Awareness during sleep paralysis often includes the terrifying and realistic sensation of being held down while waking up or going to sleep. Sometimes, it’s accompanied by grotesque visions that seem to threaten our most prized possession: our sanity. But I have found for myself that sleep paralysis can lead to creative states of mind (such as lucid dreams and astral projection). And as it turns out, sleep paralysis makes great fodder for modern art too.

First, check out the work of South African fashion designer Elmé Bekker. Based in Cape Town, Elmé has suffered with sleep paralysis off and on her entire life.

Recently, rather than trying to wake up from the ghastly visitations, she’s taken to scrutinizing what her nightmare figures are wearing.

The piece to the right is directly inspired from a series of SP visitations by an evil white swan character that haunted Elmé after she saw the movie Black Swan. 

So that’s a creepy feedback loop starting with a film, inducing nightmares, and then inducing more art.

For more of Elme Bekker’s hypnagogically-inclined designs, see her 2011 collection from South Africa Fashion Week.

Then there’s this wild digital print by DeviantArtist ~unded.

Titled Kanashibari, this 2010 original digital art is one of the coolest –and creepiest– renditions of a ghost attack while in sleep paralysis.

Kanashibari, by the way, is the Japanese word for the nightmare that creeps upon you while you’re awake, presses you down, and seemingly threatens to steal your soul.

You can get full-sized prints of this piece (and ~unded’s other spooky mythological art) here.

Finally, I’m really excited about the London-based singer-songwriter Gabriel Bruce, whose deput 7″ single Sleep paralysis has been likened to works of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits.

His gravely voice and penchant for darkness also reminds me of Michael Gira, lead singer for the American post-punk band Swans, whose song “Goddamn the sun” I’ll never forget thanks to the incessant listening by my friends in high school.

(What is it about creepy swans in this article?)

Bruce’s song “Sleep paralysis” is definitely haunted. But he also designed a 60 page Dada-inspired booklet on the horror and science of sleep paralysis that comes with his vinyl single.

So cool. And the song is good too.

Here’s the video (you can go to full screen once you hit play):

Gabriel Bruce – Sleep Paralysis from Off Modern on Vimeo.

Know any other recent artistic works inspired by sleep paralysis and hypnagogia? Shout them out below.

At night, the veil is thin. The spirits are marching. Cold air blankets their arrival. Through the mists, a figure emerges. He is a stranger, cloaked in dark spun wool, his face obscured. He stands next to your bed and you strain for recognition.

The light shifts, shadows warble, and then you see his face.

No it can’t be.

It is your face.

The encounter with the spirit double, or the doppelgänger, has been recorded for thousands of years.

Today, with our spiritual literacy reduced to memories of fairytales and Disney films, the doppelgänger encounter is often fearful and terrifying. It’s usually mistaken for a ghost or malevolent spirit. But because we are shamed for seeing spirits in the 21st century, most do not share their stories, furthering their cognitive dissonance and isolation.

Facing off with a willful entity when you are alert and awake is not necessarily a ghost encounter. These visions have biological origins. Most doppelgänger encounters occur at the bookends of sleep, either just after falling asleep or when waking up out of a dose.

The vision occurs in stage 1 sleep, and is known as a hypnagogic hallucination. Making matters even creepier, some people have hypnagogic hallucinations for minutes after waking up, even after getting out of bed and walking around the house.

This stuff happens.

But I like the term hypnagogic vision better, because “hallucination” carries some heavy baggage that what you’re seeing is random, unreal and unimportant.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

The doppelgänger encounter occurs in times of stress, at life’s crossroads, and especially during times of emotional upheaval. They often carry messages and portents that the conscious mind does not want to hear. They can be insistent, angry, or stone cold in demeanor.

Sometimes they know information that we simply did not have access to. This unsettling truth is unexplainable by the current paradigm of science.

Do they have access to the other side, to our Higher Self, or is some other “psi” phenomenon at work, such as telepathy or clairvoyance? 

It’s really a matter of personal belief and I don’t have an agenda to press on the matter.

In any case, we are hard-wired to interact with these entities. Seeing spirits is part of our genetic make up,  an aspect of neurotheology, which accounts for the human universal experience of seeing spirits as well as other cross-culturally documented extraordinary experiences.

This doubling of self is also the core of interpersonal psychology:  a social trait shared by all the upper primates in which we recognize that other people have consciousness and free will. We invoke group dynamics namely by projecting our personal self onto the others around us and interacting in a dialogue of give and take.

The doppelgänger —and in fact many dream figure relationships—is an artifact of the same process, in which the self splits itself into two or more ego mirrors.

As the recently passed James Hillman said, “The gods are real.”

The Celtic tradition of the Double
It’s autumn in the Northern hemisphere, the season of the final harvest. In Celtic traditions, we just passed through Samhain, from which our Halloween myths are largely based.  For these people, the doppelganger was well known in all its forms.

In Medieval Europe, where Germanic and Celtic traditions blended together, three souls were recognized for each person.

The hamr is the animal soul, which dies with the body, and can also be sent out as a physical double. This is the province of sorcerers and shaman.

Second, they recognized the Hugr, or spirit, roughly corresponding to our Latin based tradition of the animus and spiritus.

