CFTraveler's Blog

Something I've seen often and kind of bothers me is the way some projectors call the trance state that is the well-recognized platform for conscious projection 'sleep paralysis'. If I had a penny for every time I've seen this, well, I'd be able to pay off some of my credit cards. But I digress...... When you achieve the optimal state for projection, when your mind is awake and your body is asleep, is not paralysis, but trance. If the trance is deep enough, you may be dissociated to the point where there is no communication with your motor controls- but it is not the state of sleep paralysis. In fact, with some practice most projectors find that they can project their consciousness and move their body too. It's not easy, or desirable, but it's done.
When you successfully dissociate from your body, your brain is at a certain wavelength- say from 4Hz to 6, more or less a few. But the state of sleep paralysis is different, because it happens usually after you have been sleeping, your dreaming mechanism is still 'on' (and you're in REM), therefore the arms and legs are paralyzed. It is in this state that hypnopomps are seen, and sometimes the dreaded "Dweller" or "Hag" is seen- this is a state that can also be used as a platform for projection, although it's not ideal. It's not ideal because you are often not lucid and already panicked, and the effort to get a hold of yourself and think of projecting, and come up with a method will usually snap you right out of the dreamstate. So, it is my recommendation that you work to break the paralysis- not by engaging the psychopomp, but by wiggling the big toe of your foot- the act of successfully doing this (much easier than trying to move an arm, for example) will wake you up enough to get up and 'shake it off'. More on the Dweller next.