Synergie

Sleep paralysis is an area I think I can help - or I hope I can....

I have experienced sleep paralysis all my life. In fact, everyone does.... it is the result of natural hormones/enzymes that are released during REM sleep to prevent you from acting out your dreams. Normally, the effect of these wear off before you awaken. What we refer to as sleep paralysis is when the effect is still there as you are waking up. You are actually in between sleep and waking in a state called hypnopompia. You are semi-conscious enough to form memories but your body is still sort of in that sleep state. The result is that you can not move, your body is frozen paralyzed, feel as if you are being pushed down from above, and since your mind is not completely awake yet (remember I said awake enough to from conscious memories) but you can still kind of be susceptible to dreamlike images called hypnopompic hallucinations.... these can be as vague as shadowy figures or as vivid as a presense in the room with you.

The impotant thing to know is that almost everyone in their lifetime will experience sleep paralysis at least once, and the phenomenon is normal. If you know in advance what it is... then you won't be so frightened by it if/when it happens.

The easiest way to get out of the paralysis I find... is to concentrate just on my pinky finger and move just my pinky finger, then my other fingers, then my hand... and by that time I've come out of it. Or you can just close your eyes oddly enough your eyes are the only things that actually DO work in SP) close your eyes and let yourself fall back asleep and you will wake normally.

Just remember... its frightening if you dont know what it is.. but its never permenent... and will not harm you in any way! If you know what it is, then if you experience it you wont be frightened by it.

I actually use it to my advantage to experiment with lucid dreaming and such.....