Thread: Is this sleep paralysis?

If you can move at all then it's a dream. REM atonia is either on or off, there's no moving slowly involved. That said, you can still move your eyes, fingers and toes to break the paralysis.

Which means you have an opportunity on your hands. You're basically being given a free LD transition on a weekly basis - what luck!

And you should never aim for sleep paralysis when trying to WILD, any time you see 'SP' described in a guide they're actually describing NREM phenomena, and most people will already be dreaming by the time that REM atonia kicks in. I say most people because the exception is those who have isolated sleep paralysis, the medical condition.

I have had episodes of isolated sleep paralysis intermittently since I was a kid, so I know the difference between sleep paralysis and WILD transitions.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

If you can move at all then it's a dream. REM atonia is either on or off, there's no moving slowly involved. That said, you can still move your eyes, fingers and toes to break the paralysis.

Either this, or you're hallucinating that you can move. I have chronic SP episodes, and many times I've tried to move in order to fully wake myself up, only to realize I was moving a phantom limb rather than a real one. Like you've described, it would take me a LOT of effort to "move" my arm (or leg, or whatever), but later on I would realize it wasn't my *real* arm that had moved.

In this state, it feels almost as if my dream self is stapled to my physical self, like I'm experiencing a dual layer of reality.

So from what you're describing, I'd say it sounds like sleep paralysis.