I got an e-mail from a foreigner, an 18-year-old girl named Tamika, who said she has been experiencing “sleep paralysis” since she was 14.

“Prior to having a sleep paralysis attack,” she wrote, “I would have a disturbing nightmare where I saw an elderly woman with a very wrinkled face and black eyes. She never said anything. But after seeing her, I would wake up and then try to sleep again. Then I would hear the rattling sound of gates, but we don’t have gates that would sound like that.

“This would be followed by footsteps on my carpet. Then I would hear high-pitched ringing in my ears. When I try to roll over, I find I can’t move or make any sound.

“Sometimes I would manage to roll out of bed and fall down. Then I would run to my father’s room for help. But he would just walk past me as if I wasn’t there. He wouldn’t even look at me as he walked to the kitchen.

“Recently, it’s been getting worse. Not only is it getting frequent, but the woman I saw in my nightmare would make me see horrible things. One night she spoke for the first time and said, ‘How’s your anxiety and your depression?’ I ignored her and walked away.

“I can’t sleep at home anymore. I haven’t slept properly for days. However, I can sleep well in my friends’ houses, but lately it’s also been haunting me there. I woke up one time and felt somebody choking me. I managed to grab the head of whatever it was behind me, and I felt a face with a very long tongue hanging out of its mouth. I jumped out of bed, but it was so dark I couldn’t see anything. I then jumped back into bed and woke up instantly, as if I had jumped into my body.

“I was hoping I could get from you any advice to prevent sleep paralysis or astral travel.”

Not a sleep disorder

From a medical standpoint, sleep paralysis is associated with “narcolepsy,” which is a kind of sleep disorder or disease.

I don’t think that what is happening to you is a form of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is “an overpowering need to sleep caused by a problem with the brain’s ability to regulate sleep.” That’s how conventional, Western medicine would describe your condition.

But there is another way of looking at this phenomenon, from a spiritual, esoteric or metaphysical point of view.

In my opinion, what is happening to you is a case of astral travel or out-of-body experience. It is not a disease. It is a very natural and common phenomenon that happens to almost everybody. And it does not require any medication or medical treatment.

How or why does astral projection take place?

First, we must explain what astral body is. A human being is composed of several “bodies” or “sheaths” of vibratory energy, from the densest to the most subtle. According to esoteric literature, humans have seven such bodies or energy fields or frequencies. The astral body is only one of them.

The astral body can detach itself from the physical body, usually during sleep, and travel elsewhere.

Normally, the person going out of his or her physical body is not aware that this is happening. When he or she happens to wake up while out of the body, he or she may see the physical body lying asleep, or even places outside the bedroom.

There’s nothing to be afraid of when this happens. One will usually go back easily into his or her physical body naturally if he or she does not panic. It is when one panics that he or she experiences difficulty in going back into the physical body.

In your case, there is some evidence of a presence of evil or negative earthbound spirits in your house that needs to be exorcised. You could sleep well in your friend’s house because the spirits are not there.

But they also followed you later on. That means you have mediumistic tendencies. You need to protect yourself from possible spirit possession.

Consult a clairvoyant, a spiritist or an exorcist to rid your house of negative spirits. Otherwise, your nightmares and negative astral experiences will continue.

I don’t know what country you are from. If you were in the Philippines, there would be psychics, spiritists and exorcists I can refer you to.

For information on books, personal consultancy, seminars, past-life regression and other paranormal services, e-mail [email protected] or call tel. 8107245 and 0998-9886292. Listen to the radio program “Kapangyarihan ng Isip” on dwIZ 882 on the AM band every Sunday from 8 to 9 p.m.