Thread: Seeing images with eyes closed.What is this thing called?

I've been lucid dreaming for about a year and this thing happens to me from time to time.. As i lay down trying to fall asleep sometimes an image comes up and it's like i could see through my eyelids.One thing im sure of is that this is not hypnagogic imagery.When they appear , i can clearly see the image right until i move my eyes just a little , if they stay still it becomes extremely vivid and it even starts to move.

For example , one time , a year ago i was trying to do WILD technique (i never succeeded in it) i was too much awake and suddenly i see the sky through branches of apple trees with red apples hanging on them and as i observed , the branches started to move. Then i just moved my eyes a little and it was gone.There were other times when i could see similar things when trying to sleep at night , being fully conscious i remember doing a reality check and moving just to see if it wasnt sleep paralysis or a dream.Strange thing was , that that time ,even after moving , i could continue watching random , vivid 3D images with my eyes closed..

Does anyone know anything about this and what it could be?

Hypnagogia is the only thing i can think off, you need to remember that u don't have to be in SP to get hypnagogic imagery. I had it even a couple times with my eyes open while trying to sleep. But that's just my opinion, if it isn't that then i have no idea what it could be?

Most likely a result of an overactive imagination. Try using that visualization to set your intent to have a lucid dream. Picture yourself falling asleep and entering a dream environment (can be the location you described). Now, visualize yourself performing a reality check and become consciously aware within your dream, and then picture yourself gaining control over your dream.

Just a thought.

i have no problem having LDs .i'll try to do this while meditating, or tonight before falling asleep and report if this occurs again

I think this is hynogogia. Either that or a dream forming and you are mistaking it for really seeing it?

hypnogogic hallucinations

This happens to me every night also sometimes in the day when im wide awake. I close my eyes and its mostly black, then if i think of a banana then i can see it in spinning in front of me kinda like a screensaver. If I think of something else i see that instead. I often try to think of nothing and see what comes into view. Most of what i see is constantly changing until i fall asleep. Iv never had a WILD. I have a very good imagination and read crime fiction alot but not sure if thats the cause.

Originally Posted by acoyo

This happens to me every night also sometimes in the day when im wide awake. I close my eyes and its mostly black, then if i think of a banana then i can see it in spinning in front of me kinda like a screensaver. If I think of something else i see that instead. I often try to think of nothing and see what comes into view. Most of what i see is constantly changing until i fall asleep. Iv never had a WILD. I have a very good imagination and read crime fiction alot but not sure if thats the cause.

Yea, sometimes it happens in the day too..I remember sitting in a car , i didn't want to sleep at all , but i was bored so i lay down and a few seconds later i started seeing a road (a different one than in reality) like i could see through my eyelids , it was very strange and it wasn't a dream for sure..

Experiencing hypnogogic imagery around sleep is normal. The key skill is to lock into those images and use them to tease out a WILD or lucid when you enter REM.

I've had some very odd experiences where I will be in a day dreamy head space. Not realise I've closed my eyes for a second and still see my room. I'll look around for a while before coming to my senses and feeling my eye lids are closed. The interesting part is when my eyes flick open I'm blind for a few seconds, my sight returning like tunnel vision from the centre.

Obviously the brain has switched to the created inner mind generated view and shut off/suppressed the information from the optic nerve. Its always intrigued me as oracles and other seers are often depicted as blind. Also have a look at articles on Kudda Bux who could read newspapers with closed eyes.