Here's a very interesting consciousness experiment for you to try out...

For the last few months I have been experimenting on trying to focus my attention in the state of mind that occurs in the transitional period of being asleep and awake...

After practicing it many times, it has now become such a profound experience for me that words can't adequately describe it, but for some reason, I feel that developing this "headspace" is somehow very important for our future evolution...

The simplist way I can describe it is for you to try and focus on the fact that you are "concious" and that "you exist", in the moments before you wake up from being in a deep sleep, and for you to try and hold this state of mind for as long as you can before you actually wake up...

I'm sure many of you have experienced this before, and if so, I'd love to hear your experiences... If you haven't tried this before, please give it a go and let me know what you think!









[edit on 20-10-2008 by NeuronDivide]


MOD EDIT: Fixed title.

[edit on 1-11-2008 by TheBorg]

Thats an interesting idea , will try it out today thank You. But I do have a small issue with that .

The moment you start to "focus" on anything means you already woke up from a deep sleep . You might still feel "weird and semi asleep" but thats not a deep sleep anymore.

So how do You manage to focus on anything while waking up from deep sleep ? (Not considering lucid dreaming here as this is a whole different story)

That's exactly right mate... That's why most of the time as soon as you try to focus, you'll actually wake up... It takes a bit of practice to get it, but it's a profound trip once you do!

[edit on 20-10-2008 by NeuronDivide]

So, you do this during the transition from sleeping to waking?

Seems like you would have to be having a lucid dream to have a conscious thought as you are waking up.

I can do that in the opposite direction (awake to sleep). It usually ends up in uncomfortable sleep paralysis, but occasionally if I don't get too scared I can slip into a similar "headspace" that you are describing.

Peace

reply to post by TheRealDonPedros


Exactly my thoughts. The other way around (from awake to sleep) I can see how it can be done , but from sleep to awake without a lucid dream i kind of have no idea how to approach that , because until you get your first conscious thoughts you are sleeping and then after the first conscious thoughts you are already awake (well there can still be the thin veil of the dream around You but you are not in a deep sleep anymore).

Anyhow , I'll try it out for a few nights and see if I can get the hang of it .

To the OP : Did You try the same thing in the opposite direction (awake-sleep) ?

Originally posted by TheRealDonPedros
So, you do this during the transition from sleeping to waking?

I'm sure you could just as easily do it the other way around - I myself just seem to find it easier when I'm "waking up"...

From what I have read, it seems to be quite similar to the "astral projection" process in a lot of ways...

"I myself just seem to find it easier when I'm "waking up"... "


Ok... That implies that you are conscious through acknowledging to yourself that "yes I am waking up, lets try this out"....

I get the same thing quite often, especially if Ive gone to sleep after smoking a joint. Narcolepsy runs in my family but I only suffer/benefit from sleep paralysis. Its usually scary though, and feels like you're dying (or experiencing ego death).

Thats where the astral projection comes in. Ego death allows you to escape the quantum conundrum of collapsing waves (double slit experiment) by being a non-observing observer.

Peace




[edit on 20-10-2008 by TheRealDonPedros]

i find that the awake - sleep method is a profound state... the "body-buzz" produced and the thoughts that are inspired are something i love to tap into... when i am fully conscious again i am at a peak of creativity and immediately grab a pen and do some drawing and writing, shaking out the ideas that never came to fruition before the session.

the sleep-awake state, if it is indeed of the same type of experience as the awake-sleep, gets me extremely negative. my mind turns on itself and tries to get itself down and i cant regress back into a less conscious state. if i stay in there too long i will be dpressed for a big part of the day, which will in turn at least get me creative later on in the evening after a day of mulling over the dark side of everything.. makes me wonder about the dual nature of inspiration and its catalysts.

Id like to try and focus the sleep-awake state into a positive source, i guess it depends on the environment and situation too.. if its a sunday morning and i wake up in my girlfriends bed, theres no way the negative gets in, i should try and exercise this state while there..

It's really hard to describe the feeling.. It's like experiencing a paradox over the fact that you actually "exist". When you "wake up" it's gone because your neural networks - your "ego" snaps back to "normal" reality...

