Theoretical Neurophysiologist Karl Simanonok, PhD is looking for lucid dreamers to join his study on “auditory binding,” which is the hypothetical moment when consciousness “sticks to” the auditory system while waking up out of sleep.
Specifically, potential co-researchers in this study are asked to consciously experience their hypnopompic imagery when moving out of a dream state, and then report which sounds they experience at the threshold moment.
If you’re interested in participating in original lucid dream research and testing your conscious dreaming mettle, click here for Simanonok’s website on the topic as well as his website discussing his Nexus Theory of Consciousness.
Hypnagogia and hypnopompia are two areas in dream research that are vastly unstudied, mostly because of the lack of lucid dreamers who can report back their experiences. Ordinarily, these two sister-states of consciousness last less than a minute, and are usually not remembered by the average sleeper. As with all consciousness thresholds, they hold secrets about the nature of our perceptions, memories, and sensations, especially with regards to the human visionary capability.
UPDATE: This study is over, but for further discussion, check out Karl’s group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Specifically looked into this as it relates to pregnancy. I have experienced this at different times in my life, but very frequently when I was pregnant with my first child. Lots of auditory hallucinations upon waking. My husband and I are trying for our second, and over the past week I have been experiencing them again. I’ve wondered if this is an early sign that I am pregnant. For me, they seem to be related.
Hi I’m a 19 year old male and I’ve had these hallucinations from when I was little, I don’t remember anything from then but recently I guess cus my job i stress alot more and have been having reacuring episodes of sleep paralysis and seeing things that just terrify me. Shadows coming towards me a mans voice and laughter. Someone getting into my bed. I live alone soo. However one additional detail is started smoking pot I’ve heard increase episodes? . also i wonder if having a dysfunctional life growing up comes into play? I just don’t understand when they occur I can never go back to sleep or they’ll occur again almost instantly. Lack of sleep not good when I have to get up at 2am and work
Hey Dylan, you mentioned a few things that can increase the odds of HH if you’re prone to them. Stress, cannabis, living alone, and having a tough childhood are all correlated with increased HH and sleep troubles. The best bet is to try to relax and detox for several hours before bed, as well as pick up some stress reduction habits (such as moderate exercise and meditation).
Hi Angie. I am a mom of seven children ages 7 to 18. I also struggle with HH’s and have sought this site for support and help. If you had asked this question about a year ago I would have said that I didn’t think it had anything to do with pregnancy. However, I began taking progesterone cream some months back to help with some mood swings during PMS and found HH’s to increase in two ways: Frequency and clarity. I have since stopped taking the cream and have supplemented with 5-HTP (which helps create seratonin and is a natural supplement). When I stopped the cream, my experiences decreased. The only two area’s that might be affecting this (if it was not the cream) are creative seasons I go through as an artist and stess. But something tells me that taking the cream did increase them. If its true, then during pregnancy I can see these experiences increasing. That’s just my two cents worth 🙂
Hello everyone. I also experience hypnopompic hallucinations. Mine tend to come and go. I only get them during afternoon naps when I can fall into and out of sleep easily and it’s daylight outside. I tend to get them when I am more stressed or when I am being really bothered by something. My first memories of them started around the time I was 16, as far as I can recall anyway. (I’m 32 now) They are usually something horror related, although oddly I am never scared of them. As another person here reported, a large percentage of mine are spiders. They almost always are on the ceiling or on the walls.
Today I saw a large fluorescent orange spider on my ceiling. I blinked my eyes a few times and then it disappeared. Usually the bugs look real. Mine never last more then 5-10 seconds I would say. They do happen in clusters. For instance, I may have 3 or more hallucinations during one nap. I’ve also seen other bugs, moving geometric patterns, and a cross hanging upside down from the ceiling (I’m not religious.) One time it was even piles of money 🙂
I’ve had a few auditory hallucinations. Usually a door slamming and once I heard a man talking in the other room.
Although the hallucinations look and sound absolutely real, I am definitely conscious of the fact that they are not when they occur. For that reason, I don’t mind when they occur and sort of find them fun.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I am always tired. I always crave naps and I rarely sleep soundly …I wake many times during the night. I’m not on any medications, but I do suffer from depression and anxiety.
It’s interesting reading other people’s experiences with HH. I wonder why a lot of hallucinations involve bugs, particularly spiders. I’m not particularly scared of spiders. It’s not easy to tell people about your experiences with HH…they look at you like you are crazy or worse they think you are just lying.
Hello – I know about your spiders and will relate to you the three spider dreams I have had.
Each dream the spider represented a harmful soul-sucking female in my life and the spider is a way of warning the dreamer: get away from that woman’s web of manipulation, you are being used in someone else’s creative scheme and it will drain your energy.
