New - almost doing it without knowing it...
I'm not sure how I came across lucid dreaming today, but I stumbled across it on the internet. This post may ramble, but comments would be received with great interest.
I've always 'suffered' with jerks when I fall asleep - most nights in fact. A friend who (medically) specialises in sleep told me that these were hypnagogic myoclonic jerks - I thought nothing more of it.
About 6 years ago whilst at university, I noticed that sometimes I was 'aware' of falling asleep, in that my thoughts became quite abstracted and I often felt very dizzy. I realsed that I could speed the process of falling asleep by letting go of my thoughts and simply observing them as they jumped from one image or idea to another. I found that I could sometimes prolong this and that it was often quite good fun to really let my thoughts go and 'cling to consciousness' whilst watching them. I then found that I could give them a nudge in any desired direction and see what my mind came up with! I would sometimes have conversations with people and conjour up fantastic scenes that seemed very real. I remember once evening having a full sentient conversation with sombody at the end of my bed, and was acually quite scared when I 'came around' and realised that the person wasn't there. I thought I was going mad!
As the whole idea was to hasten sleep, I realised that the 'dizziness' happened when I was close to sleep and if I could induce this, I might get to sleep quicker. I found that if I concentrated very hard on imaging my body levitating a few feet above the bed and then rotating to face the matress, I could very quickly place myself in a semi-conscious state and then the step into sleep was easy. I use this technique to this day if I'm suffering frmo insomnia, or need to get to sleep quickly (i.e. on a night shift where I need to grab 15 minutes sleep).
How interesting to find then that this is not too far removed from 'wake initiated lucid dreaming'. I've almost been there for years!! I've seen my exact experience described on the net as 'hypnagogic imagery'. What if I could put myself in that state and then not fall asleep, but remain lucid?
Of course, I am completely new to the concept, but I was really struck by how much the 'W.I.L.D' tutorial on this site resembled what I've been doing for years.
I'm amazed to find that there are a large number of people discussing that I've been doing myself (unknowingly) for ages. Perhaps I should turn my technique on it's head and instead of using it to become conscious, use it to remain conscious.
Where should I go from here? What might I expect?
Dave
