Sleep paralysis or something else?

[Serah]

Hi, I wonder if my experience was just a sleep paralysis or something else. Here is what happened:

One night, I woke up because my dog was barking aggressively (he never used to bark like that at night). When I woke up, I felt a great deal of fear without any rational reason. I was trying to fall asleep for a long time, but I was so stressed out that I couldn't fall asleep (idk why). At some point, I heard footsteps in our living room, which is located right next to my room. I shouted: "mum?" ( ) because I thought that my mum, also sleeping next room, was going to check on the dog, but I didn't get any response. I heard footsteps getting closer to my room, which made me feel so scared that I was unable to move, I feeled completely chained by fear. For whatever reason, I felt like a temperature dropped and I started to feel cold, even though I was bundled up in my bed. When you step on the threshold of the door to my room, the wood makes a very distinctive sound, which I could hear. Despite being terribly scared, I wanted to take a look at who (or what) entered my room. It was almost impossible but I managed to open my eyes - just a tiny little bit. I was shocked to see a tall bright white smudge standing in the door frame (smudge because I opened my eyes only tiny little bit so I coudn't see any details). At that point, I felt that whatever that was, it was getting closer to me. I was panicking. When it came to my bed, I felt something very cold touching me (that sounds so wrong ). But it didn't stop there. It sounds super strange and weird, but I could feel myself leaving my physical body like when you travel astrally (my ears were ringing terribly) while that cold thing tried to take over my physical body. After the initial shock, I told myself that I must not let it win and I pushed it outside (it was super easy). When I fully returned to my body, the ringing in my ears stopped, I was finally able to move and open my eyes. I opened my eyes but there was nothing else with me in the room, I was completely alone.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Can such twisted things happen during a sleep paralysis?

[Jerome johnson]

Tell yourself that sleep paralysis is common, benign, and temporary.
Remind yourself that there's no reason to be afraid.
Focus on something besides the paralysis, like a happy vision or mantra.
Try to relax your body and avoid moving until the episode has passed.

[iamthat]

People report all sorts of strange experiences on the threshold between waking and sleeping, including seeing/feeling the presence of entities. This particular experience does sound rather unpleasant.

As Jerome johnson says, sleep paralysis is common and natural. It serves the practical purpose of preventing the physical body from acting out our dreams.

Peace

[sea-dove]

This may of been an astral experience where something real was in your room or just a hypnagogic halluncination. Yes such things can happen during sleep paralyses.

https://www.morethantired.com/sympto...allucinations/

[Serah]

Many thanks for all your replies! It's just something that bothered me for some time since I was told that it's impossible to open eyes during a sleep paralysis. Since then, (as far as I can remember) I haven't experienced anything similar, even though I've always felt anxious at night in my room (since the very early childhood, I don't even know when it started). I don't have any problems with sleeping so this was truly terrifying

[Serah]

Originally Posted by sea-dove

This may of been an astral experience where something real was in your room or just a hypnagogic halluncination. Yes such things can happen during sleep paralyses.

Thank you for the link, I wasn't aware of the fact that one may feel someone touching them during a sleep paralysis

[sea-dove]

Originally Posted by Serah

Many thanks for all your replies! It's just something that bothered me for some time since I was told that it's impossible to open eyes during a sleep paralysis. Since then, (as far as I can remember) I haven't experienced anything similar, even though I've always felt anxious at night in my room (since the very early childhood, I don't even know when it started). I don't have any problems with sleeping so this was truly terrifying

It is possible that you did not open your physical eyes, you may of felt the eyes of your astral body opening which can feel the same.

[Serah]

Originally Posted by sea-dove

It is possible that you did not open your physical eyes, you may of felt the eyes of your astral body opening which can feel the same.

Hm, that's an interesting idea, sounds very possible. But since it happened many years ago, I can't tell if it's the case or not, unfortunately.