Sleep paralysis, Anyone else gotten it before? Options

[xoxo_proud]

This occurs after waking up or shortly before falling asleep. the person cannot move any body part, cannot speak, and only has minimal control over blinking and breathing. Images or speaking that appear during the paralysis. The person may think that someone is standing beside them or they may hear strange sounds. These may be dreamlike, possibly causing the person to think that they are still dreaming. Often it is reported as feeling a weight on one's chest, as if being underneath a person or heavy object.

From Google

I had a really bad episode a couple of years ago. I heard this gunshot in my ear and I couldn't talk or move at all for almost a minute. It scared me to death. And then a while back I would wake up every night and I couldn't move any part of my body. Sometimes I'd wake up several times in one night and I'd be paralysed. I lost alot of sleep over that but I haven't gotten it in a while.

[falsetigerlimbs]

Yeah, I have this quite a lot. But when I get it, I am more than just "paralyzed." I either feel like my soul is being sucked out of my body, or that my body is rising up and hovering over my bed. I also hear weird alien noises that I can't even describe, and my body feels like it is vibrating. The first time it happened I was in hysterics for an hour because I thought aliens had tried to abduct me.

It's really weird because most of the time, it happens when I am awake, so I am totally aware of what is happening. It doesn't wake me up; I am already laying in bed half-awake, but I guess just not completely conscious. It normally happens during a nap, when my brain doesn't completely shut down.

But I can now also cause myself to have it.... like I can think to myself, "I want to have sleep paralysis" and it normally happens. I just imagine myself feeling the sensations as I fall asleep. And once I feel that floating sensation, I can also choose to fall into a dream state and imagine that I am actually floating up and away from my bed. I can turn it into a lucid dream, you could say (some people also say this is an out of body experience, but I'm not sure I believe that).

I actually like when it happens now. I was terrified at first, but now I can guide it into a positive experience, so it's pretty cool :)