Imagine: you wake up and can’t even lift a finger. The room is dark, but you feel someone’s ominous presence - someone is standing next to the bed, or maybe sitting right on your chest, preventing you from taking a breath. You want to turn your head at least a little to see him, but nothing works, someone (something?) is holding you back, while eye movement continues, you try to move your limbs, but in vain - you can neither move nor to speak (since it is impossible to open your mouth), you seem to be frozen, there is a feeling that you are suffocating due to the fact that someone is standing on your chest. Horror and panic cover you... The picture may seem incredible, but many people have a similar experience. If you have experienced something similar, then you are familiar first-hand with the unforgettable horrors of sleep paralysis, or “old witch syndrome.” What is sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis is the inability to move. In the vast majority of cases, it occurs either at the moment of falling asleep or immediately after waking up, which is why it is called “sleepy”.
Symptoms
Sleep paralysis is characterized by complete awareness of a person and at the same time an absolute inability to move. Usually this condition is accompanied by a strong feeling of horror and panic, as well as fear of death, suffocation, stiffness of all movements, a feeling of something foreign, heavy on the body (usually on the throat and chest, sometimes on the legs).
Often, sleep paralysis can be accompanied by visual, auditory and even tactile (i.e. physically felt) hallucinations. A person can hear footsteps, see dark figures hanging over him or standing nearby, and feel touches. Often there is a feeling that someone has climbed onto the chest and is strangling the sleeping person.
It has been noted that sleep paralysis can occur only upon natural awakening, and never upon awakening from an alarm clock or other irritants. It is believed that between 40% and 60% of people will experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. The most risky period of life is from 10 to 25 years. It is at this age that most cases are recorded.
Causes of sleep paralysis
“Sleep paralysis” has been known for a long time, and its symptoms were already described centuries ago. Previously, this phenomenon was associated with brownies, demons, witches, etc. 
So, in Russian folk tradition this phenomenon is associated with the brownie, who, according to legend, jumps on a person’s chest in order to warn of either good or evil.
In Islam, this is an ifrit - one of the evil genies, considered a servant of Satan, who can seriously harm people.
In Chuvash mythology, this is the evil spirit Vubar, who appears at night and, taking the form of domestic animals, fire snake or person, falls on sleeping people, causing suffocation and nightmares. According to myths, by attacking sleeping people, wubars thereby improve their health. A sleeping person cannot move or say anything.
In Basque mythology there is also a separate character for this phenomenon - Inguma, appearing in houses at night during sleep and squeezing the throat of someone sleeping, making breathing difficult and thereby causing horror.
In Japanese mythology it is believed that giant demon Kanashibari puts his foot on the chest of a sleeping person.
Nowadays, they often try to explain this phenomenon by visits from aliens from other worlds who paralyze a person’s will for the purpose of abduction.
Explanation by modern scientists
Modern scientists believe that sleep paralysis is an unremarkable biological event that is intended by nature.
The most common explanation by psychoanalysts is muscle paralysis, which is a natural state for our body during the REM sleep phase, when our subconscious mind specifically paralyzes the muscles of the body so that you, while watching an active dream, do not perform any actions in reality and do not harm yourself. Sleep paralysis occurs when the consciousness is already awake, but the body is not yet.
By the way, in one psychoanalytic journal they gave the following explanation:
“Sleep paralysis is caused by the fact that a person has already woken up, and a certain hormone (which is released during sleep and is responsible for paralyzing the muscles) has not yet had time to leave the body.”
However, there is an inconsistency with this version - if it’s all about the hormone, why does sleep paralysis never happen with forced awakening? Does the hormone get scared and instantly self-destruct?
Esoteric explanations
Another point of view is associated with psychic practices of out-of-body experience and astral travel.
It is believed that sleep paralysis is an indicator that a person’s consciousness is on the border between the real and astral worlds. Some even manage to use sleep paralysis to “leave their bodies.” They explain this phenomenon by the fact that a person’s consciousness is not in the physical, but in the astral body, but due to weak energy, or a lack of understanding of the principles of movement in the astral world, the person cannot move. This point of view may partially explain the “hallucinations” during sleep paralysis. According to astral travelers, astral world filled with various entities.
What to do?
However, no matter what real reasons sleep paralysis, if you have such attacks, and you don’t care about medical or esoteric research, pray. This method works, especially if the person’s faith is strong.
People about their encounter with the "sleep paralysis demon"
1. “Something whispered in my ear.”
I had never encountered such a phenomenon before, and the first time it happened, I was lying on my left side and suddenly felt strong pressure in the chest area. When I realized that I couldn't move, I panicked. At that moment something whispered in my ear: "Just came to say goodnight to you". Then I felt something pull me towards the edge of the bed. It's terrible, it's really scary.
2. Cats, penguins and the shadow man, oh my!
I have experienced sleep paralysis three times in my entire life.
At dusk, I saw a dark creature that looked like a cat, which first sat at my feet, and then began to slowly crawl along the sheet until it ended up on my chest. I was overcome with fear.
The second time I saw the shadow of a man walk across the room, slip out into open door and disappeared. This is the most terrible thing I have ever experienced in my life.
A last time was the best. I saw a couple of fancy penguins walking around my bedroom. A funny and cheerful show.
3. I felt my whole body turn to stone, then the bed squashed, as if someone had sat down at my feet
A few years ago, my relative died, I still had very little communication with her before her death, and on the night when she was 40 days old (I was alone at the dacha and lived in an outbuilding), I was afraid to sleep, so I read a book until 3 am, and then she lay down with the light on, turning her face to the wall... I was lying there, and suddenly I heard footsteps, and something confused me about them, and I realized that they were heard right next to the bed, although it was about 6 meters from the entrance to the annex to the bed... I I felt my whole body turn to stone, then the bed creased, as if someone had sat down at my feet, and then a heaviness began to spread throughout my body, as if someone was lying down along me and trying to look into my face. I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t scream, I tried to cross my fingers…. My heart was pounding like crazy... Then suddenly the heaviness subsided, the bed returned to its previous position, again footsteps near the bed, silence. I jumped up and ran out in what I was wearing, ran to the next house, woke up everyone there and sat until the morning... I then immediately left for Moscow, because I couldn’t stand another night like that... Then I thought about everything, read about similar cases - supposedly it was sleep paralysis, and the brain simply recreated it all... Although who knows... Now a lot of time has passed, but these memories still give me goosebumps...
4. “During sleep paralysis, I see demons and a guardian angel.”
When I fall into a state of sleep paralysis, demons and a guardian angel appear to me. The first are usually ghostly figures standing above me or at my bedroom door. Once I was lying on my side with my back to the door, when I suddenly felt that someone lay down next to me on the bed, climbed under the blanket and put his hand on my waist. Then I felt a strong hug and hot breath on my neck. This went on for about half an hour. All this time I tried not to show my fear, which is very difficult, especially if it seems that a skeleton with claws is hugging you from behind. The last time something like this happened again, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Someone came very close to me, kissed me behind my ear and whispered: “No, it’s not time yet. I'll be back when you're ready.". It didn't sound very comforting, as if I was going to die soon. I was very scared.
