Sleep Paralysis, a touch of Satan

I recall once during my vacation to Costa Rica I visited often during the summer months, an episode of sleep paralysis. It started off as a normal dream I was shopping at a local convenience store for some canned food products. After looking over the shelf into the next few aisles I noticed a devil doing his shopping also. I guess at this point it occurred to me that I was dreaming, and immediately it became a nightmare. I could feel the dream becoming cold and dark.
 Now being a devout Christian I took it upon myself to confront this demon. I grabbed a can of food and hurled it at the devils head. After clonking him on the head he looked up at me, stepped back and flew in my direction grabbing my right elbow. I woke from the nightmare unable to move, I looked down toward my elbow to release my paralysis. That's when I noticed a hole in my bed with my elbow in it being pulled in. I was able to yank my elbow out of the hole. Needless to say I didn't sleep the rest of the night. Scared...damn right.

Sleep Paralysis vs Sleep Walking

Remember sleep paralysis is when you can't move, mayo clinic defines sleep walking as getting up and walking around while asleep. Most common in children between the ages of 4 and 8, sleepwalking often is a random event that doesn't signal any serious problems or require treatment.
However, sleepwalking can occur at any age and may involve unusual, even dangerous behaviors, such as climbing out a window or urinating in closets or trash cans.
Sleepwalking is classified as a parasomnia — an undesirable behavior or experience during sleep. Sleepwalking is a parasomnia of arousal, meaning it occurs during deep, dreamless (non-rapid eye movement, or NREM) sleep. Someone who is sleepwalking may:

• Sit up in bed and open his or her eyes
• Have a glazed, glassy-eyed expression
• Roam around the house, perhaps opening and closing doors or turning lights on and off
• Do routine activities, such as getting dressed or making a snack — even driving a car
• Speak or move in a clumsy manner
• Scream, especially if also experiencing night terrors, another parasomnia in which you are likely to sit up, scream, talk, thrash and kick
• Be difficult to wake up during an episode

Sleepwalking usually occurs during deep sleep, early in the night — often one to two hours after falling asleep. Sleepwalking is unlikely to occur during naps. The sleepwalker won't remember the episode in the morning.
Sleepwalking episodes can occur rarely or often, including multiple times a night for a few consecutive nights.
Sleepwalking is common in children, who typically outgrow the behavior by their teens, as the amount of deep sleep they get decreases.

Sleep Paralysis and Night Terrors

  Unlike sleep paralysis where a person is awake but cannot move, sleep terrors are episodes of fear, flailing and screaming while asleep. Also known as night terrors, sleep terrors often are paired with sleepwalking.
Although sleep terrors are more common in children, they can affect adults. A sleep terror episode usually lasts from seconds to a few minutes.
Sleep terrors are relatively rare, affecting only a small percentage of children — often between ages 4 and 12 — and a smaller percentage of adults. However frightening, sleep terrors aren't usually a cause for concern. Most children outgrow sleep terrors by adolescence.

Sleep terrors differ from nightmares. The dreamer of a nightmare wakes up from the dream and remembers details, but a person who has a sleep terror episode remains asleep. Children usually don't remember anything about their sleep terrors in the morning. Adults may recall a dream fragment they had during the sleep terrors.
Like sleepwalking and nightmares, sleep terrors are a parasomnia — an undesired occurrence during sleep. Sleep terrors usually occur during the first third of the sleep period.
During a sleep terror episode, a person might:

• Sit up in bed
• Scream or shout
• Kick and thrash
• Sweat, breathe heavily and have a racing pulse
• Be hard to awaken
• Be inconsolable
• Get out of bed and run around the house
• Engage in violent behavior (more common in adults)
• Stare wide-eyed

Out of body Sleep Paralysis

I'm gonna tell you about an experience I had when I was about fourteen. I had not yet controlled the paralyzing chemical that keeps you from moving as you dream. I was sleeping on a couch in our living room, my sister was across from me watching television. I could hear the sound of the tv set. I opened my eyes and noticed the ceiling was about three feet in front of me.  At first it hadn't sunk in because as a child I was used to waking up on the top bunk bed and seeing the ceiling. Then I realized I was in our new home with the ten foot ceilings. Now trust me when I tell you I don't believe in out of body experiences. So anyway I was in complete paralysis awake but unable to move. My senses were in a panic I felt spirits flying around me. They began to circle me which in turn started to rotate my body. After a few passes I was lying face down but still against the ceiling.

