The Old Hag

[h1nchm4n]

A long time ago, I got into Lucid Dreaming. I tried multiple techniques, but MILD works the best for me. I know this is supposedly common but, The first time I tried WILD, about a year ago, I went into SP, and had an OBE. A tall shadowy cloaked figure slowly opened my door and walked into my room. I was floating over my bed, and couldn't move. My body was still in my bed, and I watched as the figure slowly walked over to my sleeping body. When it got there, I was suddenly flung back into my sleeping body. I looked up at the door and it was back in the doorway just staring at me. I jolted awake, and ran to the door, turned the lights on, and sat with my back against the door for a good 10 minutes to calm down and think about what happened. It was so realistic. That was the last time I tried WILD. I've always used MILD since then. I'm so paranoid about seeing that thing again, I didn't want to WILD. I know nothing can hurt you in your dreams, but just the fact that it was so vivid and I couldn't do anything about it made it scary. I really want to WILD, but I'm just very scared. MILD and DILD are easy, but are sometimes unreliable. Does anyone have any suggestions to get rid of this thing and/or my fear?

[nina]

This isn't really the "old hag"...which is just a myth made up to explain the sensation of pressure on the chest that people often feel during REM atonia or an episode of sleep paralysis. People have hallucinated an old lady (hag) sitting on the chest in order to explain the sensation of pressure or feeling suffocated as a result of skeletal muscle paralysis (including chest muscles, which is what actually causes the sensation of pressure or difficulty breath, but don't worry your respiratory system continues to function just fine even though it may feel as if it is not). When people read other's experiences with a hallucination, myths like the "old hag" continue to be perpetuated, and do more harm than good, causing people to be fearful. Hypnagogia is an essential part of WILDing, and lucid dreaming in general, so if you are afraid of the hallucinations, then you really need to learn how to overcome those fears if you are going to proceed. It's common to hallucinate "shadow people" or "intruders" in your bedroom during sleep paralysis, and it can be scary at first, but with experience you learn that absolutely nothing you see, hear, or experience during such episodes can in anyway cause you physical harm. Also, every scary thing you see or experience, and any strange bodily sensations...can be explained rationally. If you understand these explanations, and the reasoning behind what might be causing you fear, it helps to over come it. For example: the pressure on your chest is not an "old hag" sitting on it, it is simply REM atonia (muscle weakness/paralysis), which is a natural occurrence that happens every time we enter REM sleep. Understanding the "intruder" concept, and what areas of the brain are activated or shut down during the various transitional states will help you to understand why people hallucinate scary things when they are in a vulnerable position. Take away message: it's not a "thing", it's just a hallucination...it will go away when you stop fearing it...educate yourself, knowledge is power, there is absolutely nothing to be fearful of during WILDs/LDing/etc. If you ever encounter it again, try telling it a joke...it might even have a good laugh with you. You'd be surprised how easy it is to turn a scary situation into something fun.