though, no chest pain or anything. Never really questioned it, weird thing is I didn't even see anything really scary but it seems my body perceived it as scary which is why the heart racing ensued. It almost felt like I was being sucked into the thing I was seeing? Not really sure what that's about. Also, whenever this happens the dream stops and fades away.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Osaid

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

@Osaid Yeah I think cannabis has triggered it as well in the past. The hypnogogia from wake to sleep is enhanced under cannabis for me and I could actually sometimes feel my body starting to become paralyzed as it was coming on. I got too afraid last time it happened and tried to avoid it, now I think this would be an interesting opportunity to explore that state of consciousness if I muster up the courage to do so. 

[Osaid]

@TrynaBeTurquoise I never get them anymore, but i'm kinda glad since it can be so scary.

[Gnosis]

There's nothing scary about sleep paralysis.

It's a perfectly normal and necessary function of the body-mind.

 

On 2/22/2020 at 1:10 AM, Osaid said:

What exactly is it?

A naturally occurring state of consciousness you're usually unconscious or dreaming during.

The specific state you're referring to lies somewhere between the dreaming state and the waking state; it is neither the lucid dream state nor the waking state.

 

On 2/22/2020 at 1:10 AM, Osaid said:

i had another person's voice repeating exactly what I was thinking to myself in my head.

There is no 'another person' here. In this state of consciousness, verbal 'inner dialogue' thoughts do not arise in the same way as in the waking state. In this particular state of consciousness, thoughts arise as audible voices.

Another observation from experience is sometimes 'visual stretching' can occur in your visual field when you try to look in different directions in this state of consciousness.

Almost all 'beings' experienced in this state are entirely hallucinatory, and your perception of the state as unpleasant or frightening is also entirely illusory.

When I experience this state I find it very interesting and enjoyable.

It can be enjoyable and not frightening in the least. (Just make sure you're not also dreaming at the same time, in which case, your mind will contextualize and hallucinate your experience in the dream-context. This is a complex topic; I'm giving an overview.)

It also happens to be the precursor state to an out-of-body state.

Hopefully I'm not casting pearls before swine. Some of what I wrote here are careful observations I've painstaking done for myself and not found written anywhere.

I can go through and analyze and break down every single account of sleep paralysis in this thread and explicate what exactly is happening, but frankly, what would be the point. I've already been clear enough.

[Osaid]

@Gnosis Thanks for all this information. Kinda crazy how our brains can create random voices we've never heard before and make them speak to us, but I think I'll believe your explanation since it was basically just an inner monologue, just in someone else's voice and more creepy (it echoed itself when it spoke). I think perhaps the reason sleep paralysis has gained such a negative connotation is because you are paralyzed when it happens, so almost always people are already scared as soon as they experience it, which then creates scary illusions. I am aware the beings are "hallucinatory", but they feel completely real, which is why it's so hard to not be scared. It's hard for me to imagine sleep paralysis as pleasant, as soon as i get in there it just feels frightening. Maybe that's just my body's automatic response now. I've learned how to use it in order to create lucid dreams, but since i'm always too scared to open my eyes, I've never experimented with going into an out-of-body state. Also you're right about this information not being written anywhere, I never thought I would get some of this stuff elaborated on. So thanks again.

[Gnosis]

@Osaid You're very welcome!

For me the voices during transition into and out of REM often sounds like many many drowned out voices talking in a very large hall.

It took a while for me to make the connection that the audible voices precisely were the way 'thought' manifested in this state of consciousness, as opposed to the waking state 'inner dialogue'.

I noticed that I was actually incapable of having 'inner dialogue' in this state of consciousness, and that whenever there was the non-manifest 'intention'/'thought' for 'inner dialogue', it would manifest as an audible voice.

The mind is truly interesting! 

 

Also, you're actually not totally paralyzed in this state of consciousness, although your movement is quite limited.

You can, for example, easily turn your imaginary head (and possibly experience that 'visual stretching' I described).

If you try to get up, you're most likely to move into a lucid dream.

 

Some energetic activity which can feel like being inside a starting car engine usually has to occur for the state to lead to an out-of-body experience (this is talked about a lot in astral projection and out-of-body circles as 'the vibrations').

I'm almost certain that some of the cases in this thread where there are descriptions of strong heart palpitations, this was what was occurring.

That said, I have very limited experience with out-of-body experiences.

[Osaid]

@Gnosis That's true that you can move your head, never really noticed that. In fact I don't think I could notice much of this since I'm usually in such a panic, I'm just good at knowing how to escape lol. For me, the voice started out as very clear, like my inner monologue was completely replaced by someone else's voice, then as it kept talking the voice duplicated itself and started drowning itself out and it created a sort of echo effect. I guess the main question now is why do we lose our inner monologue during sleep paralysis? Now that I think of it, for all dreams its pretty similar. I don't recall having inner monologues during dreams. If you think of something bad during a dream, something bad will appear, and vice versa. Perhaps its something about our state of consciousness that doesn't allow us to have coherent thoughts and internal monologue? That would be my guess, because in dreams logic seems to be thrown out the window. I've had dreams where I ran around cutting people with a knife and I didn't think anything of it.

[Gnosis]

6 hours ago, Osaid said:

For me, the voice started out as very clear, like my inner monologue was completely replaced by someone else's voice, then as it kept talking the voice duplicated itself and started drowning itself out and it created a sort of echo effect.

This is very intriguing and seems to line up perfectly with my experience.

I suspect that this is exactly the way it happens when transitioning into REM, even though it's very difficult to experience the whole transition consciously like you've described.

Usually, you catch yourself having slipped a little into sleep and hear a 'thought' as an audible voice, and before you know it, if you're lucky, you manage to spontaneously gain consciousness again having sunk deeper, and by this time the voices have already become multiplied, drowned out and echoed.

On the other hand, when transitioning out of REM into the waking state, I find that the voices don't congeal back into one voice, but rather just fade out. In this case, I have had experiences of the whole transition, which is considerably shorter and easier to observe.

It most definitely has to do with transitioning into a dreaming state of consciousness, where 'thoughts' and contents of the subconscious become manifest and tangible.

What strikes me as interesting though, is that I never experience quite as 'crisp' of auditory perception in dreams or even lucid dreams as I do in the transition state and out-of-body state. Dreams for me seem to be very visual field and emotional body focused.

[Osaid]

@Gnosis Sleep paralysis is essentially like being awake, but unable to move, so I think makes sense for the stimuli to be clearer or more realistic. In your dreams you are much deeper in sleep and consequently more unconscious, so the experiences are more muddled.