For the past three years, I have been experiencing out of body and astral episodes against my will. I go through periods of time (ranging anywhere from a week to several months) where they are rather intense, and as someone who is extremely unfamiliar with such experiences, I am often frightened. Things have been fairly calm since the end of last year (with the exception of the occasional OBE), but for the last week or so, I have been experiencing paralysis EVERY single time I wake up. I know that this occurs when the astral body has begun to separate from the physical body, but I cannot stand being in this state. Each day, the paralysis lasts longer and longer. When I wake and find that I am "paralyzed," I have no desire to do anything but come back into my physical body and wake up. However, this is not always possible. Just today, I woke after napping in a state of paralysis. I attempted to move my physical body, but it seemed as though my astral body was hovering just above my physical body. Now, I have experienced many sounds and voices while stuck between the two worlds, but I have never experienced what happened to me today, and I am SCARED to say the least. I had astral vision, and when I looked to the side, there was a man, lying beside me in bed. I was TERRIFIED of him, though he seemed harmless enough. Who the hell was he?! I "looked away" immediately and began to pray for a safe return to my physical body. This has always worked in the past, but it was not working today. I raised my hand and clenched and unclenched my fingers in front of my face, BUT I could not see my arm. I could feel that it was in front of my face, but I saw nothing. I tried to move my head, but it wasn't "waking me up." I started to slide off of the bed. I figured that I might as well have an OBE, since I usually return fully to my physical body after having them. However, my astral legs seemed cemented to my physical body, and I could not move them. Finally, I came back to my physical body, and everything seemed fine. I proceeded to sob for a good ten minutes, though. I am scared. Why do these things happen to me? I've never meditated nor attempted to experience any of these things. What can I do, and who was that man?!