Sleep Paralysis

When I was about 6 or 7 one night I felt my body rising from my bed. It was a very terrifying sensation. The problem was that I was unable to move my body, my mind was wide-awake and it took a tremendous amount of effort to finally move to prevent this feeling of elevation from continuing.

This persisted about 3 or 4 times over a course of time until one night I just felt too mentally exhausted to try to fight it off so I just let myself go and allowed myself to continue floating up. The next thing that happened was that I found myself flying over green pastures. It felt real and I wasn’t in the least bit scared. I simply accepted it and enjoyed the ride so-to-speak.

But then for no apparent reason something quite dramatic happened, and even at the tender age of 6 or 7 I knew this was no dream, no figment of my imagination, but something very real. I crossed an invisible line and whilst still flying the colors I saw were more vivid than I had experienced in real life, the scenes I saw were more real and dramatic than I had ever encountered before, and the feeling of the wind in my face was real. I knew enough to realize this indeed was really happening and it was truly wonderful.

I never saw any part of my body, just the bluest sky I have ever seen in my life, the greenest landscape, the trees, everything. I didn’t control what or where I went, I just let myself be taken to wherever I was led.

Then, for no apparent reason everything was black. I wasn’t scared; I knew my journey was over. The next thing I recall was a feeling of a downward motion and I was back in bed still fully conscious but unable to move my body for a period of time, and then eventually regained feeling.

The next several times this happened to me was nothing short of amazing. What I saw and the experiences I encountered -- I wonder how many others have had similar experiences?

I have been attempting to astral travel for about a year or so with no luck. I've felt like I've been close a few times but it just doesn't happen. Up until this past weekend.

My job requires me to be on-call sometimes, so it's not unusual for me to get called out in the middle of the night. This past Sunday I received one of these calls and I ended up being at work for about an hour and a half or so. By the time I got home it was around 4:30 AM.

Sleep paralysis and I have had quite a long history together, and I'm very grateful for it. Sleep paralysis was a big driving force that eventually led me to investigate the phenomena of out-of-body experiences and the much broader field of spiritual development. I know for many that sleep paralysis can seem like something evil and scary; and when I first began to experience it, I was scared out of my wits! But I've since come to see it as a very natural and positive part of life, and I've seen that there's nothing evil or harmful about it.

I used to be afraid to go to sleep. I would leave the light on, sit up in bed and try to stay awake all night.

The strangest thing was happening to me night after night, causing my fear. I'd be drifting into sleep, or out of sleep, when I'd suddenly be seized with these bizarre sensations – I'd be completely paralyzed and it felt as if my bed was shaking.