I had been experiencing sleep paralysis off and on for 18 months, so I could easily tell when it was happening. That time, at first I thought that there was an ordinary demon standing near my bed who had come to me before, but I was wrong. I looked and clearly saw a man kneeling next to my bed. There was a smile on his face, but not one that makes you shiver. He was wearing a 50's style suit and hat. He didn't say a single word. I felt as if he had come to tell me that everything was fine and that he was protecting me.
5. It was the best moment of her life
My mother once told me that when she was little, either in a dream or in reality, two men in white and gold suits appeared to her, who sat on the bed at her feet and played musical instruments. It was so easy and fun for mom that she didn’t want them to leave. But when she moved her head, she heard one man say to the other: “She's waking up. It is time". And they disappeared.
6. Lots of terrible things.
Before I learned how to deal with it, I experienced a lot of really terrible things. Horror films are now nothing to me compared to what I had to face. Here are a few things I can never forget:
A little girl stood in the corner of my room and did not take her eyes off me. Then she suddenly screamed shrilly, ran up to me and began to choke me.
A large dark figure, resembling a human silhouette, stood silently next to my bed, looking down at me.
Something rumbled and scraped right outside my bedroom door. I always lock it at night after it starts opening on its own. Note: No, the door is closed when I wake up. It opens only in a dream.
My bedroom door swung wide open and dark figures entered the room.
The last time I saw my mother enter the room, sit on my bed and immediately turn into a demon.
And many others.
The worst thing is that when you try to fight it or call someone for help, your voice disappears and your body stops listening. You just feel helpless. Phew, I don’t even want to remember. It's getting scary.
7. Hundreds of times.
I have experienced sleep paralysis literally hundreds of times. Usually an alien-like creature would come to me, black in color and about 1 meter high. I also saw a skeleton with a scythe in a black robe. I don't have auditory hallucinations, I just feel paralyzed, and to get rid of such visions, I just close my eyes tightly - and everything disappears.
8. “Even if I don’t see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room.”
This happens to me so often that I'm not even scared anymore. It's creepy, of course, but not as bad as before. The first few hallucinations were terrifying:
The little creature was eating something greedily, sitting on the floor of my room. I blinked. Now it was right next to my face and, continuing to chew, whispered: "Do you remember me?".
An elderly woman stood over my head and quietly whispered: "Cute…". I told my mom about this and she asked: “Did you think it was your dead grandmother?” No. It was evil.
Hallucinations are always evil. Even if I don’t see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room. This is evil, nothing less. I can not move. Evil is attacking me. I can't call for help. I can only breathe heavily and loudly in the hope that someone will hear me and save me. I'm trying to move my fingers. Come on!..
9. “...and this face that grew old before my eyes.”
This was the first and only time I saw a dream turn into reality. I had a good dream and suddenly... In my dream I realized that I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and saw a woman’s face above me, which from young and attractive instantly turned into old, wrinkled and blackened, like everything around. I couldn't move and felt pressure on my chest and this face that was aging before my eyes.
10. They laughed at me.
The last time the demon appeared to me, he stood in the corner of the room (behind me, where I could not see him) and spoke some nonsense.
Sometimes demons walked towards me, like Jacob's ladder, and sometimes people I know, but they were possessed and often laughed at me.
11. Someone saved me.
One night, when I was trying to sleep, my hand fell through the bed. But, in fact, she was lying on the bed. When this usually happens, I just put it away, but this time my curiosity got the better of me. How long will it last? And I started swinging my arm until my shoulder slipped behind it. It was new and exciting.
Big mistake. My leg slipped, followed by my whole body. I started to fall. At the very last moment before this, I realized that what I was striving for was not a thing at all, but a fear that I had never experienced before. I tried to go back, but I couldn't. My body didn't listen to me.
At the last second, something grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me outside. I don't know what it was. But definitely something strong and durable.
12. Steps.
I heard the back door open. At this time I was lying on the sofa and could not even move. I just heard someone’s steps in the kitchen, then in the dining room, they were slowly approaching the living room where I was. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream. I managed to come to my senses at the very last moment before I suffocated (apnea attack).
I know that someday I will die from this. Not at the hands of a real criminal, but by suffocation during another nightmare. Sleep apnea is driving me crazy.
13. Little black child...
This happens to me when I'm too tired and lie down to take a nap. It all depends on what I am dreaming - I “wake up”, unable to even move and with a feeling of heaviness in my body. I feel almost good and at the same time eerie, because I cannot control what is happening. Whatever I dream about, it always happens in my room. Once I dreamed of a small black child (the sight of him made me shiver). Most often they appear to me in my dreams different people or "demons" as you call them. I scream and fall asleep again, then it happens again after a couple of seconds, and so on several times. As a result, I finally wake up, overwhelmed with panic.
14. Beetles.
I woke up and saw in front of me a giant Egyptian scarab, which looked at me and said: “I can’t wait to taste your rotten flesh.” Then, after long speeches describing the details of my eating, he turned into hundreds or even thousands of small scarabs, which disappeared into the cracks of the walls with a terrible noise.
15. Devil-like creature
The most terrible thing that appeared to me was a devil-like creature with red skin, black clothes and huge teeth. He sat on my chest and suffocated me. I was overcome by fear. I could neither move nor scream. In the morning, my husband said that at night someone also tried to strangle him.
The analytical portal “Orthodox View” asked Orthodox experts to characterize the phenomenon called “sleep paralysis”:
MIKHAIL KHASMINSKY, Orthodox psychologist
Many people face this problem quite often. This disease is described in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), but modern science still cannot unambiguously, clearly and clearly explain the processes that occur with people in this state of consciousness; it gives a descriptive, speculative nature of these states, so there is still no explanation of the causes of this disease.
Sleep paralysis is a direct contact with the other world, because a person in this state passes into another reality, where real events happen to him that frighten him. And during this nightmare, a person cannot move, but being in another reality, he is helpless. This state is probably similar to the state of hell, when a person is tormented by fear and horror, but he cannot do anything.
In my practice, there were quite interesting cases related to sleep paralysis. One can try to explain this phenomenon by the alpha state of the brain, when interaction occurs between sleep and reality and penetration between realities can occur. This state of transition to another reality is very dangerous. You can compare it to going outside - you can bad person meet, and good things, but if a person does not know how to understand people, then, most likely, he will find himself in a bad situation. In order not to get into a bad story, you need to understand and distinguish between spirits.
But, we, modern people, for the most part are in a state of sin, we communicate with unclean spirits in our reality, we do not live a spiritual life as we should, and we do not have the gift of discerning spirits. That is why we need to pay less attention to dreams (which most often come from demons), and also strive less for meditation and other dangerous practices associated with an altered state of consciousness.
But if we talk about sleep paralysis, then no one specially arranges it; it turns out that the door opens by itself, the person sleeps, but at the same time comes into contact with unclean entities. One of my patients found herself in a similar state many times, many times she experienced horror, waking up in another reality, saw very vivid images of evil spirits, and the only thing that helped her get out of this was the prayer to the Life-Giving Cross and the “Our Father.” Sleep paralysis occurs in those who are spiritually weak and in order to avoid falling into such states, one must lead a spiritual life. From my point of view, this is an important factor.
HIEROMONK MAKARIUS (MARKISH), clergyman of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk diocese, church publicist and missionary
This actually happens quite often. The difference between believers and non-believers is manifested not in the phenomenon itself, but in its assessment - it deprives the non-believer of peace and quiet in the soul, torments it with a mystery, torments it with a secret, and for the believer it is also unpleasant, but we look at such things calmly, indifferently and , in general, without interest. A fairly accurate analogy can be given: if a child is not raised correctly, then suddenly seeing a pornographic scene will have a strong and vivid impression on him, and he will be intrigued, interested, excited. It's normal, it's reasonable well-mannered child protected from such influence, because he knows for sure that this is dirt, evil, abomination, and will turn away without unnecessary emotions. When we're talking about about the mysterious phenomena of the invisible, immaterial world, then we are all to a certain extent like children, but proper education (religious, in this case) brings us enormous benefit and protects us from demonic attack.
We must clearly realize that here we stand on the border of the visible and invisible worlds, and if in the first psychological and physiological research, experiments, and natural scientific methods of cognition are possible (and useful), then in the second (the border with which is blurred and uncertain) , there is nothing like this and cannot be. This is a different world, not subject to either positive experience or formal knowledge.
DMITRY TSORIONOV (ENTEO), founder of the "God's Will" movement
Sleep paralysis is a ubiquitous phenomenon in post-Christian society, direct contact between man and dark side spiritual world. IN modern Russia entire generations who grew up without God were thrown to the mercy of demons. Majority modern people They regularly encounter attacks from fallen spirits; for hundreds of thousands of people, daily sleep is a familiar dose of total horror, to which a person gets used to over time. As soon as demons do not mock people, they show all sorts of horrors. People describe in detail how they see dozens of demons mocking them, chained with horror. For some people, every night is a fight for survival. And only when a person begins to try, despite the paralysis, with a huge effort of will - to pronounce the words of the Orthodox prayer, the demons retreat. I know many cases when, during sleep paralysis, people began to say well-known Orthodox prayers, although they had not even heard them before.
I remembered one interesting incident about this topic. I corresponded with one of the followers of neo-Hinduism guru OSHO Rajneesh, telling him that behind Eastern mysticism lies the reality of fallen angels. In response to his ridicule of what had been said, I wrote to him that he would not laugh if these spirits came to him at night. The next day he writes me a long letter, describing sleep paralysis, the appearance of a demon, writes how his soul suffered from the approach of evil, how he felt the cross being removed on himself and was saved by a luminous man, whom he later recognized when he saw the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. God allows us to come into close contact with the world of fallen angels, for the sake of our understanding, but unfortunately, not everyone, even after this, is ready to change their lives.
I was deeply struck by the post about sleep paralysis in the most popular public page among young people on VKontakte “MDK”. This community largely determines the worldview modern teenager, full of cynicism, fornication, blasphemy and perversion. The post received more than 30,000 likes and 4,000 comments from teenagers describing their experience of sleep paralysis. You can’t imagine what horrors these unfortunate, mutilated modern world and the children there described their godless upbringing. Many said that they experience this every day, many said that they have already gotten used to it.
I specifically found this message to give a few comments, which are essentially a snapshot of the spiritual state of our youth:
- “It happens to me a couple of times a month for sure. The feelings were different. One time the bed shook as if there was an earthquake. There were some leftist dialogues with deceased relatives. A bunch of hallucinations like someone touching me. In general, a lot of weird stuff. If something happens at night and I wake up or already feel that it’s going to start tonight, I just turn on the TV, set it to turn off automatically and it seems to help”;
- “Usually it comes from four o’clock in the evening to 7-8, you understand that this is a dream, but you can’t do anything, you feel like you’re being strangled, all sorts of monsters are walking around or the appearance of your family, at that moment you dream that someone will wake you up , I start moving the little finger on my hand, etc. I barely wake up and don’t go to bed again”;
- “The feeling as if huge black spiders are crawling around, devils are sitting on you, the fire is crackling deafeningly, someone is talking loudly all around, huge monsters larger than consciousness itself and paralyzing animal fear from the depths of the universe. and so on every damn night. I hate it";
- “This crap happens all the time, but I can’t even open my eyes. But you can clearly hear the handle in the room turning and someone’s steps approaching, very similar to the sound of hooves…”;
- “It was, I sleep, everything is so normal, only I slept with my eyes open, I don’t know how it happened. After which I turned on the other side, looked blankly into the distance of the room and that’s all. Then there was a sharp ringing in my ears and it was as if thousands of slow, rough voices were shouting in my ear. Then terrible faces appeared before my eyes, they looked blankly into my eyes and screamed. It’s strange, but I couldn’t move, it was such a strange feeling...”;
- “It happened. You lie like this, and it seems like it’s a dream, there are ghosts and all sorts of demons nearby. You begin to moo in fear, move your fingers and eyes back and forth. Then the state disappears, and you lie there and don’t understand what happened right now O".
Can you imagine what it’s like to live with this? These are ordinary children who go to school, listen to their favorite performers, discuss TV series characters, and mobile phone models. These are children who were raised by Pelevin’s generation, a generation that forgot Christ. Children for whom fornication, occultism, godlessness and blasphemy have become the norm. For these seemingly prosperous children, hell begins already in this life. I think we all need to think seriously about this.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK
1. PARALYSIS- (Louise Hay)
Causes of the disease
Fear. Horror. Avoidance of a situation or person. Resistance.
I am an inseparable part of life. I behave appropriately in all situations.
2. PARALYSIS- (V. Zhikarentsev)
Causes of the disease
Fear, horror. Escape from a situation or person. Resistance.
A Possible Solution to Promote Healing
I am one (one) with everything that is in my life. I'm not in any danger. In all life situations I act appropriately.
3. PARALYSIS- (Liz Burbo)
Physical blocking
Paralysis is the complete loss of the ability to move and feel, either in the entire body or in some part of it.
Emotional blockage
Paralysis affects a person who is going through a very difficult situation and wants to escape - that is, to escape either from the problem or from the person with whom it is associated. This difficult situation paralyzes. Paralysis is a great way to find yourself the subject of someone's attention and care. In addition, a person who has been paralyzed will no longer be left alone in a difficult situation. In order to find out exactly in which area of life you should look for the cause of paralysis, you need to analyze the purpose of the paralyzed part of the body.
Mental block
If you suffer from paralysis, it’s time for you to understand that only you can limit yourself in something. Only you yourself can convince yourself that you have neither the strength nor the ability to cope with what is happening in your life. Your body tells you that you can run away from the problem, but it won't make it go away. One fine day, maybe even in another life, she will appear before you again, if so destined by fate.
Know that as soon as a problem appears, a solution appears. Try not to focus so much on the problem itself, and you will easily find this solution. You have to believe in yours Creative skills, then they're in right moment will appear and help you solve problems and gain the life experience you need.
