What a great topic! I was trying to explain these stages to my friend and had no success. These images perfectly describe my experiences in hypnagogic imagery. Particularly my efforts to achieve WILD. The last image I have no experience with, however I’ve gone into a lucid dream after “zooming in” on what you call a phosphene. It’s really interesting
I like to think of it as a hypnagogic halucination. I usually reserve the word phosphene for other types of imagery, but I’ll think on this usage of phosphene. I think it may be the correct usage.
The thinking about viewing yourself is very similar to feeling a state of anxiety. You should try to calm yourself a little more. When you think of yourself objectively rather than as a subject you tend to think mechanically rather than creatively. Specifically this type of anxious thinking makes it extremely difficult to experience imagery. You need to relax and throw away your expectations.
At first, try to stop thinking; there’s a certain amount of inhibition that has to occur in your critical thinking skills. Eventually you’ll find the right balance of thinking and “seeing” that will enable you to better control yourself.
Lol I have to say, I always try and chase my phosphenes im like GET OVER HERE YOU DIRTY VISION because I can never ‘focus’ on it so Im just trying to chase it and its so fun ;u; I’ll try your technique, this is really cool
My first post! Had to join because of this thread. I have seen phosphenes since as far back as I can remember. They used to be just green and purple blobs that zoom in from the center, but now it is much more. I have seen almost every color, although they are primarily purple and green, maybe because I’m so used to it. Instead of blobs they are now streaks or patterns. They can be multiple colors and if I want I can manifest a certain one. I see rainbow streaks, beautifully vivid violet flame like movements in the center, sparkles and white flashes that strobe.
I can begin to see them rather effortlessly even in a lit room with my eyes open (which takes a little longer to induce). I meditate as often as I can. Actually I’m very convinced that I can change my brain state to the Alpha state (where one starts to dream). When I sit down to meditate that far I tend to experience what I call clicks, due to the sudden and sharp feeling that comes with them. It’s like a shift, into what I think is the next brain state. Every time it happens in a meditation session my phosphenes react. The click approaches and then my phosphenes constrict together and explode into a dizzying array of patterns and bright vivid colors. Usually a click happens at least twice in a session. Upon entering a new brain state I can feel a very obvious difference in the way my mind operates. My perception narrows. Thoughts pass by almost unannounced and are very easy to put aside and focus Phophenes are unlike anything I can explain.
After I enter the Alpha state it feels like I’m in a gently vibrating blanket covering my mind. It feels like my mind is heavy or something. At this point Alpha may bring me into some sort of vision or day dream. They last very briefly and are hyper realistic. They are very random scenes not pertaining to anything in my life as far as I can understand, however one time I was in the back seat of a car and I went into Alpha and I started to see the car around me with my eyes closed. I hallucinated a movement of my body and then woke from it in the original position I left myself in. When the visions appear they form over the phophenes that collect together to form the base of the vision.
I believe phosphenes can be used as a tool. I can literally experience my thoughts if I choose to do so. These colors are you! I think I understand some mechanism that gives them shape too. It’s your focus. Energy flows where focus goes. They trick is to not let your eyes wander. Keep eyes in one place and try not to focus. One can choose to either let the phosphenes lead you into a colorful dance or one can choose to manifest them yourself. Manifesting phosphenes requires complete control over thought and eye movement. All must be still for manifestation to work. It’s really fun.
I don’t know what exactly this all means but I do know some significance. These colors are the most physical manifestation of your thoughts. Learn to use them to better yourself as a person and tune yourself into the perfect place to experience existence for what it is meant to be perceived as.
I have actually been able to do this before. I was watching the hypnagogic imagery and everything was like a static ‘mess’ of colors, and I thought “i wonder if I can turn this into a dream scene” (I had woken up after several hours of sleep, and expected to enter a dream quickly).
I thought “I want to go to a beach”, and then in the field of color there was a swirl that was brighter than the rest, and very quickly it expanded until it took up the entire visual area. It was a beach surrounded by all sides by a cliff. The water was very blue, and the sky was bright with day. As it became clearer, I ‘stepped’ inside the scene and entered the dream. I could even feel the warmth of the sun.
I guess technically it could have been called a WILD or WBTB, but it worked basically the way you described it
Funny thing, I was recently thinking about this for days on end. Good I finally know what they’re called. Though, I must say I don’t see them as clouds at all. To me the situation looks like if I was in outer space, looking at literally millions and millions of white dots of light, like stars. Whenever I try focusing on one of these little dots, everything just starts moving around and it looks like I’m about to enter lightspeed. It’s a very fascinating experience, everything begins to swirl around, I begin to feel lighter than ever, like being transported somewhere in the universe.
Unfortunately, I find it really hard to keep attention on these phosphenes, and after a few seconds they escape my line of focus. Even worse, they seem to be moving all over the place, making it hard to catch sight of them. I usually try chasing them, but after some time my head starts hurting. Though from what everyone in here has said, I guess one must not chase them, but wait for them to grab your attention and let them guide you. It seems like solid advice, I will definitely try this out, see where it takes me.
By the way, I believe phosphenes can actually be seen with your eyes open as well, one just has to put a little more attention to what they see. They tend to blend in with the rest of our surroundings, most likely due to the vast amount of colors and brightness we see in the environment. I find it easier to notice them at night, when looking at a place that’s very dark or has a very dark shadow on it. It makes you think about a lot of things as well, the way they kind of look like pixels in an image that together make up the things we see on a day to day basis. Food for thought.
Hello everyone. I’m new to the forum. Guess my first stop should have been to introduce myself elsewhere but this discussion immediately caught my eye.
My question or line of inquiry pertains to the odd discovery of seeing hypnagogic eyes with my eyes open. I discovered that in low light it was possible to view the same images of faces or scenes with my eyes open. Does this mean I broke my brain or is it normal?
Right in the introduction, it is said that these types of images can also be observed with open eyes in a darkened room. Generally, closed-eye hallucinations seem to be regarded as something other than hypnagogic hallucinations, as they appear during the day. Nontheless, they are harmless phenomena, and nothing to worry about, unless they might have been caused by drug intake.
I also have to say, this post has helped me a great deal understanding what has been going on recently when my eyes are closed. It first caught my attention while I was lying in bed which was just normal hypnagogic imagery, as it seems. However, it has started happening during the day as well when I have my eyes closed long enough. Little phosphenes appear but they also seem to occur in certain shapes, and I could swear that I have some control over them. I find myself to be able to produce really simple shapes like circles, lines or triangles. Sometimes, I also seem to be able to draw a line into a specific direction. I have never had any training, nor do I meditate properly. Maybe I get relaxed and sleepy enough during the day for hypnagogic hallucinations to manifest? Before I had any idea these phenomena even exist, I feared something might be wrong with me.
Hello dreamers. I used HI two times to enter in a LD. I just jumped inside the HI and opened her like I was inside a sardine can. I don’t know if anyone has done that, exactly like me. I used my hands, like I was trying to enter inside the dream. One time I entered inside a car and I started to drive in my dream. It was very vivid. I think I can call this method “sardine can”.
