Question Regarding Sleep Paralysis Incident

[Andrew]

Hey Everyone,

Last night I had a possible sleep paralysis incident that I would greatly appreciate some feedback on what you may think it was and how best to respond to these events. Just a little background, Sleep paralysis is something I used to experience quite a bit as a child but has since lessened in frequency in my adult years.

Last night, I was having a really hard time going to sleep.

I kept tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable but couldn’t.

I’m not sure at what point it happened, but at some point I fell asleep into a dream of this exact issue of struggling to fall asleep and struggling to get comfortable. To be honest, I thought I was still awake the whole time as I was still in my room in my exact surroundings. I didn’t realize I was dreaming this until at one point I finally regained a semi-conscious state and tried to sit up.

As I was trying to sit up I had this overwhelming feeling of being subdued.

I tried to open my eyes but they were being forced shut and I could see these flashes of light passing in front of my eyelids as I was trying to open them, while at the same time my torso was being forced down onto the bed. This was also accompanied by a high pitched frequency going off in my right ear. It really scared the heck out of me.

This happened (me trying to sit up) about 3 times before I was finally able to break out of the paralysis like state.

Right before I broke free, I heard a voice inside of me that yelled: “TAP OUT!!”. At first when I heard that it made me fight harder to break free of it but after I finally got up I realized ‘tap out’ means to quit or give up and Is defined as:

“to tap the floor to show that you accept that your competitor has beaten you”

Kinda spooky.

So, I’m not sure what to make of this or these types of events.

I don't ever allow myself to be subdued when these happen except one time which resulted in my consciousness falling into a black abyss that seemed to go on forever until I finally came to in some dream but with the retained awareness of the falling sensation that had just happened.

Anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences or what to do about these when they happen?

Thanks!

 

[Gawan]

That sounds pretty rough what you have gone through. I didn't have such experiences as you described. And it could have been just a very weird dream or something else.

What comes to mind if you remembered the Prayer of the Soul during it? Or for the general future that you could say the Prayer of the Soul to you which can be kind of protecting.

And have you read Lauras book High Strangeness yet?

 

[Andrew]

That sounds pretty rough what you have gone through. I didn't have such experiences as you described. And it could have been just a very weird dream or something else.

What comes to mind if you remembered the Prayer of the Soul during it? Or for the general future that you could say the Prayer of the Soul to you which can be kind of protecting.

And have you read Lauras book High Strangeness yet?

That's not a bad idea. Hadn't thought of trying the Prayer of Soul. If I recall correctly, I did mentally try and reach out to my higher self (assuming I have one) for help.
Yes, I've read High Strangeness several years back. Might be time for a refresher.

Thanks for the feedback Gawan

 

[munaychasumaq]

Andrew.I had these experiences some time ago frequently. So now days they are sporadic,but intense.Prayer of the Soul is my best weapon.You need to fight.Do not give up!!! Try don`t be afraid.When you saying the pray and fail start again and so forth,but do not give up!I I can understand how you feeling.In my experience,for some reason i know that it will happen with seconds of advance,so i will prepare.Prayer of the Soul comes to my mind instinctively.I have some kind of interaction and i really angry fighting as a lion with my mind.I`m not afraid anymore...I hope this can help you.

 

[Andrew]

So now days they are sporadic,but intense.Prayer of the Soul is my best weapon.

Yes, exactly!

Thanks munaychasumaq for your feedback. Sorry to hear this is something you've been through as well but good to know POTS has been useful for you in combating this.

I really, really hope it's NOT what I'm thinking it is and it was just a dream or...normal sleep paralysis. If that can even be considered 'normal'?

I have some kind of interaction and i really angry fighting as a lion with my mind.I`m not afraid anymore...I hope this can help you.

Yes, I would say my experience has been similar. You really have to fight it. Glad to hear you're not afraid of it anymore. It just happens so sporadically as you put, that I completely forget about it until it happens again and it feels like it's happening again for the first time.

Thanks for your feedback munaychasumaq

 

[munaychasumaq]

When you re-read High Strangeness and the Karla Turner`s book Into the Fringe you will connect the dots and you will be in a better position to deal with it.