The first was a repeat. I would dream of a massive spider weaving a web above my body. This would occur and repeat when I slept over at my maternal grandmother’s house. A very bad woman.
The second was multiple fat poison-filled spiders on the ceiling above where I had to pass under. I ran quickly past before they could fall onto my head. This was when I was staying at my abusive mother’s house and she was doing her most to use and manipulate me, and she would drain my psychic and emotional energy.
The third I was not asleep. I was talking to a female friend who was very kind. She had been trying to convince me to go on a road trip even though I had no way to get back and as she spoke a huge spider flashed in my mind’s eye and the fangs were close to me. I ended our friendship immediately and did not fall prey to her machinations.
Find out who the spider women are in your life and cut them out completely even if they are your blood relatives. They mean you harm, to benefit themselves.
Melanie – has anyone ever talked to you about narcolepsy? I have often read that HH’s are associated with it, and your other symptoms seem to suggest something like it. But I’m no doctor!
In addition to night-time HH horrors, I experience daytime nap visual phenomena. The events at night and those by day could not be more different: At night I am not aware that I am dreaming, the hallucinations are threatening and I am greatly disturbed.
During the day, however, the event is calm, pleasant, and I am aware that I am in a sleep-type state, just as you describe. It normally occurs if I nap on a couch or armchair. As I lay there looking around the room, realise that I can feel my eyelashes on my cheeks: my eyes are closed yet I can see. At this point I understand that I am hallucinating, or am having a kind of lucid dream. I can explore the room with my eyes, examining objects there in great detail, while feeling wonderful, calming sensations, as though I were a spirit. If I move a muscle the spell is broken. Even so, it doesn’t last too long.
Is this experience anything like what you get? I don’t get spiders, or anything that would exceed an accurate depiction of my surroundings, and it sounds to me like you are awake and on your feet when you see these things. Maybe mine is more like a lucid dream type thing, though it is firmly placed in that hypnogogic state – i.e. between sleep and wakefulness.
I don’t feel any more fatigue during the day than is normal for the parent of two small children (i.e. all the time!), but when I do feel tired the first thing to happen is for my dreams to start encroaching in. It’s as though being awake is a temporary measure to hold back the tide, and that all I need to do is relax and I am submerged again in a sea of dreams.
Does any of this fit in with your experiences? If you recognise similarities or not, it is interesting either way.
Hi Chris,
I have read a little about narcolepsy, I’ve never actually spontaneously fell asleep, so I’ve kinda ruled it out on my own. Also, after visiting this website I googled hynopompic hallucination spiders and found a website where there were many stories like mine, so it must be fairly common. (Isn’t Google great!)
Your day experiences seem different then mine. My eyes are definitely open when it happens to me. When I first started having HH I would try to grab at the hallucination that was in front of me just to make sure it really wasn’t there. Now I just lay there and watch them. I’ve never had a hallucination occur when I was standing up…my hallucinations don’t last long at all, so I don’t even have a chance to stand up. I’m a skeptic, so I think my realizing that the hallucinations aren’t real is just my skepticism coming out even in my sleep state, lol.
I have experienced lucid dreaming before…I’ve been able to know that I was dreaming and control the dream. I’ve also awoke in the middle of a dream and been able to fall asleep and continue the dream. I have to admit neither of those happen to me often.
I have experienced exploding head syndrome a few times and was a sleepwalker when I was younger. Funny story… once as a teenager I dreamed my alarm clock went off…so I got up, took a shower and started getting ready for school. At some point when I was fixing my hair I looked at the clock and realized it was only 2 AM. Three hours before I was supposed to get up. Funny, none of the family got up and asked me why I was taking a shower in the middle of the night.
I read a few of your other posts, and I feel for you. I can’t imagine what it would be like to suffer from complex hallucinations that terrify you. Do you sleep in a completely dark room? I’ve always assumed the reason that I never have hallucinations at night is because the room is dark. (My other hallucinations require light in order to see them, I think anyway) I also must have white noise in the background, like a fan…never anything stimulating, like the television.
Your afternoon experience sounds like some kind of lucid dream, I would assume, because in order for it to be a true hallucination your eyes would have to be open. Since it sounds like you are capable of lucid dreaming if you could only get yourself to the point that when you have the terrifying hallucinations at night that you could just convince yourself they are not real. It sounds like you have researched the subject a lot, so you probably have already tried that.
The only other thing I can think of in regards to your terrifying experiences is…I don’t have nightmares often, but whenever I go to sleep on a very full stomach I almost always will have a nightmare. Could your eating habits have anything to do with your scary hallucinations?
You don’t have narcolepsy!
