First of all, one of the main problems here is that this is not for myself. Meaning instant feedback is impossible.
Now.
A person I know recently begun experiencing really high-degree sleep paralysis, without trying anything else than to sleep normally. By high-degree I mean they last several minutes long (on one instance, a bit over 500 seconds counted), and they exhibit full nightmarish hallucinations, including a recurring semi-anthropomorphic ‘demonic’ being (a manifestation of a mixture of the two main phobias of the person n question). The ‘demon’ has appeared first in a normal nightmare, but later begun coming back during sequences of sleep paralysis.
The person in question has average-to-above-average sleeping habits, and has never experienced this before (started roughly a week ago, happens every night, causing loss of sleep later recovered during daytime).
At the same time, this is NOT willed. It came by apparently randomly, and the first wish of the person is to get rid of it. Is that the best choice, or would it be wiser to turn it into lucid dreaming (assuming the objective is to get rid of the sleep paralysis negative impact on everything, and not LD-ing itself)? And if any, what would be the way you recommend, and, most importantly, why?
In short:
If you have unwanted sleep paralysis and are not interested in lucid dreaming, what is the best way to get rid of it? Lucid dreaming? Or just getting rid of it outright? And how to do that?
End Note:
I cannot really help due to unusual lucid dreaming habits (short form: lucid dreaming is the natural way I dream in). I am open to discussing this with people in private/other posts, but this is dedicated to the problem of my acquaintance.
Best way to get rid of SP is to relax. This person needs to realise that the things they experience whilst in SP are not real and cannot hurt them. The more they become fearful or the more they expect something bad to happen the worse it will get. The only way to overcome is to relax. The more you fight it the stronger it gets.
This is good advice, from my experience. For me, the answer was to put forth supreme effort to remain relaxed and impassive in the face of the phenomena associated with SP, which is my personal interpretation of what Tggtt referred to as “learn to be in control”. To kind of embrace it in a very neutral, but observant state of awareness. After awhile, I learned to welcome the phenomena associated with SP as a desirable state…to see it as a kind of transitional state which can lead to amazing WILD-like experiences. Something which is exhilarating instead of fear inducing. Now, when I experience SP, I become inwardly happy, anticipating that something really cool is about to happen…and I stay in it and observe, letting the process unfold.
For me, SP is something like a doorway that leads to some place exciting, but unknown. I’ve chosen to walk through that door for the joy of seeing what’s on the other side.
Just a personal stance that’s worked for me. I’m sure your friend will find out what works for them. Ironically, it may be the best solution even for those who aren’t interested in LD’ing. IDK, though…this is my approach, and I’m definitely interested in LDing
