It could be any number of things- I will mention a few, and perhaps one of them will ring a bell.

1. It could be an actual entity from the spirit world. If this is so, you may need to command that it be sent away in Jesus' (Buddha, Allah, whomever you worship) name. You do have the authority to do this, and you must be firm about it. Burn sage or sandalwood, and clean your bedroom thoroughly.

2. It could be a body memory. What this is is a memory of the past that your body is remembering, and it is finally rising to the surface.

3. You could be experiencing sleep apnea. This is where you stop breathing in your sleep for some time, and your mind may be translating the sensation of suffocation as being held tightly. This seems the most likely to me. Do you snore? If you do, you need to have a sleep study done. I'd recommend that in any case, just to be on the safe side.

I could write a book about all three of these topics. If you or anyone wants more info about clearing negative energy, you can email me at my name at yahoo.

Blessings,and Good Luck, Jai

One over looked thing is called sleep paralysis, this is when the mind wakes up but the body stays asleep. It this state you can not move even though your eyes are open. Here is something from wikipedia:

Symptoms and characteristics

Physiologically, sleep paralysis is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the body paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false".[5] As the correlation with REM sleep suggests, the paralysis is not entirely complete; use of EOG traces shows that eye movement can be instigated during such episodes.[6] When there is an absence of narcolepsy, sleep paralysis is referred to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP).[7]

In addition, the paralysis state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger.[8] Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual because of the vividness of such hallucinations.[7] The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects (often described as looking distinctly demonic by those who experience the paralysis)[citation needed] may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.[9] A study by Susan Blackmore and Marcus Cox (the Blackmore-Cox study) of the University of the West of England supports the suggestion that reports of alien abductions are related to sleep paralysis rather than to temporal lobe lability.[10]

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With this said there are legends of the lavores (Italian word approximation) which I don't know how to spell that and can not find on the net. This are entities that sit on your chest and take your life force while sleeping.

I can tell you that you can also visit someone and they feel you physically, if you go to bed mad at someone you could in your dream visit them and beat them up and they feel lousy in the morning for it. This is not good for you will have to pay for this if you do, then you can also consciously visit someone and give a big hug and they will feel your presence.

It is possible.

That said, I would point to what Wade mentioned as a big possibility, that is...sleep paralysis. I have experienced this many times.

I would wake up and be unable to move, and feel like something was in the room, on my chest and pressing me down into the bed. It leaves after some time if you remain calm. It is also possible to be in a semi-dream state when this happens. I would think it the most likely circumstance.

That said, in any case, you can do what Jaianniah mentioned. Simply realize that you do have authority, and...tell it quite basically to piss off, now. Even IF it is just sleep paralysis, I have found this to work very effectively and remove the pressure, inability to move etc instantly. You have to really believe you carry that authority though.

For some reason, I have always found it more effective to do with the idea that there is a being there...even if I don't really believe there is most of the time.

(It also happens to be a good state to try and have an out of body experience...but that requires you keep your wits about you when it happens and don't freak out...for which there is never any need really. :) )

My personal experience I hope you can find some hope in it. Since I was young I had what Psychologists would label night terrors. I use to wake up not able to scream, could not moved and so frightful I could not open my eyes, as it continued I was told the Devil was riding me and that I was evil. When I started living a real relationship with Jesus I still experienced these night terrors. For years I called this experience evil as I became stronger in Christ I commanded these evil spirits to leave me in the name of Jesus. I could sometimes feel them, withdraw. When I asked my wife to marry me I sat her down and told her what I sometimes experience and told her I could not explain it. When I was living with my best friend he joked about it but once he experienced it and later we were informed that his Aunt had died. When I was in my late 30’s early 40’s I made a connection that my night terror occurred when someone in my family had died or I later learned someone I knew had died. Scared as I was of these night terrors I stop telling them to leave me and started trying to calm myself. This is where I learned oh and did I learn. It first happen with my wife who sleeps like a rock. I woke up one night to feel that something was in the room then it started to happen like a slow wave of fear coming over me but this time I was already woke and I sense/saw something hovering over my wife it came out of the corner of our Bedroom. I could sense that it was curious about me. This wavering hovering stuff, was not solid but I tried to push it away from my wife. It left and I laid there just breathing hard. Later my wife received a called from Germany that her uncle had died. I had met him only once and he had watch me with curiosity as he laid sick in his living room. On my first visit to his house I saw that He had a picture of me up on the wall..I always found that touching. The second included my wife’s Grandpa and I made the connection much later. It is the third one that really enlightened me to the reality that we are eternal, immortal, that it is all true that there is life after death. When my Father’s Twin sister died we all slept over at my brother’s and during the night, My brother started to groan and moan, I woke up and knew that it was in the house, as I laid there this time, Peaceful and not Frighten into paralysis, listening to my brother groan as if he feared something. Then the amazing thing happened and this was Grace at work for me. I sense or felt movement and my sister in another room started groaning and moaning under fear. I then thought Our Aunt is visiting her children.(She helped raise us.) Then it was over me and I felt movement like wings but at the same time I felt that she was unrestrictedly Happy, Joy was flowing from this hovering, wavering, nothing was there but I knew that it was our Aunt and she was not dead. Blessed Assurance. God lives inside of us so how can the part of us that is one with God Eternal die? Understand the implications of that question. We don’t die we simply change forms. Experience is not what happens to us. Experience is what we do with what happens to us.

No, but it is more of an emotional or spiritual connection. I do this all the time because I know it works. One time in school I knew this girl liked. Every time we were around each other we had this strong vibe. One week I had got suspended, so while I was at home suddenly I felt this sharp weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then all of a sudden a voice in my head said: "She misses me" and their was a picture of the girl's face in my head. That same day my brother came home and told me that she said she missed me!

Ever since then these types of things have been happening on regular basis.

Drham - I believe every word you say.. the most terrifying experience of my life was when I was awakened by something trying to pass into my body. I reached out with my physical hand a grabbed something invisible (??!!) and held on to it for dear life while repeating the Lord's Prayer, as loud and as quickly as I could... took 3 repeats before I felt 'the thing' dissolve away.

I definitely do not want to have that experience again. I have also had invisible 'something or the others sit on my bed' once or twice and once had a heavy breathing thing going on when I was the only one in the room.

I am reminded that the saints sometimes had to wrestle with devils. Lets just say I am a very cautious woman these days.

I would suggest you place yourself under the protection of a spiritual favourite.

Ask God to protect you in your sleep before you go to sleep. Pray on this. You can envision God's protection in any form that is comfortable for you. I use a vision of a cocoon of golden light or golden white light surrounding my body. With this vision I command (with God's help) that no force that is harmful be allowed to enter my cocoon of protective energy.

See if you experience the same presence with this energy of protection in place. I can guarantee you that the chance of even friendly energy entering that layer of protection is slim to none.

The reason I am suggesting this to you is because until you master your inner psyche and the make up of yourself, allowing an outside presence to enter you will only cause you problems. To put it another way, nobody has the right to invade your point of command without a specific invitation that was initiated by you. And when you are ready to venture in that type of an adventure, you better know how to pull the plug if you don't like what you invited to enter your presence.

You don't need an outside presence to enter to teach you what you must learn by your own effort. The mastery of the power of manifestation that flows through your very attention of consciousness is something that is a gift that was bestowed upon you, not to be given away so easily to another, when you yourself may not have fully mastered its true potential of power.

By the way, I am not using the word God within the context of a particular religion. Think of a higher power (that is loving) beyond yourself that can be your guardian. I prefer to bypass religion and pray directly to God.