Thread: Rather strange experience

Last night I was trying to keep my mind alert while going to sleep by focusing on what I wanted to dream about and counting my breaths. I was awake for around 1.5 hrs just laying there feeling my body go into paralysis but suddenly after laying there not quite yet in a dream state but seeing visions my arms flew into the air and flailed about.

That has never happened to me before and I couldn't believe how funny it was. It was like your legs twitching when you dream only my arms and up in the air flailing for a few seconds.

Did you do a reality check? Chances are you were in a dream, or maybe a fly or spider started to crawl around on you a little bit and it shocked you back to consciousness. It's like when you're just laying there and somebody sneaks into your room without you hearing them and then jumps you. You get pretty surprised and jerk a bit. My guess is that something like this happened (but with a bug or maybe... a ghost!)

Nope I was not dreaming... at least if I was everything in the room was exactly as I had left it before laying down. I was reading on out of body experience and at this point I'm wondering if it may have actually been the start of that.
It was really odd almost as if someone was holding my arms and moving them (if you've ever seen the movie Insidious it reminded me of that almost instantly).

Originally Posted by DarakuTenshi

Nope I was not dreaming... at least if I was everything in the room was exactly as I had left it before laying down. I was reading on out of body experience and at this point I'm wondering if it may have actually been the start of that.
It was really odd almost as if someone was holding my arms and moving them (if you've ever seen the movie Insidious it reminded me of that almost instantly).

That's what happened to me when I was trying to do the Uberman sleep schedule. I was lying on my back on the couch for a nap with my arms crossed when I suddenly became aware of my arms floating through the air, it felt strange and they felt different than my real arms. After a few seconds it stopped, and when I opened my eyes it was clear I hadn't moved at all.

I doubt what you had was a hypnic jerk, because a hypnic jerk is just one sudden jerk not flailing like you described. It was a False Awakening or Sleep Paralysis (Same exact thing in my opinion).

Originally Posted by Trevorm7

That's what happened to me when I was trying to do the Uberman sleep schedule. I was lying on my back on the couch for a nap with my arms crossed when I suddenly became aware of my arms floating through the air, it felt strange and they felt different than my real arms. After a few seconds it stopped, and when I opened my eyes it was clear I hadn't moved at all.

I doubt what you had was a hypnic jerk, because a hypnic jerk is just one sudden jerk not flailing like you described. It was a False Awakening or Sleep Paralysis (Same exact thing in my opinion).

I always had this explanation of what a hypnic jerk is/feels like, because I used to experience them very frequently when I was younger. It's like the sensation of being dropped onto your bed, only it's just the last split second when you hit the bed. That's kinda what it feels like.

I always thought of it that way because when I was younger, most nights, as I lie in bed I would eventually drift into a light falling sensation, then if something aroused me I would snap out of it with a hypnic jerk.

Originally Posted by Trevorm7

That's what happened to me when I was trying to do the Uberman sleep schedule. I was lying on my back on the couch for a nap with my arms crossed when I suddenly became aware of my arms floating through the air, it felt strange and they felt different than my real arms. After a few seconds it stopped, and when I opened my eyes it was clear I hadn't moved at all.

I doubt what you had was a hypnic jerk, because a hypnic jerk is just one sudden jerk not flailing like you described. It was a False Awakening or Sleep Paralysis (Same exact thing in my opinion).

That was exactly it! It was the strangest feeling like I had no control over my arms and now that I've been thinking about it while this was happening I could no longer here my iPad (I listen to a relaxation program) so that must have been it.

Wow! I think you were in a dream, and the shock of your arms flailing about woke you up

Maybe it was a hypnic jerk? Although I'm unsure whether you can get those in SP or not.

A hypnic jerk, hypnagogic jerk, sleep start, or night start, is an involuntary myoclonic twitch which occurs during hypnagogia, just as a person is beginning to fall asleep, often causing him or her to awaken suddenly. Physically, hypnic jerks resemble the "jump" experienced by a person when startled, often accompanied by a falling sensation. A higher occurrence in people with irregular sleep schedules is reported.

That does sound strange, never happened to me before. From previous posts, though, it doesn't sound as though it was physically happening.

Maybe you're so good at lucid dreaming, you don't even know it's happening... as if that makes sense. lol