Sleep paralysis

I see people open all kinds of unnecessary topics, so I'll try with this one.
For those of you that haven't yet heard: wiki. If you have a phobia from opening links: During sleep our body is in a way paralysed to prevent us from kicking ourselves or slamming our head into the edge of bed because of all the dreams and whatnot. So, in this state there's a possibility to wake up. If this happens then you'll experience one of the eeriest moments in your life.

Story time!
Last night I went to sleep late as usual and somehow couldn't fall asleep after reading some stuff. So there I was, lying on my back waiting for the blackout when in half-asleep state I 'woke' up only to realize I'm paralysed and unable to speak. I felt some presence in the room like someone was just standing there on the side. After few terrifying moments I tried to move and turn in bed but I couldn't. I thought I did move, only to realise a moment later that I'm back in my original position. I tried calling, but was unable. I even imagined myself turning on the light that is just over my head and watched into it but all was black like I was blind. I tried moving for what seemed to be several minutes, but nothing was happening, I was just lying paralysed and couldn't even move a finger. All this time I somehow knew what was happening because I was half-awake and this was second time that this happened. After first time this happened I read somewhere that to break paralysis you need to breathe deep and fast. I tried doing this through all this event and finally after some time broke the paralysis.
But, as this was second time happening I was somewhat prepared and it wasn't half as scary as when this thing happened first time. First time I imagined a presence in the room and even the lights in a hallway like someone of my family was walking by. I tried screaming and yelling to call but couldn't open my mouth to even utter a slightest sound. First time it was so real that in the morning I really wasn't sure if someone really did go through hallway, I think I even asked if someone was turning up the light that night.

There you have it. Did something similar ever happened to you? I've read that this can lead to lucid dreaming, but I'd rather not invoke this willingly (apparently it's quite easy) as it's just too creepy and eerie.

 

It is quite common in a state of sleep paralysis to experience a sensation like someone is in the room with you; even sitting on your chest as (as in the creepy Henry Fuseli picture on the wiki page you linked). All in all, it's completely normal and you shouldn't feel overly distressed; in fact I'd take solace in the fact that these occurrences have been happening for centuries and you're likely not going to become the latest star of a Paranormal Activity film.

As for me, I've experienced something similar in dream before and it was quite unusual. In my nightmare a human could move so fast that he literally vibrated through my walls and into my bedroom (impossible, I know); he was moving so fast that he was smeared out between several states like how you can't distinguish fan blades from each other whilst a fan is turned on. Nothing actually happening, I think it's the sheer unnerving impossibility that got at me. It's perhaps the most scared I can remember being in my entire life - I felt as if I was completely unable make a sound and helpless to act despite my distress, I'd imagine it was likely due to sleep paralysis. Other than that, frequently I'll start crying out and thrashing around unable to wake myself when having nightmares; fortunately enough I have someone else to rouse me from such occurrences.

 

It is actually something not uncommon to me, I've experienced at least twice, creepy nonetheless.
I think also Mexican folklore has a legend about it, that the spirits of the dead pay you some kind of over-night visit, and you can feel them but do nothing, no sound, no moves, just look and hear, we call it "When the dead get on you"
I love how even a sleep paralysis can be stuff for curious legends.

 

When Mexico replaces the "when the dead get on you" sleep paralysis myth with "when aliens gang probe you" sleep paralysis myth then you'll know it has become a first world country.

Also, schizophrenic paranoia of demons will be replaced by schizophrenic paranoia of satellites with mind-control beams.

Ain't civilisation grand?

PS - Yeah, I've experience sleep paralysis once or twice, and plenty of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is, without a doubt, the best video gaming experience possible, for a given value of how fucked up your subconscious is.

This topic reminds me of a book I once read, which describes some shamanic techniques for lucid dreaming. It made the point that even hardened atheists are often scared of devils and ghosts, much more than they are inspired by saints and angels. For someone who is comfortable exploring their own subconscious, it is obvious that most people have knots of childish superstition tied up below the surface.

Technology and secular culture does not an enlightened person make. Whatever your cosmology, you need to know yourself.

 

I ask you, who is the real enlightened man? Is it the mystic, with his meditative introspection and generations of inherited myth, or is it the Englishman, noble and proud, thrusting the torches of science and capitalism into the darkest corners of the world by way of a humongous fleet of industrialized weaponry?

 

My point is that it depends on the individual.

Also, thy mother.

 

And yours, of course, my very underestimated friend.

 

I used to get that all the time. I think that version of it is called a hypnagogic hallucination, and the other side is hypnamorphic.

The former happens when you're falling asleep, the latter happens while you wake up. I found out it's a symptom of narcolepsy if it happens all the time.

They can be terrifying, or amazing. Whatever the case, a human's only natural predator is their own mind. What else knows your darkest fears?

 

geez people, just don't go sleep TOTALLY DRUNKEN. drink some water, open/break the window n breathe some fresh ayre.
...or suffer shit like this.

 

You can go to sleep sober? Huh, who would have guessed.

 

Best way to prevent it is to not sleep on your back, which actually helps for sleeping while plastered. I might like how he set fire to a guitar on stage, but I don't feel like choking on vomit and in some way meeting Jimi Hendrix.

 

I had sleep paralysis once and I while I was best by a terrible sense of panic/fear, a feeling of dread that something horrible was nearby and the sensation that something was sitting on my back... I wasn't really afraid at all. I dispelled the fear very quickly by realizing that this was sleep paralysis and repeating to myself that,

1.) There is nothing in my room

2.) There is nothing on my back

3.) This sense of terror seems to have come from nowhere with no real origin

I laid there passively for a few moments (no real choice) and in less than 30 seconds it was all over.

It was an interesting experience, for sure.

 

Batman would be my guess. He seems to know a lot about fear.

 

I used to get this and a lot of a lucid dreaming as a child - twice a week or so. Once I hit 12, and started drinking, it subsided and my sleep pattern became more regulated - that being said with my recent bout of sobriety the episodes have returned to a degree, although not at the same severity or frequency. These days I am more likely not to sleep at all.

The hallucinations can be the most frightening part - I have been stabbed by an old woman, devoured by the devil (or rather, an impression thereof) and savaged by a goat creature amongst other things. The best advise I can give is to not panic -- accept that it is happening, even if it's not real, get it over with and wake up to get on with your day.