Sleep paralysis, natural or spiritual ?

Speaking of these supernatural phenomena, have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?

In fact, in science, it is the phase between awakening (consciousness) and paralysis of the muscles that are still in the resting phase under the REM phase of sleep. In other words, it is an error of the brain that has not coordinated all these functions...

I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but to me it is more than just an "error" in the transmission of information. A terrible feeling when you're awake and you can't move your muscles, arms, legs, you can't even shout.

It's like someone is suffocating you, I've even heard that people have seen various supernatural creatures suffocate them..
Has this ever happened to you?

I support the scientific thesis, but too many people have experienced something where they all see similar "creatures", which does not support the thesis of dreams, which are usually different and dreams are not always traumatic and frightening, while this experience is just as frightening every time, not only in terms of the inability to move the limbs and voice, but the environment, which is often frightening.

If man is made of body, psyche and soul, is it possible that in that certain phase when we come out of sleep towards reality, God allows us to briefly see the spiritual world?

 

I don't know the answer to your question, but something interesting is that I've read reports of people who called on the name of Jesus, and the evil presence that appeared during sleep paralysis went away.

 

In 1980 when I was pregnant with my first child, I had a horrible nightmare where someone was trying to kill me. I woke up but couldn't move, it felt like it was real.. I couldn't scream, couldn't move, couldn't even grab my hubby who was in bed beside me. But I have heard that some women have nightmare's when pregnant although it is the only one I ever had where that happened and I've had 6 kids. Would it be considered sleep paralysis?

 

Sure sounds like it. I am convinced there is a demonic component to it. At least some of the time.

 

This happened to my father. He saw the demon. He couldn't speak because it had him by the throat but suddenly a voice deep inside him spoke " in the Name of Jesus I confound you." And it let go and slithered away. He was puzzled where the voice came from. I figured his Guardian Angel. He woke up my mother and she sprinkled Holy Water everywhere. Later he told a priest friend about it but he didn't want to deal with it. One night he was listening to Art Bell and Malachi Martin was on and they discussed such things. My father was greatly relieved. ( he had recently begun keeping the Medjugorge fast and praying for my aunt who was far far far from the Church. I always wondered if that had brought the attack.)

 

He was very curious about the word " confound" and found out the ancient meaning was "to put in another place."

 

I think it did. I agree.

 

Interesting; I remember reading something similar about encounters with "alien beings" where some people with a Christian background invoked the name of Jesus, and the supposed "interplanetary entity" would leave, revealing that it was an evil presence.

 

I used to get it a lot around 2009 or so in the second apartment I lived in as an undergrad. I would feel like there was a presence moving towards me but it never got really close. It only happened when I lived alone and it stopped after my conversion.

I also used to have a recurring nightmare as a child where I would wake up and see a red orb drifting into my room and as soon as I locked eyes on it my body would be paralyzed. I then felt like there was something moving through the house trying to make its way to me as I slept. Very unpleasant.

 

I lean towards thinking that this is more a psychological and physiological thing than a spiritual one, but it's probably a bit of both.

from wikipedia's article -

Sleep paralysis may include hallucinations, such as an intruding presence or dark figure in the room. These are commonly known as sleep paralysis demons. It may also include suffocating or the individual feeling a sense of terror, accompanied by a feeling of pressure on one's chest and difficulty breathing.[9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep...inations,one's chest and difficulty breathing.

 

The question is that even if it were a pathological condition or a mental illness, the demon could be manipulating a person's mental condition. Since, although he was only an angel previously, he possesses knowledge of all earthly sciences and the key to all psychic and mental conditions ?

 

Anything they have knowledge of they'll try to use to their advantage, and that always involves them making themselves seem much more powerful than they are.

 

Same Quis, when this happens I literally am crying out to Jesus several times before any sound comes out. The pressure is immense.

 

Exactly what my father described.

 

Never had the sleep paralysis but have had spiritual experiences of praying whilst sleeping having completed the rosary before fully awake. Anyone else experienced this?

It's like praying in the spirit on auto pilot like an engine ticking over without moving.

 

When I was about 15, I took a brief nap during the day in my room. I woke up to the sound of someone whispering my name, and when I tried to lift my head to see who was calling me, I couldn't. It felt like a heavy hand was pressing my head into the pillow. I prayed, and it went away. Turns out there was no one in my room to speak my name either.

 

Yes. I have.

 

This exactly has happened to me. During one mentally exhausting time of college exams (2021-2022), I’ve been having these paralysis quite often (generally they happen more often when you are not well rested, physically or psychologically, or have a bad sleep routine)… for me it usually starts like this:
I think I am awake in my bed but something is not right. Then I start to hear some whispering voices or a ringing tone that is getting stronger while feeling a negative presence. And then, when I realize I cannot move I start to panic and try to move or scream until I am able to move a bit and finally wake up. After waking up my forehead feels really hot for some reason also… this was the usual proces of these episodes, until that one which changed my mind about these phenomena not being only natural but spiritual as well.

It went like this (the onset was a bit different now too):
I am seemingly awake but cant move and a ringing tone in my head is getting stronger. A white color is growing in center of my view while the ringing noise is getting stronger… ultimately I see only white and I recall feeling as if a thousand demons were screaming in my head. I am thinking that I am losing my mind and my head is about to explode, BUT just before it happens (even if I wasn’t able to speak before) I cry in strong voice “in the name of Jesus go away!”

Suddenly, everything stops, noise and the color, and I feel as If I am floating above my bed (I see my room now) on a cloud of love/peace. I dont know how to describe it better…I wasnt thinking anything, just basking in this sudden overflow of peace and love…It felt like two hours have passed of this “floating” state when I went to “normal” sleep again…and then I wake up in the morning, still with a bit of peaceful feeling lingering to me and a vivid memory of the experience.

After this episode I have not experienced sleep paralysis for about a year… sometimes it happens now (when I am really exhausted and on a bad sleep regime), but I am usually able to prevent it by starting to pray. But even then, my prayer is nothing compared to that simple but strong command in Jesus’s name which burst out from my mouth during that weird episode I mentioned.


I think since this episode I started to really take the spiritual world and my faith seriously, ultimately starting my conversion from lukewarm catholic to a serious one.

Praise and thanksgivings be to God for giving me this grace of experiencing a bit of heaven, even if it was during this scary episode..and in this way showing me a bit of both (spiritual) worlds and thus motivating me to take our catholic faith seriously.