Unable to move or scream when lucid in a nightmare.

[lookcloser]

Lately I've been having too many nightmares, every night. And many nightmares in just one night. And when things get too scary or disturbing I become lucid and I know I want to wake up but I find myself helpless. It's like I'm paralyzed or something. I can't scream or move or breathe sometimes and I feel like I'm gonna die

Does anyone have a clue as to what is going on with me?

[AngelPsychic444]

When you can't move, that sounds like sleep paralysis, which is a good thing when you desire to have out-of-body experiences. You could ask your guardian angel for help, I would say this before you go to sleep at night:

"I request the most benevolent outcome for having a very restful and pleasant night's sleep, and waking up in the morning feeling rejuvenized, healed and absolutely fantastic, and I request that this outcome be even better than I could hope for or expect....thank you"

Say that each night and you should wake up in the morning feeling really wonderful. I use a variation of this request and I wake up feeling so good....it's amazing!

John

[AngelPsychic444]

Double post.

[Summerbreeze]

What do the dreams look like?
Do they remember you of situations in your life?

~sb

[lookcloser]

Originally Posted by AngelPsychic444

When you can't move, that sounds like sleep paralysis, which is a good thing when you desire to have out-of-body experiences. You could ask your guardian angel for help, I would say this before you go to sleep at night:

"I request the most benevolent outcome for having a very restful and pleasant night's sleep, and waking up in the morning feeling rejuvenized, healed and absolutely fantastic, and I request that this outcome be even better than I could hope for or expect....thank you"

Say that each night and you should wake up in the morning feeling really wonderful. I use a variation of this request and I wake up feeling so good....it's amazing!

John

But I'm not paralyzed when I wake up, I'm paralyzed in my dream
I used to do the MBOs for having pleasant vivid dreams, but I still had nightmares. So I kinda stopped doing them because I assumed these nightmares had some important information for me to know.

Originally Posted by Summerbreeze

What do the dreams look like?
Do they remember you of situations in your life?

~sb

They are very vivid. But I don't think they remind me of any real life situations, but there was one dream where I was sitting behind my friend on a bike and he was riding real fast, because somebody/thing was chasing us. After a while we suddenly notice this young lady who is completely hysterical and frightened waving at us to stop the bike. But we are scared ourselves, so my friend decides not to stop. And the lady kinda throws herself on me onto the moving bike and that's when I realize its a dream. I try to shake her off, I try to scream, I try to jump out or wake up. But I was motionless and terrorized for about two minutes, then I woke up and put the lights on in my room

[Federer]

Dear H. I am sending you stable and happiness vibes. Don't worry everything will be fine soon.

You can right down your dream here and i'll try to interpret as i can. Maybe your dream is trying to warn you, showing some important signs or trying to solve your questions.

*hug*

[Federer]

Originally Posted by lookcloser

They are very vivid. But I don't think they remind me of any real life situations, but there was one dream where I was sitting behind my friend on a bike and he was riding real fast, because somebody/thing was chasing us. After a while we suddenly notice this young lady who is completely hysterical and frightened waving at us to stop the bike. But we are scared ourselves, so my friend decides not to stop. And the lady kinda throws herself on me onto the moving bike and that's when I realize its a dream. I try to shake her off, I try to scream, I try to jump out or wake up. But I was motionless and terrorized for about two minutes, then I woke up and put the lights on in my room

It might be pointing out to say you have some dangers in your life. Can't say properly. Definitely i can see here lots of threat, danger and escape from something that you don't want.

[Summerbreeze]

Between event and response is a space you fill with behavior that goes in the subconscious in the long run.

Maybe you should look why you fear these situations.
Our subconscious throws much at us sometimes.

Maybe you metaphorically run away from something etc.? But don't make a distinction between event and your reaction?

People dreaming the same can interpret it as negative or positive.

My initial thought was that it wants to show you how you react, to make you think about it in general.

~sb

[theuprising]

I thought this was a common occurence in nightmares? >.> I don't know I've been going lucid in dreams since I was a child b/c my mind would always pick up that "this doesn't seem real". I actually don't LD too much anymore because I have a much broader acceptance of reality and what could possibly be real, so I'm questioning and certain of my understanding of reality.

But anyway, when you go lucid, you have conscious control of your dream, if you have too much control, you wake up as you are too conscious, if you have too little control, you might as well not be lucid. Its an art of you coming in and out of consciousness to change aspects of the dream and set it up to your liking, and let then to step back and buy into the reality of the dream.

When you are lucid in a dream and things seem to be spiraling out of control, its due to 1, you are about to wake up and the dream is coming undone, or 2, you are subconsciously sabotoging yourself. Your subconscious mind has trouble "not" doing things and has a curiosity to do what its not supposed to. It happens more often in nightmares. Focus on something else if you are "stuck" in a nightmare, a drive nearly as powerful as fear, sex (lol), usually overpowers a nightmare.

