First Sleep Paralysis into LD or OBE
This morning I experienced sleep paralysis for the first time. That led into what is either a lucid dream or an out of body experience, depending on how one wants to look at it. It started as a normal dream; I was at a friends house and we were playing with our pets. I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes, to rest I guess, not sure. Then I heard this loud mumbling sound in my ear. I thought it was just my friend messing with me, he jokes around like that. I swatted above my head to swat him away but there was nothing there. The noise stopped when I swatted and I think that is when I realized I was dreaming. I just lay there with my eyes closed and before long it happened again, it felt like someone's face was right above my ear making a mummbling sound. When I tried to swat I couldnt move my arm. I recognized this as sleep paralysis and knew what was happening. When a person experiences sleep paralysis they cant move and it is common for them to have hallucinations like mummbling or incoherent talk.
With difficulty I did manage to raise my hand and swat. Again there was nothing and the noise stopped. Again I just lay there and before long that feeling was back but this time there was a panting in my ear like a dog panting. Not only could I hear it, I could also feel the dog's breath on the side of my face. For a second I thought it might actually be my dog but then I decided that was very unlikely because this panting is another common hallucination. I tried to open my eyes but I could only open them up a crack and couldnt see much. When I tried to sit up I felt something pressing down on my back, it felt like the front legs of a large dog. As I continued straining to rise there was a strange and uncomfortable sensation in my back. I think Ive felt that sensation before, maybe when I was under the influence of salvia. With considerable effort I finally managed to sit up, and when I did I saw myself still laying there in my house where I sleep. My body had its eyes open and was looking in my direction but I couldnt tell if it was really looking at me.
With a little more effort I was completely separated from my body. I was elated to be LDing, or something similar, again. I tried flying right there in my house. With a couple of hops I was up and floating next to the ceiling. I flew through straight through a closed window with no problem and I was out and up. I barely cleared the top of a sweetgum tree by my house as I headed south-west. As I cleared the top of the tree I called out "Guru Rinpoche are you here?" because I decided last week that the next time I had a lucid dream I would try to locate this deity. This is the second LD in a row where I have had the presence of mind to pursue a spiritual goal. I saw my dad's tractor and I saw neighbors' houses and other familiar things. It was lovely! There were dark, stormy looking clouds to the west and for a second I felt concerned about lightning but then decided nothing could harm me. After flying just a short distance I started to lose altitude. Through a large force of will I shot up higher into the sky, up into dark clouds where I could see nothing but very dark gray. I wanted to keep the ground in view so I dove down out of the cloud. Once below the clouds I again began to crash and this time came all the way down to the ground in a forced landing. I was in the field west of my house but not as far from the house as I had actually flown. I tried to fly again and this caused me to wake up. When I woke it was 9:30am, about the time I usually get up. In the future when I am forced out of the sky like that Im not going to try flying again, maybe that will make the dream last longer.
Notes:
This sounds like an out of body experience, however there are things that might be taken as evidence to the contrary. Last week I got a hair cut, but this morning when I saw my physical body in the dream it still had long hair. In the dream there were dark storm clouds in the west, but when I woke up and looked outside the sky was clear in all directions. In the dream I saw my dad's tractor in a place it probably wasnt, however its possible I confused this for another tractor that might have actually been in use at that location at the time of the dream because when I woke up there was a man cutting our field. In the dream the sweetgum tree had some red and orange leaves like it does in early autumn, however right now the tree is all green.
The thing pressing me down is an interesting topic itself. People have reported such phenomena for centuries. In the past they usually thought it was a demon or witch. Was it trying to keep me in my body? The noises and panting might have been attempts to wake me? Maybe its just a phenomenon with out purpose?
Brandon
8-9-2010