What I saw next will stay with me forever, because it never happened to me again. I could see my sister watching tv on the couch. I could here the tv program on and the flicker of the light bouncing off of my sister. I tried to call out to her but she couldn't hear me. I as I yelled out I heard a voice  below me. I turned my attention away from my sister to what was directly below me. I could see myself laying on the couch staring up at myself yelling out to be woken up. I could see the fear in my eyes and closed my own eyes. When I opened them again I was staring up at the ceiling again , only this time it was eight feet above me. I turned to my sister and asked why she didn't wake me. She declined ever hearing my pleads for help.

Lighter side of Night Terrors

I'm gonna take a detour today and fast forward to the future, to a time where I have overcome the paralysis of sleep paralysis. I am in my mid twenties. My wife and I bought a thirty two inch TV. Let me tell you this wasn't one of those HDTV's  that are thin. This thing was huge. It took three of us to lift it on top of our dresser. Ok I'm going to let you in on a secret only my wife knows, I can't sleep with the lights off. I must have the TV on or a light in the hallway on. It's not because I'm afraid of the dark, it's because of my subconscious mind that wonders while I sleep.
This was caused by my ability to control the chemical that is released from your brain to keep you paralysed and from acting out your dream. How I overcame this was through sheer practice of having repeated sleep paralysis episodes.  Anyway I digress,  because of the brightness of the TV screen, my wife made the mistake of turning the set off when I fell asleep. During the night my subconscious mind noticed I was in the dark. Now my mind starts to panic when its not aware of its surrounding. I stood up and picked up the TV set of the dresser and threw it straight across the room waking my wife who flicked the light on. What we found hilarious was that three of us could not lift that TV set but I was able to clear a 15 foot distance across the room with a single toss. What was funnier was returning it to walmart and saying it was cracked when we opened it at home.

Possible causes of Sleep Paralysis

In surveys from Canada, China, England, Japan and Nigeria, 20% to 60% of individuals reported having experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime. A study conducted by Sedaghat-Hamedan has investigated the prevalence of sleep paralysis among Iranian medical students. 24.1% of students reported experiencing sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime. Comparable results were reported among Japanese, Nigerian, Kuwaiti, Sudanese and American students.
Many people who commonly enter sleep paralysis also suffer from narcolepsy
Some reports read that various factors increase the likelihood of both paralysis and hallucinations. These include:

• Sleeping in a face upwards or supine position
• Increased stress
• Sudden environmental or lifestyle changes
• A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode
• Excessive consumption of alcohol coupled with lack of adequate sleep

In The Terror That Comes in the Night, folklorist and behavioral scientist David J. Hufford argues that sleep paralysis is related to an anomalous experience known in Newfoundland as "the old hag". According to Hufford, the old hag is "an experience with stable contents which is widespread, dramatic, realistic, and bizarre," and elements of the phenomenon cannot be fully explained either by psychology or culture. His works have explored the connection between the old hag and parapsychology in what he labels the "experience-centered approach" to hauntings

Full blown Sleep Paralysis

Finally all the years of trying to wake myself up were paying off. Except I gave up one nightmare for another.  I dunno how to describe it, being asleep but awake at the same time but frozen.  I feel I can't move, then a feeling of terror comes over me. A heightened sense of hearing and my peripheral senses go on overdrive. I can feel presence around me someone walking around me, dark shadows everywhere. At first, for the first couple years, I was unable to move my body then slowly I was able to move my small finger . Of course it didn't help much..