Lastly, the fylgja is the spirit double, often seen as a female protector.

The fylgja leaves the body at will, and was associated with sleep and trance states. Today’s accounts of autoscopy and out-of-body experience parallel these early accounts of facing one’s own double.

However, in the Celtic tradition, the fylgja can fly great distances, and be employed to gather information, paralleling what is now called remote viewing by contemporary consciousness researchers. 

French medieval literature professor Claude Leconuteux suggests that the spirit double has many disguises. These real life experiences can be found in many fairytales and epic tales that feature encounters with werewolves, fairies, witches and little people.

The Doppleganger Today
Modern encounters of the double can also involve aliens, zombies, and vampires. Without a tradition to ground us, many are terrorized by their own doubles as they project fear and loathing onto the hallowed encounter.

But something interesting happens when you realize that in order to communicate with you, the creature must contain some part of yourself.

Granted, a part of your self that may see farther and into realms the conscious mind does not understand well in the waking rational world.

The following doppelgänger encounter is drawn from my upcoming mastermind guide Lucid Immersion. As dreamer Lee Adams explains, his doppelgänger occurred from a sleep paralysis-initiated lucid dream.
——————————
“I had been having a high occurrence of sleep paralysis along with hypnagogic experiences. I had a discussion with my Buddhist teacher about the experiences and how I often overcome the sometimes-terrifying visions with a fear tactic (running at them, scaring them off). He suggested that I just be with what ever it is, and learn from it rather than scare it off.

So the next night I tried what he said. I experienced sleep paralysis and soon had a type of OBE:

I walked outside my room and walked into the hallway. I felt the sense that something was coming, that horrible feeling of the bad what ever it is (energy) is on its way. Sure enough, down the hall I saw what looked to be a zombie, stumbling his way in my direction.

I had a rush of fear sweep over me but soon calmed myself down as I remembered what my teacher had told me. I walked up to the zombie and told him to stop. I said, sit with me. He sat down.

As he and I sat down I noticed that he looked a lot like me, but just had a sad face on him. I asked him what was wrong. He said he was disappointed. I asked what he was disappointed about, and he said he didn’t know, he was just disappointed.

I thought to myself, “this must be myself, and my disappointment in life that created this type of being.” I looked down the hall as I started to feel that normal terror feeling once again. Sure enough another zombie was walked in our direction. I told the new zombie to sit with us. He sat down.

As he sat down I noticed that there were cables that came out of the zombies. I took the cables and swapped them between each other. They seemed to morph into each other as though something was fixed. As they did this I woke up.

Adams has this to say about his experience: “With a little guts and a little understanding we can learn a lot about our fears. Accepting them often is better than always trying to change them.”
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To clarify, I’m not suggesting that all encounters with ghosts, ancestors and snaggily-toothed demons are “merely” fearful projections of the ego. It’s more slippery than that, and less certain.

All I can say for sure is that a piece of us is always present during encounters with the mysterious “Other,” be it doppelgänger sighting, hag attack, angel visitation, or exchanging pleasantries at the bus stop with a neighbor.

Understanding this interpersonal reality can level the playing field, and make communication with the Other more fruitful.

Which is why respect, gratitude, and compassion is the soulful way to be with one another, in dreams, visions and in waking life. Especially when the face turned towards you is gnashing its teeth.

To receive notification about the upcoming publication of my Lucid Immersion Blueprint: a holistic guide to conscious dreaming, subscribe to my blog here.

First image credits: Doppelganger by AbbyLadyBug

Over the centuries, spooky stories have warned us of the creatures of the night. But these tales don’t just come from dusty fairytales: they are panicked stories of real experience transmitted down through family lines and melded into myth.

The ghosts, goblins, and werewolves we celebrate during Halloween are still with us today, thanks to the ever-present condition known as sleep paralysis.

Ever felt held down when are waking up?  Like someone is sitting on your chest?  Or felt a cloud of evil lurking in the room while you hear the sound of footsteps shuffling towards you?

These are all symptoms of sleep paralysis, which is the harmless sensing of bodily paralysis that comes with REM sleep.

But it gets weirder when you start projecting your dream imagery into the bedroom, literally calling to order your worst nightmare.

To honor the spooks of sleep paralysis, I teamed up with Zeo to illustrate the history and complexity of these lucid nightmares throughout the centuries.

Click the image below to see the full sized infographic, and please share it and pass it along!

The world is a-buzz over the death of Osama bin Laden. The thing is… I feel absolutely nothing.  Other than a twinge of sadness.  Sadness that it has gone on this long. Has it really been almost 10 years?!  I guess it has. At times it feels like yesterday. At times it feels like 30 years ago.

I still remember the day vividly, and I still have problems watching the footage. I wasn’t in New York, nor was I near where the plane did or did not hit the Pentagon. But I lived close to both, and had dear friends in New York at the time, and I worked close enough to the Pentagon that what was normally a 30 minute commute home turned into 6 hours.

Was it worth it? Was it worth all of the lives?  All of the American lives? All of the Afghani lives? All of the Iraqi lives?  All of the people everywhere caught in the crossfire? Not to mention all of those disfigured and wounded?