 

[SHNAGFNAY]

I used to have sleep paralysis, but haven't had them for years, I think. I have had those dreams too when asleep but awake in surroundings. I also had flashes of light happen, but those maybe were unrelated, had them normally when awake. Ear ringing seem to happen sometimes when my mental mood changes or sometimes they just happen.

If I remember correctly, many years ago on this forum, someone said that to break free from sleep paralysis one should try and move the feet or toes (not sure if just toes or just feet). If that works or not I don't know, but you could try it. But it sounds like you had success with trying to sit up. It maybe just is a matter of will.

 

[monotonic]

If I were you I would not get myself worked up about what it "might" be. Whatever it is is outside of your control, but what you can control is yourself. In my experience this is the way to handle these experiences, rather than getting worked up about what "it" is or all the scary scenarios your brain might throw at you to explain it. Don't fixate on narratives that distract you from what you are actually experiencing; because then you are immersed in the narratives in your head rather than the reality of what you can actually see, feel and hear.

In my experience the anomaly in the self is the overwhelming feeling of anxiety. We tend to take that feeling for granted and not question it, as if it is going to save us. Well it is your body trying to save you, but your body is just a machine following built in instructions. It makes mistakes, and part of how it adjusts itself is by taking cues from what your mind is doing. A case in point, my stomach will never digest anything if I am indecisive and don't know where to go next, just drifting. But often if I do just one decisive thing, a few minutes later I will hear gurgles and feel things moving.

Don't just allow yourself to see everything through the lens of anxiety and the narrative that has popped into your head, from who knows what source. Ask yourself, why should I be paralyzed with fear? Why can't I be angry instead?

If you want to have a lucid dream, then one of things you do is you prepare yourself while you are awake. You prepare yourself to question the dream experience, and essentially just develop a more serious attitude towards the things happening around you which in dreams you typically experience passively. It works the same way with sleep paralysis in my experience. Imagine you have had it so often and for so long you are just fed up with it. Every time you think about about it you are furious at this thing, this nightmare or whatever it is that gets the best of you EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's so infuriating that you don't even care how scared you are, you just want it to bite the dust (if you're not already furious about it, how many more times will it take to bring you to that point?).

Or maybe, like in my case, you realize in some way you want the experience. You feel it makes you special, that some supernatural being thinks you matter enough to try and hurt you. Or that it validates your spirituality in some way. Hey look at me, I'm spiritual so I'm being attacked! Imagine the sleep paralysis stopped and you never had to experience it again. Would you feel anything more strongly than pure relief? Think long and hard about that scenario. If you can't bring yourself to wish it GONE, then maybe you are attracting it to you, for that exact reason; you are willing prey.

 

[Seato]

I have been irregularly been experiencing sleep paralysis and similar incident since early 2018. For me personally I find feet movement as mentioned by R-ME helpful in overcoming paralysis which seems more focused around the upper torso than lower body which I find easier to restore motor function. The first time I experienced paralysis I found though I could not push myself upright with my arms I was able to get upright by swinging my legs. Whilst for my upper body I focus on my moving my muscles in my fingers, hand and then arms.

I will typically grip onto my protection crystal; I currently wear nightwear with pockets for easy access. Depending on whether or not I am able, I will either flee from the room, or if unable to do so will take verbal action which can vary from the prayer of the soul to singing or statements towards the opposing force. Note to be careful if retreating not to hurt yourself. As I once had a separate experience once without the characteristic ringing noise which unlike normal scenarios did not take place in a full on dream state and I ended up falling down some very real stairs.

I would also suggest keeping a log and recording your experiences which you may find useful to reflect upon. I personally keep a dream diary and was surprised looking back through it today how much I mis-remembered my own experiences. I thought I hadn’t seen anything most of the time only to look back and realize I almost always saw something visually during these experiences ranging from disembodied arms to sickly versions of myself; among over things.

 

[SHNAGFNAY]

This may be silly, who knows. I realized that in my short reply I may have written unclearly.

After posting or replying something or trying to grasp something, I reread, not necessarily whole threads at once, but at least pieces of it, but especially my own posts, for a period of time.

