Problems with sleep paralysis.

[Xanth]

It's the same article I wrote about "Strengthening your Experience".
http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/07/22/how-to-stabilize-and-strengthen-your-projection-experiences/

Also read this:  http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/02/13/how-to-increase-your-chances-of-having-lucid-awareness-experiences-lucid-dreams/

Those four questions are questions you should begin to ask yourself WHILE you're lucidly aware.  Answering them will increase your awareness.

[IsayWhaat]

It's the same article I wrote about "Strengthening your Experience".
http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/07/22/how-to-stabilize-and-strengthen-your-projection-experiences/

Also read this:  http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2012/02/13/how-to-increase-your-chances-of-having-lucid-awareness-experiences-lucid-dreams/

Those four questions are questions you should begin to ask yourself WHILE you're lucidly aware.  Answering them will increase your awareness.

Thank you, I read it. I will try and keep those questions in mind. I started doing reality checks today. Didn't quite meditate yet, I try to do that before I fall asleep.

I actually did one of those last night as meditation (3. Repeat Affirmations while falling asleep at night), even before reading your article   . I was lying on bed (I always sleep on my back, both legs extended and arms next to my body). I was tired, but not sleepy. So I laid there and I was thinking to myself "I'm conscious". I was actually repeating it in my head. I think it was perfect because it can have 2 meanings. First is that I am consciousness. Like what you tried to explain to me and second that I'm aware, I'm conscious, like when you realise you're dreaming.

So I just did that, telling myself I'm conscious and within few minutes I felt this huge sensation in my chest. More to my left, than in the middle, but doesn't matter. I don't know what it was, but it was almost painful. I can't explain was it like I was burning from inside or if I was being filled with water. Like something was building up inside me. It was unbearable because it was so strong and building up fast. I tried to go with it, but it was too strong. I also started hearing noises in my left ear. Like when your ear suddently starts beeping in the middle of the day. Something like that. I was trying to control it thinking I'm falling asleep but I couldn't. There was too much of it and I moved my body. My head to be specific. I think only noise repeated itself in my right ear and at that point my eyes opened. I felt pretty tired and sleepy at that point, so I just rolled over and fell asleep.

Can that count as meditation? Can I do meditation when I'm lying down and actually thinking something?

[Xanth]

I forgot to mention that it's more than just simply asking questions to yourself...

While lucidly aware, you stop what you're doing, focus on something around you (say a rock on the ground or a tree in the distance) and then put as much Intent into really discovering the answers to those four questions.  As long as I have focused and put the proper Intent into this, I haven't had it fail me once.  

It's the same as when people say to "rub your hands together"... it's not the act of rubbing your hands together that does anything.  In and of itself, it's a meaningless act.  
You rub your hands together and you examine all that happens because of it.  You feel the friction from your hands touching... the heat being generated by it... the sound coming from it... you bring all that to your awareness and *THAT* is what strengthens your experience and helps lock you in that reality.

Quite often, I use the above knowledge to stop myself from waking up.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  More often than not it works though.  When I begin to feel myself waking up, I'll drag my hand across a wall... I bring my entire awareness to the feeling of my hand passing over the surface of the wall... I feel the coldness of the wall penetrating my hand... I focus on the sound it creates... and once, I even licked the wall.  >_<  Don't ask.  LOL  

All in all, it shifted my awareness from where it was going (to the physical), and returned it wholly and completely into the reality my awareness was currently experiencing.

Can that count as meditation? Can I do meditation when I'm lying down and actually thinking something?

Yup! 

[IsayWhaat]

I forgot to mention that it's more than just simply asking questions to yourself...

While lucidly aware, you stop what you're doing, focus on something around you (say a rock on the ground or a tree in the distance) and then put as much Intent into really discovering the answers to those four questions.  As long as I have focused and put the proper Intent into this, I haven't had it fail me once.  

