I got pretty drunk last night and woke up with a slight hangover early this morning and thought it might be a good time to catch up on some REM. I stayed up for about thirty minutes chugging water and peeing, and then went back to bed. Being still a bit hungover it was hard to fall asleep, so I struggled to get comfortable for a while and eventually started just trying to incubate hypnagogic imagery........

idea number 1--while I was involved with the hypnagogic imagery a thought came to me: every time I would lose focus on an image it would dissolve immediately. The only way I could hold an image was to quiet my mind completely and concentrate (without concentrating) on that one image. Maybe this is a good way to practice meditation?

.......Soon I noticed that the still images were becoming moving scenes, and then finally that I was being involved in the scenes.............

I had never before really noticed how much like a dream hypnagogic imagery is..When I reached the point of actually being involved, it was like an all-consuming day-dream...But I'm sure it was not an actual dream, because if I lost my focus it would all disappear completely.


...............Suddenly I felt the tell-tale signs of sleep paralysis--a warm humming, ticklish vibration in all of my body, and the sound of some kind of feedback in my ears. There was no terror involved this time and I had no problem surrendering to it completely. As I relaxed my mind, I felt my body floating upwards, and it confused me. I tried to move my dream body, but instead I felt the resistance of my normal body. I stopped immediately and relaxed, and again felt that I was floating upwards. I didn't fight it, and maybe 15 seconds passed of just a strange, airy feeling. Then, somehow, I willed part of me to get up, and it felt like I got out of bed in real life. I was very skeptical because I didn't remember any kind of transition from the floating to the getting up, so I did a quick reality check and determined that I was in fact dreaming. My vision was very strange at first--I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were still controlling my real eyes, and not my dream eyes, so I shut them and focused on feeling the wall next to me. I took a few steps and when I opened my eyes, everything was clear.

This is definitely my favorite way to become lucid....Provided I can repeat the experience.