4. SHOCK, PARALYSIS- (V. Zhikarentsev)
Causes of the disease
Refusal, concession. Resistance. It's better to die than to change. Denial of life.
A Possible Solution to Promote Healing
Life is about change. I easily adapt to new things. I accept life: past, present and future.
5. CEREBRAL PARALYSIS- (Louise Hay)
The desire to unite the family with love.
A Possible Solution to Promote Healing
I do everything to create a friendly, loving family. Everything is fine.
6. CEREBRAL PARALYSIS- (V. Zhikarentsev)
What does this organ represent? psychological sense
The need to unite the family in an act of love.
A Possible Solution to Promote Healing
Love love love. In our hearts there is unconditional love for everything that surrounds us.
Paralysis is not an independent disease, but a symptom that occurs in various diseases nervous system. He can be
central, when the muscles have excessive tone, and peripheral, when there is a sharp decrease in the tone of the affected muscles.
Causes of paralysis:
- Mental causes of muscle innervation disorders
- Cerebrovascular accident
- Tumors of the brain and spinal cord
- Serious brain injuries
- Some infections (tick-borne encephalitis)
- Multiple sclerosis, encephalomyelitis
- Severe poisoning, etc.
Curing paralysis depends on many factors: on its type, degree, qualifications of specialists. It is also important to considermetaphysical factors of an immobilized state.No medicine will help if the person himself does not make an effort to get well.
It is difficult to name a condition more severe for a person. His limbs don't move, he can't live without outside help even eat and go to the toilet. A person becomes completely dependent on others. For many, this condition is like death.
There are different types of paralysis, and the psychological reasons that cause them will also be different.
For example, Bell's palsy is caused by inflammation of the facial nerve.
Considering Bell's palsy, psychosomaticstakes into account, first of all, that it affects appearance. The person’s face is distorted, he cannot close his eyes completely, and he has an asymmetrical smile.
Psychological characteristics of paralyzed people
Paralysis negatively affects the human psyche. Bedridden people sometimes become unbearable. Sometimes they are capricious and require constant attention, sometimes they don’t want to see anyone.
There is also feedback. Paralysis overtakes people who have certain character traits:
- The desire to escape from problems
- Sacrifice
- Helplessness
- Fears
- Desire to shift responsibility onto others
- Aversion to change
- Reluctance to change
Therefore, the psychosomatics of paralysis suggests that you can get rid of this scourge only by completely changing your thinking and behavior.
Louise Hay believes that a person prone to paralysis resists some situation or person. But he cannot confront openly, resolve issues, he avoids contact.
Liz Burbo also says that this symptom affects people who are in a difficult situation and want to escape from it, but do not know how. They are literally paralyzed by the problem.
Metaphysical factors of the immobilized stateare also associated with secondary benefits. A person in a paralyzed state can rest, lie down, not solve problems, they take care of him, give him attention and love.
There is also such an unusual condition as This is a sleep disorder, which can occur after severe fatigue, stress, or jet lag. A person cannot move at night, cannot make a sound, and experiences fear.
This condition is not life-threatening. However, it is very unpleasant.
Sleep paralysis psychosomaticsexplains that a person just needs to rest. Particularly suggestible people may experience hallucinations during sleep stupor, which is why it is also called the old witch syndrome. Usually, after restoring sleep and rest, the condition goes away on its own.
How to get movement back?
Let's return to those types of paralysis that are a symptom of serious diseases and rarely go away without appropriate treatment. To completely get rid of paralysis, you need to help your body from all sides.
- Medical treatment
It is prescribed by a doctor. It may include medications, massages, and physiotherapy. - Physical exercise
There are known facts when people fully recovered by working hard. For example, the famous psychotherapist Milton Erickson was paralyzed at the age of 18 after suffering from polio. One day he was sitting in a rocking chair and wanted to look out the window. Suddenly the chair began to rock. The young man realized that he could cause movements by focusing on what he wanted. He trained for a long time and a year later he was already walking on crutches to the university. - Mental changes
Of course, Erickson would not have achieved anything if he had not passionately wanted to get well. Therefore, it is very important to work outmental causes of muscle innervation disorders.Paralysis can only be overcome if you are willing to change.
It's time to stop avoiding problems and people. You need to convince yourself that you have the strength and ability to cope with any situation. And attention and care can be received in other ways, not just while lying in bed.
With Bell's palsy, psychosomatics recommends paying attention to what feelings you are trying to hide behind a mask. A distorted facial expression reveals that, in fact, you have a lot of pain and anger inside and it’s time to get rid of them. - Folk recipes
- Pass 10 green walnuts with a diameter of about 1 cm through a meat grinder. Pour in 3 cups of purified kerosene. Leave for 40 days: the first two weeks in a dark place, then in the light. Strain. Drink a teaspoon 3 times a day for 2 weeks.
- Grind the peas to a powder. Take half a teaspoon 3-5 times a day before meals with warm water.
- Grind red fly agaric with sour cream in a 1:1 ratio, apply to sore spots and cover with a cloth.
Let's take a closer look at point No. 3 - mental changes. This is a very serious path from a person who is a victim of circumstances to a conscious creator of his own life.
A journey that can take years of individual therapy. But there is also a “high-speed elevator”, a method that will allow you to change much faster. This "Spiritual Integration"- technology of Russian psychologist and trainer Konstantin Dovlatov.
With its help, conditions of any complexity can be overcome, be it a stroke, tumors orsleep paralysis Psychosomatics- it is always a search for the cause of the disease within oneself.
“Spiritual Integration” allows you to find in your present and past the reasons that provoked any illness and transform them. A person receives resources and a new state in which he is able to cope with problems. All this happens quite quickly. You can learn the method at a live training or online.
So, psychosomatics of paralysisgives us the impetus to change. It is important to learn to accept everything that comes into your life and learn from it.
Imagine: you wake up and can’t even lift a finger. The room is dark, but you feel someone’s ominous presence - someone is standing next to the bed, or maybe sitting right on your chest, preventing you from taking a breath. You want to turn your head at least a little to see him, but nothing works, someone (something?) is holding you back, while eye movement continues, you try to move your limbs, but in vain - you can neither move nor to speak (since it is impossible to open your mouth), you seem to be frozen, there is a feeling that you are suffocating due to the fact that someone is standing on your chest. Horror and panic cover you... The picture may seem incredible, but many people have a similar experience. If you have experienced something similar, then you are familiar first-hand with the unforgettable horrors of sleep paralysis, or “old witch syndrome.” What is sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis is the inability to move. In the vast majority of cases, it occurs either at the moment of falling asleep or immediately after waking up, which is why it is called “sleepy”.
Symptoms Sleep paralysis is characterized by complete awareness of a person and at the same time an absolute inability to move. Usually this condition is accompanied by a strong feeling of horror and panic, as well as fear of death, suffocation, stiffness of all movements, a feeling of something foreign, heavy on the body (usually on the throat and chest, sometimes on the legs).
Often, sleep paralysis can be accompanied by visual, auditory and even tactile (i.e. physically felt) hallucinations. A person can hear footsteps, see dark figures hanging over him or standing nearby, and feel touches. Often there is a feeling that someone has climbed onto the chest and is strangling the sleeping person.