It's the same as when people say to "rub your hands together"... it's not the act of rubbing your hands together that does anything.  In and of itself, it's a meaningless act.  
You rub your hands together and you examine all that happens because of it.  You feel the friction from your hands touching... the heat being generated by it... the sound coming from it... you bring all that to your awareness and *THAT* is what strengthens your experience and helps lock you in that reality.

Quite often, I use the above knowledge to stop myself from waking up.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  More often than not it works though.  When I begin to feel myself waking up, I'll drag my hand across a wall... I bring my entire awareness to the feeling of my hand passing over the surface of the wall... I feel the coldness of the wall penetrating my hand... I focus on the sound it creates... and once, I even licked the wall.  >_<  Don't ask.  LOL  

All in all, it shifted my awareness from where it was going (to the physical), and returned it wholly and completely into the reality my awareness was currently experiencing.
Yup! 

There are bunch of things people do when they are lucid, but licking a wall isn't one. I hope I got that one and you licked a wall while dreaming...

So, Imma eat this muffin' right now, and I will focus all of my conscious and will behind it.

[Xanth]

There are bunch of things people do when they are lucid, but licking a wall isn't one. I hope I got that one and you licked a wall while dreaming...

ROFL!  I know, right?  I was curious how it tasted... >_> 

So, Imma eat this muffin' right now, and I will focus all of my conscious and will behind it.

Yup, that makes for good practice.  Eckhart Tolle calls this "living in the Now".  Bringing all your awareness to the "Now" brings you into your life and spirit instead of being just "along for the ride".

[BranStark]

Just curious, are your nightmares getting any better?

[IsayWhaat]

Just curious, are your nightmares getting any better?

Last 2 nights I dreamed normally.  So, I guess it's good for now.

[IsayWhaat]

So, I've tried to meditate 2 times so far (started 2 nights ago), but it doesn't end the way I think it should. The moment I start I get the sensations all over my body. And they're pretty much hardcore. I've searched topic where to post about it, but didn't find anywhere, so I'll just write it here on mine.

People say when you get them, so called vibrations, you have to make an exit immediately (referring to OOBE) because they fade within seconds. Mine do not fade, they get stronger. I think one of the most common one is buzz in your ears. I have that as well, but it is so weak compared to the feelings that I have all over my body. It's like trying to hear a radio next to a drilling machine. You can hear the song playing, but the sensation you get from drilling - from shaking to noise is overpowering the radio. I tried to feel them the best I could to be able to explain them, but the only thing that gets as close would be a bomb exploding in slow motion. Like, really really slow motion - slowly building from the inside.

So I lay there, trying to be relaxed and trying to maintain the vibration. Specifically, last night, it felt like my arm was being twisted. Other sensations were everywhere but my right leg and head. I tried to move the vibration like waves through my body but I couldn't. So, I was lying on my back, with my hands next to my body, palms were facing bed. They were on the bed. It felt like my palm on the right hand was being twisted counter clockwise. At one point I thought my palm on right hand was facing ceiling. I wasn't resisting, like I said I tried to maintain it, but yet let it "vibrate". I was looking with my eyes into the blackness of my eyelids. So, I kept repeating myself "I'm conscious". And I read somewhere here I should "get out". So I tried rolling over, stading up, teleporting, rope thingy, but I'm nothing happened. Vibrations were strong until I stopped them. I really had to check if my hand was broken. Wasn't of course, but it sure felt that way. After moving, sensation dropped. Was feeling pretty tired so I just rolled over and fell asleep.

I did that yesterday as well and I'm pretty sure it counts for something, but I guess I should end it differently. Or just stopping the vibration and falling asleep is ok? I mean, should I do something else while feeling the sensations? For me it feels like there is no end to them. The pressure, the cold chills than suddently feeling blanket falling on my body, the burning from the inside, numbness, etc. It kinda feels like I do not finish the meditation.

[Xanth]

So, I've tried to meditate 2 times so far (started 2 nights ago), but it doesn't end the way I think it should.

I'll just put you on hold right there... the point I bolded.

