I'm afraid to go back to sleep. Someone please help me understand what the hell just happened!

reply to post by Erowynn


hey i guess i read through your post because i have experienced somewhat similiar of an occurence, though i've never been dragged against my will while astrally projecting, i have had astral projections in my sleep and i have been slammed onto my back once and paralyzed as you mentioned.

i also kept reading because you made the point that you thought possibly your concious focus on fear itself is what enabled or enacted the event to happen, then you tried to think about love.

personally i find that revelation true but i think your solution might have deviated from exactly where i would go.

i had read a simple technique once, can't remember where or when, that was when a person was undergoing any psychonaut like activity, or was about to go to sleep ( if the person had reoccuring nightmares or events like you described ) right before sleep there would be a passing meditation or time to think about one's self wearing a golden armor that was strong and ready for any enemy, along with a sword.

i think the point here and whatnot is pretty clear so i'll leave it there.

keep dreaming whatever you do, having this experience is not really rare, but it is also an opportunity to face your inner parts of yourself, subconcious, your fears, etc....

peace
indigo

It seems the subconscious mind is always trying to solve problems in our individual lives. It also seems that when we sleep, often the things we've experienced recently combine with the thoughts within our subconscious mind and as we sleep these thoughts play out in an abstract way. So literally sometimes the things you think about during the day play out in your mind at night while you sleep. Even things that others say to you can work thier way into our dreams.

For instance, my mother once said to me "have you ever had a dream where you were flying?" That night I had a dream that I was flying over a sunny field of tall grasses and flowers. I noticed a huge tree and next to it on the old dirt road was a school bus filled with children stopped and letting off some of the kids. I flew along past the kids smiling and laughing. It was really a neat dream and I woke up happy and excited.

I'm not a bible thumper, but I do think there's nothing wrong with believing in a higher power. When in need, I've cried out to Jesus to save me before and he always has. Whether you're a religious person or not, we've all heard of him and we all know him as a loving caring person who would help us in a time of great need. I think it's great to be able to trust someone completely who we all know would do the right thing for us when we need it the most - even in a dream. So smile and know you are protected, loved and have wonderful, beautiful dreams from now on. You can control your dreams and even fly in them.

I'm not Christian, and was not raised with religion. I've had that particular dream since I was a child. I've been paralyzed, pulled up walls, across ceilings and floors and thrown through tables. I've even had the entity get inside my body with me. Other times, I'd be thrown out of my body, flying over a sidewalk in my neighborhood. I had mostly these dreams in my childhood. I woke up screaming every time I went to sleep since I was a year old. That's my claim to fame in my family. Awful, isn't it?

Someone told me to call on Christ for protection to end the dream. I laughed at them, because Christ was like Santa to me. I didn't believe. But, it worked. I still do not believe in organized religion or books like the Bible. I do believe in the Christ who saves me in my bed at night. It may work for you too. I didn't believe. I was just proving her (person who gave me the advice) wrong, in my mind, when I called on Christ. No faith required, it seems.

I had something similar happen to me a few nights back, although it was all confined to a dream. A strong evil force took hold of me and started moving me around the room and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't move and my voice did not work. I thought of the words "love" and "peace" and tried as hard as I could to immerse myself in those emotions. Luckily it worked and the feelings of distress/despair began to lift rapidly.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, I recommend either thinking of the phrase "Jesus, please help me! In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave!" (this technique DOES work - coming from an agnostic) or concentrating on the emotion of love and peace. It can be very hard to do when you are so distressed, but it does work in most cases.

Originally posted by ignant


theres LOTS of dark energy / evil surfacing and manifesting in this world.

alot of this is being projected by others. and/or, they are draining our positive energy.

when this happens, and the dark entity is threatening literally to take my soul during a sleep paralysis episode,

PRAYING is the only thing that stops the episode as soon as possible. i used to talk/reason with the entity but that just feeds it energy, you have to cast it away and regain your conscious spirit by calling upon our higher power, our Creator.

the entity like all entities, must answer to our Creator and doesnt like being reminded of that

by the way, it lives, tbrives, breeds upon FEAR. so, fear not my child!

sweet dreams dear.

