Afraid of Sleep Paralysis

Hey all,

Over the past 10 years or so (I'm 19), I've been able to comprehend that I'm dreaming, but instantly wake up. It's probably happened over 500 times.

I'm just sick and tired of it. All these times that it's occurred, I've never had a proper Lucid Dream. I've read all these techniques on how to stabilise the dreams etc, but as soon as I realise even a slight that I'm dreaming, I will wake up. The hand rubbing, spinning, shouting "Increase clarity" etc will not work, because by that time I would have awakened.

Then a week ago or so I stumbled on DreamViews and learned about WILD.

I'm able to lay completely still without a problem, and follow my breathing, but as soon as I start to feel heavy and have a tingling-vibrating sensation over my body, I give up because of fear of SP.

How frightening is Sleep Paralysis? My biggest concern is not the paralysis itself, but the hallucinations. I'm just deathly afraid of hallucinating.

I suffer from purely obsessive and anxiety disorders.

Anyway, if anybody can help me clear up this fear, then hopefully I can have a few lucid dreams and see what they're all about.

Thanks.

Well the times I did have SP I never experienced any directly threatening hallucinations, like witches and stuff. The only thing that happens to me when I go into SP is that I start flying around through stages of small, harmless visual and auditory hallucinations.

If you decide that you want to do a complete WILD, then just go for it. It's like having to jump into extremely cold water. Your body says tha you don't want to do it, but when you decide to you just jump in. I'm sure if you just jump in and go for the ride all the fears will go away. Just remember, everything you see or think you might see is in the dream in fact yourself. You have total control if you know it or not. Good luck!

Even if you don't get sleep paralysis during your WILD, you will still probably experience some weird hallucinations. They are not always frightening. Sometimes, they can be more beautiful and satisfying than the following dream. I think of them as a part of the overall experience.

If you're scared of the WILD ride, try something like MILD. It can be just as reliable without the weird hypnagogic hallucinations. The idea is to fall asleep normally, while remembering to notice when the dream starts. It is what Laberge had the most success with.