Sleep Paralysis

What happens when you experience this?

What happens is I can't move, due to the anxiety attack it's also extremely hard for me to breath. When this occurs your body is awake but your brain is still asleep and dreaming (having nightmates/nightterrors) and sometimes the dream can continue right in front of you until your brain wakes up.

This is very interesting, I have never heard it explained this way before!

you sure it a dream and not a veil lifted?

That is a big possibility too, if so, it happens often and has throughout my life. I am a high-sensitive empath so that could be a factor.

I think it falls along more of those lines as opposed to sleep paralysis

My sleep paralysis started like a decade ago in the summer time. I left the TV on and my body went to sleep but my mind was awake. My lord was it pretty scary. I couldn't make a sound and it was between dreaming and wakefulness. Sleep paralysis, some people say is linked to astral projection or lucid dreaming.

I got this everynight when i was little. I still do but less often. 

I just recently started having these kind of dreams where I cant move and feel like I'm choking or cant breath its scares the crap out of me and feels so real

I grew up suffering from this, first experience was when I was about 6 or 7 all the way until my mid 20's. I realized that how I felt during the day had a lot to do with how bad it was at night, I realized that by fearing it was only feeding it. After my 3rd near death experience I became way more spiritual and picked my path, the path of light, the path of the yin yang and since then it stopped. I still remember the immobilizing feeling, I also noticed that during the episode I could move my eyes and I managed to move my fingers a bit, I created a cross with my index and thumb while paralyzed and that helped a bit. Many blessings and I hope everything is well with you 🙏💜

When I was a teenager I used to suffer from this a lot. 

I used to A LOT about a decade ago. I'd like to chalk it up to being in an uncomfortable sleeping situation. If you can afford it? I'd recommend a new bed. If not? I'd recommend getting some melatonin WITH CBD in it. Take it, make sure you have 8 hours of sleep available, and stop looking at your phone or any screens giving blue light 30 minutes before bed. If you can't find time to do it at least try to commit to it for like a week? Minimum 5 days? Sleep is mad important even if you have to take the melatonin with cbd in it. 

I'm not entirely sure if this qualifies as sleep paralysis, but sometimes, right as I'm drifting off to sleep, my mind will somehow become aware of it. When that happens, my panic instincts kick in and I start fighting to become conscious again. It's like I'm swimming through really thick layers of sleep to get enough control over my body to the point I can move my limbs and open my eyes. It's freaky as hell.

I used to have episodes of sleep paralysis occasionally, but not as often as that...and I haven't had them in a while. I suppose it would help if you at least try to fall asleep in what feels like a "defensible" position (especially if sleep paralysis comes with half-dreams), or to put something in your line of vision that helps you feel safe and comfortable. For me, it was my parent's friend's painting of a seashore that hung in my room. 

I've heard that, if you're in the middle of a sleep paralysis episode that you don't want to be in...because there are some people who've said that they actually enjoy the experience because it's odd and interesting, so it doesn't bother them too much because they know it goes away...then trying to move a finger or a toe, or breathing as hard as you can, should wake you up. I don't know how to prevent it, sadly...adding or cutting out melatonin? Adding or cutting out caffeine? Adding or cutting out foods that are high in tryptophan? Blackout curtains because light cues from even artificial lights can mess with the circadian rhythm? 

I had my first experience with it when I was around 19 and living at my nan's house. I saw a man come into the room and then he tried to strangle me. I'm putting it down to going through a stressful time. 

It used to happen when I was a teen but now I only experience it once or twice a year.  The past few times i've had it I dream that someone has broken into my front door and then comes into my house and then I wake up (but not really) and the person walks through my bedroom door.  I'm paralyzed and I try to scream but I can't.  The person will slowly stab me or strangle me or something not good until I can wake the rest of the way up and then I fly out of bed swinging my fists at air.  Usually it's a big guy in a heavy coat but last time it was a thin older woman that seemed to be tweaking out.  She shredded the door with claws and then she wanted to rip me apart while I was in bed.  No fun at all.  I recorded a telling of a couple other instances for youtube and if you want to watch that, you can find the link here. 

