Okay, you can’t really avoid it, but it’s a lot easier to go through it this way.
First of all, I think the best way would be to just stay away from WILD-ing and sleeping on you back (i have never been able to sleep on my back without consciously experiencing SP and HI, and I hate that, i’m planning to stay away from WILD).
Sleeping prone or on your side is easier, I at least always fall asleep easy and without noticing it or seeing anything. I have never had a single episode of paralysis or hypnogogics before reading this forum and attempting to sleep on my back to try to induce OBE’s. Plus, many experiments have shown that sleeping on you back gives you 5 times the probability to have an SP/Old hag than if you sleep prone.
Now this is important. I have been leaving a playlist of Stargate SG-1 episodes running on my computer continuously throughout the night, with a high enough volume to even give my dreams an SG-1 twist I also leave the light on (i have on of those lamps where you can set how bright it is, not just flick it on off).
Apparently, if you get an SP/Old Hag, having Stargate run on your monitor, which is by the bed, keeps you anchored to reality and to something real. You have to admit, when you are alone at home, its alot scarier to walk around the house with your TV off. Somehow, the TV has relaxing properties. I have found myself often go to the bathroom (on nights when I was alone, and younger) and start feeling anxious. At this point I just made a run for the living room with the TV turned on and slipped into the bedsheets and felt perfectly fine.
Having the light on is also a lot better. Would you rather have an old woman sit on you and make faces in pitch black darkness or in normal, lamp light?
Another thing is having a cat sleep by you on the bed. My cat constantly tries to sleep on me and sometimes pushes it’s legs on my body. This is guaranteed to get you out of SP. Plus, having a cat around is relaxing when you sleep.
In my opinion, these things combined will help you get over the Old Hag easily (even though it can be a horrible ordeal).
//PS
I have eaten the so called magic mushrooms (Psylocibe Cubensis) once before, and had a particulary horrible experience (probably ate too much). After having an Old Hag a few days ago (probably my first one ever!!!) I have concluded that I felt almost the same as with the mushrooms (that caused me TOTAL loss of Ego and reality, i thought I was the Universe, but then felt like I was going through the Big Bang… sorry, i can’t explain). What you need, is something to keep you sane/anchored to reality.
A question to others is this:
Have you ever experienced Old Hag while sleeping with someone else who is awake? Would having a familiar face around through the episode help? Would you actually say “Look! Loook! Can’t you see that?”. Actually, during SP you can’t talk, but I think seeing someone else go through an Old Hag would be at least interesting.