Lucid dreaming / Sleep paralysis

Hi all, I'm Dan and have just joined.

It's interesting to discover that lucid dreaming is quite an exclusive phenomena. I have been able to 'control' my dreams since I was a child and never really thought anything of it until a friend was recently telling me he was trying to experience lucid dreaming. I feel quite privileged now :)

However it's not all good. I suffer from sleep paralysis occasionally. On average about once a fortnight. It's quite terrifying and I'm now thinking that it might be connected to lucid dreaming? I would love to hear from any of you that have experienced SP and if there is any way it can be avoided in the future? All I know is after an SP occurence (or night terrors as I've been calling them) I can't get back to sleep for hours in fear it will happen again.

Help! Haha :)

Dan, a fellow dreamer

Sleep paralysis is quite common, I also get it occasionally nowadays since I started lucid dreaming, but it usually wears off me quite fast, one way to leave it is to try and move while imagining your climbing up a rope, or anything similiar to this, or you can hold your breath and this should wake your body up as you upset your natural breathing pattern, even better, is to turn it into a lucid dream by visualising being in a room and all the senses and you can enter into a dream lucidly like this, thise is a common method of attaining a Luid dream, anyway if you want to find out more just search sleep paralysis on here, there'll probably be some useful stuff.

Thankyou very much for the advice, I'll see what happens the next time SP decides to kick in :)

A lucid dreamer who's afraid of SP...That's like a skydiver with a fear of flying. Does not compute.

Lucid dreaming is not the issue. But saying that it's not something I have tried to achieve either, it just happens. I guess someone has to enjoy the sensation of being pinned to the bed completely powerless while freaky shit happens around them. Not for me but each to their own

It is easy to enter a lucid dream directly from sleep paralysis. You have to stay calm, which can be difficult if you are hallucinating something frightening. Instead of trying to force yourself to move or wake up, try to fall asleep. Imagine a scene, a recent memory, or a recent dream. Close your eyes if it helps, and imagine yourself being in the scene. Being in sleep paralysis is a lot like being in the final stages of a WILD. You just skipped to the end, where you need to enter a dream. Check out some of the WILD guides in the wiki, and you should get an idea of how to make the final transition.

Keep in mind that most of what you experience during sleep paralysis is a hallucination. You are already in a dream. You just need to change the dream to a different scene where you are not aware of your real (sleeping) body.

Thanks for that. The WILD tutorial was a big help. I'm still new to all of the terminology. It's just a case of staying calm and focused during the paralysis which is difficult as I always see and hear terrifying things. I'm gonna be brave the next time it happens and not fight it. Maybe it will improve lucidity?

Hey bluewolf, welcome to Dream Views! :D Check out this link, I hope it helps. The Comprehensive Guide to Sleep Paralysis

There are also various classes in the Dream Views Academy, if you're interested. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Have fun browsing the forums, and good luck! :banana:

I just experienced that strangest sleep paralysis this morning, I awoke with them most intense pain in my sternum, I seen a blue beam of light stretching from the ceiling to my chest, I was completely paralysed. I was freaking out and started praying, the light then went away and I was left wide awake and scarred to death laying in bed. I think I experienced the classic SP where you think you are getting abducted by an alien or something, now I know why people truely beleive it when they experience it, it felt real as hell, and my chest still hurts.

Thanks paigeyemps, I'll check out that link :) Sounds horrible brian. It's one of the worst things I have experienced. You should read through the tutorials as well, they are a big help!

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Originally Posted by brian39

I just experienced that strangest sleep paralysis this morning, I awoke with them most intense pain in my sternum,

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That's called acid reflux. It often happens if you eat something acidic the evening before going to bed (although it can happen any time). It often manifests during the night because when you're lying down there's less gravity keeping your stomach acid from going up your esophagus. It may also cause SP because the pain wakes you up prematurely.

In other words, NOT related to SP. Take a tums for gods sake.

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Originally Posted by brian39

I just experienced that strangest sleep paralysis this morning, I awoke with them most intense pain in my sternum, I seen a blue beam of light stretching from the ceiling to my chest, I was completely paralysed. I was freaking out and started praying, the light then went away and I was left wide awake and scarred to death laying in bed. I think I experienced the classic SP where you think you are getting abducted by an alien or something, now I know why people truely beleive it when they experience it, it felt real as hell, and my chest still hurts.

