Mortal Mist
Welcoming Boards => Articles => : pj December 07, 2010, 10:08:22 AM
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In the original thread, Freespirit gives permission to use this as an article and publish it up front.
This is a simple technique for those who wish to improve their awareness on the borderline of sleep. Those of you who have read Stephen LaBerge's exploring the world of lucid dreaming may recognise the following quote:
Stevenson was not explicit about whether his brownies were characters of lucid dreams. It appears from his reports that they were mental images that appeared during lucid hypnagogic reverie. The technique the writer used was to lie in bed with his forearm perpendicular to the mattress. He found that he could drift easily into his familiar fantasy workshop, and if he fell into a deeper sleep, his forearm would fall to the mattress and awaken him.
So basically you lie down to go to sleep, as you get closer to sleep raise your forearm so its balanced at the elbow. It shouldn't feel in any way uncomfortable, and you should be able to continue your descent into sleep as normal. If you're not sure what i mean take a look at one of Da Vinci's most famous works below:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4088244/Pics/perparm.PNG)
The idea is simple, relax and attempt to fall asleep as normal while maintaining a thread of awareness. Observe the onset of sleep, watch as hypnotic imagery begins to form in your vision, and see how you get sucked into it and slowly lose consciousness. If at any point you actually fall asleep your arm will fall and wake you. The objective is to retain a degree of awareness and observe your body falling asleep, aswell as to practice playing on the borderlands of sleep without succumbing to it. The nice thing about this technique is that you can try as many times as you wish, usually WILD is a one shot thing (you either get it or you fall asleep).
I thought id share an extract from a recent experience to finish off:
As i fell deeper I heard what sounded like someone breathing beside me, calmly and rhythmically it continued even though i was alone in the room. I guessed it maybe the beginning of sleep paralysis or hypnogogia, but listening peacefully i realised it was my breathing, and that i had no control over it nor connection with it. Id fallen asleep, or atleast my body had, but here i was still consciously thinking with waking awareness. It was an amazingly freeing feeling. I decided to find out if my body was paralysed by moving (even though i wasn't in REM) and the experience was ended =(.
Have fun all and good luck with your lucid endevours =)
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Interesting. My problem is usually waking out of the WILD too soon, so I don't want to set myself up to get woken out of it on purpose. I can see how this could help people who have trouble falling asleep too fast though. Laying on my back is usually enough to enable me to stay aware during the process. I don't fall asleep very easily that way. Actually, I usually get so uncomfortable like that It's very difficult for me to remain laying that way. I keep wanting to just roll over and fall asleep.
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What happens to me is, I stay in bed observing myself sleeping for so long and suddenly WTFudge it's morning! I thought I was doing good.
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:gaah: I keep forgetting to try this! Thanks for bumping it.
No probs. I am gonna do it tonight. Report back on your result!
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I've been meaning to try this to, but i've been kinda slacking with everything dreaming.
I WILD'ed twice last week, unintentionally. I was so tired but it was to early to go to sleep... I layed down with the intent of closing my eyes and drifting for just a bit, but not really sleeping. Both times SP came over me and i found myself dreaming!
In one of the WILD's i didn't have a body... I wanted to bite my finger (RC) but my hand went straight through my head! I was in the dark so i couldn't check if i was invisible to. It was weird and has inspired me to learn to WILD now!
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This is from last night.
I went to bed at midnight. I did some mindfulness meditation for 5 minutes then went to bed. As I laid there I repeated the mantra, "I wake up at 5 o'clock and remember my dream." I was also trying the WILD awareness practice. My arm became tired and I had to switch from my left to right arm. Eventually, I stopped altogether because I rested my arm for too long and in that time I fell asleep. I guess that I maybe have had my forearm up too early. Even so my forearm dropped once because I was tired so I guess it helped with awareness a little bit. No dreams were recalled when I woke up.
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Posted up front.
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Where is up front?
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http://mortalmist.com/ (http://mortalmist.com/)
Oh cool thanks.
