Blog Archives
Feeling “Frozen” – Unable to Move in the Middle of the Night
Rating: Strange
Have you ever awakened from sleep and you cannot move? It’s very unnerving – no matter what age you are when it happens. I have heard different terms used to describe this experience – a friend of mind calls it feeling “frozen”.
This has happened to me many, many times. You know you are awake. Sometimes you can look around the room – without moving your head. You are conscious and you are aware of what is happening around you. But you are completely unable to move a muscle.
Usually, this starts to make you afraid so you try even harder to move. You try calling out someone’s name for help. Nothing works. You are stuck.
I hate this feeling, don’t you?
I recall when I was first married that I described this situation to my husband. He had no idea what to do. I discovered that the only thing I could control when I was in this state was my breathing. So I told him that if my breathing became erratic in the night, that meant I needed him to “snap me out” of whatever was making me frozen. It worked! Every time I became aware that I was frozen, I would start breathing hard in and out and he would wake up. Then he would shake me until I could move. Wow, what a relief! I finally had help!
Finally, some years later, I discovered that waking up unable to move is actually a trick your mind is playing on you. It’s like some part of you is awake (your consciousness), but the part of your brain that controls your body is NOT awake. So you freak out. What I learned to do was take a deep breath to calm down and tell myself, “It’s time to wake up.” Or pray, “Lord, please wake me up.” Then I would open my eyes. I was now fully awake and could move normally and get up.
So, have you ever woken up at night or in the morning and you cannot move? What did you do to get free? Please feel free to share your experiences below.
Early Experiences with the Unseen Realm
Rating: Creepy (mostly), Pleasant (at the end)
I am not sure how to start this blog so I will begin at the beginning. I trust that as I recall my early experiences with the unseen realm, it might stir your heart to do the same. When did you first become aware that there was more to this world than your eyes could see?
When I was about 7-8 years old, we moved into a new house. My parents had the house built on an empty acre of land out in the country. After we moved in, I recall being afraid to walk to the end of the hall if the light was not on at the end. The fear was very tangible – I had never felt this way in our previous homes.
The specific fear that I had was that the devil would appear to me and scare me to death. Now where does a little child get that kind of specific fearful thought? I have never heard of this concept in books or movies, have you? To this day, it amazes me that the devil was so cruel as to put that idea into my mind. Obviously, he was trying to prevent me from wanting to use the gift of discernment in the future so he made me terrified of “seeing” in the spirit before I was even a Christian. That mean ol’ devil – I hate him, don’t you?
I often saw visions in my mind in specific places in our house. The headboard of my bed had two cutouts on either side – it was carved wood, I believe. I could literally “see” in my mind’s eye, two scary looking hands come out above my head – one on each side. The arms and hands were covered with long hair, like an animal, but the hands were somewhat human and had claws or long nails – kind of like you’d see on a werewolf, I guess.
There were times I was afraid to go to sleep because the presence of these things felt so real to me. I know I avoided walking down the hall if the light was not on. And I slept with the hall light on and my door open at night, because of fear. The worst thing is to wake up in the middle of the night, feel a scary presence in your room and there’s no light. Can you relate? To this day, I always have some light in the room where I sleep and a flashlight next to the bed. It is unsettling enough to feel these things at night, but when the room is pitch black with no light – that makes it so much worse.
Anyway, I do recall one positive experience I had. One night I woke up and saw a man standing at the foot of my bed with his arms crossed. Since the hall light was on behind him, I could not see his face. But I felt safe and comforted – this was not a scary presence. In my sleepy brain, I thought maybe it was my dad. I called out to him, “Daddy?” but the figure never moved or responded. I watched him for awhile and then fell back to sleep. I think it was an angel.
How about you? What early memories of the unseen realm do you have?
Discernment of the Supernatural Realm 