Something that's been happening to me a lot

[CFTraveler]

I have mentioned this before, and it seems to be happening more and more to me. I'll be in the middle of a dream, and suddenly in it, I'll get sleepy. A few things can happen from then on- I will either get 'dream paralysis', where I'm conscious of what's happening in the dream but I can't move my dream body, I'm paralyzed. This isn't distressing, because I perceive as if I were 'seeing through my eyelids' in the dream, and people around me continue their actions around me as if I were just witnessing the dream. There's no anxiety or fear, just annoyance at my inability to stay active in it.
Other times the 'slumber time' will pass, and I'll get up in the dream and continue to be active in it, and other times (the weirdest for me) is that I'll get very tired in it, go to sleep in the dream scenario (like before) but actually go into a 'dreamless' sleep in the dream, and then become conscious in it, and continue.
At times it's like I'm so physically tired that I can barely move and have to stop the 'dream action' and simply take a nap, right in the middle of the action.
Any ideas as to why this is happening, more and more?
Lately I feel as if I'm dreaming I'm sleeping, and this just feels pointless, really.

[Ouroboros]

A few things come to mind as possibilities. It could be indicative of some kind of energetic phenomenon...a lack of energy resulting in an inability to function as you normally do within the dreamstate. Any problems with energy work lately?

It could also be subconscious message, perhaps relating to a need to "take a rest" from dreaming to focus more on other aspects of existence. Odd as the thought sounds to me, perhaps the subconscious itself is tired and the periods of dreamless sleep are its recovery phase.

Are there any contextual links between the dreams this happens in? Recurring symbols, events, or people?

[CFTraveler]

Not that I can tell, but I have been getting deep into self-analysis and stuff has been happening in my personal life. Like, I am tired.

[Ouroboros]

Not that I can tell, but I have been getting deep into self-analysis and stuff has been happening in my personal life. Like, I am tired.

If you're feeling tired throughout the day, that may be translating into your dream life...it could be as simple as a message to take it easy, get some rest. Continuing with the tired-subconscious idea, perhaps you've been doing too much self-analysis and this is your subconscious's way of requesting some time to process what you've been analyzing. It might be interesting, and possibly worthwhile, to try and take special note of the dreamstates this happens in and see if any patterns emerge.

[Kurt Leland]

Hi CF--

When we fall asleep on the physical plane, we become active in our astral bodies on the astral plane. But usually we're not consciously aware on that plane. To be consciously aware requires lucidity.

There are higher planes and energy bodies than the astral. In the theosophical system, the next body and plane beyond the astral is the mental plane and body. By analogy, if we fall asleep on the astral plane (falling asleep in a dream, as you do), we could become active on the mental plane.

One reason we experience waking paralysis in the physical body is to allow us to become so frustrated with being unable to move that we project ourselves out of the body. So, if you're paralyzed in your astral/dreaming body, then the goal is to get you to project into the next higher body and plane. (Your guides may actually be setting this up to propel you to the next level.)

Annie Besant, a theosophist, has an interesting interpretation of the four stages of consciousness described in the yoga tradition. These states are: waking consciousness, dreaming consciousness, dreamless sleep, and samadhi (bliss). She says that for most people, waking consciousness corresponds to the physical plane, dreaming to the astral, dreamless sleep to the mental (technically the lower mental plane), and samadhi to the causal (technically the upper mental plane, not a causal plane). I mention this because the dreamless sleep you experience after falling asleep in your dream is probably the state of consciousness connected to the mental plane and body.

For someone who is fully lucid on the astral plane, that becomes waking consciousness, the mental plane becomes dreaming consciousness, the causal level becomes dreamless sleep, and the buddhic plane becomes samadhi. This would be the next step for you.

Each energy body develops in seven stages, corresponding to the chakras. So if your mental body is just beginning to develop, these would be the stages:

First chakra: sensing you're in a different body (new unfamiliar inner sense impressions). It's probable that falling asleep in your dreams is an indication of being tired of or bored with the astral body and plane

Second chakra: sensing you're on a new plane (new and unfamiliar feeling location, not seen yet, only sensed)

Third chakra: beginning to move in the new energy body on the new plane (jumping, flying, floating dreams represent this stage in the astral body; the mental body moves more quickly, using the will and more or less instant translocation)

Fourth chakra: beginning to sense the presence of other beings on the new plane and learning to identify them

Fifth chakra: beginning to communicate with other beings on the new plane

Sixth chakra: inner senses coordinate to allow for lucidity on the new plane, being able to represent it to yourself clearly, so that experiences there are vivid and all energies and communications experienced are understood

Seventh chakra: dissolving the perceptual biases that confine you to that plane and body so that you're able to begin exploring the next higher plane and level (if I'm right about your experiences, then this is the stage you are at with the astral body.

Most of the experiences I wrote about in Otherwhere and The Unanswered Question are mental body adventures--so brace yourself for a whole new world to open up before too long!

Hope this helps,
Kurt

[CFTraveler]

Thank you very much, Kurt.

[Korpo]

Hey, CF.

Didn't you also fall asleep in the dream where you met your late grandfather? And wasn't there this plane - the "calm blue ocean"?

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=16629 (http://forums.astraldynamics.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=16629)

Oliver

[CFTraveler]

Yes, but it wasn't the first time. It's something that has become almost routine. I think it started last year in an actual conscious projection, and at the time I interpreted it as my running out of gas, but now it moved on to dreams also. Kurt's insight is giving me a different perspective to go from. (and helping me to see the 'grandpa' dream differently also.)

ps. Tim, don't delete your post either, I need some time to chew on parts of it.