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I was wondering about this. What does it feel like when one transitions from waking world to dream world. I mean I ask this because I haven't had a LD before and am asking those who have. Is it that your at one minute closing your eyes and the next in the "Dream World". Because I was attempting a WILD and while I was waiting to see some HI I heard voices. I thought you were suppose to see before you heard? Just a side note though.
The transitional stage is different for everyone, so I can't really tell you how to recognize yours. Some things seem to be similar for many people, though.
For me, it usually involves my body feeling very heavy (and relaxed). Then I start seeing weird colors and hearing strange sounds (one doesn't have to come before the other). Sometimes the colors shift into a scene of sorts. At this point, I'll start feeling vibrations throughout my entire body. They persist for 10-30 seconds. During that time the intensity of the images and sounds usually intensifies. After that, everything goes quiet and dark.
Then I'll usually see another scene which will become more vivid. This part has been different for me every single time. The first time it was a starry tunnel I was floating in, the second time I was floating over an ocean, I've had a few times where I was just floating "down" to some place. But I usually feel like I'm floating into the dream world. Finally, I'll end up in some place (usually my bedroom) and if I stand up, I'm in a dream (and I can usually see myself sleeping in my bed). It all happens in what feels like about a minute or so, sometimes less (say, 20 seconds).
That's what it's usually like for me. Your mileage may vary. You may not see anything (or it may come after the sounds). You'll recognize your personal transition as you experience it a few times. :)
I've read a lot of people saying things about vibrations, loud hums... but for me, here's what I have gotten in the past.
I lie down, usually on my back with my arms either at my side, or with my hands resting lightly on the region of the "navel chakra", which is roughly 4 finger widths below your navel. This MAY have some influence, but I do that as a result of reading about Tibetan Dream Yoga. Normally this is done by visualization of something called a seed syllable in the chakra, but I digress... For me, the position is slightly unusual, and the slight odd feeling of my arms in that position may remind my body of my intent...
I close my eyes and basically watch teh backs of my eyelids. Depending on how tired I am, I will either see only the dark "reddish black blackness", or I will see phosphenes starting to run - bands of color that seem to start, grow, wave across and fade. They are never very intense to start, but they almost always eventually do start. After watching these for a few minutes, I realize that I am seeing flashes of images - very faint at first, very fast, etheric sort of images of people, places or objects, kind of isolated and "by themselves" against a background of nothingness. Sometimes the awareness of this will cause me to revert to seeing phosphenes or blackness, but if I just stay with it, they return. Eventually, the images slow and I start seeing greater detail, and if I manage to keep awareness, they become increasingly larger sections of scenes, eventually with full motion and things going on.
It should be said that during this time I may or may not be aware of sounds. Some nights I actually have experiences Hypnagogic Sounds that eventually become complete sentences or even something that sounds like different people having conversations. That's incredibly fascinating to me...
In any case, once the scenes have slowed to this point, one will seem to "stick" and the dream scene sort of blooms in front of me. I can't *think* about any of this as it will dispell it right away, I can only observe silently. I feel at this point much like I am standing behind a thin glass wall watching the world in front of me. At some point after this, I find myself IN that world.
No feeling of floating, no hums, buzzes, electric shocks... just a slow evolution of the dream world literally before my eyes.
It's an astounding experience when I have it - my attempt to success ratio is still too great to bother counting, but it's worth the effort!
Good luck & happy dreaming.
Thanks for the details Xana and you too Mcginnis. Really appreciated.