Lucid Dreaming

If you know me, maybe you know what I'm about to mention & maybe you don't. Every once in a while during sleepy-time I go through something that I have come to understand is called sleep paralysis. Basically, it is when a person becomes conscious during the part of sleep where limbs are unmovable. Being unable to move legs & arms during sleep is normal, because otherwise people would be flailing about all the time to act out their dreams & potentially hurt themselves. However, becoming aware of it is not quite so common & falls under the catagory of parasomnias. It's not so dangerous as say, sleep-walking, but it can be damn scarey. Some people experience weightlessness & lucid dreaming, but that has not been my experience. What happens is that I am either about to nod off or wake up & in that between-state I notice that I can't move my arms & legs. This is followed by feeling as though my body is being weighted down. First time or few this happened, it scared the shit out of me. I researched & it's still unsettling when it happens, but the fear is less. Even though I have a basic understanding, I still get that feeling like a presence is there dispite the knowledge that I know there is not. Also the fear of being pressed deeper... In any case, I do my best to (literally) shake it off, maybe try to speak. One time I was lucky enough to have someone in the room to snap me out of it. Basically, wake up to being actually awake.

Last night I had a dream, that for a while I wasn't sure was a dream. I was lying in bed, unsure if I was experiencing sleep paralysis of a sort, but it was different than usual. For one thing, I wasn't being weighted at all (possibly lighter, but I wasn't sure). I did have the sleep tingles in my arms, whatever the cause, it's why I can't do anything major with me hands when I first wake up (like writing or gripping heavy things). Anyhow, there was the distinct feeling of a presence. I one point, I even recall pulling my pillow to hold against the invisible force, which was very much there. The whole thing went on for a little while, but there's not much to say about it, since not much happened. I will say however, that I know for a fact this was a dream, at least in part because my pillow was under my head when I woke up. The way everything went, I'm not really positive as to whether or not certain parts of my brain was awake. I questioned how much was a dream as I dreamt it. I can't really say it was all that scarey, at least compared to when I awaken in paralysis-mode, but it was certainly odd.