Lucid dreams & sleep paralysis

[Julian]

I remember we had a few topics on lucid dreaming a long while back, so I decided to start another.

Anyway, recently, I've been having a weird experience, where I realize that I am dreaming, and when I try to take over and do something, I wake up in this sort of paralyzed state where I can't move for a few seconds, and my entire body is feeling this sensation that's sort of like, when you have ants on your feet, but over my entire body. It's a really awkward feeling, and not pleasant at all.

It kind of freaks me out, and I was gonna ask if anyone else on here has ever experienced this, or to find out more about it, but a quick google search pointed me towards sleep paralysis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

That pretty much sums it up for me, except that I don't think it ever lasted more than 1-2 seconds, and there were never any demons or anything >_>

Looking back, I think this only happens when I decide to take a quick nap or something, and I'll doze off but not be fully asleep, which almost always leads to this parlysis when I wake up.

Anyway, just curious if other people experience something similar? I was going to ask if I should be worried, but it seems normal and common enough. Also, any tips on controlling lucid dreams so that this doesn't happen?

[Shade]

It's not really anything to be worried about... your body gets paralyzed so that while you're sleeping and dreaming about flying and jumping and running around, you... don't. What happened to you is that you got caught halfway. Body immobilized but mind still awake.

When I used to try and lucid dream on purpose, the best time was early morning or a nap... you do the bulk of your dreaming at the end of your sleep cycle. So I would doze until I got that buzzing sensation, and then kind of like.. pull myself out, into a dream. It sounds like the reverse is happening to you, though? Where you are already dreaming and then you "wake up" to sleep paralysis? I dunno about eliminating it, aside from not napping. For me, that half state was an integral part of the lucid dreaming process.

[Moss]

Dude, I get it all the time. Like you say, it is usually when I am napping or if I am on a really messed up sleep cycle. It scared the shit out of me first time it ever happened(they say it is accompanied with a feeling of terror, but I have only had that feeling twice among the hundreds of times it has happened). Now it just gets annoying because I just keep "waking up" when I am a split second from falling asleep, and I can't move for what seems like up to 10 seconds at times.

I have also heard if your cycle is messed up, you continue where you left off. That would mean dreaming as soon as you fall asleep to nap, which I have noticed to be true.

[Saga]

But have you seen any...

SHADOW PEOPLE?

[dejet]

it is called a night terror, Iv had it happen to me a few times in my life(mostly when I was a kid, but it did happen a year or so back too.) it use to freak me out, but after it happened a few times I sorta got use to it.

Mine would end with a feeling of someone being over me and I could not move,talk or anything. In the end I would end up just going back to sleep(tho you may very well wake up)

Saga you might have been joking around, but its not rare for a night terror to have a feeling of a *shadow person*

[Saga]

I was partially joking, I remember people talking about shadow people from other sleep paralysis threads and figured it would be brought up sooner or later.

[Woozie]

One time I had this while sleeping at work. I had mastered the art of waking up whenever my boss came around. But on this occasion, when I woke up I was paralyzed so I still looked asleep and I knew my boss was coming.

Also, I've had this hundreds of times when I wasn't asleep. It was something that happened to me every night when I was younger, but only happens to me one night every few months now. When it happens, it usually happens when I first wake up in the middle of the night and keeps reoccurring when I try to go back to sleep.

A few months ago I must have been having a really weird dream right before it happened, because when I woke up paralyzed, I was convinced that "Neckbeard the Pirate" was after me. I could hear his footsteps and could sense his presence just outside my window. The next morning when I woke up and thought about what happened I busted out laughing so hard.

Edit: It's actually somewhat common to feel like someone or something is nearby and is after you when this happens, but I don't know where "Neckbeard the Pirate" came from.

Edit 2: I just googled it, and Neckbeard the pirate is a real (fictional) character. I don't remember ever having heard of him before. I probably saw it somewhere and just don't remember it.

[Valkrish]

I've had night terrors happen.. very rarely though.

Sucks to have that presence right above you, either next to you or directly hovering where you are sleeping... not a damn thing you can do about it.

[bynie]

This is all nonsense. It's quite obvious that we're dealing with ghosts here.

[Kaylia]

Any of you are dreaming at the 3rd person? I think I'm playing too many game...

[TSFFXI]

You have to go deeper!

[Zounder]

This used to happen to me a lot as well, hasn't happened in awhile, but I was told it was normal, as people have previously described in this thread.

[Kerberoz]

I had about a year or so where I'd get sleep paralysis, then it went away. Shadow people were common if it was at dusk/dawn. Never been able to intentionally lucid dream, although I never put much effort into it. The "spin in circles to stay lucid" thing seems to work when I have them randomly. Lucid dreams always have fucked-up skies, and electronics/clocks never work correctly. Keeping a dream journal seems to help with long-term recall. Melatonin makes dreams more vivid/improves recall, but also fucks up your circadian rhythm.

