I can see the benifits of SP, but why?
I would suggest sleeping on a crappy matress, this will help you keep slightly awake, not only that but hurt your back.
You also may want to relax, try clearing your mind of thoughts, but be very tired as well.
Sleeping in a very cold or very warm (to your taste) room helps.
Rock on! I was gonna start a topic on “inducing SP” but I didn’t think anyone would be up for it. As an experienced SP-er, I’ve made a mental check list of the factors that contribute to me waking in SP.
1.) Lay on your back! I seldom ever get SP while on my side, chest, or whatever.
2.) Don’t cross your legs or have any limb overlapping another. I find that if I don’t have any part of me touching something else it makes it easier to detach and relax.
3.) I place my hands just below the navel. This will allow you to breath, but your hands should be still since the stomach/chest is rising, but this area does not. Again, you’ll forget about your body and totally relax.
4.) Do basic beginning-WILD techniques. Calm yourself, focus on breathing, etc. I find that when I go into WILD, I lose touch with my body, and if I try to break out of it I can’t because the SP has kicked in.
5.) Instead of an uncomfortable matress, have a more-lit room, like a nightlight. To get a really good nights rest, the room should be very dark, but obviously you want to be partially awake, at least your brain, so a night light should do it. No need for discomfort.
6.) Think happy thoughts! SP is usually in between dreamland and waking reality which means you can still dream/hallucinate. Unfortunately, this happens to many people, and this is where we get Old-Hag, incubus’s, etc from. Very scary stuff can happy (I think the scariest I read about was a guy saw all these demons and they pulled him from his bed, under the floor and down, down, down…) But it’s all in the mind. Find your happy place!
7.) If you finally find yourself in SP, congrats! Don’t panic! You’ve worked hard to get there! If you’ve never had it before, you probably will though, because it’ll feel like you’re dying, or there is a great deal of pressure on your chest, or an overwhelming sense of being trapped. (See #6! lol) Fighting SP actually prolongs it, in a bad way. But relaxing and enjoying it can prolong it to. I like to look around (your eyes can move, some would argue otherwise). I’ve also tried to “roll out” of bed to start a lucid dream, but it’s always sooooo sloooooow like I’m stuck in molasses. It’s actually pretty cool. Try to move (gently) You might see yourself move, then you’ll blink, and you’ll be lying in SP still. Experiment and have fun.
8.) To break out of it, close your eyes and relax. You might fall back asleep. If not, you might here a growing sound or boom (which is what I hear) then it’ll BANG and you’ll be wide awake and able to move. This takes patience though. If you need to abort it for a terrifying reason, try to twitch just a finger. I used to do this cos I was always afraid. I’ve read that someone touching you can break you out of it to, but no one has ever been around to save me (cos they can’t hear you scream… cos you can’t!)
I can tell when SP is coming on now because I’ll be lying in bed (usually something like WBTB) and drifting off and I’ll get goosebumps in my lats (back muscles). A few minutes after I’ll get this throb, like there was a throb of pressure to my head (cos I can hear a noise with it). This throbbing will eventually grow (with the noise) until it’s very noisy and I’m in SP. 
Good luck! And try not to be TOO scared!
Your real eyes may well move (in dreams, you’re real eyes move along with your dream eyes… which is REM) but what you’ll see will just be HI (your eyelids will, after all, be shut).
Moving your eyes may give you more control over what your seeing - you could decide to look left or right or up or down (or whatever else).
Anyways - those tips look great to me. I’ve never had SP myself, but I’d really like to experince it 
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Haha, I still swear my eyes are open. If there’s anyone who’s a frequent SP, please PM me cos I’m brainstorming ideas on how to test if they really are open or not.
Taken from the old-hag veteran topic, I wrote:
Well, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to find out if our eyes are open unless we conduct some kind of experiment. How about we brainstorm on this topic, and once we’ve worked out the details post it under a new topic where appropriate.
Ideas: get someone to write on a piece of paper a word or phrase in big letters. Get them to hang it above your bed, but make sure you don’t know what it is. Of course, you’ll need some light to be able to read it. Lie on your back for the night(s) and when you finally SP, try to read it. In the morning, check what was actually on it… You could also write something on construction paper, like red paper, and have like, “Green Giant” written on it, so when you wake up you have two variables to identify – what was the color and the word? If your eyes actually do read it though I’d just be afraid of hallucinating about the GG.
Other experiments could be for people who wear glasses. Take them off at night (I hope you do) get someone to post a picture of something above your bed. This way if you accidentally peak at it it’ll just be a blob. It’d be interesting to see if when you SP, your vision is “clear”.