My first full blown sleep paralysis experience was with shadow figures. I was on my back staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly I feel one standing to the left and one standing in front of me. There was another figure standing behind me holding my head, although I couldn't see,  I can feel its presence as it hangs hovering furry hands holding me. So the first figure I saw there in my sleep paralysis was what some call the hooded figure, I will include picture. the best way I can describe it is to close your eyes and listen listen to the sounds of people walking around you or somebody walking close. You can feel the presence of that person walking by the wind from the movement brushing past you. I had gotten used to waking myself up from a nightmare but now I couldn't move.Scientist are trying to say that most people will have a sleep paralysis exprience maybe twice a year but here I was having am at least 3 to 4 times a week. In my next blog I will talk about what egg heads say are the things tha tare the causes of sleep paralysis. And then talk about some lighter side episodes that happen to me.

Sleep Paralysis Meaning

Before I get into the start of my sleep paralysis, I've been getting a lot of messages about what exactly sleep paralysis is. I'm going to take some excerpts from Encyclopedia to explain. Sleep paralysis occurs either when falling asleep, or when awakening. When it occurs upon falling asleep, the person remains aware while the body shuts down for REM sleep, and it is called hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis. When it occurs upon awakening, the person becomes aware before the REM cycle is complete, and it is called hypnopompic or postdormital. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes, with some rare cases being hours,"by which the individual may experience panic symptoms^" (described below). As the correlation with REM sleep suggests, the paralysis is not entirely complete; use of EOG traces shows that eye movement is still possible during such episodes. When there is an absence of narcolepsy, sleep paralysis is referred to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP).   Le Cauchemar (The Nightmare), by Eugène Thivier (1894)

In addition, the paralysis may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger. Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual because of the vividness of such hallucinations. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful or dream-like objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for reports of alien abductions and ghostly encounters.

Overcoming Paralysis but still Dreaming

     Bring able to tell when a nightmare would begin was an ace up my sleeve, or so I thought. When I sensed my nightmare beginning I would call out in my sleep for someone to wake me. Being that I slept in a bedroom with four others, I was never short of someone waking me. However, at age eight we moved to a bigger home, each of us had our separate room with thicknd walls. I cried out for someone to wake me but to no avail. Now that I was a little older I was able to get over my childhood nightmares and begin controlling my dreams. I could manipulate my dreams to whatever I saw fit. I would frequently dream of Costa Rica, a favorite vacationing spot of ours during school summer recess.

 Soon I wasn't able to control my dreams. All the work I had done to control my dreams went out the door. As soon as I knew I was starting to dream it would get dark and an evil presence would surround me. My mind began to back track as I would enjoy my dream, remember the song from Madonna "like a Prayer" where the one verse says  "its like a dream no end and no beginning:" how true that was, If I were dreaming I was on the beach in Costa Rica instead of enjoying it I would begin to think, how did I get here? I don't remember getting on a plane. Just then the darkness would come and the nightmare would begin  I had to learn to wake myself, and so I did. I was able to consciously here myself screaming and would wake up, but to my shock I would wake up unable to move. I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. I had made it so I could escape a non-real realm of fantasy to a paralysed l realm of reality. I escaped lucid dreaming and began a life of horror.

Lucid dreaming leads to Sleep Paralysis Pt.2

After carefully watching the eyes of the statue go from half open to completely wide a sense of fear overcomes me to the point of paralysis (in my dream). An arm comes from the ground in front of the statue through the floor grabbing my right foot dragging me toward Big Bird's mouth. I know this sounds silly but to me back then it was shear terror. As me foot is being eaten I am able to break free and back up in front of the tv set. Just then the screen turns on and turns snowy with a haunting bluish glow. I guess the closest explanation would be the poltergeist movie. As I run from the tv set a force of gravity draws me in the screen. I start to free fall backwards, as I do I feel soft furry hands tickling me but not in a funny way more like a forceful tickle. Some how I am able to crawl out of the tv set (like the girl from The Ring)  and run out the room just as I do a pair of muscular green arms (I used to call the Hulk arms) breaks through the wall and grabs me. At this point I wake up each and every time I had this dream.  Now because I Know that when I'm standing by the couch with my sister I am dreaming. I try everything in my power to control my dream. I tried changing the scenario, giving myself weapons but nothing worked.  Lucid dreaming was not working for me. I found out how to wake myself by yelling my sisters name. Of course in my dream it comes out clear as day, but in the real world it was gargled mumbling. Little did I know I was setting myself up to waking myself up to a paralytical state known as sleep paralysis.

