Thread: Converting sleep paralysis into a lucid dream?

I learned to lucid dream two years ago (thanks to Dreamviews). It brought on an onslaught of sleep paralysis episodes. I'm talking about extremely realistic and frightening episodes (almost always someone breaking into the house). They were so real that it took me half a year to convince myself that they are always a dream (or hallucination). Once they became predictable, I started become lucid in them. Even though I knew it was sleep paralysis, it was still scary. I'd just lay there listening to footsteps, windows breaking, and hear the alarm going off while watching eerie shadows pass me by until the sleep paralysis wore off (all while knowing it wasn't real). Sometimes I'd have multiple episodes in a row.

Well, they became less frequent over the last year. I started up lucid dream training recently, and wouldn't you know it.. I had sleep paralysis this morning! I was in my bed and listened to the scary noises and saw transparent movement (like the predator--kind of new for me). It was scary at first, but the paralysis has become such a strong dream sign that I became lucid and remained calm and cool. Soon, my alarm went off and instantly broke the paralysis. This was a false awakening, which triggered a totally separate dream.

Anyhow, I'm convinced these episodes will return full-on now that I'm practicing again. I want to take advantage of it since it happens so frequently! How do I convert it to a lucid dream without actually waking up?

From my research, one poster recommended closing your eyes and visualizing a dream. Another recommends remaining calm and trying to manipulate your hallucinations. Another recommended visualizing walking down stairs, pulling yourself up by rope, singing a song in your head, and counting backwards.

Does anyone here have a first-hand solution of their own? I'd really like to know what works for people. Thank you!