Thread: Hypnagogic Imagery account

Originally Posted by WhiteVeins

Hey everyone. This is my first post. I've been reading over the boards for the past week and you all seem very nice and helpful. Also for the past week, I've been trying to induce lucid dreams. One night I was able to briefly control the images that appeared to me in my hypnagogic state. First I looked at my hands and then I made some stars in the sky woosh here and there.

A couple of nights later, I was trying to do something similar but I lost all focus when all of a sudden I was standing on a Twister mat doing the hokey pokey. A man in front of me was telling me to go ahead and put my left arm in, put my left arm out, go with it, and stay calm so as not to snap out. I did as he said and asked his name. He said his name was "Speedway." (now, here's what's odd to me. At times it was as if I were answering for him and t other times his responses were independent of my thoughts). The name Speedway came entirely from him, but when I asked who he was, he said (and here's where my own thoughts came into play) that if I had to ask that, I probably wasn't still lucid. I started to slip out. I took him by the back of the neck, pressed my forehead against his and said I was going to stay focused, and I was momentarily able to maintain the dream.

Another strange thing: While I was in the dream, I could feel my body (in actuality) tingling and when I felt myself slipping out of the dream, my body felt normal and I could feel my feet were cold and sticking out of the blankets.

Anyhoo, it was interesting, but I'm not sure if this is a sign of progress. It doesn't even sound much like accounts I've read, so I'm a bit embarrassed and thinking you're all gonna think I'm making it up. Does answering for Speedway while at times receiving independent answers make any sense? What about the tingling?

to Dreamviews!
You'll find that we're a nice and open-minded community. Don't be embarrassed to post anything... we'll be sure to help you out
It sounds like you WILDed. That is, going from waking to dreaming while staying conscious. My first thought on the tingling is that it is SP (sleep paralysis), but you usually don't feel that in a dream. It could be one of those random dream-sensations that don't mean anything. As the dream ended, your consciousness shifted back into your body, so you felt your feet being cold. Sometimes dream images remain a few seconds later than they should, so you're partly dreaming but still aware of your body.
Also, DCs (dream characters) responses are easily swayed by your expecting them to answer a certain way. So it makes perfect sense for you to have answered for your DC.
If you have any more questions, just ask

Sweet! Thanks for the answers. I don't think it was SP. I was aware of my arm over my face and could probably have moved it if I had wanted to. It didn't last long and I didn't feel like I was completely in a dream.

Other cool things have happened in dreams recently. The other night, I had a dream, woke up, made note of it, and then toward the morning I had another dream wherein I referenced the first dream in a conversation with friends.

Last night I dreamed I met a friend and in the dream I told him about an actual dream I had had with him in it almost 2 months ago.

Anyhoo, thanks again for the response. I'm very intrigued by all of this!

Hey WhiteVeins and welcome to the forum

Webmaster pretty much answered your questions.

However if you have any other questions i would be more than happy to answer them for you.

Originally Posted by WhiteVeins

Sweet! Thanks for the answers. I don't think it was SP. I was aware of my arm over my face and could probably have moved it if I had wanted to. It didn't last long and I didn't feel like I was completely in a dream.

Other cool things have happened in dreams recently. The other night, I had a dream, woke up, made note of it, and then toward the morning I had another dream wherein I referenced the first dream in a conversation with friends.

Last night I dreamed I met a friend and in the dream I told him about an actual dream I had had with him in it almost 2 months ago.

Anyhoo, thanks again for the response. I'm very intrigued by all of this!

The fact that you are becoming aware of other dreams in your dreams is good. It means you're becoming somewhat more aware.
Question: was the dream you had where you were half-aware from a WBTB or from the first time you tried to sleep? If it was from the first time you tried to sleep, you could have WILDed into the first REM-state - a short, low-quality one. Which would explain why you felt only half in the dream.

Thanks Lucid Seeker!

And, Webmaster, the half-aware dream was from the first time I tried to sleep.