Foreword

Herein, I will attempt to archive my experiences with my dreamscape. You will find this journal filled with both normal dreams and, God willing, lucid dreams as well. I am not yet well versed in attaining lucidity, but that is not to say that I have not experienced it. Lucid dreaming is very real. I, too, thought it was a crackpot idea when I first heard the notion of attaining consciousness within a dream. I am very thankful that it piqued my interest enough to give it a shot. If nothing else, I hope that this blog can act as a source of inspiration (or at least entertainment) to it's visitors.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

A Dark Descent

Note: This is a slightly successful WILD attempt. Some might classify it as an OOBE, but I don't think so.

I first heard the term lucid dreaming from an acquaintance at work. It sounded intriguing, so I looked it up on Wikipedia, and found a link to a blog on the subject.After reading through the induction techniques, I decided that I wanted to give it a try. This was last week, and I tried for the first time last night with small success.

I decided to try and maintain awareness while my body went to sleep (I don't usually remember my dreams, so I figured realizing that I am dreaming might not be the way to go for me). This is known as the WILD technique. While in bed, I kept thinking "Stay with it", and concentrated on laying still. It was difficult to keep my mind from straying, and I have to assume that stray thoughts are what normally lead seamlessly into a dream.

It was about 20 minutes, I think, before my body began to fall asleep. It pretty much felt like it was described on the internet. My body began to vibrate, and my hearing dulled. Then I began to fall into my bed. This is the point when I would normally thrash awake from the shock of falling. Armed with the knowledge of what was happening, I continued to chant "Stay with it" to myself to keep from loosing consciousness or jumping up. The initial shock of falling gave way to a sort of comforting feeling as I floated down.

I remember coming to a stop. Everything was still black, and I felt amazed that I was still conscious. I was mildly distracted by the faint presence of my real body that felt like it was above me now. That’s when I noticed that it felt difficult for my real body to breath. I was sort of detached from it, and I have to assume in retrospect that that is the rate my body breathes at when it is asleep. Still, it felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen, and I wanted to control my bodies breathing.

I think I may have acted on instinct next, and I sort of jumped or flew upwards towards where it felt like my body was resting (kind of like you would if you ran out of air underwater). There were white light patterns dancing across my vision as I rose up. I think this may have been my actual eyes "turning back on".

AWAKENING

I never lost my stream of consciousness throughout this entire experience; from lying awake, to falling asleep, to waking back up again. This was new and exciting to me. I decided to get some real sleep then, as I was too distracted to try again, and my wife had begun snoring next to me.

Now I know it can be done; and so begins my quest to control my dreams...

No comments: