trance/hypnogogic state

[no_skillzz]

Uhhh, for any1 who cares

I've decided to scrap the breathing exercise as it seems to be the main reason that I can't get to sleep, and I really don't think it works!

I'm gonna go back to the trance exs. to lower my brain waves... Hopefully concentration on the falling sensation will prevent me from losing focus.

[Tia]

I am no expert but I usually lay on my back and go through all the exercises, by the time I've done that, I get the urge to change my position to be more comfortable.  So try starting off on your side, do all the relaxation exercises and then roll onto your back for the finale?  Only do the 'tense/relax' exercises once unless you find specific areas of tension - sometimes you dont realise that a part of the body is tense until the last moment when it interferes with your attempts.

"I've decided to scrap the breathing exercise as it seems to be the main reason that I can't get to sleep, and I really don't think it works!..."

You dont want to put your brain to sleep, just the body.  Try doing a workout before lying down to really relax the body.  Good luck.  I think it might be harder to have a lucid experience than to have an OBE.  

[no_skillzz]

Ahoy,

I'm currently practising techniques to consciously lower my brain waves so that I can enter the hypnogogic state... from which it is fairly easy to enter a LD, which in turn is pretty easy to convert into an OBE.

I find it MUCH easier to sleep on my side, but it is also VERY easy for me to lose focus and slip into the dream land, so I try to sleep on my back. What I do is...  I first relax my body - tense the muscles and then relax. I do this over the body from calves, thighs, abs, chest etc. Now, what I do know is that this helps reduce the brain waves to a certain extent because it mimicks the sleep state... What I need to know is... How many times should I go over the body doing this? The fact is, I feel relaxed when I lie down with or without the exercise.. so I'm not really sure if it's necessary.

Next, to lower the brain waves further... I do a breathing exs. Basically, I know that slower breathing reduces brain waves so I made my own breathing pattern of inhaling for 4 secs, holding for 8 secs, exhaling for 4 secs and holding for 8 secs (breathing via the mouth). I don't know if this really works because I haven't seen this breathing pattern anywhere else. Instead of using a trance exs. (as mentioned in Astral Dynamics) I prefer to keep my mind clear of thoughts, which (obviously) prevents losing focus. The thing is, I don't really feel tired - If I lie down on my side and breathe normally, I FEEL sleepy/tired... bit hard to explain. Is it possible that my brain waves are being lowered but I'm not necessarily feeling sleepy?

Basically, I'm aiming for the hypnogogic imagery. Any ideas?

Mucho thanx