Thread: Hypnopompia?

Sure. Also known as sleep paralysis. It is in this stage that the infamous "Old Hag" will sometimes appear to people.

"The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli (1781) is thought to be one of the classic depictions of sleep paralysis perceived as a demonic visitation."

Get attuned with this frame of consciousness as I personally feel you can reap major rewards in the dream dept. from this frame of mind.

For me, my acknowledgment of being able to impinge my dream with my waking state is due to my many brushes with the hypnagagic state of awareness. I've learned to not be afraid of the extraneous noises and learned to embrace this unfamiliarity with delving right into a lucid dream.....as tough as it was, initially.

I used to believe people were circling my bed with sinister intentions for a long time. I would hear coughs, clearing of throats and screams in my room, whilst experiencing this frame(hypnagogia) of consciousness. It took a long time to realize this was a blend of dream and lucidity, but once I could abate my fears, lucidity was pretty easy to attain.

I, also, accidentally put a spin on how to enter lucidity via the "spinning" technique" implored by Dr. Stephen LaBerge in his very popular book.

Instead of spinning in my dream like a dancer or an ice-skater would, I spin like a diver would...head over heels, using my dream feet to push off the board and expecting to do full 360 degree circle in the air. I almost always land next to my bed in a dream state, and it works very well for me. From there, I leave my (dream) home into a world that I usually marvel at how grand the scenery is. I mean, I conjure up mountains much more grand than the Rockies, etc. In every lucid dream I've attained this way, I spend time just standing there in awe of the landscape. Then I run off to have fun flying, sex, random unacceptable acts, etc.

I'm still unable to have any control over the scenery in my dream, but I am aware I am dreaming and always say "I am dreaming , clear , clear , clear", though I meet those suggestions with limited success. I tried to conjure up an old "crush" of mine and I couldn't make her appear.

I hope this post is interesting to the TS and not seen as a hijack.

"The Old Hag"? I've never heard about an old hag coming in sleep paralysis.

Tell me more!

I have only experienced SP a few times but I have never heard any noises especially screaming. That would definately put me off trying to do a WILD.

I have read most of Dr. Stephen LaBerge's book and I find that it is good for someone starting off and wanting to learn what lucid dreaming is all about however the techniques that are included have done very little to help me acheive lucidity.

The Old Hag Syndrome is just a catch-all name for the auditory and visual hallucinations that sometimes occur during hypnopompia. Dream Weaver mentions some of these hallucinations in his post - these would be an example of Old Hag Syndrome. Perceiving some sort of malicious entity is a common theme in these hallucinations, whether it be the classic "old hag," a demon, a shadowy figure, etc - sometimes the person simply senses a vaguely malicious presence nearby without actually seeing anything. The person will sometimes feel as if they are being physically restrained and may have some trouble breathing. The painting that I posted in my earlier post is an illustration of this, where the sleeping person perceives some sort of witch or goblin sitting on their chest, paralyzing them and making it hard for them to breath.

Pretty scary stuff. Totally harmless, though. Some lucid dreamers even look forward to this happening to them, as they know that it means they are halfway towards entering a dream - they just have to focus on entering the dream rather than waking up, which is what normally happens when people freak out and try to fight it.

Thanks for the info.

I've been lucid dreaming for a year and have never come across the term old hag. Oh well I have now. Also shows how close I have been getting with my WILD attempts.

Originally Posted by Kamikaze Spirit

I had an exceptionally odd experience this morning.

I woke up much earlier than normal so I took the chance to attempt a WILD, having never succeeded in a WILD, and as usual I fell asleep. I then had a dream where I was standing by a fence at school with a few people and we were being immature and swearing everytime a teacher walked pass. After a while I started feeling weightless and I began to sway back and forth. Having no idea what was happening to me I told everyone around I was feeling very weird.

A DC replyed saying "You're going numb."

At this point I came out of the dream and felt the vibrations you experience during a WILD. I lost concentration by opening one of my eyes and lost all of the feeling.

I told my brother about this and he said that it was Hypnopompia and I was in fact feeling the stages of waking up.

I'm just wondering whether this has happened to anyone else before or whether this is something that happens to everyone.

Yeah, this is hypnopompia. It can happen when we awaken from REM sleep quickly (but not too quickly, like with an alarm), and can often be accompanied by sleep paralysis. It's nothing to worry about.