Sleep paralysis...personal experience

Dear good people of ATS

this topic has already been discussed in many thread but since they r all dead or have turned into a discussion of science vs spirituality ending up with people accusing each other of suffering from crippling psychological illnesses or stupidity, I have been forced to open a new thread. Fresh Start!!

EXPERIENCE:
earlier this month I experienced a sleep paralysis (after like 7 years) and felt a "presence". I couldn't get up but was able to wave my arms in the air. after struggling to get up I realized there was an entity near my feet so I tried to grab it and felt "its" mouth. my fingers felt a wet sensation and I started tugging at the jaw. then woke up.

the sleep paralysis I had 7 years ago, I couldn't move at all but turned my neck around to see a demonic/beastly claw on my neck and that's when I woke up.

few days ago I had a weird dream. I saw an old college mate and we were driving together and the jeep broke down in the rain and in the next scene I was sleeping on my bed and had a dream (within a dream) and saw myself getting sleep paralysis but was able to crawl out of my bed. I felt a negative presence and was frightened. I couldn't move my right arm and couldn't breathe properly but I crawled out of my bed towards the switch board, turned on the light and opened the door to get help. then I woke up (still in dream). and later I actually woke up from my sleep because the phone rang.


BACKGROUND:
im a religious person (A liberal Muslim) and I keep saying my prayers and recite Surahs from Quran. Sometime ago I started this third eye opening meditation but had a negative experience within just a few days for which I sought out help from members here and almost everyone asked me to quit, which I did.

also I have started to hear this ringing, beep while in sleep state... like when im waking up. it doesn't occur regularly but it has a few times. once in my sleep/dream state I thought I heard my fan so loud it started to hurt my ears and I put my hands on my ears. now I don't know if I was lucid dreaming or what... I heard that beep few days ago too while I was awake. it wasn't loud. very faint and hardly lasted a few seconds.



RECENT WEIRD UNEXPLAINABLE OCCURENCE:
my window broke.... it was slightly windy and it shattered completely. now weird thing is that the location of the window panel is such that the wind blows PARALLEL to it. but the entire panel fell in. I told my mom and she was confused too as to how the entire thing fell in and shattered. it wasn't even loose or anything otherwise i would have noticed it slipping out. I live in an apartment building. the window was located on top of my main door. it wasn't an "outside" window for the wind to blow too strong against it. funnily the windows that the wind could have shattered are all perfectly fine.


QUESTION:
before delving into meditation, my "psychic" powers were as strong as that of a drunken amoeba's. ZILCH. now they are a teensy weensy bit above ZILCH.
As mentioned before that I was able to crawl out of my bed? was that my astral body moving around? I thought OOBE meant flying into the skies. why is my astral body handicapped? its like Joe Swanson from family guy. its not even handicapable, I really had to drag myself. only my one arm was working.


PS.. I wake up feeling so tired these days even if I have slept for 8+ hours. its like I haven't slept at all

Totally looking forward to your comments and thoughts.

There is a documentary called The Nightmare on the subject, if you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I believe it's on Netflix.

This is a subject that I have a personal interest in. Sleep paralysis sort of runs in the family - my grandmother experiences it 3 or 4 times a week, and her father at about the same rate, all their lives. My grandmother sleeps in a very peculiar way to try and mitigate the terror she experiences. She lays face down in her bed covered head to toe in her blankets. You won't catch her sleeping any other way.

In our culture (Newfoundland, Irish descent) the condition is referred to as 'the old hag,' and for my grandmother it manifests as what she describes as looking like a withered old woman sitting on top of her while she's frozen in place. The reason she sleeps face down is so that she doesn't see the old hag, just feel the pressure and the paralysis.

Calling out for Jesus has always ended sleep paralysis when I use to have it
Don't know if Muslims are allowed to do that

All this astral traveling and stuff, some say it's the occult

a reply to: Raggedyman

we muslims can only call out to God for help and not the Prophets or messengers. thing is I cant remember to... I get so panicky.


I don't understand the occult part. can you please further explain that.

a reply to: Monger

ok firstly your grandma is very brave to not have killed herself by now. I CANNOT IMAGINE how horrifying it must be for her to experience this frightening phenomenon with such regularity. brave woman!


I don't have a Netflix membership but I will search for it ...

Sleep paralysis is the first stage to having an OBE. I've meditated myself into sleep paralysis hundreds of times. It sounds like you are doing the same thing.

The ringing sound or beeb you are hearing happens to me too. This is all completely normal.

The most important thing you need to understand is that fear is the obstacle you must conquer. When you mediate yourself into these states of mind you are the creator of everything you experience. Your consciousness has power over every thing you see in those realities.

Meaning, if you are in a state of fear, your consciousness creates a scary situation for you. It creates the presence, or the paralysis, or the jeep breaking down, or your need to crawl. When you understand that you have complete power over the way you move, or what you see or experience, you won't be paralyzed, or handicap, or be afraid of the weird demon monster things, and you will be able to fly, or do literally anything you can imagine.

Also find your hindering beliefs like gravity has you stuck to the ground, and change them to I'm a balloon full of helium, or something to help you imagine flying.