This is your answer...Also burn sage and get some holy water and rebuke the evil in your home threw the blood of Christ..Say the Lord rebuke you over and over again....

i had "night terrors" once... changed my sleeping pattern forever.

I woke up, well i thought i did... and saw down the hallway a man with glasses, sharpening a large butchers knife on one of those leather blade honing things.

from that night on, i cannot sleep with the bedroom door wide open.

to this day, gives me the utter creeps.

Sleep paralysis is a medical condition. Don't mix it up with the paranormal. Get good medical help. In the mean while, be as relaxed as you can be during the day because sleep paralysis is often caused by being stressed.

And get natural sedatives or the good ol'tranquilizer (which don't have to be addictive that is if you take say a few miligrammes, but of course under the supervision of a doctor).

Yes I have experienced it and no it ain't funny.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Morgenstern89
I never suggested that shadow people are not real. I simply stated that, in most cases, hypnagogic hallucinations are the cause of these scary images and sensations during a sleep paralysis episode. A benign and common occurrence. While it is possible that the OP experienced something supernatural, it is entirely unnecessary to jump on the Demon bandwagon as some have. Especially when the event is so similar to other peoples sleep paralysis experiences. Not everything that is scary has to be linked to demons or other entities.

I don't think good entities would stoop to causing paralysis or pulling us out of ourselves. Good entities would not take advantage of us in our most vulnerable state.

And what precipitates a hypnagogic hallucination? We go to bed in the usual manner, we fall asleep in the usual manner and this happens after we are asleep, not just simply before we sleep.

Among the more commonly reported,[24][25] and more thoroughly researched, sensory features of hypnagogia are phosphenes which can manifest as seemingly random speckles, lines or geometrical patterns, including form constants, or as figurative (representational) images. They may be monochromatic or richly colored, still or moving, flat or three-dimensional (offering an impression of perspective). Imagery representing movement through tunnels of light is also reported. Individual images are typically fleeting and given to very rapid changes. They are said to differ from dreams proper in that hypnagogic imagery is usually static and lacking in narrative content,[17] although others understand the state rather as a gradual transition from hypnagogia to fragmentary dreams,[26] i.e., from simple "eigenlicht" to whole imagined scenes. Hypnagogia can be induced with a Dreamachine,[27] which uses light pulsing at a frequency close to that of alpha waves to create this effect. Descriptions of exceptionally vivid and elaborate hypnagogic visuals can be found in the work of Marie-Jean-Léon, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys.

I have never experienced actually seeing whatever was causing it, and I certainly have never experienced anything so richly vivid. I did say in my previous post that what was seen was by someone else, not me.

I did hear a sound once, a crash in my house, that woke me up. I got up to investigate the sound and it as a good thing I did because my house was on fire. At that time, there was nothing that would have made the sound but it was enough to wake me up, otherwise I would have died.

Well i'm not a christian and i don't dispute that Jesus was a brilliant man - so if this works for people then all the better. I think thinking of anything positive can snap you out of it, so think happy thoughts and try not to fear it.

I'm on the fence, whenever i have SP it always feels like i'm inbetween states - although this is probably just my stressed consciousness experiencing a bit of an overload. I also heard that when you dream, you release certain endorphins and other such chemicals, and maybe it's those chemicals which cause us to dream?

So maybe our brains are in a slower alpha state but are still 'conscious' of our surroundings, unable to fully latch on to sleep but half awake and experiencing the same effects as dreaming?

Either way, they can be pretty odd experiences. I've mentioned mine a few times on ATS in other threads, but i will say sometimes SP can lead to very lucid dreams and such.

I hasten to add, sleep is usually associated with delta brainwaves, so it's funny that the post above me mentioned alpha waves creating similar experiences, maybe that's the key?

