I stop breathing

[dave1944]

When I go through the relaxation procedure whilst laying on my back I often stop breathing, causing me to become alarmed and to end my session. Has anyone else experienced this and can anyone help or explain as to why. Although I had an OOBE in my youth it is only recently that I have tried astral projection; as yet unsuccessfully.

[astralrealmer]

I had this experience many times many years ago when i got into the mind awake body asleep paralysis.I would all of a sudden become aware that i was not breathing and break out of it by trying to wake up.Robert monroe says that before attempting to get into the mind awake body asleep or before you go to sleep to keep your mouth open a little bit ,i guess to have 2 areas to breath out of.Dont know why it happens.

[SnakeDoctor]

could just have sleep apnea also(think thats what its called) where you will stop breathing in your sleep. my dad has it, and it used to scare the crap out of my mom. he finally went to the doctor for it and he has to wear this machine on his face when he sleeps

[Stookie]

I think it's kind of normal when you get started meditating to experience it some. It probably has to do with keeping the mind conscious while the body's falling asleep. Normally your brain conks out too and the body does everything on it's own without your awareness of it... but now you are aware of it, so you get strange breathing, eye's fluttering, muscles twitching, etc.

With enough practice, these things tend to fix themselves. I really, highly doubt that's it's possible to suffocate. But if you suffer from sleep apnea like SnakeDoctor suggested, I'd get that checked out.

[dave1944]

Thanks for your replies; I'll try keeping my mouth slightly open and see if that helps. It only ever happens when I lay on my back.

[dbmathis]

First of all, I just had my wisdom teeth all pulled out at once 3 days ago and I am completely drugged up, so if this post makes no sense, you will understand why.

I have been having issues with "stopping breathing" when falling asleep for over 10 years now so I may be able to share some valuable insight.

I still remember the first time this happened to me, I was living in the woods of Chickamauga GA, about 5 miles southwest of battlefield. Chickamauga is a Cherokee word meaning "river of death" and the bloodiest two-day battle of the Civil War was fought at Chickamauga on September 19th and 20th, 1863. More than 35,000 men were killed, wounded or missing out of 120,000 who engaged in the battle.

I had laid down to sleep and just as I drifted into sleep I got the sensation that I had died (stopped breathing). My brain not fully comprehending what was going on panicked and I ended up jumping out of bed and running out into my front yard at like 12 AM where I ended up standing alone in the dark trying to catch my breath.

This has been a common theme in my life ever since that day some 10 years ago. I have no idea what triggered these events to start happening but I do suspect that if they were linked to some serious illness I would most likely be dead by now.

So what are these events? Why can't the plethora of doctors I have paid figure out what's going on? These are questions that I can't answer. I participated in two sleep studies and was told I have sleep apnea however when I wear the CPAP I still experience the exact same symptoms. I tried to explain what was going on to the doctor but he / she didn't get it.

When I have my episodes (which happen about 5 days a week), I get really relaxed and can feel myself fading off into a dream state. I usually take note of the time that I drift off because I have a nice bright digital clock right beside me. Right after I drift to slep, what seems like 1 second later, I jump up in a panic and have to tell myself to breathe. My heart is usually beating like 180 BPM and it normally takes me about a full minute to get my mind and my lungs in sync and for my heart rate to slow. This happens while falling asleep only and it can repeat itself several times in a row.

The left side of my brain has tried to make sense of these events for years but I have have no explanation.  Here lately I have started thinking that maybe I am actually having short OBEs and I am actually noticing my astral body not breathing and not my physical body. I just don't know.

[SnakeDoctor]

lol just let it happen next time, you won't die. your body realizes you're not breathing and starts breathing again.     obviously since your here to type things after 10yrs.

just relax and let it happen, you might think you've died but someone will be there to laugh at you and say no, your not dead.

[iamhere2learn]

I do not remember where I read it, but I have heard that sometimes we can project without knowing and something that can happen is that we think we are not breathing because we have projected unknowingly and the astral counterpart does not breath. Not sure of the validity of this argument though.

[dbmathis]

I do not remember where I read it, but I have heard that sometimes we can project without knowing and something that can happen is that we think we are not breathing because we have projected unknowingly and the astral counterpart does not breath. Not sure of the validity of this argument though.

I have seen it in the Monroe books and in the saltcube videos. Next time I will just go with it and see what happens.