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Rock Napping
Lucid Dreaming Exercises
by James Clair Lewis
These experiments in lucid dreaming are intended to be used in combination with my Mental Yoga Exercises.
Conscious Dreaming 101
If you have been using these exercises for about a month, then this experiment should be pretty easy. When you are asleep, try to take control of your dream. At first, you may try too hard & wake up. Go back to sleep & try again. To begin with, just steer the dream in minor ways, & with practice work up towards complete control. If you don't like the way in which a dream is progressing, steer it in a different direction: if a dream is getting dark, go towards some light; if you are being dragged down, find stairs that go up. When you get good at this, you can set yourself tasks to do while you are sleeping.
Meditation 101
Volumes have been written on the benefits of meditation. Here is the simplest & most effective method I have found. It was taught by Ramana Maharshi. Sit in a comfortable posture (either a Yoga posture or in a chair with your legs out, & your hands draped near your knees) with your eyes open. Now focus your consciousness on your consciousness. That's it. That's all there is to it. Ignore what you see & hear around you; focus your consciousness on that part of you which is aware, & not upon the objects of your awareness. Words & thoughts will stream through your mind; ignore them: focus your consciousness on your consciousness. Images & even emotions will come to distract you; pay them no heed : remain calm & concentrate on only one thing, your consciousness itself. When you are meditating, do not become distracted by external or internal phenomena. It is so simple, & yet it is quite hard.
Conscious Dreaming 102
After you have been using the exercises for about two months, or have learned how to steer your dreams, you should be ready to put this to a practical use: setting yourself tasks to do while you are asleep. We all have projects we are working on or situations we are dealing with. Pick one that is either most dear to you or the most vexing. Now just before you go to sleep, think about the one you have chosen for a minute, & then put it out of your mind, & go to sleep. You may or may not remember dreaming about it when you get up, but ideas & insights will come, that will enable you greatly in whatever you have chosen to deal with. Now isn't that nice? You just got some work done while you were asleep. And you thought all of this metaphysical stuff had no practical value! *lol*
Sensitivity Training 101
After you have used the exercises for about three months, & have been meditating regularly, & have learned to use conscious dreaming to do tasks at night, you should be more than ready for this next step. Go outside to a place where you will be alone, & not be bothered by people. Find a pretty spot, & lean up against a big beautiful tree. Now use the concentration you have developed from meditation to feel the life in the tree. Let yourself experience what the tree is experiencing. Listen externally to what is happening around you. Listen internally to what the tree will tell you. The tree will not be speaking in English, but it will direct your attention towards things that interest it. You will learn many things in this way that words cannot express.
Sensitivity Training 102
After you have had success with Sensitivity Training 101, you may try something a bit harder: inanimate objects. In a quiet place hold somebody else's ring or keys or some other small object in your hands. Immerse yourself in it, as you have learned to do with a tree, & let the images come. Events that occurred around the object personal to the owner should come into your mind. With practice you will become an expert in psychometry. This can be used as a parlor trick, if you must, but I find it of greater value when I want to know what somebody I am dealing with is really like....
Conscious Dreaming 103
After five months using the exercises & meditation, & some success with Sensitivity Training 102, you should be ready for the next step in Conscious Dreaming. Plan, before you go to sleep, to visit a quiet & beautiful place, like where your tree is, for instance. When you get there, float to a comfortable spot either on the ground or near it. Now practice meditation or one of the exercises, if you prefer. Up until now, you have been practicing the exercises & meditation on the physical plane to increase coordination between your conscious & subconscious minds, & to make yourself more sensitive to the Astral, Mental, & Spiritual planes of reality. Now you will be on the Astral plane doing the meditation or one of the exercises, to further increase your sensitivity to the Mental & Spiritual planes, & to increase the coordination between your mind & your spirit.
Conscious dreaming is a big step, but it is the easiest way to learn how to focus your consciousness on the Astral Plane. Before you go to sleep, push aside all negative thoughts, worries & concerns. Put your mind at rest, thinking thoughts of harmony & peace. Visualize places that bring you joy, places of beauty & tranquility. This will make the conscious dreaming come easier, and make a note to yourself, that when you dream, that you will KNOW that you are in a dream. Then you can move on to practicing meditatation or the first exercises while you are "asleep".
Conscious Dreaming 104
After six months using the exercises & meditation, and some success with Conscious Dreaming 103, you are in for a little treat. There is a wonderful place just above the Astral plane, I call the Great Library. It contains the records of everything that has ever happened, & much, much more. There are Librarian Guides there who will be happy to assist you in learning anything you might want to know about, & meeting places where people like us (or nicer) gather to confer, & listen to Enlightened Beings who teach what cannot be expressed in words. You are hereby invited to join in. While you are asleep, go to your special place to meditate. After a period of meditation, think of this Great Library, & ease yourself up into this higher vibration. Realize that all of the phenomena you see here are merely symbols for your mind to hold onto as a reference. Now be as receptive as you were to your tree to the principles that the symbols you see represent. Welcome. You are here!
These animated Moving Mandalas are very large files. Please click on the pic, and wait for it to load. The Contemplation will be very enabling, carrying your Mind beyond the mundane world
Blue Crystal Vortex
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