  Sleep paralysis is an experience of being temporarily unable to move or talk
during the transitional periods between sleep and wakefulness: at sleep onset
or upon awakening. Feeling of paralysis may be accompanied by a variety of
vivid and intense sensory experiences, including mentation in visual, auditory,
and tactile modalities, as well as a distinct feeling of presence. This chapter
discusses a variety of sleep paralysis experiences from the perspective of
enactive cognition and cultural neurophenomenology. Current knowledge of
neurophysiology and associated conditions is presented, and some techniques for
coping with sleep paralysis are proposed. As an experience characterized by a
hybrid state of dreaming and waking, sleep paralysis offers a unique window
into phenomenology of spontaneous thought in sleep.
