Reframing Sleep Paralysis: From Threshold States to Transformation
"If you've ever woken up unable to move, felt a presence in the room, or experienced strange night-time events, you're not alone." These words from Dr. Sheila Pryce Brooks speak to millions who have encountered sleep paralysis, yet found little understanding beyond clinical explanations that often leave experiencers feeling isolated and misunderstood.
Dr. Pryce Brooks—researcher, experiencer, and speaker—has spent over three decades exploring sleep paralysis as something far more profound than a neurological glitch. Through her groundbreaking development of the Threshold Contact Experience (TCE) framework, she bridges research, personal story, and clinical insight to reframe what sleep paralysis truly is.
Working at the intersection of neuroscience, altered states, and culture, her approach offers research-grounded insights while honoring the deeper, often spiritual dimensions of these threshold states. What began as episodes "marked by presence, contact, and a deep sense of initiation" has evolved into a mission to support others navigating these profound liminal spaces.
In this conversation, Dr. Pryce Brooks shares how her academic research is helping reshape our understanding of sleep paralysis, moving beyond pathology toward possibility. Through her platform and Substack Transcend, she continues to demonstrate how lived experience, rigorous science, and spiritual wisdom can work together to transform our relationship with these mysterious threshold states—proving that what once overwhelmed can become a bridge to deeper understanding.
What personal experiences led you to focus on sleep paralysis and spiritual wellbeing?
For over 30 years, I experienced sleep paralysis in ways that defied clinical explanation — episodes marked by presence, contact, and a deep sense of initiation. For much of that time, I navigated alone, until my doctoral research helped me recognise these experiences as a kind of threshold, not pathology. What began as a private ordeal evolved into a public mission: to reframe sleep paralysis as a Threshold Contact Experience (TCE) and guide others through these unseen states. Today, I write about this work on my Substack, Transcend with Sheila Pryce Brooks, and continue supporting others through my research and platform at https://www.sheilaprycebrooks.com/.
How do you integrate science and spirituality in your approach to healing and transformation?
My work bridges lived experience with consciousness research and the science of human experience. Through academic structures, psychical inquiry, and public scholarship, I develop language and frameworks that honour the deeper, often unseen dimensions of these states, while remaining grounded in rigour. Science gives us the structure; meaning gives us the depth. I bring the two together through my writings, talks, and platforms, offering insight not only to individuals but also to institutions exploring new ways of understanding anomalous experience. My aim is to make the invisible intelligible — not by reducing it, but by reverently naming it.
What advice would you give to someone currently struggling with sleep-related spiritual experiences?
You’re not broken. You’re not alone. And you’re not imagining it.
Many sleep-related states — from paralysis to contact — are signs that your awareness is opening to subtle realms. The first step is not to dismiss or suppress the experience, but to begin asking deeper questions. On my Substack, Transcend, I often remind readers that these threshold states can carry both challenge and invitation. Learn to listen without fear. Seek those who walk this path with integrity. And above all — remember that what overwhelms you now may one day become your gift to others.
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