Thread: Eyes

Sounds like you are referring to hypnagogic imagery. I used to never see hypnagogic imagery but now that I have been training myself to recognize when I'm actually losing conciousness (for the purpose of WILDing) I see it a lot. Usually mine consists of at first brief flashes of still images, then short 2-3 second scenes. Usually within 5 minutes of the onset I fall asleep.

Yeah that's it! But I didn't know that could happen, most of the time it's just waves of colours. I thought it was a little strange, considering that I was awake and seeing recognisable images that were moving, and that nothing could really make them dissipate.

How do you train yourself to follow these images to sleep?

Originally Posted by really

Yeah that's it! But I didn't know that could happen, most of the time it's just waves of colours. I thought it was a little strange, considering that I was awake and seeing recognisable images that were moving, and that nothing could really make them dissipate.

How do you train yourself to follow these images to sleep?
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Well, I haven't managed to yet. The thing about hypnagogic imagery is it tends to hypnotise you. If you are trying to fall asleep while maintaining conciousness (IE WILD) this is no good. If you watch it too much you will lose conciousness and fall asleep. I am not very good at WILD, in fact I doubt I have ever succeeded. What I do when I begin to see hypnagogic imagery is remind myself what it means, and that I will soon be asleep and thus dreaming. This helps my brain to recognize the dream state and thus DILD's happen.

Yeah okay, I understand. Most of the time when I try to do that I just drift off and forget...

Practice is the key. It took me quite a while of it before I could follow my HI right into a dream. I'm no expert at it but I've done it enough times to occasionally feel a 'shif' in conciousness? It feels like my mind changes somehow. I can't even describe the feeling. But as soon as I feel that I know a dream is coming right after.

About the creepy HI, about once a year or so my HI suddenly forms into a lightly illuminated face floating in mid blackness. It's mouth always stretches open in an inhumanly grotesque way as if it's screaming. It only lasts for a split second and always wakes me right up, heart racing, feeling as if I'd just awakened from a nightmare.

Someone on the forum has or had an avatar that looks alot like the face, I can't remember who at the moment...

Cool, uh, is following your HI a form of WILD? Staying conscience? Oh and while I'm on the topic, what's the difference between WBTB and WILD? They're both described the same way...

Yes, following your HI is a form of WILD. I use the method called HIT in the tutorials section. Basically just lay down and watch your HI form and change and eventually start to form shapes and ultimately scenes. It takes some practice to be able to follow it right into a dream.

WBTB (Wake Back To Bed) describes the act of waking up and staying awake for a bit. You then go back to bed to attempt to lucid dream by using MILD, WILD, HILD or whatever lucid dreaming technique you prefer.

WILD (Wake Initated Lucid Dream) is an actual technique employed to keep you mind awake and conscious while your your body falls asleep. I found this method had too many steps.

I prefer HIT (Hypnagogic Imagry Techinique). It only has 3 steps to follow and works exceptionally well during naps.

Great! Um but one other thing HIT could also be WILD, couldn't it? Sorry again, it all seems similar...I'll check the tutorials for the differences.