I think I just experienced sleep paralysis for the first time today (that I can remember)

I was sleeping for 4 or 5 hours, then someone came to the house and I had to take care of that. After about an hour and a half, I went back to sleep (but on a different bed, the rest of the house was busy). It seemed like a WBTB, but I wasn't really trying to get a lucid dream.

I fell asleep and found myself in a dark dream, with a barely understandable plot line, taking place in my house. After a few minutes, I was in my room (it was really dark). Everything was so weird, I decided to do a reality check. I poked my finger through my hand. Shockingly it went through.

Suddenly it felt like a wave of surprise hit me, like butterflies in your stomach shock. I could tell I was near awake and sleeping very lightly. I couldn't control much where I moved, it was still dark, and I yelled but my voice wouldn't come out.

I was then on my bed, eyes closed, but knowing I was still in a dream-like state. I thought that if I opened my eyes carefully, I might be able to wake up back in the dream and take more control. No luck!

My eyes were opened in the real world, but I couldn't move. It only lasted like five seconds, and I didn't see any scary hallucinations, just kind of a large black dot in the center of my vision and slightly distorted vision. I was terrified by the fact that I couldn't move, though. Like I said, after about five seconds I could wave my body around. I got up, all this took place in about 25 minutes.

I do wonder if my eyes were actually open though. The vision was the same before and after the sleep paralysis, just normal the second time. Unless I remembered the direction I was looking in when I fell asleep?

That sounds like a crazy ride. Your eyes were probably open. The black dot you saw in your vision was probably your natural blind spot. It is responsible for a lot of the hallucinations people see when they are on the edge of sleep.

Yeah, it wasn't as bad as it could have been though. Even though I'd never experienced it before, I could tell what was happening.

I kept reality checking, though, after I woke up. My mind kind of stayed in a dream like state for a few minutes after that.

That's awesome, I'm still trying to induce sleep paralysis. Smart of you to trust opening your eyes, that'd be bad ass if you opened your eyes and found yourself in a vivid version of your room rather than the dark and bizarre version from before. I've always thought about embracing sleep in a dream when you start to lose focus. A dark, messy dream sucks, but maybe you can dream a different dream instead. The risk I guess is losing lucidity.

I've been getting sleep paralysis "episodes" every once in a while - usually when I feel anxiety or stress before I sleep. Most of the time, I believe that it's simply triggered by the manifestation that I am conscious of my dreaming state. What many of you call "reality checks" seem to be the largest triggers for my sleep paralysis. I've had instances where I picked up a piece of paper in my dream to read what the text said and then I went through all the stages of sleep paralysis.

What I'm trying to figure out as I'm looking into trying to start lucid dreaming is the fact that when I do these reality checks, even if accidentally, I always have like a paint-like tint cover my vision or the common sensation that you are in a plane taking off with the rumbling and vibration in your head. Regardless, when I begin to feel this sensation, I force my eyes open immediately because, to me, it almost feels like my soul is being ripped out of my body. I've always wanted to see what would happen if I just left my eyes closed and stayed with it, but after the first few episodes of sleep paralysis, I've been somewhat terrified of ever giving it a go - I'm sure courage is a precursor and a sort of "dream ego" is required to go along with lucid dreaming successfully.

To the OP, I would say that I'm very similar to you with regards to what you see when you look around. For the most part, I have never hallucinated vividly to the point that I'm terrified to go back to sleep. I've only seen a "shadowy" figure shaped like a humanoid "jumping" from side-to-side of my room which is not fun judging that I can't move or defend myself for what feels like a lifetime.

Definitely sounds like sleep paralysis to me. It kinda feels like I'm buried in very heavy sand.