Let’s start with a lucid sleep onset practice, and play around with liminal dreaming in the hypnogogic (pre-dream) space. Watch your mind closely (but again, not TOO closely or you won’t drift off into sleep) and see if you can observe how the thoughts you bring with you as you lie down start to slow down and break up (becoming less continuous, more disjointed). Do you see the gaps in your stream of thoughts as you start to drift into sleep?
The next step is to see if you can observe how thoughts start to morph into thought/image amalgamations. In other words, see if you can detect when thoughts start to transform into images, and thinking is being replaced with imaging. You can do this when you fall asleep at the beginning of the night, or when you fall back asleep if you get up during the night. You can also do this on the “back end,” in the hypnopompic phase of liminal dreaming, when you’re coming out of sleep and dream and transitioning into waking consciousness in the morning.
Journal what you discover. Success? Failure? Discoveries?
I look forward to hearing how it goes!
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If you haven’t read my intro, click here before you get started. I provide a little more insight before starting a #lucid-dreaming-tasks
I’m re-listening to Jennifer Dumpert’s book on Liminal Dreaming and it’s providing the recency-knowledge to activate my motivation and focus for this task. I’ve heard the book before, but I’m the type of learner that needs to hear or read things with spaced practices to really “get it.” Yesterday I finally was able to liminal dream in a nap and that was encouraging. Earlier in the day I attended Andrew’s “book signing,” so it was on my mind. I’ve ordered the audio book to go along with the paper copy so I can grok it via two channels.
Then, yesterday morning I had a hypnopompic experience where I was having dinner in a restaurant with a few other folks and we were served a book. Someone mentioned that they thought it was to be steak. I looked at the book and wondered if we had to eat it? The host got up to speak to the cook. After he arose and left a Japanese man sitting next to me asked, “Who was that man?” I said “it is Andrew Wise-Man.”
During hypnopompic period yesterday I was able to call up two baby “dragons” in ultra-fine detail. Earlier I viewed an old stove from the 1930s-40s is such fine detail I could turn it 360 degrees and see it from many angles. Usually I just see shades of dark/light with occasional colors.
Last night‘s hypnogogic experience: random pictures form… a flower, some chairs and a table… I watch them, keeping in mind that these are dream images… knowing they are manifestation of my mind…
quite satisfied with myself, I suddenly see a hand form…
flipping the bird at me… hahahaha
When I began LDing, I had many beautiful hypnogic dreamlets in the early morning hours. I seem to have lost my way Need some advice on how to practice hypnogia. I have a hard time falling asleep, meaning I’m more awake than required to be in a state of hypnogia. Without audio I lose track and fall asleep. With audio I’m too awake. How to stay in that dreamy space ? Thanks for all your responses here. Enjoyed reading them.
At the last Dream Sharing group an interesting hypnogogic activity was suggested. If you go to YouTube, start listening at about 26 minutes, or listen to the entire video. Very interesting activity to do when falling asleep.
What helps me during those nights that I have “tightened” too much in the practice, I take 10mg of melatonin and go to bed right away and start to practice. As the melatonin kicks in, it gives just the right amount of loosening effect to help slip into the hypnogogic state. I used to be really good at this but purposely shut down this practice. I’m just starting up again, but I remember the dosage of the melatonin is important so that you don’t loosen so much that I wouldn’t just give totally into it.
Need some advice on how to practice hypnogia. I have a hard time falling asleep, meaning I’m more awake than required to be in a state of hypnogia. Without audio I lose track and fall asleep. With audio I’m too awake. How to stay in that dreamy space ? Thanks for all your responses here. Enjoyed reading them.