Don't judge your experiences.  How you THINK they should be means nothing.  You've already seemingly built a measuring stick for your experiences before you even know what you're experiencing.
Throw out that measuring stick.  It's measuring nothing.  

Give this slide a read.  It's from a talk Tom Campbell gave.  It has some great advice on meditation and by extension, projection.

[IsayWhaat]

Okay, wanted to check in and just say few things after a month. 

I didn't have another sleep paralysis since I wrote the post and talked with you all! Actually, I didn't even have a normal nightmare (unless you count dreaming about failing math exam a nightmare, then I did ). Heh, either way, thanks for all that guys, I appreciate it. What is actually happening right now is that my lucidity within dreams increased greatly! I keep waking up in a dream. It almost always happens in a morning if I can continue sleeping after being woken up (happened only 2 times during night sleep).

So, I wake up in the morning (alarm or someone who hates seeing me sleep wakes me up ) and if I turn to side and fall back asleep, I wake up in a dream. That's when I have to "fight" to stay within a dream. If I manage to win the fight and not open my eyes for real I have lucid dream. I'm still trying to bring my whole self and increase my lucidity completely. So far, I failed each time to become completely conscious and so my experiences lasted for 20-30 seconds. I feel that I can increase consciousness more in the real life as well, that this is not all there is to it and so, when I figure that out I think I will gain full control of the non-physical.

About this waking up in a dream. My lucid dreams use to be me dreaming something and realizing within that scenario that I'm asleep. Then I proceed to have lucid dream. It's different now. I'm dreaming something normally, first person, third person doesn't matter and I suddently open my eyes in a dream. And when I open my eyes I get fragments of pictures before complete blackness gets to my eyes. Almost as if I'm waking up and looking into my eye shutters. If I can grab onto some item in a dream, dirt or wood or anything and feel it in my hands or hit myself with it I can somehow stay conscious and open my eyes within the dream. If I fail to do so I will open my eyes for real. Like once I woke up and saw myself falling (jumped from plane with parachute, wasn't scared because that's something I wish to do soon in real life) but I didn't have anything to grab and as blackness came I couldn't keep myself conscious and I opened eyes in real life. The disappointment was real.

[FuzzyQuills]

Very interesting experiences sir! Seriously, well done on getting past those awful episodes! I haven't had any, but there have been a couple of mornings where I have almost exited intentionally!

And you know what? I am actually going to give the "I'm conscious" affirmation a go, along with what I am doing passively every attempt I make. (It's not hard actually; I simply shift my focus upwards slightly, and while holding it there, I then listen for the ringing, all the while, I actively fall asleep)

[IsayWhaat]

Very interesting experiences sir! Seriously, well done on getting past those awful episodes! I haven't had any, but there have been a couple of mornings where I have almost exited intentionally!

And you know what? I am actually going to give the "I'm conscious" affirmation a go, along with what I am doing passively every attempt I make. (It's not hard actually; I simply shift my focus upwards slightly, and while holding it there, I then listen for the ringing, all the while, I actively fall asleep)

You should definitely try. When I heard of affirmations, the first thing that popped in my mind was "I'm conscious" because at that point in time I realized (I mean I've been told, didn't realize it on my own, but I understood it) for the first time that "I am consciousness" in physical reality just as much as in non-physical + I'm conscious as I'm aware of myself. With those 2 meanings kept in mind I had pretty strong vibrations when I used it for the first few times.

Right now, I'm not doing anything when I go to bed; no meditation, no affirmations, nothing. I just go to bed to sleep. I'm doing sorta another kind of exercise I think has better effect. It's pretty amazing how many lucid dreams I have. So, instead of practising in physical reality about non-physical, I just use the lucid dreams where I already am in non-physical to exercise it. I have different lucid dreams - experiences are different because different things effect my stability or other parts of non-physical. Depending on situation, I either focus on stabilizing the dream or I try to maintain control of certain situations, I sometimes just sit in dream and count so I can feel time pass by. Most of the time I spend literally conquering myself, because my sub-conscious is such a b*tch it's war in there. But, the rarest I had in last month were 5 days apart from one lucid to another which is, compared to before (where my lucid dreams were distanced by years), amazingly short time. And the most I had were 4 days/nights in row that I had lucid dreams. It also happened that I had 2-3 lucid dreams one followed by another in same day.