When your subconscious has reached a limit and needs to talk to ‘the front of your mind’ it can only do that by getting you to fall asleep.
I have experienced sudden sleepiness and have learned by experience that a dream is ‘coming on’ and I need to fall asleep in order to step into a spirit realm or receive information, et cetera.
It’s a sure way to know what the inside of you is up to : dream, take a nap.
I’ve taken twenty minute naps and woken up completely rested, with a dream that I can completely remember and then I am fine the rest of the day – my mind just needed some dream time and did not want to wait for night to arrive….urgency.
Melanie, so much to to think about!
Will we ever get to the bottom of these things? After about 60 years, no one is any the wiser. Even William C Dement, who has researched sleep perhaps more than anyone recently admitted that no one knows why we sleep or dream.
It’s complicated. I have sleepwalked like you – getting up early to go to work or school only to find it’s 4am… but it’s nothing like HH… which is nothing like lucid dreams…
But discussing it all is good. I used to be greatly unnerved by the loud bangs I experienced when tired (“heard” isn’t quite the right term to me – it’s such an interior noise) but the fact that it is a recognised syndrome is comforting,
I’ve got a nagging feeling that I’m at the intense end of the spectrum of people who get this stuff. But it’s still ok. I haven’t gone insane, and my wife hasn’t left me. It’s rather annoying … but that is all. I’m going to sleep now and as ever it’s like standing on a cliff edge with ragged wings.
C
Im so glad I found this website. For the last 5 years I’ve had these odd hallucinations. Each scnenario is different except that its always some sort of floating object that I see. When this happens I literally jump out of bed in a panic. I yell at my husband to make it go away; scaring the crap of him in the process. My husband said my jumping out of bed is similar to lycans in that wolf/vampire movie. Funny, but not.
The worst one happend after I had been meditating, keeping my mind free and clear of thought. I’ve stopped meditating since.
I’m wondering if this is a symptom of PTS. Please feel free to email me regarding this and what I can do to ease these hallucinations.
Hi Christina
My husband doesn’t quite understand either when I jump and get afraid. A lot of mine are floating objects as well. Have you considered praying instead of meditating? My personal belief is that meditating can open you up to spiritual things of the world that are evil. Having said that, I do not believe the HH’s are a manifestation of evil, although they certainly can feel that way. I’ve been talking with super folks on here that remind me that these things are not spiritual but have to do with our sleep cycle. After much patience and experimenting with dosage, I have found 5-htp to help me as well as 3 mg of melatonin. I have gone back and forth as to whether or not either help me, but have decided that no episodes in a long time may be worth the exchange of vivid dreaming and solid sleeping, sometimes having a hard time getting up in the morning. I am very suprised that a recent stressful time in my life, did not produce the HH’s and I cannot account for that except the combo of these suppliments. They are inexpensive and woth a shot if you want some relief.
God bless you and I hope you find relief soon. Hang in there at least, because you know you are not alone!
Wanda, i know you went on to qualify your statement about exposing yourself to “spiritual things in the world that are evil”, but I have to respond.
I think it is very dangerous to start to go down the road that considers that HHs somehow tap into forces outside of our own minds. HHs may seem real, they may seem out of our control (in fact they are, in a sense, both these things) but I think it is very important to remember that the only entity at work here is our own minds and our own subconscious. As soon as you start to believe that there are forces “at work” with “evil design” then you are just opening yourself up to greater dread and alarm.
There are no evil forces at work here.
The total mind is a complex realm which we will probably never fully understand – how can the leaf understand the tree? But to use phrases like “spiritual things of the world that are evil” gives the impression that we are at the mercy of higher, dangerous forces. I don’t believe we are.
Christina – our minds are, I believe, capable of operating in many different settings: awake, dreaming, HH-ing, meditating, etc. You can feel the difference in these different states. Maybe meditating that time was a state which laid your mind open to a HH. Maybe not – it may have been chance. But there are many ways of meditating from the very intense to the very relaxing. Don’t be afraid of trying different ways to relax and be contemplative. I don’t think we modern people do enough of it (me included).
There are no evil spirits – just the myriad ways our subconscious finds to poke us with sticks. Fear is a powerful thing and I don’t believe that ascribing our already disturbing experiences to evil forces can help in any way.
Just my thoughts – Wanda, you continue to contribute readily and passionately to this forum, and I thank you for that.
🙂
Yeah Chris, I believe it to be my opinion and maybe even my opinion alone. Its not the right place to discuss it per-say here, and maybe I should not have shared my opinion–not sure. But as a Christian, I do believe in all that I said, and more that is in the Bible. Its a matter of a personal choice….and if I wasn’t very clear..just to be clear…I do not believe that the HH’s are a result of spiritual influence. I just don’t believe that meditation (in all cases) is a good thing…for reasons I’ve already mentioned.
Personally, I think putting the blame on Christian dogma is wrong. I did find a forum called crazyboards.org with a little more information on the subject itself. I’m really interested on how it manifests and what I can do (besides drink a large glass of milk before bed) to ease its frequencies.
When I was little I would have hallucinations with bugs and spiders. But I cannot even relate the two types. There was never a “scared out of your bed” type of reaction with the bugs and spiders. Its just so odd.
I’ve never sleep walked and I rarely have a lucid dream. I either have good sleep or a not so good sleep.
I hope I was not saying anything that even implied that Christian beliefs are the cause of this..I do not think the HH experiences (or talking in your sleep, walking , etc) are a result of anything spiritual. I hate to sound like a broken record–I just want to be very clear on that. Actually, my faith in God is what initially lead me to not be afraid to reach out to others and discover others—which is how I found this site.
These things are frightening at times, odd at other times. But I agree that are a part of our minds. I do seek alternative help as well, which is why I am on melatonin. A thought occurred to me to ask what kind of day/night schedules everyone keeps? I wondered if it were more a problem with folks working 3rd shift? I personally am in bed by 11, sleeping by 3, and awake by 8. (far better as I was only getting 1-2 hours of sleep per night, fearing these dreadful things).
Thanks for everyone for making this page such a dynamic and informative spot for HH experiences. Wanda, in particular, I’m so happy to have your input here.
I just want to chime in on the topic of beliefs, and thank everyone for maintaining an atmosphere of respect. HH cuts to the marrow of spiritual beliefs because it literally involves the viewing of spirits. This is the original meaning of the word: whether or not you believe spirits are real or the unconscious or demons or whatever, the viewing of spirits is a human universal.
As it turns out, meditation can actually bring on HH, but not all kinds of meditation. It appears that meditation that involves openness to what appears, ie zen and Dozchen can also open you up to negative experiences as it involves mental surrender…. Much as Christina noticed. However, concentrative meditation that involves mantras or Buddhist meditation that calls on the protection of dakinis is similar in function to Christian prayer – it fills the senses rather than empties them, and may be a better choice for those who are frightened of HH.
I would recommend the temporary halting of intense spiritual practice if you’re suffering from HH due to the inherent destabilization of the ego that these practices generates. This is the view of psychotherapist David Lukoff who works with issues of spiritual emergency which includes painful kundalini awakenings as well as psi intrusion, sleep paralysis/HH, spontaneous waking visions, and more. In summary, anything that build heat/brings on visions should be shelved until the dreamer/visionary can handle what is occurring spontaneously.
Instead, practices that are grounding are recommended. Walking, being in nature, prayer and light meditation types like I mentioned above.
I discuss this at length in my ebook about sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations which is to my knowledge the only ebook that guides the reader from fear to hope about this capability. While the ebook focuses on sleep paralysis, it applies to HH without SP, especially for those who are coming into contact with autonomous human-like entities.
This makes so much sense (the different between emptying ourselves and opening ourselves)…thank you for this info and insight!
I have just found out I am 6 weeks pregnant. I had to stop 5-HTP and melatonin. 🙁 Not looking forword to sleeping now, that is for sure. Things seemed to be so much more in control with those two supplements. Now I am all on my own. My only hope is that the hormones in pregnancy will help keep the HH at bay….instead of increasing them.
Ryan thanks again for this site. To know we are not alone is a huge comfort in itself. No one else ever understands—and dr’s look at you like your half-baked.
I will certainly check out the ebook!
With meditation being labeled as “healthy” in my religion, self-help books, websites and other forms of information, I personally have a hard time believing that it is sort of a gateway to HH. I had been doing Buddhist (Tibetan) meditations for years. Trying to find the correlation of my last meditation and the onslaught of HH is whats driving me bonkers. This entire subject is very interesting and I’m soaking up as much info as I can. So far, I have not had an incident in a month – knock on the bedpost.
Wanda: Congrats!
Christina,
I hear you about the counter-intuitive meditation stuff. I was blown away by this too, but the research is solid. Check out http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/ for more info about how spiritual experiences can be psychologically destabilizing. basically, we have to ask ourselves “Is this a good time in my life to open up to the transpersonal?” Spiritual experience is not just bliss and rainbows, but involves dark nights of the soul. Carl Jung wrote that to reach the next peak, we first have to descend into the dark valley first…. Again, not all meditation practices function in the same way. Some relax the body while others perturb the ego…. there’s a big spectrum there. I’m simply saying that if you’re suffering from HH or SP/HH, then cutting back the intense psycho-spiritual is a good idea. Eating more carbs helps too. 🙂
Thanks Christina. We may never find the answer to what brings these things on… 🙁 I think I also have a daughter who struggles as well. She has been talking so much in her sleep and also we found food eaten in the kitchen that was not out the night before. She has been complaining of tummy aches for months now and I am wondering if sleep walking is a real issue for her. After all I have experienced, how could I miss this? She is only 11. I find it interested that much of her sleep behavior issues have began at the onset of puberty. I have four children older than her (oldest is 18) and none of them have experienced such things.
