The BIG sleep paralysis and old hag topic Part II

I just found this article on sleep paralysis which is quite interesting: https://sciencenews.org/articles/20050709/bob9.asp

I’ve only had it once I think, and it wasnt really scary, just… uncomfortable! I don’t remember having proper hallucinations with it though, just the feeling I was being pinned down and my back was sort of bent… :eek: I wish I’d got a LD from it, but I just had a FA then woke up.

Thats a very interesting article. I like the explanation of the 2 systems that explain old hag attacks, as they say “REM based activation of inner-brain structures that monitor one’s surroundings for threats and launches responses to perceived dangers”, combined with a system that “distinguishes one’s own body and self from those of other creatures”. Together this explains pretty much the dreamed up hag and “the sensations of floating, flying, falling, leaving one’s body, and other types of movement”.

If you come to think of it, it would be logical that the sleeping body would have some automatical mechanism to warn against external dangers, and if this is triggered while still in REM, old hags and aliens might very well pop up…

I’ve had sp but no old hag :eh: . I was having a dream about swinging around in circles on a rope at my old school. I was yelling at the tree that the rope was tied to, to " Faster, faster!!" I jumped off and was just about to land when my mom opened my door irl and I woke up really fast and found I couldn’t move my body from the neck down, and couldn’t speak. My mom left my room after telling me She was leaving. I just nodded my head, it was the only thing I could do. After she left the house, The sp wore off and I could get up.

It was cool, but I wanted an old hag. oh well, I geuse my exclusive NBC interview for next time. I wonder if I’d be scared when/if i get an old hag. The scariest thing that could happen would be a nurse witha 6 foot needle on my back :woah: scary, or even a dentist with giant dentle tools…

See you guys later :content:

hi, i was just wondering if its possible to induce SP, if so what is a good technique i could try,and how easy is it to go from SP to a LD?

I just happen to be trying to induce SP aswell. Most of the times I’ve gotten it I was extremely tired, so I think Fatigue might be a variable (but I hope there are easier and healthier ways). The only time I’ve successfully SP’d on command was three nights ago actually. And I spent about 30 mins meditating before I went to sleep. I’ve tried and failed the last two nights though, and I’m trying it tonight.

Also, once you’re in SP just close your eyes and focus on remaining aware. It’s the easiest thing to do ever. You’ll be in a lucid dream before you even realise what was going on.

Well… fall asleep on u’r back and hope you wake up in SP.
I woke up with a spinning feeling in my head… I think I should have done an OBE-roll xD.

was this an old hag?

I woke up , i was sleeping on my side. I looked at the door hoping not to see something and there was nothing. Then I thought to myself if i always suscpect such things , i will have one evetually. Then i raised my head to see my top because i felt something. There was something that looked like my brothers evil version. its weight was nearly hurting. i remember his dirty and sharp theeth. I tried to ignore it and tried to have an LD. so i closed my eyes and try to sleep. I also remember a scene where i moved my hand and think that im not paralysed anymore so i can destroy it , it wasnt at top of me but he was lying and i was standing. i try to just destroy it but i remember that he got wrinkled and he screamed and felt pain by the force from my eyes. But these images got lost and i get into a dream.

Seems like old hag indeed Hindi, but you handled it well! Not being afraid is what helps best…

I never had an expierence with this but my twin sister did. I was up late one night like usual when someone knocked on my door and opened it, it was my sister and she was in tears and asked me to come in her room. I did and she explained to me how she was paralyzed and tried to scream for help but she couldn’t. And how something in the corner was stareing at her, and she felt and an evil presence. Putting the picies together I thought of SP so I tried to explain to her, and she wouldn’t belive.She kept saying how it felt so real. So I hopped on the net and we looked it up together and every single thing she described was there. Including sleeping in the supine postion, we both didn’t no what that was and it means sleeping on your back, and she did sleep on her back because she thought if she slept on her side it would break her out. But yea, it was a very scary thing for her, and she is still spooked by it. But it’s wierd she said before she got up and knocked on my door she thought she woke up and knocked on my door and my sister answered but it was like a false awakining. Hm

thank xetrow , iwas scared to have one but when u know what it is , its not scary.
thx to this site

Yeah, I hate it. It’s the most fearful experience one can experience, as far as I am concerned.

