An Interesting Situation

[kpreston]

Pre-face:
First off, I appologize for the long post. I just woke from an interesting dream, followed by an equally interesting situation. I just had share it with someone. I turned the dream into a short story to try and keep your attention.

I'm on day three of my biphasic sleep experiment. It was about 10:40, and I was laying down for a nap. After 15 or so minutes, I could feel myself falling asleep. It's a short kind of alertness/feeling you don't get very often; it's odd to experience, and difficult to explain.

It was like my mind was alert enough to realize I was drifting off, but so dulled that I couldn't actually understand it. I remember thinking to myself that I should set my alarm back another 15 minutes, while at the same time knowing it wasn't neccesary.

I've moved recently, so most areas and people in the dream are part of the new house (or my roomates Steven and Scott).

Dream:

The three of us were sitting in our living room talking; Scott and Steven were on the couch, and I was on the floor. It was dark in the room, but I could see the soft light coming from a TV or open laptop. My roomates were talking to me, but it was impossible for me to focus on what they were saying.

I began to fill dizzy and looked up at my friends faces. I was met by the stare of two identical faces. They were staring at me... with a sort of evil, mal-intent in their eyes. Their heads would shift back and forth, like dogs, as they studied me. I tried to open my mouth to ask what was happening, but no words came out. The only thing I remember them saying before I left the room was a slow and monotone: "Why is he talking to us like that?"

I made my way up the stairs and to the bathroom. There was a large circular shadow on the wall. I joked to myself about it's evil spooky appearance, to ease my fears. I walked into the bathroom, and flipped the light switch.

I don't know what happened, but I was thrown backwards. My ears were ringing now, and the quick popping sounds I began to hear became muffled. It was like a gunshot had gone off only inches away. I saw a burst of light come from the switch.

I fell slowly, almost as if I was in slow motion. I was more drifting/floating downwards rather than falling.

As I "fell" I began to wonder what had happened. Had I been electrocuted? Had there been an explosion? Am I dreaming or am I dieing? What a pleasant way to die... there's no pain. I just continued to slowly drift to the floor. I landed softly and laid silently there, hoping my fall had been loud enough to alert my roomates. They never came.

My legs began to tingle--it's that sort of pins and needles feeling you get when your legs fall asleep. My legs slowly lifted into the air and my body followed them off the floor. I was being pulled towards the shadow on the wall. I grabbed onto a cabinet nearby and said "You can't have me," and was dropped to the floor.

This is when the dream became lucid. In fact, I literally told myself out loud that I was dreaming. I began to test things. I pulled the molding, around my door, off my wall; I jumped higher than usual and drifted slowly back down; and I walked through walls and mirrors. The strange thing is, every time I did something that was physically impossible, the environment would be replaced by darkness, and I would fall, become dizzy and eventually end up in a new environment.

I was unable to wake up. Every time I willed myself to open my eyes, I would simply dream of waking. My inability to open my eyes put me into a panic. I tried desperately to move my body but the best I could do was flutter my eyelids. It was like my eyes were glued to the ceiling, staring at something that wasn't there. I actually drempt of waking 3-4 times before it actually happened. And when I finally did awaken, I was extremely disoriented for about a minute (dizzy, spinning feeling, confused).

Was this sleep paralysis, or just a nightmare? Why was it so difficult to wake up? What do you make of the dream?



Extra:
While I laid in bed I remembered a very small detail of the dream that I left out of the story. As I walked out of the living room and headed towards the bathroom, I noticed Scott in the kitchen. There was a voice, either from a friend I couldn't see or from myself, which said "What are you doing?" Scott replied "cleaning," as he removed dishes from the dishwasher (which I had filled and turned on before going to sleep). I couldn't remember if this actually happened, or was just part of the dream. I walked out to the kitchen, and smelled something burning. I opened the dishwasher and found our spatula laying on the heating element at the bottom, melted into a pool of plastic.

Moral of the story: place plastic objects, in the dishwasher, where they won't fall.

TL;DR version: my spatula was melted by our dish washer.

[Philemon]

"Was this sleep paralysis, or just a nightmare? Why was it so difficult to wake up? What do you make of the dream?"


I've had almost identical experiences to what you describe about false awakenings. It can be scary at first, but the goal is to get over your urge to wake up. Remember, if you need to wake up, you will. I know this is a somewhat common experience, but I'm not sure how experts would classify it. The reason it is difficult to wake up is probably because you are in such a deep, altered state of consciousness. If it happens again, try to relax. If you're wondering why it's scary or difficult, maybe ask the dream for some help. All that said, good job achieving full lucidity!!