I can’t, in all honestly, say that I believe so. And again, while part of me feels like bin Laden’s death brings some closure, I had hoped that he would be captured alive.  I would have preferred a trial. At the time of the attacks, I wrote a lengthy essay on justice vs. revenge for the company newsletter for a now former employer.

I’m not sure that this is justice, but vengeance.

In the intervening time since the attacks, I’ve moved to California, finished graduate school, and had a host of other things both hideous and wonderful happen to me. I’ve also learned a lot more about Islam than I knew on September 11, 2001.

Five years ago to the day that Osama bin Laden died, I had the following dream.  And it still haunts me:

May 1, 2006

Somehow, I’d wound up (through a series of weird events) training with Osama bin Laden. I remember meeting him in a giant office building, along with Ayman al-Zawahiri. They were particularly interested in me, as I was an American. I’d originally gone simply to meet him, to try to understand what was making him tick. Before I knew it, I was in too deep, and had to play along, and undergo training, with a group of other men. We were given our target, and our orders.

Our mission went horribly wrong. We were supposed to attack some military base or something in Iraq. My comrades either got themselves killed, or deserted. I was captured by American forces, and knew I’d be in trouble. Then there was a loud explosion, and my captors ran off to investigate. I was shackled to something, and when the coast was clear, bin Laden himself came over to free me.

“I knew you would fail,” he told me. “You don’t have the stomach to do this sort of thing to your own people. Yet, I took you in, because I wanted you to understand, so that you can pass this message along to others. Just as you are human, I, too, am human. Just as I am a monster, so, too, are you, monsters.”

He unshackled me, and told me to go, pointing a way out through a garden. The garden became rather maze-like, full of geometrical patterns. The idea was, that as an American, I’d be able to blend back in, and nobody would be any wiser about what I had been through.

————-

Saddam Hussein (who had nothing to do with the attacks) spent his last days gardening and writing poetry. I found this truly fascinating that a man who knew that his role in the world was coming to a close chose to spend the days leading up to his execution taking pleasure in the simple things – nourishing life, and creating.

Part of me can’t help but wonder how bin Laden would have spent his final days.

About the Author:

Kevin Kovelant, M.A., is a dream researcher living in California. He is adjunct faculty at John F. Kennedy University, and has done extensive research into the phenomenon of Visitation Dreams from the dead. Visit his website Dreams of the Dead. If you have had such a dream, he would love to hear your story. He can be reached at kev AT dreamsofthedead DOT com

If you’ve ever woke up and realized you can’t move, or you find yourself sat upon by some foul hag or monster with bad teeth and worse breath, you’ve experienced sleep paralysis. Many sufferers stay up all night to prevent another terrifying episode. Some also find themselves eating a midnight meal, or having a night cap, to calm the fear so sleep comes again. Ironically, these typical ways of coping only increase the likelihood of another encounter.

Instead, you can prevent attacks by reducing stress and getting enough quality sleep at regular intervals.  This is more easily said that done, isn’t it? Here’s my top 10 ways of preventing sleep paralysis naturally, so you can get on with your life.

10 Ways to Lessen Sleep Paralysis

1. Sleep on your side, not your back. The supine position is asking for sleep paralysis, especially if you’ve woken up and are going back to sleep. Try the trick that works for sleep apnea sufferers: place a tennis ball in the pocket of your pajamas to prevent middle-of-the-night roll-overs. 
2. No more night caps or heavy meals before sleep. Alcohol can help you fall asleep, but it also disrupts the sleep cycle. Heavy meals (fats, proteins and sugars) also disrupt sleep.
3. Drink herbal tea or a glass of milk instead. Herbals teas like chamomile, lemon balm, and passion flower gently relax the mind. Milk, or a small cottage cheese snack, contains casein proteins that increases melatonin levels.
4. Wind down before sleep. Give yourself an hour of relaxing time before bed, with soothing music, candles, and/or  your favorite book (especially a book that brings you joy and comfort).
5. Turn off electronics too. Watching TV, playing video games, and texting before bed is linked with greater sleep disruption.
6. Reduce or eliminate caffeine in your diet. Everyone knows it can impede sleep, but caffeine—and withdrawal—also increase anxiety. 
7. Get more sleep. One of the greatest predictors of isolated sleep paralysis (those who don’t have narcolepsy or sleep apnea) is sleep debt. If you aren’t getting more than seven hours of sleep throughout the 24 hour day, chances are you are in sleep debt. In particular, REM sleep deprivation increases the chances, and it’s REM sleep that usually takes the hit when we get six or less hours sleep a night. 
8. Stick with it. However you sleep—all at once in the night, or a long lay down at night with a shorter nap during the day—stick your sleep schedule.  Your circadian rhythm will thank you, and your stress levels will plummet.
9. Try meditation. A simple breathing mediation of watching the breath is one of the fastest and most effective ways of reducing general anxiety without medication. Recent studies suggest the effects of meditation can be seen in the brain within a couple weeks. The brain is plastic, but we have to train it. 
10. Journal your nightmares. It may seem counter-intuitive, but journaling your sleep paralysis nightmares can give you psychological distance. Date your entries and give each one a title. Over time, these valuable reports can help you see patterns regarding when you’re most likely to have SP (seasonally, weekly, menstrual, work-related etc). This record will also be a great clue to learning about what works during the sleep paralysis encounter in terms of waking up, losing your fear, and even facing the uncanny attacker.

