For a long time, I would hear voices and see faces every night as I fell asleep. I would often hear full conversations and find myself trying to listen to them. Sometimes I would hear my name being called. And sometimes I would see random faces that I had never seen before as clear as day.
Hearing Voices And Seeing Faces Is Part Of The Hypnagogic State
I remember looking up the reason for hearing voices and seeing faces and never finding a reason I liked for it (a lot of people said it stemmed from mental disease). Eventually, I stopped hearing the voices and seeing the faces as much, so I stopped trying to figure out what it was.
Right now, I’m taking a new program through the Mindvalley Membership called The Art of Astral Projection with Jade Shaw.
This course is right up my alley. The only problem is that I’ve made some lucid dreaming goals for this year and I don’t know whether I should try to have a lucid dream or give astral projection a try! I want to do both every night, to be honest.
On day 5 of the quest, Jade Shaw talks about the mind awake body asleep state – or the Hypnagogic state.
She says that in this state, the mind is awake and aware, but the body is completely relaxed to the point where you don’t even feel it anymore. Yes! That’s when I used to hear voices and see faces! I wasn’t necessarily drifting off. My mind was alert even though my body was fully relaxed.
She says that during this time, you can have hallucinations, and:
- See colors
- See patterns
- See faces
- Hear voices
- Hear your name getting called
In this Hypnagogic state, you can enter into a lucid dream, but if you find a sweet spot in this state and do an exit technique, she says that you can engage in astral projection.
Jade Shaw does say that you can have these experiences while engaged in deep relaxation and meditation too, but the Hypnagogic state is perfect because we already do it every night and it’s easier for most people.
The more times you wake up during the night, the more chances you have to do astral projection because you pass through that Hypnagogic state.
Alternatively, the hypnopompic state is when we are waking up from sleep and apparently some people have hallucinations during this time too. I never hear voices or see faces during this time, though. I always just reflect on my dreams during this time.
Jade Shaw hasn’t taught us how to find that sweet spot for astral projection yet, but I’m glad I finally have an answer about why I was always hearing voices and seeing faces while falling asleep.
Now that I know what it is, I wish I had continued doing it. Isn’t it funny how life works? I still occasionally do it, but more often than not, I close my eyes and fall asleep quickly.
I’m going to work on changing that.
The Hypnagogic Mindfulness Meditation
Last night I did a meditation from Jade Shaw’s quest that is supposed to help you keep your mind awake and your body asleep. It worked! My mind was totally alert, and I couldn’t feel my body at all. But I didn’t have any of those hallucinations, despite trying my best.
I did find myself thinking about the Hypnagogic state every time I woke up, which is a lot because I turn quite often during the night, but no voices, no sounds, and no astral projection happened.
There’s a lot more of the course to go, so I’m looking forward to figuring out where this sweet spot is in the Hypnagogic state to experience astral projection.
For now, I just want to hear voices and see faces again so I can know that I’m in the Hypnagogic state.
