Sleep Paralysis
Dreaming that you or someone else is paralyzed could be very frightening. Depending on the details of your dream and your current situation in life, there are several different, but equally reasonable interpretations. The fear that paralyzes you in the dream may be symbolic of the fear that you are experiencing in daily life. You may feel somewhat unable to change a current situation which may manifest itself in your dream in a form of paralysis. In addition, this dream may be cautioning you to stay still and do nothing for now in regard to a real-life situation that is on your mind and may be problematic for you. In the dream you may be "frozen with fear" and it is up to you decode what that fear is and what it represents.Also dreams of being paralyzed reflect the state that our body is in when we are dreaming. The phenomenon is referred to as sleep paralysis, REM paralysis, or sleep immobility. This paralysis occurs to prevent us from actually acting out our dreams. Although the scenario varies, the theme is the same. We may try to run and find that we cannot move our legs. Or we may try to scream, but nothing comes out. Symbolically, our paralysis may be rooted in our anger and frustration. We may be so angry at someone that we actually try to raise our arm during our sleep, but fail to do so.
The slow motion imagery in a dream signifies our need to re-think and justify our actions and determine if our waking situation is being exaggerated.
posted by Spirita @ 8:55 PM
32 comments
32 Comments:
hey please help me with this dream i want to know that it means....
i am in a prison and i try once to escape and i get caught and brought back and i try plan to escape and my mother comes and visits me and yells at me then i am on a wall holding a gun to my head sayin ill kill myself and my mother says go ahead and jump close your eyes and jump so i jump and next thing i know im in hell and im walking around looking and i see an angel and i ask him how to get to heaven so he tells me i have to kill this spirit in a fight and i do and he said i have to kill 5 more in a place between heaven and hell so i do and after that i walk through a door and the next thing you know im in the most beautiful place ive ever seen...
hi Spirita, recently for the past 2 nights, i dreamt of my ex boyfren. the 1st night, i dream of him standing behind me with my back facing him and he kiss my head. He eventually kiss twice and the next thing I did is turn around and push him away and asking him what did he take me for? yesterday i dream of him again. i dream of me sending him messages if he want to go for a swim and the next thing i know, is he came and told me after he sees my message, he rushed down. He actually holds my hand and end up my neigbour mistaken he is my boyfriend. I tried to explain to her but I have no chance. I oso saw a fortune teller explaining my palm to me. Furthermore, i still tell the fortune teller that currently I have one boyfriend who has been with me for 2 years plus and I broke up with my Ex boyfriend for 2 years plus.What all this means?
Hi!First,let me say that someone in Yahoo Answers recommended your blog while answering a quetsion I had about a dream.
So,here's my problem:ever since I was a little child(I'm a teenager now),I keed having nightmares,having the same nightmare repeatdly,with little changes on it,and I keep dreaming I'm being chased or running after someone.Besides it,there's always a feeling of danger in the air.Even when I don't feel at danger in my dreams(which is rare to happen)I'm always running and jumping around like a crazy girl.I just wanted to know what does this mean...
Any help you can give me,I'd be thankful :)
Have a nice day
I forgot to mention that,even tough I feel at danger in my dreams,I don't usually wake up scared.
Dan, most often dreams of being imprisoned decode your inability to cope with circumstances, moods, relatives (probably your mom in this case). You feel trapped by inadequacies, fears, moral codes, ambitions, sense of superiority or inferiority. Dreaming about prison means any limiting influence within, or outside of you. You need to realise that if the influence seems to be from outside, it is only because you have not yet discovered your own inner attitudes or fears that makes you subject to that limitation.
Committing a suicide in dreams may apply to the way you might kill out feelings for someone in a relationship. It also denotes that conditions in your life is so frustrating that you are no longer willing to cope with a situation or relationship in the same way as you did in the past. Alternatively, you may be unable to overcome feelings of guilt and thus turning the aggression on yourself. On a more positive note, it may suggest that you are saying good-bye to one aspect of yourself or character that your have been carrying around.
Dreaming of being in hell signify emotions, anxieties of which you are fearful. Your self created misery, perhaps arising out of such things as anger or resentment you cling to, or a sense of being different or unwanted. Feelings that burn in you; pain from past trauma; memories of, or feelings connected with, a place or relationship you were deeply unhappy in. If you dream about heaven this might suggest you find life difficult, and this is a compensatory dream. It might also be a meeting with your religious concepts; touching your own sense of harmony or integration; being away from the pain or unhappiness of a terrible relationship or place; being in love or deeply happy.
