Can't progress past sleep paralysis

Hey guys, I'm aware that there are probably about a billion other threads on this same subject, but I figure to conquer this personal issue I'll need some personally directed advice. Yes, I have read through other threads. Anyways, I can get into SP consistently(every time I try pretty much) but no matter how many times I tell myself to relax, or how much stretching and muscle relaxing I do before sleep, I get too excited and my neck twitches. The SP passes, and I give up and fall asleep the regular way. I have checked and I have not had any false awakenings. The moments before I enter SP, I notice the swirling blackness on my eyelids, and I feel pretty calm and relaxed. I've used the counting method of relaxation and I've had more success with it than with the visualization method, as counting off with my breaths seems to keep my mind still and focused. As soon as I feel SP though, my heart rate goes up and I get all anxious(no matter how much I tell myself that I am safe, or of how close I am to dreaming) and it becomes inevitable that some muscle twitches and ruins all the time spent getting to that state. I've been doing this on and off for a few months now, and I've experienced SP so many time I figure I should be over it by now. How can I make the transition?

Are you sure you are going all the way into SP? What does it feel like? What time during your sleep cycle are you doing this? It helps me to be almost asleep to begin with- like briefly awakening during the middle of the night. Then I am a little too groggy to really get freaked out.

I know its SP because I get the heaviness in my chest and arms, the kind of "vibration" feeling, etc. Its happened to me a bunch of times so I can tell the second it happens. Thats not to say I'm an expert of any kind though. I've been stubborn and I've only tried it when I'm going to bed, I can't afford to lose any sleep by doing the WBTB method, although I'll take your advice into account when I can sleep in. Just out of curisoity, how long did it take you to be able to LD consistently?

Yeah, what you describe sounds like what happens to me if I am not in a REM state when I try to WILD. I think. I don't want to sound like I know everything, though. WILDing is a mysterious thing that is different for everyone. For me, true SP is a step or two beyond where I stop feeling my body and feel heavy and tingly. It is like a very heavy weight being laid down over my body. Like cement is being poured onto me from my feet up. This is more than just a feeling of heaviness. It feels exactly like cement or being buried alive. Or that feeling of having pins and needles so bad that it hurts and you can't move the affected limb. But all over my body. Once I reach that point, there really is no transitioning to do. I usually can suddenly see what looks like my room but I know is a dream. Then I just get up and start the dream. Sometimes there is a short transition before this where I see an image and focus on it until I am pulled into the dream.

I wish I could say I have gotten to the point where my LDs are "consistent". The overall trend has been towards more of them since I started, but they are still spotty and not as frequent as I would like. I am just strange in that WILDs and DEILDs work best for me. Most of my lucids have been from a waking or semi-waking state, so I've become more familiar with that transition than a lot of beginners, I think. I've only had maybe 2 or 3 DILDs out of my 20 or so LDs!

But yeah, try setting an alarm for around 6 hours after you go to sleep. I don't usually get up, I just turn over and drink some water from a glass next to the bed, then get comfortable and focus in the images behind my eyelids until I feel SP. When it works it usually takes from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. Not too much sleep lost.

Well I tried it last night, and I made it a bit farther into sleep paralysis. However, the effort of keeping my breathing/heart rate consistent was intense and I got this anxious feeling in my chest. I got cold icy prickles of terror in my chest and I was only a step or two away from completely losing control. I don't know how the hell I can stay in that state for longer than 20 seconds, but I'll try again tonight. Thanks a lot for the advice man

I normally have several waves of all the typical hallucinations before I can finally enter a dream. Don't give up if you become interrupted. Just go back to what you were doing, and you will slip back into the same state. Assume you are going to bounce in and out a few times before you can really enter a dream.

This is what happened to me. I reached SP for the first time last night and my heart rate instantly jumped up due to excitement. My neck and body was spazzing and bending, and I was trying to calm down. I felt like energy was rushing through my body and I was floating in a cocoon... it's hard to describe. I'm sure it was SP though. Through my eyes I saw a black void that was sucking me in, but it would only last for a few seconds.

Then it would all fade away and I was upset. I eventually tried to sit up and roll over, then RC, but it failed.

Yep, sounds like what happens to me. I didn't experience that cocoon sensation, although I do often see swirling blackness right before and during SP. Let me know if you find a solution and have a WILD, although if you're like me it won't happen for a while lol. Still waiting for my first WILD to happen, and its been months

I seem to be having the same problem. Any tips Experts?

