Dear Soul Arcanum:
I just read about your experience of meeting with your departed grandfather in the astral, and how you asked your husband for help because you couldn’t “get back,” and how his touch helped you “move back into your body fully.” If this should happen to us and we have nobody to “bring us back,” what can we do? I have also woken up from a very real experience and found myself blinking my eyes like crazy in order to “return.” It seemed to take forever. Is there anything we should know or do about such experiences?
– Kay
Dear Kay:
First, let’s cover some background. The experience of mentally awakening but feeling physically paralyzed has been dubbed “sleep paralysis” by dream researchers. It typically involves “waking up” to discover that one is unable to move. People struggling with sleep paralysis may also feel like they are falling, can’t breathe, are being suffocated or crushed by something on their chests, or are threatened somehow by an “evil presence.”
According to scientists, during REM sleep, the body’s muscles are immobilized by the brain so that we don’t physically act out our dreams. The eye muscles and the muscles responsible for circulation and respiration are not disabled. To put it simply, the experience of sleep paralysis occurs when our minds wake up before our bodies. This can happen for various reasons. Some people seem to be more prone to it than others. I had a roommate in college who experienced this all the time. Sleep lab studies revealed that her brain exhibited an extra alpha wave, which would explain her consciousness during a time most of us are oblivious. Sleep paralysis has also been associated with extreme fatigue and stress.
People familiar with astral projection, however, know sleep paralysis to be a state between normal waking consciousness and an out of body experience. It can happen before one leaves the body, but more commonly, it happens upon re-entry, and is caused by one’s consciousness not yet being fully back in the body. The more one’s consciousness reintegrates with the body, the more control one gains over their physical being. This can happen instantly or gradually.
It’s interesting to note that even the sleep paralysis experiences studied by scientific researchers typically mirror out of body experiences: they may include shaking or vibrating sensations, roaring or buzzing in the ears, the sensation of floating or being out of the body, the ability to see through closed eyes, and awareness of the presence of frightening entities, for example.
Most people describe sleep paralysis as the most terrifying experience of their lives. I’ve experienced it myself a number of times, and must admit that it is terrifying in a primal, indescribable way. Despite the terror, I suffered no real harm. I have also corresponded with many people who have had frightening sleep paralysis experiences over the years, and read accounts of many others’ experiences, and I have never heard of anyone being literally harmed.
Researchers estimate that between 15% and 25% of the population experiences sleep paralysis sometimes. In other cultures, it’s far more widespread. For example, one man who grew up in the United States but is now living in Japan commented that according to his Japanese friends, everyone there experiences sleep paralysis. In fact, they were amazed that he hadn’t himself up until the incident that prompted those conversations. With millions of people experiencing sleep paralysis, I’m sure we would have heard about it if it were truly dangerous.
Most people only experience sleep paralysis occasionally during times of extreme stress or fatigue, such as during college exams. It happened to me just after I gave birth to my son, when I was profoundly sleep-deprived. The rarity of these events contributes to their mystery.
By contrast, studies of people who experience sleep paralysis on a somewhat regular basis are reassuring, for those individuals tend to conquer their fear in time. At that point, the experience usually shifts from frightening to fascinating. Where an individual may have sensed “dark” or evil presences initially, he or she now describes the presence of angels, spirit guides or departed loved ones.
We can thus presume that a lack of understanding of what is happening is the cause of all the fear. For example, my father recently had his first spontaneous OOBE as a result of medical trauma. Before this experience, he had never really done any conscious spiritual development. He was not familiar with the idea of astral travel, and so he found himself terrified both during the experience and in the days afterward. When he described it to me, I knew that what had terrified him would probably have fascinated me. As I explained what had happened in astral projection terms, and how common his experience was, his fear began to abate.
According to astral projection experts such as my friend Bob Peterson, who has authored a number of books on the subject, we can not get lost or lose our bodies. The only thing we have to fear is truly fear itself, for when we’re in the astral, our minds will quickly give shape to our fears. What we imagine takes shape in our perceptions immediately. As feeling paralyzed sparks a huge surge of fear, it’s no wonder such experiences are typically described as terrifying.
If you find yourself in that strange state between asleep and awake, unable to move your body or even cry out for help, first try not to panic, for this tends to make things worse. This is easier said than done, as anyone who has been through sleep paralysis can tell you.
Know that you will not remain paralyzed long. Try to relax and simply focus your awareness on your body and your physical surroundings. Focus your attention on moving or opening your eyes, since these will not be immobilized. People who have a lot of sleep paralysis experiences usually recommend either focusing on moving one’s eyes or moving a single digit, like a finger or a toe. This focused effort generally brings one fully back into the body, thus ending the sensation of paralysis.
As strange as all of this may sound, it’s really quite common. Astral travel is as old as humanity itself. We can find references to out of body experiences throughout history in numerous cultures around the world. Many spiritual teachers are convinced that we astral travel every night; we just don’t remember these adventures.
As I believe that sleep paralysis may be a sign that we’re moving toward conscious awareness of other dimensions, we might view it as a positive spiritual development. In fact, many people learn how to consciously astral project from the paralyzed state. With the wisdom and understanding of experience, these strange events may become a wonderful source of new spiritual power and awareness.
– Soul Arcanum
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