Hello, I saw a recommendation on Yahoo Answers. I had stopped talking to this guy for personal reasons. Well the other night I had a dream that we were talking online and we've reconnected on certain terms. What's this supposed to mean?
Anonymous, when you dream about your EX-BOYFRIEND, you have certainly carried feeling with you from the relationship, and your dreams about your ex will try to work out some way of feeling at ease within yourself about the break. This is especially so if difficult or painful emotions were involved. Unless these emotions are freed from your past, they are not available for the present.
Lelia, when you have a conversation in your dream it means an attempt to be in contact with whoever you are talking to. Your dream also suggests a desire to express yourself, to make yourself understood, and to be acknowledged.
Melissa, your dream of felt danger might be showing you what you do not acknowledge as causing anxiety. If the danger involves someone you know, it is most likely revealing your anxieties about that person, fears of losing them, fear of their death, fear of them hurting you. You therefore need to define just what the dream is portraying as dangerous. Such dreams are seldom precognitive (prediction).
Being chased in a dream usually denotes that you are feeling something you fear more intensely and are trying to avoid confronting it. If you are chasing something it shows what you are making an effort to gain in life, but the thing you are pursuing might be difficult to arrive at, possible because of your own feelings about attaining it. If you are running in your dream, you are trying to escape from some emotion, some fear, or hastening to something. It signifies a sense of hurry.
If you use jogging as an exercise you might have dreams about running and jumping often.
Morag Duvessa, your dreams about snakes were interesting. You described them vividly, I almost felt like I was a part of them. If you couldn't find my post about Snakes in Dreams I can refer you to visit http://spirita.blogspot.com/2006/09/animals-in-dreams-snakes.html.
House in dreams usually represents yourself. Living room represents relaxation and leisure activities. The bunch of a faceless persons mean that you are faced with some problems you are in confrontation with (probably in connection with some of your relationships).
In your dream specifically snakes represent primal energy and temptation. These may be the thoughts that are in your unconscious in which you do not want to face. Snakes are complicated dream symbols and have both positive and negative meanings. In your case, it is a positive symbol suggesting changes and self-renewal. Snakes, especially those in your dream, are signal of a healing dream. You are obviously ready to move on toward the future and no longer want to relive the past. Because of the snake's ability to move and slide with ease, this may parallel your fresh outlook on life.
Spirita
From what I am learning about "Sleep Paralasys" it refers to a condition, rather than a type of dream. A condition where the dreamer is actually awake and experiencing the effect of the chemicals usually dumped into the system only during the time of REM sleep which purpose it is to avoid our thrashing about while dreaming of physical activity. In my case, I am awake, as suggested, but cannot move, a seeming leftover from REM sleep. My state seems to be a half awake/half asleep lucid type of dream with a nightmarish quality. One that I cannot wake from though I try to move, scream or otherwise attract attention to myself. These dreams or states are disturbing and I wonder if you have any comments?
Anonymous, sometimes while dreaming a person experiences a profound physical paralysis. This occurs because while you dream your brain switches off the voluntary muscles. If you then become partly awake and attempt to move, it feels as if you are paralysed. The resulting fear causes deeper paralysis. If this happens to you it is important to remember what the cause is - temporary loss of ability to control the voluntary muscles - this enables you to wake slowly without the anxiety.
Honiebyrd your energy in dream relates to your energy in all its aspects, mental, emotional and psychic. This energy can be very positive or harmful. i.e. fears and long held grief. In some dreams energy is seen as frightening or threatening, this is because there are levels of your own potential and feeling you are not handling well. You may be feeling a lot of self criticism for instance. Basically your dream is showing that you need to be careful how you are dealing with your energy and emotions.
Sometimes we become paralysed in dreams because unconscious fears attempt to become expressed; or urges we fear attempt expression. We can also be paralysed by sense of guilt, sense of inadequacy, or ignorance.
