Sleep Paralysis- Can't Do It

[CJC]

Hi Ive been trying to induce sleep paralysis for use in a WILD for appox. 2 months. havent done it yet OK so heres what i do- 1.sometimes sleep beforehand 2.do breathing relaxation techniques(work very well for me) 3.lay there eventually my arms go numb with only slight feeling left, sometimes none(not the case with legs). And this is where the question is..... I feel a wave of (for lack of less cheesy words) energy that engulfs my head and back strongly and less strongly in the rest. My hearing seems to be plugged for a second or two, also. I heard that in SP your hearing is reduced... This 'wave' causes my heart to beat heavily and my eyes to move wildly around and the wave receeds. Then the energizing feeling receeds because of this, and my hearing comes back. The longest this has ever lasted for me is about 5 seconds max. If found that the longer i can resist my eyes to move, the longer the 'energy' lasts, but it becomes too much to resist(its not a matter of self disciplin, it is more of reflex). Sooo...First, is this something that leads to SP or is it just something unique to me that doesn't really matter. Second, if it is the right direction to inducing SP, how can i stop my eyes from moving(and when i say moving i mean literally forcing into the farthest up position they can get. it would wake anyone up) Please i honestly have no idea what this is. I need someone to tell me "Yup thats right" or "No wtf is this shit" Well thanks in advance any advice is always appreciated P.S. ive almost literally read every internet article on inducing SP and still cant find shit that would help me

[Sivason]

Your eyes moving to the top most position is a pretty common thing in energy work. It sounds like basic HIs as far as the rest of it. I would say the wave of energy forcing your eyes up is normal and to just ride it out. Stay still after all this happens, WILDs often take almost an hour to 1.5 hours to work. I know that seems nuts, but it is worth the wait. If you think you have not reached SP because you try to move and can, you are messing up the whole process. SP keeps you from moving in response to your dream, but if you exurt will and force yourself to move, you will almost always be able to do it, thus breaking the SP and harming your WILD attempt.

[CJC]

Your eyes moving to the top most position is a pretty common thing in energy work. It sounds like basic HIs as far as the rest of it. what part of it is HI? Just to note i have rarely seen HI in the past two months of my attempt, and never noticed it before i knew about LDing. When i do think i see something, it is not like its actually there. I cant focus on it and they are VERY dim. Is this HI or just my imagination?

[Sivason]

what part of it is HI? Just to note i have rarely seen HI in the past two months of my attempt, and never noticed it before i knew about LDing. When i do think i see something, it is not like its actually there. I cant focus on it and they are VERY dim. Is this HI or just my imagination? HIs are your imagination, same thing. However as your body is mostly asleep your brain runs with it. You will not often be able to focus on them, but you actually should avoid trying to focus on them. I was refering to all of the weird stuff as HIs, even the wave feeling.

[dms111]

I feel a wave of (for lack of less cheesy words) energy that engulfs my head and back strongly and less strongly in the rest. My hearing seems to be plugged for a second or two, also. I heard that in SP your hearing is reduced... This 'wave' causes my heart to beat heavily and my eyes to move wildly around and the wave receeds. Then the energizing feeling receeds because of this, and my hearing comes back. The longest this has ever lasted for me is about 5 seconds max. If found that the longer i can resist my eyes to move, the longer the 'energy' lasts, but it becomes too much to resist(its not a matter of self disciplin, it is more of reflex). I've experienced those sensations that you've described. Those wild eyes, crazy heart beat and energy rush to the head. But they happened not during a WILD attempt but during a self induced trance. My guess is that you are focusing way to hard on trying to WILD and are inducing a sort of trance instead. These types of trances are much easier to induce before bed rather than after a WBTB. If you msitake it for progression towards SP it can create the illusion of WILDing being easier before bed. But you should always sleep for at least 4 - 8 hours before a WILD attempt. The only people that should try WILDing before bed are those that are already highly advanced and can WILD at will. Even then the only reason for doing it before bed is for the challenge. The quality of the dream won't be any better. During your WILD attempt are you constantly thinking about and looking for noticeable changes in your body? Things like numbness, tingling, etc. If you are, and focus on them when they appear, you can actually enhance the effects a great deal just by focusing. Every feeling that you described can be induced by focus alone. It might not be related to SP at all. When you are trying to WILD you are trying to stay aware. Awareness and focus are not the same thing. Just like your visual focus and peripheral vision(awareness) are not the same thing. I can't know exactly what you're experiencing so don't take what I said as absolute fact. Just think about it. And even if it isn't related to SP it is still a unique skill that can be used to great affect if you get more control over it. The mental discipline you gain will in turn be useful for WILDing.

