Something I learned about Sleep paralysis

[LCA90]

what if your sleeping on something, lets say a couch or something, where its impossible to roll over

[Marloes]

great advice! very useful
I tried it tonight and it was the first time I experienced (partial) sleep paralysis! Now it's the question: how do I get from SP to lucid dreaming...

[joethfc]

[lucidityfreak]

[Marloes]

I lay on my back, my arms relaxed beside me. I wasn't able to look at a clock that time but I guess that after ten minutes of lying as relaxed as possible, you start to feel heavy, uncomfortable maybe. Normally, you would have rolled over. This feeling started in my feet and hands and I thought at first it was already SP. But after again 10-15 minutes I felt a new, stronger wave of tingling through my body, starting at my feet but spreading very fast to my head.

[lucidityfreak]

thank you for your reply dude..that is very useful

[June]

Interesting. Maybe this is why I expierence sleep paralysis a lot? I do not move in my sleep, so do not have the urge to roll over. I do sometimes have the urge to scratch though, and know at that moment that if I do, falling asleep will be delayed.

I never consciously try to enter sleep paralysis though, it seems unlikely to me that anyone would desire that state. But than again, I'm new here and I never knew that there were people actually TRYING to have lucid dreams. To me, lucidity was something that just happened. In some dreams, not all. I would sometimes go weeks without a lucid dream.

I have been using this technique since I was a child to fall asleep though. Lying as still as I possibly can, relaxing, and then you find your mind wandering and thoughts becoming more chaotic and I think: "I'm almost asleep now". Now, after I learned that it is possible to invoke a lucid dream yourself, I just concentrate on staying lucid during that near-to-sleep phase, and then indeed enter into a lucid dream. This is, I believe, what is called the WILD technique? Or very similar to it?

I was wondering though, if there are ways to get OUT of the paralysis. Usually I try to move wildly until I succeed, but that doesn't seem the best way. Sometimes sleep paralysis distorts my dreams as I dream I cannot move, or can only move very slowly, or similar expierences. Even when I'm lucid, I can at times not get rid of it. Also, I find it annoying to be paralyzed when I am trying to wake up, and sometimes I have unpleasant hallucinations (mostly hypnopompic rather than hypnagogic) that I cannot always control.

[Bredirish123]

I watched the same videos and have mixed feelings about it. With WILD you're supposed to completely relax and let the dream creation process take over while reminding yourself that you are still lucid. However, if you get these urges to roll over, scratch, or swallow you're supposed to ignore them even if they become painful. The problem with this though is if it starts to become annoyingly strong or even painful then you're obviously not relaxed enough to passively observe these sensations and continue a relaxation method. If you're mind and body isn't relaxed you get no paralysis.

So the root of the problem isn't these urges and simply forcing yourself to ignore them; but more or less that you need to relax more. I've found that with the trouble of my eyes moving so much it's hard to keep them still or even my eyelids shut stems from lack of complete relaxation. So I did what Tim suggests in his Adv. LD series and just passively observe sensations, thoughts, sights, and emotions; and to my surprise my eyes settled down and the urges I had dissipated. If you fight with your body it's going to fight back and you're going to lose, so I don't suggest waiting out the urges but more or less relax more and focus on relaxation. In fact don't even put the thought of these urges in your mind before or during a WILD attempt, you'll just subconsciously set yourself up to have them.

I hope this advice helps some, I'm yet to have a successful WILD or even full SP but I have experience in furthering my relaxation by following Tim's meditation techniques. Since I'm on the topic of sleep paralysis I'd like to ask what it feels like other than the general "lead blanket or being pinned down description" is there a more basic description? So far I've felt almost disconnected from my limbs (mainly my feet/legs), however; if I wanted to move at any time I could. As for hypnogogic imagery the sensations I get are very mild, the occasional white flash that is so dim I sometimes doubt if I saw anything. The most I've gotten was a very faded wormhole effect where it seemed like faded colors were pulsating but again so faded I had my doubts. Eventually the effect stops even though I passively view them and set my intention on relaxing further. So after about 10 minutes of not seeing anymore "HI (Hypnogogic Imagery" I give up because I feel the attempt has failed; I perform various reality checks and come to the conclusion I'm not dreaming and go to sleep.