trying to understand hypnogogic imagery (what happens before i fall asleep)

hypnogogic imagery is that state before you fall asleep but you aren't awake.... in between awake and asleep.

i don't remember ever NOT doing this. just as i'm falling asleep i go into a state where images flash through my mind and i have no control over them. i'm still conscious and aware but not conscious enough to be fully awake. the images are usually fleeting, very vivid, and most of the time funny. each "image" is fairly quick. it's almost like having 5-10 second dreams in succession. i've done this since childhood.

who else does this and is this called "hypnogogic imagery"? a lot of what i read refers to light patterns and while i do see that too (also very neato).... this is more like dream snippets that i'm watching as if i was channel surfing.

i can make it last for several minutes and depending on how tired i am i can come back to full consciousness and think "whoa, that was some weird #" then go back to the state to see what else happens. i go in and out before deciding to let it go and fall asleep. i really love this state because the images are so darn bizarre.

unless i'm super duper tired i do this every night. if i'm super tired i hit that state for a very short time then just go to sleep.

last night the funny one i remember is horses dancing in a line on their hind legs. . the other day i needed to take a nap and i was on the sofa with a view through my backdoor.... i could see a zebra, a giraffe, and 2 goats standing in my garden.

i have experienced vibrations in this state.... it feels like the bed is moving (this phenomenon comes up in hypnogogic google searches and has only happened a few times in my life - the first time i was a teen trying to see if i could have an OBE).

i've also experienced sleep paralysis but not in this particular state (another thing that comes up in searches). my sleep paralysis generally only happens if i'm having a nightmare and i'm trying to wake myself up. i know i'm dreaming and i'll try to scream or move or make some sort of noise to wake myself up. i remember when i was very young having a nightmare and waking up to sleep paralysis. it felt like someone was crushing me.... my eyes were wide open but i couldn't move or scream. it scared me then but now it's just frustrating when i'm trying to get the hell out of a nightmare (that only happens about once a year, usually i change the dream or wake up with out the paralysis part).

Im pretty sure this is a common experience. Unless youre the type of person that cant think in images only in linear sentences like my fiance.

reply to post by lobotomizemecapin


i thought everyone did it (at least everyone that doesn't go to sleep the second their head hits the pillow) but after kind of asking around and doing some googling i started to wonder if it wasn't that common.

as for my thoughts... i don't think in pictures. i just hear my voice talking my thoughts out. i CAN think in pictures but it's not my automatic thought process.

** edit to add that i do know sleep paralysis is not uncommon nor is the vibrations. it's the semi conscious hallucination/dream like parts that i'm wondering about.

reply to post by pasiphae


I thought it was an everyone type deal I get it when waking up sometimes too. I get imagery as well as vocal thoughts while thinking. I know a lot of people that just pass right out seconds after laying down so those people probably dont get this experience. I dont think its uncommon though, could be though I've not talked to many people about it. You know if you meditate and get into some of the deeper states of meditation you hit stages like this as well. a lot of people call it the rapture which it is very pleasurable might I add. maybe this phase between awake and sleep is just like that I do note some similarities though you dont fall asleep in the meditation due to the position you sit in. You ever try deep trance meditation?

reply to post by lobotomizemecapin


nope. never tried any deep meditation. i really should though....


as far as the pre-sleep images i'm still not so sure it's that common. i've never asked but i did on facebook and no one is responding that it happens to them. thought i'd ask here and i'm not getting much response but this isn't a super active forum. it could very well be common but you would think there would be more info on the net about it. the things i've found talk about light and colors as opposed to actual vivid dream like images.

reply to post by pasiphae


Yeah the meditation is tough but much more pleasurable than the pre-sleep dream/wake state. Its kinda tough to reproduce the same states in meditation but they are all pretty stellar. minutes can seem like hours or an hour can seem like 5 minutes it gets weird sometimes you get clear images sometimes you get some amazing colors and patterns like gold lines kaleidoscoping with other strange colors. Like I said hard but well worth the time. one time I didnt feel like talking for about 6 hours after meditation for no reason at all. I just had no need to talk. You should definitely try it out

This is somewhat common.

It's harder to control if you're lying in bed drifting off to sleep, but if you meditate, the images become much more clear, and it's possible to break through to the next level. Try sitting sometime in a dark room, or blindfolded, and let go of your thoughts. Just focus on the how black and dark everything is. If you start to see images, follow them. That is basically how I meditate, in a simplified manner, that is.

That happens to me sometimes my imagination thinks things up like things I want to do the next day and stuff like that

I'm always in a house when that happens. Usually by a window with slat blinds and a nice little stand with plants. All walls and table are white...then I drift off to sleep. I've wandered around a couple of times, but sleep is so good at that point that I let go and snooze

reply to post by lobotomizemecapin


yeah, i think it would be good for my brain and emotional well being. i've talked about meditation a lot but never seem to find the space in my day to do it. i don't know why...

Originally posted by Somethingintheclouds
That happens to me sometimes my imagination thinks things up like things I want to do the next day and stuff like that

hmm.... this is different than what i want to do the next day. i do that too but this is the next step. the thoughts aren't controllable and very entertaining. almost none of it is realistic.

Originally posted by Darkblade71
I'm always in a house when that happens. Usually by a window with slat blinds and a nice little stand with plants. All walls and table are white...then I drift off to sleep. I've wandered around a couple of times, but sleep is so good at that point that I let go and snooze

hmmmm.... i have never had any of these images be something the same as it was the night before. it's really JUST LIKE channel surfing. i don't know what's going to pop up next. it's uncontrollable and random.

Happens To me every night. I'm just like. "wiah, where the h# did that come from?"
I've HEARD something right before I fell asleep once, but that was accompanying a "sort of" sleep paralysis. I'll wake up and feel like, HEAVY like my body turned to lead and my head is in thick fog, an I always get this terrified feeling and usually have scary dreams. I try to turn on a light or get up by the 3rd or so time it happens.

I experience this often, usually images of people but sometimes larger scenes.. Very vivid images but not quite typical compared to normal life.

The few I have mentioned it to do not experience it.

reply to post by pasiphae


I wish mine was like that. That would be fun.
I have lucid dreamed quite a few times,
but that is a little different.

reply to post by pasiphae


Im sure if you tried you could. The way I see it if I can find a way to make time to work on my game during the day I can find time to meditate. Not that it is every single day that I get the chance but most days I can find the time in my schedule. It's all about what is more important. I find time to get on this site all the time and if it came to it I would drop my ats time to make it happen but I generally can find the time somewhere in between.

Originally posted by roadgravel
I experience this often, usually images of people but sometimes larger scenes.. Very vivid images but not quite typical compared to normal life.

The few I have mentioned it to do not experience it.

maybe it's 50/50 ? i asked my daughter if she experienced it (she's 12) and she looked at me like i was crazy LOL! she remembers her dreams pretty often and can control situations in them (even at a very young age) so i thought for sure she'd know what i was talking about. she doesn't experience what i'm talking about at all. i'm sure my son doesn't do it because he falls asleep so fast and easily.