[CJC]

So basically i should just wait and let it either pass or take over?

[Sivason]

So basically i should just wait and let it either pass or take over? If you react to it, it will interupt your WILD attempt. Just let it do its thing. The fact that it happens says you are getting pretty close.

[Phion]

I still don't understand why SP is in any way desirable.

[Sivason]

I still don't understand why SP is in any way desirable. SP keeps you from falling out of bed or punching your partner when you dream. People do not do WILD so they can SP. It is just what happens when you WILD, wether you know it or not. Since you are not supposed to test the SP, it should not matter one way or another, just stay still.

[CJC]

Thanks so much sivason youve been really helpful I had a wierd thing that happened this morning. I was attempting a WILD again and after 20 or so minutes it felt like someone poked me in the left of my chin which completely woke me up. bummer. Does that mean i was close? I mean that poke felt like it actually happened it was kinda wierd...

[dreamerJon23]

arms go numb (not the case with legs). wave of energy that engulfs my head and back strongly and less strongly in the rest. My hearing seems to be plugged for a second or two, also. ..my eyes to move wildly around and the wave receeds... hearing comes back. The longest this has ever lasted for me is about 5 seconds 1) is this something that leads to SP or is it just something unique to me that doesn't really matter.? 2) how can i stop my eyes from moving... up? Hi ThAtaInTmE (*uck copy paste) Welcome to DV's! 1) I've only heard a few accounts of that, I've experienced it as well. I thought surely it was the mind's appropriate final trigger into sleep, but no I startled upright. You could try sleeping longer before you WBTB, I usually do 6 hours sleep then try, there are less guards between passing into dreamfull sleep after that. 2) Eyes I wouldn't worry about. What comes to mind is keep them facing slightly up from directly forward, but idk, I've heard some crazy reverse blinking technique or something to get the eyes to relax.

[CJC]

Hi ThAtaInTmE (*uck copy paste) Welcome to DV's! thanks

[FlyingIceCream]

Trying to get sleep paralysis before taking a nap or having some kind of pre-sleep is an almost guarantee for failure. Please please please don't try to stay still for 2 hours to get sleep paralysis. No one deserves to sit through that for no reason! What works best for me is when I get around 5 hours of sleep the night before I attempt this. I'll take a nap around 5-6 pm, and i'll wake up NATURALLY (don't use an alarm. This has to do with REM cycles). Another thing to note about the nap is that you should be genuinely tired. Don't force the nap. When I wake up, i'll wait 2-4 hours and just go back to sleep like normal. You described a sensation in your ears during your attempt. However, its not the kind I get before I expect SP. Remember the noise you hear in your ears when you yawn? That's the sound of your eardrums relaxing. When I've primed myself for an SP experience, I will hear these sounds in waves every minute or so. It gradually gets louder. Eventually I will drift off to sleep and dream very lightly for a short period of time. Next I will have some kind of unpleasant thought that triggers SP. I don't usually feel pressure on my chest when this happens like a lot of people do. What happens to me is I hear the yawning sound constantly. I may hear voices and sounds at this time but that's no big deal. Once again, this is just your ears relaxing. I will just stay still from here until I'm dreaming. SP is an adventure and when you know what's happening to you it's not scary. I've never had a terrifying SP experience.

[CJC]

anyone else?

