Jun

Sleep paralysis

Last night was difficult, I had a sleep paralysis also called waking paralysis. I did session 12 of introduction to Focus 10,it was around 2 AM, the session went ok with nothing special about it around 1 hour later when I felt asleep I had the paralysis, I could not move a single part of my body, I was only aware of my nostrils and breathing was my most urgent concern, I was in total obscurity, but total obscurity isn’t scary.There is something truly scary. I thought I was about to suffocate so I concentrated all my effort on breathing. After a few moment, I started to imagine that some presence could enter my room and cut my arms, may be that fear was powerful enough to generate enough chemical or stress to get me back my control of my body, I got out of sleep paralysis a few moments after that.

After that incident, I could not fall asleep again, I stayed awake I eventually felt asleep around 8 AM , I slept until 3 PM. Science has no explanation for sleep paralysis. The definition is :

The isolated sleep paralysis event occurs most often at sleep onset. An individual, even though aware and maintains that he is awake, is atonic, and has great difficulty moving. This atonic state is similar to the atonia experienced during REM sleep. This experience also may produce great anxiety and fear, while the individual struggles to “wake up”.
Individuals who experience sleep paralysis often report concurrent hypnagogic hallucinations. A commonly reported hallucination is the feeling of a presence or entity in the room in which the individual sleeps. At times this presence may seem threatening and evil giving rise to the folklore belief of the “night-mare,” the “old hag,” and the “incubi.

According to author Eric Fromm it is possible to convert sleep paralysis into lucid dream, by taking control of the anxiety associated with the event and doing some concentration, I’m personally not interested to have sleep paralysis again, but it is apparently common among meditators. In the past I experienced sleep paralysis when I was in period of intensive meditations just like now. Sleep paralysis is not Focus 10, in the Focus 10 state there is no feelings of suffocating nor there is this impression to be with a presence. In Focus 10 you can perform movement of your body if you wish. They aren’t really the same condition.

Robert A. Monroe in his book ‘Ultimate Journey’ (1994) defines Focus 10 as follows:

Focus 10. A simplistic definition is mind awake and alert, body asleep. The mind is slightly out of phase with normal physical wakefulness. It is a stage where all five physical senses seem detuned or reduced in strength, and it is the beginning of objective perception of perception in (M) field energy.

So as you can read, it has nothing to do with the horrible sleep paralysis.

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