I have suffered from sleep paralysis since I was a teen, and learned slowly how to prevent SP, and even encourage it when I want.

Sleep paralysis can be a blessing in disguise, especially if you are interested in lucid dreaming, spirituality, or having out-of-body experiences.

To learn more about how to manage and thrive with sleep paralysis, my book is available as an instantly downloadable ebook, and is in print at Amazon.

And please share your own “prevention” techniques below!

Many readers have asked me about specific tactics for turning a sleep paralysis attack into a lucid dream. Because isolated sleep paralysis happens during REM at sleep onset, we’re only a hair’s breadth away from losing the paralysis sensations and moving deeper into the dreamworld with our self-awareness intact. As such, sleep paralysis is a reliable portal into lucid dreaming, as well as astral projection.

The problem is, we often get stuck in the doorway.

So here’s how to get unstuck. This post is derived from my book Sleep Paralysis.

Gulliver forgot to breathe.

Prerequisites: Affirm, Breathe and Set your Intention

Fear is the number one hurtle to overcome in sleep paralysis. I would be lying if I suggested that I have completely mastered this 100% of the time. SP is freaky by design, and I always have to work with my ego defenses before exploring further. Every. single. time.

First, affirm that “I’m in sleep paralysis” to calm the nerves. The paralysis is a normal mechanism that comes with REM sleep, but being conscious of it and fighting against it only spirals into fear and spookier hallucinations. Acknowledging this is a good preparation for the out-of-control emotions that sometimes come with REM dreams thanks to the strong activation of the amygdala, the part of the brain that the activates fight or flight response.

Next, focus on your breath so you see that you can breath normally. If you try to breathe in quick gulps, you may feel extra pressure or resistance, due to the fact that the throat and chest muscles are slack during REM paralysis and you may also be taking in less oxygen than when awake. Breath is the key to relaxation. Just do it normally, and you’ll notice how more in control you feel.

Then, remember your intention to go deeper into the dream. If you have a specific desire, now is the time to recall it and bring it into the moment. The three techniques that follow are examples of well-formed intentions.

Remember, if it gets too weird, you can always wake up from sleep paralysis.

1. Be Here Now

This method is about imagining where you want to be, and opening your eyes to that reality.  After you have centered yourself, close your eyes. (Your eyes may actually be closed already while you are in SP because you may be dreaming the bedroom scene without knowing it. In either case, closing the eyes is a psychological step towards moving inward.) Notice how the strange floating sensations continue, and relax into them.

Now draw up your intention and make a declaration. For example, “I want to fly over the ocean!” Rather than imagining yourself traveling there, imagine yourself here, at the ocean, right now.  If you are still in the dream state, the dream will emerge from the darkness of your closed eyes. The dream will actually crystallize around you until it seems as real as waking life. Remind yourself, “I’m dreaming,” and notice how clear your mind feels, how real the sensations feel, and how bright the colors are.

2. Enter the Vortex

Close your eyes, and focus your attention in between and slightly above the eyes. When the lights and imagery begin to swim around, keep the focus. After a while, the spectral lights will “gather” around your point of concentration, like a kaleidoscope. Keep the focus, but will yourself to enter this imagery. With practice, if you are still in REM during sleep onset, the imagery will expand and envelope the visual field. This imagery forms a vortex and often is associated with feelings of falling or flying. Go through the tunnel and enter the dream. When you’re in the tunnel, you can set an additional intention about where you want to visit, or you can just wait and see where you emerge. Both will have some surprises.

3. Go with the Flow

This is one of my favorites. Instead of using intentionality (or prospective memory, as Stephen LaBerge calls our remembered desires during lucid dreaming), just go where you are pushed. For example, I often get sleep paralysis when sleeping on my stomach in the late mornings when my sleep is characterized by long REM periods and light sleep. I’ll feel the pressure and gravity pushing me down. I just “pull” where I’m pushed. This is the concept of wu wei in traditional Taoism, defined as “effortless action.”

Often this method causes my perceptual body to melt through the mattress and into a vast empty space in the dreamworld. It’s similar to the lucid dreaming void encountered when going into mirrors or walls during lucid dreaming. From here, I can set an intention, or float around without a dreambody and enjoy the amazing geometric imagery. Sometimes I wake up, and other times, the dream will recrystallize around me.

These techniques are what work for me, and are also based on what I’ve learned from lucid dream teachers, including Stephen LaBerge, Robert Waggoner and Lucy Gillis.

I’m sure there’s more techniques for transforming sleep paralysis, so I welcome you to share your methods for transforming sleep paralysis into a lucid dream.

Cover image “Tunnel” thanks to Jugbo

Here’s how I remember it: I dreamed that a rat got under the covers of my bed and I jumped up to get away from it. As I jumped away I heard my wife scream and then the sound of the scream became louder and louder until it shattered time and space. My initial fear rose to terror and finally to absolute oblivion—nothing existed except her piercing wail and the terror. I comforted my wife, sitting next to me in bed, and told her, “It’s okay, it’s just me, relax.”