It has been noted that sleep paralysis can occur only upon natural awakening, and never upon awakening from an alarm clock or other irritants. It is believed that between 40% and 60% of people will experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. The most risky period of life is from 10 to 25 years. It is at this age that most cases are recorded.
Causes of sleep paralysis
“Sleep paralysis” has been known for a long time, and its symptoms were already described centuries ago. Previously, this phenomenon was associated with brownies, demons, witches, etc.
Thus, in Russian folk tradition this phenomenon is associated with brownie, which, according to legend, jumps on a person’s chest in order to warn of either good or bad.
In Islam it is ifrit- one of the evil genies, considered a servant of Satan, who can seriously harm people.
In Chuvash mythology it is evil spirit Wubar , which appears at night and, taking the form of domestic animals, a fiery serpent or a person, falls on sleeping people, causing suffocation and nightmares. According to myths, by attacking sleeping people, wubars thereby improve their health. A sleeping person cannot move or say anything.
In Basque mythology there is also a separate character for this phenomenon - Inguma, appearing in houses at night during sleep and squeezing the throat of someone sleeping, making breathing difficult and thereby causing horror.
In Japanese mythology it is believed that giant demon Kanashibari puts his foot on the chest of a sleeping person.
Nowadays, they often try to explain this phenomenon by visits from aliens from other worlds who paralyze a person’s will for the purpose of abduction.
Explanation by modern scientists
Modern scientists believe that sleep paralysis is an unremarkable biological event that is intended by nature.
The most common explanation of psychoanalysts is muscle paralysis , which is a natural state for our body during the REM sleep phase, when our subconscious mind specifically paralyzes the muscles of the body so that you, while watching active sleep, do not perform any actions in reality and do not harm yourself. Sleep paralysis occurs when the consciousness is already awake, but the body is not yet.
By the way, in one psychoanalytic journal they gave the following explanation: “Sleep paralysis is caused by the fact that a person has already woken up, and a certain hormone (which is released during sleep and is responsible for paralyzing the muscles) has not yet had time to leave the body.” However, there is an inconsistency with this version - if it’s all about the hormone, why does sleep paralysis never happen with forced awakening? Does the hormone get scared and instantly self-destruct?
Esoteric explanations
Another point of view is related to psychic practices out-of-body experience And astral travel . It is believed that sleep paralysis is an indicator that a person’s consciousness is on the border between the real and astral worlds. Some even manage to use sleep paralysis to “leave their bodies.” They explain this phenomenon by the fact that a person’s consciousness is not in the physical, but in the astral body, but due to weak energy, or a lack of understanding of the principles of movement in the astral world, the person cannot move. This point of view may partially explain the “hallucinations” during sleep paralysis. According to astral travelers, the astral world is filled with various entities.
What to do?
However, whatever the real causes of sleep paralysis, if you experience such attacks, and you do not care about medical or esoteric research, pray. This method works, especially if the person’s faith is strong.
People about their encounter with the "sleep paralysis demon"
1. “Something whispered in my ear.”
I had never encountered such a phenomenon before, and the first time it happened, I was lying on my left side and suddenly felt strong pressure in the chest area. When I realized that I couldn't move, I panicked. At that moment something whispered in my ear: "Just came to say goodnight to you". Then I felt something pull me towards the edge of the bed. It's terrible, it's really scary.
2. Cats, penguins and the shadow man, oh my!
I have experienced sleep paralysis three times in my entire life.
At dusk, I saw a dark creature that looked like a cat, which first sat at my feet, and then began to slowly crawl along the sheet until it ended up on my chest. I was overcome with fear.
The second time I saw the shadow of a man walk across the room, slip out through the open door and disappear. This is the most terrible thing I have ever experienced in my life.
And the last time was the best. I saw a couple of fancy penguins walking around my bedroom. A funny and cheerful show.
3. I felt my whole body turn to stone, then the bed squashed, as if someone had sat down at my feet
A few years ago, my relative died, I still had very little communication with her before her death, and on the night when she was 40 days old (I was alone at the dacha and lived in an outbuilding), I was afraid to sleep, so I read a book until 3 am, and then she lay down with the light on, turning her face to the wall... I was lying there, and suddenly I heard footsteps, and something confused me about them, and I realized that they were heard right next to the bed, although it was about 6 meters to walk from the entrance to the annex to the bed... I felt my whole body turn to stone, then the bed creased, as if someone had sat down at my feet, and then a heaviness began to spread throughout my body, as if someone was lying down along me and trying to look into my face. I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t scream, I tried to cross my fingers... My heart was pounding like crazy... Then suddenly the heaviness subsided, the bed returned to its previous position, again there were steps near the bed, silence. I jumped up and ran out in what I was wearing, ran to the next house, woke up everyone there and sat until the morning... I then immediately left for Moscow, because I couldn’t stand another night like that... Then I thought about everything, read about similar cases - presumably it was sleep paralysis, and the brain simply recreated it all... Although who knows... Now a lot of time has passed, but these memories still give me goosebumps...
4. “During sleep paralysis, I see demons and a guardian angel.”
When I fall into a state of sleep paralysis, demons and a guardian angel appear to me. The first are usually ghostly figures standing above me or at my bedroom door. Once I was lying on my side with my back to the door, when I suddenly felt that someone lay down next to me on the bed, climbed under the blanket and put his hand on my waist. Then I felt a strong hug and hot breath on my neck. This went on for about half an hour. All this time I tried not to show my fear, which is very difficult, especially if it seems that a skeleton with claws is hugging you from behind. The last time something like this happened again, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Someone came very close to me, kissed me behind my ear and whispered: “No, it’s not time yet. I'll be back when you're ready.". It didn't sound very comforting, as if I was going to die soon. I was very scared.
I had been experiencing sleep paralysis off and on for 18 months, so I could easily tell when it was happening. That time, at first I thought that there was an ordinary demon standing near my bed who had come to me before, but I was wrong. I looked and clearly saw a man kneeling next to my bed. There was a smile on his face, but not one that makes you shiver. He was wearing a 50's style suit and hat. He didn't say a single word. I felt as if he had come to tell me that everything was fine and that he was protecting me.
5. It was the best moment of her life
My mother once told me that when she was little, either in a dream or in reality, two men in white and gold suits appeared to her, who sat on the bed at her feet and played musical instruments. It was so easy and fun for mom that she didn’t want them to leave. But when she moved her head, she heard one man say to the other: “She's waking up. It is time". And they disappeared.
6. Lots of terrible things.
Before I learned how to deal with it, I experienced a lot of really terrible things. Horror films are now nothing to me compared to what I had to face. Here are a few things I can never forget:
A little girl stood in the corner of my room and did not take her eyes off me. Then she suddenly screamed shrilly, ran up to me and began to choke me.
A large dark figure, resembling a human silhouette, stood silently next to my bed, looking down at me.
Something rumbled and scraped right outside my bedroom door. I always lock it at night after it starts opening on its own. Note: No, the door is closed when I wake up. It opens only in a dream.
