Fall asleep and maintain consciousness

Different levels of awareness exist.  Every instant, a certain separation divides what you think, feel and physically do.  Your being has too many functions for the human mind to keep track of all at once.  The more aware you become of this separation, the more you may begin to believe parts of you are dreaming while other parts are more conscious and aware.

If you assume that part of you works while part of you sleeps, then you may begin to believe you can fall asleep and still maintain consciousness. This does not make it advisable to drive or operate machinery as an experiment while you take a power nap.  And yet, how you view rest may never be the same.  How you sense spatial awareness will also evolve.

It is useful to decide on something you would like to do in waking life or presumed sleep.  Otherwise, you have no point of reference.  In the case that you choose not to be aware, you selectively tune in or out of internal and external realities. Your underlying motivation shapes the roles you choose to play.

In my experience, conscious participation expands how one explores different levels of awareness. From the moment you take responsibility for perception and formulate deliberate intentions, your life experience changes in degree. You perform roles of observer and participant. You are in your life, not of it.

Comments

[soulMerlin]

Perhaps it has been the combination of the mental/artistic demands of my work, plus the actual physical excertion of choreographing, that has given me the ability to be bodily asleep and mentally alert. I find the sound of myself snoring very amusing.

henry

[Liara Covert]

henry, some people evolve to literally sleep with one eye open an one eye closed. This technique is often used to cope with fear (or to help perpetuate its hold over you) although on-call professionals also hone this ability.

Artists are known to harness additional creative power by using different levels of awareness simultaneously. People can learn to switch off certain aeas of attention from their conscious radar. I have known people to play music to relax certain areas of the brain while other areas of the mind remain more active and focused. Mental discipline is possible through training. Jack Nicklaus resolved a problematic golf swing in a dream. Some people experience 'eureka moments' when awake. This is an example of how your mind is telling you it works on levels outside your conscious awareness and then brings information onto your radar screen. The mind is amazing!

[Robin Easton]

I find this whole topic fascinating and have done workshops on it to help musicians memorize the music they dream. I can't not read or write music and it is dreamed and memorized while sleeping. Ever since I was 25 I have been conscious while sleeping and yet my body and mind are in a in a deep state of rest. Like henry I too hear myself snoring and I often hear sounds in the room...or sometimes I choose to shut them out but still remain conscious. I view all my dreams like one would watch a movie. I observe any emotional or physical reactions to them and replay dreams until I have them going the way that feels best to me. I sometimes will replay a dream 2 - 4 times just to explore my emotions and reactions or to change the outcome. I also learned when I started dreaming music in the rainforest that during the day I was still dreaming. It was just a matter of catching myself doing it. I also tend to have visitations in my dreams from people who are no longer in physical form...and even those who are. Where there soul has come to mine to impart some message or insight. These are phenomenally powerful and healing experiences. Or dreams may be a warning of something that needs my attention, either for myself or another person (someone living) crying out for help. Dreaming is just one of the most healing and amazing things. I have learned to recognize that -- for me -- when I don't dream it is a sign of ill health or incorrect path. I believe that we are dream beings....and that we not only dream at night but through the day. We are malleable and can move and shape shift. I tend to do a lot of flying in my dreams and find it an exhilarating experience.

Dreams are such an exciting and often untapped source of creativity, information, vitality, healing, connection to others. Dreaming is akin to living with the gods.

One very basic and simple thing that can really help one be aware of dreams or to use the dream state for creativity or healing purposes is to set an intent/suggestion right before dozing off. The last thought before sinking into sleep. This is a very simple tool but done each night can often bring about amazing results.

Dreams: such juicy fodder...a whole life and world to explore.

[Liara Covert]

Robin, it is intriguing how human beings evolve to sense dreams are a tool. They enable us to gain deeper insight into ourselves and also to learn to communicate with beings in other dimensions and levels of awareness. As it happens, spirit communicate with me in dreams and I have found it is possible to reach out and communicate with spirit this way as well. It is an exercise in attuning, in deepening your faith and trust.

You can also refer to human beings currently alive and those passed over who have devised solutions to waking problems when they were supposedly asleep. People will awaken with insights and revelations about their health and the health of others, yet disregard their intuition. Dreams remind us we read energy and can learn to dissolveo ur own self-doubt. As we focus on feelings in dreams, we can also sense what matters beneath them.