My Ways to Avoid Old Hag and Scary Hypnagogics

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 :happy: 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? :eh:

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… :bored: 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.

Metabog,
The position you go to sleep in bears no relation to the position you find yourself in during sleep paralysis. It’s true that you may normally feel like you are on your back during sleep paralysis, but you are often only dreaming that you are in this position and when you actually wake you are likely to be sleeping on your side. Thinking that you are lying on your back seems to be a strange factor of lucid dreaming, you are just more likely to dream that you are lying on your back, but it’s not usually the truth.

watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/prevent.html

mhmm… check this out.
Studies show that people who go to sleep on their backs are 5 times more prone to the old hag syndrome. It doesent matter what position you wake up in.

I, at least, am unable to begin WILD or feel SP or HI while sleeping on my side or prone. Before hearing about LD, I used to get SP when I fell asleep on my back, and I thought I was getting something because of my reflux. I was getting this every single time I slept on my back.

I usually sleep on my back, but i have never experienced SP or old hag syndrome. I am trying to get it though, so i can turn it into a LD. Anyone have any advice (besides sleeping on my back) for inducing SP???
Thanks

I think there could be merit in the sleeping position theory - I always sleep on my side and I’ve never once experienced sleep paralysis or the old hag. Nor have I ever heard any weird voices or had any scary dream experiences. Not even close. Seeing as there’s scientific research to back it up, I’m willing to believe one’s sleeping position could have something to do with people’s reactions. :smile:

Lucky for me, the only HI I get is lights. And believe me, they arent all that scary :grin:

It’s the sounds that really get me. Thanks for your tips!

:eek: the sounds get to me too. I don’t WILD at night, and I can only get teh WILD vibrations and reamin counscious when on my back. When I sleep on my side, I just fall asleep without even noticing.

Jacky-woo, I think it’s not HI, little fuzzy light dots are phosphenes.

phosphenes?

Does what you see correspond to this definition?
Phosphene
You can also have a sudden white flash when you fall asleep. And sometimes, I have another phenomenon, it’s like the right side of my vision aera was enlightened by an external light during many seconds.

I have slept on my back my entire life and have never, not once, not ever gotten “old hag” or any bag hypnogogics. For me it is quite opposite. I only wake up and see hypnogogics if I went to sleep on my belly.

Megg’s posts about her unvoluntarily WILD experience have been moved in a special thread and can be found there.

[color=green]Hi everyone

I have to say, I would LOVE to experiance the old hag and SP every single night. Problem is, i have barely experianced SP and NEVER experianced old hag :sad: [/color]

[quote=“Metabog”]
…many experiments have shown that sleeping on your back gives you 5 times the probability to have an SP/Old hag than if you sleep prone.

[quote]

Cool, I’m gonna do that so that I can experience an SP–they’re so weird they’re cool…to me, at least… :wink: