Falling backwards from lucid into AP; cont. mirrors thread

[stargazer]

First try, resulted in kind of an odd experience.

I was having a dream that I was living in my old dorm room at college, and I had this old bedspread of mine on the bed, a bright orange one. As I was running around looking for a bathroom to use, I noticed that all the bathrooms I found seemed to be unavailable or in use, and that is when I figured "This is a dream trend" and went lucid.

Since the bed was the nearest thing to me in the dream, I climbed up on it. At this point, I was a bit chicken and only got up onto my knees to fall back onto the bed. I guess you need a more full fall, but I was worried about hitting my head as it was a small bed.

Anyways, I fell backwards...

Then I was confused. I seemed to be lying in bed, under the covers.

I reached down, to feel the bed covers... they felt like my normal, waking life bedcovers. And since I could feel them so clearly under my fingertips...

"Oh, I'm awake" I thought with disappointment, and I got out of bed and walked over to look out the window. I saw my neighborhood, and a dark-haired pregnant lady saw me, smiled and waved.

"Yep, awake." I thought.

Only, I wasn't... the pregnant lady was a dream fragment from something that had happened at the store yesterday. I just THOUGHT I was awake for some strange reason, though the view out the window looked nothing like my backyard.

I don't remember what happened after that, but had no energy sensations when I did wake up, and I know that I didn't wake up right after that.

At the least, I'm pretty sure that it caused some kind of shift in consciousness, and that I definitely went MORE lucid after falling. More experimenting needed, yep yep.

[Matthew]

That actually went very well, Stargazer. When you fell backward, you experienced a shift into another dream scenario. The energetic shift was the important part. As you said, you became more lucid after the shift. I would chalk that up as a success.

As for thinking you were awake after the shift... That is really common. It seems like the unconscious has a built in mechanisms to keep us from becoming lucid. When you experience a shift, it is very easy for the unconscious to plant the idea that you are actually awake. When this happens, you lose lucidity. I've probably only caught myself a handful of times in the last few years and been able to say... "hey, wait a minute. I am not awake now!" Yep, the "I'm awake" trick can really throw you off.

Still, having the "awake trick" thrown at you can be a good sign. If you haven't had many lucid dreams lately, it might mean that you are in an upswing in your dream cycle as your energy increases.

I'm a fan of falling backward now... keep at it and tell me how it goes.

-Matthew

[workinprogress]

Whenever I get the "waking up within a dream" feeling, I always double check, especially when I was just lucid. Even if I feel more lucid and believe I'm awake, I do a quick check and stick my hand through a wall, chair, mirror, anything that I shouldn't be able to do if I'm awake. As soon as my hand begins pushing through, then I realize I am in fact still dreaming.

Maybe doing something like this will help out if you experience this again.

[stargazer]

I'm pretty good at telling if I'm dreaming and making reality checks.. the problem with this experience was that I wasn't quite aware enough to really logically come to the conclusion that I was dreaming. :D I should have seen the wrong neighborhood and come to the conclusion that it wasn't mine, but my logical faculties didn't extend that far. I was lucid-er, but lapsed back into the dream environment pretty much instantly after I got disappointed. The positive here is that the initial lucidity did NOT result in full waking.. that's encouraging. I've never been able to go lucid and dance back into dreams; I've always just woken up.

Part of the "I'm awake" thing, I think, is related to a fear of, what to expect when I do go lucid to full AP. Matthew has been great about sharing his experiences in this regard, in what to expect and what to do.

Matthew, Thanks for the encouragement, and agreed on the "I'm awake" trick. I still have a few subconscious bumps to get over in terms of being fearless enough to go AP, but I'm getting there slowly.

[Matthew]

my logical faculties didn't extend that far.

ACK!!! That's what I've been wrestling with trying to say for weeks!

Exactly! It's like you are aware, and therefore lucid or at least semi-lucid, but you lack the reasoning skills. It's like you have a "thicker," more magical way of thinking. It's as if thoughts well up from deep in your unconscious and then burst into the actions you perform while lucid...

Good observation!

-Matthew

[stargazer]

Next round of LDs yet, Matthew?

I had a dream the other night that I was a superhero, and I was learning how to fly and also climbing up walls and the like.

Flying wasn't easy; it took a lot of focus and concentration. (Learning how to fly seems to be a huge priority to my dreaming mind, or perhaps I should say, remembering how to fly)

What was cool this time around was that at the top of each flying arc, the higher/faster I got, the more lucid I got. I had about 3 flying arcs where I was lucid, one of which I tried to translate into an OBE but the dream was too interesting and pulled me back in.

