Feelings of suffocation

[okaykaykayli]

One morning I was laying on a bed in a motel room with my boyfriend.
I didn't drift off to sleep yet but i felt a pressing on my chest like someone was trying to molest or suffocate me.
Then i looked up and i saw a black man mid 30s or 40s tapping on my forehead, i remember this clear as day. I felt it perfectly.  I turned over and put my boyfriends arm around me and forced myself to sleep. I woke up in the same position.
I've become very good at astral projection, but it didn't feel as if I had projected at all. 
However, after this experience I had an OBe but was thinking after i came out "excrement, i don't wanna deal with this dude here" haha, amd went back to my body.

I've heard about the pressing on the chest feeling assosiated with sleep paralysis, but i don't completely understand it .  Could it be that some people are having a mild astral experience where they think they have seen ghosts in their room or around them ? Or is this something else ?

A few other people who have been in the room have said to have felt somethings and seen things, but it was all at night time while everyone was trying to sleep, etc.  Overwhelming feelings, seeing shadows, etc.

If you need any extra info please feel fr4ee to ask because I'd like to know whats going on here
Thank you )

[Everlasting]

I have had that feeling, like someone holding you down and the fear is overwhelming. Either it's the real deal (spirit attack) or it's somekind of delusion.  Fear seems to have a paralysing effect.

[Tayesin]

What is the first thing we all do when we feel fear? We stop breathing. and hold our breath.

Because we have an energetic field around us (the aura) we will feel anything  that comes into that field, and our first reaction is always fear, it is very human. Most people will feel that pressure in the chest because of the fear that arises naturally to the unknown.

So, when you recognise that feeling, make yourself breathe. Doesn't have to be massive lungfulls, any breathing will do.

[blackcat]

I have found that sometimes right after projection while still very near my body, I can feel like I am suffocating. I rationalized that I was already out of body and maybe I was just not quite able to feel my body's breathing anymore and the feeling of suffocation was a reflex response to that lack of feeling.  The brain is accustomed to feeling air coming in and out! 

Anyway, I can't know for sure if that is the deal, but I have found that I can solve the suffocation problem with either of two ways.  One option is when I feel it, I just remind myself strongly that I am out of body now and no longer require air.  The other option is I can command my astral self to simulate the feeling of breathing.  You can command yourself into any shape or sensation once you are out of body.  Either of  these techniques has worked to instantly stop the suffocating feeling.
-Eva

[okaykaykayli]

What is the first thing we all do when we feel fear? We stop breathing. and hold our breath.

Because we have an energetic field around us (the aura) we will feel anything  that comes into that field, and our first reaction is always fear, it is very human. Most people will feel that pressure in the chest because of the fear that arises naturally to the unknown.

So, when you recognise that feeling, make yourself breathe. Doesn't have to be massive lungfulls, any breathing will do.

I felt like it was more than that.
It wasn't hard to breathe, I just felt like someone was trying to suffocate me ..
If you can understand what I'm trying to say 

Maybe since I had those feelings brought about me seeing the man above me ?
Or maybe I really did see something ?
Apparantly where I was is haunted .
But you never know with these things,
possibilities are endless, will never know the truth I feel.

[Panne]

It seems as if you're describing a common symptom of ordinary sleep paralysis, like you mentioned. I don't know if your looking for a 'supernatural' explanation, or if a biological one would do.
If the latter is the case (or maybe both?), perhaps a brief Wikipedia-overview could help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis#Symptoms

[blackcat]

I have felt the suffocation feeling.  When you stop breathing, it's natural to feel that.  The same feeling can be triggered when you can't feel yourself breathing because you are disconnected from your body.  YOu can cure the feeling by telling yourself when it happens that you are out of body and so you don't require air.  Once  you tell  yourself this, you will find the feeling will leave.  I have done it many times.  It's a matter of overcoming your fear.  You may have felt suffocation but I do not think you actually had any problem with physical breathing at the time.  I think your body was breathing as normal the whole time, but the slight disconnection from your body was scary and triggered your fears.  Fear of the unknown is natural.

I could not tell you if really there was a man t hough.  Multiple times, my brain has conjured fears while I was in sleep paralysis and I saw scary things.  Multiple times, I saw the scary things fade away as soon as I got control of my fears.  So cleary, it's possible to conjure your fears to appear real, but they can't really hurt you, only scare you.  They are your inner fears personified onto the astral like a movie on a screen.  Sometimes apparently there are actually entities around though and from what I have seen, they are usually attempting to help you.  Over time, you can learn the flat empty feel of a thought from that is not real and a real creature that has more depth and personality to it.

I don't know about others, but I noticed my thought forms are typically non communicative or barely so, meaning they are super boring and sorta husk or balloon like, as if very insubstantial or shadowlike, once I turn my attention to them and really look.  So that I can tell a thought form from real entity which is far more interesting.
-Eva

My blog of unexplained journeys:
http://www.realmcrawler.blogspot.com

[okaykaykayli]

How do you tell the difference between a thought form and a real entity ?
Is there even such thing as a real entity?