LuciD DreamS

October 201
1 Issue
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The hypnagogic state is a strange
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hypn anted i c i m a f o r g i n
phenomena that occurs at the onset
d Drc imageryams on dInduced
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unw n a g o g p e n s ,
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of sleep. Also known as hypnagogia,
hy p i t h a p
nd Lhypnagog lucid drn as WakInductioen
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it induces visions, voices, insights and
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gog our ownof enterinue is knoywpnagogeicmpting thto
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peculiar sensations as you sail through the
Hypserving yne way r techniqled the Hmend attllent wayand
borderland state. You are probably used to
Ob ep is o popula lso cal recom n exce sness
n,
seeing hypnagogic imagery as you fall asleep. You
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may see familiar faces, landscapes and geometric
The id Drea . I stro od as i een con ep rela with
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shapes take form. Complex patterns flow across your
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field of vision, becoming almost hypnotic in nature, and
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with focus these can be manipulated at will. What many people
expl ep. The sights s mind t o m a s art is
p
sle d e n i n nsciou f i c u l t
don’t realize is this imagery can be used to induce lucid dreams.
m
est
s u d s u b c o i t d i f e h a rd o n f r o x
t h e y f i n d a l ly t h a n s i t i omple
What is The Hypnagogic State?
m a t . U s u t h e t r g the c c t i n g
a
n
firs k i n g
“Only when I am on the brink of sleep, with the consciousness
r,
ervi
nter
m a ply obs i a to i Howeve
that I am so...” (Edgar Allan Poe). The term hypnagogic was
sim n a g o g ream. c t i c i n g
created in the 19th century by a French psychologist. He derived
h y p h the d t h p r a a l s o
wit s w o r t h i s
it from two Greek words: hypnos (meaning sleep) and agogeus
a
it i a u s e o u a s
(meaning guide). Later, the term hypnopompic came to being,
m
r
b e c ve s y
o
f
to describe the same phenomena which occurs between sleep
s e r w e r f u l tion.
ita
and waking. Essentially these are the same hallucinatory states.
po
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e
of m
Scientists have linked the hypnagogic state with NREM sleep,
pre-sleep alpha waves, REM sleep and relaxed wakefulness.
Lucid Dreams
1
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The Purpose of Dreams
Hypnagogia and Sleep Paralysis
The hypnagogic state can also play a rather distressing
role in sleep paralysis. While many WILD lucid
dreams involve passing through sleep paralysis briefly
and uneventfully, some people suffer from prolonged
sleep paralysis against their will. In some cases, the fear of
being unable to move, paired with complex hypnagogia (or
hypnopompia), results in terrifying hallucinations. The most
common experience involves a foreign entity - a stranger, intruder,
or even aliens - entering the room and putting pressure on the chest.
All this happens while the sufferer is completely paralyzed (with the
exception of the eyes, mouth and maybe fingertips). Frequent episodes
are rare, but do happen, and are mostly associated with sufferers of
narcolepsy or other sleep disorders, such as sleep terrors or even sleep apnea.
Interacting with The Hypnagogic State
2
lan
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Su nza -li
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The purpose of hypnagogic imagery is to relax your mind and send you to
sleep. So to take advantage of it for lucid dreaming, you need to maintain a
certain level of conscious awareness while your body falls asleep. One way
to do this is practice meditation. Another is to relax while listening to
binaural beats. This guides your brain to the appropriate frequencies
where you can consciously experience your own hypnagogia.
Dreams are so compelling, and they often seem so weird
and strange -- surely they must have a “purpose”; that
is, an “adaptive role” in the maintenance of our bodily or
psychological health. Furthermore, all the famous theorists
who talk about dreams claim that dreams do have one or
another purpose (although the famous theorists disagree
on just what those functions are), but the best current
evidence suggests otherwise. Dreams probably have no
purpose! The first and most famous dream theorist of
the modern era, Sigmund Freud, said that the function of
dreams was to preserve sleep, but that theory from the
year 1900 is contradicted by the fact that dreams happen
very regularly at least five or six times per night in an
active stage of sleep called REM sleep (after the rapid
eye movements that are part of it, along with many other
neurological and physiological changes). In other words,
dreams don’t just happen as we are about to wake up due
to hunger pangs, sexual urges, or the need to go to the
bathroom, as Freud thought way back when, before REM
sleep was discovered in 1953. The other famous dream
theorist of the modern era, Carl Jung, an early follower of
Freud who broke away to develop a very different theory,
claimed that the function of dreams is to compensate
for those parts of the psyche (total personality) that are
underdeveloped in waking life, but Calvin Hall’s studies of
two-week dream series from students and longer dream
journals from adults of all ages strongly suggest that dream
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content is continuous with waking thought and behavior. That is, if we
are outgoing and active in our waking life, and not very introspective
and reflective, then so too in our dream life, which contradicts Jung’s
view. Still other dream theorists say that dreams have a problem-solving
function. Dreams supposedly deal with problems we can’t solve in waking
life and offer solutions. However, this is one of those places where we have
developed “uses” for our dreams as part of our cultural lore. Looking at them
in the light of waking day, and believing that they may be full of insight, we
may sometimes come up with new ideas or insights while studying them. That
is, we have invented a “use” for dreams, but that doesn’t mean that problem
solving is a psychological function of dreams built into us over evolutionary time.
But Dreams Have Meaning
Dreamcatchers are
objects people use to
obtain pleasant dreams
and avoid nightmares.
This doesn’t mean that dreams have no “meaning,” that they make no sense.
To the contrary, dreams correlate with age, gender, culture, and personal
preoccupations, as evidence on this site and in many research
” o r e d n l e: s e er s ,
studies suggests. “Meaning” has to do with coherence and
ses gical inventhave axamp iagno to entnalyst s
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with systematic relations to other variables, and
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in that regard dreams do have meaning.
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Mythical
creatures also
represent a human’s
experience in hypnagogia.
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