This is how my wife remembers it: She was awakened by me vaulting out of bed and landing by the foot of the bed. I then became catatonic, shaking like a leaf, twitching, and making a repetitive guttural noise as my jaw opened and closed. She called my name and tried to rouse me but I was completely unresponsive… for an entire minute. Finally, I straightened out and said,“It’s okay, it’s just me, relax.”

In retrospect, my attempts to comfort her must have been pretty annoying.

Welcome to the night terror—or pavor nocturnus. This is no ordinary nightmare; in fact night terrors occur in an entirely different stage of sleep. Common in children under the age of seven, the night terror also comes back to haunt some adults when the conditions are right.  In my mind, it all happened in a few moments, but in reality I was spaced out in terror loop for an entire minute.

I figured this would be a good chance to review the causes, symptoms and deeper considerations of the night terror, as it is often confused with nightmares and really requires a different way of handling.

Night terrors are an arousal disorder. Unlike nightmares, which are frightening dreams, night terrors occur in the deep sleep, also called Stage IV or slow wave sleep. The biological mechanism is an over-activation of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system. In other words, flight or flight kicks in while you’re in deep sleep, leading to a fugue state of awakening. The terrorized can move around but is still essentially asleep. Body awake, mind asleep.

Symptoms of Night Terrors

Everyone has a unique set of symptoms, but here are some of the most common.

• Awakening with a scream or yelp, followed by gutteral noises such as grunts and low moans.
• Violent, and sometimes repetitive, thrashing about in bed
• Unresponsive to comforting
• Sometimes aggressive when touched
• Sweating
• Pounding heart – as high as 170 beats per minute
• Eyes can be open or closed
• No memory, or partial foggy recall, of the event once roused
• Unlike nightmares, many do not remember any dream image – they only remember the overwhelming feeling of terror.
• Recalled dream imagery – if any — often includes aggressive animals, like dogs, insects, and in my case: a rat!

What to do if your child or partner has a night terror

1. Using a soothing voice, try to reassure the terrorized sleeper that everything is OK.
2. Don’t touch the person if they are violently thrashing about – you can get hurt, and the terror may continue. Children can be safely restrained if necessary.
3. Only touch and comfort physically if the sleeper has calmed down
4. If you are a parent, try singing a familiar lullaby

When to Call the Doctor

According to Cincinatti Children’s Hospital, it’s a good idea to call the pediatrician if:

• the child has drooling, jerking, or stiffening
• terrors last longer than 30 minutes
• your child does something dangerous during an episode
• terrors are happening during the second half of the night
• your child has daytime fears

Causes of Night Terrors

Night terrors are a biological event, but they are precipitated by environmental and psychological factors. In my opinion, night terrors are a reliable indicator to pay attention to what’s going on in your life, and in the household.

Anxiety

Tension, conflict or generalized life stress triggers night terrors in susceptible sleepers. For children, this can include going back to school, or bullying. Family stressors may be parental relationship stress, divorce, moving, or sibling rivalries. For children, night terrors are basically a barometer for how safe the home feels to them on an unconscious level.

For adults, other life stresses can include changes at work, relationship break ups, deaths or illness in the family. Spiritual emergencies or crises of faith also can trigger repetitive night terrors.

Sleep Deprivation

Often, the stressor is simply that you are not getting enough sleep, or not getting enough quality sleep. Also, sudden changes in bedtimes, or consistently erratic sleep schedules,  can cause this condition. By establishing a regular bedtime, you may be able to kick the terrors.

Fever

Night terrors and other unusual sleep disturbances are common when you are sick in bed with fever.

Unfamiliar Quarters

Some people only get night terrors when traveling. Nothing like waking up scared out of your mind and not knowing where you are. This points to yet another way that anxiety can trigger this biological event. If you travel a lot, bring a familiar smell in your luggage, like a dream pillow or your favorite incense or perfume.

Stimulants

Drinking too much coffee, or having a caffeinated beverage after 3pm, can increase the risk.

Substance Abuse

Adults with a history of substance abuse are more likely to suffer from repetitive night terrors.  Alcohol is especially noted by psychiatrists. Counseling and starting a mindfulness practice like meditation or yoga can address the root causes of substance abuse.

Mental Instability

This is not the most likely scenario, but chronic night terrors are more prevalent in those who have a history of emotional disorders and psychopathology.

Underlying Health Conditions

Night terrors can be a symptom of migraines, thyroid conditions, seizure disorders and recent head injuries. Premenstrual period is also correlated to monthly night terrors.

Medications

Some antibiotics can bring on night terrors. Antihistamines and sedatives also may trigger it, ironically enough.

The Big Picture – How to Learn From A Night Terror

For most people, night terrors are an indicator to get some rest, physically and emotionally. It’s a wake up call that our stress management techniques are falling short and we need to feel safer and less anxious in our daily lives. I’ll illustrate how you can respond to a night terror as a wake up call with my own recent experience.