Can I ask your sleep schedule Christina? Do you keep odd hours and sleep much less that was is recommended (8 hours)?
and congrats Wanda! I encourage you to keep a journal these next months to see if you notice any changing patterns.
Congratulations on your baby news, Wanda, and hello all.
Wanda keeps pressing us about erratic sleep habits, and I think she has a point. The way we all sleep now is a modern phenomenon, and for many of us it is swings from barely enough to barely at all (I am often in the latter camp).
Before electricity grids came along, the vast majority of us slept in synch with the seasons. We got up when it was light and went to bed when it got dark. For those of us in Europe that meant around 6 hours a night in summer up to well over 12 in winter.
Cut to the present day – and me for example. I rarely (if ever) get 8 hours sleep a night, and often get none at all if I’m on a deadline. I tell myself I can easily handle 36 hours awake, but by the end of the session my dreams are encroaching and I feel myself slipping into that hypnogogic state even while at my desk. What’s more, sleep after these periods is very different from the norm and I feel that these all-nighters must affect my sleep for a long time thereafter.
I feel that this, along with the cycle of dread/expectation that accompanies falling asleep, is more likely to affect HH frequency, rather than sort of accidentally training your mind to go into the state through meditation. I experience HH more than anyone I have even heard about and have not attempted meditation of any sort for decades. But I might be wrong and, like Christina would be interested in Ryan’s ebook. I don’t know of any other written work on HH’s, though, as I’ve said earlier, I find CG Jung’s many writings on dreaming, collective symbols (touched on by Ryan above), and hallucinations enlightening and reassuring.
Oh, I should mention that smoking certain substances (for medical purposes, of course!) used to have a delayed effect on me. Two or three days later I’d have a crazy night of terrible HH, even though I rarely did it. For this reason I packed it in years ago. Be warned!
Chris I have noticed since I cannot take the supplements I was taking before this pregnancy, I am now sleeping less and less. Last night has been the worse at seeing 4 a.m. before falling asleep (I refused to look at the clock after that). I do have the ability to stay up for a long time but not 36 hours! But like you, my mind tends to sort of go… after that. I can stay up really late and I usually begin seeing things. I keep a sketch pad by my bed so when I see things I can either draw them to remind me that they are not real, or I can draw something else just to distract me…usually sketching my husband while he sleeps (which he hates) 🙂
On substances—when I am on pain meds (vicodin from a sewing accident last year–I sewed my machine needle right through my finger)….I saw all sorts of things while taking it. I did this on tylenol 3 many years back which now is in my chart tha I have a reaction to and cannot be perscribed. I now think its all pain meds, or at least all that I have taken.
Drinking however, if I have champagne, I do not have any struggles at all.
Wanda – My sleep is normal. I go to bed between 9pm and 12am depending on if its the work week or a weekend. I wake up between 6:45am and 10:00am, again, depending on whether its a work week or weekend.
I have to say, I’ve been a bit put off of commenting here because it seems that HH is turning into a “lets blame the lack of religion” or a practise of the “wrong” religion. The website that Ryan suggested above states “Spirituality is now accepted as an important component of cultural competence for mental health professionals.” Wow.. I sure hope thats not nation wide! Say a person has a slight case of OCD, instead of a MHP working (and I mean really working) on the root cause of the problem, he/she can just say “oh, you dont read the King James bible, well thats the problem” or “you just put crystals in your house, well they must not have been cleansed.” So, instead of really trying to cure/help someone of say, substance abuse, another type of crutch is created. A false sense of security in an unseen God is used and taught. A patient is told to pray. They pray and pray, nothing happens, they relapse. They are then advised to try a different form of worship, again, the same circle of relapse ensues. I think that would be classified as a FAIL for the MHP. I’m sorry, but religion needs to be left out of a diagnoses and therapy. Oh and don’t get me started on how much a patient is charged for bogus therapies, workshops, couseling sessions, etc.
I want facts I can see and read. Not an explanation based on an unseen force. I dont buy it. Give me brain scans and cold hard facts. Please don’t get me wrong (though I’m sure someone will), I’m not talking down on religion. To me religion is personal. Thats problably why I believe in a seperation. I’m looking for answers, research, experiences. Trying to find that common “something” we all have. Because, atleast, thats one place to start. Since studying HH isn’t our profession, we have to start somewhere.
