Every now and then I’ll be sitting in a chair or laying in bed, very quietly, and I’ll experience an odd sensation. It feels like the direction of Gravity is slowly shifting. I’m not asleep or close to it, and the objects around me, including my body do not behave oddly (obviously, or it wouldn’t be so strange). It is not an out-of-body experience. I can only think it must be something to do with the inner ear.
More specifically, it usually feels like gravity is sliding up to pull in the direction of the top of my head. It is not the most pronounced effect in the world, and it only happens when I’m reclining somehow, but nevertheless it is a VERY strange feeling.
Does this have a name? Has anyone else experienced it? Can I write a New Age book about how I’m a “gravity master” and with a little help and for a small fee, you can be too? Or has someone already done this?
I’m not trying to be sarcastic or insulting your intelligence at all here but just out of curiosity are you near a power plant or any other type of factory or something that would have a large magnetic field around it. (I know I know even if there was it he pobably wouldn’t feel it but odd things do happen) Probably not you may though want to have your inner ear checked out, you said it’s only when your reclined so the fluid may be leaking to some sort of a dent or something in there that causes the odd feelings.
I used to get a similar feeling where I worked. I figured it was either the radar dish (my husband, the radar technician said it was too close) or the medications I was taking, or both. I was on Prozac, 800 mg Motrins, and I sometimes illegally took Lortab when the Motrin didn’t work. (I got tired of accidentally ODing on the Motrins.)
I don’t get it too much anymore, but you should see a doctor to make sure it isn’t your ears or something.
It’s far too infrequent to make seeing a doctor worth the trip. It has happened at least twice, though, in different places, neither of which was near an EM field stronger than that in any other residential neighborhood. It hasn’t happened in at least a year (I don’t exactly mark it on the calendar). It’s not an overpowering feeling: I’m not dizzy, for instance. I can stand up and walk around just fine. In fact, I have to concentrate on the sensation to be fully aware of it. But it is there. it’s the closest I’ve come to the kind of thing people describe from hypnogogic or out-of-body experiences. this is not nearly as colorful, I guess. I was hoping it was maybe common and just not spoken of.
Am I the only one? Truly I am the gravity master. Worship me, all you ordinaries!
Oh yes, I forgot to say. I’m not on drugs or medications of any kind (surprise!). I don’t even take aspirin.
Well, I DO drink beer from time to time. But I’m not an idiot. The experience is not correlated with drinking. It would not be worth mentioning if that’s all it was.
I’m not at all trying to downplay your sensation, but there is a simple way to achieve what you described. As you read this, take a relaxed but deep breath in. “Concentrate” on your head. It feels like it’s floating away.
Actually, now that I’m doing it, I’m not sure if it’s caused by increased air pressure in the noggin or if the head is really being raised by the enlargement of the chest.
Anyway, is this what it feels like? Is the sensation independent of breathing patterns?
Sorry, Pete, my head doesn’t feel like it’s floating away. I have to be pretty relaxed to feel what I was talking about; maybe that’s why I have to be lying down.
I don’t remember my breathing patterns being anything other than normal, relaxed breathing. There was nothing oscillatory about the feeling though.
I’ve had this sensation several times at many different residences. I don’t think that it has anything to do with electromagnetic waves. It happens when I’m lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep. I’m still conscious and there’s isn’t a jolt afterwards like I’d been dreaming. If I keep my eyes closed, it feels like the bed is being tilted. It never happens in the morning when I’m well rested. I believe that the cause is fatigue affecting my sense of balance.
“The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.” -George Carlin
I’ve experienced what pathunt describes, and also a version that is concentrated in my right hand, near the wrist. It feels like gravity is pulling up instead of down, but it’s not like “floating”. I’m not usually lying down when I get this feeling, but I am usually sitting still (ie my hand is not moving). I also live nowhere near any kind of magnetic field (that I’m aware of), and I take no drugs or medications (not even alcohol).
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
– Henry David Thoreau
Oh, I didn’t mean to infer by any of this that you were an idiot, I just want to help you figure it out. As a bonus, I can compare your experience to mine.
That’s exactly it, pathunt, the odd feeling that the bed is tilted.
I’m not sure Cessandra’s talking about the same thing; I can’t imagine what I felt being localized in an extremity. But maybe SHE’S the gravity goddess!
I’m not disturbed by any of this, or looking for a “cure”. But does it have a name? Even in French? Let’s give it one. What’s French for “tilting”?
I’ve gotten this sensation a few times. I feel like I’m being slowly tilted or rotated backward. It has always happened to me when when I’m lying in bed. Closing your eyes helps to concentrate on the feeling. It is not chronic; it seldom happens, and is not what I’d call a “problem.” I cannot see any common theme, other than that I am always lying down. It is not fatigue, though, because exactly how tired I am seems to be irrelevant. I’d guess that it’s just some kind of quirk within the inner ear.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Yes, I understood.
And no, I don’t meditate and I’ve never halucinated, that I know of. I’ve never experienced anything paranormal anyway. I don’t think I have a medical condition or an inner ear problem. My balance is quite good, I don’t get dizzy. I’ve been seasick, but it went away after about 24 hours at sea. I doubt a doctor would find anything.
I expect this is just an oddity of the way people are wired, like the sensation of deja vu. I was looking to see if anyone else could verify it.
i had this happen to me before–sometimes i can get up and walk around as it was happening it is very disconcerting in fact sometimes it scares the hell out of me. it can last as long as 5 minutes but as it happens, time seems to slow down and i have very little awareness of my suroundings. i just hope that it never happens while i am driving. thanks for posting this thread–untill i heard you discribe it, i had lots of trouble discribing it. for me it usualy happens late at night so the fatgue explanation seems viable.
