Is this SP? What now?

[Nathan-kun]

This happened to me a while ago, like several weeks, but at the time that it happened for some reason I was so frustrated I didn't want to say anything. It all started when I was having an LD in the morning (a DILD.) I decided I was going to teleport via spinning, but I did not end up where I wanted to be. Instead, I was at what looked the front outside area of my house. There were some people in front of me who were probably my family. There was also what appeared to be someone holding me down, but I could only see their bare shoulder from my perspective. I couldn't move at all. I remember thinking, "this is a lucid dream. Why can't I move?" Then I woke up. I thought this experience was a dream until I woke up and realized that with one eye open I could see my nose in the exact same area of my vision as the "shoulder." I suddenly considered that what I experienced was SP. So here comes my question: Was that sleep paralysis? And furthermore, is it desirable? I hear about a lot of people who want to achieve this state on purpose, and I know it can lead to LD's, but I don't know how I feel about it. It seems like it would be annoying to experience this all the time and have it become a crazy habit when it never happened to you before you tried lucid dreaming. I hear certain amounts of people who want to get rid of it because it is stressful to them. I know it can't hurt you, but I don't know if it isn't good for you... habitually speaking. It's kind of hard to explain. I don't know if it has any long term effects. On the other hand, if I achieve SP going to bed it may mean I'm getting more relaxed. If that experience of mine was SP, it wasn't a very big one. Nevertheless, it made me question if I should continue to pursue lucidity. I wanted to hear what you dreamers have to say about it, especially those who experience it a lot. I know that fear of this is common, it just seems like SP might be a burden.

[Hakura7]

SP is very natural, it is just that usually when we experience it, it is during sleep. u experinced it and u were probally kinda scared of being held down so u may have begun to awake, and ur mind noticed that u could not move ur limbs so that scared u. when u wild, u should want sp casue that means u are becoming more relaxed, and are ready to go to your dream world.. hope i could help DONT STOP WANTING LD'S, CAUSE U COULD DO W/E U WANT IN THEM

[The Enterer]

Once you overcome the fear that type of thing usually stops happening, as far as I know.

[AlexLou]

SP really isn't anything to worry about. I can't guarantee that you won't have any frightening episodes, but if you do, maybe you'll be like me and be more fascinated by the experience than anything else. Since you know that what you're experiencing isn't real it can't be that scary. Beyond that, sometimes SP can be annoying because waking up from it can take a great deal of effort. But once you're in SP you can either decide to wake and put in the effort or decide to have an effortless LD and fall back asleep. Maybe someone who experiences SP when waking up can give you more advice. I only experience it when falling asleep.

[TheNocturnalGent]

You should consider yourself lucky that you realised you were experienceing SP because a friend of mine, who wasnt educated in LDs etc once had a similar dream where he felt he was being held down by three people with veiled faces, and when he woke up he could only open one eye and thought they were standing over him in his bed. He had always thought they were ghosts or aliens until i told him about LDs and other sleep phenomena.

[Dreamhope11]

Just to let you all know you don't have to go into SP, so don't pay attention to it, i never had sp but still WILD.

[AlexLou]

You should consider yourself lucky that you realised you were experienceing SP because a friend of mine, who wasnt educated in LDs etc once had a similar dream where he felt he was being held down by three people with veiled faces, and when he woke up he could only open one eye and thought they were standing over him in his bed. He had always thought they were ghosts or aliens until i told him about LDs and other sleep phenomena. Yeah, I don't know how it happens, but apparently many people aren't lucid when they experience SP. Instead they think that what's happening is real and that they're being abducted by aliens or harassed by evil spirits. I'm afraid that I really don't understand it because I'm always lucid during SP. I'm actually rather curious if anyone has any insight as to why this is.

[Nathan-kun]

Sorry for ranting above. I'm not sure if anyone could understand what I was trying to say because of it. It might be cool to experience every now and then, as an experiment, but what I'm asking is from a daily perspective. Wouldn't it be frustrating, annoying, and draining to experience it all the time? You guys are right though: I'm glad I was educated enough to know what it was. Then again, I thought I was in an LD, not SP. It wasn't until after it was over I decided it was SP.

[Conquer]

I have SP when going to sleep (not waking up like some people), and I don't trip out and see stuff like others have reported. I usually notice SP 3-5 times a week. But I've never had hallucinations, and I've always been able to break out of the paralysis it if I wanted to.

[AlexLou]

It is annoying. But the more you have it the better you get at getting out of it.