Thankfully, I haven't had sleep paralysis in a while. My first episode of sleep paralysis came in 2006. I couldn't move, talk and felt like I couldn't breathe. I tried as hard as I could to yell out for help but couldn't get a word to come out of my mouth.

sounds terrifying,

I've struggled with sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember, I get it nearly every night. I used to complain to my family about it a lot and since non of them experienced it (until my dad did recently for the first time) they told me I was just having a nightmare and that it was only a dream, and I believed this for a while until around a year ago. I was at my girlfriend's house when I woke up in the middle of the night unable to move, and she had rolled over on top of me, and I couldn't do anything but wiggle my fingers and groan a lot while blinking which eventually woke her up, and she ended up getting freaked out that my eyes were open but I couldn't talk or move, so she shook me super hard which broke the paralysis. Now we have a whole procedure when she wakes up to my eyes wide open and me going "mrmrmrmrmrmrmrmrr" which doesn't involve violently shaking me out of fear 

I used to have sleep paralysis every single night. I am 20 and i still get it sometimes. In a way it happens less….but its gotten worse. I used to be able to break out of it. You have to start by wiggling something small like a finger, then your hand and so forth. But now no matter what i do its like every time i get it now i just am in another dream and it happens on loop.

It's called "hagging" and it's quite common.

I have sleep paralysis regularly, it got worse in 2016. I find the things that trigger it are a combination of cold temperatures and sleeping on my back. I'm also a deeply anxious person, but I find it not to trigger my sleep paralysis. Everyone is affected by sleep paralysis differently so don't look at my experience as the end all be all.

I remember several times that it happened to me, I was between 5-6 years old and I remember that I could not move, only my eyes, there was an incredible noise, as if my whole family was screaming and gasping as they run around the house as if they were in a hurry and I remember seeing shadows without a defined shape all over my room, which I felt were watching me
It was so scary to me DX It haven't ocurried since that nights

I've suffered SP an array of times in my life. 

last time I had a sleep paralysis was wen I was probably 4 years old... it was scary, I coulden't move at all. I slept with my parents when I got that sleep paralysis so it wasn't that traumatizing.

realmente solo me a pasado una vez, pero yo desde antes ya estaba consiente en que eso me iba a pasar algún día y que no tenia escapatoria, así que ya estaba preparada mentalmente. el día que me paso era aproximadamente las 12 de la noche y lo ultimo que estaba pensando antes que durmiera era que alguien entraba a mi casa con un machete, cuando me dormí empecé a escuchar como un molino de viento, y luego en mi cabeza surgió la imagen de un alienígena, pero estaba todo negro, me quería despertar pero no podía, sentía adormecido todo mi cuerpo, cuando pude pararme salí corriendo hacia el cuarto de mis padres , pero no pude evitar llorar...

i dont really suffer regularly, atleast not anymore.

I also had sleep paralysis some years ago and it was a bit traumatic, but I’m getting over it. You basically cant move and experience weird stuff happening around or above you while you are falling asleep/waking up. It happened to me mostly in the middle of the night and I felt like I had no voice to scream for help. I didn’t know this was a thing until I looked it up on the web and that calmed me a bit ^^

ive experienced sleep paralysis multiple times. definitely not as frequent. but when it does happen i am fs in the most stressed state. i believe melatonin made it worse for me.

balls

I used to frequently get them as a kid and it’s been a while now tho I still get like one a year or something. It’s kinda stressful but fun in a way ig XD

I suffered from sleep paralysis almost daily for 3 years, i had one few days ago, it got so part to the point where i called out for jesus and I'm atheist lol

My sleep paralysis has been going on for a few weeks; with no explanation on why.

The way how it works, I usually wake up at a really early time, let's say, 2-4 AM.

I have a night lamp beside me so it's quite bright (I'm terrified of the dark due to constant paranoia I also experience) and then when I go back to bed, then it happens.

When I think of something, which for some reason automatically happens, it feels like first person as if it's actually happening. Then I feel a tingling sensation, and I freeze. I can't physically move and if I do, it hurts. It's difficult to breathe and everything is slowly pixelating and darkening.

