Hey all, just stumbled across this website and thought id share my story with you...

About 3 years ago i started getting sleep paraylsis, that is were your body falls asleep (cant move) but your mind is conscious, it was fairly frightening in the beginning, but I just had to remember not to panic, and to control my breathing and i would eventually be able to 'kick' myself out of it. This has been happening just about once a week for 3 years, and I normally get it the night after a big night (on the piss).

Anyway, about a year ago, when i was getting paralysis i just lay there and tried to relax, by doing this i could see bright colours, hear peoples voices and music very clearly and eventually i was able to walk around, and create my surroundings, lasting up to minutes some times. Every detail of either my house, my old school, my friends was basically 100% on. I could feel things, taste things etc...

Anyway the way I get into this lucid state these days is not through the sleep paralysis. I hear people on here picking up mistakes in there dreams and doing RC's and realizing there dreaming, but that has only ever happened to me once or twice. My key is as your falling asleep try to get in the most relaxed state possible, clear your mind of all thoughts and concentrate on breathing. This will help trick your mind that you are asleep, then after a few minutes think of something clearly in your head and try to picture it (it may be your pet dog, a freind, a boat etc... once this image becomes clear in front of you everything goes bright and you realize you are in a LD.

Once in there, let it flow, if you think too hard about trying to do something you will wake, just walk around for a bit at the start and stay calm. Control your breathing and relax, take in the surroundings. Everything will be amazingly clear and once you are settled in, try flying, play sports for your team, do whatever you want to do, its one of the best feelings in the world.

Also, my dog, who was my best mate, died about 6 months ago, and while LD'ing i am able to imagine him and play with him, pat him, chase him etc... and it feels real, this is my favourite part of LD'ing and although I havnt lost any family members, im sure that many posters in here have, and being able to re-create them and interact with them, is the best thing in the world.

Anyway thanks for reading and good luck with it all, keep trying because the end result is worth it...

Cheers

p.s- I often LD when i nap, straight home from work, so give this a go if you are unable atm...