Thread: Violently shaken awake by an entity!?

Yeah it fits in with many accounts I've read about.

I've never seen anyone whilst going through the transition to a Lucid myself but have felt a dark presence a few times, I usually just hear whispering, occasionally screaming in my ears and feel like I'm lifting up into the air end over end, once I felt like I'd fell through my bed and something grabbed my ankle, pulling me across the floor.

There are accounts dating back to Medieval times about the Old Hag which sounds pretty similar to your experience, a dark figure who would sit on people's chests and hold them down.

A lot of people on here say you only get SP if you have a medical condition but I'd never had SP once before I started LDing, since I started a few years ago though I've had pretty classic symptoms of it many times!

Originally Posted by Mr0Blonde

A lot of people on here say you only get SP if you have a medical condition but I'd never had SP once before I started LDing, since I started a few years ago though I've had pretty classic symptoms of it many times!

This is because Sleep Paralysis actually is a medical condition. The experience that everyone calls "Sleep Paralysis" is actually what is known as REM Atonia, a normal part of everyone's sleep process where your muscles essentially shut down, preventing you from moving and acting out your dreams. Usually your mind is already asleep when it happens, but sometimes when WILDing or when waking up too fast, your mind is awake while your body is still asleep. This is what is mistakenly called "Sleep Paralysis" and what unfortunately scares a lot of people away from lucid dreaming. You can find more on this thread: http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...explained.html

Personally, I've had REM Atonia twice while WILDing, and only once have I had a semi-scary experience. A dark haired woman was standing beside my bed looking down at me. I was scared for about 3 seconds until I realized that I was dreaming, after which she disappeared and I went on with my lucid for a bit. So basically, if you learn to recognize these scary experiences as dreams, there's no way they can hurt you when you become lucid.

In your case, however, it sounds like either a dream or very vivid hypnopompic imagery. It fits with the nightmare theme you were already having in the dream, so it makes sense that it would carry over to the imagery while you're still drowsy as you're waking up. But I do agree, it is worst when it happens upon waking up as opposed to as you're falling asleep, since the logic portion of your brain doesn't have time enough to fully kick in before it happens to tell you it's not real.