SP. Should I go for it?

[BenHull]

I'm not sure whether I should go for Sleep Paralysis or not. Last night, I believe I was very close to achieving it, yet moved purposely due to lack of knowledge. Should I aim for it? Or nah? It'd be nice if I could have a reply tonight, but if not I don't mind and understand why not ;P

[LDman]

You shouldn't aim for archieving SP really, I did that when I started doing WILDs but they resulted in complete SP for a minute maybe after which the intensity takes off and I'm just laying there. Remember in order to lucid dream you have to fall asleep and thus falling asleep should also be a goal...

[MisakaMikoto]

Hi, I wouldn't suggest focusing on Sleep Paralysis if your goal is Lucid Dreaming It tends to be more distracting than userful during attempts to be honest... If your getting Sleep Paralysis at later hours of sleep (4 - 8 hours after sleeping) then you should aim for it as a start point for WILD. Yet if your getting it at night then it might be not so helpful: The Building Blocks: To wild successfully, three things need to happen: You need to be close to REM. You need to fall asleep. You need to retain awareness. Block 1: Prior Sleep The first point is incredibly important and shouldn't be overlooked. While yes, it is possible to WILD before getting any sleep whatsoever, WILDs such as this won't last very long and the quality of the LD will be horrendous. Furthermore, it will take more than an hour to pull off, assuming you know what you're doing and won't mess up at all. Compare this to a WILD attempt after six or more hours of sleep, where REM is mere minutes away and may last a very long time. To compare: WILD Without Prior Sleep: Poor quality, short, difficulty is next to impossible, takes over an hour to pull off. WILD With Prior Sleep (Including Naps): Quality is what you make it, length is what you make it... The longer you sleep the longer your dreams are and shorter the time you need to stay conscious in nrem phase is

[NyxCC]

If you want a quick answer before going to bed, then here it is: NO, you shouldn't focus on SP. SP is not necessary to have a lucid dream, be it a dild or wild. I highly recommend that you check out the various induction methods and also classes we have here. Induction Methods and Techniques DV Academy And also on SP: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html And since I came across this excellent post by Sageous, here is a quote from him as well, and you can read the whole conversation in the link below. I know I've said this about a hundred times now, to the point where it's become a theme here, but WILD does not require "SP," and it is most definitely not about "SP." If you find yourself focusing on "SP" during the dream enough that what you remember of the experience is mostly "SP," then you might need to take a moment (or many moments) to shake off the fascination you might have with a condition that A) you likely do not have and B) is disruptive, and not helpful to your dream. http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13309...ml#post2129684

[SinisterDezz]

It's called REM atonia. Can we please just start calling it that? Sleep paralysis is a sleeping disorder. If you can induce SP, you should figure some things out with your doctor. Seeing as you are probably a beginner, I would advise against going straight for WILD if you have hardly any experience with other things like DILD, DEILD, MILD, etc. It can be extremely tricky, and it's hard to do effectively.

[StephL]

Well - doctors use SP for it as well as REM atonia, it's the LDing community that made such a fuss around it, or lets say some individuals did, that there's now a "reason" to separate the terms. It's not a disorder, either, it's a condition that's considered normal, if you have it without any other neurological disorders, up to 50 % of people experience this once or more times in their lives. What's meant by "having it", is to wake up from dreams while still in SP and that happening frequently and on it's own. You can't do something against it, except working against having nightmares, because they have a propensity of waking up from them rapidly/"on purpose". Some people get to consciously feel it setting in when going into WILD, some don't. It simply means, the mechanism against you acting out your dreams comes to your notice upon transfer into the dreaming state, something completely besides the point of what you want. Why would you want to feel it? It's not the same as having hallucinations, either, you can have those without SP, or you don't have them, or you have both. In any way - these are just potential entry-phenomena and what you want is not admire the door but go through it and have an LD!! Don't believe, that you need to "wait for it" in order to have a WILD attempt succeed - that would rob you off the chance, if you're one of those never to feel it! I had it twice, and both times upon forcefully waking myself from an LD - being able to gain consciousness for my real body, before the mechanism had ceased on it's own. Dreaming and SP come from two different brain-regions, and sometimes they're not fully coordinated, especially if you consciously interfere with normal sleep, e.g. LDing practice. It's rather something you don't want, but it's not a disease, it's just mis-coordination in the brain, which can be conjured up, besides happening to people on it's own and mainly with nightmare-awakening. Just forget about it, and if it comes in waking up - just stay calm and vary your breathing, try to move a little finger/toe, not your whole body at once and you should be fine. Even if it's scary, it's over in short order and good is. Don't expect it to happen when WILDing, and if it does - stay calm and happy to have a sign of having fallen asleep. Which you don't need, what you do need is falling asleep!