I'm having trouble reaching the hypnagogic state without immediately falling asleep, is there anything that I can do to help me reach it without falling asleep?
It sounds as if your chakras are not opened and aligned properly for you to reach a meditative state prior to sleep that allows for the hallucinogenic aspect of hypnagogic process. I suggest practicing meditation further as you learn to open and align your chakras. This will allow energyto flow through the body and aura to help remain in the hypnagogic state which in turn may allow for hallucinations or visions, as both may occur. Once you start hanging in the hypnagogic state and having things occur while there,you will need to meditate later on these occurrences as they may be a vision with important information or they may be random things your mind puts together as it's preparing for the information distribution that occurs while we sleep. Journaling is going to be an important follow up to your experiences as you record your thoughts and experiences while you figure things out. Dream interpretation can be of help as this state is very close to dreaming while you try to understand what your brain is showing you. You can also try using a diffuser filled with lavender, frankincense, and ylang ylang. A dream/vision pillow of lavender, mugwort, hops, and rosemary may also help. as you will want to work on all aspects of the sleep cycle andstrengthenthe mind as a whole.
One other thought I might add is that you may also simply be tired and in need of rest by the time you begin your meditation. For example, if you are practicing at the end of the day, at or just before bedtime then your mind and body are wanting sleep. So when you settle up to that narrow line between being awake and asleep your tiredness kicks in and tips you over the edge.
Try switching up when you choose to practice. Perhaps in the mid-morning, or otherwise in the daytime a short time after sleeping for the night. Get up, do a couple small things, your morning routine, maybe a short walk or light exercise to get the brain and body alert. Then settle in for a practice session and see how it goes.
Re: Hypnagogic State By: Artindark Moderator / Adept
Post # 4 Aug 26, 2022
I personally approach this state in a holistic way based on science, breathing exercises combined with meditation/mindfulness and herbs intake to understand and trigger the process, without significantly compromising the natural sleep and awake cycle as this comes with serious consequences on long run.
The first most important concept you need to understand is that the brain has natural circadian rhythm based on different electric impulses called brain waves which allows us to think, memorise, imagine and heal. The brain operates in the four states of wakefulness, light sleep, rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and deep sleep and each is associated with specific awareness state of consciousness. Wakefulness occurs when the brain utilises mostly Gamma(100 plus-30 Hz) and Beta (12-30 Hz) brain waves. Thus, your brain is capable to perform highly demanding cognitive and analytical tasks and also to just get on with mundane life. Alpha (8-12 Hz) and Theta brain waves (8-4 Hz) are more complex and in combination appear in states of light sleep and REM sleep but Alpha can appear while daydreaming and in relaxed, lucid states while Theta is characteristic to deep meditation and mindfulness. Thus, they can exist in both light and REM sleep and in some cases interrupt the fully awake (Beta) state in individuals, who have trained their brains to do so. Delta or deep sleep is accompanied by brainwaves with range of 0.5 to 4 Hertz. This type of sleep is unconscious although you will wake up, if a strong sound stimulus is associated with danger. In this state the body and the brain heal and repair damage in all tissues.
The sleep/awake cycle repeats on certain intervals and has cyclic nature. This means that your brain goes through multiple cycles of light, REM and deep sleep every night, but each next cycle is shorter in duration than the previous. Since your physical and metal health and your learning are highly dependent on the repetition of the cycle, the brain does not like and will not deviate from the routine, unless forced or trained for long period of time. Additionally, not everyone has awareness of these states or memory of them even though they repeat every night. Therefore, the sleep/awake cycle routine must be broken and awareness of the states gained.
Some people naturally experience temporary or permanent changes in the sleep/awake cycle due to mental illness, severe depression or anxiety, narcolepsy, insomnia or other sleep disorders. Trance work, near death experiences, work with plants, yoga and internal martial arts can also interrupt the natural circadian rhythm of the brain for some period of time. You need to interrupt the circadian routine and expand your personal awareness of the state.
Your firsts step should be to take 3 drops of mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris) at least 1 hour before going to bed. You can also brew a tea from the leaves by infusing a table spoon of the dried mugwort leaves in cup of boiled water for ten minutes. Do not consume more than a cup a day. This herb is not suitable for pregnant women and big doses in short period of time should not be taken. I use the tincture.If you use the tea you need to allow it two hours to work.
Your second step is to use some sort of moving meditation flow like routine of Hatha Yoga, Eight Brocades Qigong, The Five Tibetans Rites or any type of Tai Chi or internal martial arts sequence of forms. I use the Five Healing Tibetans most often. The idea is to gently exercise your body, while concentrating on your breathing for an hour or at least half an hour.
Your third step is practicing mindfulness breathing meditation or Pranayma meditation, if you are more experienced with breathing practices. It must be meditation based on breathing as it is the fastest way to influence your physiology and your state of awareness at the same time in the desired way.The hypnagogic hallucinations can take unpleasant forms in awareness driven by fear and anxiety and cause psychological trauma if handled with reactive awareness. Proactive awareness accepts suffering and fear as part of the cycle of life and death and realises that without those learning is severely diminished. The idea is to simply observe without reacting negatively in thought or emotion towards the experience. Just to exist in the moment.
Forth step is to go to bed or use comfortable chair like the rocking types, while holing a metal bar or other metal object in one hand. I have two metal Chinese Chi balls rotate in my hand while meditating and they make very specific sound when hitting the floor, but I can wake up on my own. I often wake up to write down the things I have experienced. Sometimes I see pages of written poems which I will forget if I do not get up to write them down. I usually either listen to videos discussing lucid dreaming while drifting to sleep or I listen to chill out music or nature sounds. Some people like binaual beats at lower volume. This helps me to either create intend for focus or to relax. Through my near death experience I have learnt that the last sense we loose dying or sleeping is the hearing so you can be in the light sleep and still hear well. Once you approach the REM sleep your muscle and limbs are paralysed to prevent injury while dreaming. As a result, you will drop the metal object and it will hit the floor making a sound. At this point just wake up and write down your experiences. Then try to repeat the process every day. The idea is to prevent the cycle of sleep repeating in its natural pattern. Some people use alarm to wake up in 3 hours of sleep, but not everybody has same cycle of sleep in terms of individual sleep phases of duration. Therefore, you might be past the Theta phase and already in Delta or still in early Alpha when the alarm starts to ring.
Never repeat this process twice the same night or day on purpose. Delta sleep is very important and if you deprive yourself from it by forcing the brain to only reach to theta phase every cycle rotation your brain and body will suffer damage after weeks of continuous repetition.
Keep in mind that sleep paralyses, hypnagogic jerks and twitches of th body and legs are very possible to occur and are not pleasant. I have never experienced sleep paralyses, but I have had the jerks before. Especially, when I got scared because I went to a place I do not like which I usually call the "dark place". Whenever I end up there I get terrified after some time and then I panic and start falling down in my body which twitches and jerks awake in very uncomfortable way. Hypnagogic experiences are not always nice or enlightening so having proactive awareness gained trough meditation and other spiritual practices is both protective and helpful to cope with the negative side of them. You might need to ground next day and have a break, if something negative or unpleasant occurs. You will need to process it and heal from it properly.
Achieving the state will take time and repetition with sudden break through and stand stills. It is a lifetime practice as most spiritual practices.
What also helps is proper vitamins. 5htp (2 a day) and dissolvable melatonin tablets. Both of these will help create serotonin and dmt in your brain. Fishoil too, just for brain function.
