# Sleep and Dreams > General Dream Discussion >  >  Seeing faces before falling asleep

## Zek

Very often just as I am on the verge of falling asleep I see faces coming at me.

My eyes will be closed and Im completely relaxed and faces seem to loom from all directions, zoom close to me then disappear to be replaced by another face. Its almost like a slideshow of faces. I am not asleep when this is happening, I am fully aware of it and if I concentrate on it it almost always stops.  

All the faces are of normal regular people, all ages, both sexes, and from lots of different nationalites.  Most of the time the faces have no expressions, some have slight smiles, lots of them have sad looking eyes.  

My daughter gets this too but unfortunately for her the faces she sees often look smashed up like they have been in bad accidents or look like they are screaming or agonised.  Also she sometimes sees entire bodies whereas I only ever see the head/face.

For me it is in no way a scary experience, for my daughter it is terrifying.

I have only ever come across one other person who experiences this which was when I asked about it on a general question and answer site,  the person was a man who saw not faces but strange scenes (landscapes, buildings etc he had never seen before)   I was told in my question that it was hypnagogic something or other.  I googled this at the time and all I could find were references to sleep paralysis which I also get but is completely different.

Does anyone experience anything like this or know anything about it?

(sorry all my posts are so long, I am just trying to put as much info as possible into them) :Oops:

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## Adam

I think it is just random. Basically when you shut your eyes, you will see black and white imagry normally, and one of the best associations to put these images too are faces which is why you see them. If you thought about it enough, you could change your association away from faces to something else, like animals or what have you.

Next time you go to sleep, try visualising something else. The problem you have is once you think you see one face your mind starts working overtime on piecing these fragments together to look more like other faces.

Kind of like looking at this for 30 seconds focusing on the 4 black dots then shutting your eyes, its the same principal really.

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## Bonsay

Yes I get those too. It's just hypnagogia. Hallucinations that are present when you're waking up or going to sleep. It doesn't need SP to be a part of it. They also don't need to be only visual, they can also be tactile or auditory. Beside faces I get any kind of pictures. They can be anything from whole scenes, items, beings, etc. Most of them are animated, or scroll from one image to another like you said. They usually scare me because of their original, unusually "freaky themes" and they keep me awake.

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## Zek

Strange I thought I had answered this already  ::?: 

Thanks for that Adam, I don't know whether your advice was on my mind but I was falling to sleep the other night and as well as faces I saw animals too lol  This has never happened before I only ever see faces. 

Thanks Bonsay, yeah I get SP sometimes and its completely different to this, probably why I was getting confused with the links I had read about it.  Its a shame this scares you, I love it when it happens  :smiley:   I also hear noises, usually it sounds like someone banging on a door (though when I open my eyes and listen carefully its not there) so thanks for mentioning that too  :smiley:

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## Bonsay

> Thanks Bonsay, yeah I get SP sometimes and its completely different to this, probably why I was getting confused with the links I had read about it.  Its a shame this scares you, I love it when it happens   I also hear noises, usually it sounds like someone banging on a door (though when I open my eyes and listen carefully its not there) so thanks for mentioning that too



Well yes, it is a shame that they scare me. But they happen all the time. It's not a rare thing, there is always at least one floating around, even if I close my eyes douring the day. The funny thing is that if I fall asleep and soon after regain consciousness there are so many of them and they are so "bright" and active that I can't fall asleep again. Besides doing a WILD ofcourse. But I'm too tired to have the motivation to LD at that time, also I'm a chicken and afraid of SP.

About the noise, yes that's quite a common one. Sudden and quick, sometimes wakes me up. Could be a door or anything noisy like that.

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## Zek

Im not surprised you cant get back to sleep with the images being bright and active bonsay  :Sad:   The images I see are always shades of grey and although they sometimes zoom towards me pretty quickly the faces seem to be rotating slowly and its really soothing and relaxing.

I'm afraid of SP too, its one of the worst things I have ever experienced  :Sad:

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## Bonsay

If you want you could try and control or induce some custom images. I don't know how others experience it, but if I concentrate on an image in my mind for some time and quickly switch back to normal view, I can see a "snapshot" of the image. It's not really well coloured though, but it is fun  :smiley:  .

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## Adam

I had some freaky images last night, really scary  :Sad:

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## mylucidworld

I remember that optical illusion from school, i found it on the internet. I also sometimes see faces before bed aswell, usually when i have drunk the night before.

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## Xox

Ive gotten that, but more so when I wake up. Its like as soon as I wake up I feel something in my room and I open my eyes, I usually see blurs and sometimes vivid people. Its kinda scary. It always happens when Im lding. No idea what it is though...

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## G0MPgomp

Stop putting yourself down.. It refelcst on your "spawns" dreaming..

I bet your 'spuce' has the same..

Please contact me if you disbelive..

I got MSN ...

(please excuse my spelling)

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## The Cusp

Here I go with the Hypnogogic imagery speech again...