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I remember this technique from a while ago. I used to use it all the time, then I forgot about it. (Though I'm pretty sure I used it to keep me from falling asleep while meditating.) Now that it's the new year and I'm more focused on my dreaming, I think I might try this again for the "creative HI."
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That's great! It seems like you will be good at it if you practice! Try to do it every time you randomly wake up at night too.
Yes. I try to MILD as much as possible, and i'm hoping to combine the two. I've already had a couple of unintended WILD's through my MILD's. Repeating a mantra seems to be a good way for me to maintain some awareness while falling asleep!
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I've noticed that since I started using this technique again, my HI has started becoming a lot more powerful during the times when I'm NOT using it. This morning, for instance, I was just drifting off to sleep when a creepy voice whispering my name startled me back into awareness. I'd had some really powerful visual HI even earlier, almost like a daydream gone wild. (Which makes me think that this would be a good way to practice Jung's "active imagination.")
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I totally agree that the method of holding on to awareness into hypnogogic state is probably the best way to lucid dream..
My only three OBEs happened this way a couple years back but the effects of galantamine and choline bitartate in healthy doses seemed to help the process along..
When this happened ..I would always notice a dark stranger standing in a dark corner of the room watching me..
I once yelled that you don't scare me!.. at the shadow person ..as I struggled to sit up in bed ..All along I had a underlying awareness of what was really going on... ;)
I continued to struggle to sit up then finally was sitting up in bed with my body still lying there under me..
I then stood up in full dream body and found self in a different room as I explored everything in the including feeling the texture of the walls observing tables lamps pictures on the wall and looking out a window seeing a whole new world just outside and everything I saw and touched was awesome .just like it was my first time..my world was brand new and I had a chance to control it..
In my second OBE from effects of galanamine and choline I became aware that someone was holding down my shoulders in bed and.. yes...there was that mysterious shadow person watching me from a corner of the room..
As I gazed around the room I saw a FULL SIZED Bengal Tiger curled up in another corner of my room watching me with glowing eyes..
I was also hearing many strange sounds and could see what looked like child's toys and a couple strange looking dolls sitting on a table with the moonlight shinning on them..
I then redirected my attention to the huge tiger that made me feel a little nervous..
With some effort I powered out of the bed and ..[watching the tiger]..I ran past the tiger down a hallway seeing my reflexion in the mirror as I passed it I literally ran through wall at end of hall then woke up..
All the time I had a hidden awareness of what was really going on in the experience..
This awareness always stands back behind the stage curtain ready to come to my aid if dream gets to be too much...
In another OBE..I again noticed the dark stranger watching me early in morning also the hands holding down my shoulders ..only this time I was more aware of what was going on and started rolling side to side till I rolled completely out of bed on to the soft dream floor.
I then stood up and was in a strange room again complete with paintings on the walls and furniture Ive never seen before and a TV playing kinda loud on a table..
In my new dream body I could feel the weight of my feet as I walked across the deep plush dream carpet towards the TV..
When i got to he TV I turned down the volume with some difficulty and then started changing channels and amazingly every channel had something different playing on it!
The walls had a strange texture that was flesh colored and the colors every in the room could almost talk to me!
I appreciated Everything in this strange world as if it was the first time ever seen!~
I was quite aware that i was in a super dream of awesome dimension and walked towards my door expecting to go out into a huge dream city and could go or do anything I wanted..
After opening the door i peaked out side a long street in front of me and buildings everywhere..
But for some reason I quickly shut the door and locked it then woke up in bed for real!
That was an awes one 3D dream experience much like an OBE...
I think the galantamine choline effect made it seem so real but this can be done naturally if one maintains awareness into the dream...
Learning to WILD must be the most awesome way to Lucid dream...
Cheers..tom
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Moonbeam had a great dream last Saturday, I think, where she was really nonchalant with one of those SP specters. It was comical and instructive.
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I think Dali the artist must have found a way into the dream world through SP!
A lot of the stuff I saw in my room the Tiger and other strange things are much like what he paints...
