Muscles Tightening - Getting Close?

[Blue Glitter Neon]

The attempts at finally achieving an OBE goes on! 

Whenever I'm trying to meditate, this happens to me.

(I call trying to get out of body "meditation", since I never seem to remember the specific exit techniques anyway. So better just go along what feels right and improvise, I believe.)

I seem to reach a state when I get kind of disoriented, almost as in losing balance. Triumphantly I imagine this means I'm getting close to an exit, but as soon as I reach this state, the body responds by tightening every muscle it can find, like it blocks me from going any further.

Would you say I'm getting close to an exit when this happens or am I just imagining things and still only in a wimpy shallow trance, far from actually reaching an OBE?

If the former, is there anything you can do not to get your body to react in this way?

[ThaomasOfGrey]

Sometimes I get the full body muscle spasm at the point of transition from waking to sleeping. I think it is related to sleep paralysis, it is common for a limb to twitch before being completely locked down for sleeping. I can only speculate as to why it is sometimes full body and more violent - my intuition says this happens because there is still a small amount of conscious mind acting on those muscles, and that causes tension and conflict when sleep paralysis engages.

[Blue Glitter Neon]

So perhaps I'm getting close to sleep paralysis? If so, that's good news!

[Xanth]

I confirmed this with the videos David Warner took of himself while he projected and experienced Sleep Paraylsis...

During SP, you're not awake.  Your physical body is 100% asleep.  When people experience sleep paralysis, their physical bodies are fast asleep.  You're projecting.

So, if you're still awake and feeling tense muscles, then you've got a bit further to go unfortunately.

Instead, don't focus on experiencing sleep paralysis.  It's not required.  Just work on pushing your awareness away from this physical reality.

[ThaomasOfGrey]

During SP, you're not awake....You're projecting.

I don't understand Xanth, to me, projecting is an awake state. What is the difference between your body being asleep and you experiencing a dream vs your body being asleep and you experiencing the passive state of being in sleep paralysis.

[Xanth]

I don't understand Xanth, to me, projecting is an awake state. What is the difference between your body being asleep and you experiencing a dream vs your body being asleep and you experiencing the passive state of being in sleep paralysis.

Nothing really.  Perspective?

[Lumaza]

Sometimes I get the full body muscle spasm at the point of transition from waking to sleeping. I think it is related to sleep paralysis, it is common for a limb to twitch before being completely locked down for sleeping. I can only speculate as to why it is sometimes full body and more violent - my intuition says this happens because there is still a small amount of conscious mind acting on those muscles, and that causes tension and conflict when sleep paralysis engages.

Thaomas, those are known as "Hypnagogic Jerks" and they occur when you first begin to actual see a scenario unfolding in front of you, while entering the Dream process.
I have slowed my "wake to sleep cycle" down so much so that I could experience every single transitional occurrence that there is. Hypnagogic jerks are a part of that cycle.
https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-hypnagogic-jerk-and-what-causes-sleep-starts-3014889

[Astralsuzy]

I have had sp.   When I get sp I am awake.   I am aware and alert.   My body is temporary paralyzed.    It only lasts for a short time.

[Xanth]

I have had sp.   When I get sp I am awake.   I am aware and alert.   My body is temporary paralyzed.    It only lasts for a short time.

You aren't physically awake.  If you were to record yourself while you were having a sleep paralysis experience, you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
While, at the time, you might be having what you think is the struggle of your life with your eyes wide open and trying in vain to move... the video of your physical body would simply look like it's having a good, deep sleep.

So yes, you ARE awake and alert... in as much as you are awake and alert when you're projecting.

Think about that for a second. 

[Astralsuzy]

I agree that if I record myself I would not notice myself having sp.   I would think I was asleep.    I feel I was trapped in my body fully alert and wide awake not able to move or do anything.    We agree to disagree.    There is nothing wrong with that.   This is an airy fairy subject and cannot be proven one way or the other.    Neither or us are wrong.   

[RobertForsythe]

I agree that if I record myself I would not notice myself having sp.   I would think I was asleep.    I feel I was trapped in my body fully alert and wide awake not able to move or do anything.    We agree to disagree.    There is nothing wrong with that.   This is an airy fairy subject and cannot be proven one way or the other.    Neither or us are wrong.   

I just sorta speed read through this so maybe I missed it... but I am surprised that it never occurred to anyone to repeat the iconic phrase "mind awake, body asleep"

[hat tip to Robert Monroe]

[Lumaza]

You aren't physically awake.  If you were to record yourself while you were having a sleep paralysis experience, you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
While, at the time, you might be having what you think is the struggle of your life with your eyes wide open and trying in vain to move... the video of your physical body would simply look like it's having a good, deep sleep.

This video recorded at a Sleep Study Center shows otherwise. The person is certainly showing signs of physical stress from his bout of SP. He did state though that his eyes were closed, but he also exhibited signs of bodily stress, as in a struggle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXQQjaWxbuY

[Xanth]

This video recorded at a Sleep Study Center shows otherwise. The person is certainly showing signs of physical stress from his bout of SP. He did state though that his eyes were closed, but he also exhibited signs of bodily stress, as in a struggle.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXQQjaWxbuY

Maybe I'm strange, but watching people sleep is kinda neat. 

But yeah, in this regard, this dude is still technically completely asleep.  Whatever he's experiencing, he's experiencing it in the non-physical.