I have much experience with sleep paralysis, and some with astral projection...
Back in my teens, sleep paralysis would happen to me very often, at times, nearly every other night. At first it was scary, but I learned to get myself out of it, waking up when it happens...usually.
Supposedly the reason it happens, is that when you go to sleep, your brain releases some hormone that prevents you from physically reacting to things you experience in dreams. Sleep paralysis is usually when you become "awake" consciously, but not physically, as the hormones are still working.
There is definitely a sense of being disconnected from the normal world while this happens. In a book available online written by Yogi Ramacharaka, a guide to oriental occultism, it actually explains the "astral world" very similarly in a first hand guided way, to an experience that I had during sleep paralysis. And it is also said that when we dream, it is our astral bodies travelling on the astral plane...the next plane of existence after the physical world.
The "astral body" is supposed to be a sort of transport which carries your soul to even higher planes, after the physical body has died. And with practice, many Yogis (according to this text, and others) can leave their physical bodies at will, travelling in the astral body.
What does this have to do with sleep paralysis? Well, when it happens, I believe you are still existing in the astral plane, but inside your physical body and just not quite ready to "wake up" in the physical body. The theory of the hormones is disputed.
I have had several out of body experiences, probably all but 1 having started after sleep paralysis. The first time it happened was a life changing experience almost just because of the depth of it, and the shock of what was going on. It was more crazy than anything that would happen in an acid trip, but I wasn't on any kind of drug at the time, and I was in completely clear conscious mind. I had also yet to try any psychedelic at the time it happened, so don't attribute the experience to some kind of effects from drug use...the only thing I had used at the time was occasionally smoking pot.
I was extremely tired one day, and slept on a couch. I then had a very strange vivid dream, driving my car on a specific road near my house, that seemed to signal something in the future. I'm not going to go into the details of the dream because it isn't important for my story, but it wasn't really too out of the ordinary except that I can remember it in such great detail, and that it seemed real. But the important part of it, is that at the beginning of the dream, I specifically remember standing up and getting off the couch from sleeping. So, I basically thought I had awoken from my nap, when everything happened, but I was still asleep. Then, at the end of my dream, I remember lying back down on the same couch (in my dream), but upon which I was currently actually sleeping, physically.
After this, the dream ended, and I began to experience typical sleep paralysis, where I couldn't move....but I could see. (Sometimes I can see and sometimes I can't when it happens, although I could swear that my eyes aren't actually open when it happens) So, I was trying to jerk myself out of the sleep paralysis episode using this technique that I would use in order to break myself out of it in the past. Usually I do this by focusing all of my mental energy, and trying to all of a sudden, move a part of my body quickly, at once. This time I did it, and I actually fell off the couch...BUT my body was still lying/sleeping on the couch. And this has happened to me many times, where I know my physical body is still asleep on the bed or couch, yet my conscious "body" is on the floor. I can specifically remember feeling the texture and shape of the side of the couch, the carpet, and everything where it should be as if I were lying next to the couch on my floor. Yet I wasn't actually on the floor. And I am certain this was not a dream, as I was completely conscious, and had just been in a state of sleep paralysis, and should have woken up.
After this, I seemed to slip back into my physical body, which was lying on the couch. It was then that my body started to be taken over by a strange vibrating force, and I could also hear some kind of humming sound. (I later read in the yogi's text this exact description of a humming and vibrating when leaving the physical body). When this happened, I left my body momentarily, floating above my physical body which was still on the couch. Then I slowly went back down into the physical body. I could also "feel" or KNEW that some entity was near me. There was no doubt in my mind that someone or something was there with me, on the astral plane, when this was going on...and I later read in the chapter that there are "astral helpers" that guide travellers on the plane, etc. Things that I normally would have dismissed as being completely ridiculous. But I could definitely feel the presence of some conscious being, in energy form, in the same room that I was in by physical measure. This was where I started getting kind of scared, as I had no idea what was going on. Then my body started vibrating and humming much more intensely than before, and I knew I was about to be taken somewhere far away, or shown something that was very important, I don't know, but I could feel something like I was about to take a long or far trip to the unknown...and this entity was pulling me to it. This feeling made me really scared, as at the time, I had no knowledge of any of these happenings. So I just remember specifically repeating to the entity that "I dont want to go, Im not ready"...I was just sending that message in my thoughts, psychically I guess...then the vibrating and humming stopped, and I woke up....I was shaking, breathing hard, and really scared/shocked.
I had heard of "out of body experiences" and things such as what had just happened to me, and never gave any thought to it, other than it was crazy people telling a nice story. Until this happened to me, by no choice of my own. And I also now have started to subscribe mroe to Yogi beliefs about existence on different planes, and life after death, which I have read quite a lot about since that experience happened. And everything that was explained in that decades old occult book about the "astral plane" seemed to be an exact description of what had happened to me, which caused me to give much respect and consideration to the yogi beliefs, as no other religious description had been so close to me personally with explaining some crazy experience I had, and that others have as well.
I would occasionally have more experiences similar to the first one, where I would leave my body...but I have/had trouble "letting go" and just going wherever I was meant to...the first time it happened, according to the Yogis, I probably should have just let go, and gone with the entity to see what would happened. But as explained in the book, the mind has a strong connection to the physical body, and is basically all it knows. So in order to break free from the body, and rise higher in the spiritual world, requires complete detachment from worldly objects and desires, and having no fear...and you must be prepared. I still haven't been able to just let go during these experiences. Most of them happened to me just on their own, but during certain instances of sleep paralysis, I learned to initiate it on my own, and actually was able to leave my body by my own will. But after that, I couldn't do much but come right back into my body, as I still couldn't really leave, mentally, I wasn't ready. Which might be one reason I turned to psychedelics, in order to help me release my fear, and just let go, and experience what I should experience. Although I've never had more than a level 2 trip, as I can't even get a hold of any entheogens where I am.
Sleep paralysis rarely, if ever, happens to me anymore, and I don't know why. If you are interested in truly exploring higher forms of existence, and not just getting high, then sleep paralysis is a great place to start, as you can learn with practice to travel outside the physical world...the book about oriental occultism by yogi ramacharaka can teach you a lot about it as well.
And don't reply saying "i call bs" or something like that, because I've heard it before, and I don't really give a shit, my experience is my experience whether you choose to believe it or not...and maybe you can try it one day, and possibly "break on through" like I still haven't achieved. I would hope to though one day...and I still would like to practice more with entheogens, if I can attain them...thinking of ordering san pedro. And then hopefully with that type of "practice", I can really just experience what I should have experienced that first day, with no fear and no doubts.
Peace brothers, damn this is longer than I thought it would be
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Shop: Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
mikeyboy 
FunkyLoFi 
Edit 
Reply 
safe
mikeyboy
soulcircus
peavyxs
1 2 all )
calavera