Transitioning Technique #1 - Turning Like a Wheel
This technique was developed primarily to help beginning students successfully transition into a dream. In many ways this is the ideal transitioning technique because it takes advantage of several important principles.
Advantage #1: It is a passive technique.
In this instance passive means that your body position does not change during the transition. You are moving, but it is your entire body that is doing the moving as opposed to specific parts of your body. An example of an active technique would be climbing a ladder or trying sit up. In both these examples you must actively move parts of your body. Active techniques require more practice to master. Passive techniques allow you to remain motionless (i.e. in a natural lying position) while your entire body is moved through the transition.
Advantage #2: It allows you body to maintain its natural position
When a person has balanced themselves between the awake and dream states (the ideal time to initiate a transition) are aware yet also sleeping. This unique balancing point is characterized by maintaining the ability to think, having a sense of the body and its position, having all external sensations shut down, and not yet being in a dream state. Because of the fact that you are aware and can sense your body you may not recognize that you are actually sleeping. However an important marker exists that allows you to accurately identify this balancing point: your external senses will have ceased to function. For example, if there is ambient noise in your bedroom (crickets, baby monitor, wind, snoring, etc) you will no longer be aware of it. This is different than saying that you are not paying attention to it: it is absolutely no longer there and has been replaced by silence (see Using the ASI technique to Develop the Ability to Consciously Enter Dreams below). In this situation however, you do still sense your body and whether it is your physical body, your dream body, or some combination of the two is unclear but it often seems to have the same position as your physical body. Using the Turning Like a Wheel Technique, whatever position you feel your body to naturally be in will be the position that is carried into the transition (i.e. you do not need to try to change your body’s position in anyway).
Advantage #3: It is a purely tactile technique:
No visualization is required to perform this exercise. It will be a pure sense of motion; in this case a rotation. You will feel it but you won’t see it. You don’t need to try to visualize anything and it is recommended that you don’t try to. Let your sense of touch lead the way.
Advantage #4: It is easy to control
Using this technique, your body will slowly rotate around and around. All you have to do is give it a little mental push to get it going and the transition will take on a life of its own. The speed of the rotation is mostly determined by the pace you set with your imagination and there is no need to go for extreme speed. It is the motion itself rather than the speed of the motion that moves you through the transition.
Advantage #5: Once initiated the transition will continue on its own.
Unlike active transitions, once you initiate a passive one it will continue on its own. You don’t need extraordinary amounts of concentration to keep it going. You just start it and let it carry on by itself after that. Remember that a transition is likely to occur when you have balanced yourself between the awake and dream states. All you need is the slightest bit of imagination to tip you towards the dream state. Once you start moving towards that state the transition will take on a life of its own which results in a totally authentic sense of motion. The motion will continue on its own unless you interfere with it.
Advantage #6: It can be used to induce OBEs and LDs
The only difference between WILDs (Wake Induced Lucid Dreams) and OBEs (Out of Body Experiences) is location; meaning where you end up when the transition is complete. If you relax and let the transition continue on under its own power, your sense of sight will eventually become activated and dream imagery will form. Once your sight is active, the motion will generally stop and you will find yourself standing in a dreamscape. This is the recommended method for people just starting to learn about transitions.
There is another method however that you should be aware of. Once a transition has started and you feel your body moving, you can rest assured that you are feeling your dream body (i.e. astral body) and not your physical body. If you force yourself to move (i.e. roll over or stand up) the sense of motion will suddenly stop. At this point you will most likely wonder which body did the moving: the physical or the astral. Most likely it is the astral and here are tips for keeping the experience going. First of all keep moving: get up and walk around. Secondly if you can’t see yet, don’t worry. Your sense of touch led you through the transition and you completed it before your sense of sight has become active. It is very common to have serious tunnel vision. A proven method to activate your vision is to look at something and jump up and down. The jumping helps keep your sense of touch active since it is the only sense holding you in the dream at this point. Looking closely at any object will let your brain know that it is time to turn on the vision. After a few jumps your vision should snap into place. At this point you will probably notice that you are standing in your bedroom instead of an elaborate dreamscape.
Procedure:
The first step is to develop the capacity to recognize when a transition is likely to occur. There are several signs you can use:
1. You may notice that any ambient noises have been silenced
2. You may notice that you feel “floaty” (like part of your body is starting to float) or dizzy (like your mind is starting to spin).
3. You may be going back and forth between wakefulness and dreaming (i.e. dreams start to come and where you almost lose consciousness but then you become aware, then dreams come again, then awareness, and so) until you notice that something is different (usually due to the floatiness feeling or silence).
As soon as you notice any of these things, immediately initiate the transition. Try to avoid thinking about whether you are asleep or trying to listen hard to see if the noise is really silenced: shoot first and ask questions later.
The Turning Like a Wheel approach requires that stay relaxed and imagine that your body is slowly rotating. To understand the type of rotation utilized, imagine that your body is a spoke in a large wheel; your head connected to the wheel at one end and your feet are connected to the other end. The turning motion thus results in the sensation of your head rotating from the headboard of your bed down to the footboard while your feet are rotated up to the headboard, then your head is rotated back up to the headboard, and so on (like a wheel lying on your bed turning around and around). The turning needn’t be fast and seems most effective if it is slow, smooth, and consistent.
It is helpful to practice imagining this type of motion before actually using it to initiate a transition. This type of practice will develop your ability authentically feel the rotation which in turn develops your ability to get the actual transition started. When you imagine it, try to feel your body go all the way around in big, full circles. After you have developed the ability to imagine the motion, you are ready to use the exercise to enter a lucid dream.
If you have positioned yourself correctly between the waking the dream states, the slightest bit of imagination will start the transition happening. You will not need to keep trying to imagine the motion once the real motion starts. Once initiated the turning motion takes on a life of its own and is easily distinguishable from imagination. You will feel your whole body turning around and around in a totally authentic manner.
The transition may last several minutes before your other senses follow your sense of touch into the dream. Once your other senses become involved, the turning will naturally stop and will find yourself fully conscious within a lucid dream.
An Ideal way to Practice
Learning to recognize when a transition is likely to occur and learning to successfully initiate one takes some practice. With each success it gets easier. One ideal way to practice transitioning is to exit a lucid dream and immediately re-enter it.
As you exit a lucid dream you must cross over this balancing point. You will have reached the critical point at the first instant you become aware of your body lying in bed. You should immediately initiate a transition by imagining the rotation. By practicing in this way you will learn to recognize the critical balancing point as well as the actual transition.
Once initiated the turning motion takes on a life of its own and is easily distinguishable from imagination. You will feel your whole body turning around and around in a totally authentic manner.
The transition may last several minutes before your other senses follow your sense of touch into the dream. Once your other senses become involved, the turning will naturally stop and will find yourself fully conscious within a lucid dream. There is good chance you will find yourself standing in your bedroom in which case you can start to ponder about the relatedness of lucid dreams and out of body experiences.
|
|
Bookmarks