Light in dream depicts your ability to see, to understand, to know where you are going, and the nature of what surrounds and confronts you. This is powerfully illustrated by what happens in the dark, either in dreams or in reality. When we enter into darkness in a dream, it symbolises an exploration of things we do not yet understand. or are not aware of. Similarly, the dawning of light is the growing of realisation, experience and understanding. Light therefore represents our consciousness, ego, awareness of individuality and personal realisation.
Last night I had a really strange dream. Well for the past few dreams I have been dreaming about the bathroom being haunted and then all of a sudden it was like the same dream but it changed. This time the bathroom was not really haunted it was this phsyco dude. Then I came into a room and this other guy was like he was going to call on a spirit then I sat down and next thing I know Im this brown headed chick with long curly hair ( I dont look like that) and somebody is sitting behind me but I cant see them. A womans voice said Im going to go through you. I said no because Im bad, she said that it didnt matter and then I saw a ghostly women in all white in front of me and I felt something go in me. I woke up lying on my back with my arms crossed around me like I was holding myself. Is this just a dream or is it real and what does it mean.
Mia-24, in your dream bathroom is a valuable symbol. It suggests that there is a need for emotional and psychological cleansing. You may need to get rid of emotional and psychological baggage. It is difficult to be carefree and happy when old issues keep "bringing you down.” Your dream advises you to make an effort to cleanse mind and spirit by putting useless thoughts and feeling behind you.
To see a spirit, a disembodied personality, in a dream very often shows a past memory or experience that still haunts you, perhaps because it has never been fully felt. This full experience of it is a sort of exorcism, banishing the ghost.
Also, important is that the spirit in your dream may be a contact with the dead, or those about to be born.
Spirita,
To what the last Anonymous person said about Sleep Paralysis and how he felt half asleep/half awake. This has happened to me a lot of times, but it hasnt happened as of late but when it does happen, i cannot move anything, not my head/arms/or legs and cannot scream. And when this happens its like i see something coming towards me like a ghost or a phantom. and i struggle to move and i cant but then after a while i just wake up or get out of the illusion. what does this really mean?
Gus, the ghost in your dream is an old memory, an old fear, or the past, that haunts you or comes back to you. May represent a guilt, fear of death, intuitive knowledge, dread of the unknown, or things you have done that you have tried to bury and forget. In Eastern cultures, it may be your karma, the accumulated results of your actions and thoughts. Your dream is an expression of how fear paralyses you
Hello, I experienced sleep paralization last night. But I cannot remember the dream, well the part of the dream before I felt as if I could not wake up. The part that is troubling to me is that while I was struggling to wake up I heard a man whisper my name 2 times. I was scared to death by this and I didnt answer. He said it once then there was a pause, then he said my name again. when I finally did wake up I ran out the room because I thought someone was in my house, but there wasnt. I didnt sleep well after that, I was too tired to go to school today as a result. What could this mean? This has never happened to me in my life and I am 24 years old. And should I have answered the man that called my name? Please help me.
Thank you,
Missy
Missy, your experience with sleep paralysis is not unusual so do not worry. Certain effects might accompany wakeful sleep paralysis. During sleep paralysis, many people say that they are assaulted by images which resemble people or monsters or a general fiendish presence. They might also experience hallucinations, sounds and bodily sensations (vibrations, electricity, a sense of being touched, difficulty in breathing, or a weight on the chest). Also, some people feel that they are leaving their body.
Hello.. About a week ago I had the first nightmare in ly life: I dreamt I was possessed by the devil, I was paralyzed and thus, I couldn't even pray nor reach my bible. After I oculd escape (I reached my Bible) mi little brother appeared and told me " don't get wet". I go to my balcony, there's snow upto the the 6th floor (i live on the 8th floor). A women from my building tries to calm everyone but as she tried to speak, her nose started bleeding. My parents call me telling me they are back to France (my home) and tell me to meet at this little town. I get out of my apartment and it's raining. I get to the town, meet my parents and we go to church. I didn't tell them about the possession, but then, I saw my grandpa, and I told him all about it, he said "keep praying'. As we were in the church, people began singing and dancing. it didn't actually felt as a church. A man, who was supposed to be the preacher, gave me a saxophon I tried to played it but I couldn't. We gor out of the church and my parents tell me they are getting divorce. My mom presents me her new boyfriend, he happens to be the guy I made love with a couple a weeks before that. I as the boy where he met my mom, and he tells me "at your grandparents funeral". I woke up.
WHat does it mean? I was very scared (and still get goosobumps when I think about it) I woke up at 2:15am frozen with fear.
Tell me what you think about it please.
Anonymous, dreaming about DEVILS and demons is usually very frightening. The devil does not generally represent something outside of you. It usually symbolizes the most negative and least developed part of you. It may be that part of you that is ignorant and destructive. Or it may be all those desires, ideas, habits that have come into your life, that go against the promptings of your deepest nature. In one word, all the aspects of life of which you are not master and which can therefore influence you against your will. While the results of these tendencies may seem devilish, at the same time they offer the opportunity of wrestling with them and developing strength and awareness.
Dreams about demons possession have a person who has terrible feelings of guilt about sexual urges. Feeling of guilt may represent them as a demon threatening to possess them. Therefore a demon may represent guilt, hatred, feelings of uncleanness, aggressiveness or desire for love, and so on.
Reaching a Bible in your dream represents reaching your moral feelings, collective social wisdom and your feelings or ideas about religion. Church in your dream may show your religious beliefs, or feelings about religion.
When you see bleeding in your dream, it means the distressing situation in your life which is at the root of your dream has come to an end, and the worst is over.
When you dream about your family members it signifies the values, attitudes and emotional or social responses you have absorbed from your family; the acceptance or tensions you feel in relationship with family contact; the support or pain you feel from parents and siblings. Because there is such variety here, you will need to define just what your relationship was, and feelings still are, about the member of the family in the dream.
I had a nightmare the other night and dreamed that I was the 1st floor Manager of a large company. The building was made of all glass. My floor didn't have anything in it..you could only see the concrete pillars holding up the building. As the afternoon wore on, evening came about and the entire floor became packed with adults, and there were dimmed lights everywhere. I noticed a little boy about 5yo pushing through the crowd, and I asked him if he knew where he was going. He said that he had to meet Janet. So I led him to the front of the building and told him to stay by the front left corner by the elevators and look out the window for Janet. I noticed a man wearing a heavily padded blue work jumpsuit near the double doors with a dark face and his hood on. He nodded at me and I back at him...thinking he looked a little strange for a cop or security officer. He turned around and looked out the windows. I began my way back through the crowd thinking about the strange guy, when I spotted about 3 sets of my own team of plain clothes security units. I nodded at them and said lets go. That meant to began evactuation. They quickly went to work, no questions, etc. I decided to check on the little boy again...for some reason I was worried about him being near the unknown guy. I began my way through the crowd back to him, when I heard a loud roaring noise, like a train was coming through the building. I ran and grabbed the little boy and threw us into the elevator. The doors automatically shut, and the ceiling automatically began coming down. I thought it would crush us, but it stopped at about 3ft. from the floor. (emergency mechanism?) Suddenly the elevator began descending at full speed as if there were no brakes. And then a great force of wind and air blew through one side of the elevator throwing us out the other glass side into the street, with us barely escaping getting hit by a car. Outside the building was caving inward. Car were scattered like a traffic jame, bodies were here and there. Glass was coming from every direction - busting, flying and embedding itself into anything and anyone. Other people from higher floors were also being thrown out of their rooms and elevators by the unknown force of wind. I no longer had the boy, but I found myself in an elevator again, with the ceiling quickly coming down and stopping at the 3ft. marker....the sudden nonestop downward drop, and the breathtaking force throwing me through the glass at high speed. Then a 3rd time, I'm back in an elevator...etc. This kept on repeating itself.
I finally imagined that the roaring of the train noise, wind and glass breaking was our washing machine over and over and finally the dream faded away. I woke up but I was still in sleep paralysis. Coudn't get out of it for another hour or so. Help please?
Nightdreamer, your dream is very interesting. Wind in your dream represents changeability, the ever shifting mental processes, and unseen influences in your life. It could also signify the ideas or other influences that move you or pressurize you. The wind in your dream could be symbolic of your own spirit or the life force. The greater the force of the wind, the grater the change. A very gusty wind could represent stress and turmoil but also the energy that you need or have to make changes. Your dream might also uncover some violent emotions, fears and thoughts. Anger, panic, or release of pent up feelings in a dramatic manner.
The interpretation of seeing and interacting with a stranger, or strangers, in your dream depends on the details of your dream and on your personal belief system. Some Eastern cultures believe that the strangers in your dreams are spirits from another dimension. These spirits may be teaching you lessons or giving you specific messages. The more modern approach to interpreting a dream with strangers in it is that they represent different sides or unfamiliar aspects of your personality.
Glass represents the invisible but powerful feeling or social barriers. These include caution, emotional coldness, and disinterest, fear of being hurt or pride. Broken glass could represent breaking a relationship; shattering an illusion; broken hearted. Also in your dream glass may represent hidden dangers or you being careless about direction in life or present situation; or if it is being done without heed to injury, represents self inflicted pain. When glass is crushed in your dream, it could symbolize breaking of both negative and positive things. For example, it could represent the breaking of illusions, denial, and deception. On the more negative side, it could also represent the shattering of dreams or hopes that a person has been holding close to his heart.
Hello, I had sleep paralisis ones , Ive felt a hand on my bak as i was sleeping on my chest, and this voice said ''pray''
I couldn't move my body and only my hands could of moved.
tried to scream but no words came out its was so real.
And i felt that I was awake when it happened.
I was very scared and kept praying till morning. Are these warnings of some sort?
Anonymous, sleep paralysis is harmless but it might be frightening. When I first experienced sleep paralysis, I had never heard of it; I awoke but could not move, and I was overwhelmed by terror and confusion. Now I know that sleep paralysis is a normal component of REM sleep. Certain effects might accompany wakeful sleep paralysis. During sleep paralysis, many people say that they are assaulted by images which resemble people or monsters or a general fiendish presence. They might also experience hallucinations, sounds and bodily sensations (vibrations, electricity, and a sense of being touched). So don’t worry, your sleep paralysis is not a warning of any kind. It is just a natural condition anyone can experience while in REM sleep.
Hello, I have twin girls.12 years olf in January. Both are gifted and talented.One moreso than the other.She has been having dreams that i can't exolain since she was able to talk plain.At 5 she dreamed of meteors hitting the earth. She also dreams of plane crashes, and even scarier of being under water seeing dead people. theres been so many. Since she has gotten old she doesn't have so many anymore. Any reason why and how she dreams of things she has never been exposed or seen before at such a young age.Thanks
Anonymous, most dreams are about your child’s personal growth, what it is learning, what it is feeling about the world around it, and the ways it is expressing or denying its own creative centre. Nightmares are generally thought to be most common at the ages 3 to 5 years-the peak ages when children express fears. It is not known why children have nightmares, but it is believed that they are related to the normal anxiety and stress that are a part of growing children's lives. Stressful events, such as injections, left alone or even feeling hungry, need to be learned about and integrated.
I have this dream that i was awake but couldnt move. Then I was fall asleep then awake it wouldnt let me look behind me. It was like deja vu dream then that last a black ghost was on top of me looking straight at me. This is all just one dream.
Anonymous, the Ghost in your dream could represent someone you knew (or wish you'd known) in real life who is now dead or something that has changed in your life or doesn't exist any longer, such as a former relationship or former job. Something you have not dealt with very well
i've been having this sleep paralysissince 16 y.old and i'm now 21..so it's been 5 years and now it happens more often..and i can't stand it coz everytime i had it had really painful headache..when i woke up..i still feel the headache..last night i dreamt of someone pulling my right hand out of bed,,,and that 'thing' chewed my left hand too...that 'thing' also get on me...i scared the hell out of me...whatr do i do..should i see a doc or what?? i cant stand the headache...
I am not sure if this fall under dream paralysis, I have nightmare since I was a little girl, almost convience that demons were after me in my dreams for real, everytime I dreamed I would feel this huanting presence and I would just be frozen in my dream, it felt like the presence was laying right there on my chest, in my face mocking me, with me horrified and I couldn't move, that wasn't the dream, thats what I sinced in the dream, the dream would be like I am trying to escape some thing and couldnt move, one dream was I was laying under dead bodies, I would almost beleive something was really laying on me while I was sleeping.
Ever since I was younger, this has happened to me. But one time it was very extreme because I actually heard people whipered to each other. I couldnt hear what they said but I could hear people talking softly. I was the only one home so I know it was not any one else.
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