Dream Technique: Guidance through the Mirror of the Cave
Tonight I’m going to employ a guided dreaming technique. As I relax, I will…
(1) visualize myself exploring a wooded mountain pass; the more I see, the more relaxed I will get. At some point I will become extremely relaxed, and at that time I will…
(2) find a beautiful cavern that I will want to explore. The cavern will contain white, sparkling stalactites and stalagmites, and near the back will be a flight of carven steps leading down. I will then…
(3) descend this flight of 100 stairs, counting each step on the way down… At the bottom, I will…
(4) discover a mirror, silver, encrusted with gems and a spiritual power. This will be the Mirror of Self-Awareness, into which I can…
(5) see beyond my conscious perception of my own body and mind. Gazing into the mirror, I can…
(6) manipulate my own mental and physical manifestation of reality. With this power, I can…
(7) enter a lucid dreaming state, and travel the world, taking in all the sights that catch my fancy.
I’m hoping that this technique will help attain lucid states; the main obstacle will be maintaining the balance of wakefulness and relaxation without falling into an opaque sleep.
Posted in Stairs, Mirror, Cavern, Mountain, Forest, Meditation, Dream Technique |
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November 1st, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Any luck then, friend?
I have tried staircase visualizations myself. You aren’t kidding about maintaining the balance between visualization and sleep being difficult… I have yet to successfully induce an LD through visualization or by seizing hypnogogic hallucinations.
There was one instance about a month and a half ago that bears mentioning, though. After trying, as I do almost every night, to maintain consciousness while falling asleep, I suddenly realize that I am staring at a beautiful young woman’s face, hovering mere inches from my own. I quickly understand that I must have dozed off on accident, and open my eyes.
The most interesting thing happened; the womans face remained in front of me, even with my eyes open for about five long seconds in perfect clarity, before dissolving into phosphorescents and fading into the darkness. I assume this could be grouped with HH, but I have never had a hallucination so vivid that it grabbed my conscious attention like that, and especially none that have remained after opening my eyes.
Anyhow, I just thought it was interesting. Let us all know how your guided imagery worked out for you.
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:32 am
What an interesting experience, Myrmior, thanks for sharing it…
I tried this over the last two nights, and have had some interesting dreams (which I will post later if I have time), but they haven’t been lucid, so it didn’t work with complete success. I did manage to reach the mirror stage one time though, and actually did sense a strange and profound level of self-awareness. …that I could *manipulate* my physical and mental body with my mind… So I will definitely explore this line of imagery more.
It seems that I am more likely to succumb to sleep when I allow my mind to wander away from the main goal of the visualization. For instance, if I’m supposed to be in the forest, but then start thinking of what I had for dinner or something, then thoughts become unfocused and undirected, and sleep overcomes. One thing that has helped is to try to take the perspective that the desired imagery (e.g., the forest) is the reality, and everything else (being in bed, distracting thoughts) is the dream I’m trying to wake from.
I’m going to pursue that strategy more, and I will definitely update again…
November 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I have also had positive experiences as the result of conscious efforts to strengthen dream visualisations. One of my favorites is a vision of a Japanese graden and following a rock path to entering a traditional Japanese home. I would take in pagodas, statues, bonsais and other details, remove my sandals, make my way through the home, noticing detail and make my way out into a back garden down toward a small boat and wharf. As I became more experienced and more confident as a dream explorer, I would get further in, notice new details and heightened sensitivities. I have also use this exercise in self-hypnosis as a means to increase my sense of lucidity.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:43 am
What a great dream plan! Mahalo for sharing. I shall have to adapt something like this in my own practice at some point…