When I reviewed what was up for me the day before I had the night terror, and my general life circumstances, sure enough, I discovered the perfect behavioral cocktail to bring on a night terror:

Physically and emotional stress: The day before, I helped move a friend to a new house, which involved a lot of heavy lifting of furniture. I also had to drive somewhere new in the dark, which always elevates my stress.

Stimulants: I also had a large cup of coffee at 7pm because we didn’t start the move until 8pm. I should know better.

Erratic sleep schedule: We didn’t get to bed until after 1:30am.

General Life situation: On top of these temporary stressors, my wife and I just moved less than 2 months ago to a new city, and the dust is still settling.

My personal plan

time to go hiking! Fall in Pennsylvania is amazing

I interpret my night terror as a warning sign that I need to take better care of myself during this transitory time when I am more sensitive to stimulants and sleep irregularities than normal. For starters, I’ve decided to lessen my caffeine input: somehow I’ve gotten in the habit of drinking coffee every morning again. It really sneaks up on me.

Secondly, I need to be more proactive about stress management. For instance, I haven’t been taking enough hikes and walks since we moved. I also have been working too much on the computer and not playing enough.

Lastly, I need to be more careful about my sleep hygiene in this transitory time. Sometimes having an erratic sleep schedule can bring on creative dreams for me, but it seems that right now I am needing more of a routine as the dust settles. So, for a while anyways, it will be early to bed and early to rise. Well, sort of early anyways.

Now the only thing left to figure out is… who’s the dirty rat?

Resources for Parents

Night Terrors Resource Center

About.com: Night Terrors

Mayo Clinic: Night Terrors: Causes, Symptoms and Risk Factors

PennMedicine Health Encyclopedia: Nightmares and Night Terrors

Cinncinati Childrens Hospital: Night Terrors

Additional References

Crisp, A.H.  The sleepwalking/night terrors syndrome in adults. Postgraduate Medical Journal 1996; 72(852): 599–604.

Hirshkowitz, M. and Smith, P. Sleep Disorders for Dummies. 2004; Wiley Publishing.

Llorente MD, Currier MB, Norman SE, Mellman TA. Night terrors in adults: phenomenology and relationship to psychopathology. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 1992 Nov;53(11):392-4.

Ohayon MM, Guilleminault C, Priest RG. Night terrors, sleepwalking, and confusional arousals in the general population: Their frequency and relationship to other sleep and mental disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 1999; 60: 268–76.

This time of year, traditionally known as Last Harvest in Europe, and more specifically as the cross-quarter between the Solstice and the Winter Equinox, has a long association with ghosts, goblins and spirits. I’ve explored the Celtic roots of Halloween before, as traditional European culture still plays a heavy hand in how we perceive and celebrate this time of year, even though we often don’t have any idea why we’re doing what we’re doing.  Indeed, giving way food, putting out gourds in the front yard, and dressing up as ghosts are all left-overs from the ancient rites of staying out of the way of spirits as our worlds collide.

So let’s talk about one dreaming source to some of these traditional tales: sleep paralysis. Now, just because someone has a vision during what we today call sleep paralysis or hypnagogic hallucinations does not mean there’s no validity for their experiences. Biology does not explain away inner truths, it only provides a framework for the material correlates to that truth. So, keep this in mind the next time you have a old hag sitting on your chest.

Some common sleep paralysis entities

Vampires

Christopher Lee vants to suck your bluuud

Vampires are not an invention of Romantic era in Europe. They’re a cross-cultural phenomenon. They often are first seen in doorways or thresholds in sleep paralysis, which may be one experiential root to the myth that you have to invite them in. They have long teeth and they bite your neck and steal your vital energies. Sexual vampires, or succubi, are a sub-class of this kind of entity (see below). Bram Stoker’s Dracula was probably inspired by sleep paralysis, by the way. This passage speaks for itself:

“There was in the room the same thin white mist that I had before discovered . . . I felt the same vague terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some presence . . . Then indeed, my heart sank within me: Beside the bed, as if had stepped out of the mist—or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had completely disappeared—stood a tall, thin man, all in black.  I knew him at once from the description of the others.  The waxen face: the high aquiline nose, on which the light fell in a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white teeth showing between; and the red eyes . . . I would have screamed out, only that I was paralyzed.” ¹

Little people

The Brownie is mischievious and playful

Fairies, goblins, and dark elves are common entities to encounter during sleep paralysis visions.  In German, the word nightmare, “albtraum,” literally means “elf dream.” I wrote more about the connection of elves and paralysis here. These entities are typically playful although they can be ghastly to look at. In Germanic traditions, the goblins known as Brownies are blamed for lost objects and other poltergeist activity in homes. Tricksters by nature, they may poke their hands into places where they shouldn’t.

The Dead (and the Undead)

Many SP visons start with the sound of shuffling feet, chains or other strange noises

Dead people show up in sleep paralysis all the time. A common vision is to see the individual standing by the side of the bed. They are often mute. If you have repetitive encounters with these silent entities, they can be quite communicative if you ask (in your mind) “How can I help you? What do you want?”

