Hypnagogia

the Stuff Dreams are made of...
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Does anyone else here experience hypnagogia on a regular basis? I used to think that it was just something everybody experienced when drifting off to sleep (before losing consciousness, of course), but, after some posts I’ve seen on here, it seems a lot of people… don’t. At least, not regularly (with WILD being an obvious exception).

For as long as I can remember, I’ve experienced HI most nights, unless I’m really tired (like, really exhausted) when I go to bed. I’d say it tends to last anywhere from maybe half a minute to a few minutes or so, though my sense I’ve time is pretty much non-existent because I’m not fully conscious and hardly aware by this point. I usually just ignore it because it’s usually hard to focus on, makes no sense, and I’m only semi-conscious by that point. Fun fact, I often like to imagine things when I’m in bed because it usually takes me forever to fall asleep; sometimes, if the scene I’m imagining is interesting enough and I don’t want to stop just yet, I’ll manage to catch myself experiencing HI and purposely open my eyes to wake myself up (just opening my eyes and seeing the imagery disappear is enough to pull me right back into reality and become wide awake for a little while) to give myself more awake time, though this was a habit I did more when I was younger.

…I’m not really sure why I included that last part. It was sorta long and only semi-relevant. I kinda just have a tendency to rant, I guess. ^^;

Anyway, I usually only experience HI while drifting off to sleep, but I also experience hypnic jerks from time to time. It’s pretty uncommon for me, but it still get them every once in a while. I sometimes feel like I’m falling (which I’ve heard is commonly associated with it), but, more often, I feel like I’m sliding on ice - really, really fast. It happens really suddenly when I’m almost totally asleep, startles me, and stops just as suddenly as it started, leaving me wide awake - and when I was JUST moments away from sleeping!

My point is, I have a couple of questions. First off, does anyone else regularly experience hypnagogia before falling asleep? Is it common to experience it when not attempting WILD? I know it’s perfectly normal and part of the process of falling asleep, but I’m just curious to know how common it is to experience while still awake. Secondly, since entering the hypnagogic state while conscious is the first step to WILD, does this mean WILD should be easier for me than most people, since I can often reach this state (and, sometimes, even maintain it for a couple minutes or so) without even trying?

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At first I would like to say that everyone is different, especially when we are talking about mental experiences during sleep. There is no right and wrong and you should be able to adapt lucid dreaming techniques no matter how extreme or normal you are compared to other people.

If you’d ask me, I sometimes catch myself in the HI state, but then I usually wake up or get a hypnic jerk. Most of us should be experiencing HI when falling asleep, it is just a matter of whether you can remember it or not. HI should be expected, whether you are doing WILD or just going to sleep normally. The HI tends to be most vivid during early morning, when you are around the REM stage of sleep.

When you are talking about LD inducing techniques, having the ability to quickly and effectively reach & maintain the HI state is, obviously, a very good bonus, especially if you can keep your lucidity until you reach the dream state. You should try experimenting with WILD. It might work, or it might not. If it works, then you can use it to get a bunch of nice LD’s :smile:.

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As Paulius said, the experience is different for everybody. Some see a bit of HI and colours, others have a lot and can even change these images to what they want to see. Although I’ve heard some people just don’t experience it at all. Personally, I see images and scenes which I can eventually focus on, and I twitch a fair bit while I’m at it lol. This happens whether or not I’m attempting WILD but nowadays I don’t pay much attention to it if I’m just going to sleep. From what I’ve heard from other people, they get HI some nights and sometimes they don’t. Basically I can say that everyone experiences HI but to the extent and content is a different matter.
As for whether it makes WILDing easier, I’d say yes because it can help a person retain a level of consciousness and they can also gauge how far into the attempt they are.