I don’t feel like someone is sitting on me though. I just can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t open my eyes. It’s scary. And I’m always lying in an uncomfortable way, so I can’t relax. I might have my feet up side down, or something.

It’s awesome when it’s over though.

you should all overcome your fears, and take advantage of it.

I have been trying this LD thing for a while and i have allways been afraid of “ye old hag”. But this wednesday i had one in ye morning. itt folowed a realy wierd dream wich im to tierd to write down here. But anni way i like woke upp and felt that i was like “stuck in my self”. I was lying with my head rather close to the wall and i fellt like someone leand over me and told me somthing wich i cant remember. I became scared but realised that this was a SP. So i tried to roll over. I had to try hard like hell and i liked try to like make a sound or like shout. And suddenly it let go and i moved over and shouted somthing indistingushiabel.

But anny way it was realy uncomfortabel but i did not freak out like i thaught i would and it was over in a few seconds.

Um, will the hag manifest itself as the thing you are most afraid of?

Because, in all honesty, I am giving this entire thing up before I even start it if I’m ever going to ‘wake up’ to a 6-foot spider crawling on top of me.

/first post

Hi and welcome, Autocrat :cool:

The old hag is usually a feeling of “pressure” or “someone” sitting on your bed. It isn’t very common, and completely harmless. It is probably related to sleep paralysis. If you have never experienced sleep paralysis, you probably won’t experience this either.

Good luck and sweet dreams!

i love that i sumbled across this website! :smile: its so cool. anyways, im very familiar with sleep paralysis to the point where it doesnt even bother me anymore… it is a nuisance sometimes though, haha. but i’ve only had a few ‘old hag’ experiences, all of which happened earlier in my life. now to the point of this message! a few days ago i was thinking about lucid dreaming (i’ve done it a few times recently) and i was reaaaaly tired so i just kinda passed out on my bed. then i feel myself kinda fading away when i feel this WHAM on my forehead! i was all like, wow what was that!? naturally i laughed in my head, then i realized that i was paralyzed! i really found it a little funny cause i’ve never gone straight from being awake directly into a paralyzed state. then as usual i just ‘wiggled’ myslelf out of it and well… thats all. night all!

I had an ‘old hag’ two nights ago. I didn’t see anything, but I heard devlish sounds right above me.

When I sleep on my back I am pretty much guaranteed to go into sleep paralysis. I always wake up and I am on my back paralysed. I’m used to it though. This never happened before I started practising LD

I’ve only had one SP experience, I’ve always wanted to experience it too.

It was during a period of messed up sleep habits, I believe it was like this:
I pulled an all nighter.
I slept a normal nights sleep.
I pulled another all nighter.
At this point I need 3 nights of sleep to catch up on my sleep debt.
It was during this nights sleep that the SP episode occured.

I woke up paralysed, definitely paralysed. Almost right away I decided it was sleep paralysis, there was this loud static/ocean noise in my ears, it would crest and fall.
The REALLY cool and unexpected part was when I felt a disembodied hand clutch my shin through the bed sheets, since I was already aware of it being SP I wasn’t at all frightened by this, just tremendously suprised to “meet” the “old hag” despite being very “rational” during the whole thing - what part of my mind had caused me to feel the hand? Awesome.

Anyway I tried to open my eyes, my eyelids felt really heavy but I managed to open them just enough to see blurry morning light and the box beside my bed, decided it was too much effort to force them fully open (and okay I admit I was slightly scared that I’d actually see an old hag or a gaggle of demons or whatever), so I let my eyes close and felt overwhelmingly tired and went back to sleep. The sound remained all the time, it would crest to painfull loud - probably loud enough to cause hearing damage if it were real rather than imagined sound. I think I woke up right after falling back to sleep and the sound had gone.

blake, i definately know what youre talking about. ugh, i hate sounds like that during SP, its so annoying. :tongue:

I remember when i was about five i had a nightmare and woke up really scared. i went to my parents room to sleep.

About two minutes after lay down i saw a blue flueresant figure at the door, sorta looked like a grim reaper without the scythe.

but yeh it was sorta weird… i dont remember if i was paralised or not.

I looked away from the door and then looked back and it was gone.