It feels like my body is being dragged to the dream or whatever I was thinking, and sometimes during this phase I hallucinate. I could hear laughter and voices, and they were happening the whole time until I get the courage to actually try and move.

And this disturbs my sleep so damn much. Sleep paralysis doesn't always happen after seeing extremely bright light for a good amount of time, but it happens after when I have nightmares too.

Sleep paralysis is really claustrophobic to me, and fortunately, it's starting to wear off but not at the same time. 

I hope you feel better soon, here for you. <3

I had sleep paralysis for the first time about 2 months ago. I remember I was dreaming about walking to the bathroom in my apartment and seeing a shadow behind the curtain and then I woke up in bed but couldn't exactly move. All I could do is look around. I looked over to my door that was open and I saw this humanoid demonic looking thing on all fours that was as still as a statue and had the biggest smile on its face. I couldn't scream or talk or do anything. It felt so real!

Call out to Jesus when that happens. It happens to me a few times and each time saying the name of Jesus even when I was barely able to speak made it instantly go away.

Not sure if this counts as sleep paralysis

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Ive had multiple occasions of "waking up" but being frozen in my bed because i told the people in my dream that i knew i was dreaming. I would be walking around with people from my dream and say "hey im dreaming" or sumn like that. Everyone in my dream would turn their head towards me and just stare with a dead face. An extremely high ptched ringing noise would happen and it would be so painful that I would "wake up." But when I would wake up, I would open my eyes and see my room, but im frozen and can still hear the painful ringing. It would last for about 30 more seconds while I sit there frozen to my bed and I can only start moving after the ringing stops.

I've experience this before it usually happens when i sleep late it's like ur mind is awake but ur body is still deep in sleep the thing u have to do is just to overcome what is wrong and if u want to wake yourself up u have to learn to be calm

i used to get night terrors but now thankfully only the occasional sleep paralysis. sometimes i've found that it's possible to strongarm the event into being just barely tolerable by repeating nonsense in my head (gibberish, pretending to try and seduce the subject of my terror) until i find a way to wake up (in my case wiggling my toes aggressively.)

of course that's only if you're still semi-lucid while paralyzed, ridiculous mental gymnastics are kind of impossible when your mind is overrun with panic. i wish you best of luck in your sleeping endeavors :p

hey, longtime sleep paralysis experiencer here.

i used to have clusters where i'd have an episode 2-4 times per week for stretches of a month or more. for a couple weeks i'd sleep normally and then it would start happening again. i used to hallucinate vividly, experiencing all manner of physical and social torments, trapped in distorted, surreal hellscapes. this went on from around the time i was ten until my late twenties (i am currently 36).

i eventually learned to persist in the state without panicking, to rouse myself from it, to directly engage and defeat my "sleep paralysis demon", and with time and great effort to address and correct enough of the underlying issues that i now experience it very rarely.

i have attempted to outline my methods below in a sort of survival guide, though all of this takes a degree of practice and commitment. and with all things so personal to one's own psyche, your mileage may vary.

CHAPTER 1 - coping with the state:

1. DON'T PANIC - this is hard, i know. the state itself is physically uncomfortable, you feel you can't breathe, you feel restrained, and everything in you wants to panic - and on top of that you may or may not have a fear eater leering over you in one horrific guise or another. keep your head. try to remember what is happening.

2. WIGGLE - start with extremities. toes work best for me, others report success wiggling their fingers. my first time i just said fuckit and went for broke on both and found toe-wiggling reliably snapped me out of the state within 10 or so seconds pretty reliably. it feels like *forever* but push through. once you get your method down just knowing you have this ability makes 1 much easier.

CHAPTER TWO - defeating the demon with applied woo-woo:

3. LEARN TO FEEL YOUR AURA - it doesn't matter if you believe in woo-woo energy and chakras and astral planes and so on. this is just an abstract tool available to any mind. feel free to rationalize these techniques any way you wish, or even ignore and skip this portion.

3.1 SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP - sit or lay comfortably, close your eyes and relax your body. performing a progressive relaxation technique at this point is extremely conducive to our ends here, there are myriad versions of this available in all woo-woo, wellness, and mental health corners of the internet.