A classic hypnagogic-inspired tale of a ghost visitation can be found in Dicken’s Christmas Carol. In this tale, Marley’s visit takes on many of the classic characteristics of a visitation, such as the feeling of presence in the room, followed by the sound of chains and approaching footsteps, and the narrator’s adamant conclusion that he is awake despite the otherworldly nature of the encounter. In Ireland and Hawaii, ancestors are often heard in SP as they traverse “spirit roads.” In these cultures, it’s recommended to not look the creatures in the eye as they pass.

Here’s another account collected from Japanese researchers in the journal Dreaming:

One night in July 1961, Mr. Ishida, a chief mechanic, had a dream of a sailor while he was sleeping in a dormitory room at Tsuiki Air Force Base, Kitsuki County in the nap room of the Tsuiki Airforce Base, Fukuoka Prefecture, which was a commando-type air force base during World War II. The sailor wore a uniform and said he had been killed by being caught in a spinning airplane propeller. While he was dreaming, Mr. Ishida felt a heavy weight in his breast and couldn’t move an inch, though he struggled to. Mr. Ishida examined the history of this air force base and learned that had been such an accident in the past.²

Succubi

This 16th Century sculpture representing a succubus hung outside a brothel

In medieval Europe, accounts suggest that demons could sit on the sufferer’s chest and sexually molest them against their will.  These demons were known as the Incubus (male) and the Succubus (female). The Malleus Maleficarum (“the Witch’s Hammer”), a guidebook written in 1486 and used to prosecute pagans and witches during the Inquisition, suggests that witches are those who voluntarily submit themselves (and have intercourse) with the Incubus demons. Some succubi legends suggest female demons collected men’s sperm during forced intercourse at night.

These encounters still happen today, and according to the accounts I’ve collected, they are not necessarily unpleasant. These entities, who can look undead, or half-human, or even like alien greys, may want to have sex with you while you are paralyzed… yet oddly aroused. In such cases, they may succeed. Orgasms are frequently reported, for both the spirit and the “victim,” although I’m not sure how to tell if the spirits are faking.

Demons and Animal Monsters

An 18th century engraving

Some sleep paralysis entities are really terrible creatures. They may have red glowing eyes or long claws. Some take on the shape of animal hybrids, such as BirdMan, SpiderWoman, and WolfBoy. They have bad manners and sit on your chest and drool on your face. Their breath stinks too. Insect hybrids tend to be more taciturn than mammal hybrids.

Here also are the Alien Greys, with their long limbs, waxy skin, and shiny black eyes.  Aliens have a preference for power tools and medical technologies. These creatures come with purpose. Center yourself and negotiate, or wake yourself up before they bore into your skull.

Sleep paralysis is the original spooky. With nightmares like this, who needs horror movies?

This article is adapted from my book Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night.

Sources

¹Stoker, B. Dracula. p. 267

²Furuya, H., Ikezoe, K., Shigeto, H., Oyyagi, Y., Arahata, H., Araki, E., and Fujii, N. (2009). Sleep- and non-sleep-related hallucinations—relationship to ghost tales. Dreaming, 19(4), December 2009, pp. 232-238.

First Image: “One summer’s evening…” by John Baeur, 1913. Illustration for “The Changeling” by Helena Nyblom in the anthology Among Pixies and Trolls.

A lot of my focus on sleep paralysis and its related night visions has been on how to transform fear into curiosity. Then a reader recently commented, “I can’t believe no one’s talking about the out-of-body experiences!”  So let’s open the dialogue, because this is one of my favorite aspects of SP/HH, although I make no claims to OBE mastery or the final say on the “reality” of soul travel.

The following is a book excerpt from Sleep paralysis: A guide to hypnagogic hallucinations and visitors of the night. The excerpt includes a couple tactics for inducing OBEs from sleep paralysis, as well as the role that expectation and fear can play in their unfolding.

The experience of being out-of-body has been recounted for thousands of years. Whether you believe that the soul is actually separating from the body or that it is a simulation based on sensations from the brain, out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are highly linked to sleeping and dreaming states.81 Many people start their journeys while lying in bed, and when the experience is over, they wake up safe and sound.

Sleep paralysis is a reliable launching pad to an OBE. The powerful feelings of being crushed, twisted, or pulled along are a good indicator that you can separate your mind (the “I” or the seat of your personal perspective) from these bodily sensations. According to SP expert David Hufford, OBEs are more likely to emerge after SP experiences that last at least 2 minutes.

Here’s an example of an SP-to-OBE I had recently. I was sleep deprived (jetlagged actually) and knew that if I took a nap lying on my back I could probably have a SP. It worked like a charm. Here’s the account:

I hear a rushing sound in my ears; it comes and goes like ocean waves. I focus on my ears so the rushing increases; it comes back in longer and longer durations. Finally, the rushing sensation is constant and I hear a distinct tone as well, like a bell. I try to move but cannot. “I am in sleep paralysis,” I think. I then try to move out of my body. I try to go up but it seems blocked, so I kick myself out to the left and down. It’s an odd sensation; my “me”leaves a part behind. As soon as I’m “out,” everything changes. It is quiet, cool, and dark. I feel like I’m drifting down a stream. I have a small fear arise, and then, I relax into the sensation… it’s very calming. Some lights like stars are overhead. My breathing is slow and deep. After a while, I decide to go back. I wriggle my little toe (which I cannot see because I am still floating down a dark river!) but the focus brings me back. After a few seconds, I can move and I open my eyes.

