Man on My Back, Paralysis, Dual Consciousness

Tuesday Morning, June 5, 1990

A friend and I ate bad seafood on Saturday night. We both had cramps and diarrhea on Sunday and Monday. Monday night I went to bed very tired at around 12:45 AM.

I lay on my stomach and tried to go to sleep as quickly as possible. Soon I was in a dream in which a coworker was having convulsions on the floor nearby. When I tried to move to help her I discovered I was paralyzed. The dream world vanished and I was in bed struggling to move. This type of paralysis is not uncommon, especially when one is in the state between sleeping and waking. I have both read about and experienced such paralysis several times. It's usually unnerving, but it doesn't last long.

As I lay on my stomach trying to move I suddenly became aware of a man on my back holding tightly onto my neck and shoulders. I could feel his weight on my body and I could feel his breath on my left ear. I remembered reading Robert Monroe's account of the same phenomenon (in Journeys Out of the Body). Monroe identified the man on his back as his own physical body. I wondered if my astral body was simply out of coincidence with my physical body, making me think my physical body was someone else, or if I really had an unwelcome entity holding onto me. I tried to mentally create an energy field that would push the man off of my back. I also tried to move my physical body, which would end the experience. Both attempts failed.

Then I was standing in a dimly-lit room facing a light switch on the wall. I was conscious both there and in my paralyzed physical body where I was still trying to free myself of the man on my back. I knew if I turned the light on, normalcy would return. I flipped the switch but no light came on. Although I had previously used non-working lights in dreams as triggers to become lucid, this time it didn't work. I stood there staring at the light switch as my consciousness in my physical body kept struggling with the man on my back. Suddenly I was able to move my physical arms and the experience ended.

2008 Note: I had also read about the man-on-your-back phenomenon in other books and in Reflections on Lucid Dreaming and Out-of-Body Experiences: Father X in Lucidity Letter, June 1989, Vol. 8, No.1, page 39. In Father X's experiences the man on his back was not himself.


Copyright 2008 Jon Maloney

Dream Telepathy

Monday April 9, 1990

Sunday night my best friend had a conversation with another friend about the local post office. They discussed the lack of functionality in the layout of the building and parking lot. My best friend complained about the building's poor design. I did not know about their conversation.

A few hours later I dreamt my best friend and I visited the post office to get my mail. After entering the building, we realized the boxes were in a different part of the building. We had to exit the building and come back in through another entrance. Then I needed to use the restroom. The restroom was in a third section of the post office. I would have to exit again and enter through a third entrance. We stood by the boxes and discussed the building's flawed design.


Copyright 2008 Jon Maloney

Three Semiconscious Projections

Thursday October 12, 1989

I had a mild fever and felt slightly sick at my stomach when I went to bed. I read in The Art and Practice of Astral Projection by Ophiel for awhile before turning out the light.

I became partially conscious in the astral lying on my back in bed slightly out of sync to the left of my physical body. Very slowly I bounced along the bed's surface, went over the edge, and drifted gently to the floor. I slowly drifted across the floor just barely making contact with the floor occasionally. I became irritated because my sleep was being disturbed. As soon as I felt irritated I automatically reentered my physical body and lost consciousness.

I became partially conscious in the astral again. This time I was slightly out of sync to the right of my physical body. I slowly drifted off the right edge of the bed and fell into an awkward position wedged between the bed and the bedside table. My left leg and shoulder were pressed against the bed and my right arm was forced upwards against the table. I registered slight surprise at my predicament. I tried to remember the last time I had fallen out of bed. When I had gone off the bed's left side I had known I was astrally projected. This time I thought I had physically fallen out of bed. I decided to climb back up onto the bed. As soon as I tried to move I automatically reentered my physical body and lost consciousness.

I regained consciousness a third time as I was flying rapidly upwards out of my body. I was only conscious for a moment before losing consciousness as I went through the ceiling.

Suddenly my eyes opened and I was awake, still lying on my back in bed. It was 12:35 AM. I went back to sleep repeating to myself "log three projections". When I awoke at 6:15 AM my first thought was to log the three projections.


Copyright 2008 Jon Maloney

Lucid Dream Projection

Friday August 4, 1989

I dreamt I was sitting in a room where a party was in progress. I was flipping through cards that had words on them. I came to a card that said TROMPET. I knew the word was supposed to be TRUMPET. I looked away and looked back at the card. It said TREMPET. I remembered reading in the book Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, that if you read something twice and the words change, you know you are dreaming. I knew I was dreaming. There was a guy sitting on my left talking to me but I wasn't paying attention.

I closed my eyes with the intention of projecting and flying to visit my best friend. I felt the sensations of separation, but my left leg was holding me back like an anchor. My physical leg was bent uncomfortably. I straightened my physical leg, consciously relaxed again, and opened my eyes. I was still at the party and the same guy was still talking to me, except now he was sitting on my right. He was telling me his belief that if you think you can fly, then you can. I smiled at him and said, "I believe I can fly. And I just flew." The guy looked puzzled. I asked him which side of him I had been on a moment ago and had I walked around. He thought for an instant and then looked amazed.

I stood and made my way up the crowded stairway. When I got to the top I jumped out over the stairway intending to fly through the opposite wall. Instead of flying I slowly drifted down and landed on the heads of the people going up and down the stairs. I lost consciousness.


Copyright 2008 Jon Maloney