When I was around 17-18, I had my first experience with this. It nearly scared me so much that I did not want to sleep, but first, I wasn’t so sure that I wasn’t just dreaming. In order to figure this out, I had my alarm clock facing my bed and the next time it happened, I was able to actually see the time change—-the first time it was 9:10 am, then it was 9:23 am, then 9:40 am before I was finally able to completely wake up and it was 10 am by that point.
What is Sleep paralysis?
—well, if you look at the scientific term you will find:
a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is aware but unable to move or speak. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes generally last less than a couple of minutes.
(Reference from Wiki)
Well, let me tell you something, nearly an hour is not a couple of minutes and I do not believe these are hallucinations and I do not believe it has anything to do with “sleep hygiene” among many other things suggested (more on this in another post).
Although I was initially afraid because during this time, I felt as if someone was holding me down and the only thing I could do is maybe move my head left and right. When I tried to talk or scream out to a family member I saw walking down the hall–-they heard nothing–even though I was trying to scream with all my might—my voice was stifled.
I set out on a mission to find out why this was happening and why hadn’t everyone experienced it. There are 2 important things I found when researching this among random people, family, and friends:
- Those who experience this were usually more deeply spiritually inclined OR sensitive and those who did not generally were not deeply spiritually inclined OR sensitive. When I say sensitive I mean people who tend to notice things MOST others don’t—like empaths and/or introverts.
- When the episodes happened, there is typically a location/s) trigger (sleeping in certain locations ex on the couch or at a certain individuals house/room), sleep position(s) trigger (sleeping on the back or side/ belly), or life event(s) trigger (ex. new people/friends or associates that you have been around or new places you’ve been exposed to)
My next post on this will uncover more in depth on the spiritual basis for this and why what you are feeling and seeing are not hallucinations and all the other wild things science says to compensate for it’s lack of spiritual understanding.
BLUEBERRY | MOON 