Thread: Does anybody have an explanation for this?

You are in Sleep Paralysis and experiencing what many refer to as the "Old Hag".

The good news - if you are interested in lucid dreaming, you are only one tiny step away from achieving it. Do a search here on "SP", "Sleep Paralysis" and "Old Hag" and read up. There's a lot of excellent discussion and information here - some of it very recent.

In any case, a full understanding of it should help alleviate the terror you are experiencing.

your realize you are dreaming right.... think that what you saying. if that the case simply will the dark presence away. your mind you controll it. surround yourself with white light. dont ask for the light. just picture it around yourself. mostly though you should just will it away. but it can't do anything to you besides. your in the physical world it is either some manifestation of your subconsious or in the astral plane. either way it can't harm you. unless it is a ghost then maybe talk to a priest or pastor. you could also seek help from a hypnotist. they could help you find out what it is. so try those things.

If this is true - its the best thing ever!

i had similar experiences. strangely enough, it started a couple nights after i returned from korea, when i was 17. i thought it was a combo of jet lag and having spent 2 wks at a high altitude-the only time in my life i had ever gone above sea level.

at 18, i had a profound experience that scared the hell outta me. i left the house and didnt return till morning! if you wanna know details of it, i'll write it later, but i dont feel like it now-its a long story.

i have heard that sleep paralysis is caused by you returning to your physical body. everybody, every once in a while astral projects in their sleep, unconsciously-thus any memory they have of anything that has occured during that time will remain in the subconscious and anything they DO remember is as a dream, thus we dont always realize that we've been away. and of course, some people have the ability to voluntarily induce AP. thus i heard that when youre having sleep paralysis, it is in fact you coming back into yourself, but maybe you were only halfway in, and partially woke up and couldnt move, cuz the remerging of the astral and physical bodies wasnt yet complete. but by feeling fear or panicking, you delay the process. so if you relax and try not to panic then, hopefully all will be well.

i dont know about the being you saw.. there seem to be many theories about this, and im sure it could have been any of these-a spirit guide, some other entity, of maybe even your own astral self.

i had a rather peaceful experience one time with sleep paralysis when i was 19. when i started having it, i started to get afraid as usual, but i made myself calm down and my fear subsided. after a moment, though i was still paralyzed, i started to hear water from a small stream somewhere behind me, and i heard children laughing. i was laying on my side, facing the wall and the wall had an orangy light shining on it, as of sunset shining thru the window and hitting it-but it was 9 at night. it was like i was between 2 different planes.

Channel, my suggestion to you is to look into the subject more. I used to SP when I was younger upon awakening (not often), but I would always expect it to be terrifying, the same way you always expect this presence to be there. If you expect it to be there it will be. Start out by trying to control your emotions during SP. It might be alittle hard at first, but it gets easier and easier as you keep getting used to it. Once that happens, embrace it. I really believe its a gift. You hear about people who attempt for sometimes years before they have an OBE, but with people who re-occuring SP (you can even learn how to induce it upon going to sleep which is what I've done) are always one step away from achieving one. You just have to wait (or you can pretty much have one everyday if you learn to induce it and have one frequently).

Honestly, I think the best way to overcome your fear of it is to induce one yourself. That's what really got me over mine. Once you fall into that state, if you start feeling afraid (like I did the first time), just think to yourself "No, I made this sleep-paralysis happen. I control what goes on, me, and nothing else." And from then on for me atleast its been all good.

Now I'm actually very happy when I induce or have SP (haven't had an episode of waking to SP since I began inducing them) because its the second to last step to having an OBE or LD.

That dark figure was me. I was trying to borrow some toilet paper.

Just messin'.
This is MOST DEFINATELY sleep paralysis. It's happened to me a few times. Absolutely terrifying, and uncomfortable. You ARE opening your eyes.

When you sleep, your body becomes paralyzed, so that you don't start moving around, while you are dreaming. Sleep paralysis occurs when this has happened, but your mind is not yet asleep. Something interrupted it just before it fell asleep.

The old hag is classic, and is often seen by people, but I still don't understand it... Seems kinda creepy to me. *shivers* I try not to have it.

The old hag would sit on people's chests, and keep them from moving.

This IS one small step away from lucid dreaming. It's actually lucid dreaming, gone too far. Lucid dreams occur when your body is asleep, but only PART of your mind is asleep. In sleep paralysis, your body is completely asleep, and your mind is completely awake. That's why it's scary.
So, in a way, you actually went to far, to achieve this. I am surprised that you have not reached lucidity if this has been going on for any extended period of time.

-sloth

Maybe try talking to the figure if you can. Find out why it is there and what you need to do to make it leave for good. You might be surprised with an answer you may or may not get.

During sleep paralysis he will not be able to move OR SPEAK.

Originally posted by sloth
During sleep paralysis he will not be able to move OR SPEAK.

There's always thought communication. It's possible in dreams

Gotcha.

I had something like what you described when I was small. I used to get reoccuring nightmares. So basicly I would see pitch black, then at a random I would hear the loudest scream ever right next to my ear. It happend every day. But something stranged happend. The 2nd last time I had it this is what happend. I was hearing the screaming then I would be looking at my self above the screaming. Then I would be awake screaming but really just in my dream. Then looking at my self screaming in my bed from above and my parents coming and shaking me. The last thing I remember is my eyes closed and waking up to my parents calming me down.... I will never ever forget that. Just watching yourself in 3rd person while in a dream screaming in real life. Confusing Very.