The "Crossover" from thought to dream

[holy reality]

i know exactly what you are talking about, and i call that state "the gap" (being a tool fan and all... slipping back intooooo.....) yeah.. anyway...

i characterize the state with falling... you know... lalala i'm thinking...... ...... thinking............ thinking.............*GAP* no thoughts -> falling sensation -> adrenaline -> "whoah".... thinking... more thinking... repeat.... thinking... repeat... thinking... repeat......

etc.. until you actually manage to fall asleep

It's very curious.. I usually don't stay in that state for more than a second or two, becuase as soon as I realize I've stopped thinking, I've started thinking again.. I almost always feel like I'm falling, sometimes I hear voices, sometimes see things.. usually just falling...

the hypnagogic imagery however, if sustained for a long period of time is quite amazing.. I once saw an intricate geometric design of two paralell spinning figures interwined on a netted chessboard like pattern... it was amazing...

but.. yeah this state, it's so fun but next to impossible to stay in... if you stay long enough you can consciously choose to either enter a dream, or initiate projection, depending on just how much you let yourself see visuals, and how quiet you keep your mind.

the best time to get into that state for me is early morning upon having just woken up from a dream and right before i decide to go back to sleep i try to consciously wake up my mind just enough so it stays awake while the sleep process starts up... which kind of leads to body asleep mind awake.

i've tried napping a few times but i can never get asleep... i just keep hitting that gap and immediately jolting out of it and such.. and it's VERY tiring on you to do that....

[pod3]

A neat idea which I can and will try. Falling is inward projection, and Tool is cool. []

[kozzi]

Wow, I think my whole approach to LDing is based on what you're experiencing.  I guess it would be called WILD.  I read once that a famous psychiatrist dabbled with the pre-dream state by allowing himself to passively observe the imagery passing in front of his closed eyelids as he lay down to sleep.  It works, and it works amazingly well if you're fairly well practiced at visualization and lucid dreaming.  

Kozzi

[Bhikku]

Hello all- some of you may remember me from a while back, some not. Anyway, for the past year I've really been taking extreme interest in the state of mind when I am falling asleep. 3 times a day, I try to take a 30 minute nap, regulated by an alarm. I know that there must be one specific point/sign from when normal, rambling thoughts stop going through my mind, and the dream process begins. It's so amazing to me, to be thinking consistantly, with full concoiusness, then crossing to the pre-dream state and not realizing that my free will thoughts have been silenced by hypnotising hypnognia. (sp?) Has anyone else attempted to come to terms with this state? Just curious.