Ethereal Music and Visuals before bed

Hi all,

I have my first "question post" :D

I've fallen asleep to ethereal music for years. It helps me fall asleep. I like artists like Maneesh de Moor, Azam Ali and Deuter for this (to name a few).

Have any of you had any experiences where going to sleep while listening to music has had an effect (one way or another) on your lucid dreaming?

And what about visuals? I also have an affinity for "trippy" videos/films. Has falling asleep to such videos been noted to have certain effects?

I imagine that there are so many variables from dreamer to dreamer, that any effects of the music/video would vary WIDELY. Like... one dreamer who gets consumed more by lyrical content might have the concept of his/her dream shifted to match the content of the music -- while someone who loves having music in the background may wind up with the music playing as the "soundtrack" to his/her dream... idk -- stuff like that.

Thoughts anyone?

DreamSt8
(I'm going to EARN my avatar/signature soon :shadewink: )

Welcome, we have much to talk about.

I wrote the code that flashes your monitor off and on at 3.8 Hz, which induces these visuals you speak of.

It can also play MP3s with very long intervals (when you think you are likely to be dreaming). I often listen to GOA Trance; here is a snippet from a good track by Astral Projection, called People Can Fly, that will play after 90 minutes.

Furthermore, I wear a headband with a device that monitors my movements and plays a track when it sees rapid eye movement. Almost every night.

Hi dreamst8! I'm glad you made your first question post! Congrats ;) :cackle:

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Have any of you had any experiences where going to sleep while listening to music has had an effect (one way or another) on your lucid dreaming?

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I fall asleep sometimes to random music I am listening to, but I never do on purpose. If I do fall asleep with it, my whole dream is based around it. My dreams creates a music video for that song (Unless I have seen the actual music video). I also tend to have nightmares if I fall asleep to music, and don't sleep very well that night. :/ The music has a bigger effect on my dreams than the lyrics do though.

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And what about visuals? I also have an affinity for "trippy" videos/films. Has falling asleep to such videos been noted to have certain effects?

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Videos, music videos, and movies definitely have a big effect on my dreams. If I really enjoy the video, and it sticks out in my memory, I will end up having one dream about it for like a week straight! For instance, after I watched Harry Potter I had a dream that I was him, and I needed to find 20 different coins using magic. My dream story progressed each night, and it was a lot of fun!

Anyway good luck on earning your avatar and signature! I can't wait to see it :D.

Edit: :pissed: IAmCoder! I wanted to be the first poster! :) If only I typed a minute faster...

When I'm falling asleep I often hear music playing. It varies widely; sometimes it's rock or alternative, sometimes it's an orchestra and sometimes it sounds like a marching band. :P

It's always very faint, and if I want to I can sort of change it like a radio. But if I focus too much and get too alert or I move, it goes away.

Hah! That is what you get for thinking you are immortal and have time to type slowly. :cheeky:

Edit: :pissed: Naiya! I wanted to be the fourth poster! :) If only I typed a minute faster...

Music aids me completely in falling asleep, I can't fall asleep usually without it!
It can be anything, the TV, to relaxing natural sounds (naturespace app). The music hasn't had any notable effect on my dreams though, but I definitely recommend listening to some if you struggle falling asleep. (Aids in the WILD technique too)
Happy Dreams ;)

If, for example, you fall asleep listening to music and wake up 7 and a half hours later, then the dream you remember probably occurred about 7 hours after you were listening to the music. There's no reason to think it has any more influence on your dreams than anything else you heard during the day, in my opinion.

Ha! Mancon, I'm not going away anytime soon! I've found home away from home here :D

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If I do fall asleep with it, my whole dream is based around it. My dreams creates a music video for that song

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This is what I would like to make happen sometimes. Like, I would love to say "I want to live in a Persian palace tonight" and fall asleep to some world music and slide into that kind of a dream. I've only had that happen once that I can remember. I fell asleep listening to Trespassers William's "Vapour Trail" on a loop and my dream looked very much like the daydreams I have when listening to that song. It was a pretty nice place to be :)

Hi, unda. I'm thinking more of listening to music through the night (like on a loop or ipod). I think the music penetrates through your sleep. Kinda like when you hear your alarm clock or someone calling your name while you're in a dream. You hear them, but it sounds like it's coming from within your dream sometimes.

DreamSt8
(Still several days til my avatar/sig. sigh)

It's possible, but it would be impossible to know if it's the music that's responsible for the dreams you're having, so it could be a complete waste of time. I'd recommend looking into dream incubation if you haven't already, you could combine it with your music and visuals for more of an effect.

Thanks for the input, unda. I'd say that'd be a fun effort. Funny you should mention dream incubation. I successfully did that last night. It wasn't my goal, but before I went to bed, I had a feeling it was going to happen. I was looking into making shurikens yesterday, and I also happen to be in the middle of a book about ninja mind manipulation (I'm not a ninjitsu practitioner, those two things just happen to be things coinciding in my waking life right now). Anyway, last night, shurikenjutsu was a big part of the dream that I remember.

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Originally Posted by IAmCoder

Hah! That is what you get for thinking you are immortal and have time to type slowly. :cheeky:

Edit: :pissed: Naiya! I wanted to be the fourth poster! :) If only I typed a minute faster...

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Wahahaha. :mwahaha:

sometimes when I fall asleep with music it does effect my dreams. the songs I listened to before I fell asleep (not when I'm sleeping, I remembered hearing them when I was still awake) sometimes play in my dreams. sometimes they are on the radio, or some DC is singing/playing the songs.

I even had a dream where I was singing one of the songs myself and I could recall all lyrics correctly. This actually made me lucid in that dream :) (it was my second lucid and not very long though). I think "lyrics remembering part" of my brain turned on when I heard the song in my dream, and therefore some logic returned to my dreamy thinking...

yea I think music before bed can have potential for lucid dreaming, but I don't know how it is best used.

Nice question :)
I like to trip on bands like Meshuggah, Esoteric or Sleep. Such ones with slow or weird tempos. Try Dopesmoker by Sleep, 63min classic piece of music :) I put the music level quite enough so i can hear it without effort and yet not so loud that it distracts me. Then i let the music get me in the special state of mind where i can see a bright yellow spot in my inner vision. then i stop paying any conscious attention to the music yet i know its there. i concentrate on the yellow spot and trip nicely. I use that technique and for my power naps. I know 3-4 songs last around 30-40mins or so. So i know when to wake up without alarm.