[RebelSeven]

Hmm.... As far as I am concerned what you are experiencing IS sleep paralysis. There are numerous possible experiences with SP but what you are describing is almost the the T what I experience myself when I successfully WILD. I get the feeling of energy on my head and back, and to a smaller extent my limbs (though I call it vibrations) My hearing is plugged, but then I most commonly hear high pitch electrical buzzing sounds. My breathing and heartbeat always increase to a scary level (though you should know this is NOT your actual body, this is a hallucination and your system is still working at a normal pace.) Everything I know and have read says that this is SP. I would say that you are incredibly close to achieving a WILD. Once I get to that part of SP these are different things I do to help push it over into a WILD: 1. Focus on the part of your forehead that is supposed to house your third eye. This keeps you from getting too wound up in the sensations of SP. (DMS says to focus on the feelings, but all my experience says this is a bad idea, you are just going to have to figure out what works for your body) 2. Focus on your vision, what can you SEE? Encourage your mind to show you the beginnings of what will eventually form your dream (This usually makes me see abstract shapes and lines and colors and by looking at them I lose connection with my body and the SP) 3. Have a phrase that you repeat in your head, a lot of people go with a MILD-like mantra, I prefer something more colorful, interesting to the mind, that may help form the dream. A snippet from a poem, the notes to a song, the scientific description of an animal. Whatever works for you. 4. BE PASSIVE. This can be applied to all the other hints too, it is difficult with your body telling you you are terrified and with all sorts of strange experiences pressing in on you, but this is probably the best single thing you can do. And next time this happens, if suddenly all the symptoms go away and you are just laying in bed frustrated please please please remember to RC! You might have succeeded and are actually laying in a dream bed with your dream body. You will likely feel incredibly lethargic and unwilling to try, but it would be a huge disappointment to have succeeded and be unaware of it.

[xdream]

I've heard that the feeling of SP is different for certain people, for me I hear and feel buzzing, other people say that it's just that they cannot move. In terms of inducing SP for WILD I'm the same as you though (I just lose feeling in my arms, sometimes feels like I'm floating).

[CJC]

Hmm.... As far as I am concerned what you are experiencing IS sleep paralysis. There are numerous possible experiences with SP but what you are describing is almost the the T what I experience myself when I successfully WILD. I get the feeling of energy on my head and back, and to a smaller extent my limbs (though I call it vibrations) My hearing is plugged, but then I most commonly hear high pitch electrical buzzing sounds. My breathing and heartbeat always increase to a scary level (though you should know this is NOT your actual body, this is a hallucination and your system is still working at a normal pace.) Everything I know and have read says that this is SP. I would say that you are incredibly close to achieving a WILD. Once I get to that part of SP these are different things I do to help push it over into a WILD: 1. Focus on the part of your forehead that is supposed to house your third eye. This keeps you from getting too wound up in the sensations of SP. (DMS says to focus on the feelings, but all my experience says this is a bad idea, you are just going to have to figure out what works for your body) 2. Focus on your vision, what can you SEE? Encourage your mind to show you the beginnings of what will eventually form your dream (This usually makes me see abstract shapes and lines and colors and by looking at them I lose connection with my body and the SP) 3. Have a phrase that you repeat in your head, a lot of people go with a MILD-like mantra, I prefer something more colorful, interesting to the mind, that may help form the dream. A snippet from a poem, the notes to a song, the scientific description of an animal. Whatever works for you. 4. BE PASSIVE. This can be applied to all the other hints too, it is difficult with your body telling you you are terrified and with all sorts of strange experiences pressing in on you, but this is probably the best single thing you can do. And next time this happens, if suddenly all the symptoms go away and you are just laying in bed frustrated please please please remember to RC! You might have succeeded and are actually laying in a dream bed with your dream body. You will likely feel incredibly lethargic and unwilling to try, but it would be a huge disappointment to have succeeded and be unaware of it. Thankyou very much for the advice. however i have a question thats been bugging me. when you enter SP, how aware of your body are you. seconds before the energy thing happens, i am still aware, looking at my eyelids, not immersed in thought. Is this right or do i need to go deeper? Also you said it was SP but i can always move....maybe ill try to move while the energy thing is happening. again though it only lasts a couple seconds