Hypnagogic imagery has been likened to schizophrenia, in that it has the same symptoms.  You see random images, voices.

And seeing a shawody figure or presence in your room is very common with hypnagogics as well.  I've heard it reffered to as the "Threshold Entity".  Scary shit.  Sometimes it leaves me feeling like a little kid again hiding under the blankets.  It freaked me out so much, I stopped with my hypno practices for awhile.  They aren't as scary anymore though, I think I've gotten used to them

I've been exploring the hypnogogic state lately, and it's strange stuff.  It's almost a lucid, as you always know it isn't real, but the lucid control you have over it is very different.  You can't affect things directly, but you can exert a subtle influence over these images that has drastic effects.  I can't really explain it, I'm still practicing.

I've been using hynagogics to try for lucidity.  The trick is to shake lose a dream body.  You have to image yourself interacting with the things you see.  In your case, I would try dodging the faces as they come towards you.  Before you know it, you'll have a dream body and you'll find yourself in a regular dream.

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## Zek

> If you want you could try and control or induce some custom images. I don't know how others experience it, but if I concentrate on an image in my mind for some time and quickly switch back to normal view, I can see a "snapshot" of the image. It's not really well coloured though, but it is fun  .




yeah the images I see arent well coloured, it would be great if they were.  I have never tried to control it, even the other night when for the first time I saw different images it just happened (maybe it was in the back of my mind from Adams post?)  I find if I concentrate on the images they disappear and as I like whats happening I tend to just go with the flow.






> I had some freaky images last night, really scary



 :Sad:  I feel for you Adam, my daughter gets really terrified by the images she sees.  I told her what you said in your first reply about trying to change the images and shes going to give that a go, I have my fingers crossed for her  :smiley:  






> I remember that optical illusion from school, i found it on the internet. I also sometimes see faces before bed aswell, usually when i have drunk the night before.




LOL.  I dont drink very often but I do smoke weed, but this happens whether I have smoked or not  ::?: 






> Ive gotten that, but more so when I wake up. Its like as soon as I wake up I feel something in my room and I open my eyes, I usually see blurs and sometimes vivid people. Its kinda scary. It always happens when Im lding. No idea what it is though...



Hi xoxfablisz, I can't remember it ever happening to me when I wake up but after speaking to my daughter this morning I know that she gets it that way too.  Its horrible its so scary for you, maybe try doing what Adam and Bonsay suggested?  Hope it works for you if you do try  :smiley:

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## Zek

> Stop putting yourself down.. It refelcst on your "spawns" dreaming..
> 
> I bet your 'spuce' has the same..
> 
> Please contact me if you disbelive..
> 
> I got MSN ...
> 
> (please excuse my spelling)



Hi gomp, sorry but Im not sure what you mean by spawns and spruce  :Oops: 







> Here I go with the Hypnogogic imagery speech again...
> 
> Hypnagogic imagery has been likened to schizophrenia, in that it has the same symptoms.  You see random images, voices.
> 
> And seeing a shawody figure or presence in your room is very common with hypnagogics as well.  I've heard it reffered to as the "Threshold Entity".  Scary shit.  Sometimes it leaves me feeling like a little kid again hiding under the blankets.  It freaked me out so much, I stopped with my hypno practices for awhile.  They aren't as scary anymore though, I think I've gotten used to them
> 
> I've been exploring the hypnogogic state lately, and it's strange stuff.  It's almost a lucid, as you always know it isn't real, but the lucid control you have over it is very different.  You can't affect things directly, but you can exert a subtle influence over these images that has drastic effects.  I can't really explain it, I'm still practicing.
> 
> I've been using hynagogics to try for lucidity.  The trick is to shake lose a dream body.  You have to image yourself interacting with the things you see.  In your case, I would try dodging the faces as they come towards you.  Before you know it, you'll have a dream body and you'll find yourself in a regular dream.



Hi Cusp, thanks for that, it was really interesting.  I find it a bit scary that its been likened to schizophrenia, I had never thought of it that way before but its understandable when I think about it  ::?: 

I have had the SP where I feel someone is in the room with me, it usually occurs when I get the feeling that I cant move/blink/breathe etc and it is truly frightening.  I know exactly what you mean about feeling like a kid hiding under the blankets  ::shock:: 


Im gonna give the 'dodging' a go because although I like the imagery sometimes it goes on for ages and I would much rather be sleeping and dreaming.  Thanks for that  and good luck with your practising  :smiley: 



LOL my posts on here are getting longer and longer, I keep expecting a bill in pm for the bandwidth Im taking up  :Oops:  ::lol::

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## Xox

Hey Zek, thanks for the advice, Ill try ..... = /

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## Henry B. Ellak

I too, see the faces or beings when I close my eyes and am wide awake.  I just accept them as beings visiting me from somewhere and sometime.

