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Sleep paralysis?
Hello guys, I need help. I am new to lucid dreaming as I only learned what it was about a week ago and have been trying techniques since then (mostly FILD with no luck yet). Yesterday though, I decided to try to use sleep paralysis to get me in a lucid dream. I got an app called Lucid Dreamer on my phone and it has an option called Paralyzer. What it does is beeps every however many seconds you want for however many minutes you want to help keep your mind awake. I went to bed at about 10 pm and made it beep every 30 secs for 20 minutes. I lay on my back and tried not to move. Soon I felt my body relax and ALMOST go numb. After 20 minutes the beeping stopped, but I still felt awake. I tried to keep my mind awake by focusing on the place I wanted to end up in in my dream. Suddenly I felt a wave of heat and tingling go up from my toes. My heart started to beat extremely fast and loud and my breathing got irregullar. I was hearing some noises like when a cat walks on your desk and and moves things about (my cat was locked in another room at the time so it couldnt have been him). I didn't feel any pressure on my chest though and When I got my breathing under control I didn't dare to try and move in case I wake my body up. A few moments later i literally felt like I was being catapulted through a portal into space (and i saw it in my mind too). I didn't feel my bed under me and I really felt like I was floating for a second or two. That was the point where I didn't really know what to do. I turned on my side and it all disapeared.
My question is: Was that really sleep paralysis? As I said I did it right after I went to bed so it definitely wasn't during the REM phase so I dont know if it is even possible to do it when you go to bed. And also do you think that whole being catapulted into space thing might have been the transition into a lucid dream? And finally, if that was the start of a lucid dream what should i do to keep it going?
Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance. Also, sorry for the long post :P
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Could have been a dream could have been Hypnagogic Halucination. You would have to know if you were awake at the time, if so it is the latter.
As to can it happen right when you go to bed, you are better off if you sleep for several hours, wake back to bed skipping over some of cycle and then attempt.
I have almost no experience with WILD techniques, but have DEILD (from Lucid dream to wake to Lucid dream) at least once maybe twice. And I have lay in bed and reached Paralysis several times, but I always test the limit of the paralysis and break out by wiggling my fingers too much (but I was definitely in paralysis and couldn't move my arms, shoulders, etc).
I have experienced HH many times tho. As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep and hope for DILD (perhaps with mantra etc), especially if trying to use visualization, and suddenly a totally real looking person or scene will appear, but I am totally aware that I am awake in bed and an not paralyzed. If I attempt to move (as in your rollover) it will end instantly. Most often the vision is of a face moving in and then away briefly. Often also it is a moving scene as if looking out a train window, or of being a camera watching traffic drive by.
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Thanks for your reply, man :) That does clear some things up. I know what DILD is but I haven't tried it yet. Could you explain how you do it? You mentioned a mantra and visualisation. Anything else aside from that?
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Well step one increase dream recall, step two journal, step three find Dream Signs, step four set goals for each type of Dream Scene (water, trees, city etc, I would say 5 goals each), step five RC when you see the dream sign in real life, as you count fingers count off goals, then imagine you are dreaming and become lucid, then imagine stabilizing and choosing goal based on scene, then imagine carrying out goal.
(Day work above / Night work below)
Then you go to sleep at night get into a slightly uncomfortable position (so you don't fall asleep to quickly), and visualize several recent dreams doing all these things (in step five above) as you chose a point in the dream you might have become lucid. Then relax and fall asleep with mantra (perhaps maintaining the uncomfortable such as legs crossed until completed many rounds of mantra). Perhaps use lots of drinking of water to wake back to bed naturally (right after REM), and then repeat this whole process after the Wake Back To Bed. This way you will have your intention close to the best REM cycles of the night, and if you do notice a dream sign you will have a plan of attack. If you only come close, this dream becomes new material to rinse and repeat :)