One of the most common questions I hear goes something like this:  “I dreamed of my ex, does it mean I should get back together with them?”  Or, “Does it mean that they are thinking of me too?”
While I never rule out the mysterious and mystical ways of the dream world, and I do believe that anything is possible….The most common explanation is: This dream most likely has NOTHING to do with your ex.  It might, like I said, and do the fact checking with the other person should your heart pull you in that direction.
At the same time, keep in mind that what the dream is most likely bringing to your attention are the feelings you had in the dream, and your dreaming mind might be saying ‘hey, remember what this feels like? Wouldn’t it be nice to have again?’
Not all dreams of former loves come with pleasant feelings, however.  If the feelings are unpleasant or difficult, look at where in your life you might be currently experiencing those same challenges with another person. Perhaps you are responding to a new person in the same way you responded to the ex in the dream.  Or maybe they are behaving towards you in a way that the former partner did. These are some possible explanations to explore.

While many people may experience an upsetting but soon to pass case of sleep paralysis, others report an even more terrifying occurrence that happens while in this paralyzed state: the sensation of being visited by some kind of entity. Coined ‘Paralysis Attacks’ by David Hufford, Professor of Behavioral Science at Penn State University, these experiences are described by those who experience it as a visitation by an negative presence.  Hufford has done extensive research, and has been able to identify over 30 common elements to these attacks. The prevailing common denominators are:

• Waking up in bed and realizing one can’t move
• The person can move their eyes, but the body is paralyzed
• Hearing footsteps
• A figure enters the room (often described as dark, not human, intent to harm, some sort of presence but not sure what)
• Incredible sense of fear
• A feeling of weight or pressure upon the chest (sometimes other areas of the body, most commonly the chest)
• A sense that if the person just laid there, they would die.
• The experience feels very real, different than a normal dream or nightmare.

Accounts of this phenomenon are documented in art and literature as far back as we have historical records, and in fact, Hufford doesn’t know of any culture, anywhere, that doesn’t have a tradition describing it. Known by different names around the world: ‘The Old Hag’, ‘Popabawa’, ‘Demon’, ‘Witch’, or just a dark figure or shadow, the description of the experience is the same.

People in this state are able to accurately describe their environment, indicating a state of being awake, yet brain wave recordings taken during attacks show elements of both wakefulness and REM sleep. Victims are usually convinced they are awake and that this was not a dream. They are actually in a mixed state of consciousness between wakefulness and dreaming, also known as a hypnopompic state (when a person is falling asleep, as opposed to waking up, the same mixed state is known as the hypnogogic state).

It would be easy enough to attribute the whole description to a bad dream or nightmare; but that doesn’t explain why so many people – including many who have never heard of this phenomenon – report such similarities in their accounts. While there are variations in individual reports, the similarities cannot be ignored. In fact, the descriptions bear uncanny similarity to alien visitation reports, and Hufford believes these are actually cases of sleep paralysis attacks.

Science as of yet does not have a sufficient explanation for this baffling phenomenon, which does not reduce the suffering of those who experience this terrifying occurance. For more information, check out Hufford’s book: ‘The Terror That Comes In The Night’

http://www.amazon.com/Terror-That-Comes-Night-Experience-Centered/dp/081221305X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321738406&sr=8-1

This morning I was dreaming of gusting winds and pelting rain. I woke up and actually heard those sounds outside my window  – it turns out there was a pretty bad storm going on out there. My dreaming mind heard those sounds, and incorporated them into my dream, which is a very common phemomenon.
Have you ever woken up to some kind of noise or sound, or even a song on the radio, only to realize that you had also been dreaming about it?

During REM sleep, an interesting thing happens to our body: we become physically paralyzed. Most of the time we are unaware of it, because we are asleep and in the dream state. But occasionally a person will wake up and become consciously aware of the fact that they cannot move their body, and a state of fear and panic sets in. They are still able to move their eyes around, just as they do in REM sleep, but the body is paralyzed.  It usually lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, but that time can feel like a terrifying eternity.

It is believed that sleep paralysis is a protective mechanism so that we don’t physically act out our dreams; imagine the mess, bumps and bruises we would wake up to if we did!  While most of the time the transition between sleeping and waking goes smoothly, it is estimated that anywhere from 20-30% of the world’s population will at some time experience the phenomenon of sleep paralysis.

The causes are generally unknown.  For some people it may be triggered by factors such as increased stress, lack of sleep, a changing sleep schedule, sudden changes in lifestyle, use of certain medications, or substance abuse.  For others, it can be associated with narcolepsy, or night time leg cramps. For most people there is no determining explanation.

While scary, it is only temporary, and for the majority of people it may happen once or twice in a lifetime and is nothing to worry about.