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for me it works like a charm...

I guess some do, but finding the right teacher _ someone that points the way_ is at least to me and without a question, much of a karmic thing and as Mudfoot was suggesting it has much to do with the investment one makes ( life investment not money investment ). It has also to do with our personal evolution: that crippled old neighbour I've got can be the most enlightned alchemist but if my awareness can't sense that...

The great cosmic illusion is a hierophany.... One is devoured by Time, not because one lives in Time, but because one believes in its reality, and therefore forgets or despises eternity. Mircea Eliade

In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time. Mircea Eliade

I'm not here to prove that the phenomenon is true or to defend the practice, again, just speaking of my own experience which can be confirmed by people who have experienced astral projection voluntarily or involuntarily. I did my research alright but I'm not going to quote any authors and have my reasons for that. Not here to win any medal either, the purpose in participating in this thread is to offer some explanation which may help. Done my part.

Its my comment based on my own experience of many years dealing with this problem in particular, not something I´ve heard or read. The intention is to help. Isn't that the purpose of this forum?

Hi Miroku! Sleep paralysis happens before you leave your body (astral projection) and yes, it can be quite frightening if you don't know what is happening. It just happens because you are too aware as your body relaxes and falls asleep. If you don't want it to happen try sleeping in another position.

A worthwhile documentary

Why would they think that ? Not that I want you to answer and with all due respect Mudfoot.

Forgive me for borrowing your words just to leave here an etymological explanation of the word religion from Wikipedia. Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community", from L. religionem (nom. religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods",[14] "obligation, the bond between man and the gods"[15]) is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego "read", i.e. re (again) with lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully". The definition of religio by Cicero is cultum deorum, "the proper performance of rites in veneration of the gods."[16] Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligare "bind, connect", probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again) + ligare or "to reconnect", which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones, IV, 28.[17][18] The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders

The idea is to relax in them (they help you stop the monkey mind) and then go to sleep in some more confortable position.

I can't sleep laying on my back either. No problem with that.

I guess you have to find out what works for you and trust your senses. If the pillows help you stop thinking and relax that is great. Sometimes I sleep with a bag of hot water just because it helps me stop thinking. Two postures that I also use to become mindful before I sleep are the starfish and the buddhist laying posture.

In this thread some members shared some interesting suggestions Let me try to describe the posture: They lie on their stomach with the head turned right, the right arm and right leg bent, and the left arm and left leg streched. As it is something universal and instinctive (like child's posture) I think that there must be something to it.

I'm searching for years for something about that position teenagers use for sleeping, some study, something and couldn't even find its name. I know it was the position paramedics would put the patients into in emergencies some decades ago.

Think about it, or don't. Done here.

Don't really believe you want our thoughts on the matter I think you just want recognition about your point of view. I would even dare to make two parallels between want of recognition, sexual insatisfaction and lack of self esteem.

Indeed.

I think that (from my own experience) an inbalanced need for sexual activity Has its cause in one's lack of self-esteem. I don't think I ever met anyone with an healthy self-esteem who was promiscuous.

Okay, turned it into its opposite DOR sorry I was wrong thinking you didn't do your research twist my arm if you want to

A more reliable version of the story: http://www.strangenewengland.com/2015/07/02/the-strange-case-of-wilhelm-reich/

Other serious western authors who studied the mind-body connection deeply. all worthwhile reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Matthias_Alexander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Alexander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshé_Feldenkrais Being in my humble opinion, Feldenkrais, the rocket scientist of these three