I don’t really see anyone blaming lack of religion. I mean, I have a very strong faith in Christianity and even I don’t think the lack of faith or religion causes the HH’s. But even folks who don’t have a faith, often improve their health if they are taking time out and choosing to believe they will get better (the attitude maybe?). I sorta gathered from that article that there’s just some evidence to support spirituality can have an impact on the HH’s or dreams/sleep cycles. I didn’t walk away with a message from the article that if you are not spiritual, that’s the reason for the HH’s. I did come away seeing how spirituality (not specific to any one religion) can be a part of it for some folks. And I that it can. Not a for-sure thing though. I love my Creator with every all that I am. And that faith, love, prayers and worship has not lessened my HH’s. Melantonin did, I suspect.
In any case, I’m off to try the sleep thing tonight. I got 3 hours last night and about 4 the night before. I’m hopeful and looking for some boring reading material tonight, instead of drawing. Wish me luck? Night all 🙂
My take on lack of sleep: The best thing to do when one cannot sleep is to get out of bed, and begin doing things one hates to do. This may as well be household chores. What needs to be cleaned around the house? Does the toilet need scrubbed? Are there dirty dishes that need to be washed by hand? After about twenty minutes of menial labor you will wish you were sleeping in bed so bad you will become tired again, and in the morning your house will be a bit cleaner. Win win.
Wanda – Hope you slept well. 3 to 4 hours of sleep is rough. When I can’t sleep, I turn on a podcast of news or listen to an app i bought that has rain, or street sounds. There are some great sleep machines out there that play thunderstorms or wind chimes. Pretty much any sound you can think of. I find that if I concentrate on the sounds, I can drift off to sleep.
Drawing for me is to stimulating. Art is an exciting thing for me to do before bed. Hmm.. that must be why I’m best in the morning and early afternoon.
I started to wonder if the HH started because my daughter wasn’t sleeping in my and my husbands bed. But, the most recent episode, she was in bed with us.
Christina –
I, too, immediately feel uneasy with websites such as spiritualcompetency because with sites like that (and people like Dr David Lukoff) I am always waiting for the sucker punch where they try to convert me to some religion or spiritual practice or other. And frankly 9 times out of 10 I’m right. There may well be hiding such a sucker punch in there somewhere, but a quick glance through the site revealed no such pressure.
In one of his papers, Lukoff describes placing the patient at the heart of any psychological treatment, rather than the condition. This is very much at the heart of the Jungian school of psychology (I know, I know, Jung AGAIN…) and I am reminded of the importance Jung placed on spirituality.
Jung noted how religion appeared to be on the decline in his time (he was talking about the 1950’s) and was concerned that this meant a collective lack of communication with that part of the mind which embraces the “uncanny”. He felt that to be healthy it helps to regularly abandon a logical, facts-based outlook and immerse yourself in a kind of greater power. For religious people that greater power means God. But to Jung God was simply that greater part of yourself with apparently “higher” knowledge: your subconscious.
I think (I hope!) that Lukoff’s website is an acknowledgement of this. I don’t think he’s saying that people can be “cured” through religion. I think/hope he’s suggesting that even the term “cure” implies a pathology to conditions that are better treated as aspects of ourselves that need work. I think he is suggesting that gaining an understanding of someone’s spiritual dimension is an important part of understanding the whole person.
Anyway, that’s a very long-winded way of saying that our HHs come from within ourselves, but defining “ourselves” usually contains a “spiritual” aspect of one form or another. Whether we believe in a god or not.
In my experience, if someone claims that psychological conditions (including HH) have some sort of spiritual aspect then that person is likely to be someone whose religious beliefs are deeply unhelpful and often counter-productive. HOWEVER, like (I believe) Wanda and (I hope) Lukoff, they may instead be acknowledging how ones spirituality should not be ignored even as we deal with “hard facts” and “experts”. As Jung said, ignore it at your peril or else it’ll find ways to be heard!
