Hypnagogic hallucinations during meditation -- good or bad?

[Renyao]

So I've been noticing some odd phenomena while meditating and I'd like the forum's opinion on them. Specifically I'm not sure if I'm getting closer to being able to WILD at will, or if I'm merely falling asleep while meditating A bit of background detail: I've apparently had sleep apnea for years without realizing it. I was always exhausted, fell asleep at the drop of a hat, dragged myself out of bed every morning, etc. Naturally my LDing suffered from this. Starting to use those anti-snore nose strips has made an unbelievable difference in my sleep quality and the frequency/vividness of my LDs shot through the roof as a result -- I just had a nice long, vivid LD last night, in fact. So far so good, right? I've also been meditating for about half a year. I use my MILD mantra as a meditation mantra, so I just sit quietly and chant "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming" in my head. Before I fixed my sleeping problem the biggest roadblock to meditation was a wandering mind: worrying about what to eat for dinner, thinking about books I'd read, getting bored and wondering if my time was up, etc. But after I started sleeping better that all went away. Now when I meditate I'm not bothered by worries or daydreams, but I have been consistently getting these very odd, brief little visual hallucinations. I'm 99% sure this is what's called hypnagogia -- they're like dreams, each one just a few seconds long, and usually random scenes of people or landscapes or nature. Each time it happens I'll briefly forget I'm meditating, then snap back to awareness and pick up the mantra again. I know I'm not completely asleep during these episodes because I meditate sitting up, and I'm still sitting upright when I snap back. I also can't prolong the "dreams" even if I try, though I've had modest success in getting them to revolve around one theme -- I can get several in a row to focus on a certain setting, like a park or a river. When I'm through meditating I do feel like I've been "elsewhere" for a period of time, and I also have a sense like I've been unconscious briefly. Nonetheless it's very refreshing to me. Some descriptions of WILD I read in one of LaBerge's books seemed to suggest that hypnagogic phenomena could be extended into full dreams, which would allow LDing directly from a waking state. Should I assume that my meditation experiments are leading me in that direction? Am I simply getting much better at relaxing my mind? or am I just dozing off during meditation and making a big deal of nothing? I kind of feel like meditation "should" be about focusing on breath/mantra rather than going off into a half-dream state, no matter how much fun that is, but I'm not any kind of expert. Apologies if this has already been addressed in another thread.

[Sivason]

Meditation can and should be an amazing experience. I find the whole 'sit and do not think' idea to be limiting. Meditation can induce nREM1 type brain waves. In a small sense you are asleep, but you can maintain an upright posture and respond to your enviroment. During this phase you can have intense visual hypnogogic experience. And yes, I do feel this experience will help you WILD.

[Yumnش]

To be honest I do not think it matters if people say it's good or bad. If you think it will do you well then trust your opinion. I would see this as an improvement as from my expriences I am not able to exprience that stage while sitting up.

[Renyao]

Meditation can and should be an amazing experience. I find the whole 'sit and do not think' idea to be limiting. Yeah, I never had any success with 'clearing my mind' for any length of time -- mantra meditation has always been my go-to method. And I completely agree about meditation being an amazing thing, even without the visuals. Occasionally while meditating I get to a point of complete euphoria, where it feels like my body has vanished -- I suspected this might also be a sort of borderline wake/sleep state, similar to the hypnagogia. I guess my concern comes from trying to research "hypnagogia + meditation" and getting results from primarily Buddhist websites. Vipassana meditation technique describes this kind of thing but says the visuals are a distraction and not something you should encourage. Probably shouldn't worry what they think though, since I'm not Buddhist after all But thanks for the encouragement! I'll keep at it, then