Any other ideas?
thanks for all the hints, keep em’ commin if u got anymore people. 
the first time i tried a WILD, i think i went SP but in not totally sure(lots of pain, then sense of falling). i dont get that anymore when i try WILD, and i think its needed to “step” into a lucid dream. that is why i want to know how to SP.
thanks for the info and keep em comming, if anyone wants to talk about their experiences, go ahead and share 
oh yea, and for those who wanted to see the specifics of my WILD attempt that i am confused about if it was SP, then heres the link https://community.ld4all.com/t/what-happened-to-me/13116
may I add sleep deprivation ? although it’s not healthy to do that all the time, but it gives me SP everytime… at least staying up very late does.
Another bad thing for your health would be caffeine, this really helps SP. Eating a large meal before going to bed also works.
It is better to try something else rather than wreck your health for SP.
That’s what I thought, untill I started to investigate this phenomenon a little closer. It seems that, although REM could at times be mere “dream-eye movements”, most of the eye movements are not related to the dream content and are really just random. Im not sure exactly where I read this but I retrieved 1 article which investigates this stuff, if you’re interested I can provide a link.
Oh yeah, Dark Sider was right. Like 80% of the time when I’ve actively stayed up too late (past 12:00 - 1:00 out with friends, etc) I get SP.
I only browsed the topic, but I had a question.
It was said you could move your eyes during SP…but what about your tongue?
The one time I did get SP (that I was aware of) I was able to move my tongue. Before that, I was getting vibration-like sensations…but I was also able to roll onto my side. Once I rolled onto my back, I went into SP. I could…still move my tongue around (Im pretty sure…it felt like thats what I was doing!) I moved my toe to get out of it.
I also had a strange dream/vision that kinda came true…I didnt know what to think afterwards. Was all that a dream? Or were the vibrations/SP real?
It sure did confuse me…
Seems I strayed a little from my original intent.
I’m a little doubtful you could move your tongue. Have you ever tried screaming while under SP? I sure have!! 
Many times I have screamed and thought I was actually audible, but I wasn’t. My sister verified it once when I was napping in my room and she was just down the hall. It is possible though to move your body to break out of it, mostly a small body part like a finger tip, toe, or even the tongue. Again, the state of SP is not like waking reality. I always thinking I’m actually moving or rolling over, but I’m not, it’s just a dream/hallucination. I think (but who am I to speak…) that moving the tongue may have been the same case.
I’ve PMed pasQuale asking if it’s possible for a “The BIG Sleep Paralysis Experiment” section or something along that line because it’d be really cool if we could all collaborate to share experiences, collaborate on an experiment and figure out what our actual abilities are during SP.
Sleep on pleather, leather. This will make you think your not on anything. It’s like skin. Your SC will think it’s part of you, so it will make you forget your body more. If you have covers, you, while getting to SP will feel the covers, and in turn make your body aware. I too feel my body becomeing numb in WILD technques, so that is a great idea, to WILD.
Also during SP, open your eyes. Yes it's a dream, because I did it, and I really didn't open my eyes, all though I saw my room. The reason why I knew it was a dream is because it was perfectly light. Sometimes though you might accidently open your real eyes. If you want to get out of SP, I found a way. Keep on blinking your eyes, hard. Keep on and soon you will awake, and your eyes will be open.
Ever heard of chinese waterdrop torture? Try that if you want to do a HILD. Sorry off topic...Well, when I realized it was SP I was fully aware, and felt awake. I just…couldnt move my body. It was a few years ago, so the details are still fuzzy. I just remember clearly moving my tongue (and it feeling like it was…more “slimy” than usual).
It was very odd.
Hmmmm, I guess another thing to consider would be has anyone ever woken from SP with their eyes open? That is, you have your eyes open and you can’t move, they’re still open, then suddenly you can and everything is normal. The times I have SP I always always always think I’m awake, but I know it’s not fully awake because I can see myself moving or turning over, so I’m in a different state of mind and “seeing” what my mind thinks. However, if one was able to keep their eyes open during the entire ordeal, and even through the transition to regained mobility, maybe we are fully awake…
PasQuale has given me the thumbs up that if a thread (like this one) concerning sleep paralysis generates enough discussion, he’ll make it “The BIG…” So let’s keep talking and brainstorming on here. I’ll add a post later, but I really really really want to collaborate with people to set up some sort of experiment that anyone can do when they find themselves in SP or plan to be in SP and we can share our findings/discuss them with one another.