3.2 JUST BREATHE - simply sit or lay there and OBSERVE your breathing. do not breathe manually, simply observe the breath as it rises and falls. your goal here is to quiet the mind, not halt it in its tracks. having a single thought, or even a train of though is not failure; simply gently guide your attention back to the breath. over many sessions it will become easier to achieve stillness.

3.2.1 HEY, THAT'S MEDITATION. I CAN'T MEDITATE! - yes you can, there is no way to fail. throw out this notion that you must stop thinking entirely, that's ultra-high-level 12-D galaxy-brain zen master shit. be forgiving to yourself, and persist. if you sat quietly and attempted to become still, you meditated. good job.

3.3 DON'T FALL ASLEEP - at a point when you become still this way, you will sort of "feel" your consciousness "sink" a bit, the way it does when you start to doze off and dream images first start to become visible. this is the hypnogogic state, a half-awake half-asleep state of consciousness technically not so dissimilar from sleep paralysis but a heck of a lot cleaner and more comfortable.

3.4 FEEL THE FORCE - we're doing star wars metaphors now i decided. become aware of one of your hands. don't move it, just put your attention on it. feel it as part of you. now try to feel it *inside of the skin*. when you have this sensation, try to feel just one of your fingers inside of the skin. reduce the area of your attention to a single point at the tip of your finger. play with this, moving the single point of attention about and through the body until you are comfortable focusing your attention in this way.

3.5 USE THE FORCE - once you are, it is time to direct this point of consciousness *outside* of the body. you should find that you are able to sense a sort of "field" with more or less distinct "edges" extending a short distance from your body. experiment with broadening and narrowing your point of attention in this field. experiment with changing its shape: expanding, contracting, becoming "spikey", etc.

3.5 GIT 'IM - the next time you are in the sleep paralysis state and the "demon" is coming to "get" you, DON'T PANIC! remember, in this state you have access to THE FORCE just like you did in the hypnogogic state! feel for that field, reach out with it and GRAB THE BASTARD. it will immediately drop the frightening illusions and scramble like a trapped animal, if released (which i advise) it should quickly depart.

CHAPTER THREE - ending the torment

4. THIS WHOLE SECTION COULD PROBABLY BE REPLACED WITH "GO TO THERAPY" - but sadly as many are not privileged enough for proper mental health care some applied shadow work can suffice in a pinch. if you have access please dear god go to therapy and take your meds.

4.1 WATCH YOURSELF - try to be conscious of ideas, situations, and stimuli in your day to day life that seem to prompt a strong emotional response from you. it can be difficult to remain so conscious in these moments but as with all the tech in this guide it is a matter of practice and application. simply make a habit of mentally noting to yourself when you feel an emotional reaction bubbling up.

4.2 CHECK YOURSELF - once you're ready, start taking those things you've noticed and ask yourself, why did that make me angry, or sad, or anxious, or ashamed? why do i have these feelings toward this idea? where did this come from, what is it attached to? it is helpful to sit with these things, turn them over and examine them even if they are uncomfortable to think about at first. if you have a friend who is a good listener and can keep their mouth shut, that can be invaluable.

4.3 (COR)REKT YOURSELF - this is the most difficult step of this little guide. many of the things you'll discover in 4.2 are things like broken relationship dynamics, deep personal traumas, even toxic ideas and perspectives that you hold deeply. some of these can be addressed and resolved with external actions, such as mending (or severing) ties with someone important, moving into a better living situation, finding a less toxic workplace, etc. many of them will be internal, and those will nearly all hinge on applying the noticing skills you honed in 4.1, and *actively choosing* to carry out a more desirable behavior instead. in my case many drastic life changes were in order.

5. OH YEAH, CHECK UP ON YOUR PHYSICAL HEALTH TOO - check your caffeine and junk food intake. make sure you have fresh vegetables in your diet. get a blood panel done and see if you have any nutritional deficiencies to correct. make sure you're getting out of the house and getting regular exercise, even if it's just going for a daily walk. i *highly* recommend taking up a daily stretching routine to whatever extent you are physically capable of doing safely.