Sleep paralysis help

[Kaplana]

Hello everyone. I have a few questions.

For years, I've wanted to astrally project. But the method of letting my body completely relax and focusing on my mind has never worked. I'm not sure why. I've either gave up after an hour of boredom, or fallen asleep.

But I have experienced sleep paralysis for years. I have a weird sleeping schedule. I discovered how this effects that thanks to a two hour delay when I was still in high school. If I woke up after 4-5 hours of sleep, stay up a while, and go back to sleep...it would always happen. For some reason I'd be so relaxed.

I know I'm in my body. I just feel like I'm buzzing. I can't move, I try. I'm conscious the whole time and know what's going on. I think to myself "I should have stayed up". I'll experience "hallucinations". I never have these in my waking life, I'm mentally sound. But while I'm waiting to be able to wake up I'll see my dead grandma in the corner. I'll see a duck on my bed. A shoe floating the air.

This can be benevolent hallucinations, or terrifying ones. The terrifying ones have pretty much traumatized me to the point where I dread sleep paralysis. I'm scared of it. I have graphic violent and sexual things visions, which are really screwed up. I'll see monsters.

The whole time I'm telling myself "Think good thoughts....you can feel your body loosening up...you're almost awake...close your eyes".

When I finally am able to wake up I see that it's usually no longer than 20 minutes from the time I layed down. It feels much longer.

Only one time have I been able to turn this into what I believe is astral projection. When it happened, I walked around my house like I was drunk. It was like an invisible wind pushing me down, or lack of gravity, or something. I walked around, but my house looked totally different. My dad was in the kitchen drinking coffee, but when I woke up he was sound asleep and there wasn't a coffee cup out. The paint was different.

Sorry this is so long. It's a lot to get out. So to the questions.

1. Is there a way to stop the negative hallucinations? Positive thinking doesn't help. I can't really control my fear.

2. The experience of astral projection I described, why was my house different? Why was there someone there who wasn't IRL? Why wasn't I able to walk? Seriously I kept falling back with my arms outstretched, like a Christ pose. I felt extremely dizzy. Could it have just been a lucid dream?

Just any more tips on how to deal with this would be great.

I want to experience astral projection, but I hate that the only way I can do it is to go through paralysis.

Thanks.

[Lightning]

Don't be afraid of sleep paralysis, it's a natural process. It protects your physical body from acting out your dreams, so be glad it exists! 

Next time you feel the paralysis, stay calm, ignore the visions and sounds you may hear, and you can choose between falling asleep again or focusing on projecting by trying one of the many techniques.

[astraladdict]

Screw SP, and screw all the people who say to work on SP to project! Instead of working on SP, work on relaxation and quieting of the mind.

~astraladdict

[Lizelle]

Hi Kap! I experienced very similar things, before I even knew what to call them. Long story short, I've come to regard even the frightful episodes as a blessing and not a curse. Easy for me to say? Sure. I don't have the all-out terrors, but I DO know the creepy feeling and how it seems so incredibly real, and NO FUN.

But you are here now, you are not alone!

I learned a few things on my own. First, to stop the "bad trips" (for lack of a better word) all I have to do is roll over onto my side. Often I feel too scared to move, but I know that I can. For some reason the position change is all-important.

When someone first suggested I "face my fear" or whatever, I thought they're crazy! I'll freak out or wake up completely. Staying "in the hallucination" seemed impossible... but gradually I realized that despite the menacing and frightful aspect of these episodes, nothing even remotely bad ever happened. When one night I let the scary sounds simply run their course, I got the vibrations. Now I invite that to happen.

You can play whatever mental tricks work for you. There are lots of techniques around this whole practice, but in the end, talking yourself through the various checkpoints is an individual exercise. I think the "demons" or monsters are either a basic primal fear, common to us all, or handy representations for something else. Just my opinion.

You could try to visualize & practice making friends with the monster, some time when you are sufficiently awake and not near paralysis. Once when my creepy presence was pulling blankets again, I mentally told it to just go ahead and pull it over my head. "See if I care..." So the imaginary cover was over my face, and nothing happened, and eventually the thing got bored and left.

I don't know if this is helpful, but I look forward to your posts. Good luck!