Lucid dreaming leads to Sleep Paralysis Pt. 1

  A lucid dream is defined as any dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by dutch psychiatrist Frederick Van Eden. In a lucid dream the dreamer may be able to excerpt some degree of control and try to manipulate there dream and control there dream enviroment. That's easy to say now but at age four it was just scientific jargon that I hadn't learned yet. I tried to control my dream on my own, alas to no avail. How did I know I was dreaming? you may ask: repetitive dreams. Night after night I had the same dream. So what does a four year old dream about? Let me set it up for you.

 My parents and I along with my older sister by three years lived in a one floor upstairs apartment.  There were three rooms, living, kitchen/dining and single bedroom. Since it was the early eighties my mother still had wall-to-wall shag carpeting, groovy psychedelic furniture, and lamps with faux diamonds hanging off them. My father had a huge wooden floor TV that was as tall as me, on either side of it were three foot statues of Sesame Streets Big Bird and Cookie monster. Collectors items in today's market I'm sure, if they were still around. I could see it vividly to this day, the living room with the red carpet, stucco ceiling, wood paneling. This is were the dream started each and every time. My sister stands next to me by the extended couch playing. She takes a toy screw driver from my hands and throws it across the room I walk slowly to pick it up in front of the giant TV set that had a grey soulless look when off. As I approach, I get down and crawl to the screwdriver in front of the TV, never taking my eyes off the statue to the right of the TV. In the future at this point in my dream I would be aware I was dreaming, being that I dreamt  it so many times. I would try to wake because I knew what was to come...

Awareness

 

      Scientist have stated most people will suffer from one of the following night symptoms, sleep talking, sleep walking, or sleep paralysis AKA night terrors or old hag syndrome. I unfortunately have suffered from all three since 1982. At age 4  I became aware that I was different from others when my cries for understanding were dismissed as imagination or bad dreams.  In my future blogs I will be revealing my sleep paralysis experiences.

     First I must get a little scientific here and explain what night terrors are for those who've never heard or experienced them. The term Old hag syndrome came from the appearance of the elderly woman or "old hag" most sufferers of sleep paralysis see at the foot of there bed or pressing down on there chest, causing shortness of breath. Why people see the silhouette of an older lady is yet to be uncovered.  During sleep a chemical is released from your brain to keep you from acting out your dreams and from hurting yourself and others. While waking up the chemical stops being released from your brain and allows you to move. During an episode of sleep paralysis your body is waking from sleep but the chemical from your brain is still being released into your body causing a half awake, half sleeping state. Your body however is completely immobilized with the exception of a few body parts, in most people there big toe or hand pinkie.  During this state of being half awake a sense of heightened awareness takes over. Sense of hearing and peripheral presence increases. I personally believe these are senses that humans have not learned to unlock at will, for example the feeling of being watched from afar and turning around to find someone watching you. During this state you believe to see and feel emotions you wouldn't wish on there worst enemy. It leaves you feeling frightened, especially if you also see or hear things that aren't really there.

     I had dismissed my experiences of night terrors as nightmares or bad dreams for years to come. I personally had not seen the old hag until later in my teens.  My sleep paralysis however was very current and very real and at the age of only 4.
      Follow along with me as I chronicle over the next several weeks my sleep paralysis. I will reveal my darkest nights and even darker visits. Here is a list of things to come.

• The Old Hag
• The Hatted man
• Abduction
• Out of body
• Incredible strength
• A touch of Satan
• I discovered what most egg-head scientist today have not deduced, I have discovered the pre-cursor  to sleep paralysis.