Also, I note that I am PHYSICALLY unable to move, like I can feel my arms and try to move them but can't, and this is due to me being in my astral body, and/or my body is undergoing REM sleep during which all movement is restricted.

[MiBeloved]

You are having sleep paralysis and astral experiences all in one. Sleep paralysis occurs when the astral body is not in sync with the physical one, so that you are aware of the physical body but you cannot move it because your will power is not properly connected to the physical nervous system.

That is different to having astral nightmares or entering astral levels which are negative.

These are two separate factors.

[Federer]

Originally Posted by MiBeloved

You are having sleep paralysis and astral experiences all in one. Sleep paralysis occurs when the astral body is not in sync with the physical one, so that you are aware of the physical body but you cannot move it because your will power is not properly connected to the physical nervous system.

That is different to having astral nightmares or entering astral levels which are negative.

These are two separate factors.

Help of the day. I agree with your opinion, too. She is in this position, i am thinking....

[Jon Tore]

Ow! I really feel for you and I relate to it. Are you stressed nowadays, having enough sleep? To me, these things happen when I have too much on my mind and things that I don't want to do that need to be done. I don't know if it's sleep paralysis or not. You can dream while having sleep paralysis, but I also imagine that you could have these nightmares and be stuck *in* the dream. If you have no, like.. physical feeling of your body or aware that you're in your bed, I'd say it's not sleep paralysis.

The only tips I can think of is to not get stuck with too much work and school disaster, and to see if you can recognize these nightmares when they appear and use the lucidity to just know that you're safe and make your way out of there. Spend a minute to sort out/organize things in your head. That's at least a stress factor in my own life, and I think it might be related to all sorts of sleep weirdness going on. Take care and much love!

[Nebula7]

Every dream should have a message.
Hey, I'm Josie, I'm from Alaska.
I had a 'lucid' dream years ago. Before that dream, I had countless fears. After that dream, I feared nothing, except spiders. Now I'm one confident person.
Here's the story.


Year 2008. Mid winter. No cable. Home. Someone lended me their ipod, movies were on it. Was tired, but this movie was good, I kept my eyes open. Finally, closed my eyes a moment.

Opened my eyes. Was gonna continue paused movie. One problem.

Some odd reason, I couldn't move. At all. My whole body was, in a statue state.

Only thing I could move, were my eyes. I looked around, I was frightened, though I looked around. Room was dark. Somehow, in the corner of my eyes, everything was below me. As if I were floating, lol, seriously, like I was in midair. I can hear people snoring, for sure, as they were snoring before. I felt fully awake, but, why couldn't I move? I know my sister was in the other room, watching her own movie. I saw my sleeping family move about in their own sleep.

I was crying, inside, no tears, no sounds came from me though. That lasted quickly, because I closed my eyes again, peeked back into reality with one eye, I was still immobilized in the air somehow. Closed my eyes more. Suddenly got dizzy. Somehow, it was like, I fell into a dream. As if I were in lunch line, waiting for 'seconds'. Someone in that dream bumped into me with their tray, all onto me flew their food, like I was gonna react a certain way, like I was gonna snap back angrily. But I fell, slipped, but before I hit the floor. I opened my eyes. I was where I was again.

Yup, in midair. This time, I tried screaming, only a breath of air could reach out of me.

Than my body somehow manage to make movement. Not by me, it was like, like I was being fought over. I know this sounds silly, but it was like, I was being pulled into a darkness. But Light was pulling on me too. I was screaming. Only on mute. Something told me to relax. Something told me not to be afraid. Something told me so, because the other something, was feeding off my fear. A deep breath I took, wondering if I should trust that instinct. I let go of myself, somehow my fears vanished, I was relaxed & encouraged. I closed my eyes. Nothing was pulling on me anymore. Nothing.

Opened my eyes, realized it was all a dream. I wasn't scared no more, so I went to write about this somewhere. Told my sister, she scoffed. Said oh well, continued my movie. Next day air, was at school. Went online, this is the part, I almost blogged it on Myspace, when it was "A Place for friends" & Ana said it was the cutest blog ever. Loll because I never got the chance to get it done.

[Nebula7]

Oh did I say, I no longer dream that way? I used to have nightmares. When I say nightmares, I mean nightmares! For instance, once I was found screaming into reality like hectic, from my dream, my eyes, were wide opened! But I wasn't awake, I was still in my dream, this was at the stroke of 3am. Sweating waterfalls, hiding from something I feared from my dream. Nope, I don't dream much of that no more. I don't think, I dreamed as often anymore..? But now, dreams are catching up to me now, after I let myself drop from sucess, after I've been severly criticised, now my dreams come back to tell me something. My dreams have a way of ensuring me in reality.

