Posted by Stephen Smith on April 11, 1998 at 12:16:27:

I just wanted to share with people my experiences with hypnagogic images and sleep paralysis.

In the mid 1970's I started experimentation with hypnagogic images. I could bring them on at will, and I developed a good technique for inducing them. For approximately 30 minutes I would draw art or intricate doodles with an ink pen and paper. These images were done in bright light and in my wake state. The pictures were quite nice and they were of a surrealistic nature. Next I would proceed to a dark room, and lay flat on my back on a comfortable bed. At this point, the hypnagogic images would come to me spontaneously and without effort. All I needed to do was to anticipate them. They were quite vivid, and an order of magnitude more interesting than my drawings. These images would evolve and constantly mutate into something as beautiful (or more so) as the previous image. It was like falling through a series of evolving fractals. While I was watching the images, I would sometimes drift off into sleep paralysis (usually when the experiment was done in the middle of the day). The images and sounds would be lucid, and there would appear to be more order and flow to the experience. Following sleep, hallucinations rarely occurred but when they did I can't say for sure I was awake yet. This was like a trip to another world. Sleep paralysis also occurred a few times when I took naps in the middle of the day, when there was no preliminary experimentation with hypnagogic images.

I hope this helps.

Follow Ups:

Copyright ©1995-2005 Sleepnet.com., All rights reserved