Whenever I get to the point of sleep paralysis in my dream/ after the dream, I feel I can't breathe and then wake myself up completely. Is my body still breathing at this point and it's just disconnected from my mind (googling this says that respiratory movements are intact during SP). If this is true then is it something I should work through so I can eventually move to the next stage of AP?
What your body is doing Is, what we call, sleep breathing, it is where your breathing is slowed while sleep, this is very normal, since you are less active in this state, if you are trying to project, it's best not to disrupt this breathing, by trying to regular breathe, trying to breathe regular will make things difficult, so it's best to go with the flow on this and continue with the projection process, actually try and exit strategy.
It is difficult to know whether you are really breathing. In some cases you will be, but you have stopped noticing that sense, like an annoying sound in the background that you stop paying attention to. Other times complications like sleep apnea can make your breathing really stop.
One thing that even lucid dreaming specialists agree on regarding sleep paralysis is that taking control of your breath is the method to exit paralysis. One trick that might work for you is to just accept the breathing problem and that you won't know if you are breathing. The worst that can happen is that you pass out and the automatic nervous system resumes breathing - it seems pretty unlikely to me that this would really happen but it is a satisfying backup plan.
Sleep breathing pattern can be uncomfortably slow. Sometimes I dream that I can breathe underwater if I match my pattern to the sleep breathing. It is like the movie The Abyss with the oxygenated fluid. You just breath very slowly and very calmly and you will be fine.
Thanks for the help, guys :-D Haven't had any lucid dreams/SP since. I will update if I get any further.
Quote from: ThaomasOfGrey on September 27, 2016, 18:38:03
One thing that even lucid dreaming specialists agree on regarding sleep paralysis is that taking control of your breath is the method to exit paralysis.
By exit do you mean just wake up?
Just trust your body, it's been autonomously breathing for you your entire life while you've been sleeping.
Actually, your body mostly breaths for you even while you're awake. Just trust it. :)
Quote from: LostHymn on October 14, 2016, 10:41:51
By exit do you mean just wake up?
I think technically you are already awake, but yes, to unfreeze your body and regain motor control you alter your breathing pattern.