Lucid Dreaming

Wikipedia discusses Lucid Dreaming:
"A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that they are dreaming while the dream is in progress, also known as a conscious dream. When the dreamer is lucid, they can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.[1]

A lucid dream can begin in one of two ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that they are dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness. Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established.[2][3] Scientists such as Allan Hobson, with his neurophysiological approach to dream research, have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.

An early recorded lucid dreamer was the philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). Browne was fascinated by the world of dreams and stated of his own ability to lucid dream in his Religio Medici: "... yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof;"[20]Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys was probably the first person to argue that it is possible for anyone to learn to dream consciously. In 1867, he published his book Les Reves et les Moyens de Les Diriger; Observations Pratiques (Dreams and How to Guide them; Practical Observations), in which he documented more than twenty years of his own research into dreams."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream)

The term lucid dreaming was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in 1913.
The anthropologic studies in 1968 by Carlos Castaneda, for what later became the new age novel, The Teachings of Don Juan, reveals that ancient mexican natives knew and encouraged lucid dreaming.

Another source states"OBE enthusiasts promote lucid dreaming as a "stepping stone" to the OBE. Conversely, many lucid dreamers have had the experience of feeling themselves "leave the body" at the onset of a lucid dream. From a laboratory study, we have concluded that OBEs can occur in the same physiological state as lucid dreams. Wake-initiated lucid dreams (WILDs) were three times more likely to be labeled "OBEs" than dream initiated lucid dreams. If you believe yourself to have been awake, then you are more likely to take the experience at face value and believe yourself to have literally left your physical body in some sort of mental or "astral" body floating around in the "real" physical world. If, on the other hand, you think of the experience as a dream, then you are likely to identify the OBE body as a dream body image and the environment of the experience as a dream world. The validity of the latter interpretation is supported by observations and research on these
http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html#LD

One of the Etsy Artists shares her experience:
keepsakekatie
keepsakekatie says:
I get severe sleep paralysis, to the point where before I had a sleeping partner I had to set my alarm to go off every hour, to rouse me from sleep.

It's a horrible, frightening condition. Because you are not thinking clearly when you first wake up, sometimes I think I've been in an accident. I also suffer from negative lucid dreaming, which is a condtion where you can control your dreams, but in your dream state, negative thoughts over power your positive nes. This turns dreams into nightmares, and because of the constant state of paralysis, I often cannot rouse myself from the dreams, despite learning a number of techniques, including spinning and dreamweaving.

I have gained more control over the lucid dreaming recently, but the sleep paralysis still haunts me.

There are things that help you get out of it. Your brain is stimulated by patterns and touch, so if you concertrate on the feeling of the mattress under you, that is often enough to bring you out of it. Once, I was under paralysis for over an hour. I thought I was dead. I was also horribly late for work and ot the sack because of my 'crap' excuse.

I would warn ANYONE trying to encourage lucid dreaming that this is very serious and dangerous side effect of trying to control your conscience when you are alseep. My troubles started after I used a book called 'Lucid Dreaming - How to Control Your Dreams'

A wise word og caution.Thank you.Some of her work is in the video but you may like to see more at her shop:
http://keepsakekatie.etsy.com

A You Tube On Sleep Paralysis

Adapting To Sleep Paralysis

In our recent discussion of Sleep Paralysis in an Etsy Forum,some of the people experiencing the terror of it have found a few ways to adapt to the occurrences.Read the accounts and notice the things that sometimes work.As you may recall amber also mentioned this in her account published in the previous post.It may be helpful to those who go through this..Some samples of their work is included in the video.A link to the shop follows their story.

missknits said...

I used to have this happen a lot as a kid/teen, but only a couple of times since adult. its incredibly frightening. i remember trying to tell my parents, and they thought i was being foolish, til i read about it online somewhere and knew what it was. it still freaks me out, until i realize whats going on and force myself to try and sleep and then i'll come out of it. freaky!
http://missknits.etsy.com


yellowcanoe
yellowcanoe says:
Here's my post from before.... my blog post from it...going back a little over 2 years: http://operation-paper-cut.blogspot.com/2006/08/flickr.html

http://yellowcanoe.etsy.com


smittenkittenorig says:
I've had it at times! Feels like it's so real in the moment & worse still, I couldn't move or scream. At first I thought it was like a night terror thing (so glad it wasn't) but in the moment that hardly matters. I've not had it happen in a quite a while but I've also been on anti-anxiety medication, so that may be why.

In the meantime, chamomile tea & either lavender or chamomile scents worked for one of my friends. Drink the tea before going to sleep and use a bit of either essential oil on your sleep mask (should you have one). ;)
http://smittenkittenorig.etsy.com

TripleWillowGifts says:
I have had it a few times and it's breath taking scary and it left me fatiqued too.

How about breaking the cycle by taking a light dose muscle relaxer? Either natural or prescribed?

My indian teachings tell me though that you need prayers. Consider them on the way with your name in them Snow
http://TripleWillowGifts.etsy.com

FeetingFrenzy says:
i used to experience sleep paralysis all the time as a teenager. it frightened me every single time it happened. i never felt like there were people around me, never felt the heavy chest thing either. i would just wake up and not be able to move. at first i would try to fight it and try to force myself to move. but after the first few times i learned the best way to deal with it was to relax as much as possible and let myself fall back to sleep.

it doesn't happen to me anymore. thank god!!
http://FeetingFrenzy.etsy.com



Solanah says:
Oh gosh I havent had it in a while, but it is terrifying. Pretty much the only thing you have control of is your thoughts and your breathing. You really dont want to go back to sleep, it feels like you'll fall into some horrible world and never escape, so you have to really fight it by trying to stay calm and gathering up energy and then trying to simply move.
http://solanah.etsy.com

ScotiaMade
ScotiaMade says:
It's happneed to me for years. I am now aware when it is happening that I am dreaming and I work to get awake to escape the situation.

