Was I in SP?

[tdm3732]

Ok, I have attempted to WILD 10+ times in these two weeks, but failed all of them. Until yesterday I did a WBTB and stayed awake for like 10 minutes to do a WILD attempt. Everything was normal, i was repeating my mantra "remember you are dreaming, remember the dream" I was feeling a little more numb this time, no HI or vibrations. But suddenly I heard a voice saying "sasha, sasha". I immediately opened my eyes and looked at my left to see if it was my father(because I am very scared of the things that people say happen in SP, although i have never experienced it) But he was asleep. although there were other people awake in the other room who could have said that. After That I called out who said sasha. There was no reply. Then I went to normal sleep thinking about who could have said sasha. The voice was very clear, it was damn clear and sounded incredibly real. The thing is that there is no "sasha" in Kurdish, which is my native language. Though I think I have heard that word in an anime Anyway I was expecting sounds in SP to be low and seem to be coming from a distance. But those words I heard was just like my father or any real person saying it quite loudly. So my question is, can it have been SP?

[gab]

Welcome to Dreamviews, tdm3732. It sounds like you were on the right path to a WILD. WBTB is crucial, because it wakes your mind up, so it doesn't fall asleep too quick into a unconcious sleep. It will stay awake, until a dream is ready for you and you are ready to fall asleep consciously. The feeling of numbness, or any other feeling you may/may not experience when WILDing, is a normal sign of you falling asleep. Same thing with any sounds you may/may not hear. In your case, someone calling our "sasha". I'm not gonna say it's common, but it does happen. But none of them are signs of SP. SP is a natural process, but it starts only after our body notices that we are asleep and we start to dream. It's a protective mechanism, so we don't act out our dream. So next time, when you hear sounds, or see any hallucinations, just stay calm. Observe them passively, don't get too excited. Stay with it and if all goes right, you could soon enter a dream while still consious. Here is a great WILD (sageous) tutorial. The whole proces is explained in great detail. And here is something about hallucinations (HH) and sensations, that may help you enter LD. http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ntry-wild.html Happy dreams

[splodeymissile]

Well, its technically called REM atonia, but, yes, you were. I think you may have jumped the gun slightly and, given a few more minutes, would have transitioned to the dream. HH can affect any of your senses and don't necessarily involve physical sensations. And don't fear HH. Its only scary if you believe it to be (even then, it can't actually harm you).

[gab]

SP or Rem atonia does not equal HH. We get into SP only after we start to dream. While hallucinations happen way before that. What do you experience during WILD attempts? Vibrations? Hypnagogia? Spinning? Floating? Dampened senses? Buzzing? All of those are characteristic of NREM sleep. A sense of dread, full-body paralysis, and open-eyed hallucinations are characteristic of conscious sleep paralysis. Numbness, tingling, a sense of discomfort, and difficulty of movement are characteristic of neither sleep paralysis or NREM. These are however characteristic of a self-induced trance state (aka self-hypnosis) brought about by relaxation, remaining still for a long time, and the belief that you are experiencing "sleep paralysis" and thus cannot move. Which would you say better matches your experience and definition of "SP"? Which would you say best matches the experiences and definitions of the wider LDing community? "SP" is already widely used as a non-standardized blanket term. Unfortunately, it encompasses more than it should, which sows confusion, misunderstanding, and misinformation. As a result, newbies waste hours of their lives trying to "reach SP." http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ml#post1937684

[splodeymissile]

Ah, sorry. Seems I'm a touch misinformed. Thanks for correcting me.

[gab]

Ah, sorry. Seems I'm a touch misinformed. Thanks for correcting me. No problem at all. SP with regards to WILDing is a huge misconception and it has been around for very long time. It's hard to change our thinking about it, especially when some tutorials and youtube videos still talk about it as a part of WILDing. That's why we here at DV try so hard to put this myth to rest. So many aspiring lucid dreamers spend frustrating hours getting into SP, only to later find out, that for someone not suffering with SP disorder, this is physically impossible. It all started with tutorials lumping ALL sensations into one bag labeled SP. Which is unfortunate. But let's hope that with new generation of lucid dreamers and people like yourself, we can dispell this disruptive myth and make it easier on everybody trying to lucid dream. So thank you for your understanding and for helping us in our battle

[tdm3732]

Thank you everyone! you guys mean it wasnt SP, but it was HH? If i stayed calm after that, would I have transitioned into a dream? Was I on the correct path? How close were I to the transition?