[Moss]

Interesting, never heard of the spinning in circles thing. I usually go with the "rub hands together" technique.

[bynie]

http://www.erowid.org/

The Mind & Spirit Vaults have some fun things to read up about. Sadly I have never had a lucid dream, nor sleep paralysis. Can't even remember my dreams most nights. Blame it on the weed.

[Xno Kappa]

You want to have sex with your mother.

[Lee]

I've had my fair share of demonic whispers in my ear during paralysis. It sucks. BAD.

[Haxx]

I never had sleep paralysis but I used to have insomnia, I'd be up 2-3days and down 18hours-ish. I lived on sodas/coffee and fast food. Anyways, went to a doc and got ambien. Don't ever drink when you take that. I fucking time traveled like the guy from Hero's. I woke up to my wife screaming at me, looking around I noticed I was naked and holding my dick. Then I heard the sound of running water but it wasn't water, I was taking a pee on our dresser in the bedroom. Fuck me. Latter changing my diet fixed everything and I no longer needed the sleeping med.

Also, any tips on controlling lucid dreams so that this doesn't happen?

Maybe try eating healthier and cutting out caffeine

[Moss]

Sadly I have never had a lucid dream

Seriously? You have never been aware during a dream that you were dreaming? I would say half of the dreams I remember are lucid.

Wake-initiated lucid dreams (WILD)


The wake-initiated lucid dream occurs when "the sleeper enters REM sleep with unbroken self-awareness directly from the waking state".[30] There are many techniques aimed at entering a WILD. The key to these techniques is recognizing the hypnagogic stage, which is within the border of being awake and being asleep. If a person is successful in staying aware while this stage occurs, that person will eventually enter the dream state while being fully aware that it is a dream.

There are key times when this state is best entered. While success at normal bedtime after having been awake all day is difficult, it is relatively easy after sleeping for 3–7 hours or in the afternoon during a nap. Techniques for inducing WILDs abound. Dreamers may count, envision themselves climbing or descending stairs, chant to themselves, control their breathing, count their breaths to keep their thoughts from drifting, concentrate on relaxing their body from their toes to their head, or allow images to flow through their "mind's eye" and envision themselves jumping into the image to maintain concentration and keep their mind awake, while still being calm enough to let their bodies sleep.

During the actual transition into the dream state, dreamers are likely to experience sleep paralysis, including rapid vibrations,[20] a sequence of loud sounds, and a feeling of twirling into another state of body awareness, or of "drifting off into another dimension", or like passing the interface between water into air, face front, body first, or the gradual sharpening and becoming "real" of images or scenes they are thinking of and trying to visualize gradually, which they can actually "see", instead of the indefinite sensations they feel when trying to imagine something while wide awake.

I am so trying this next time. I usually notice myself in the hypnagogic state, but it is accompanied with a super loud buzzing noise so I give up and try to wake up. I am kind of afraid I will somehow get stuck in a dream or inside my own mind or something.

[Sqwunk]

http://www.erowid.org/

The Mind & Spirit Vaults have some fun things to read up about. Sadly I have never had a lucid dream, nor sleep paralysis. Can't even remember my dreams most nights. Blame it on the weed.

I haven't ever had a lucid dream either. I have dreams where shit gets seriously fucked up, and I thought it had to be fake, but i didn't want to do anything to try proving it otherwise, because who knows it could be fuckin real. Obviously I realize it was a dream when I wake up, usually those ones are the ones that I remember. I wouldn't call them lucid though because I am not in control, in fact I kinda feel like I'm powerless to do what I'm envisioning, sometimes it's really me, sometimes idk i could be seeing through someone else's eyes in the dream so that's why I have no control. I have no idea, it's actually really frustrating, and I've wanted to have a lucid dream where I could just control everything that was happening and do whatever I wanted.

On the topic of weed however, I tend to get really messed up dreams. The other night I went to bed pretty baked and I had a dream that myself and my 2 best friends were hanging out and one of them decided we should all cut out hands off with axes. I refused to do it because I was kinda aware that it was a dream, but wasn't 100% sure, so I didn't want to risk it. Even after one of my friends did it, I was still thinking that it could be real still.

Idk, I'm wicked jealous of people that say they have lucid dreams and can control whats happening. Sounds like a really good time to me.

I'm curious what the spinning in circles and rubbing your hands thing is. Is that supposed to be if you wake up from a lucid dream or a dream that you are at least aware is a dream, then you do one of those activities and it sets your brain back into the mode or something?