For those of you who supposedly experience sleep paralysis before a WILD, can you explain something?

I've had many episodes of sleep paralysis (which, for a while, was a terrifying experience), and I've recorded in my journal several successful WILDs, but I'm totally boggled by what is meant by entering sleep paralysis before a WILD. I realize everyone's experience won't be exactly the same, but I was hoping you could help me understand.

When I WILD, I usually am conscious with my eyes closed and feel myself drifting off to sleep (e.g. hypnogogic imagery, I "lose" my hands and no longer feel them). Then, the next thing I know I find myself fully immersed within a dream (sometimes without sight at first). Now I know this probably isn't the typical WILD, but please hear me out.

Before entering the dream, yes, my body is very still, but how would I know if it was paralyzed unless I tried to move? In fact, all the WILD tutorials I've read specifically instruct me to try not to move. So, how do you know you're in sleep paralysis at all? In my experience with non-WILD-related sleep paralysis, I knew it was sleep paralysis because I tried to move and could not. Also, perhaps more importantly, I knew it was sleep paralysis because my senses were like those of waking life and not of hypnagogia.

For example, the images I see within hypnogagia are with my "mind's eye" (and not my real eyes, just as how I know the sounds I hear are with my "mind's ear." However, in sleep paralysis, just as in a dream, I see things with what I believe to be my real eyes and ears. Everything is ultra realistic in my sleep paralysis episodes--moreso than my average lucid dream, in fact.

I suppose it's possible that since I have my eyes closed anyway and am not moving anyway that I may actually be in sleep paralysis after all, but really I can't see how I'd know the difference other than auditory hullicinations (which are few and far). However, the fact that you're hearing an auditory hullicination is no indication of sleep paralysis per se, so I'm totally stumped how so many of you are claiming to have experienced sleep paralysis before the onset of a WILD (assuming you're trying not to move and your eyes are closed anyway). What gives?

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When I WILD, I usually am conscious with my eyes closed and feel myself drifting off to sleep (e.g. hypnogogic imagery, I "lose" my hands and no longer feel them). Then, the next thing I know I find myself fully immersed within a dream (sometimes without sight at first).

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^This is the only way I have done WILD (quite an accurate description, actually). Those are good questions because I don't understand either! It seems to me your mind has to be pretty far gone before SP kicks in and then, like you said, how do you know? I can only guess that with some people (many people it seems) their minds are still fully alert when it kicks in the way it is for you when you wake up from it and you're still in it but fully alert. I haven't even experienced that. I lie perfectly still when I wake up to remember my dreams but I've never, ever, woken up and felt that I was in SP. I feel so left out, lol.

Generally, I get a full body buzz accompanied by full fledged hallucinations. You won't always feel your SP, so don't even worry about it. It doesn't matter if you know you are in SP or not. Just continue your process and try to fall asleep while retaining your consciousness. Whether you are fully paralyzed or not is insignificant. Don't even think/worry about whether you are in SP or not, just keep relaxing and working your technique.

I have sometimes experienced like a "wave" or a surge that starts at my feet and it is a very very odd feeling, it scares me so i move to stop it lol..i know this must be SP setting in but my usual is to wake in the night and be aware then get the "swooshing" noise then i am thrown into lucid land lol..i used to have bloody awfull experiences with SP untill i learned how to controll it..that i learnt from this site. Last night i went numb after a while and was very dozy , my leg now and again twitched while i was like this and i had a very weird feeling rush through me when that happened and i have no idea what that was but i never actually got into full SP, it was the oddest feeling and have never had that before..weird but i liked it lol but as i said in my own experience of SP its not the paralysis that lets me know if i'm in SP its the "swooshing" noise and the throbbing of the head and it all takes off from there :)

Moved to the WILD sub-forum.

I used to have fully immersive SP with waves and buzzing. The 1st 3-5 times I was in Sp were like that. It's also like that when i wake up in SPm but as of about 2 years ago, I started feeling what you're feeling instead. They've never led to a Wild before, but after my 1st few SP inductions, the feelings just faded.

Happens to me exactly like angie746. Thus it is not only a numbing feeling. You instantly understand something is going to happen, like an alarm. After that I always find myself out of my body. (or I think I do...)

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Originally Posted by angie746

I have sometimes experienced like a "wave" or a surge that starts at my feet and it is a very very odd feeling, it scares me so i move to stop it lol..i know this must be SP setting in but my usual is to wake in the night and be aware then get the "swooshing" noise then i am thrown into lucid land lol..i used to have bloody awfull experiences with SP untill i learned how to controll it..that i learnt from this site. Last night i went numb after a while and was very dozy , my leg now and again twitched while i was like this and i had a very weird feeling rush through me when that happened and i have no idea what that was but i never actually got into full SP, it was the oddest feeling and have never had that before..weird but i liked it lol but as i said in my own experience of SP its not the paralysis that lets me know if i'm in SP its the "swooshing" noise and the throbbing of the head and it all takes off from there :)

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wait, can you post some examples or such of those places you learned to control SP? i could use some help too

Alright, so I'm gonna actually try to answer your question, since a lot of people here seem to be missing the point of this thread, which as it so happens is differentiating between full-blown, legit SP, and the pansy stuff people sometimes get during a WILD attempt. I've experienced the former exactly once in my life, and I completely understand why you're confused by the fact that both of these experiences are often referred to as SP.

The kicker here, and the key to understanding the difference, lies in how the sleep cycles progress. I won't bore you with the details (feel free to do the research on your own), but the thing that causes paralysis in full-on SP, the hardcore stuff you're familiar with, is known as REM Atonia. And the reason you don't experience it during WILDs is because RA sets in right as you transition into REM, the start of the dream. The crap before it are all just hallucinations associated with N1 and N3 sleep, trivial in comparison.

Hope that shed some insight.