Thread: Partial Sleep paralysis

Originally Posted by Thor

It's really hard to describe. I'm not really sure there is a change in awareness. Like you said first, it's more a change of focus from your own thoughts to hallucinatory experience. For me this change occurs rapidly and without any effort on my part. In fact, I have never WILDed intentionally. I often use galantamine or nicotine to induce DILDs, and all my WILDs have occurred accidentally while waiting to fall asleep to have a DILD. This makes me believe that the state most conducive to WILDing is characterized by passive awareness. This is completely in line with what BillyBob says in his WILD guide: if you're thinking too much you're sabotaging your chances of having a WILD.

This really cought my attention. According to what I read from your post:
http://dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=67910

Awake state:
Brain chemistry is modulated by norepinephrine and serotonin
You perceive the world through your senses and control your physical body
REM sleep:
Brain chemistry is modulated by choline
Perceptions are internally generated and you control your dream body. Sensory input is by no means impossible in REM sleep, but the threshold is higher than in the other states.


Our brain chemistry is changing. Well doesnt that have some big implications at awareness? Just guessing. That would need deeper study. I know. Modulation is just some kind of altering existing processes, not change to the main metabolic processes. Still. It could have some implications on awareness itself. . As i am not eruded in this kind of research. I would better ask one more question if you dont mind:

"For me this change occurs rapidly and without any effort on my part"
If you can. Could you please go into more detail?

Originally Posted by adraw

Our brain chemistry is changing. Well doesnt that have some big implications at awareness? Just guessing. That would need deeper study. I know. Modulation is just some kind of altering existing processes, not change to the main metabolic processes. Still. It could have some implications on awareness itself. . As i am not eruded in this kind of research.

I'm not an expert on brain chemistry, so I don't understand the full consquences of this. On the other hand brain chemistry is not the only thing that changes in sleep. Another change is that large parts of the brain are deactivated. One particular area is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which performs certain functions related to self-awareness. There has been some speculation that you become lucid when these functions are somehow activated in dreams.

I would better ask one more question if you dont mind:

"For me this change occurs rapidly and without any effort on my part"
If you can. Could you please go into more detail?

This is again very subjective and hard to explain, but it's a bit like when you're lying in bed with your eyes closed, visualizing things randomly. And then at some point you find that it's not just visualization but real hallucinatory experience with your body disconnected from your real body, and you realize that you are fully immersed in the dream already.