Guys I’m a Christian and I believe spirituality factors in. That’s it. Its my opinion and I don’t know how to really say it any clearer than that. I am really not here to talk about this or stir trouble, but topic for some reason is continuing to come up. I certainly am not imposing my views on anyone–they are my views, and I am pretty sure that’s ok. What I am here for is to find a bit of relief in what I thought described me as nuts for so long. I found that relief in discovering I was not alone. I’m interested in hearing your experiences, your fears, your hopes and your progress (or lack there of) in finding a way to live with this oddity of HH’s. This is why I post my updates on my pregnancy, and prior to that, my experience with certain supplements. I am hoping that something I do might help someone else in their goal of getting relief, or maybe understanding what triggers their episodes. I am a little confused as to why the conversation keeps coming around to spirituality. It is ok to have an opinion, or even acknowedge research in the area without pushing it on others. Even if I’m a zealous nut and believe that every HH is a demond bugging me, its still ok to have the opinion. I don’t know why everyone else is here, but I am here to learn from everyone else. I’d much rather hear about your experiences than to hear you opinion on religion or spiritual matters. I’ve not found one person (including myself) that says the spirituality is THE culprit of HH’s. So since we are all in general agreement of that…can we not take a turn away from strong opinions about how religion and spiritual stuff factors in, and just share and learn from one anothers experiences?
great discussion ya’ll. I want to say from the onset that I am not advocating any particular belief system here. In fact, the holistic perspective of this site is precisely about how scientific materialism and mysticism are 2 valid ways of exploring the cosmos. both require participation and beliefs.
Christina: I appreciate your skepticism but I’m a bit confused about your assertion that I or Lukoff suggested that some kind of “right religion” is needed to help with HH. Lukoff is merely suggesting that therapists understand that people from different cultures have different symptoms when they are in psychological crisis, which include their spirituality. For example, understanding that Mexicans interpret sleep paralysis as “the devil on your back” is important to not get a misdiagnosis as schizophrenia. Likewise, spontaneous kundalini uprising is a very real condition that happen to people who do a lot of chakra meditation. He’s not trying to convert anyone to a religious belief system, just suggesting that counselors do their cultural homework…. and yes, the DSMIV is the national guideline for practicing psychiatry in the US, endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association. For more information about how psychology intersects with spirituality, check out this definition of transpersonal psychology.
back to the point, sleep paralysis/HH expert Jorge Conesa Sevilla, author of “wrestling with ghosts”, suggests that prayer is not always effective for diminishing HH or waking up from a spontaneous hallucination state like HH or SP. A more active approach is generally needed than “help me.” However, if you do have a faith, drawing on it to find courage to fight back, wake up, or do transformative imagework can be effective.
From a scientific/materialistic position, prayer before bed is a relaxation technique. You don’t need to have faith to do some simple breathwork. Prayer reduces stress, and so do many kinds of relaxation and spiritual practices such as yoga, concentrative meditation and tai chi.
Chris, your skepticism is appreciated too. Lukoff is not defending a spiritual viewpoint but advocating for cultural competency for counselors and therapists to prevent misdignoses. Psychology is culturally-relative; we don’t all have the same issues and visions and responses to these visions. Spirituality keeps coming up on this forum because HH causes deep existential dread which in turn causes one to naturally focus on their primary belief system for guidance. Medical anthropologist and hypnagogia expert David Hufford calls HH the original “spiritual” experience not because of belief but because people see spirits! That is what William James meant by spiritual, the human universal of seeing spirits (ghosts, ancestral visitations, mythological creatures, as well as phantom bugs and rats!) not some decreed belief in spirits.
My point is: know what you believe, as this will allow you to lean on your beliefs in times of need, whether that’s scientific materialism or a religion. I personally go into a phenomenological meditation where I try to account for my expectations and witness the imagery with an attitude of gratitude and benevolence. However you respond, the most effective responses are ones that empower the dreamer to shift the imagery or at least protect the dreamer from harm, or allow for waking up… rather than a passive approach which tends to just cause a spiral into fear and the worst things. Knowing this is a hallucination doesn’t make it go away, and praying for God often disappoints. HH requires more from us: namely, courage, and an acceptance that this is an opportunity to look into the one of the greatest mysteries in life: spontaneous, autonomous imagery (ie not generated by the conscious mind) that can literally lift the veil on ordinary reality. The meaning you draw from this imagery is for you to look into….not for me to decree.
Wanda, thanks for your continued presence and wisdom based on your personal experience. I agree: let’s stick to sharing experiences — if we stray into interpretation, let’s agree to keep our projections to our own experience and speak from this perspective. Ie “If this was my HH, I’d be curious to know why teeth are falling from the ceiling but not the walls…”. Let’s treat each other with the respect we give to our own experiences.
Blinks confused: I thought I was being supportive to both Lukoff and Wanda. Must take that refresher course in writing clearly. Still, if it’s HH experiences you’re after, then 2 nights ago I gained X-ray vision and could see a man sorting out the stuff in the attic above me. Later he flew a magic kite high over my house which I could see shining like a star. The kite sucked an extraordinary array of fishing equipment up through my floorboards and out through the ceiling.
The kite / light was in fact the cursed little LED in the smoke alarm. This has taken on dozens of roles as I have my HHs. I wonder what would happen if I covered it with a little electrical tape…
Chris, you’ve been totally supportive. I wish email/comments portrayed gestures better… it’s so easy to be misinterpreted. anyhow: glad you’re here.
