Wednesday, March 08, 2017

A Sleep Paralysis Experience

Wow, I haven't posted her since February 10. My blog seems to be dying almost in spite of myself. Well maybe that's because not a lot of interest has happened to me. However, I did have a dream experience last night that might be worth sharing.

Many who visit here know that I have very vivid dreams and have written a lot of stories from those. However, I also occasionally experience sleep paralysis. For those who don't know, sleep paralysis involves waking up from sleep but remaining paralyzed from the neck down. The paralysis is temporary but can be disturbing. Sometimes, sleep paralysis is accompanied by vivid dream-like experiences that indicate a state that mixes waking and dreaming. I've had both types, the paralysis only, and the mixed state. Last night's experience was rather interesting, and scary.

I woke up, or thought I did, with a leg pushed up against my back. I knew Lana was in the other room and tried to call out but couldn't. I reached behind me to touch the leg and realized it was too small to be Lana's. It was a child sized leg. And it seemed to be growing out of me at the base of my spine.

I got a chill over my whole body and squeezed the leg hard. As soon as I did so, a child's arm popped out of my shoulder. But it was like a ghost arm. I could see through it. I realized at this point that it was sleep paralysis. Normally when I realize that I try to relax, which is the best way to make it dissipate. However, I was still freaked out enough to struggle. I tried to sit up and managed to do so, then woke up completely to find myself still lying on my side. I went and told Lana about the experience, then fell back to sleep pretty easily.


About all I can imagine from this experience is that it was my "inner child" trying to get out. Maybe he just didn't want to go to work today.

15 comments:

Cloudia said...

I like your interpretation - or you could be haunted, LOL
Nice to see you post. We are interested in you and Lana you know

Oscar Case said...

A wild dream! I hope that kid gets out. You may have more stories to tell.

sage said...

Wild dream. Last night I also was dreaming vividly and normally if I don't write my dreams down, I'll forget them in an hour or two, but not this one. Good to see you back posting!

Charles Gramlich said...

Cloudia, thankee. I need to get back to a more regular schedule

Oscar, he's tired of responsibilities!

Sage, I like it when I remember to do it

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That is really freaky. I've heard people tell account of a specter in the room with them when that happens, but never of limbs growing out of them.
Actually, that could be a piece of story.

Angie said...

About all I can imagine from this experience is that it was my "inner child" trying to get out.

That sounds like a great story seed. :D

Angie

Jenny Baranick said...

You should call into work and say that your inner child is sick and you can't come in.

Charles Gramlich said...

Alex, it certainly freaked me out pretty well.

Angie, even now, it gestates within!

Jenny, what a tremendous idea!

David Cranmer said...

I use to have this type of paralysis all the time when I was in the Army. Horrifying not to be able to move or speak.

Snowbrush said...

Sounds like the start of Kafka story.

I wonder, Charles, why some people have vivid dreams and/or sleep paralysis. The latter I can imagine, the former I don’t really know what it means. In trying to imagine sleep paralysis in terms of my own experience, the nearest I could come (and it probably wasn’t anywhere near close) was to remember when I had a spinal for surgery, and couldn’t accept that my legs were a part of my body. When I touched them, they just felt like hot and gross slabs of meat, and even when I finally realized that these alien pieces of meat were indeed me, I still couldn’t accept it at an emotional level, probably because when I touched them, they couldn’t feel my touch.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

Charles, if this were to happen to me, I hope my dog senses it and licks my face and wakes me up.

Charles Gramlich said...

David, not easy to forget even after its over.

Snowbrush, I'm told that a lot of folks who experience paralysis feel as if parts of their body don't belong to them. My sleep paralysis typically happens rarely and when it does only lasts a few moments. It's also usually accompanied by such weird stuff that I have no time to think about the paralysis itself. There is certainly a lot of natural variability in human sleep cycles and experiences.

Prashant, maybe I could get Lana to lick my face. I think I'd prefer that. :)

Shadow said...

That sound frightening all right, and your interpretation makes a lot of sense...

Charles Gramlich said...

Shadow, I've had one worse than that. I'll have to share sometime.

Erik Donald France said...

Inner child, indeed. I sometimes have these after an exhausting day, taking a nap with intent to get up rather quickly and blithely. Weird sense of an interzonal ghostly existence.