As for the ringing in your ear, and the beeb, when i hear those things i realize i am entering the state consciousness necessary to have an OBE. you can consciously increase the sounds it will get very loud, at the same time your astral body usually feels like its vibrating, it could get very violent feeling and loud, but this isnt your physical body its happening to, do not be afraid it will end the experience. this is your astral body or soul or consciousness you are becoming conscious of. So if you keep increasing the sound and the vibration you will eventually pop out of your body, it really feels like you actually pop your soul out of your body. Don't be afraid or you will wake up in bed and have to start over.

Also , The more you meditate and practice the more you will notice psychic things happening. It's a really cool side effect. As for your window breaking, no idea, could just be coincidence.

Forgot to mention i don't think religion comes in to play in this very much. However belief is a huge part in what you manifest in these realities. Biggest part is don't be scared, so if your beliefs create fear in anyway I would try not to let them manifest anything you don't want to see, or experience.

a reply to: sapphireblue

My understanding from the limited digging I've done on the subject is that the Muslim belief around sleep paralysis has to so with visits by spirits/demons called djinn, which is where we get the English word genie.

I can see why, for a true believer, calling on a higher power, be it God as Christ, for Catholics the Holy Mother, or for Muslims God/Allah could help to get rid of the sleep paralysis. Belief is very powerful, putting aside whether these beings actually exist or not. Just simply believing has been shown to have a dramatic effect on brain function.

I tend to think that there's no right or wrong religion. I'm not a believer, but I'm also not the sort of person who thinks less of believers or thinks that religion causes more harm than good. I see the different religions as different roads that lead to the same place.

a reply to: sapphireblue

Haha, she's quite fire and brimstone religious so suicide is just about the ultimate wrong a person can do in her eyes. I very much doubt the idea has so much as crossed her mind.

Intelectually she knows that there's a reasonable physiological explanation for her old hag visits, but she comes from a place and time that was/is still quite superstitious - sincere belief in fairies and little/spirit folk isn't unheard of here.

a reply to: booyakasha


but I stopped meditating couple of months ago after I had a bad experience. I haven't been meditating and all this began to happen recently especially the ringing. hmmmm I would love to have a spiritual awakening but not attract any demonic entity. on my other thread about third eye opening, people had narrated such horror oozing incidents, I got pretty bummed out.

a reply to: Monger

still... grandma has some guts. it would drive me insane. few nightmares for a couple of days and I become cranky!

I had only 1 episode of sleep paralysis and it was when I went to sleep super tired and basically passed out. I saw a monster crash through my window and pounce on me and it felt very real. I couldn't move.

originally posted by: sapphireblue

why is my astral body handicapped? its like Joe Swanson from family guy. its not even handicapable, I really had to drag myself. only my one arm was working.

I call that the cerebral palsy stage

a reply to: sapphireblue
I don't think you know what sleep paralysis is.
I prayed to the telepathic alien UFO computer and asked for sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is like a awake dream where you feel, see, hear, taste, smell and touch everything. You can feel yourself moving, but you're still. If the tv is on you can often hear it in the background. basically awake experiencing something that isn't there while you can't move is sleep paralysis.

What you have sounds like dreams or sleepwalking.

To me it sounds like your home has some history and entities attached to it, and they are attempting to feed upon your energy in malicious ways. You might try having the place cleansed by calling someone and ask for advice. It doesn't have to clash with your religious beliefs to work out well. Just be open minded about getting rid of anything that is there, and ask a pro. You might be surprised at how many services cater to such things. Don't wait.

Sleep paralysis is euphoric I find .
I've had it about 30 years , I've seen the cloaked figure , ringing ears , heavy cheast ,2 aliens , and the flash of light .

And I've been probed ! All true .

originally posted by: NoCorruptionAllowed
To me it sounds like your home has some history and entities attached to it, and they are attempting to feed upon your energy in malicious ways. You might try having the place cleansed by calling someone and ask for advice. It doesn't have to clash with your religious beliefs to work out well. Just be open minded about getting rid of anything that is there, and ask a pro. You might be surprised at how many services cater to such things. Don't wait.

I've moved 4 times in 4 years and have had it in the 7 houses I've lived in

hey mate .

sleep paralysis is also called night terror . this is when you dream during REM part of sleep . normal dreams happen during NREM part of sleep . NREM sleep is more prominent during the first stages of sleep, thats why if you are waken up in the middle of the night, you;re more likely to remember your dream .

REM is mostly prominent at the last stages of sleep and near the time when you normally wake up (eg. dawn) . during REM, your body experiences paralysis which prevents situations like sleep walking . but during REM period, your brain is not only not sleep but also has heightened activity .

sometimes a dysfunction in transitioning between NREM and REM causes the brain to partially start up . you regain partial consciousness but only partial which lets your sleeping part of brain to play tricks on you .

its truly a TERROR . i've seen patients bursting into tears when explaining it . i understand what you experienced but visiting a doctor is absolutely needed if you want to be able to control it .

Dang, now that is worse than I thought. So then you might have something following you around obviously attached to you then. You still need someone who knows how to get rid of these things.

A Shaman might be a good idea to call. And spirits, if they are attached to you, don't care if your beliefs are the same as a shaman's or a priest, or whatever, they still often will be able to be dealt with in a number of ways. A physical medium or a shaman should have some good advice or even a remedy that will get rid of spirit attachments.

a reply to: Raggedyman

Calling out for Jesus has always ended sleep paralysis when I use to have it

Only because it brings the pre-frontal cortex of the brain online powerfully enough to override the tiny electrical storm in the temporal lobes.

It's just sleep paralysis.