sleep paralysis/night hags

[ryuuko]

I have a question regarding how to reduce the occurrence of this phenomenon, if anyone has managed to do that. I occasionally suffer from what I like to call "uneventful" sleep paralysis, during which I reach semi-waking consciousness and find that I cannot move. For some reason, I always forget that this has happened before and I panic, and try thrashing my shoulders in an attempt to roll over, but of course, that only leads to more stress because I still cannot move. Eventually, I do snap out of it and fully wake up, and give my upper body a few good twitches just to make sure. This only happens a few times a year, so while not a problem per say, it can be rather bothersome.

Over the last year or two, I've been noticing that the more frightening form, wherein you feel the "hag" on top of you, has been occurring more often. A few nights ago, I awoke in the wee hours of the morning unable to move, with the feeling of some small creature walking onto my chest. Like every other time I've experienced this, I'd been sleeping on my back, with my blankets covering my face and head, which I do to conserve warmth and keep out any light that might prevent me from sleeping. Because of this, I wake up seeing the underside of my blanket, but can't see the thing I feel on top of me. This time, I could actually hear the thing panting, and I vaguely remember hearing a scratching sound, like that of a dog scratching its ear with its hind leg. Obviously, given that description, it sounds like I was being accosted by a chihuahua, which is hardly terrifying, but seeing as I can never remember that the situation has happened to me before and that it isn't "real," it is always quite stressful and disturbing.

Can anyone offer any advice? Also, I apologize if this is in the wrong section; I thought this fit under the category of "dreams" more than anything else.

[astral traveler]

I have a question regarding how to reduce the occurrence of this phenomenon, if anyone has managed to do that.

what specifically are you trying to reduce?  sleep paralysis or little animals walking on you?  and why?

[ryuuko]

Well, both, if possible. It's quite unpleasant, and I can't see anything very productive in letting them continue.

[astral traveler]

Well, both, if possible. It's quite unpleasant, and I can't see anything very productive in letting them continue.

1. sleep paralysis is a natural part of astral projection.  the only way to avoid it would be to avoid astral projection also, if that's what makes you feel the most comfortable.  however, if you prefer to pursue astral projection, you will then have to combat the fear involved with sleep paralysis instead of sleep paralysis itself.  this is entirely up to you, and it's not my place to persuade or dissuade you.

2. unwelcome entities can be avoided by staying away from mystical experience altogother, or if one wishes to pursue mystical experience, purification of the psyche is then necessary to attain higher dimensional frequencies, wherein one will not be subject to nightmare-type mystical experiences or exposure to invasive lower entities.  this involves cleansing of the psyche in the sub-realms of thought, emotion and conscience.

i'm being a bit general.  does this make sense so far?  please feel free to ask more specific questions.  are we headed in the right direction?  is astral projection something that you really want to do?  or do you prefer to avoid it altogether?

[ryuuko]

I never connected sleep paralysis with astral projection at all, actually. It's always been a totally random event for me, never connected with any of my conscious astral projection attempts. In fact, I think it started before I'd started reading about astral projection. I've known people who've experienced sleep paralysis and have never heard of AP. I did a little online research, and it seems like nearly every culture in the world has its own name and folk legends associated with sleep paralysis, while I think it's safe to assume that astral projection isn't quite as well known among the masses (at least, that's what I judge from personal experience). One thing I have noticed is that I only experience this when I'm sleeping on my back. I suppose I could stop it on my own by switching to my side, but I find sleeping on my side rather uncomfortable, so I was looking for alternative solutions.

What little experience I do have with astral projection is rather limited, though. I have, on a handful of occasions, while following the basic tips of lying on one's back, relaxing completely, focusing inward, etc, entered the vibrational phase. However, it took what felt like over an hour's worth of concentration to achieve this, so much that I thought to myself "Well, I've proved that I can get this far, but I'm tired, so this is as far as I'll go tonight." Of course, I could kick myself now for not taking the opportunity to go further. It can also be somewhat discouraging for me, since I can't count how many times I've tried astral projecting that way, only to end with me falling asleep, exhausted, due to trying not to move in spite of being hyper-aware of everything in my concentration to stay awake.

I do admit, though, that I have a certain fear of the unknown which could further hinder my attempts. I once entered the mind awake/body asleep faze totally by accident during a nap in the middle of the day (funny how I got the furthest I've ever been without really trying)! I had my right arm covering my eyes, with the bridge of my nose nestled in the crook of my elbow, which probably sounds bizarre, but it's just another way that I block out light so I can sleep. A tiny speck of light was visible though, through a small gap between my inner elbow and my nose, and I distinctly remember watching it as I felt myself slowly rising up out of my body, through my own arm! It was really weird. I didn't feel any vibrations at all this time. I was excited and really wanted to totally leave my body, but I heard weird sounds and noises that scared me, so back I went.

