Hi everyone, My first post here. i hope someone can help. My problem is that for a few weeks now whenever I get real close to achieving a lucid state, I notice my breathing more and more and my heart beat , I get this noise that kinda pulses and gets really loud. Then I cant hear my breath or heart beat any more and I get really scared , I come out of it then but sometimes get stuck not able to move for a while, buts thats not what frightens me. Has anyone else noticed their breath and heart sounds disappear 
Am I thinking of them too much?
thats called Sleep Paralysis, which is:
- Not being able to move (extreme effort required, this is because when you normally sleep your body wont move if you move in the dream)
- Roaring sounds/loud sounds (Hallucinations, nothing to fear)
- Heart beat/breath more emphasized (Your heart beat seems to speed up or pound against your chest a severe amount, nothing to be afraid of.)
- Hypnagogic Imagery (such as seeing something sitting on your chest, a demon, a dark figure in the corner of the room, etc. All hallucinations.)
I have the same problem, whenever I notice my heart beat/breath starting to become extremely loud, I wake up.
I dont get scared, I just get
1: Excited because im close to lucidity
2: Too observant. If you pay any attention to anything during SP (except thinking), you will wake up.
Im assuming you’re using the WILD technique. Its extremely hard for beginners, with a few exceptions. (Ive never gotten an LD, but ive gotten SP twice in a row with WILD on my first two tries. It comes to me easily)
If you are using the WILD technique, try attempting WBTB or MILD.
Also, you might want to try FILD. FILD works very well, but it still causes SP.
WBTB and MILD dont cause SP if you want to try and skip the roaring and vibrations and muscle tensing altogether.
Hi. 
I’ve had that too. I mean the heartbeats and breath. They haven’t stopped though. I think that means you’re even closer to the dream… All these things, as Huckler said, won’t hurt you, so you shouldn’t be afraid. Your heart doesn’t actually stop beating, don’t worry. It’s just your perception fo the beats that changes as you enter the dream, I believe.
I think the trick is to try and ignore these weird feeling and focus on any hypnagogic images you see. Last time I had this I focused on my heart and breath and I woke up… 
Good luck and welcome to ld4all! 
Thanks for the help. I’ve only found this web site the other day so I haven’t properly familiarized my self with all the acronyms , but I get what your saying. Its 2:45 am here so I think Ill go to sleep (or not ) now and try again. Oh hang on. Am I asleep now!!! I cant tell, "pinch " ouch No I’m not , gotta keep checking.!! 
Thanks again.
No problem. Yeah, check out the forum, it’s great, really. You can learn alot here, and have some fun, lol.
Good luck tonight then, sweet dreams! (I love saying that… 
)
right now its 3:31, im doing a WBTB.
Went to bed at 9:30, so this is about a 6 hour sleep.
Going back to bed at 4:15. Gonna listen to some country and look around on ld4all.
Never tried WBTB before, but apparently WBTB + WILD is the best method for LD.
Yeah, when I’m Lucid, I notice my heart racing more then it would in waking life. Sometimes it scares me. But I think that 's just my being afraid.
Hmm yea sounds alot like sleep paralysis. I recently found out while in this state. Youre hypocampus area of the brain is HIGHLY active. The center that controls fear and the fight or flight sense. Which means for reasons very benign you get quite flustered.
I have this sometimes but it doesn’t seem to be linked to my heartbeat or breathing. It just seems to happen here or there. Sometimes I’ll be dreaming then get trapped in darkness and feel as if I’m floating in nothingness shaking and pulling on my hair to wake up but don’t. Luckily not having done any of the latter physically.
I actually started confronting whatever I encountered or fighting it with a pissed off agression. Growling and snarling just trying to be as intimidating as possible to whatever may be paralyzing me 
. It seemed to help they haven’t done it for a while lol
Sorry for the bump! I had this and I can do it every night when i want to. Unfortunately I wake up too, but its because I’m focusing on my heart beat. I also thought something was wrong when I heard my heart and breathing, but now I know its ok! I’m not in sleep paralysis though because I can move when I want to.
I’m really happy that I can do this every night now. That means I’m getting closer!