My bedroom door swung wide open and dark figures entered the room.
The last time I saw my mother enter the room, sit on my bed and immediately turn into a demon.
And many others.
The worst thing is that when you try to fight it or call someone for help, your voice disappears and your body stops listening. You just feel helpless. Phew, I don’t even want to remember. It's getting scary.
7. Hundreds of times.
I have experienced sleep paralysis literally hundreds of times. Usually an alien-like creature would come to me, black in color and about 1 meter high. I also saw a skeleton with a scythe in a black robe. I don't have auditory hallucinations, I just feel paralyzed, and to get rid of such visions, I just close my eyes tightly - and everything disappears.
8. “Even if I don’t see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room.”
This happens to me so often that I'm not even scared anymore. It's creepy, of course, but not as bad as before. The first few hallucinations were terrifying:
The little creature was eating something greedily, sitting on the floor of my room. I blinked. Now it was right next to my face and, continuing to chew, whispered: "Do you remember me?".
An elderly woman stood over my head and quietly whispered: "Cute…". I told my mom about this and she asked: “Did you think it was your dead grandmother?” No. It was evil.
Hallucinations are always evil. Even if I don’t see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room. This is evil, nothing less. I can not move. Evil is attacking me. I can't call for help. I can only breathe heavily and loudly in the hope that someone will hear me and save me. I'm trying to move my fingers. Come on!..
9. “...and this face that grew old before my eyes.”
This was the first and only time I saw a dream turn into reality. I had a good dream and suddenly... In my dream I realized that I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and saw a woman’s face above me, which from young and attractive instantly turned into old, wrinkled and blackened, like everything around. I couldn't move and felt pressure on my chest and this face that was aging before my eyes.
10. They laughed at me.
The last time the demon appeared to me, he stood in the corner of the room (behind me, where I could not see him) and spoke some nonsense.
Sometimes demons walked towards me, like Jacob's ladder, and sometimes people I know, but they were possessed and often laughed at me.
11. Someone saved me.
One night, when I was trying to sleep, my hand fell through the bed. But, in fact, she was lying on the bed. When this usually happens, I just put it away, but this time my curiosity got the better of me. How long will it last? And I started swinging my arm until my shoulder slipped behind it. It was new and exciting.
However, I felt that there was something further down there. I wasn't afraid, my curiosity was out of control. I lost my caution and tried to reach out to what I thought was there, in the depths of the void.
Big mistake. My leg slipped, followed by my whole body. I started to fall. At the very last moment before this, I realized that what I was striving for was not a thing at all, but a fear that I had never experienced before. I tried to go back, but I couldn't. My body didn't listen to me.
At the last second, something grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me outside. I don't know what it was. But definitely something strong and durable.
12. Steps.
I heard the back door open. At this time I was lying on the sofa and could not even move. I just heard someone’s steps in the kitchen, then in the dining room, they were slowly approaching the living room where I was. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream. I managed to come to my senses at the very last moment before I suffocated (apnea attack).
I know that someday I will die from this. Not at the hands of a real criminal, but by suffocation during another nightmare. Sleep apnea is driving me crazy.
13. Little black child...
This happens to me when I'm too tired and lie down to take a nap. It all depends on what I am dreaming - I “wake up”, unable to even move and with a feeling of heaviness in my body. I feel almost good and at the same time eerie, because I cannot control what is happening. Whatever I dream about, it always happens in my room. Once I dreamed of a small black child (the sight of him made me shiver). Most often, various people or “demons”, as you call them, appear to me in my dreams. I scream and fall asleep again, then it happens again after a couple of seconds, and so on several times. As a result, I finally wake up, overwhelmed with panic.
14. Beetles.
I woke up and saw in front of me a giant Egyptian scarab, which looked at me and said: “I can’t wait to taste your rotten flesh.” Then, after long speeches describing the details of my eating, he turned into hundreds or even thousands of small scarabs, which disappeared into the cracks of the walls with a terrible noise.
15. Devil-like creature
The most terrible thing that appeared to me was a devil-like creature with red skin, black clothes and huge teeth. He sat on my chest and suffocated me. I was overcome by fear. I could neither move nor scream. In the morning, my husband said that at night someone also tried to strangle him.
The analytical portal “Orthodox View” asked Orthodox experts to characterize the phenomenon called “sleep paralysis”:
MIKHAIL KHASMINSKY, Orthodox psychologist
Many people face this problem quite often. This disease is described in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), but modern science still cannot unambiguously, clearly and clearly explain the processes that occur with people in this state of consciousness; it gives a descriptive, speculative nature of these states, so until now there is no explanation for the causes of this disease.
Sleep paralysis is a direct contact with the other world, because a person in this state passes into another reality, where real events happen to him that frighten him. And during this nightmare, a person cannot move, but being in another reality, he is helpless. This state is probably similar to the state of hell, when a person is tormented by fear and horror, but he cannot do anything.
In my practice, there were quite interesting cases related to sleep paralysis. One can try to explain this phenomenon by the alpha state of the brain, when interaction occurs between sleep and reality and penetration between realities can occur. This state of transition to another reality is very dangerous. You can compare it to going out into the street - you can meet both a bad person and a good one, but if a person does not know how to understand people, then, most likely, he will find himself in a bad situation. In order not to get into a bad story, you need to understand and distinguish between spirits.
But, we, modern people, for the most part are in a state of sin, we communicate with unclean spirits in our reality, we do not live a spiritual life as we should, and we do not have the gift of discerning spirits. That is why we need to pay less attention to dreams (which most often come from demons), and also strive less for meditation and other dangerous practices associated with an altered state of consciousness.
But if we talk about sleep paralysis, then no one specially arranges it; it turns out that the door opens by itself, the person sleeps, but at the same time comes into contact with unclean entities. One of my patients found herself in a similar state many times, many times she experienced horror, waking up in another reality, saw very vivid images of evil spirits, and the only thing that helped her get out of this was the prayer to the Life-Giving Cross and the “Our Father.” Sleep paralysis occurs in those who are spiritually weak and in order to avoid falling into such states, one must lead a spiritual life. From my point of view, this is an important factor.
HIEROMONK MAKARIUS (MARKISH), clergyman of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk diocese, church publicist and missionary
This actually happens quite often. The difference between believers and non-believers is manifested not in the phenomenon itself, but in its assessment - it deprives the non-believer of peace and tranquility in the soul, torments with mystery, torments with mystery, and for the believer it is also unpleasant, but we look at such things calmly, indifferently and , in general, without interest. A fairly accurate analogy can be given: if a child is not raised correctly, then suddenly seeing a pornographic scene will have a strong and vivid impression on him, and he will be intrigued, interested, excited. But a normal, rationally raised child is protected from such influence, because he firmly knows that this is dirt, evil, abomination, and will turn away without unnecessary emotions. When it comes to the mysterious phenomena of the invisible, immaterial world, we are all to a certain extent like children, but proper education (religious, in this case) brings us enormous benefits and protects us from demonic attacks.
