I am thrilled to have had my second lucid dream last night. (I’ve had a handful of “near-misses” over the months but this is only the second time I had full recognition that I was dreaming.) The first time, almost a year ago, I was able to stay in the dream state and continue dreaming. This time, last night, I did not, but something perhaps even more interesting happened. As soon as I realized I was dreaming, I seemed to wake up. It wasn’t out of excitement, as Andrew has said can easily happen. There was no emotion about it at all. But the thought “this is / must be a dream” led to the awakening naturally and in an almost beautiful manner, like a flower opening. My vision flooded with white light, and I thought I had awoken. I fell quickly back into the same dream, although with more moderate lucidity.
However, once I actually woke up for the morning, I questioned to what extent I had truly woken earlier, if at all. Normally when I awaken and open my eyes, I immediately see my bedroom. This time all I recall is bright white light, and not my room. Also I don’t think I have ever woken up and then fell back asleep to continue the exact same dream.
Then an idea struck me- what if I hadn’t awoken at all, but rather, the realization I was in the dream state triggered my consciousness to start rising from the throat chakra (where it resides during sleep, right?) to the head, where it resides when we are awake? (I might have the locations wrong- I’m not double checking it with a book right now- but either way, the general premise is the same.) I never reached the fully wakened state, but my consciousness started moving through the U-Ma, which could be perceived as a bright white light. I thought of this because someone asked Andrew in a Q&A about descriptions of NDEs and how they may correlate to the Buddhist teachings on the death process. He said that the reports of traveling through a tunnel towards a bright white light do seem rather similar to the description of the consciousness traveling through the central channel at death. Of course our consciousness moves through the central channel on a daily/nightly basis, not just at death.
Thoughts on this? Could I have caught a glimpse of the U-Ma as my consciousness started to rise, but as it didn’t make it all the way to wakefulness, it descended again and I was therefore able to slip back seamlessly into the same dream?
Wish I could ask Andrew this question but he stopped his Q&A sessions!!!
So great that you had that experience! Perhaps it’s what’s known as a false awakening, where you think you’re awake but you really aren’t. I’ve had that a couple of times and in the past I’ve heard a few webinar participants talk about 3 or 4 false awakenings before actually awakening. Not sure about the NDE but I’ve had a couple of dreams where I was not sure if I was dead and had to make checks to see if I was. I wasn’t. You might ask him the question at the next Book Club meeting, or send it in writing and wait for his response. The Book Club webpage has a place for sending in questions.
Yes I’ve written in a question there before, but I figured that was a “dead end” as he wasn’t doing the Q&A sessions now. Do you think he is still pulling from those questions at the book club meetings? I kind of felt like we’re supposed to keep the questions relevant to the current book material for the week, but maybe not.
I did think of the “false awakening” phenomenon, but I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it that… I know I left the dream state for at least a few seconds, but that’s about it. I always thought of false awakenings as going further into waking-esque experience… at the bare minimum, seeing things from the vantage of your bed. If I had seen my bedroom at least it might qualify.
Loved reading this! This is a very big accomplishment!
Sounds to me like you had a false awakening like @_Barry said.
If you completely left the dream state for a few moments the it would not be a false awakening, and that experience would be much less common than false awakening from my perspective.
The FAs I have had (only 2 in the past 2 years) were short-lived (a few seconds), and felt very very real, and were non lucid.
It is possible to reconnect and reenter an old dream. I have not done it but heard many people who have.
Ooh interesting thought. It was on the morning of January 26. The full moon rose on the 25th, so it was indeed within 24 hours!
I agree that this was a “false awakening” in the sense that at the time I believed I had awoken, but I did not truly reach the waking state. But I do believe I left the sleep state. There is an in between, however brief… I think in both a brain-wave level and a consciousness-rising-through-the-central-channel level. I imagine the transition can be faster or slower, depending on circumstances. I will post my question for Andrew. I bet he’ll love it. I’ll mention the full moon thing in my question too, so he has that added piece of information. Thank you!
Do you know how to submit a question for Andrew for the next book club meeting? I submitted a question once before when he was doing the Q&A but it doesn’t seem like that option is available anymore (probably because he recently stopped doing them). I can’t find any other place to submit a question- just places to write in where I think it’s more like for technical/website help. Thanks
If you use this link and scroll to the bottom you will see Book Study Question Form. You can use that to submit a question. Or feel free to email me directly!
Oh well I’ve only had two lucid dreams so far, but I dream journal religiously every morning, so what needs to increase first is the dreams themselves!
I tried it a while back and didn’t do well with it (reading in our forums here, I can see I’m not the only person who has experienced this). I set it aside. I tried it again recently and BAM. Floodgates opened to remembering many dreams, very vividly, with a lot of powerful symbolism. Three days into this I had the lucid dream I wrote about here. I took it four days (or mornings) in a row, and the intensity was just so overwhelming… Such vivid dreams, so many, to the point it took a good couple hours each morning to journal them all, let alone processing their symbolism thought the day. I felt like I hadn’t rested, just spent all night super stimulated! I needed a break. I took a day off, and actually told my subconscious “I need a night where I don’t remember any dreams. I just need rest!” and my subconscious complied. A few nights later I decided I’d had the rest I needed and wanted to get back in the saddle. I tried half as much Galantamine, thinking maybe the 4 mg I was taking before might be overkill (I am a small person). No fireworks with 2 mg so I went back to 4. But the “beginner’s luck” seems to have passed and I’m not back there yet.
I wonder about developing tolerance and such. Maybe it’s not something good to use all the time. Can’t help but feel I spoiled the magic by stopping after the overwhelming first four days… Maybe I should have pushed through. I certainly wouldn’t have stopped if I knew it wouldn’t work when I started up again. But I’m not hung up on it- these things come and go anyways. Just continuing the path
Similar effects on dream recall for me, it increased it by at least 100%, if not much more so. It was too powerful for me to fall asleep with it, so i figured I would use it to help with dream recall. 4mg-8mg seems to be the sweet spot for most lucid dreamers with this substance.
Be careful. I am more in the moderation camp than to take this substance religiously. Its a drug, there are known and unknown side effects.
So if you have a dry spell for dreaming, at least you know you have found a silver bullet.
to the description of the consciousness traveling through the central channel at death. Of course our consciousness moves through the central channel on a daily/nightly basis, not just at death.
I’ll mention the full moon thing in my question too, so he has that added piece of information. Thank you!