Hello everyone,
I’m new to this group but have been in the Nightclub Club for sometime. I just read thru the notes and don’t find this subject covered. If you have already discussed it, my apologies.
I have the practice of re-entering sleep in the middle of the night by watching hynogogic images. Generally for me, this involves physically looking at the dark inside my closed eyelids (I hope that makes sense to you). I’m experiencing a shift with this practice to the kind of “looking” one uses for visualization. I have some fluidity with these two states from teaching dream inducing meditations. But now, as often happens, I’m confused. I find myself doing this illusory-form practice and switching perspectives inside that hypnogogic state. So Im watching the hypnogogic images and find myself opening and stepping back into a panoramic view of the dreamy situation. I find I can re-enter sleep either way, but am wondering if anyone else who is doing this practice is experiencing it in the dream or in liminal states. Talking about it might give us ideas on how to best use it in the night.
Andrew, if you’re listening please do step in or speak to this subject during the bookclub Q&A.
Love to you all and glad to have people to talk to,
jill
Interested to read about what dream-inducing meditations you are teaching.
Perhaps you can send in your question in advance for Andrew to answer Tuesday evening, or maybe you already have.
Hi Barry,
Thanks for coordinating us.
The meditations are quite simple. I use them with dream/book discussion groups here in San Diego. The group takes place in the evening, 7pm +/-.
We have the meditation laying down and I do a guided meditation, then when eveybody is nicely relaxed I tell them it’s ok to fall asleep, but you have to pay attention. That’s pretty successful for looking at hypnagogia and giving an idea of what a dream looks like.
thanks for asking.
Thanks Jill. I often use guided meditations to fall asleep, though my favorite one, from Charlie Morley, is intended to induce WILD, but I never get to end before falling asleep. For your question above, you can submit it at the bottom of this page and Andrew should get to it.
Hello, Jill…
I spend a great deal of time in that liminal space watching the imagery form and dissipate. I have read that some of that imagery is indicative of the winds and vital energies entering and dissipating in the central channel as you relax and control your breathing.
These are some of my favorite times of the night. I have found that meditation during an awake period prior to going back to bed can really enhance the imagery and lead to wake induced lucidity as @_Barry alluded to.
I have had some very powerful experiences during these nocturnal meditative periods.
Hi Steve, Thanks for that. I will let that thought enter my space at night and see what happens!
I too am absolutely in love with liminal spaces. As I age sleep seems to be becoming lighter, but what would be insomnia has become a sweet time of meditating and allowing liminal dreaming to arise.
I’m trying to figure out how we can use Andrews illusory form practice in the night and I do see this shift happening - sort of a change in focus, maybe it has to do with winds or moving energy, I don’t know. (Feels like its in the top of my head right now, but I could try to move it down into heart.)
Glad to meet you.
Try working with vase breathing techniques if you are up during the night. Bringing the winds into the lower chakras (navel chakra and secret chakra) and bringing them up through the central channel always helps me to “light up” my illusory body.
I just wanted to add that Dr. Nida is a wonderful teacher. I did a weekend retreat with him and Tenzin Thurman on Illusory Body practice. Dr. Nida teaches a whole series of movements called Nejang that work with the breath and the subtle body. He includes the vase breath and a technique called bumpachen that is incredibly useful for bringing energy into the central (wisdom) channel. If you check out purelandfarms.com they have some videos available by donation on the practice. He also has a book called “Nejang: Tibetan Self-Healing Yoga” that goes through the whole practice. It’s wonderful!
Thanks for that, Justin @chokyithinley . I have seen some of his videos where he speaks of those protocols and I really do love his teaching style.
I’ll third the recommendation. I took the Tummo (2) course with him and Dr. Thurman, which was excellent. Dr. Thurman translated previously untranslated Tibetan texts as Dr. Nida discussed them and then demonstrated Tummo breathing.