I consider it some excellent lucid dreaming as once again, I didn't wake up after going lucid.

[Kalonek]

Falling backwards is a good way to shift one's consciousness into one's astral body. I did it a lot with my first OBEs. Now I fall forward, which gives a very hard push on the astral body and pops it out almost instantely. I then usually find myself floating above my physical body.

It's therefore a very easy way to achieve astral projection from a lucid dream, it has been my main technic for years. The only problem is as you noticed that when you don't have enough energy to stay close to the physical, you quickly see some astral manifestations in the rtz and the environment becomes more solid, indicating that you are already shifting into the astral. It harder to stay close to the physical with this technic, although it's possible with a bit of training.

Anyway, good experience stargazer ! :wink:

[Matthew]

Interesting, Kalonek. I'll try falling forward and post the results...
-Matthew

[stargazer]

Kalonek, Thanks so much for the great info! Falling forward sounds like a good technique, I'll have to try it. It sounds much easier to commit to.

[Kalonek]

It's a very effective technic that I've been testing and using for years :) Give me some feedback if you have some good experiences with it :wink:

What is important is more the fact of pushing forward than the actual fall. Indeed the fall is only a psychological trick for the body to feel the push forward. It's a lot like Bruce's rope technic, but much faster. Feel your energy body while falling and push forward at the same time, like to fall faster. Due to the inherent advantages of the dream state (body more asleep than any level of trance can do, mind totally disconnected from the physical plane and energy body already very losen up), the exit is almost instantaneous.

[Matthew]

I tried the falling backward technique again last night. Here are the results (plus two other talking points... feel free to post your thoughts):

I was in my grandparents house when I suddenly thought, "Both my grandparents are dead." I wrestled briefly with whether or not this was true (which, unfortunately it is). Then, I thought, "This must be a dream." .... I point this out because this has never been how I become lucid. I know many people use this "logic" method to reason out the fact that they are dreaming. But, I have always simply "phased-in" to lucidity, and it rarely had anything to do with odd, unrealistic events or things. I take this as a sign that my reality checks are paying off (I set my watch to chime every hour and do a reality check).

Once lucid, I went outside and started to fly off and then remembered I wanted to fall backwards to start an OBE. I tried falling backward a few times and just kept hitting the ground! Suddenly, everything went black and I thought I was starting to have exit sensations. Then, I noticed my breathing and woke up.

Of course, I didn't really wake up. I know we've talked about this before... I had woken up in a room that I thought was mine, but it was really another dream. This seems to be my mind's way of knocking me out of lucidity (and I know this happens to some others here, too). This time, I realized it was a ruse and regained lucidity. I made my way out of the house and again tried to fall backwards... no success. Dream events started to creep in- such as the couple from the house I woke up in were trying to catch me to take care of their children and the congregation of a church were trying to get me to stop flying.
I again "woke up" and this time got sucked in to the dream events and lost lucidity.

I woke up laying on my stomach. I think the backwards technique failed because my astral counterpart was also face down. Oddly enough, while flying I tried dropping out of the sky belly-first and experienced some vibrations, but I didn't follow up on the feelings... I'll know to try falling at different angles next time.

-Matthew

[Matthew]

OK, I became lucid last night and tried falling backwards, forwards, and to each side.... no results. I also tried yelling out, "I will now have an OBE." That didn't work either.
However, I did end up having the longest lucid dream of my life. I was very proud of myself because there were just as many opportunities to lose control as normally occur.... usually I will get involved in some difficult task and I become engrossed in it and lose lucidity. What was different this time was that I remained a little aloof from what was happening around me and kept telling myself that my priority was to remain lucid.
I met a guide during the experience. We drove around in his car, and he gave me headphones to put on (the wires were all tangled and I almost lost lucidity getting them apart- but again I remained just aloof enough not to get sucked in). The combination of the sound from the headphones and the motion of the car produced exit sensations. Next, we stopped at a convenience store and went through the process of becoming intangible and gliding through objects. Then, we worked on transmuting substances such as turning concrete into styrofoam.
Very interesting dream. I stayed lucid through many changes of location... another thing that can knock me out of lucidity.

I think for now I will go back to pushing through mirrors and windows to have an OBE.

Oh, yes... I was also going to try falling into a lake backwards to help start the exit sensations, but I lost lucidity as I neared the water. Anyone had success with this technique?
-Matthew