It's the most profound thing I have ever experienced...


[edit on 20-10-2008 by NeuronDivide]

Originally posted by TheRealDonPedros
Its usually scary though, and feels like you're dying (or experiencing ego death).

Thats where the astral projection comes in. Ego death allows you to escape the quantum conundrum of collapsing waves (double slit experiment) by being a non-observing observer.

Yes, it's very much an "ego death", but not dying - awakening...
It's an observation of the ego "outside of itself", before the sub-conscious kicks in (so to speak)...

[edit on 20-10-2008 by NeuronDivide]

Well '___' is a naturally occuring endogenous substance in all of our brains so all of us have already experienced it - but we're getting off topic here...

What I'm saying is that this is a natural state of mind everyone can achieve with a little practice.

What is the topic then, if '___' is off limits?

Originally posted by TheRealDonPedros
What is the topic then, if '___' is off limits?

Not at all, dear - I could talk about it 'till the cows come home, but the mods will definately kick up a fuss...

Perhaps you could try the experiment and contribute your thoughts instead?

Although our interpretation of "said" experiment may be different, I'm pretty confident were talking about the same thing.

I may be new to ATS but I highly doubt the MOD's would pull the plug on this discussion for talking about '___'. There has been enough credible research done in the fields of psychedelics and there relationship to religion/spirituality that not going down that road in "a very interesting consciousness experiment" would be akin to staring ignorance dead in the face and saying "Give me a kiss".

Peace

I find this is easiest to do when you wake up perhaps about an hour earlier than you usually do, then go back to bed. You are then in a hypnopompic state and it makes it easier to go back into the subconsious pre-hynogogic state where you experience these sensations. The only problem I had is the "body-buzz" described above, I sort of relate the feeling to degaussing an old crt monitor only sometimes it feels like an earthquake. I still have problems getting past this part and the feeling of death part. However I haven't done this in a couple of years so I'm gonna give it another shot. I'm something of a computer geek so for me I equivocate this to sort of "hacking" your body and looking at what lies just beneath the surface. It's cool to hear other people talking about this sort of thing.

reply to post by NeuronDivide


Good experiment, I kind of off an on have been working with this. I will tell you my experiences, I know the monks practise something similar.

When going to bed, I'll try and hold on to my conciousness, usually when I fall to sleep I don't notice it, but I will wake up, with a feeling of "what the hell was that"... whatever happened, I did not expect it, and I guess a bit of fear from inexperience took over, and caused me to wake up with my heart beating.

Other times I successfully followed the transition..a bit anyway... you could say there was like 15 minutes of missing time, but I started dreaming right aware, or rather.. was aware that I was dreaming, I think i was lucid all night... i remember learning SO much and being upset that I would forget it all as the night went on.. (I was aware of my dreamstate all night.)


Other times when I wake up, my head will be swimming and its like dreams want to keep playing out.. if I'm tired enough, what I will do is close my eyes, and try and let the concepts come in my mind, the "random thoughts".. I hold on to these and at one point there is a bit of confusion, you could call it that... but these ideas in your mind transition and become more and more real until you realise your standing in them, and you know your not awake anymore.. another way to lucid dream..

If i wake up in this state... i'll try and go back to sleep and tell myself "i want sleep paralysis"... and sometimes I get it, this is how I astral project.


I've waken up before, keeping my eyes half open and am still watching a dream play out but I know i'm awake too..


One time I tried a technique where I focussed on my heart and pulse when I went to sleep.. it was an astral projection technique... i woke up with sleep paralysis and I felt a big spinning sphere in my chest, the width of my torso, spinning so fast, it was too much for me to handle, I didn't know what to do with this, I think my solution was to just go back to sleep.


I'm trying to develope this transition phase you speak of and kind of get to that point of full time conscious awareness if I choose to... or at least witness the transition, I have no doubt that it is something incredible like I've been told.

Research Robert Monroe, Robert Bruce, OBE, Hemisynch, etc.... all that good stuff should help you achieve that desired state of mind. Seems like this discussion might be about that.. unless I'm wrong..

Cheers