[FuzzyQuills]

You should definitely try. When I heard of affirmations, the first thing that popped in my mind was "I'm conscious" because at that point in time I realized (I mean I've been told, didn't realize it on my own, but I understood it) for the first time that "I am consciousness" in physical reality just as much as in non-physical + I'm conscious as I'm aware of myself. With those 2 meanings kept in mind I had pretty strong vibrations when I used it for the first few times.

Right now, I'm not doing anything when I go to bed; no meditation, no affirmations, nothing. I just go to bed to sleep. I'm doing sorta another kind of exercise I think has better effect. It's pretty amazing how many lucid dreams I have. So, instead of practising in physical reality about non-physical, I just use the lucid dreams where I already am in non-physical to exercise it. I have different lucid dreams - experiences are different because different things effect my stability or other parts of non-physical. Depending on situation, I either focus on stabilizing the dream or I try to maintain control of certain situations, I sometimes just sit in dream and count so I can feel time pass by. Most of the time I spend literally conquering myself, because my sub-conscious is such a b*tch it's war in there. But, the rarest I had in last month were 5 days apart from one lucid to another which is, compared to before (where my lucid dreams were distanced by years), amazingly short time. And the most I had were 4 days/nights in row that I had lucid dreams. It also happened that I had 2-3 lucid dreams one followed by another in same day.

Specifically why I should learn how to LD...
Also, when you're just sitting counting, just out of curiosity... what sort of environment are you in at the time? I'm guessing under a tree...

And, although I haven't been given the chance to use affirmations properly (Last attempt ended with a false awakening... again!) I do like how you use them effectively. (I was actually practicing the "Awareness now" one last night... )

[IsayWhaat]

Specifically why I should learn how to LD...
Also, when you're just sitting counting, just out of curiosity... what sort of environment are you in at the time? I'm guessing under a tree...

And, although I haven't been given the chance to use affirmations properly (Last attempt ended with a false awakening... again!) I do like how you use them effectively. (I was actually practicing the "Awareness now" one last night... )

Not necessary under a tree, I just sit where I want. Once I was floating and counting.

Problem I face everytime I'm in lucid is blackness. I'm not sure what am I doing wrong, but the more I focus, the more I think about it, the more I try to experience the non-physical the shorter it lasts! I start waking up - suddenly blackness appears before my eyes and I'm faced with decision to open my eyes in RL or not. Like that process from dream to waking up you just can't remember no matter what (well you couldn't before or when you dream normally). Like I'm going through that process where dream / non-physical dissapears and your conciousness shifts back to physical. Feels like I'm experiencing that being aware of it happening. I still didn't manage to prevent it, hopefully I will soon. It's really hard to dodge waking up. Especially when I don't know is it gonna be false or real.

So, try that next time you're in lucid. Try to just be aware the whole time until you start waking up for real. And then, prevent the process of waking up. Now, that's a challenge! 

[IsayWhaat]

And, did you think of creating your own affirmation? When I saw what affirmations are and how long they can be, I made my own which felt right. You put your understanding of non-physical in words you seem fit perfectly and say them. Not what others say happens or non-physical is, but what you truly understand is happening. Something your sub-conciousness knows very well and you feel like you knew it all this time, but you didn't understood it. Almost as if you experience awakening or enlightenment.

I guess best example would be math. When you're doing some sort of task and you calculate it, but have no idea what you are doing and then that sudden realization when you finally understand what the hell you are writing. You knew it all along, but you didn't understood it. If you ever had that feeling, yeah, exactly like that.

For me, it was about conciousness. I mean, I knew all along I was concious, that I was aware, but I never understood what it really meant. Not until I was explained. It hit me like a truck.