Hypnogogic Images & Trance

[Blackstream]

First off, try looking for the hypnagogic imagary using the interrupted sleep technique, that might help.  That is, sleep for 4 hours, then get up, walk around for about 30 minutes, then go back to bed for another 4.  When going back, focus on the imagary.  

EDIT: by focus I mean watching passively, not actually direction lots of attention or moving your eyes or willing anything to happen, just keeping an active mind on the imagary, but at the same time not trying to influence it in any way, the act of doing so will cause the images to disappear.  Basically watch but don't will.

Secondly, the very act of trying and failing may be causing a mental block preventing you from succeeding.  But then again, maybe not.  I just focus on the images, and eventually they appear.  If they ever get so clear that they are movie-esque, that pretty much means that lucid dream and/or obe is near.  At which point I wait for a scene to form which I'm in, then I simply start moving:)  

These movielike images I believe are brought on by REM sleep onset, though I'm not sure on that.  Which is why I suggest the interrupted sleep technique as you can hit REM sleep within minutes of going back to sleep, as opposed to 90 minutes at the start of the night.  Naps are good too for this.

[Makaveli]

I've been getting a lot of realistic hypnotic images lately that I can mentally control and I'm also trying to figure out how to get the images more.  There are a few things I've been doing different lately that I'm guessing might have helped me get these images and the vibes more. I'm not doing physical relaxation and I've mostly been working on keeping my eyes relaxed so my focus isn't centered behind them.  I noticed that they usually happen for me right before the vibes come.

This morning I got hypnotic images of a forest and then one of my ceiling zoomed in.  The other day I saw a brick wall with a hole in it and the sun was shining through, right after that I had an OBE.  

[SomeBloke]

Weird, me too.  The first was like an abstract tapestry representation of a house with circular bushes outside that expanded to be a grid with each square filled with that (asymmetrical) pattern stretching everywhere.
The second was the face of a Maori with warpaint I guess doing the Hakka (sp?)  I looked up Maoris the next day and found it was the last day of the Maori reunion on NZ.
The third was the only one I managed to induce intentionally, which was like a weird black plant that grew and it looked like it was made out of a graphical symbol like the biohazard symbol.

In Astral Dynamics it calls these Remote Eye Projections, I wouldn't call it hypnagogic imagery 'cos I was awake.

[AndrewTheSinger]

A brick wall with a hole in it and the sun shining through it, that sounds excellent, I'll try that sometime. They are usually stereotyped, simple forms, simple objects. I have a list here I made for myself:

*a white t-shirt hanging on a wire, wind blowing on it;

*a view of a tornado from above;

*a hallway with many doors;

*a glass jar pouring water;

*a small red pyramid spinning;

*turning the pages of an invisible book untill I can read something (this one works best for me).


Patrik, what I do is to picture one of these things while falling asleep.

[cube]

Here's a picture of a Maori doing the Haka:

[kiauma]

Cool!

[SomeBloke]

yep! that's the fella!

[Patrik]

Thanks all,

I think it will be hard to get the realism of the images when trying to picture them mentally. The times I do that not much happen at all. I am pretty bad at visualizing something, which is one reason these images are good, I won't need to use all my mental energy to concentrate on an object created by my mind, which I barely see in detail anyway.

I have been trying to "focus inward", trying to see the blackness while still not look at the eyelids. Doesn't really do much good either.

When I was a child I could very easily get to the pre-stage of these images (didn't know at the time) where you see clear shapes and figures, but without graphic. Today I can't get these at all, and all I get is neuron discharges.

Though I guess this is something that is very hard to explain, and I just need to practise, practise and practise. Hopefully the images will return some day, and I might remember what I did to induce them. Still feel I would like a "step-by-step" guide though,

[Patrik]

Hello all,

I have been practising projection for quite a while, but am still to get my first experience. I have quite a number of times managed to get very vivid hypnogogic images when practising. That is images close, or as real as photos or watching a movie. When these happened I found them interesting, but didn't pay much attention to them.

Lately I've found out that these, and state when they appear, can be used as a doorway into the astral. I have since then tried reproducing and getting these images back, which has been impossible.

If I just put myself on the edge of sleep I get hypnogogic images, but they are greyish and not even close to earlier experienced.
I have tried putting myself into deep trance, to the point where heavyness and the "feel" of the body is gone. Where as I then aproach the hypnogogic state, without success.

If anyone have any tips or suggestions (beside "just let it happen" etc) let me know, it's appreciated. I have had them numerous times before, so I would think I should be able to get them again.

Might also use this opportunity to ask a question related to the trance. I manage to get myself heavier, and heavier, when I after a while get to the point of barely feeling the body at all, and it's all of a sudden very light, heavyness gone. Though when having been in this state for a while, the feel comes back and the body is awake again. Suggestions?

Thanks.