Erm, I'm afraid I might have strayed a bit off topic, but I hope this helps give you a good idea of my background in the subject.

[astral traveler]

I never connected sleep paralysis with astral projection at all, actually. It's always been a totally random event for me, never connected with any of my conscious astral projection attempts. In fact, I think it started before I'd started reading about astral projection. I've known people who've experienced sleep paralysis and have never heard of AP. I did a little online research, and it seems like nearly every culture in the world has its own name and folk legends associated with sleep paralysis, while I think it's safe to assume that astral projection isn't quite as well known among the masses (at least, that's what I judge from personal experience). One thing I have noticed is that I only experience this when I'm sleeping on my back. I suppose I could stop it on my own by switching to my side, but I find sleeping on my side rather uncomfortable, so I was looking for alternative solutions.

What little experience I do have with astral projection is rather limited, though. I have, on a handful of occasions, while following the basic tips of lying on one's back, relaxing completely, focusing inward, etc, entered the vibrational phase. However, it took what felt like over an hour's worth of concentration to achieve this, so much that I thought to myself "Well, I've proved that I can get this far, but I'm tired, so this is as far as I'll go tonight." Of course, I could kick myself now for not taking the opportunity to go further. It can also be somewhat discouraging for me, since I can't count how many times I've tried astral projecting that way, only to end with me falling asleep, exhausted, due to trying not to move in spite of being hyper-aware of everything in my concentration to stay awake.

I do admit, though, that I have a certain fear of the unknown which could further hinder my attempts. I once entered the mind awake/body asleep faze totally by accident during a nap in the middle of the day (funny how I got the furthest I've ever been without really trying)! I had my right arm covering my eyes, with the bridge of my nose nestled in the crook of my elbow, which probably sounds bizarre, but it's just another way that I block out light so I can sleep. A tiny speck of light was visible though, through a small gap between my inner elbow and my nose, and I distinctly remember watching it as I felt myself slowly rising up out of my body, through my own arm! It was really weird. I didn't feel any vibrations at all this time. I was excited and really wanted to totally leave my body, but I heard weird sounds and noises that scared me, so back I went.

Erm, I'm afraid I might have strayed a bit off topic, but I hope this helps give you a good idea of my background in the subject.

i still experience sleep paralysis from time to time during my astral projections, but it's not something that i really fear anymore.  think of it this way.  the physical body has to go into a state of sleep paralysis before we can astral project.  we can't very well be out-of-body and moving around in-the-body at the same time, although we may still experience dual sensation at times if the energy body is still half-way in the physical body.  it sounds to me like you will have to combat your fear of sleep paralysis as opposed to the sleep paralysis itself, if you still wish to astral project.

so again, i might ask you to determine for yourself if you still want to pursue astral projection, even if it means continuing to experience sleep paralysis.

by the way, the people who haven't heard of astral projection, but who still experience sleep paralysis, are likely astral projecting without identifying and/or remembering it.

[ryuuko]

I suppose if continuing to learn astral projection means putting up with the occasional freaky invisible thing perched on my chest, I can grin and bear it.

However, while I -do- experience a sort of paralysis during AP attempts, it is quite different from the sort of thing I described in my first post. When I get very, very relaxed, I get the sensation that my body has become very heavy, and is sinking into the bed. Unfortunately, it is -very- easy to ruin all my hard work by twitching an itchy foot, or moving an arm that's in an uncomfortable position. Then the sensation goes away completely, and I have to start all over again.

The randomly occurring paralysis that I sometimes wake up to is totally involuntary, uncontrollable, and impossible to snap out of until my brain reaches fully waking consciousness. The weight I feel does not come from within, as if my body is becoming denser, but comes from the sensation of something crushing me from above. It's what is described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

I don't mean to be overly repetitive or argumentative. I'm just trying to make sure we are referring to the same thing by the same term; I have categorized these experiences as two separate kinds of events, so you can imagine how unusual it seems to me for something that I thought was totally unrelated to AP to actually have something important to do with it.

When you experience sleep paralysis, can you simply not move, or do you also feel as if something is on your chest, pressing down on you? 

[astral traveler]

The randomly occurring paralysis that I sometimes wake up to is totally involuntary, uncontrollable, and impossible to snap out of until my brain reaches fully waking consciousness.

i've experienced the same thing many times, and it's common with astral projection.  sylvan muldoon mentions it quite a bit in his book: 'the projection of the astral body' by sylvan muldoon.