We must clearly realize that here we stand on the border of the visible and invisible worlds, and if in the first psychological and physiological research, experiments, and natural scientific methods of cognition are possible (and useful), then in the second (the border with which is blurred and uncertain) , there is nothing like this and cannot be. This is a different world, not subject to either positive experience or formal knowledge.
DMITRY TSORIONOV (ENTEO), founder of the "God's Will" movement
Sleep paralysis is a ubiquitous phenomenon in post-Christian society, a direct contact between man and the dark side of the spiritual world. In modern Russia, entire generations who grew up without God were thrown to the mercy of demons. Most modern people regularly encounter attacks from fallen spirits; for hundreds of thousands of people, daily sleep is a familiar dose of total horror, to which a person gets used to over time. As soon as demons do not mock people, they show all sorts of horrors. People describe in detail how they see dozens of demons mocking them, chained with horror. For some people, every night is a fight for survival. And only when a person begins to try, despite paralysis, with a huge effort of will, to pronounce the words of the Orthodox prayer, the demons retreat. I know many cases when, during sleep paralysis, people began to say well-known Orthodox prayers, although they had not even heard them before.
I remembered one interesting incident about this topic. I corresponded with one of the followers of neo-Hinduism guru OSHO Rajneesh, telling him that behind Eastern mysticism lies the reality of fallen angels. In response to his ridicule of what had been said, I wrote to him that he would not laugh if these spirits came to him at night. The next day he writes me a long letter, describing sleep paralysis, the appearance of a demon, writes how his soul suffered from the approach of evil, how he felt the cross being removed on himself and was saved by a luminous man, whom he later recognized when he saw the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. God allows us to come into close contact with the world of fallen angels, for the sake of our understanding, but unfortunately, not everyone, even after this, is ready to change their lives.
I was deeply struck by the post about sleep paralysis in the most popular public page among young people on VKontakte “MDK”. This community largely determines the worldview of a modern teenager, full of cynicism, fornication, blasphemy and perversion. The post received more than 30,000 likes and 4,000 comments from teenagers describing their experience of sleep paralysis. You can’t imagine what horrors these unfortunate children, disfigured by the modern world and godless upbringing, described there. Many said that they experience this every day, many said that they have already gotten used to it.
I specifically found this message to give a few comments, which are essentially a snapshot of the spiritual state of our youth:
— “It happens to me a couple of times a month for sure. The feelings were different. One time the bed shook as if there was an earthquake. There were some leftist dialogues with deceased relatives. A bunch of hallucinations like someone touching me. In general, a lot of weird stuff. If something happens at night and I wake up or already feel that it’s going to start tonight, I just turn on the TV, set it to turn off automatically and it seems to help”;
- “Usually it comes from four o’clock in the evening to 7-8, you understand that this is a dream, but you can’t do anything, you feel like you’re being strangled, all sorts of monsters are walking around or the appearance of your family, at that moment you dream that someone will wake you up , I start moving the little finger on my hand, etc. I barely wake up and don’t go to bed again”;
— “The feeling as if huge black spiders are crawling around, devils are sitting on you, the fire is crackling deafeningly, someone is speaking loudly all around, huge monsters larger than consciousness itself and paralyzing animal fear from the depths of the universe. and so on every damn night. I hate it";
“This crap happens all the time, but I can’t even open my eyes. But you can clearly hear the handle in the room turning and someone’s steps approaching, very similar to the clatter of hooves...”;
- “It was, I sleep, everything is so normal, only I slept with my eyes open, I don’t know how it happened. After which I turned on the other side, looked blankly into the distance of the room and that’s all. Then there was a sharp ringing in my ears and it was as if thousands of slow, rough voices were shouting in my ear. Then terrible faces appeared before my eyes, they looked blankly into my eyes and screamed. It’s strange, but I couldn’t move, it was such a strange feeling...”;
- “It happened. You lie like this, and it seems like it’s a dream, there are ghosts and all sorts of demons nearby. You begin to moo in fear, move your fingers and eyes back and forth. Then the state disappears, and you lie there and don’t understand what happened right now O".
Can you imagine what it’s like to live with this? These are ordinary children who go to school, listen to their favorite performers, discuss TV series characters, and mobile phone models. These are children who were raised by Pelevin’s generation, a generation that forgot Christ. Children for whom fornication, occultism, godlessness and blasphemy have become the norm. For these seemingly prosperous children, hell begins already in this life. I think we all need to think seriously about this.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK
Materials from the portal “Orthodox View” were used
The last time I was as scared as I was today was about 10-12 years ago. Then I woke up screaming, in a cold sweat and with an incredibly powerful feeling of animal fear - in a dream a bony black hand was strangling me. Only much later did I learn that this is how demons come for a person...Last night I didn’t go to bed for a long time - I was waiting for my son to go on a spree. I got into bed only at 12 o'clock at night. I fell asleep on my right side, facing the room. Right behind me, in the middle of the bed and “butt to butt” one cat lay down next to me; the second cat nestled at the feet.
I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time: either my hand was numb, or I urgently needed to scratch myself... I seemed to fall into a doze, but after a while I realized that I had laid down both my right arm and my entire right side. I decided to turn over, but how? After all, I’m all surrounded by sleeping cats. But I don’t want to wake them up. Very carefully, so as not to disturb the cats, bending like a worm, she crawled under the blanket in the right direction, turning over as she wanted on her left side: with her nose to the wall, her back to the cat lounging in the middle of the bed and her entire room.
She closed her eyes, and suddenly heard an eerie rustling behind her - as if someone had piled a thousand Auchan bags on the floor in the room and began rustling them furiously. At first, I decided that I had disturbed the cats, and they jumped onto the floor and began to play. I wanted to turn around to shout at them, but I couldn’t - I was completely PARAALLIZED!
I looked with my eyes into the pitch blackness of the night wall, did not see a single gap and could not move more than one finger! And at the same time, I clearly HEARED behind me, in the room, terrible rustling sounds, some kind of frantic fuss and swarming. I started having a hellish internal panic! A terrible, incredible fear took over my entire consciousness. I mentally made incredible efforts to move at least one member of my body: even jerk my leg, even raise my arm, even turn my neck. I couldn't do ANYTHING!
At the same time, the head worked at its best. Despite the horror that gripped me, I forced my brain to work and assess the situation, focusing on sensations and hearing.
My sensations told me that both cats were in their places: I still felt the body warmth of one with my back; the weight of the second was felt on my legs.
At the same time, my hearing told me that in the room, behind me, something terrible was happening: the fuss and rustling on the floor of the room evoked indescribable fear.
My eyes couldn’t help me: in front of me was the usual night blackness of an apartment, I couldn’t even distinguish the pattern on the wallpaper. The body didn't move AT ALL.
I don’t know how much time I spent in this state of panic, animal fear and immobilization. At some point, I felt someone’s touch on my right cheek. Soft like a cat's tail. And with my side eye I saw something in the darkness: small, airy, gray, looking at me with evil burning eyes.
I convinced myself that it was a cat! I was frantically, incredibly scared: I wanted to jump up, check WHO was looking at me, WHO was rustling behind me, and WHY I couldn’t move?!
