By Mimi Pettibone
SLEEP PARALYSIS
During R.E.M. sleep, an interesting thing happens: the body becomes physically paralyzed. Most of the time we are not consciously aware of it, because we are asleep and in the dream state. But occasionally a person will wake up and become aware of the fact that they cannot move, and that’s when fear and panic set in. The eyes can still be moved, but the body cannot. The experience usually lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, but that time can feel like a terrifying eternity.
It is believed that sleep paralysis is a protective mechanism so that we don’t physically act out our dreams, which prevents us from harming ourselves or others. While most of the time the transition between sleeping and waking goes smoothly, it is estimated that anywhere from 20-30% of the world’s population will at some time experience a ‘glitch in the system’, a.k.a. the phenomenon of sleep paralysis.
The causes are generally unknown. For some people it may be triggered by factors such as increased stress, lack of sleep, a changing sleep schedule, substance abuse, sudden changes in lifestyle, or use of certain medications. For others, it can be associated with narcolepsy, or night time leg cramps. For most people there is no determining explanation.
While scary, it is only temporary, and for the majority of people it may happen once or twice in a lifetime and is nothing to worry about. If the issue is ongoing, seek help from a sleep specialist or read the books mentioned at the end of this article for further resources.
SLEEP PARALYSIS ATTACKS
While many people may experience sleep paralysis as described above, others report an additional occurrence that happens while in this paralyzed state: the sensation of being visited by some kind of entity. Coined ‘Paralysis Attacks’ by David Hufford, Professor of Behavioral Science at Penn State University, it is described by those who experience it as a visitation by an negative presence. Hufford has done extensive research, and has been able to identify over 30 common elements to these attacks. The prevailing common denominators are:
The Fuseli painting ‘The Nightmare’ is believed to be a depiction of a sleep paralysis attack, and accounts of this phenomenon are documented in art and literature as far back as we have historical records. In fact, Professor Hufford has not found a culture anywhere throughout history that does not have a tradition describing it. Known by different names around the world: ‘The Old Hag’, ‘Popabawa’, ‘Demon’, ‘Witch’, or just a dark figure or shadow, the description of the experience is the same.
People in the state of sleep paralysis are able to accurately describe their environment and usually feel like they are awake when it happens. Outsiders have speculated that maybe they are really asleep and just dreaming. However, brain wave recordings taken during attacks show elements of both wakefulness and REM sleep happening at the same time.
It would be easy enough to attribute the whole sensation to a bad dream or nightmare, but that doesn’t explain why so many people - including many who have never heard of this phenomenon - report such similarities in their accounts. While there are variations in individual reports, the similarities cannot be ignored. In fact, the descriptions bear uncanny similarity to alien visitation reports, and Hufford believes these are actually cases of sleep paralysis attacks.
Science as of yet does not have a sufficient explanation for this baffling phenomenon, which does not reduce the suffering of those who experience this terrifying occurrence. For more information and resources, check out Hufford’s book: ‘The Terror That Comes In The Night’, or Ryan Hurd’s ‘Sleep Paraylsis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night‘. Ryan himself has experienced sleep paralysis and provides some excellent resources and practical techniques for managing it.
Mimi Pettibone is a professional dream worker and creator of the Enchanted Art Oracle Cards. She offers private consultations at East West Bookshop and by phone including dream interpretation, tarot and oracle readings, and personal growth work focused on relationships, communication, and authentic life path. Her background includes humanistic and social psychology, relationships, linguistics, spirituality, and consciousness. Mimi is also a monthly dream columnist for the New Spirit Journal Online.
For more info on Mimi, or to book a consultation: www.thedreamdetective.com
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Chad
July 06, 2020
Hi Jared, after reading about your experiences I want to let you know I went thru a simular experience but only once.
Around the time of my experience i had been recently saved by a very real experience i had while at church, watching what was called the “passion play” aka the story of Christ Jesus summed up in about a 2 hour play. I can’t really describe how i was overcome with tears and very moved by the play while in my prime of being a “harda—” days and sitting around a lot of other people, and some really beautiful women at that time. After that something positive and very new took over me… the holy spirit… And was doing great for about a month or two. Then somewhere along the lines i began to question if all this was really real. One night I went to bed and began to experience something very very negative/evil going on in the room around me. First it was the atmosphere around me turned very negative, then the smell was just horrible, then along came the shadow figures. It started out as one down at the foot of my bed, then one on the side, then one on the other side and so on until there where six or seven of them surrounding me. I was frightened and momentarily paralysed. My mind was racing wondering what was happening to me, and then suddenly I had the thought come to my head. Suddenly I had the power to move and speak briefly after thinking or asking God “why is this happening to me” or “what is going on”. Suddenly I sat up in my bed and said…. I am covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and I demand that you leave NOW!!! And in that very instant they disappeared. The negative feeling left the room and the foul smell. In the bible, and I’m not sure where I remembered it talked about after o soul/person is saved a demon flees to the desert. It comes back to the person it once tormented and oppressed and finds it clean and everything in it’s place. Then it goes out and gets six or seven other demons that are more powerful than it was to send to that person to torment and oppress. I truly believe that this was my own personal experience. I haven’t had any other experiences like it since. But later in life after getting married and having children I became a drug addict and years later lost my job, home and family do to it. I lost my way. Those six or seven demons found their way back into my life and I got careles, temporary stepped away from God and lost the things that mattered most in life. This happens to many of us Christians when we lose our way.
If it happens again come against it
“In the name of Jesus”. If you can’t say it then think it and it should work. Pray to God/Jesus in your head and he will deliver you from the evil one. Jesus also tells us many times in the bible to “fear NOT”! We feed these negative entities when we are scared and afraid. It gives them power over us. “He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world” God also tells us. Idk… maybe you have tried all these things and they haven’t worked for you. I was kinda upset with God and wondered why he had me go thru a negative experience like I did rather than a positive one. I believe it needed to happen that way in order to show me these powers are real and that if they are real than there is a complete opposite to the evil I experienced and so he is also real. I am currently 41 years old now and back having a personal relationship with God/Jesus. I pray almost on a daily basis and in my bible more now seeking after him and am clean for the most part. I still take a med for the opiate and many other pill addiction I had 6 years ago. And am now seeking his power to rid myself of that now. We can do nothing without his power and holy spirit residing within us. He uses experiences like those to get our attention. It’s more than being a “Christian”. He desires a relationship with us daily. Seek after him and the things of heaven first.
I hope and pray this helps you even tho it’s many months later and that your not having these experiences anymore in the name of Jesus… Amen!