Thread: Sleep paralysis

Hi beebeeb13!

REM atonia is one the things that sometimes happen when we sleep. It is not a fake sensation - the brain simply disconnects itself from the body so not to act out our dreams. Sleep paralysis refers to when you wake up but still in REM atonia so that this disconnect is still present. Doesn't matter if you see HH (hypnogogic hallucinations) on top of that or not... What matters is that you literally wake up into a very brief period of actual paralysis (full or partial). Trying to wiggle your way out of it does help but only because it reminds the brain to reconnect itself to the body... Actual sleep paralysis is pretty rare and usually last a few seconds even if you don't fight it... So, I hope this explanation makes it clear why lucid dreams don't have anything to do with SP - SP isn't a dream sensation, it's an actual brief pralysis of the real body.
Btw, if you end up in sleep paralysis it might help you to be lucid in a dream because you don't need to make the body fall asleep all over again. It's already asleep so the dream might start faster. That's the only connection between LDs and SP.

Also, about lucid dreaming - it's not about control and it's not about being aware of your environment (the dream scape) and it's not about things in the dream being vivid or realistic. Lucid dreaming is about being aware of your REAL LIFE experiences while you are in the dream, and being able to differenciate between RL experiences and dream experiences (whether the current dream, a recalled dream, or false memories). So being lucid means being able to have the two distinct "realities" on your mind, and being aware of the difference between them.

For example, recently I had a dream about lucid dreaming. I was attending a meeting of lucid dreamers in a shared dream - that was the plot of the dream. So technically I knew I was dreaming, because I believed that I was in a dream, in which I meet other lucid dreamers in a shared dream setting... I even had the illusion that I have total control there - could teleport and levitate and such. However, despite my "knowledge" that I was dreaming, it was NOT a lucid dream. I was NOT truly lucid there. Why? Because I could not differenciate RL from the dream. I wasn't truly aware of my REAL LIFE. In fact I had false memories about falling asleep so I can get to that meeting...

Hope this helps!