Quote:
Remember the fairy tale about the cobbler and the elves did his work while
he was sleeping? At least one -known man of letters, the writer Robert Louis Stevenson created his own dream
workshop replete with assistants—his “brownies, “ as he called them, who helped him produce many of his most
famous works. Stevenson remarks on his dream helpers:
The more I think of it, the more I am moved to press upon the world my question: Who are the
people? They are near connections of the dreamer’s beyond doubt; they share in his financial worries and have
an eye to the bankbook... they ! have plainly learned like him to build the scheme of a considerable story and to
arrange emotion in progressive order; only I think they have more talent;
and one thing is beyond doubt, they
can tell him a story piece by piece, like a serial, and keep him all the while in ignorance of where they aim. Who
are they then? And who is the dreamer?
Stevenson was not explicit about whether his brownies were characters of lucid dreams. It appears from his reports
that they were mental images that appeared during lucid hypnagogic reverie. The technique the writer used
was to lie in bed with his forearm perpendicular to the mattress. He found that he could drift easily into his familiar
fantasy workshop, and if he fell into a deeper sleep, his forearm would fall to the mattress and awaken him.
Stevenson credited his brownies with coming up with the plot for his famous story, The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[/b]
Although i dont use it often, ive witnessed some of the most amazing hypnogogic imagery using this technique (when usually i would have fallen asleep before that stage). Obviously you probably wont fall asleep completely with this technique, but it looks like a good way to practice a.. 'concious' march towards the borderline of sleep. I found it strange getting to the 'borderline' completely aware, but its hard to cross that border without losing it, still cool to be able to predict the exact moment your going to fall asleep though.