My memory is rather vague regarding "these things" like paralysis and that is true for my memory in general too. As for me, past events and data, even fresh data, gets translated into "thought memories" for a lack of better terms, and over time only the winning thoughts remain. And with the fresh data, I may not remember certain content, of what the actual data is, for example a number or name, or whole chunks of data, but the thoughts that have been translated are there. Sleep paralysis has certainly left an imprint on me, thought I can't remember specific ones, just one or two that stood out and they being fragmented as well, but of course I know I had plenty of them.

I been shocked, frightened and excited at the same time when undergoing a sleep paralysis. But eventually it just became an occurrence. I have no clue how I would react if I got one tonight. Maybe they just are happening and if one has any problem with it, like fear, that is what it shows you, your fear, and you can work from there. And that could be something your could overcome, but the episodes may continue.

So, the ear ringing, happening in different levels of loudness, like a signal - I meant having those when awake. But I probably had some when paralyzed too, but that is something I can't remember now. But I have no recollection of having ear ringings when being paralyzed, to be honest.

The 'dreams of being awake' I meant having without paralysis in the same night. But I had these happen in the same night too but not necessarily directly after one another, I also realize. Here too I can remember two of these happening, thought my memory tells me them happening on more occasions. One of them waking up standing beside my bed, and then having that repeating several times, like a replay, in my room. The other being switching on the light next to my bed, just as real as anything, but with that groggy waking up feeling, only to "black out" and have it repeat, this happening several times, only to finally waking up and actually switching on the darn thing.

 

[Joe]

I’m not sure at what point it happened, but at some point I fell asleep into a dream of this exact issue of struggling to fall asleep and struggling to get comfortable. To be honest, I thought I was still awake the whole time as I was still in my room in my exact surroundings. I didn’t realize I was dreaming this until at one point I finally regained a semi-conscious state and tried to sit up.

As I was trying to sit up I had this overwhelming feeling of being subdued.

I tried to open my eyes but they were being forced shut and I could see these flashes of light passing in front of my eyelids as I was trying to open them, while at the same time my torso was being forced down onto the bed. This was also accompanied by a high pitched frequency going off in my right ear. It really scared the heck out of me.

This happened (me trying to sit up) about 3 times before I was finally able to break out of the paralysis like state.

Right before I broke free, I heard a voice inside of me that yelled: “TAP OUT!!”. At first when I heard that it made me fight harder to break free of it but after I finally got up I realized ‘tap out’ means to quit or give up and Is defined as:

“to tap the floor to show that you accept that your competitor has beaten you”

Kinda spooky.

Hi Andrew,

I've had similar experiences, and this one seems to have been pretty 'normal'. The basic version of sleep paralysis is when, as you more or less described, your body 'falls asleep' but your mind is still awake. You're not used to being in this state, so you can get pretty worked up, because your body really is paralyzed, it's paralyzed every time you are in REM sleep.

Your description of your eyes being "forced shut" is perhaps just your awareness of the fact that the motor parts of the brain associated with various body movements were not 'on line'. The same could be said for the feeling that your torso was "forced down". It may not have been being 'forced down', it's just that you couldn't move it via the normal function leading to you to think it was being forced down.

The "tap out" message could have been a kind of code from yourself to yourself rather than the dictionary definition. Tap out means you move tap your hand or fingers on something. This is a common way that people force the motor centers of the brain to wake up, i.e. trying to move a finger(s) or toe(s).

The ringing in the ear may, or may not, be something significant. Like I said, many people have much more menacing experiences in this state, so count yourself lucky. That said, I know that even the basic version is still a freaky experience, so you have my sympathy. I hope it doesn't become a regular occurrence!

 

[Andrew]

Hey thanks everyone for the responses! Didn't even realize anyone else had responded until I just got a notification from Joe.

If I remember correctly, many years ago on this forum, someone said that to break free from sleep paralysis one should try and move the feet or toes (not sure if just toes or just feet).

I will give this a try (assuming I can remember to do so). Ever since I first started having these, it's always been a matter of will for me to break out of it. But if all I need to do is remember to move my feet or toes...that's a huge relief!

Whatever it is is outside of your control, but what you can control is yourself.