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So last night ( the night of September 5, 2012) my eyes shot open, I thought I was awake but for some reason I had an over whelming feeling of fear overcome me and I swore there was something touching me so I tried talking and saying "get off of me" but it was like my lips were glued together. So then I tried screaming for my mom (I'm 16 haha) and I couldn't so then I just layed there and prayed and told god i was sorry for being so bad latley (I just got busted for hanging out with my friends.. which is retarded.. but yeah my mom doesnt let me hang out with friends if they dont go to her church UGHHHH!! stupidity anyway....) and I was on the brink of crying and then it all went away. It lasted way longer then I was comfterable with. I'm glad I was in the living room and not my bedroom though because me and my friends have heared creepy things in my room anyway while we were wide awake and my mom has heared stuff with me in the middle of the day through out the house but she just ignores it because she doesn't want to be affraid of her own house. Oh and something else, My sternum really hurts!!! Which I find insain since I thought something was leaning over or laying on or sitting on my chest.. haha I just thought something was somehow putting pressure on it and now it hurts so I find that really creepy. ::?:eek: oh and I'm sorry but i dissagree with who ever said it was so flippin acid relux. Your sturnum is the bones in your chest smart one, they have nothing to do with acidic anything. I would know. :) thanks

I've had the same thing. Sleep paralysis, someone sitting on my chest. Terrible muscle pain from the strain of it. I hear it isn't too uncommon. Mine started before or maybe during going into a lucid dream. I literally felt all of my muscles tensing to the point where I couldn't move. I was laying on my stomach, and my muscles tensed to the point of lifting my legs up off of the bed. When my dream was settling in (not a good one) I could feel my muscles relaxing and my legs going back down onto the mattress. This used to happen often. The dreams were always horrible. On the flip side, I would have different experiences where I was completely relaxed and would have really awesome lucid dreams. Two completely different types of situations....both leading to lucid dreams. It isn't reflux. I would have this happen from WILDs. And unfortunately, I know what reflux feels like. Not the same at all. I was always sore as hell when I would wake up from one of these dreams. It feels like I'd just run a marathon or something.

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Originally Posted by bluewolf

I suffer from sleep paralysis occasionally. On average about once a fortnight. It's quite terrifying and I'm now thinking that it might be connected to lucid dreaming?

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You probably have Isolated Sleep Paralysis. It's just random SP at times when you're either waking up, or going to sleep, and it's not the same thing as REM Atonia like a lot of people say because it never happens during REM sleep. On average everyone will experience SP outside of REM once in their lives, but it wont happen to them several times a month unless they have ISP.

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Originally Posted by bluewolf

I would love to hear from any of you that have experienced SP and if there is any way it can be avoided in the future? All I know is after an SP occurence (or night terrors as I've been calling them) I can't get back to sleep for hours in fear it will happen again.

Help! Haha :)

Dan, a fellow dreamer

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First of all, Night Terrors, is something completely different on it's own. That's where someone jumps out of bed screaming for no reason what so ever, and they don't even remember what they were dreaming about...if they were dreaming to begin with. I get SP episodes every now and then because I have ISP. If you really want to curve the amount of episodes you have, I would suggest you lower your stress, stay off the caffeine, and get into a sleep routine where you wake up and go to sleep at the same exact time every day (including weekends).

Personally speaking, I don't try to avoid it, because it can lead to a free lucid. If you can manage to stay relaxed throughout the SP experience, you can enter a dream full on lucid. It's easier said than done, but with practice, you can guarantee yourself a couple of bonus lucids in addition to whatever regular techniques you may focus on. All you have to do is stay relaxed and realize everything that's going on isn't real, and that it'll be over soon. During that time, I like to picture a dream scene or a goal so it'll take my mind off of things, and give me something to do when it actually starts.

I like going to bed at 8:30 and waking at 1. It gives me free lucids.

I don't know if I've ever had sleep paralysis. Even if I did, I certainly don't remember having it. ._.

Not sure if this is the place to post this but the only time I'd get night paralysis was during so-called night terror episodes (I've had a few).

It would start off as a drilling/whistling sound in my right ear (the alien abductee thing) which was initially frightening and this was then followed by me waking up only to find myself completely unable to move which was the really frightening bit. This of course was a waking dream and when common sense kicked in very quickly I woke up for real. I'd then check to see how my ear was only to find the earplug(s) I use still in place of course!

Since being able to logically deduce I was in a dream whilst in a dream I've not had the paralysis fr several years now.

BF

(PS. Yep, I know I revived a year old thread).