But using the arm dropping method or spoon method sounds promising but one must use honest effort to see if it works..
Tom
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Agreed - but I've discovered just how difficult an "honest effort" can be. His methods are bizarre, to put it mildly. And uncomfortable.
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Hi All..
I tryed for the first time this morning after 4 hours sleep at WBTB to try to WILD by bending my arm at elbow and keeping it vertical..
I also wore a cats collar with bells on my wrist that I hoped to hear if my arm fell down at some point..
At first I tryed this lying on my right side but found lying on my back was more comfortable even though I usually never sleep on my back..
Keeping my right arm vertical [upright] bent at elbow I layed there on my back with head slightly to the right..[but upward]
I found that overtime I would loose the feel of my arm and only feel my hand ..
I also was listening to falling rain recordings that aided to my calmness..
Still believing that my fore arm was vertical kept me in a constant state of awareness...
As i waited.... my journey to the hypnogogic borderlands and sleep paralysis seemed to take forever..
Just the same.. I was doing well not moving and lying still looking into the darkness with [my minds eyes open.] ..peering through my closed eyelids and listening for any auditory clues to develop..
I think I stayed this way for close to 90 minutes....
[motionless except to occasionally swallow] ..and was amazed at how long my arm seemed to stay upright without falling..i thought to my self..
Well into the experiment I would see myself flying above clouds and looking below me at dark and Grey clouds with occasional lightning flashes..
I also visualized rain running down rooftops and rain swollen streams with water carrying pieces of driftwood and natural plant debris like oak leaves floating with the currant of the water..
..............[this may be related to the rain recordings i was listening to]....
I also would get short peeks at imagery still quite alert but feeling much different than when I started..
I was also experiencing on and off feelings of my physical body growing lighter then heavier...
Then two thirds of the way through I started getting the strongest body pulsations Ive ever felt in my life!
They were like a vibration that started at booth feet evenly and worked its way upward through my ankles knees upward to my chest arms and head ...
Then back to my feet and upward again in strong rhythmic pulsations!!
The ...[vibrations].. would keep pulsing ..pulse.....pulse ...pulse...pulse..and I new something important was going on!
These strong vibrating pulses repeated about 6 or 7 times and as this happened i was feeling lighter and lighter as if i were a leaf being blown across a field... !
The feeling was awesome!!
My guess is that... [I was very close to achieving sleep paralysis]... and a chance for an OBE or great lucid dream!
I have felt vibrations over my entire body in the past but not perfectly timed strong ones moving in perfect alignment pulsing from feet to head over and over!
I think what i was feeling was the process of my body disconnecting all physical feeling and entering SP!
I just allowed this to stop and with some difficulty became more awake noticing that my arm was laying on my side and not still upright as i believed it was all that time....
What happened was my arm slowly and gently went down over the process and did not just fall suddenly waking me as i believed it would..
When i looked at my arm it was lying on my side and my hand felt like pins and needles..
i also went on the rest of the morning to have 6 more dreams and two of them had my hand in it as a main subject..
I want to try this vertical forearm thing again and get back to those great pulsations...
For a first try this method got me close the OBE or LD gate!...
cheers..Tom
PS....All I took at bedtime was GPC choline and a little melatonin and one theanine...
I guess we are all different and many things work differently on us...
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i've tried this before seems like a good idea and all but i have one problem with it.
when i lie for a long-ish period of time on the bed i fall asleep and do not notice when my hand falls down or i do notice the first couple of times but then i just fall asleep anyway maybe i should focus my mind a fraction more on keeping conscious?
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i've tried this before seems like a good idea and all but i have one problem with it.
when i lie for a long-ish period of time on the bed i fall asleep and do not notice when my hand falls down or i do notice the first couple of times but then i just fall asleep anyway maybe i should focus my mind a fraction more on keeping conscious?
Yes that's a good idea. The first time I did it, it was amazing. I caught myself hallucinating. But during the subsequent times, I just fell asleep.