Originally posted by WarminIndy

Originally posted by Morgenstern89
I never suggested that shadow people are not real. I simply stated that, in most cases, hypnagogic hallucinations are the cause of these scary images and sensations during a sleep paralysis episode. A benign and common occurrence. While it is possible that the OP experienced something supernatural, it is entirely unnecessary to jump on the Demon bandwagon as some have. Especially when the event is so similar to other peoples sleep paralysis experiences. Not everything that is scary has to be linked to demons or other entities.

I don't think good entities would stoop to causing paralysis or pulling us out of ourselves. Good entities would not take advantage of us in our most vulnerable state.

The point I was trying to make was that in all likelihood it wasn't any kind of entity, good or evil, just the typical symptoms of sleep paralysis.

Originally posted by Erowynn
I'm in near tears right now. I'm beyond confused, a little angry, and oh so very tired but I'm afraid to go back to sleep. I don't know what to think. I woke up a short while ago with a bout of sleep paralysis. It's not a new phenomenon for me and I've written a little about it in another thread, here. This time left me particularly shook. So I was laying there paralyzed, staring at the wall, and suddenly I feel this energy behind me. I couldn't see what it was but it grabbed me from behind and dragged me across the room. I don't mean my physical body because moments later I was back in my bed still paralyzed, but my spirit body. It felt very very real and I was screaming in my head "NO! NO! NO!" the whole time.

Now here is the thing that gets me. I'm back in my bed after being dragged, scared sh**less. I can still feel this being behind me. I get the idea that maybe, just maybe, if I don't act fearful I won't experience fearful things. Well, I try to express love instead of fear. Not the easiest thing to do given the situation but I try anyway. When I do I experience a VERY, VERY pronounced shift in energy unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It was an intense physical sensation. My entire body felt like pins and needles, like being in an encasing static cloud. It was nearly painful and not pleasant at all. Still now I can feel this feeling slightly, most significantly in my hands and legs. When I stopped expressing love the sensation stopped. I briefly experimented with other emotions to see what effects they produced, but there really was none.

I don't know what to think. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Can anyone fill me in on what might have just happened? I thought love was a good thing...I know it is, so why such an unsettling energetic reaction? I just don't understand and that's the most frustrating thing about this whole situation.

Sometimes love hurts? Are you in a relationship or one you've turned your back on? The times I experienced SP involved what I was going through at the time. Also, do you cover up your feelings or feel disturbed by your own thoughts and feelings of how you feel about others.You strike me as a very considerate person.

Sleep paralysis is intense stuff. It's not fun at all. However, I remember reading something a while back (pretty sure it was on ATS, but I searched and found nothing, so who knows) about a particular method for relieving one's self of sleep paralysis. I tried this out the last two times I had SP- twice in one night- and it worked like a charm. In fact, I haven't had a case of SP since (knock on wood). Now, I feel obligated to emphasize that this method was someone else's idea, and I don't quite remember how they figured this out, but I'll do my best to explain. And if anybody has a link to the original post (on ATS or otherwise), please let me know, as I'd love to read it again. It goes like this:

You're falling asleep, and then, BAM. Sleep paralysis. You're overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. You're terrified, and you don't even know why. Something is there with you, and it wants to do you harm, etc., etc... Anyway, you know how when you're in the midst of all this, you can comprehend that there is something near you that is a negative, almost evil energy? Your brain is still functioning and thinking and processing the fear and dread, so once you get to that point and those feelings start to sink in, make a conscious decision to fight them. The method I once read about suggested that you imagine that your entire body is covered with sharp pins or spines, like a porcupine. Better yet, your skin is comprised of thousands of little razor-sharp blades. Once you've done this, you can imagine and evaluate the threat that you now pose to whatever negative energy/evil spirit/whatever is messing with you. You can project and retract your pins/spines/blades/Wolverine claws/whatever and 'mark your territory', so to speak. Seriously, the instant I realized that I was stuck in a bad case of SP, I employed this technique, and within a matter of a few seconds, all was well. I woke up and thought about how ####ing awesome it felt to overcome that awful experience all by myself.