I am now at the end of my rope (so to speak) You call it lucid dreaming but I call it a hag. I have been having these experiences since i have been 11 years old. I am now 48. To me, I dont believe that I am dreaming. I have these experiences every 2 months but the last 2 times have been different because I have just learned to accept what is happening to me.
Last night when I went to bed and I normally sleep on my side, I heard my son say "night Mom" then i rolled over. I could feel something crawl in the bed with me and in my head I am saying, "Oh no". Whatever or whoever has been doing this all of my life and I know that it will never go away. It is a part of who I am. I make sure that I do not eat 2 hrs b4 bedtime and I wll not sleep on my back. This has been happening to me for 37 years now and I cannot figure out what brings it on. I am at the point now, where I need to see or talk to someone about this. I know it is a male and it is not of this world. He latched right on to my back and wraps his leg around both og my legs tightly. He brings his arm around my neck and whispers in my ear " dont pray". To pray always brings me out of it and it is like he knows this. This is the first time that i came forward to tell my story in the hopes that someone else is going through this. He always hurts me in some way, by biting my ear or my back and last night, it was his nails. He asked me to touch him and I automatically did without even thinking about. His skin was dry, dry like a lizard, and his fingers were very long with long nails. He keep digging his nails in to me andI told him to stop and this caused him to go to the end of the bed cause I could feel his weight on the bed. He left and I woke, smoked to cigs ( like I always do when it happens), to make sure he wouldnt come back. So, sounds like I am crazy but I am not. Just crazy about every 2 months and at night. And he will be back....

Thats sounds a lot more like sleep paralysis. Sometimes people hallucinate strongly during SP and feel things and hear voices, and the idea of a "demon" sitting on the chest has been around for a long time because people didn't know how to explain it in the old days. Maybe just think to yourself about how the demon isn't real, and can't really hurt you. It only has the power that you give it.

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Originally Posted by navyperfume

I am now at the end of my rope (so to speak) You call it lucid dreaming but I call it a hag. I have been having these experiences since i have been 11 years old. I am now 48. To me, I dont believe that I am dreaming. I have these experiences every 2 months but the last 2 times have been different because I have just learned to accept what is happening to me.
Last night when I went to bed and I normally sleep on my side, I heard my son say "night Mom" then i rolled over. I could feel something crawl in the bed with me and in my head I am saying, "Oh no". Whatever or whoever has been doing this all of my life and I know that it will never go away. It is a part of who I am. I make sure that I do not eat 2 hrs b4 bedtime and I wll not sleep on my back. This has been happening to me for 37 years now and I cannot figure out what brings it on. I am at the point now, where I need to see or talk to someone about this. I know it is a male and it is not of this world. He latched right on to my back and wraps his leg around both og my legs tightly. He brings his arm around my neck and whispers in my ear " dont pray". To pray always brings me out of it and it is like he knows this. This is the first time that i came forward to tell my story in the hopes that someone else is going through this. He always hurts me in some way, by biting my ear or my back and last night, it was his nails. He asked me to touch him and I automatically did without even thinking about. His skin was dry, dry like a lizard, and his fingers were very long with long nails. He keep digging his nails in to me andI told him to stop and this caused him to go to the end of the bed cause I could feel his weight on the bed. He left and I woke, smoked to cigs ( like I always do when it happens), to make sure he wouldnt come back. So, sounds like I am crazy but I am not. Just crazy about every 2 months and at night. And he will be back....

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This boy is not real. Tell yourself this. When he is there, will him away, scream at him, if you are religious, call for God or pray even more. You can overcome this.

Navyperfume, I feel your pain. I've experienced sleep paralysis for my whole life, also. It is what led me to lucid dreaming. I think the best solution is to empower yourself with knowledge and experience. Once you learn to induce this at will, it loses much of it's mystique and it's power over you. Now, whenever I get sleep paralysis, I can direct it into a beautiful experience instead of a frightening one.

TY for replying to me and it is great to know that someone else has been throught this. So, how to I start to learn and turn these nightmares around?

Okay guys, I'm seriously frustrated now. Last night, I fell asleep by using reverse blinking and counting down from 99 in sync with my breathing. I got distracted somehow and started having one of the dreams you get in the early stages of sleep in which I had been drugged and was being forced to drink an alcoholic beverage of some kind. Each sip made my thoughts more and more disorganized, and I could feel that I was drawing close to blacking out. I realized that I needed to stay conscious, so I rallied and brought myself into a more normal state of mind. At this point I was in sleep paralysis, but I used all the mental discipline I've acquired over these long months to stay still and not twitch. It ended up not making a difference, and the SP passed as if I had moved. I'm really pissed because I got farther than I ever have before in sleep paralysis and it just passed by even though I maintained control. Any tips? Should I have let myself slip into the "void" where I would have no thoughts so I could regain consciousness after the fact?

Why would you pull yourself out of the dream? You are supposed to fall asleep and enter a dream. That is the entire point. Even if you missed your chance, you can still continue doing what you are doing, and wait for your next chance. It should come faster and faster each round.

I would agree with RobotButler. Part of WILDing successfully is going into that void. You need to actually fall asleep. Yes, there is the risk of losing consciousness, but you are very likely to become lucid very quickly when that happens. WILDing is falling asleep, after all. It's not just about staying still. You have to be just slipping into that fuzzy mindset.

Alright, thanks guys. I just felt like my mind was very close to "shutting off", and that if that happened I would fall into a dream but not remember to stay lucid. I'll try it tonight, though the fact that I'm on my focalin during the week might interfere.