Hypnogogia – The bridge to the unconscious

Steven Aitchison — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:33:40 +0000

Finding your creative genius – The bridge to the unconscious

There are many ways to find the inner creative person inside you and there are some great blogs, which can help you on your way. Check out some of these blogs:

Here is another suggestion to find creative solutions to problems, for creating works of art, for writers, for anything you just want to mull over.

Our dream images can tell us a lot about ourselves and can give us deep insight into our lives. You can use this knowledge to your advantage by harnessing the power of your subconscious mind. As mentioned before it can be difficult to get access to our subconscious without a lot of effort on our part.

Hypnogogia

Hypnogogia is the state we experience just as we are falling asleep. We are not quite conscious but we are not fully asleep yet. The brainwaves are going from the alpha and beta states to the deeper delta and theta waves usually experienced in dreaming. Therefore, it is like the bridge to the unconscious.

Hypnogogia can produce hallucinatory experiences; tactile, auditory and visual hallucinations. It can also produce a state called sleep paralysis, which is a state when our bodies are paralysed for a period. Our mind is still awake and we are awake when sleep paralysis occurs which can be a terrifying thing if we start to hallucinate.

Many lucid dreamers go through the state of sleep paralysis before becoming lucid in their dreams. When I practiced lucid dreaming a few years ago, I had a few scary sleep paralysis nights. It is also a state, which can occur during hypnogogia, and when we recognise this state, we can use it for our benefit.

Creativity in the state of hypnogogia

To practice keeping your mind awake just as you are falling asleep can take a few weeks but it can be done.

If you want to practice this you have to first have the will to do it, so don’t do it half-heartedly as you will give up after a few nights.

When you have the will, practicing is easy, perseverence is the harder part.

Practicing staying awake

Just before falling asleep each night, as you are the dozing stage, talk to yourself and tell yourself your mind is awake. Don’t repeat the statement as this might make you sleepier, rather make a running commentary something like ‘my mind is awake but I can feel my body falling asleep, my arms are relaxed, my mind is alert, my legs are also relaxing………’ and so on.

When you have practiced this for a few nights and you have got used to this state you might experience sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and lucid dreams or even astral projection (yes it really happens).

Using it for creativity

You can now start using the hypnogigic state to begin your creative journey. Before drifting off to sleep ask yourself a question, you need an answer to. This can be anything, like; what can you paint for your next painting, what can you write about in your next post, where can you find a great business idea, how will you sell your house or anything you need inspiration for.

Obviously, this is only another tool in the toolbox of personal development. It may work for someone who is highly motivated and it might not work for others who are less motivated. Try it, if it doesn’t work move onto another tool.

If you have had experienced the tae of hypnogogia and used if to help you why not tell us about it and leave a comment.

Change your thoughts» sleep studies

Hypnogogia – The bridge to the unconscious