Next time you feel yourself slipping into oblivion, give this a shot. It worked for me.

Just to acknowledge a few replies.

Yes, go with love, the positive energies, and you will be fine.

Also, let go of the fear.

If you have been practising any negative stuff, like ouija or worse, it may be more difficult because you have called in the bad things.

I have had 4 specific sleep paralysis episodes up until now. It has not happened in about 4 years.

I am not a Christian or a religious person at all- But let me say this. In panic on the last episode, I was so terrified by this being on the floor next to my bed that I shouted in my head- "Jehovah, help me!" and it was gone, over...

For some reason, it is an instinct to do that- for many people whether they be religious or not.

reply to post by amongus


In the paralysis, sometimes you feel dragged. I don't know why. Sometimes you feel as if you are being pulled up off the bed, this I think is because you can't feel your back.

reply to post by Erowynn


Call on Jesus and he will respond.

Whatever happens, fear doesn't help in this case and only makes one weaker. In the physical fear is a good thing to warn for danger which is real, one might trip and get hurt, there might be a predator and one might lose a limb or their life.

But the spiritual body is different, it should be considered invulnerable, undestroyable, something which can only grow and become stronger. It can never get sick, defective, stolen, die or anything nor can it be seperated from the physical body until the physical body ends. Even during an obe it is still attached to the physical body. So I believe this entity whatever it was was able to grab the spiritual body because of lack of faith or (mis)understanding of one's own power.

Besides the spiritual body there is a kind of spiritual house the body is located in. That is supposed to be the first line of defense which keeps intruders out. It is not an uncommon reaction for people to leave their house or choose to retreat further into the house. In the center of the house is what I like to call a failsafe; a portal to one's soul through which the spiritual body can retreat into safety, where it can learn without any disturbances what happened and what should be done about it. Nothing but the 'owner' of the house can go there, it's much like a safe or panic room the spirit can retreat to when things are too difficult.

People who leave their house (either because they don't recognize it as their house or it has been occupied and the spirit decides to flee or abandon it) can either become a kind of nomad or they are taken in by others in their house. In rare cases other powers might clear the house and return the spirit to it but only if they have some interest in it, it also takes a lot of trust.

It is always best to learn to rely on one's own power and not confuse it with physical powers. Never blame an entity for harassing you; you are at fault because of lack of understanding and you should change yourself, never try to change the entity or fight it in any way. Claim your own space each day, think more about the spiritual body, how it is connected and what makes it stay in place and remember you're not dealing with a physical intruder, it's not physical muscles what makes one strong.

reply to post by inxion


I may have though not recently. A few months ago I discovered chakras. I mean I've known about them superficially for a very long time, but more recently I've come to actually perceive them within my body. Afterwards I felt the need to meditate on each one every single day. I cannot tell you the amount of peace and clarity I felt. I was so calm and centered. It was great. Then, without knowing what the hell I was doing, I would meditate on moving the energy from my red center upward. I just did it naturally. Didn't read it anywhere, didn't even know what kundalini was. I would come out of meditation feeling really agitated and didn't know why. I assumed I was picking up on the discontent and frustration present in the masses at the time. Had a lot of...um, interesting things happen during that time as well. But I haven't done any energy work since then, and haven't really experienced anything until that other night. So I don't know.

reply to post by Bluesma


For some reason this struck me as truth, but I will need to sit with it for a while. Thank you for providing an alternate perspective.

reply to post by Realm52

I kind of disagree. I found that the more I thought about lucid dreaming, the more I had it. I think that, in general, what you link to in your post is true. But not in all cases.

Essentially every several hours ask yourself: "Am I dreaming? Is this real?"

Do that every day or every other day for a long while. Eventually, it gets into your dreams.