The Storm Warehouse: When the Go-To Method Fails
By Eugene Raphael · Night Report · Liminal Light Lab
Technique: wake back to bed with 10-minute alarms, hand rubbing, peering, then a rolling sensation. Outcome: entry into a stable dream through spinning.
Sometimes the go-to method just doesn't work, but shifting to another method under the same principle of exteriorizing sensation can work very well. It's good to have a few in your playbook. This is from my journal.
I'm redirecting my intent to cross the gates of dreaming. I've intended this for literally years, and with a dramatic increase in my dreaming I can finally move through the gates methodically. Simply redirecting my intent this way has shifted my dreaming.
I cheated
Before bed I set my intention to wake at 3:15 am. I woke a little early, at 2:31 am, unusually sleepy but somehow agitated, impatient. I didn't want to fall asleep and lose my opportunity, so I cheated: I set an alarm to wake me every ten minutes.
I lay down and rehearsed the sensation of rubbing my hands together. Nothing much happened, so I began peering into the blackness. The alarm interrupted me. Back to peering, I began to see imagery coming and going, and a purple blob oscillating in my visual field.
After the next alarm I was more relaxed. For a few brief moments I felt my hands rubbing, and I knew I was getting closer to the threshold, so I turned the alarm off completely. But no matter what I tried, the hand sensation stayed weak. It was there, but not strong enough to pull me in.
Rolling became spinning
I shifted tactics and tried the sensation of my whole body rolling off the bed to my right. Immediately I felt it, and I focused on it with all the effort and intent I had.
Instead of rolling into the dream, I began spinning in place. The more effort I put in, the faster I spun. My thoughts were completely absent; all that existed was this visceral sensation of movement.
The tarp tent
Suddenly the spinning stopped. I was lying on my back in a makeshift tent made from a tarp, on hard concrete, propped up enough to see the entrance. I heard voices talking around me, but no one was there. A violent storm raged, and the tent entrance whipped wildly in the wind, collapsed on me, and opened up again like a wind tunnel. I crawled out, thoughts still very still.
I was in a large, dark warehouse full of mounds covered by huge white tarps. I intended better clarity of vision, but nothing happened. The scene wasn't lacking detail; it was simply dark.
The door that wouldn't change
With my intent set on the gates, I started looking at my hands, and at doors, automatically. I opened a door onto the dark countryside, where a storm was blowing: dark trees in the wind, a cloudy sky, pouring rain. This wasn't where I wanted to be. I closed the door and opened it again, intending to be somewhere else. Same scene. I tried several times, looking at the door and my hands again, and the scenery refused to change. Looking at my hands had brought order and stability to my surroundings.
The foothills come alive
I went out. A dirt road ran off to my right with a truck and camper parked on it, leading into foothills of oak, manzanita, and shrubs, like the foothills up in Placer County or Grizzly Flats.
Then the rain let up, and I became attuned to the night around me: a coyote, a dog barking in the distance, leaves rustling in the wind, the buzzing of tiny bugs, crickets chirping. I could hear everything. Pins and needles moved through my dream body, that chill when the hairs rise on the back of your neck.
Walking felt dangerous, so I took three or four big steps, jumped into the air, and hovered, gliding slowly toward the truck and trailer. Despite the eerie sensations, the view was beautiful, and the dream was incredibly stable (from looking at my hands?). I decided to fly over the trees and verify its stability.
The other alarm
Just then my 4:15 am workday alarm went off. I had the day off and forgot to shut it off. Moving to turn it off ruined my chance at easy re-entry. I noted the experience in my journal and went back to sleep.
Takeaways
Keep a few methods. When hand rubbing stayed weak, the rolling sensation pulled me in.
Looking at your hands stabilizes, maybe too well. The scene refused to change.
Turn off every alarm you don't need.
Related
Community: What's your backup method when your go-to entry technique won't take?
Liminal Light shares personal practice, not medical advice. Read About & Safety first.
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