Henry B. Ellak

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## Leprekonas

Same as me  :wink2:  Faces are comming closer and closer. But i see colorfull ones and unfotunately i see scary faces.  ::shock::

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## Shift

They're simple hypnagogic hallucinations, nothing to be worried about at all. http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=65425

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## djinternet

> Does anyone experience anything like this or know anything about it?



Why don't you Sleep Program to get an answer by tomorrow morning? 
Sleep Programming is the technique of expressing your intent _make a 
wish_  Asking for Truth + Ask your question + go to sleep.  

By the time you wake up, your question is answered in a dream.

Like so: Say the following out loud to investigate what those faces mean:

"I WISH TO KNOW THE TRUTH: WHAT  DO THE FACES I SEE BEFORE SLEEP MEAN?"

Then go to sleep - your dream tonight will tell you The Truth

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## Henry B. Ellak

> They're simple hypnagogic hallucinations, nothing to be worried about at all. http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=65425



Henry replies, to label something is not to explain that thing.
To simply call things seen as hypnagogic hallucinations, a name, is 
not explaining anything.
Henry B. Ellak

I have a B.A. in  Psychology and am a Licenced Psychiatric Technician, State of California.
I have studied Psychology, and I just do not go aroung labeling things
that I do not really know anything about.
Its like saying, to a person who said, I just saw a real beautiful sunset.
And you say, you just had a hypnagogic hallucination.

The sun is real, the sunlight is real, the planet earth is real, and it
does look like the sun is setting, even thro we know it is not.
The word hallucination implies that what is seen is not there.
How do you know that the things people see are not real, on some level
of reality?


I see tons of stuff while in the hypnagogic state, and I do NOT think
they are hallucinations. 
Henry B. Ellak

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## TempletonEsquire

I also see images of people in places, but I think on some level this is happening when we are waking, and when we begin to go to sleep we're seeing our cylcing concsciousness through our senses.  I often hear music in the same way, not music that I have ever heard before, and I have a certain amount of control over it, but like the images it seems to have its own character.

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## Shift

> I see tons of stuff while in the hypnagogic state, and I do NOT think
> they are hallucinations. 
> Henry B. Ellak



Those are very impressive credentials. Too bad they didn't teach you anything about HH. Luckily, though this is a lucid dreaming forum, we have a place for people like you. Beyond Dreaming/Deep Dreaming Forum

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## andyg2

I see people peering at me when I close my eyes. I don't have a vision based imagination (I can't even imagine a shape when I want to). These faces are looking at me and they can see that I see them, it's so vivid, more than any dream I have and I'm fully awake and it happens whenever I try it (i.e. they are there now, I just tried. It's always the same although usually different people and always so vivid. I realized that if I put my arm in front of my face I can no longer see them. Also, while my eyes are closed and my girlfriend blocks my would be field of view they also disappear and she's amazed that I know when she's doing it. I've tried this in pitch darkness too and it's the same. The faces are often quite disturbing and it gives me a feeling of unrest. I feel like they notice me there and find it intriguing that I can see them.

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## Dronfieldman

What an amazing effect you get from Adam's 'experiment', i.e. concentrating on the four dots and then shutting your eyes.   The image I then saw in my mind was a proper face and hair (not the same image as on the computer screen), rather like the stereotypical drawings of Christ.

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## Dronfieldman

I have also noticed that when I'm in the process of going to sleep, I see still images of mainly faces, but sometimes other scenes as well.   I would imagine that most people experience this but may not be aware, as the time during this process is quite short normally.   It seems to be a precursor to motion dreams, which don't happen until you're actually asleep.

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## Shift

That's probably because the afterimage looks like . If you really look at it it can also appear like a whale walking on its fins and drooling, but obviously the conversation about faces and the resemblance point to one thing. It's like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test but with an afterimage that looks like Jesus, or like a Rastafarian.

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## laura17xx

I always see like a random slideshow of images before I go to sleep. I don't think about what the next image will be, it will just appear. I can not stress enough how random these images are- most are of things I haven't thought of in a long time.

I kinda enjoy when this happens, it doesn't happen every night though. I think it must happen when I am on the verge of falling asleep because sometimes if I try to remember what the previous image was, I have to think really hard and sometimes I still might not remember it.

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## Sowitbe

That has been happening to me as long as I can remember (which is a long long time lol)
When I was about 8-9 my mom's friend who claimed we were both psychic said that I  was seeing spirits.
My mother has the faces too. Happened last night and thought that maybe its just an imprint of everyone i come across seen from peripheral vision. I get faces normal and 'distorted' but never was really an issue for me. (Other than my logical person that has to have a see touch explanation for these things) The only "dream paralysis" I had happened when I was leaving my body, (NDE )  The only 'scenic views' I have had happened during obe's. 
As a mother, I would recommend zipping your daughters field and to know that when she is afraid as this happens saying 'Peace be with you' are the magic (shalom) words to greet that situation. 

Hope that helps

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## bgreen1981

Hey zek I to go through the same thing . Have you found any link to what it is. Reading your experiences gave me chills , as if the words were spoken from me.

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