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Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

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Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#111
post #14

I think I once got into this hypnagogic state by accident. I was having a nap and my dogs woke me up because it was time for their walk. I felt sleepy while walking the dogs but also had a clarity regarding anything I examined in my mind. It's as if my regular state of mind was like walking in a forest with limited visibility, and now I could see the territory from a bird's perspective. This lasted for about 15 mins…

I wonder if other changes, not just sleep, but quick changes to environment can create this effect as well. Your description regarding the feeling you had walking your dogs is very similar to something which happened to me once just as I was leaving work, as I was walking out of my office. As I walked out the door, everything felt very crisp, my mind felt lighter, and it was as if my senses were working at 200%. At t…

> I thought about several things and knew in that moment exactly what needed to be done in each of them, with what felt like more than absolute certainty.

Exactly!

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#112
post #70
post #14

I think I once got into this hypnagogic state by accident. I was having a nap and my dogs woke me up because it was time for their walk. I felt sleepy while walking the dogs but also had a clarity regarding anything I examined in my mind. It's as if my regular state of mind was like walking in a forest with limited visibility, and now I could see the territory from a bird's perspective. This lasted for about 15 mins…

I experienced such states on several occasions, usually randomly once every two or three years. I resolved to explore it if it happened again, and sure enough I was ready when it did. I soon discovered you don't have to wait years; it can happen a few times a week. Simple technique: - wait until you've woken up after a dream. (so technically hypnopompic, not hypnagogic, but more powerful imho) - Any dream will do, bu…

What worked for me years ago was writing down my dreams. After a while I got really good at recalling them and even lucid dreaming at times. It was really cool, but I was single. Now I wouldn't want to wake my wife.

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#113

When I was younger, often "falling" asleep felt like literally falling. I'd slam my arms down on the bed to "catch" myself, and shoot straight into a panicked awake state until my heart was ready to sleep again. I'd usually have memories just as described, weird combinations of the physical reality of my bedroom with random dream-stuff. I've also felt this on airplanes, not able to fall into any deeper level of sleep…

This happens to me usually once every week ever since covid started and I got better sleep

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#114

Wow. I didn’t know this, but I was actually able to observe this state on myself. When going to sleep, my mind is wandering. But at one point it drifts from real world thoughts to completely abstract concepts and wild imagination that sometimes makes no sense. It’s almost like a hallucination. What’s most interesting is that sometimes I am able to notice the transition to this state and consciously observe it. Usuall…

Apparently people with untreated narcolepsy (who naturally go in-and-out of that zone automatically on a nightly basis) tend to have "higher creative potential" than people without narcolepsy[0].

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31143939/

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#116
post #99

Anecdote: I distinctly remember being on the edge of sleep writing a song one night in 2019. I was about to fall asleep on the floor with a notebook in my hand, and just at that moment, the music came into my mind. For whatever reason, I was able to stay awake and flesh it out as a recording. After reflecting on it the next day I realised I had written an acoustic fingerstyle piece that moved across keys as if there…

Wow what a story!

Is this available anywhere?

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#117

Wow. I didn’t know this, but I was actually able to observe this state on myself. When going to sleep, my mind is wandering. But at one point it drifts from real world thoughts to completely abstract concepts and wild imagination that sometimes makes no sense. It’s almost like a hallucination. What’s most interesting is that sometimes I am able to notice the transition to this state and consciously observe it. Usuall…

Wow, I have this exact same experience before falling asleep. It feels like a direct shift in the thought processes, and as you described it, it feels as though you have become a passive observer of your own thoughts. The images are sometimes so absurd and creative that I almost laugh to myself. But I also, don't KNOW if the images are creative or absurd, but just my brain believing it so -- is there even a difference? If anyone has ever had a "genius" idea while high, written it down, and read it the next day, you know what I mean...

Just as you mentioned, this switch lets me know, I'm gonna be asleep in the next few seconds. I also often listen to audiobooks or ASMR while lying down to sleep, and just as this state kicks in, I know its time to flick out my earbuds just before I lose consciousness. However, sometimes I'm even able to ride this wave right into sleep -- as in, from weird observer state right into the dream world. I was actually thinking about this a few days ago, and did some very quick searching, but couldn't find anything -- I wonder if we are observing the switching of our own brainwaves from alpha to theta?

I'd like to ask other people that experience this: do you also have high rates of sleep paralysis? I get it almost nightly. My dreams are also very vivid, and I remember about 80% of them. Also, if I wake up during a dream, upon falling back asleep, I'm able to "continue" them. Maybe I'll try this Dali method a bit, who knows!

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#118
post #99

Anecdote: I distinctly remember being on the edge of sleep writing a song one night in 2019. I was about to fall asleep on the floor with a notebook in my hand, and just at that moment, the music came into my mind. For whatever reason, I was able to stay awake and flesh it out as a recording. After reflecting on it the next day I realised I had written an acoustic fingerstyle piece that moved across keys as if there…

That reminds me of this quote from Dick Dale, "I still remember the first night we played it ('Misirlou'). I changed the tempo, and just started cranking on that mother. And ... it was eerie. The people came rising up off the floor, and they were chanting and stomping."

It seems like people really are susceptible to a sort of mass hypnosis if you can make the right noises.

Re: Sleep technique used by Salvador Dalí works

#120
post #72

I have aphantasia, but this exact state (just as I fall asleep) is the only time I can consciously see images in my head. It’s very odd

Same here— though it's not "images" in my case, best I can manage is a blob of either green, red, or purple (but I can consciously control which color it is, so that's neat)
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