Thread: I am new, I have questions. Help!

Sleep paralysis isn't needed for WILDing, it's just a rare disorder. Read these threads for a better explanation on what SP is:

http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...mystified.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html

You said you opened your eyes and saw a figure by your bed, that was either a hypnagogic hallucination or you succeeded and you were in a dream! Either way, that's some good progress.

As for the demon thing, worrying about it too much might make it happen. Lucid dreaming has a lot to do with expectation, so if you're worrying and expecting demons to attack you then that raises the odds of that happening. You probably have regular nightmares from time to time, right? Well if you happen to have a nightmare-ish LD you can control it and stop it from being a nightmare, you can't do that with a non-lucid nightmare.

Some people actually learn to lucid dream so that they can stop having nightmares. The good of lucid dreaming definitely outweighs the bad. If you have 50 fun and amazing LDs and only have one where you run into a demon/hostile DC, isn't that worth it? That one bad experience will only last for a short time and then it'll just be a fun story you can share with others, and that's if you even have a bad experience.

Good luck on your lucid dreaming journey!

Originally Posted by Mismagius

Sleep paralysis isn't needed for WILDing, it's just a rare disorder. Read these threads for a better explanation on what SP is:

http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...mystified.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html

You said you opened your eyes and saw a figure by your bed, that was either a hypnagogic hallucination or you succeeded and you were in a dream! Either way, that's some good progress.

As for the demon thing, worrying about it too much might make it happen. Lucid dreaming has a lot to do with expectation, so if you're worrying and expecting demons to attack you then that raises the odds of that happening. You probably have regular nightmares from time to time, right? Well if you happen to have a nightmare-ish LD you can control it and stop it from being a nightmare, you can't do that with a non-lucid nightmare.

Some people actually learn to lucid dream so that they can stop having nightmares. The good of lucid dreaming definitely outweighs the bad. If you have 50 fun and amazing LDs and only have one where you run into a demon/hostile DC, isn't that worth it? That one bad experience will only last for a short time and then it'll just be a fun story you can share with others, and that's if you even have a bad experience.

Good luck on your lucid dreaming journey!

*cough*cough*

Uh SP happens to everyone when you are sleeping, and everyone has it atleast a couple times in their life when waking up haha.

Originally Posted by TwitchLucidity

*cough*cough*

Uh SP happens to everyone when you are sleeping, and everyone has it atleast a couple times in their life when waking up haha.

Originally Posted by Laurelindo

It's not a disorder, in fact it's a vital safety mechanism that prevents you from acting out dream in waking life.
If you didn't become paralyzed during REM sleep then you would run around doing random dream stuff in the waking world, mirroring your dream body, which would obviously be extremely dangerous.
So you should be thankful that everyone, including yourself, become paralyzed when we sleep.

I think you guys are talking about REM Atonia, which is what stops you from acting out your dreams. SP is actually a rare disorder, but we all call REM Atonia that anyway (dunno why, though).

Originally Posted by AstralMango

I think you guys are talking about REM Atonia, which is what stops you from acting out your dreams. SP is actually a rare disorder, but we all call REM Atonia that anyway (dunno why, though).

Hm yeah, you're right about that.
I know about the term REM Atonia, but I guess I have unfortunately been thinking of Sleep Paralysis as a synonym.

As far as I'm aware, REM Atonia is the paralysis state during REM, and Sleep Paralysis is the common term for a paralysis that temporarily persists after waking up.
So it's probably best to always use the term Rem Atonia when we mean the defense mechanism that occurs while we are asleep.

Originally Posted by damianrossum

Wow. That does make sense. I however still cannot believe this is actually something that works and is real. It all feels like a dream to me, this entire forum and the entire idea of Lucid Dreaming. I wonder what my first controlable LD will be.

That's actually how I describe it. It seems like some awesome thing you'd dream about and then wake up and be like "Man, why isn't that possible?!"

Originally Posted by TwitchLucidity

*cough*cough*

Uh SP happens to everyone when you are sleeping, and everyone has it atleast a couple times in their life when waking up haha.

Originally Posted by Laurelindo

It's not a disorder, in fact it's a vital safety mechanism that prevents you from acting out dream in waking life.
If you didn't become paralyzed during REM sleep then you would run around doing random dream stuff in the waking world, mirroring your dream body, which would obviously be extremely dangerous.
So you should be thankful that everyone, including yourself, become paralyzed when we sleep.

Yeah, SP often gets confused with REM Atonia. I think it's because sleep paralysis has the perfect name for it while REM Atonia has a more scientificy less literal name. I mean REM Atonia is when you're paralyzed while you sleep, you think that would equal Sleep Paralysis

Also, everybody is giving some good advice, high five ( ^o^)/\(^_^ )

Originally Posted by Mismagius

Sleep paralysis isn't needed for WILDing, it's just a rare disorder.

It's not a disorder, in fact it's a vital safety mechanism that prevents you from acting out dream in waking life.
If you didn't become paralyzed during REM sleep then you would run around doing random dream stuff in the waking world, mirroring your dream body, which would obviously be extremely dangerous.
So you should be thankful that everyone, including yourself, become paralyzed when we sleep.