Note how I calmed my fears, noticed my breath, and finally used the tried-and-true toe wiggle method to wake myself up. With a little practice, these techniques become second nature.

2 Techniques for Inducing OBEs from Sleep Paralysis

Focus on the Belly

This tactic was devised by Jorge Conesa-Sevilla. When you are in SP, focus on your belly. Specifically focus right underneath the navel. Now imagine your body is “rolling up” into that spot. If the feeling of pressure increases just on that spot, but nowhere else, then you are doing it right. When the pressure increases, again use your attention to just “roll” out of your body. You may feel a “pop” as the mind dissociates from body feelings. From here, you can go on to have an out-of-body experience or simply wake up from the dream.

The Sit-Up Trick

This method works for a friend of mine who is an advanced dream adventurer. When he feels he is in SP, he focuses his intention by concentrating on the spot between his eyes, and then, he tries to do a sit-up. Of course, he’s in SP, so he can’t actually sit up. But if the intention is strong enough, rather than waking up, you can “pop” right out of your physical body and float around.

A note concerning fear during OBEs

OBEs are weird. Even veteran explorers of the inner worlds saythat OBEs feel different than the usual dream. They feel more real than real. Sometimes, you may get scared, especially if you start floating off into the sky and have the thought, “What if I never come back?” Like many aspects of conscious dreaming, your beliefs can greatly affect your experience. Sometimes our beliefs can be limiting (“That’s impossible!”), but they can also be grounding (“I trust that I cannot be hurt because I am dreaming”).

Unexamined beliefs are the wild cards: These act as subconscious expectations that can really hijack a conscious dream. Take a moment and reflect on what you believe about out-of-body experiences. Do you believe in a soul? Do you believe in life after death? What about reincarnation? Are you in fear of a final judgment? Is the OBE a trick of the brain, a “virtual reality” owing more to synapses than to souls?

These are the kinds of thoughts that can greatly influence your OBE, negatively or positively. Sometimes, an unexamined belief can actually cause a serious crisis of faith in the middle of these experiences. So, the more you have considered these deep questions, the more comfortable you will be in this profound altered state.

When all else fails, wake up!

Just like a lucid dream or SP proper, you can will yourself to wake up whenever you want during an OBE. Control your breath; control your fear. Also, focusing on one point for a few moments is a good way to disrupt an OBE and lead you closer to snapping back to the “real world,” whatever that means anymore.

Got any other tactics for inducing OBEs from sleep paralysis?  Please share below.

I’m pleased to announce that my new book about sleep paralysis is now available on Amazon! So with the first day of autumn, I officially am a published author.

Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night is an updated and expanded version of my sleep paralysis ebook. It’s the first printed book about sleep paralysis with a practical how-to perspective to help readers work with their sleep paralysis and hypnagogic experiences.

The book also covers all the latest research into the science, psychology and anthropology of these powerful uncanny encounters that have haunted humanity since we’ve been living in the trees. (Because SP is chiefly a REM phenomenon, it’s reasonable to assume that it occurred throughout hominid evolution).

Auspiciously, not only is today the autumnal equinox but it’s also a full moon. Traditionally, tonight’s full moon is the Harvest Moon, named because “At the peak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon,” according to the Farmer’s Almanac. Metaphorically, today is a day for celebrating the bounty of our lives, to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

This moon, as well as the equinox, are also warnings that the dark days lay ahead. Don’t get me started on how I haven’t procured a winter coat yet now that I live in Philadelphia; it’s stressing me out. In my ancestral Celtic traditions, the end of harvest is celebrated as the Celtic new year, Samhain, which falls around November 1st. Today this festival is celebrated as Halloween, the night that the spirits of the dead are visible.

So starting tonight, and culminating on All Hallow’s Eve, the boundaries between this world and the Otherworld are getting thinner…

There’s also a deep connection between sleep paralysis and the Harvest moon. In Old Irish lore, fairies are known to be out and about in force tonight. The good fairies will be making merry and can be found in the forests, far from civilization. (By the way, don’t try to use your cellphone’s flashlight app to find a fairy tonight: they despise such technology and some scholars think they may be electrosensitive.)

But it’s the bad fairies that deserve special attention, as in European myths they were known for abducting children from their beds and dragging them back to fairy-land. Many fairy abduction stories start with the victim feeling paralyzed in bed, and then the fairy shows up and the victim is brought (through flying or levitation) to fairyland.

Sounds familiar, huh? This narrative structure has all the marks of a sleep paralysis vision, from paralysis, to the presence of the stranger, followed by an otherworldly but realistic-feeling lucid dream. The connection between fairies and paralysis is still present in the word stroke which is a contraction of the old English fairy stroke.

Don’t worry, as the days grow shorter this month and the veil between the living and the dead grows thinner, I’ll be going into more depth about the connections between sleep paralysis hallucinations and the cross-cultural accounts of ghosts, goblins, vampires and fairies. These visions are with still us in the 21st century, despite our illogical wish that the world is governed by reason, because, quite simply, we are hard-wired to see spirits.

In conclusion, please buy my book.