Newbie here, with some questions about Sleep Paralysis/MILD.
I don't know if this is the correct place for a thread of this nature, please let me know.
I was introduced to the world of lucid dreaming yesterday. It blew my mind at first, and I assumed it was really just made up and a load of hippie talk. But I remembered that I've had lucid dreams in the past, where I could control the dreams. Aspects of the dreams were lost to me, however. So I decided to keep a Dream Journal and attempt to hone my Dream Recollection. After sifting through the various induction methods, I decided to try a MILD, as it looked the simplest to me. As I drifted to sleep, I started going over a mantra in my head: "I will find a dream sign, reality-check myself and realize its a dream." I tried a visual method, but I feared it would take away from the mantra and I would just drift into a normal sleep. So I kept repeating this mantra in my head over and over again, until I basically blacked out. Then, I remember having slight consciousness. It felt like I was transitioning into a dream-like state, but I realized it was a dream. In fact, the mantra was still playing through my subconscious without my control. I was ready to enter this dream, and hoped I would achieve lucidity immediately. However, that's when I realized my body was unresponsive to any of my commands. I could not move, could not open my mouth, could not open my eyes. Then I scared myself awake, it seemed. I looked at the clock: 11:43pm, practically 90 minutes from when I went to sleep. I knew that I had experienced sleep paralysis at that moment, and was really mad at myself for interrupting my REM cycle when I was so close to achieving lucidity. I laid back down and tried to refocus myself to use my mantra, but I do not believe it was enough, as I never became lucid nor did I remember many of my dreams when I awoke. As a side note: As I was falling asleep for the second time, I felt a numbing sensation that started in the tips of my toes and slowly worked its way to my head. When it fully occurred, it took lots of concentration to move anything. I was unsure if this was me regaining SP or just a coincidence. However, I think this is what caused my mantra to fail as I was also worrying about this sensation.
So, basically, I'd like to know if any other users experienced these kinds of events? Has anyone woken up from scaring themselves in SP? Will I become accustomed to things such as this? Did this mean I was close to achieving lucidity, because I was aware I was drifting into a dream and could still subconsciously retain my mantra?
If anyone could answer any of these questions, I would be so thankful. I lurked without an account for a while just to see how the forum worked, but I decided I desperately needed an answer for this. I'd like to make more attempts at lucid dreaming, as these kinds of psychological processes are the things I'm interested in. I hope to actually achieve lots with it, and not give it up so quickly like I know others have in the past. I look forward to getting to know you guys better and become a fellow DreamViewer. :)
Thanks in advance,
Virk.