This was, of course, a bit of a surprise for the BF the first time it happened, as my method of getting awake is to alert those in the waking world to my situation via a loud noise that is now known in our house as "the wibble"

It sounds a bit like the noise you woudl expect a muppet to make were you to spin it around the room by its feet until it passed out.

That is not what it sounds like in my dream,m but there you have it.
http://ScotiaMade.etsy.com

Two Artists' Experience with Sleep Paralysis

Two talented Etsy Artists were kind enough to share their experiences .Their work is in the video but you would probably like to see more at their shops on Etsy.
About herself,quietkatie says in her profile;"I like things that are beautiful. I like the way light shines through orange leaves in October. I like the smell of apples. I like watching birds. I like the feeling of a warm cat sleeping in my lap. I like the sound of a baby's laugh. I like the poetry of A.A Milne. I like soft, faded fabrics.

I am especially inspired by walks in the woods, Edwardian children's books, English gardens, French country decor and Beatrix Potter. I've been trying lots of new crafting techniques lately, so keep an eye on the shop for some new additions!"
http://quietkatie.etsy.com


NoctisAeterna's Profile
"Hello, all! My name is Amber, nice to meet you. I'm a 24-year-old college graduate with her Associate's Degree in Art and Animation, and I'm here to (hopefully) put one of those majors to good use ;)

I'm quite enthusiastic about art, and my styles run an eclectic gamut, from digital photography to painting to colored pencil, and so many things in between. Once I really get going here, I hope to have a respectable selection for everyone out there to choose from! The more money I can make, the more materials I can invest in, and the more art I can provide to the good people at Etsy!"
http://NoctisAeterna.etsy.com

Here is quietkatie/s story in her own words:
"I've woken up feeling like someone was sitting on my chest, I don't know if that is sleep paralysis or not. I couldn't move, though, and couldn't really breathe. Then I'd fall back into sleep. It doesn't happen very often. I heard a psychic say once that the "someone sitting on your chest" feeling is caused by your soul, which leaves your body when you sleep, climbing back in and you happen to wake up before it's all the way in. That freaked me out, lol."

Here is Amber.s story in her own words:
"I experience it quite frequently - at least once every couple of months. It used to be downright terrifying, but it's gotten to the point where I can recognize what's happening and can do something about it.

My experiences don't usually have anything to do with pressure on my chest or anything like that - I usually see "shadow people" standing around me, or rising up out of the floor, and sometimes feel someone or something jabbing me in the ribs. Occasionally, I hear voices, too, and a couple of times I've had vivid hallucinations of certain body parts moving in ways that they shouldn't - once, it was my arms, and it felt like they were twining around each other like snakes; the other time, it was the sensation that my jaw was seizing uncontrollably.

I can usually snap out of it, though, by focusing on moving, even just a little bit."

Thank you so much for your stories.Such frightening experiences.It is encouraging that NoctisAetema has developed a way to deal with it.

Astral Catalepsy Or Sleep Paralysis?

In the mid 1930's a man named Sylvan Muldoon first used the term Astral catalepsy.He had been doing astral projection since age 12.In research and study of his own experiences he was able to recall very specific aspects of the out of body experiences.His work was quite helpful for the many people who were enduring this horrible experience now generally called "sleep paralysis."It is common in children but many adults also experience it

Symptoms typically include:
A sensation of being paralyzed
A heavy weight on the chest making breathing difficult
Being unable to cry out or even make a sound
Being touched in a sexual or malicious way by an invisible source
A vibration from within the body or surrounding it
Being pinned down or immobilized by an evil presence
Flashes of or glaring lights
Being bombarded by noises from buzzing,electronic humming,to clamoring voices of many people talking at once
Sincerely believing a vicious entity is sitting on or messing with the bedding intentionally



You can see this is a very unplesant experience.However it is more common than you might think.
Wikipedia gives a physiological run down on the REM stage of sleep which this involves.
It still remains unclear why some have and others do not have this condition.

In many cultures throughout History this has been discussed in folklore.Northern Europeans considered it was caused by abduction of unsuspecting sleepers by witches who took them for long broomstick rides to a distant place.The Japanese thought a gigantic devil would sneak into the bedroom at night and pin the person to the bed with his foot..Newfoundland came up with the legend of The Old Hag who would sit on the chest of the sleeper and wrap her gnarled claw like hands around their neck in attempts to choke them.China envisioned a ghost sitting on the person and assulting them,Interestingly, west Indians considered it yo be a baby ghost jumping up and down on sleeping people's chest.Some Alien abduction reports are also considered to be this sleep paralysis or astral catalepsy occurring.

Some people including some parapsychology researchers do not believe that this actually happens.Others believe that as the spirit attempts to re enter the body something interferes and the body gets the signal that it is dying.Until the two are successfully reunited the symptoms remain.

Wikipedia says"The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false".[7] When there is an absence of narcolepsy, sleep paralysis is referred to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP).[8] "ISP appears to be far more common and recurrent among African Americans than among White Americans or Nigerian Blacks",[9] and is often referred to within African American communities as "the witch riding your back"[10]"
Sources Wikipedia.sleep Paralysis
http://soulsreflection.com/astralcatalepsy.htm

You Tube Sylvia Browne on The Montel Williams Show (Astral Catalepsy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtRZTsuUaTc