Fear... Just Fear... Help? Please. :(

MindGate

So... OBE's, out of body experiences, astral projection. Strange stuff, eh? Ever heard of it?

The religion (sort of...) that I was raised with taught of such a thing. The ability to release one's consciousness from their body and float around in a world created from your mind... or other dimensions if you are so inclined to believe so. Pretty much, as I see it, a lucid dream, you control it.

But... most people claim they are scary until you get used to it. They start with sleep paralysis and your mind enters the "Vibrational State." You begin to feel a heavy pressure on your chest and hear noises, babbling, screams, bumps, buzzes, and anything else that you'd shat your pants if you heard in real life. Some, most, actually feel evil, or not nice presences in their midsts too.

This IS real though. This actually happens. It happened to me a couple of times when I was like 10. It mainly happened after bad dreams. I'd wake up, couldn't move, I could see what was around me, and I felt evilness around me. This is a scientific thing. It scares me.

Then, if this occurs and you manage to not wake up with a heart attack from such fear, you can control your dreams. Your dreams, or conscious, will most likely be bat-shit scared though, or have negative thoughts. These thoughts lead to you creating scary things to appear such as demon-like entities. Some people resort you reciting "No Fear" mantras, some pray, others hug the creatures to get their mind happy, others wake up with heart pounding.

----
MY MAIN POINT:

Now... according to Murphy's Law, if I believe I'm going to wake up with sleep paralysis, I most likely will! And I do, because I'm scared now. So... lets say I start hearing things going hump... aheam... BUMP in the night, what do I do? I can't pray, I believe in no God. Could I recite a mantra? I'll probably be too scared to remember one. Do I call upon the help of a bodhisattva? I don't know. Now I'm afraid to go to sleep. Thanks youtube for showing me images of what I'll probably see. Ladies with horse heads. Demons eating me. The grudge. Naked people... meh.

:hair:

compassionate_warrior

I once spoke to a sleep specialist at a sleep clinic, and the opinion of the MDs who specialize in this is that the type of thing you're describing is due to sleep apnea, which deprives the brain of oxygen and causes nightmares. They say everyone experiences sleep apnea to one degree or another. Not everyone has the same symptoms. The guy I spoke with said they'd studied kids, and even kids have sleep apnea. It causes ADHD in some, and is relieved when the kid gets a CPAP machine (to help breathe at night).

Do you mind sharing with us what religion that was that you were raised in? Sounds different.

Have you noticed if meditation helps? Meditation helps oxygenate and calm the system. You've had sleep paralysis, but have you actually had an OBE?

MindGate

Well, I was raised with Christianity, non-denominational, but my mother had books which were written by Sylvia Browne, who my mother claimed to be psychic. Sylvia Browne taught of a Christian oriented religion known as Novus Spiritus Christianity, or Gnostic Christianity. My natural fascination with the occult and magic lead me to be intrigued by this religion and I began believing in 6th and 7th grade. In 7th grade, though, I began doubting my beliefs and it eventually lead me to be agnostic. More recently I have fount out, though, that Novus Spiritus has many many many parallels with Neo-Pagan religions like Wicca.

If you wish to learn about Novus Spiritus, I recommend this book, its the one I read that gave in insight on what she actually taught:

http://www.sylviabrowne.com/p/Life-on-the-Other-Side/28407.html

or go to the site:

http://www.novus.org/home/index.cfm

-

And I've never actually had an OBE. I've had lucid dreams before, though, sort of, when I was younger. I was going through puberty and was in that awkward transition stage between God, no God, and "Omg, boobs!" so you can only imagine how they turned out.

-

I'm going to meditate tonight though before I go to bed. Hope that helps me.

compassionate_warrior

I've read some of Sylvia Browne's books, and about Novus Spiritus, but I didn't really get into it. I appreciate hearing your perspective on it.

SB looks like the real deal on TV, but I don't know how she is face-to-face in real life. Maybe she just knows how to look convincing on TV.

BTW, it's quite common for kids in pre-adolescence and early adolescence to have an interest in the occult and/or spirituality. Seems to be a developmental phase.

MindGate

I've come to learn shes a fake. Shes a "cold reader." Hit and miss kind of reader.

http://www.stopsylvia.com/

That showed me that.

compassionate_warrior

Thanks for this, Mindgate. And thank you for the interesting topics you've been raising lately.

mzaur

I too have had these experiences. I've also had experiences where during sleep paralysis, I would feel blissful energy rising up my spine, and I felt myself almost disappearing into the bliss. It was exciting and frightening at the same time. I've also had instances of 'popping' out of the physical body and floating in space. I've also felt presences and seen things.

Lots of weird stuff happens. No I don't think it's sleep apnea or anything of the like. Sleep apnea is when the person never falls into a deep sleep and thus never gets rest so the nervous system becomes stressed. I have no problem sleeping. This would usually occur just after falling asleep or early in the morning and would coincide with times when I would meditate more often.

I felt a lot of fear too. I would suggest you get the book Dream Yoga by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. This talk on Transcending Fear is also quite good http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1419528

The mind is conditioned to produce fear when there are threatening situations, but quite paradoxically fear is the enemy in the dream state. The reason is because fear is only applicable to the waking state when physical survival is actually an issue. In the dream state, or the spiritual world depending on how you look at it, there is no risk for survival. You're totally immortal in that state. You can't die. And as for those demons, well they feed off of fear. Think about that. Fear creates and feeds negative situations in the dream state. So it's very paradoxical that you have to get over fear since it's no longer applicable to the situation, but it's true.

Jeffrey

I wonder if making a wish that you wake up or are comforted would function similarly to the foreboding that it would happen. When you wish do it in conjunction with something stabilizing that makes you feel at ease and protected. For me that is sitting meditation with equanimity, or someone you believe is caring and strong?

StudentAndMaster

As I told one of my Students: Release your suppositions, and let yourself float away. I further give the following as a loose guide:

Begin with a meditative approach. as you feel your self deepening, imagine a Cloud descending on you. As the Cloud lifts, let yourself rise up with it, and do not fear that you may not be in the confines of your corporeal state.

I have met her in the other plane on many occasions, and I became aware of the True Beauty of the Human Spirit. It was a magnificent and enlightening realization. We are ALL so, and in finding this out I became more and more able to percieve this Spirit in everyone I meet.

A fun, albeit somewhat off topic (until realized) exercise, is to see the energy of the Spirit, the Aura, or Ketheric Template, as it is referred to:

Darken the room to barely lit, and have your subject wear some dark piece of clothing as a shirt. Look without looking, and you will be able to see this energy, when they are ten to twenty feet away, preferably with a dark background, or non-lit area behind them, such a a darkened hallway or Black Curtain. See what you do not see.........

Cristina

Try this. Before you go to sleep, say, "Hey there sleep paralysis. Hey there demons. A big howdy do to everything I'm afraid of. Come and get me. I'm going to sleep now, now is your chance. Come. And. Get. Me."

See? Call it to you. Let it happen if it's going to happen. Just don't let it control you. "Okay body if you're going to do this weird thing, go ahead and get it over with so I can get on with my day," or whatever. Works very well for me.

I remember watching Sylvia Browne on TV when I was younger. Always seemed bogus to me. I just read some of that site--that guy is pretty funny!

Also....yeah this stuff is scary. Trust me, I know. It's just like...you're still here, you know? You're still okay. All this stuff, we have to learn to see through it. It's not real. And there's nothing to be scared of.

ShiftPlusOne

Just be mindful of the experience. There are no demons and nothing is going to get you or happen to you. It's your imagination. If you panic, you make it worse. If you relax, you can sit down and meditate out of body.

Cinorjer

Yes, I've heard of OBE, astral projection, and the whole range of spooky stuff. I still have my collection of thousands of comic books and paperbacks full of magic and fantasy. I love immersing my imagination in a good game of make believe.

The important thing to remember is that none of it is real. When you're lying on the bed at night, it's just your mind and a brain going through an active biological process we call the sleep cycle. Nothing supernatural about it.

So what is going on with all this belief in wandering spirits and things that go bump in the night and succubus demons that sit on your chest and suck out your breath in the middle of the night and could that be a monster under the bed and...

In Zen we focus on the thoughts in meditation so we can recognize they are ultimately empty, but there is another part of the skandhas, perception, that also needs to be understood as empty. Perception is when we translate what the senses are feeding our mind into something we can understand. It's how we make sense of the world. It our mind's "best guess" of what's happening.

Perception, like thought, is ultimately empty and you can learn to recognize it as only a process that is under your control. Our mind can and often is wrong when it comes to perceptions. That feeling you have sometimes when you begin to drift off to sleep, when it feels like you're falling and you jerk, your heart racing? You weren't actually floating off the bed, you know. Just a side product of your brain beginning to shut down external stimulus for sleep. Same with the rather troubling dreams and half-asleep experiences. "It feels like..." is a perception. "It looks like..." "It seems like..." are perceptions. Ultimately empty. Learn to distinguish your perception from reality. When you look at a cloud and see a bunny while someone else sees the Virgin Mary on a piece of burnt toast, that's perception at work. Ultimately empty. It's just a cloud. It's just a piece of burnt toast.

Having said all this, your fears are not rational fears, so you can't just think them away. It will take time for your mind to recognize the experience as just a perception that is harmless even if uncomfortable. And, if it disturbs your sleep enough, it becomes a medical problem to be treated by a doctor.

Hope this helps.

Ch-an_noob

Jeez, spiritual penetrations again... these homeboys are trippin...

MindGate

Penetrations? :wtf:

federica

Jeez, spiritual penetrations again... these homeboys are trippin...

Your recent posts would suggest you're the one tripping...I've deleted many of them, because frankly, they're mindless.
Either sober up, or take a break.

OK?

compassionate_warrior

MindGate, have you looked at the Sleep Paralysis thread? I think you'd find it helpful. A number of people discuss their own experiences with SP, and their perspectives on it.

Good luck. Did meditating before sleep make any difference? Let us know how you're doing.

kayte

Hello MindGate. I had a teacher, not Sylvia B., who based a religion on OBE, chanting, studying his discourses, books, keeping dream journals, etc. I was an outsider and but was involved enough to have it affect me. As I studied the materials and compared them with other teachings, like Buddhism (a big No No) I came to realize that he was a cult leader and that the methods he used were common manipulation techniques. They set you up with preconceived ideas that your brain would later create in your dreams. You see? They plant the ideas in your conscious mind through books and visualization exercises. Your subconscious later replays them for you in the dream state. I'm not sure, but I think this is how some of the feedback methods work for weight loss and stop smoking programs.

You can control your dreams by exposing yourself to uplifting and positive writings, music, movies- or just thinking about how much you have to be grateful for and about the people you love before going to sleep. Good Luck to you and I hope that you get past this negative influence, soon. Namaste

aHappyNihilist

i have extremely drawn out periods of sleep paralysis and often have lucid dreams. in my SP i generally manage to calm my self down just thinking lucid dreams usually start scary but if you can manage to stay asleep and control things it's awesome.

try to take advantage of those experiences if you can, just understand that it it is literally all in your mind and often possible to control. i guess i'm a rare case in this sense but i'll have these lucid nightmares which i remember vividly, if i can not fear and i start to use my mind i can do anything within the bounds of our universe's physics. sometimes i am extremely strong sometimes i am extremely weak, the less i fear what is happening the better i can transcend the normal universe's physics.

I even try to have them sometimes, it usually happens when i fall asleep with a light on after reading something. as soon as you understand fully that it is a dream and within your own mind you can do anything. it's alot like buddhism
i do get frustrated though when i wake up, often as soon as i realize it's a dream i start to wake up but i usually have some time to do... stuff

MindGate

Stuff?

aHappyNihilist

yeppers.

Vincenzi

work on Vīrya and scare the hell out of evil entities.

this mantra may work too:
ॐ Shakra devanåm Indra! ॐ

and there's 2 mudra's that give Vīrya (this is done in an instant); one one-handed and one two-handed... this mudras can even be used in martial arts.

Dhammaduta

Fear is just a state of mind, take it this way. so where this come from? according to Buddhist teachings Fear (Bhaya) comes from ignorant or un-skill, or unwise or from an impure mind. when are expectation more higher than ability the fear also grows there. to prevent fear we need to work on the mind, not on matter! o another thing once someone goes fear he or she is vulnerable, can commit evil action,,, bhayagatam gaccanto papakammam karoti

DhammaDhatu

Ladies with horse heads. Demons eating me. :hair:

Hi

The Buddha extensively taught about the sense bases, namely, eye & form, ear & sound; nose & smell; tongue & taste; and mind & mind objects.

The Buddha extensively taught about sense control, that is, having mindfulness & wisdom at sense contact.

When you hear a sound, it is wise to regard it as merely a sound. When you see a form, it is wise to regard it as merely a form. When you experience a mind object, it is wise to regard it as merely a mind object, that is all.

This is the way of the Buddha. When a form is regarded as 'just form', a sound as 'just sound' and a mind object as 'just a mind object', then fear & the mental proliferations & imaginings about those sense objects will subside.

Kind regards

DD

Dazzle

Hi Mindgate,

DD has given you some sensible advice. I also suggest that you try tranquility meditation (Samatha). I'm sure it would be beneficial if you could find an offline Buddhist meditation group.

Kind wishes,

D.