[Rebecca800]

Sleep paralysis occurs in all of us as we fall asleep each night. It's a natural mechanism to protect us from acting out our dreams. It marks the wake/sleep border - and most of us are already unconscious when it happens.

Some people have sleep paralysis against their will when they wake up suddenly. It can last for seconds or minutes, and some report it lasting for much longer. Sometimes its a simple paralysis, other times its accompanied by a feeling of intense fear - this is the brain trying to rationalize what's happening.

Depending on your culture, you may have hallucinations (not surprising as you're on the borderline of consciousness and were recently dreaming). Some people see devils, aliens, witches, cartoons, whatever, its completely dependent on their own internal beliefs - what scares them.



An interesting side note.... Scientists have researched a naturally occurring drug called DMT (dubbed The Spirit Molecule) which may be responsible for night-time phenomena like alien abductions and even near death experiences in the operating room. Some say that DMT is the gateway to seeing into other dimensions and that if the human brain produces DMT naturally, it could be released during times of intense trauma (birth and death) and during vivid hallucinatory experiences - like lucid dreaming.

[iseeyousee]

ive had this on numerous occasions, and every time its me concious, absolutely frozen without being able to move my body at all.Everytime im saying (in my mind) "go away, leave me alone" i also hear noises but never see anything.
This has happend in the comfort of my own bed, but also when in an enviroment where there has been much sadness, anger etc.
I must say this does not seem like some body is asleep and mind is working,its at a much more intense level than that,and quite hard to explain.

[Sarky]

I've had these type of dreams most of my life. I can only remember a handful of them which were not scarey.

I had had ones where there are cartoons playing on the ceiling. I have had ones where I feel something in the room with me.

There are times where I am awake and I still can't move for a bit.

However I have had ones where I am aware I am dreaming but I am actually in the dream. In this state I try do things. I try to fly...or jump off something high or try to do things obviously not possible. Sometimes I can sometimes I just fail terribly and end up waking up.

They're scary for sure, and if I am caught off guard I get very upset. But they happen so much I have got used to them.

[Adam25]

SP is very odd to experience.

When it's happened to me I remember very clearly of waking in the bedroom and being from what I can describe as being an OOBE then the next thing I know is I'm back in my sleeping body and fully awake but unable to move or open my eyes, it certainly is a brief period of panic. The most significant part that I can describe is the transition from being stuck to being awake, it's a very odd rush as your body finaly connects with your mind and you can open your eyes.

[Kirkland]

I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again the DMT idea has a major flaw in that people blind from birth have NDE's. People without a developed visual cortex can't have DMT or any other drug like hallucinations.

[meridian]

ive suffered sp for yrs,i used to get the kinda whooshin thumping sound in my head and was paralysied for 10 mins or so,but ive always been awake when its happened....tho recently theyve changed i dont get the intense panic attack along with them im more at peace with it

last one i had was last week......when i was paralysed i could hear my kid n husband in the room but couldnt move,i didnt panic tho....after a few moments its as if i sat up and stared right at them tho it didnt feel like it was me....it was like through my eyes but i wasnt in control...after 5 mins i lay back down.....when i could fully move i asked my partner if i sat up and even described fully what he and my kid was doing,but to my surprise i was told i never moved once......another time i visualised a woman sitting on the bed calmly staring at me and yet again it was as if it wasnt my body,its was as if id stepped out of it for a few moments....i didnt feel scared just asked her not to leave when she was fading...ive got the picture of her face engraved in my mind now and her name

now i see her once and a while when the paralysis occurs

[Gemruby]

I have had SP only once. It was in the morning and I was just starting to wake up and I realised I couldn`t move. I felt like my body was trying to float off the bed but something was holding me down. I could feel a heavy pressure on my back (I was lying face down). I didn`t hear any noises but I did have a picture (in my mind) of an angel in a green robe with long flowing hair. I`m quite surprised when reading the other SP`s, how frightening the images are. Mine wasn`t frightening. I just found the experience very frightening at the time because I didn`t know what was happening to me.