I’ve been having an experience here and there over the past six months.

Bodily paralysis, the sound of blood rushing very loudly behind my ears almost like very strong winds. Very distinct neutral sensations in patches all over my body pulsing and such depending on how “deep” I am. All three aspects get more powerful the deeper I go.

It always happens between the transition from dreams to wakefulness, although I almost always have some degree of lucidity. I triggered it the first time by perceiving all the sensations of my body as finely as I could in a dream. The second by focusing heavily on a circle of visual fuzz in a dream again. The third time happened just yesterday while I was mostly awake. I didn’t enter it the usual way and it was by far the most powerful. It’s kinda embarassing to explain but I was remembering the hypothesis that there could be separate fully conscious sub minds without control over the body, kinda “trapped” inside the head without any say or control over anything. I tried to address them and whenever I did the sensations cascaded down in waves. I asked “is this you” and my head/neck started twitching and shaking violently so I bailed out. Creepy lol.

I would like to go deeper into it but it’s scary surrendering to paralysis as my breathing is compromised from laying down, and the feeling like my head is going to explode is not very encouraging. The sensations are not very friendly either. The first time it happened I went as deep as I could and eventually it was like I was pushing up against a rock that wouldn’t budge any more.

Probably nothing important but I’d still like to know. Every other experience I’ve had has been quite pleasant and interesting and usually falls into some category I’ve read about. But this just sucks and I don’t know what it is. I’m working in early stage 5 TMI for reference.

I'm no expert but this sounds like sleep paralysis.

It sounds as if it could be ”exploding head syndrome” (not as bad as it sounds) too. I have had that, although for me it was always when I was wide awake (in the ordinary sense, that is, not sleeping and not on the verge of sleeping). I suspect that piti is involved in it, but that’s just mere speculation. For me it occurred together with typical Kundalini awakening. Kundalini and piti seem to be the same thing. I haven’t read TMI yet, so I don’t know what stage 5 means. Kundalini awakening happens fairly early, at A&P. Sometimes it is very unpleasant. It was for me the first time. It can be awsome too. I think what makes it rough and unpleasant is tension due to a challenging life (again, just my speculation). Those who believe in Kundalini as a force (I think it’s more useful as a metaphor) say that Kundalini burns down old garbage to make room for something better. I’m definitely no expert in this, but I wouldn’t advice you to intentionally evoke it in a way that hurts. It is better if it comes together with sukkha, joy. That makes it an almost orgasmic set of sensations. It will come when you are ready. Don’t force it.

From a medical point of view, exploding head syndrome is harmless.

I am no doctor (in medicine anyway) and pretty much a newbie when it comes to formal meditative practice, just so you know.