I used to have SP frequently, so I am quite used to it. Ignore the pesences. This state is exactly where you need to be! Body asleep, mind awake, the thing is your eyes are open. So you think you are awake even though you are not. You need to remind yourself you are asleep, close those eyes of yours if you can, and imagine yourself somewhere else. Trying to move can be odd and painful if you are not used to your etheric body. If you do try and force yourself to move, it may feel like you are pulling out of your body. From this SP awareness state you can roll out of your body to AP as well.
The thing is, it’s different for everyone, you cannot tell by advance what is going to happen for sure.
But you don’t have to worry, nothing bad can happen in any case, plus you won’t necessrily get SP or Old hag. 
For me, it doesn’t work that way, I always have to struggle with my dream body to get up. When I’m up, I keep rubbing my hands, breathing deeply, and the dreams gets clearer and I take more and more control of myself.
Woohoo, I salute you. She always scares me. 
Last night I had a strange experience. I’ve never had SP before, but this sounds like it.
I was counting from 1 to 100 in time with my breaths to relax myself. When I got to around 50, I realised that I had an itch. I went to scratch it but my hand wouldn’t move, I then realised that I was paralysed. My hand vibrated.
It didn’t last long. The harder I tried to force my hand to move, the harder it vibrated, until I finally moved it and woke up (even though I’m sure I was awake).
I didn’t realise that it could’ve been SP until now. I feel a bit disappointed with myself, I could have had an LD or even astral projected.
Yes, that sounds like SP Caz.
Experience helps, next time you can try to use it to get into an LD or OOBE. 
don
Sleep paralysis happens whenever I try to attempt MILD- first my feet, then my hands, and soon my whole body seems almost ghostly. I can’t feel anything and I can’t determine where my feet or hands are; sometimes it feels like my legs are crossed, or bent funny, or my hands are balled into fists.
The only time I’ve ever had an Old Hag, or something similar to it, was when I had a false awakening and this strange lady stood at the foot of my bed- she looked like a supermodel, at least in her 20’s with long brown hair and tan skin, and she was completely naked. But there was something about her that frightened me beyond comprehentsion, like she was really some demon in disguise that was about to kill me, and I couldn’t move.
She seemed to be hovering or crawling over my bed, but then vanished as I sat bolt upright in bed, awake and freaked out (And to think that only happens in movies!).
I was wondering… when you have an old hag experience, are you actually awake and hallucinating, or are you just dreaming of your room?
Because I was wondering… if it was the former, what would happen if someone else was walking around in the room? And what would happen if they came up to you? Would you see them pass through the old hag, or what?
Just some general ponderings. 
You are mentally awake and not dreaming but your physical body is sleeping/paralyzed. I have experienced it and my eyes were open and i was just being bombarded with a black figure and its the scariest thing ive ever experienced…i dont know but if someone else was in the room i dont think they would acknowlegdge the old hag or watever form its in. Its your mind its happening to…so i guess its a halucination but real at the same time 
I never thought that the other person would be able to see the hag! I know it’s not real! 
I just mean I wonder what would happen if the hag and the person occupied the same space… would it appear as though the person was going through the hag, or would the hag disappear, or would something else happen?
Ohh haha ok i see. Well i guess thats a hard question. I guess it would all have to do with how your mind interpreted it. Since it is not physical it would probaby become invisible if it passed through another physical being…good question though
It seems that everytime someone come in the same room than the dreamer, the SP stops, and so does the hallucinations.
I remember having a feeling of teh old hag before i started getting into LD’s almost everytime I went to sleep, sometimes to such an extent that I would put my head under my pillow.
After reading this site, I went to the forums and found a lot of scary S*** that didn’t help my fear. It even made me scared of WILD ing in case I got teh old hag feeling. After returning to this forum and reading more, i found out that (from dozens of posts that said so) there was nothing to fear. Just last night, i realized that I had absolutely no fear.
I had my first SP experience a few nights ago. I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to try and WILD. I relaxed and got into the mind set then something just felt wrong. I tried to move but I was paralysed. I remembered all I had heard about SP and knew there was a chance I would get an old hag. As I lay there, enjoying the strange experience I heard my name being whispered, “Chris, Chris, Chris, I’m here”. Suddenly I became very, very scared. I sleep in a raised bed with an area beneath me. I felt something moving underneath and a hooded face appeared over the side of my bed, looking like a grim reaper. I wasn’t so scared when I saw what it was, I had pictured the OH to be a witch from a nightmare I had when I was younger. He spoke to me and said “I’m here”, then I was dreaming. Unfortunately not lucidly but I remember enough to write a short dream journal. I’ll spare you the details as it wasn’t very pleasant.
I’ve got a question - Is the old hag the same thing everytime? Because if it is, I’ve got very little to worry about. The grim reaper dude wasn’t that scary at all.
I have experienced three different “hag” types: a slowly moving, black shadow, the feeling of a big person in my bed and the sound of footsteps towards my bed. Since these three affect three different senses, they could actually be three variations of the same hallucination.
These experiences aren’t scary anymore, after learning what they really are. It sounds very nice that yours told you that you were dreaming! Maybe, if you expect it to do that the next time you experience SP, it could be a good way to get more lucid dreams. 
This morning I was trying to get back to sleep. As I lay there trying to do WILD, I felt like someone or something was walking around my bed. I could hear footsteps and ather scary things. Was that the old hag? I didn’t care to look cuz I would rather have been dreaming.
Yup. From what I’ve heard the Old Hag can be anything from a feeling of something scary during SP right up to a full blown hallucination.
In Sp I Saw A Figure,thought It Was My Bro… It Wasnt
I had an SP last year, before Winter Break.
I was working late at night, rushing to finish a paper that was due the next day ( I know, I know- spare me the ‘procrastination is bad’ talk).
I got out of my computer chair (where I was typing my paper) and lay on the floor to nap for a bit, and I even told myself, “You’re only going to sleep for an hour,” as I still had to finish my paper.
The next thing I know, I’m lying supine on the floor and I can’t move at all. Everytime I do make an effort to move, I hear this loud ringing sound that’s very similiar to tinnitus. I remembered that I had a project to finish, and willed myself to move.
Of course, I had little success. However, I kept telling my toes to move, and I eventually got my big toe to twitch and I woke up, as the ringing sound kind of changed into the sound of my heater humming.
I wish I’d known about SP what I do now.
(By the way, I had slept on my back and the room light was on: two factors that increase the chances of an SP.)
I am thinking about trying WILD but the idea of hearing and seeing a bunch of stuff is really creepy. Also the idea of the old hag scares the hell out of me. Does it happen offten? it it actually really horrible or is there a way to just know its not real and continue into your lucid dream?
You will know it’s not real when it happens but I’m still too scared to do it like you. Even though I always know that what isn’t real can’t harm you and shouldn’t scare you. The whole paralysis thing don’t seem too nice either. It’s not just seeing and hearing stuff, people say they feel like there being pulled pr like they’re on a rollercoaster n stuff sometimes. Sounds really cool but I’m scared of it lol.