Question about WILD and SP in general- what it feels, what's the mind doing meanwhile?

What should I be thinking about when relaxing for a WILD or to attain the state of sleep paralysis? Normally it seems I'm hyperaware of my body and at some point I start hyperventilating. Not necessarily out of fear, but it feels like a great weight on my chest. Then suddenly it turns to fear, the weight on my chest, the need to breath, the regulating of my breath -- trying to slow it down but failing and just needing more air but trying to move so I begin to struggle -- and on and on and on and on.

What should my mind be doing, is there something to think about in the meantime to relax me as I await for SP?

EDIT ADDITION: Also, the only times I have ever experienced real sleep paralysis is when I have been woken up by something and for some reason my body was still in that mode, and I would panic, not knowing what was wrong and then... sort of hyperventilating there... I wonder if that's related.

Im having similar problems with regulating my breath. :[

I'm glad I'm not the only one. =3

It is very possible that you are right on the verge of hitting SP. SP may be trying to set in and the weight on your chest and struggle for air, could actually be a hallucination. Do these things happen after you have been laying there a while? Can you move your body very well while these things are going on?

corranhornchamp,

KingYoshi has great input and questions as always. It's funny how we are all very different with our experiences. I have never ever experienced paralysis while conscious. I understand it from reading about it, but have never experienced it. So to me I would be thrilled to experience it.

Of course you have experienced panic which is easy to understand. So I have a question to add to KingYoshi's. Is sleep paralysis something you now desire? I assume you desire it but your mentioning of panic in the past causes me to question your thinking of it. Do you desire it but also have any apprehension about it?

As I've said, I've not experienced it even though I wish I could. I've tried maintaining consciousness into sleep many times but never get anything more than hypnagogic imagery on rare occasion. Despite this lack of experience, I would guess the experience would be highly subjective.

I look forward to your answers and King Yoshi's input as well.

Well no, I don't want SP, it's just a necessary step of WILDing. I don't know if it's a hallucination. I doubted it because I assumed I wasn't far enough along but yeah I had been laying there a while (and usually do) before that starts to set in. It takes a second before I can move my arms or legs. Usually the furthest edges of the extremities go numb first and it works its way up. The last thing I usually feel (and have only felt when WBTBing when I was already on the verge of sleep) is the mouth or bottom part of the jaw going numb.

For some reason, I just don't believe I'm far enough along for hallucinations. I wear earplugs but can still hear the fan going nearby faintly as well as normal house noises (albeit faintly). I haven't experienced HI yet so I assume I haven't reached that state. I just assume the trouble breathing is part of the SP process but, I suppose it could be a hallucination. I'll try again in about an hour and see what happens...

Ah, well you can often experience hallucinations before you even realize you are in SP. The delay in your extremities has me even more suspicious that these are in fact, hallucinations. I have often felt the increased heavy breathing as well as a rapid heart beat. These are fairly common hallucinations during the WILD process. I would try to ignore this completely and see if it goes away after a bit. If you are unable to ignore it, try to force slow and deep breathing...as one would if they were asleep. If you know that you are breathing slowly, but it still sounds/feels like you are breathing fast, it is definitely a hallucination. If you force the slow deep breathing, you can usually decipher the hallucination from your actual breathing. You shouldn't have trouble breathing during SP. Do you also get an increased heart rate during this time?

Yeah, yeah. Definitely an increased heartbeat, like a cop caught you doing something that maybe you possibly shouldn't have been doing or like a surge of adrenaline from a minor near-hit while driving. Heart rate kind of surges and the need to breathe fast comes to play. Maybe these are hallucinations. Tried last night to WILD 3 times, once straight away, the other two after WBTBing. Seemed to get to the point where body was numb or numbing but minor twitches around arms and legs made me reflexively tense my muscles and kind of wake them back up, unfortunately.
Or maybe the whole thing was a G.D. hallucination.
I did start to see floaty things in my vision the first WBTB WILD. I realized what was happening and I thought, good, good, its working. But after a while nothing more progressed and I gave up. Or maybe I fell unconscious. We'll see next time.

Seems like this is a process that takes quite a bit of trial and error to get acquainted with exactly what the body does during the sleep delving process.

Yeah, it is definitely a trial and error process. Anyone can give you tips and assistance, but the process is different for everyone. So, it will take some practice and experience for you to start getting the hang of it. See the increased heart rate is 100% a hallucination, so I'm thinking the breathing problems are definitely hallucinations as well. Your heart rate actually slows down during this time in preparation for sleep. Just try to ignore all of these and they will soon pass.

I'm not to good with WILD but if you need help with SP then just hit the link in my signature.

When you say the faster breathing and heartrate is a hallucination, do you mean that we are dreaming it/imagining it? Or that we are waking, yet still getting false messages saying that we are breathing faster/heart is pumping faster when it really isn't?

I'm trying to WILD tonight, I've just started learning about lucid dreaming.

Your mind is creating these hallucinations as it begins to fall asleep (it is basically starting up the dream process). The hallucinations will often seem as real as if they were actually happening. These hallucinations happen during WILD attempts, because with WILDs, you are attempting to enter directly into the REM state. The REM (rapid eye movement) state, is the state in which most dreams occur. As soon as you start to fall asleep in this state, dreaming begins.

Thanks for that, king yoshi! I have only tried MILD 3 times, and a couple of times ive woken very sweaty andnwith an increased heartbeat, however I think this is all placebo, as I wasn't WILDing. I just read your WILD tutorial, thanks, it was helpful, I'm going to try it now.

No problem at all and good luck to you!