[Johnny87]

I get the same sorts of feelings myself. It feels like im really light headed, and then my ears sound like they do when you're in a plane and the air pressure changes. The part that seems to always mess me up is my heartbeat seems to get really loud, like its beating in my ears and the sound of it just freaks me out and i cant lay through it. I remember that happened once when i was really young, where i could hear a really loud heartbeat and i couldn't move no matter how hard i tried, so that's probably why it bothers me so much now when it does happen. Another thing i get sometimes is something almost like a loud pulse of energy or a sound that hits me in the head if im waking up after having been asleep and trying to go back to sleep. More like a Wbtb so to speak, its hard to explain, but ive always had it since i was young and i used to tell myself it was my body trying to keep me from going back to sleep. Its really odd, like a high pitched sound that comes out of nowhere and shocks you back to consciousness, and ive never seen anyone else describe getting something like that when they try to wild.

[RebelSeven]

Thankyou very much for the advice. however i have a question thats been bugging me. when you enter SP, how aware of your body are you. seconds before the energy thing happens, i am still aware, looking at my eyelids, not immersed in thought. Is this right or do i need to go deeper? When I am in the throes of SP I am very aware of my body and it's sensations. I think you have to be at this point, if you are too wrapped up in your own head, you just fall asleep instead of WILD. I don't think you need to go "deeper" by any means, like I said before, just getting to this level is quite the achievement, if you get here, you are doing things right. After you are in it though, there is the fine line (the real trick of WILDing) of letting go of your body, for favor of the dream. All the hints I gave in the other post are towards that end. Also you said it was SP but i can always move....maybe ill try to move while the energy thing is happening. again though it only lasts a couple seconds Yeah, I have tested this statement, and found that in every level of SP I could move my body if I tried, and this invariably dispelled the SP. I THINK this is the cardinal difference between Hynagogia (the experiences of SP while falling asleep) and Hypnopompia (the experiences of SP while waking up). While you are waking up, the SP is already set and difficult to throw off. However when falling asleep (as in the cases where the dreamer is trying to WILD) It's shallow and easier to overcome. I do not suggest testing this out yourself, there is nothing to learn and you could waste a valuable WILD opportunity (though, of course, I ignored the more experienced LDer who told me the same thing, and went and experimented for myself, for the first hand knowledge and experience) Best of luck!

[CJC]

When I am in the throes of SP I am very aware of my body and it's sensations. I think you have to be at this point, if you are too wrapped up in your own head, you just fall asleep instead of WILD. I don't think you need to go "deeper" by any means, like I said before, just getting to this level is quite the achievement, if you get here, you are doing things right. After you are in it though, there is the fine line (the real trick of WILDing) of letting go of your body, for favor of the dream. All the hints I gave in the other post are towards that end. Yeah, I have tested this statement, and found that in every level of SP I could move my body if I tried, and this invariably dispelled the SP. I THINK this is the cardinal difference between Hynagogia (the experiences of SP while falling asleep) and Hypnopompia (the experiences of SP while waking up). While you are waking up, the SP is already set and difficult to throw off. However when falling asleep (as in the cases where the dreamer is trying to WILD) It's shallow and easier to overcome. I do not suggest testing this out yourself, there is nothing to learn and you could waste a valuable WILD opportunity (though, of course, I ignored the more experienced LDer who told me the same thing, and went and experimented for myself, for the first hand knowledge and experience) Best of luck! Thanks! trust me wont ignore your advice. i value every single attempt. i have another question (i know...again) but is it true that once you are in SP you are already dreaming and in the dream, or is that not?

[RebelSeven]

Ask away There HAS to be a point where you tip over from waking to sleeping. When that actually happens is not easy to pin down, but the fact is everyone experiences remarkably similar sensations, that seems physiological, not psychological, and therefore it would make sense that it is not a dream, but genuine.