Sleep paralysis and lucid dreams

**xRey** · 02-04-2019 07:06 AM

So I read online a bit about sleep paralysis today.. and as I understand it even though your eyes are open you are still technically at sleep. Also sleep paralysis can also cause halucinations sometimes. And I was wondering if there is some way to control this event.. Since it can cause halucinations, why not try to control them and summon what you want to see. Has anyone tried something like this? I know how induce sleep paralysis but I haven't found a way to gain any control over it.

**zelcrow** · 02-04-2019 08:04 PM

I have read that you can use the sleep paralysis phase as a gateway to enter a lucid dream, but it is imperative to remain calm and relaxed during the transition. I do not know about actually being able to control the hallucinations that happen during sleep paralysis. What I understand from more experienced LDers is that it is not ideal to try to induce sleep paralysis as it is not necessary to lucid dreaming.

It seems like while in sleep paralysis, you are not fully in the dream world as you are awake and still somewhat conscious of your physical body. I read that it is considered a "very light sleep state" in Clare Johnson's Complete Guide to Lucid Dreaming. She also wrote this: "You have control over three things when stuck in sleep paralysis: your breathing, your eye movements, and your mental attitude." Maybe control goes beyond the scope of what is written in LD books, but that's the most I've found as far as control goes. Maybe some other members can enlighten from their own experience and knowledge.

**xRey** · 02-05-2019 12:46 AM

Hmm I will try to experiment with this and I'll be back with another message once I get some results.

**spellbee2** · 02-05-2019 04:34 AM

Hi xRey, and welcome to the forum!

This is a good thread for information regarding Sleep Paralysis: https://www.dreamviews.com/wake-init...explained.html

The hallucinations associated with SP are basically just "dreamlets", so you can often control them just like you normally would control a lucid. This also means that they are heavily influenced by expectation. SP often gets a bad rap for causing terrifying hallucinations, but they really are only terrifying if you don't know what they are - once you realize that being paralyzed means you are in a dream, you can use your expectation to make it less scary. Of the 60+ WILDs I've done in my life, only about 3 of them involved SP, and only 1 of them was scary (for about 3 seconds, until I realized that I was dreaming, at which point the dream became much more pleasant).

Zelcrow is right, however, in that SP is not really the goal of a technique like WILD - but rather an occasional side affect of methods like WILD. If you do end up in Sleep Paralysis, a good technique I've used to transition into a lucid dream is to imagine a force rocking you side to side. Eventually, you'll actually start to feel yourself rocking back and forth, and soon the rocking force will become so strong that you'll roll off the bed - at which point you can stand up and do an RC to verify that you are now in a lucid dream.