First of all, Q is she not he 
And I seem to mostly be sleeping and dreaming when I get SP. I know that if I suddenly wake up and feel that I’m in SP I just have to open my eyes and I’m in a LD 
And I’ve opened my eyes a few times after waking up and still having SP, then I usually see both the real world and things from the dream world.
One way I might get SP is if I don’t move at all after waking up in the morning, and if I manage to keep my mind really awake for a while. Then I might get SP and blackness and after a while I start seeing an image and suddenly I’m in a LD It’s rare for that to happen, I usually just get HI and zoom into it. I’m thinking that I get HI and I’m able to zoom into it when I happen to be in a REM period and if I get SP I’m most likely in non-REM and that’s why have to wait for a while until I get any visuals. I’m not sure about it though, maybe someone else knows something…
My best tip for getting SP is to keep your body completely still for as long as possible and keep your mind awake for as long as possible. But if your mind is too awake you might not fall asleep though, it’s all a matter of getting the balace right And it seems like concentration is very important when trying to LD.
I’m not sure, but I think I have happened upon the verge of SP a few times. I feel a tingling sensation as I am jolted awake from a dream, and a lot of the time just feel a strange fear. I can hear my breathing, like it is surrounding me, and it sounds like I am choking or hyperventalating.
I used to open my eyes and the whole thing would end as soon as it began. The last few times I tried closing my eyes and relaxing, but its kinda like trying to WILD when you get too excited and your heart is pounding and you just wake up.
I never did try to move though, I figured if I was parylized and tried to move I might throw myself into some kind of panic like all those SP horror stories.
I often have my eyes open in SP, and i have proven to myself that i see the real world, because i have left the tv on and actually seen what was on it during the SP state.
Reality and dream(hallucinations) might blend together a bit during this state though. Like i have for example had my eyes open and seen my real room, but with some hallucinations added.
Since I managed to reach SP last night when going to bed I thought I might as well post about it here. Maybe someone will find it helpful 
I’ll write what happened last night and a few tips that I feel are helpful.
I went to sleep and somehow I managed to find a really comfortable position to lie in. (Somewhat rare for me, but very VERY helpful since one has to be able to lie in that position for anywhere from 15 minutes and up.) I tried to relax my body as much as I could for a few minutes, and I do this mostly by trying to make my body feel heavy. After that I start focusing on how my body and my breathing, and I try to imagine my body relaxing each time I breath out. One thing that seems to be really helping is if one is able to focus completely on ones body and breathing, if your mind starts wandering or you start thinking about something else you will most likely fall asleep 
Your mind should be completely blank but focused on what you are doing. I think I did get a few thoughts last night, but as far as I can remember I forgot what they where after a few seconds.
Then I kept on doing that for about 35 minutes, until I felt my body going a bit numb and after that everything happened quite fast. Suddenly I could barely feel my body anymore, I mostly just felt my breathing but since the subconscious is supposed to take over the breathing at this stage I should have shifted my focus onto something else. But the last time I had SP when going to sleep I didn’t manage to keep my focus on my imagination or what I could see (blackness) it just kept going back to my breathing and that eventually woke me up too much because of the excitement.
This time I tried remaining calm since I knew everything was happening exactly as it was supposed to do. And I tried relaxing/letting go of my breathing while focusing on it, but that didn’t work since I started feeling like I was chocking 
So I tried breathing slowly while hoping for something good to happen. I also felt like my body wasn’t really my body but more some undefined mass that what slowly moving around and I also felt a bit lightheaded. But since I couldn’t get over the chocking I moved and lost my SP. I should also mention that if you get an itch, just try to ingore it and it will go away after a while.
I read a post by Dm7 today in one of the HUGE WILD topics she said she just ignored the chocking feeling, so I guess that’s what I have to do too I’m hoping it should be somewhat easy to WILD if when I’m able to get over the hard to breath part Hope I’m able to help someone with this, and if you find some spelling errors in the post, just ignore it 
Spelling errors? ‘Choking’ not ‘chocking.’ Hehe. Kidding, bro. Well congrats. The ‘choking’ part comes because your breathing becomes shallow when you sleep. You might feel like you’re not getting enough of the good O-2, but you are, so yeah, ignore that the next time.
What you did is basically beginning to WILD. Pretty easy huh? If you really wanna get SP, try WBTB too, cos it’s just as effective as WILD-ing stacked with WBTB.
I haven’t attempted either SP or WILD lately cos I’ve been freaked out. I hate the basement. Especially as big and empty (well, it’s full of CRAP really) as it is and I’m in the farthest corner of it with the stairs on the opposite side… I dunno, I just don’t like it. Can’t wait til it gets light out at 6:00 Am and I can open my window, I’ll be WILD-ing all the time.