Agreed. However, this is easier said than done when it's happening, but definitely doable. I think the source of the anxiety/fear however is not necessarily the narratives but the inability to actually 'know' what is happening. Is it just normal Sleep Paralysis? Or is something messing with me when I'm just trying to get a peaceful nights sleep? That 'unknown' aspect to the experience is what I think gets me worked up in the moment.

Or maybe, like in my case, you realize in some way you want the experience. You feel it makes you special, that some supernatural being thinks you matter enough to try and hurt you. Or that it validates your spirituality in some way. Hey look at me, I'm spiritual so I'm being attacked!

I don't think I feel this way about it. Maybe when I was younger? But after experimenting with Astral Projecting and all of the crazy phenomenon that opened me up to (hearing things talk to me in the night, things getting in bed with me, being pulled by my ankles down my bed that went on for what seemed like infinity), I never wanted anything to do with that stuff/those experiences again. I would prefer it not happen at all tbh. I guess in retrospect, the sleep paralysis does remind me of those experiences and may be related to the fear I get from it?

Maybe they just are happening and if one has any problem with it, like fear, that is what it shows you, your fear, and you can work from there. And that could be something your could overcome, but the episodes may continue.

I can definitely relate to what you said prior to the quote above. But this one in particular is something I've considered in the past. And I can recall thinking to myself that I wasn't going to let Fear overcome me when these episodes happen again. Yet, because of their randomness I always fail to remember to 'not be afraid' of the experience. And always end up feeling that way anyways. It's just such a surreal experience and like I mentioned above, the 'not knowing' (what it is for certain that's going on) seems to always get me also, especially with the knowledge now that Abductions are a real thing. So instinctively(?) I fight whatever the heck it is since I feel out of control.

One of them waking up standing beside my bed, and then having that repeating several times, like a replay, in my room. The other being switching on the light next to my bed, just as real as anything, but with that groggy waking up feeling, only to "black out" and have it repeat, this happening several times, only to finally waking up and actually switching on the darn thing.

Yes, that sounds pretty close to what I experienced last Wednesday as a matter of fact. I was stuck in a replay of being unable to get up from my bed.

I've had similar experiences, and this one seems to have been pretty 'normal'.

That's a relief to hear. I guess, what I wish I could just know is that 'I'm O.K.' while this is happening and there ISN'T anything malevolent messing with me. Otherwise, I would feel ok with the Paralysis experience and allow myself to just fall back into sleep rather than fighting with everything I can to wake up.

Your description of your eyes being "forced shut" is perhaps just your awareness of the fact that the motor parts of the brain associated with various body movements were not 'on line'.

Makes sense. I've had similar(?) 'out of line' experiences in the past where I would find myself dreaming/lucid dreaming/projecting, standing in the middle of my room without eye sight. Yet I could see out of the slits of my semi-closed physical eyes while my actual body was in my bed, if that makes sense.

The "tap out" message could have been a kind of code from yourself to yourself rather than the dictionary definition. Tap out means you move tap your hand or fingers on something. This is a common way that people force the motor centers of the brain to wake up, i.e. trying to move a finger(s) or toe(s).

Hadn't considered this so will need to try and keep R-ME's suggestion in mind when this happens again.

That said, I know that even the basic version is still a freaky experience, so you have my sympathy. I hope it doesn't become a regular occurrence!

Thanks Joe! Me either. They've lessened in degree substantially as I've gotten older. But still hit me from time to time like this one and possibly another last week referenced above in response to R-ME. But that may have just been a dream.

 

[Beau]

Have you been eating anything with gluten or dairy in it on a semi-daily basis? Sleep paralysis has been known to go away with the elimination of those foods.

 

[Joe]

I will give this a try (assuming I can remember to do so). Ever since I first started having these, it's always been a matter of will for me to break out of it. But if all I need to do is remember to move my feet or toes...that's a huge relief!

Doing that will still likely be a struggle to one extent or another, it usually is for me anyway.

 

[Joe]

That's a relief to hear. I guess, what I wish I could just know is that 'I'm O.K.' while this is happening and there ISN'T anything malevolent messing with me.

Believe me, if there's something malevolent around, you'll know!