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I've had sleep paralysis many times before (which is actually what led me to DV), always right after I woke up. However, I've been having it inside my dreams now. It's always on a night where I've tried to WILD (haven't had success with that yet), so I'm assuming there's a connection there. Basically, I have false awakenings, and dream me keeps having sleep paralysis. Is there anything I can do to stop this?
Oh, and then, when I actually wake up, I have sleep paralysis too.
Oh my! I've had sleep paralysis inside a dream as well. Same as you, it's an FA, but in the FA I wake up in sleep paralysis, and total immobilization. The only remedy I can think of is catching FAs in the first place. Always reality check when you wake up, no matter where you are. You can add in some mental reality checks too, like stare at an object and try to change its color – in case you end up paralyzed and can't really move. Oh, one reality check I've been doing since i had that SP FA is that I open my eyes and try not to blink as long as I can. I actually caught one of these SP FA's this way because no matter how long I opened my eyes and not blink, it never hurt or teared up – which obviously happens irl if you keep them open for a while.
:D
I'll definitely try this, although I kind of suck at reality checks... in fact, I VERY rarely remember that I should do them. For some reason, the only two things that make me think "hey, I need to do a reality check" is peeing and driving. I know, I know, how weird my brain is...
One interesting thing did happen in one of those many FAs. I "woke up" and my first thought was "FINALLY! I WAS TIRED OF ALL THOSE FAS!!!", until I looked around and I realised I was in a strange room. I haven't had much practice (or any, really) at controlling my dreams, so instead of doing whatever I could've done, I panicked, started shouting "NOOO I JUST WANT TO WAKE UP!!!" and then I was hit by sleep paralysis. Only lasted a few seconds, though, because after that I was already waking up in another dream. I'd say the human brain is fascinating, but I think mine is just a little too masochist for me.
This is kinda of an old thread... but it KINDA of happened again a few days ago. I was dreaming that I had to find my car (couldn't remember where I had parked it), but my body felt really heavy. It was like I was sleepy, I could barely keep my eyes open. Whenever I tried walking, my body wouldn't respond. Finally, I woke up. I was left wondering if I was already on the verge of waking up and the SP was affecting my dream self. Which is a logical theory, I believe?
I had something similar happen a couple nights ago. I had an FA, and I was lying on my side. My body felt super heavy though. I RCed, realized I was dreaming, but almost just "went back to sleep" simply because it was hard to move. I then said to myself, "This is stupid. You're already asleep. Might as well get up and do something." As I got up, however, my body became lighter until I almost flew out of bed.
On a side not, my father's cat was in the house; he followed me suspiciously around before attacking.:roll:
I've had these problems relatively often in dreams as well, though waking up in full blown SP is rare, I used to get those affects a lot.
I have found that the best way to deal with this phenomenon is to find a way to work WITH it rather than against it. Trying to overpower and charge through in-dream paralysis can cause more FA's, sleep paralysis, and shallow lucids.
For example, when I have a false awakening and wake up in bed paralyzed, I have sunk down through the bed and changed scenes rather than fight it to get up. I've stayed in my frozen position but levitated and floated through the house until I started moving naturally. I have started moving things around on my bed stand with my mind until the dream changed on it's own. Looking for a physical reason has worked for me as well. Imagining that the blankets were made of metal, and shuffling them off relieved the pressure on my body and I was free. While walking around getting that "moving through mud" feeling, I looked down (with the intention of seeing the problem) I saw that I had exercise weights around my ankles, removing them fixed the problem and I moved freely.
The dream "going dark" was a very common ailment for me as well, whenever it happens now I simply take off the sunglasses that were on my face XD the mind is an amazing thing, you are correct about that.
My last bit of advice: When these things start happening in the dream it is a sign of losing connection, waking up, or becoming unbalanced. Taking a long minute to stop, sit down and pour your attention into your surroundings might be the best thing you could ever do. Personally, I sit down and run my hands over the ground (whatever it may be) and FEEL it. I look at the sky, the distance, the world around me, I breathe deeply and feel my body taking up space. (If you do this DO NOT close your eyes) Nothing anchors you in a dream and lends it reality like this method, don't over think, just be there.
when I destabilize and then begin to lose the dream, I slap my hands together and rub them in an attempt to survive the void, that is when dream hand paralysis sets in half the time (really sucks) as long as I can move even one finger I survive, but it sucks. Last time I was lucid I was able to see that I can whistle (and play the hand too :) in dreams) so next time I think I will rub hands and whistle.
I also plan next time I'm going to check how stable I am, is to rub my hands in the dream without looking at them, and feel all the fingers, then look, that way I should see them all and fell more stable. Finally I think once I see the hands, I will play the hand for a bit, see if I can become stable that way.
You know the weird feeling of SP that it's hard to focus your eyes? As if your eyes were were a camera and someone was keeping it on the floor when you're trying to look at the door?
I have this a lot in my dreams, right before waking up. I wonder if, because I'm about to wake up, maybe I already am half-awake (1/4-awake?) and SP is sorta there? I dunno. But it happens a bit often, tbh. It sucks.