Thread: Hypnagogics - ignore or focus?

I have read some contradictory advice on how to handle the hypnagogic imagery that pops up in your mind while going to sleep. It seems to fall into these categories:

1: COMPLETELY IGNORE
Don't look at them. They are hypnotic and make you fall asleep for one thing; and for another, it makes you move your eyes, which tells your body that you are not asleep. If you are attempting a WILD, you need to trick your body into thinking your mind is asleep, and flickering your eyes about looking at the pretty colors gives the game away.

2: FOCUS ON IT
Hypnagogic imagery is a gateway into a lucid dream, and ignoring it simply makes it impossible to go to sleep. Instead, you let it flow (don't try and control it) and watch it like a movie, until the smoke clears and you're in a LD.

3: CONTROL IT
I have also read something about eyelid patterns, in which you attempt to change the shape and colors of the dots appearing. This way, you can stay awake while the body falls asleep.

So, in your experience, which one of these should you do?

you should watch it but not react to it or pay to much attention.
Like when you're watching some bad TV program for example =D

Originally Posted by Oros

you should watch it but not react to it or pay to much attention.
Like when you're watching some bad TV program for example =D

Perfect analogy. Passively view it.

Originally Posted by Abra

Perfect analogy. Passively view it.

This is what works for me too.

Well I guess everybody's already nailed it. Great answer. Now that I think about it that's what works for me too.

I've never understood this "passively view it" advice. I think this relates to the odd hypnogogic image which might pop up behind your eyelids.

But I find the short dream like sequences, which include characters and movement, utterly absorb me. I can't just passively view them.
One second Im happy in my own head, the next I'm lost in them.
Then I realise whats happening, and they're gone.

Not sure about a WILD, but in the case of MILD I find just pushing them away and ignoring them works well. MILD is suppost to be the last thing we think about when we finally fall asleep.

That said, with my first and only WILD do date, I succeded mainly by making a distinct effort to keep my mind clear. Next thing I know, I'm listening to a band playing in my room than had a OBE type exit into a lucid dream.

Originally Posted by Oros

you should watch it but not react to it or pay to much attention.
Like when you're watching some bad TV program for example =D

I think you should pay attention to them, but dont react. When they appear, just let it happen, don't react in anyway, just let them happen and watch them.

If they start to become crystal clear or vivid, then you should try moving into them with your dream body.

ive had 2 wilds not really paying attention, and 1 wild/vild by option #3

When you experience HI just be aware of the images and don't analyze them at all. Don't even think "wow this is cool". Just remain nonchalant and emotionless. In other words, acknowledge what is going on but be disinterested and semi-dettached all the while keeping a vague notion at the back of your mind of "I'm dreaming". Eventually you should find yourself being sucked into one of the images and a dreamscape will fully form around you.

Well, it's been covered now. But I just want to say that this is wrong.

If you are attempting a WILD, you need to trick your body into thinking your mind is asleep

I know that was probably a type since you said it right in number 3. But I've seen people say this before and it's completely wrong.
Your body goes to sleep while your mind is awake. Your body can't LD, or think for that matter, so you can't trick it.

Originally Posted by tommo

Well, it's been covered now. But I just want to say that this is wrong.

I know that was probably a type since you said it right in number 3. But I've seen people say this before and it's completely wrong.
Your body goes to sleep while your mind is awake. Your body can't LD, or think for that matter, so you can't trick it.

I would have to disagree, your body doesn't goto sleep unless it knows your mind is asleep, the only way for your body to tell if your mind is asleep or not is if you keep completely still.

I know this first hand.

You can however think about things, but then it just takes your body longer to goto sleep, but as long as you remain stilll.....

Originally Posted by TheMoon

I would have to disagree, your body doesn't goto sleep unless it knows your mind is asleep, the only way for your body to tell if your mind is asleep or not is if you keep completely still.

I think theres probably way more to it than simply keeping still or not thinking. I have laid in bed for hours on end without moving and had no results, but then laid still with slight movements and managed to WILD. Sometimes my mind wanders, sometimes it is blank, and either way it hasnt really done much for me or apparently many others.

Originally Posted by TheMoon

I would have to disagree, your body doesn't goto sleep unless it knows your mind is asleep, the only way for your body to tell if your mind is asleep or not is if you keep completely still.

Do you realise that you're saying your body is thinking?

It's more like, your brain realises your body has been still for a long time, it send a little signal like an itch to test if it's asleep. If you don't respond by scratching your brain makes your body fall asleep.

Interesting! For me, focusing and pretty much watching it like a movie, is how I fall asleep every night. I can control it a bit before the HI vanishes, though.

As I lay down, HI will start to come in just tiny bits after some minutes. Just individual pictures, sounds or smells. After a while, it begins to be more like a movie. I just watch it and get more immersed and finally pass out. Unless it's something really cool, which I will try to stay awake for or control.