Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a natural body function that causes your body to be paralyzed during sleep.

Purpose of sleep paralysis is to prevent you from “acting out” your dreams.

It is so natural, that major problems arise when sleep paralysis is not present! One such problem is sleepwalking.

Sleep paralysis is commonly known due to an interesting phenomena - gaining awareness during sleep paralysis.

Normally, we are not aware while in a sleep paralysis.

But it is possible to spontaneously gain consciousness during it.

In this state, people are unable to move or speak, usually are scared and can even have a sense of choking or feel pressure.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are quite common as well.

You can think of it in this way: your mind wakes up before your body. And since the body is still asleep, it is not possible to move at all!

It’s common for people experiencing aware sleep paralysis to be very confused and scared - as they are unable to move or speak.

For that reason, it is very important to understand that sleep paralysis is a natural process and you just need to wait it out.

It can last from a few seconds up to a minute or two.

Why do we become aware during sleep paralysis?

Unfortunately, it is not well known.

Research has shown that people with these issues have conscious sleep paralysis more often:

Narcolepsy, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, lack of sleep.

Best way to prevent it is to regularly get 6-8 hours of sleep a day and not consume any caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes or a big meal before going to bed.

Being unable to move or speak can be quite scary.

But the perception that you are stuck between the real world and the dream world, without a way to get into either, can be overwhelming!

In this state, it gets a lot worse very fast - conscious and subconscious fears manifest themselves as scary hallucinations.

People in this state often see spirits, monsters, shadow people, demons; they have a sense that someone is watching them; or even a fear of death.

That’s why it is very important to understand what sleep paralysis is and not to get scared when it happens.

The best way to get rid of all the monsters is to just remain as calm as possible.

Another common phenomena related to sleep paralysis is false awakening.

False awakening is the feeling of waking up, but soon enough realizing you’re still in a dream.

Imagine having to wake up, shower and brush your teeth, only to realize you are still in a dream.

Now imagine that happening multiple times in a row. Quite frustrating!

As it turns out, false awakening is quite common, but the circumstances in which it occurs are not well known, unfortunately.

What can you do about it?

Well, since it is not know how to get rid of it, what you can do is -

Make it fun!

Try to turn false awakening into a lucid dream.

Do reality checks when you wake up in the morning. If it’s a dream - you will find something out of the ordinary.

Then you will realize you are not awake, but in a dream - a lucid dream.

Go and have fun!

There is another, less popular but more interesting, interpretation of sleep paralysis.

It is tied to out-of-body experience and the idea that people have multiple bodies: the physical body we are in right now, and the astral body (or energy body, etheric body).

This is an idea that was present throughout mankind and is alive even today. Especially in the OBE community.

With multiple bodies idea in mind, sleep paralysis can be explained in a different way:

While awake, we are using our physical body. While asleep (and during the out-of-body state) we are using our astral body.

So, during sleep paralysis, we are actually not in our physical body, but in the astral one! That’s why the physical body cannot be moved during sleep paralysis.

But the astral body can - and it can be used to induce OBE state and explore the astral realms.

Want to turn sleep paralysis into a magnificent exploration of the out-of-body state?

OBE researcher and explorer Robert Peterson has a technique for that!

Funny thing is, you don’t even need to believe in the non-physical body to make this out-of-body technique work.

While in a conscious sleep paralysis, do the following:

Close Your Eyes

Your eyes actually aren’t paralyzed. Keep them closed to avoid confusion.

Push Forward

Try to push forward with your consciousness. You may not feel it, but you will start to move your astral body.

Push 15 feet

Keep pushing with your eyes closed, until you are approximately 15 feet (or 5 meters) away from your body.

This distance is known as silver cord distance.

Open Your Eyes

Once you are at least 15 feet away, you may open your eyes and explore the out-of-body state.