I have seen many uninformed people who think or claim that they are having an OBE or Astral Projecting themselves and describe one of the following:
Awakening to a sense of weight upon the body and/or an inability to move their limbs to escape this pressure, and/or otherwise unable to move accept perhaps their eyes. People who experience this phenomena almost unanimously describe a feeling of panic and fear at their experience which can last long after the paralysis of their bodies has faded and they can move again.
This phenomena is called:
Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis consists of a period of inability to perform voluntary movements either at sleep onset (called hypnogogic or predormital form) or upon awakening (called hypnopompic or postdormtal form).
Sleep paralysis may also be referred to as isolated sleep paralysis, familial sleep paralysis, hynogogic or hypnopompic paralysis, predormital or postdormital paralysis
What are the symptoms?
- A complaint of inability to move the trunk or limbs at sleep onset or upon awakening
- Presence of brief episodes of partial or complete skeletal muscle paralysis
- Episodes can be associated with hypnagogic hallucinations or dream-like mentation (act or use of the brain)
A person is asleep but sees, hears or feels things and experiences them as real even though he or she is asleep. These dreams, which are actually waking dreams are quite frightening and vivid frequently being mistaken for things like ghosts, spirits or shadow entities.
This phenomena is called:
Hynagogic Hallucinations
Hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations are visual, tactile, auditory, or other sensory events, usually brief but occasionally prolonged, that occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep (hypnagogic) or from sleep to wakefulness (hypnopompic). The phenomenon is thought to have been first described by the Dutch physician Isbrand Van Diemerbroeck in 1664.
1 The person may hear sounds that are not there and see visual hallucinations. These visual and auditory images are very vivid and may be bizarre or disturbing.
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The two phenomena can be related, people who suffer from one can suffer from the other as well. Together they can lead someone who wanted to AP or have an OBE into believing (incorrectly) that they have done so and that the phenomena are in fact aspects of their journey.
Ultimately if someone suffers from these over a long period of time, it may be indicative of a sleep disorder such as narcolepsy.
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