I think its something you have to accept. This told me I have to accept not to fear.

[Jane Doe]

But I'm not paralyzed when I wake up, I'm paralyzed in my dream

This has happened to me before too. I actually posted on it not too long ago, when it seemed to be occurring more frequently. I do not feel anybody on that thread accurately explained to me what was occurring, so I am glad you started this topic.

If you have no, like.. physical feeling of your body or aware that you're in your bed, I'd say it's not sleep paralysis.

From what it sounds like to me, and correct me if I’m wrong “lookcloser,” but it sounds like you DO have physical feeling of your body (which is paralyzed when you are dreaming), but you do NOT have an awareness of your physical surroundings. Your awareness is of your dream surroundings, but your feeling is of your physical body. Does that sound accurate?

I am simply going by my own experience, which sounds very similar to yours.
You said, for instance, that this would occur after a “shocking” moment in your dream, right? Same thing would happen to me. I think the focus on fear is very relevant, as “Nebula7” was saying. I wonder if we got over our fears, what would happen? What would happen if we were not only aware of the dream world, but FELT ourselves being in it? Is that how one goes about astral projecting? Being truly present in the dream world. Feeling, not your physical body, but your astral body…

I may be completely off base, sorry. I may be talking to myself a little bit. I think I had some sort of realization that I didn’t have when I was experiencing this “paralysis within a dream.”

You are having sleep paralysis and astral experiences all in one. Sleep paralysis occurs when the astral body is not in sync with the physical one, so that you are aware of the physical body but you cannot move it because your will power is not properly connected to the physical nervous system.

That is different to having astral nightmares or entering astral levels which are negative.

These are two separate factors.

I think this appears to be a really good explanation.

Why do you say that there is an “astral experience” involved here? Just because it was a dream, or because it became a lucid dream? I ask because when this was happening to me, I was lucid a few times which seemed to trigger the paralysis, but not every time. Sometimes it was simply a big event that acted as the “paralysis within a dream” trigger, that occurred while dreaming, that appeared to have a strong impact on me emotionally (like seeing classmates that have died).

[Jane Doe]

Originally Posted by MiBeloved

You are having sleep paralysis and astral experiences all in one. Sleep paralysis occurs when the astral body is not in sync with the physical one, so that you are aware of the physical body but you cannot move it because your will power is not properly connected to the physical nervous system.

That is different to having astral nightmares or entering astral levels which are negative.

These are two separate factors.

Actually, if you could expand on this in anyway, that would be helpful. When I was trying to explain this phenomena, not many people seemed to understand that the paralysis was occurring WITHIN the dream. You said there are two separate factors at work. Why are these two factors interacting?

[MiBeloved]

Originally Posted by Jane Doe

Actually, if you could expand on this in anyway, that would be helpful. When I was trying to explain this phenomena, not many people seemed to understand that the paralysis was occurring WITHIN the dream. You said there are two separate factors at work. Why are these two factors interacting?

There is only one subtle body just as there is only one physical body. Hence the various bodies described by mystics are different phases of the same one subtle body. That body feels differently according to the energy level it is synchronized into. In fact we customarily think that the subtle body is just part of the physical body or is just the physical body itself when it is fused into the physical form.

Astral projection means that it has separated out of the physical body and has shifted out of the location of the physical body. But it can separate from the physical body in terms of vibration and when it does so, it may still be interspaced into the physical body and then we say that the person is lucid dreaming. So the technicality between lucid dreaming and astral projection is that in lucid dreaming the person is having subtle experiences while being interspaced into the physical one while in astral projection the person is having subtle experiences while being out-place or displaced from the physical one.

It is the same subtle world in each case, but in one case, the person is still somewhat aware of the physical body , while in the other the person is only aware of the subtle body and is distanced from the physical one.

Lucid dreaming and astral projection are different to daydreaming in the mind or imagining something in the mind. That is a totally different state which takes place in the brain of the physical body and the mind of the subtle body at the same time and is a construction of the person’s imaginative powers.

Astral projection and lucid dreaming do involve one’s imaginative powers but they take place in a real subtle world, just as if you draw a diagram of a product you invent and then manufacture that product physically. In that case you were using your imaginative powers but the product is real nevertheless; while another person who just imagined the product and did not go to the extent of manufacturing it , just worked with her imagination only.

As there is a real physical world in which we have paved parts to make streets, so there are real astral dimensions in which lucid dreaming and astral projection take place.


Notes on Sleep Paralysis and Cataleptic Trance

Sleep Paralysis is usually confused with spirit possession and other spooky experiences. This is because when sleep paralysis occurs, others unpleasant psychic experiences may also occur, and the person may misidentify the paralysis with those experiences. One other thing is that when there is sleep paralysis, the person’s mind usually goes into a panic and fear is invoked automatically. Due to that the person’s astral body sinks down into a lower plane of existence and experiences the horrible realities there.

But the paralysis itself is rarely caused by any evil spirit or any other suppressive or ghastly force, even though such forces do existed in fact.

I have tested and re-tested sleep paralysis on myself for over 50 years, since I was about 9 years of age. My physical body is now 59 years of age. At about nine years, I used to have many sleep paralysis experiences and so I was determined to figure out the reason for it.

I teach meditation, teach kundalini yoga and have written books on related subjects. I spend years taking notes about my subtle experiences. My conclusions are as follows:

Sleep paralysis is a misnomer for the subtle body’s failure to synchronize properly with the astral body. It is not a paralysis of the physical body but it is the subtle body’s inability to move that subtle body. That inability is interpreted by the person’s mind as a resistance to will power by the physical body, as a paralysis of it. In fact it is not in a state of paralysis. The problem is that the will power of the person which is housed in the head of the astral form is not connected to the nervous system of the physical body and hence when instructions are given to the physical body for movement, the instructions are not followed by the physical form and the person feels uncomfortable and feels deprived or being able to manipulate and operate the physical body as usual.

Normally when we wake up from sleep , it happens instantly without any hesitation of the physical body to respond to our will power, but in sleep paralysis this natural system is frustrated because the subtle body did not synchronize properly and so with the will power of the person not being lined up properly in the brain with the central nervous system, the person cannot move the physical body. Usually the person can move the diaphragm, can operate the breathing mechanism and can hold the breath and by that may cause the subtle body to jerk into the physical one and set itself in synchronization.

It is an unpleasant experience because we are used to just waking up as a physical body without any hesitation. In other words we take for granted the psychic mechanism or life force (kundalini in yoga books) which is in both bodies, and we feel that it should just operate properly no matter what, such that we should just get up from dream or from astral projection and be our usual physical self as usual.

The same thing occurs when the astral body and the physical body are about to separate. Usually that happens automatically without our participation and usually it works out okay for us without a hitch, such that we are out of it, then we find ourselves in a dream in the mind in the physical head or we find ourselves in a dream apart from the physical body.

So when the astral body and physical body separate partially and we find that we cannot operate the physical body and also we cannot be fully on the astral side, we panic. It all has to do with the synchronization of those two bodies. When they are partially in sync then we are unable to operate one or the other or both in the usual way and we panic. Fear comes into play and we enter lower dimensions and experience unwanted realities.

But those unwanted realities are not the paralysis experience itself but we may confuse the issues, due to simultaneous occurrence.

[Jane Doe]

So when the astral body and physical body separate partially and we find that we cannot operate the physical body and also we cannot be fully on the astral side, we panic. It all has to do with the synchronization of those two bodies. When they are partially in sync then we are unable to operate one or the other or both in the usual way and we panic. Fear comes into play and we enter lower dimensions and experience unwanted realities.

But those unwanted realities are not the paralysis experience itself but we may confuse the issues, due to simultaneous occurrence.

I usually struggle against sleep paralysis, but I don't panic. "Panic" is not the right word. I wonder. And to be honest, I still wonder.

Thank you for your explanation, but I still wonder about things. I understand the "un-synchronized" explanation, but I am still left wondering what it all means.

I suppose the things I am wondering about are not given in answers from other people.

I am starting a new thread on a similar topic, although its focus differs. (I want to avoid "thread hijacking")

[MiBeloved]

It is a question of how to decease the incidence of un-synchronization. One thing is to make sure that the physical body is left in a room which has adequate ventilation, meaning constant fresh air.
I have noticed that if I am in a room where there is not a constant supply of fresh air, that sleep paralysis increases. Another thing has an effect is alcohol and also certain depressant drugs.
Each person can check to see if there is anything in diet or room atmosphere conditions which increase the likelihood of sleep paralysis.

[Jane Doe]

I don't really feel the need to prevent sleep paralysis. When I am in the state, I do try to come out of it, but I actually enjoy the experience as a whole. I don't want to prevent it. It is what it is. I like the experience-- I think it's teaching me something. What the something is...I'm not sure right now.

Edit: I do want to add that I realize for many people, this is a very uncomfortable experience. Like "lookcloser" saying "sometimes it feels like I'm gonna die." So I realize that prevention may be the best option for some people.

I also want to add that when this first started occurring to me, I was also very scared. And I still get scared sometimes-- but not every time. And that's the key: I'm learning not to be afraid. And if I had done things to prevent it from occurring, I feel I would have missed this lesson.