And taping the LED is a good idea… unless you’re having fun with the HH of course!
I’d really like to do a larger piece on HH soon. anything you all want to know more about — or have some perspective that is important to include?
Wow Chris D—-I’ve not ahad anything that vivid happen before. Sounds like it lasted a long time??? I’d definitely cover that light up. There is a light in my room that has also been incorporated in my HH’s. But not to this degree. IT is a light that shows a set of small speakers are on. We use them to hook up into a laptop to watch some movies in bed. I ended up reaching over each night and turning them off, and it helped a bunch so hopefully if you tape yours up, you won’t be facing that light being incorporated any more.
Ryan, don’t mean to sound dense….but everything on the site looks different and I received a weird notification of the email with a few scrambled words (no spaces between the words)…..could it just be my computer?
Hey everybody its been a while since I have heard from anyone–maybe thats a good thing? Everyone sleeping well, without any “visitors?” I have an update that i wanted to share. I think I mentioned before that I was treating my HH experiences (along with insomina due to anxiety associated with HH) with Melatonin and 5-HTP. I became pregnant in July however with our 8th child, and had to stop both medications. I feared the worse, but have had NO HH’s since! Most recently I began to have anxiety about having them again, because a good friend of mine took her own life. She was only 37. I was in such a state the day I discovered this but oddly enough the one thing I feared the most was her “visiting” me in the night. When I was about 13, my aunt died and I had nightmares (possibly 2 HH’s) for an entire year, until I worked through saying good-bye (which I had avoided doing as she died with cancer and it was hard to be hear her in the end). I was worried the same only worse would happen with my friends death. But I have good news to report that nothing has happened. The worse of it was that first night I had a bad dream (not a nightmare) about dead birds everywhere. That’s it. Its been a week now and so far, so good. I am wondering if HH’s ever simply cease with some people? Its been a very long time for me now and I am enjoying my sleep so much! Not sure if its the pregnancy or maybe those two supplements I was on fixed me for good? Any thoughts, I’d love to hear!
Wanda – very strangely my HH’s have also all-but disappeared recently. Perhaps writing about them helps? I still dream a lot, but the HH’s have been restricted to waking up confused and imagining I am somewhere else… a common disorientation experienced by all, I think. Strange that we are both sleeping more soundly. After all, I have never been on the meds you mentioned, nor am I pregnant 🙂
ok, they’re back. pretty harmless stuff though. mostly non-threatening stuff outside the windows.
Oh sorry to hear Chris. Holiday stress maybe? Things still pretty silent on my end. I heard that turkey causes people to sleep….wonder if it affects dreams and the HH’s too? Hope you have a restful weekend!
Oh, these are tame, thanks, Wanda! No visitors in the room or impending doom. Deadline stress and caffeine are the cause, I think… our holidays are ages away here in the UK. Hope all’s well where you are. 🙂
Oh! Well deadlines can sure be a stressful trigger. Hope it all subsides soon. Still without here and wondering if pregnancy alone is helping keep them at bay. Although I do have regular dreams of giving birth to and nursing my cat! Ugh!
glad to hear you’re feeling better these days, Wanda. Pregnancy could be shifting your neuro-chemical balance and preventing the HHs. I hope you keep a journal or record as the months go by.
also glad your activity Chris is in a low spot. these cycles are not reported in the lit, you know, so it’s interesting for me to hear about how HH waxes and wanes.
I’m doing a new wave of research into hypnagogia, and finding some interesting new brain research. I may make a post of it soon.
hey HH friends – here’s the link to the new hypnagogic post:
http://dreamstudies.org/2010/12/10/hypnagogic-dreams-and-imagery/
I am having hypnopompic hallucinations. Upon waking, the pattern on the wallpaper of my bedroom is coming out at me. The pattern is of plants, so these plants are “growing” out of the effing walls. And have been ever increasingly coming at me mornings. This is an increasing phenomenon, as the plants are coming off the ceiling as well now. I am not high or on drugs, or drinking. On other forums, people say it is normal. How the hell can something like this be normal? I am seeing evergreen like plants coming out at me upon waking up. And now they’re becoming numbers, and filling up the room upon waking. What is going on? These lucid patterns fall back into the walls eventually upon fully waking. It is the damn spookiest thing. I know they’re hallucinations, but I want them to go away. And I do not like this idea that they’re “normal”. Since when is anything like this “normal”? Another time, I woke up and saw bubbles on the walls. Like bubble wrap. Giant bubbles. Moving. Flipped me out. I almost thought I wasn’t in my room.