[Scionox]

Yeah, sounds like HH and normal sensations of falling asleep, and as gab said, SP is not related to lucid dreaming and it's not something to worry about, and hallucinations can't hurt you so there's no reason to be scared! But you were indeed on correct path with WBTB and mantra, and if you stayed calm maybe you could have entered dream, either way, keep practicing and if you experience vivid HH again you can try one of techniques from this thread to enter dream: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ntry-wild.html , just remember that waiting for HH or any sensations is not the target of WILD, you just need to fall asleep while keeping awareness and then enter the dream.

[Empedocles]

No problem at all. SP with regards to WILDing is a huge misconception and it has been around for very long time. It's hard to change our thinking about it, especially when some tutorials and youtube videos still talk about it as a part of WILDing. That's why we here at DV try so hard to put this myth to rest. So many aspiring lucid dreamers spend frustrating hours getting into SP, only to later find out, that for someone not suffering with SP disorder, this is physically impossible. This is true. SP is not required, and is even impossible to achieve for most people... however there are some people (like myself) who cannot WILD without SP. I have had frequent SP episodes even as a little kid, and later I learned how to use them to WILD. For me it's a blessing, because whenever I have SP, I easily enter a lucid dream. That's why I think it should be mentioned, definitely not as something necessary, but nonetheless as something very useful IF someone experiences it frequently. Now, to answer the original poster, usually if you ask "Did I experience SP?", you most likely didn't experience it. That's because SP is something so unique and unusual that you will know when you have it. It's the feeling of complete paralysis in the entire body.

[TranquilityTrip]

SP or Rem atonia does not equal HH. We get into SP only after we start to dream. While hallucinations happen way before that. http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ml#post1937684 Sleep Paralysis Symptoms, Treatment, and Causes "When Does Sleep Paralysis Usually Occur? Sleep paralysis usually occurs at one of two times. If it occurs while you are falling asleep, it's called hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis. If it happens as you are waking up, it's called hypnopompic or postdormital sleep paralysis.". Sleep Paralysis "What are the symptoms? A complaint of inability to move the trunk or limbs at sleep onset or upon awakening Presence of brief episodes of partial or complete skeletal muscle paralysis Episodes can be associated with hypnagogic hallucinations or dream-like mentation (act or use of the brain)" As you are more knowledgeable than me on sleep paralysis I must ask, are these websites wrong or am I misinterpreting what you are saying?

[gab]

Sleep Paralysis Symptoms, Treatment, and Causes "When Does Sleep Paralysis Usually Occur? Sleep paralysis usually occurs at one of two times. If it occurs while you are falling asleep, it's called hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis. If it happens as you are waking up, it's called hypnopompic or postdormital sleep paralysis.". Sleep Paralysis "What are the symptoms? A complaint of inability to move the trunk or limbs at sleep onset or upon awakening Presence of brief episodes of partial or complete skeletal muscle paralysis Episodes can be associated with hypnagogic hallucinations or dream-like mentation (act or use of the brain)" As you are more knowledgeable than me on sleep paralysis I must ask, are these websites wrong or am I misinterpreting what you are saying? You can have HH and Sleep paralysis at the same time. But it doesn't mean, that everytime you have HH, you are in SP. HH are normal hallucinations that happen as we are close to falling asleep. SP is a disorder, when something goes wrong and our body turns it on before we are dreaming, or fails to shut it down after we stop dreaming. Most often times people can feel like it would be hard to move, but if they tried, they could move. It's a normal thing when you are very relaxed. You lose track of your physical body, or you feel very light or heavy or anything in between. When you have SP, you truly can't move. You wake up, see your room, or you think you see your room, or you see some hallucinations. And you try to scream for help, but you can't, and you try to move your arms and legs, but it doesn't work. This sends most of the people into panic. And my theory on why we can see scary HH when in SP is, that when we get scared, HH that form are scary. Just as other times HH are influenced by our thoughts and feelings and anticipation.