The brain was working, and when it realized the futility of trying to get out of the immobilized state, I remembered that same bony hand that frightened and strangled me 10 years ago. And I started to pray.
As soon as “Lord, have mercy!” flashed through my head, right hand started working, I was able to lift it, reach my head and cross myself. At that very second I felt my body again! Still in a state of terrible fear, I jerked across the bed to the table next to me and lit the lamp.
There was no one in the room! Perfect order reigned, and I did not find any Auchan bags or any other objects that could make the rustling noise that frightened me on the floor. The cats were still there: one behind me, but already far away from my back; the second is at the feet. And I realized that it was not they who were looking at me with burning eyes: the cats were fast asleep, and even snoring.
I flew off the bed like a bullet; Having crossed herself in front of the icon, she jumped out into the kitchen and prayerfully drank Holy water. Still driven by fear, I returned to the room, lit a lamp in front of the icon, read “May God rise again...” and several psalms, including, of course, “Alive in the help of the Most High...” I was shaking “not like a child”: goosebumps and the cold ran down my back, the muscles under my knees twitched. It was three o'clock in the morning.
The panic fear, although it subsided from the fact that I could move, did not go away. I climbed under the blanket, and leaving the light and the burning lamp, I lay with my eyes open until dawn: the overwhelming horror did not allow me to sleep. And how can you sleep here when you realize that evil spirits are coming for you...
***
Now it’s almost 12 noon, and I still can’t come to my senses. On the Internet they write about “Sleep paralysis,” commonly called “Old Witch Syndrome.” Here, for example, is the clergyman’s answer to a user’s question with approximately the same story:
- This is madness. I can’t say why it happened to you, but in order to get rid of it, you need to keep fasts, go to church, pray, take communion and do everything as Christians should. Read the akathist to the Hieromartyr Cyprian, and also order prayers for him, the Mother of God and Archangel Michael. Lord help!
- Mikhail Khasminsky, Orthodox psychologist :
Sleep paralysis is a direct contact with the other world, because a person in this state passes into another reality, where real events happen to him that frighten him. And during this nightmare, a person cannot move, but being in another reality, he is helpless. This state is probably similar to the state of hell, when a person is tormented by fear and horror, but he cannot do anything.
In my practice, there were quite interesting cases related to sleep paralysis. One can try to explain this phenomenon by the alpha state of the brain, when interaction occurs between sleep and reality and penetration between realities can occur<…>.
If we talk about sleep paralysis, then no one specially arranges it; it turns out that the door opens by itself, the person sleeps, but at the same time comes into contact with unclean entities. One of my patients found herself in a similar state many times, many times she experienced horror, waking up in another reality, saw very vivid images of evil spirits, and the only thing that helped her get out of this was the prayer to the Life-Giving Cross and the “Our Father.” Sleep paralysis occurs in those who are spiritually weak and in order to avoid falling into such states, one must lead a spiritual life.<…>.
- Hieromonk Macarius (Markish), cleric of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk diocese, church publicist and missionary:
- Dmitry Tsorionov (Enteo), founder of the "God's Will" movement :
God allows us to come into close contact with the world of fallen angels, for the sake of our understanding, but unfortunately, not everyone, even after this, is ready to change their lives.
I was deeply struck by the post about sleep paralysis in the most popular public page among young people on VKontakte “MDK”. This community largely determines the worldview of a modern teenager, full of cynicism, fornication, blasphemy and perversion. The post received more than 30,000 likes and 4,000 comments from teenagers describing their experience of sleep paralysis. You can’t imagine what horrors these unfortunate children, disfigured by the modern world and godless upbringing, described there. Many said that they experience this every day, many said that they have already gotten used to it.
I specifically found this message to give a few comments, which are essentially a snapshot of the spiritual state of our youth:
— “It happens to me a couple of times a month for sure. The feelings were different. One time the bed shook as if there was an earthquake. There were some leftist dialogues with deceased relatives. A bunch of hallucinations like someone touching me. In general, a lot of weird stuff. If something happens at night and I wake up or already feel that it’s going to start tonight, I just turn on the TV, set it to turn off automatically and it seems to help”;
- “Usually it comes from four o’clock in the evening to 7-8, you understand that this is a dream, but you can’t do anything, you feel like you’re being strangled, all sorts of monsters are walking around or the appearance of your family, at that moment you dream that someone will wake you up , I start moving the little finger on my hand, etc. I barely wake up and don’t go to bed again”;
— “The feeling as if huge black spiders are crawling around, devils are sitting on you, the fire is crackling deafeningly, someone is speaking loudly all around, huge monsters larger than consciousness itself and paralyzing animal fear from the depths of the universe. and so on every damn night. I hate it";
“This crap happens all the time, but I can’t even open my eyes. But you can clearly hear the handle in the room turning and someone’s steps approaching, very similar to the clatter of hooves...”;
- “It was, I sleep, everything is so normal, only I slept with my eyes open, I don’t know how it happened. After which I turned on the other side, looked blankly into the distance of the room and that’s all. Then there was a sharp ringing in my ears and it was as if thousands of slow, rough voices were shouting in my ear. Then terrible faces appeared before my eyes, they looked blankly into my eyes and screamed. It’s strange, but I couldn’t move, it was such a strange feeling...”;
- “It happened. You lie like this, and it seems like it’s a dream, there are ghosts and all sorts of demons nearby. You begin to moo in fear, move your fingers and eyes back and forth. Then the state disappears, and you lie there and don’t understand what happened right now O".
Can you imagine what it’s like to live with this? These are ordinary children who go to school, listen to their favorite performers, discuss TV series characters, and mobile phone models. These are children who were raised by Pelevin’s generation, a generation that forgot Christ. Children for whom fornication, occultism, godlessness and blasphemy have become the norm. For these apparently prosperous children, hell begins in this life.<…>.
***
Because of what happened last night, I have no time for work at all. And my head is a mess of fears and worries. It is clear that I am not the only one: we all walk under God, demons tempt and frighten us all.
A colleague sitting with me in the office - an honorable lady of 56 years old - told me her story of such a “meeting”.
This happened back in Soviet times. During a short business trip to one of the union republics, she had to spend one night in a private house converted into a hotel “for especially important guests.” She, just like me, lay down on the left side. She was also paralyzed, and she similarly could not move more than one muscle. But at the same time she could also hear, see and touch.
She saw darkness (it was night), heard someone's breathing, and felt that behind her, someone large sat down on the bed. But she could not turn and look at him. It started almost as soon as she got into bed and turned off the light; it ended in the morning: she says that she felt the mattress sway and the “guest” got out of bed, and after a while she was “released” and she was able to move. It was already getting light outside then.
She says that from the horror she had suffered, she rushed out into the street of the hotel house like a bullet, as if she were only wearing a nightie, and stood there on the threshold in the autumn cold until members of the delegation came for her.
I don’t know how she didn’t die from a broken heart... The whole night was a nightmare of immobilization in the presence of evil spirits - incredible horror. INCREDIBLE! I was under the influence for no more than 15 minutes, but the depth of panic that it caused cannot be expressed in words...
