Thread: Awaking from the awake state?

Okey guys here´s my issue:

Sometimes I feel a kind of awakening while I´m actually already awake! This has happened five-six times just the last couple of months. Usually it starts with me being perfectly normal and doing everyday things, when I suddenly feel like waking up from a "powernap". You know when you´ve been asleep for a couple of seconds and you don´t know where/who you are when you wake up?

I´m looking around and feel really unfamilliar with the surroundings and with my body. Like if I´ve been thrown into a body from being somewhere ellse (spiritually). I feel a great fear and that I´m being trapped inside of my own body! A really unpleasant feeling it is. I see the context around me, but not with "my" eyes. I hear myself respond to a conversation, but I don´t reckon the voice from my mouth. I see my hand but I can´t understand it´s mine...

The only thing I know for shure is that I have to quit these thoughts as fast as possible before I go mad. I have to "turn off" and do something really down to earth like tying my shoes etc. I haven´t dared to stay in this state of mind for longer than a minute or so. I´m afraid to get lost. However I believe I can "summon" this thing if I want to..

The whole phenomena is like entering a super-conscious state which I cannot cope with!

So; possible to wake up a second time?

could it be derealization or depersonalization?

Depersonalization: A change in an individuals self-awareness such that they feel detached from their own experience, with the self, the body and mind seeming alien.
Derealization: A change in an individual's experience of the environment, where the world around him/her feels unreal and unfamiliar.

schizophrenia?

Look up Kundalini. Supposedly anyone can feel surges of this Kundalini energy, which can bring one to a higher state of consciousness before they're mentally prepared for it.

http://www.biologyofkundalini.com is a good place to do a bit of light reading.

Man, when I saw the title, I thought you'd talk about lucidity and meditation, but there you go with fears. Meditate, my friend, meditate.

Explore some buddhist philosophy to help you deal with your question.

Originally Posted by Luanne

Man, when I saw the title, I thought you'd talk about lucidity and meditation, but there you go with fears. Meditate, my friend, meditate.

Explore some buddhist philosophy to help you deal with your question.

Yeah, agreed. Fear's a very natural state to enter when one doesn't know what is happening to their consciousness and tries to hold back. Fact is its happening, so you've gotta find a way to accept it. It can be a very amazing thing to experience if you lose the old world-view and embrace it. Meditation can help you from clinging to familiarity and feel comfortable and natural in that state. If you're open minded to Eastern philosophy and literature, I'll definitely second Buddhist philosophy (specifically the actual teachings of the Buddha, and Vajrayana if you want to get into it further), as well as the Taoist philosophy (specifically the ideas of yin/yang and wu-wei).

A more Western perspective would suggest that you have a lot of dopamine D2 binding going on in the ol brainbox. D2 receptors have a lot to do with the enhanced states of consciousness of meditation/psychedelic drugs, and what you describes sounds a lot like that. Excessive D2 binding is also symptomatic of many mental illnesses like schizophrenia. In a worst case scenario you could find anti-psychotic drugs (which act by blocking dopamine receptors) but I wouldn't even consider that unless things become too uncomfortable for you. Also, I don't know if you're into psychedelic drugs or not, but avoid them until you get this sorted out. They send dopamine levels through the roof.

Stick with the meditation for now. As McKenna says, meditation is like trying to find the gas, psychedelics are like trying to find the brakes. Start out slow.

I´m extremely thankful for the inputs you´ve given. I´ll get straight to the meditation!

Warm regards

I've also experienced something similar. There was a period in my life when, after getting up in the morning, I felt like a different person than myself for up to 5 or 10 minutes. And, it seemed to me, always a different person. I've been frightened by mystical experiences before but thankfully those mornings were very pleasant for me. Looking out of the window, seeing things that had probably always been there, but seeing them as if through a new pair of eyes and a different path of life behind me.

Indeed, even if the the inevitable part of our path is to let go of the intellectual construction we take for the Self, we probably need the help of intellectual constructions on the way, such as stories and explanations that would make the transition smooth. I think some great suggestions have already been posted in that regard. I might add, though, that I've always enjoyed listening to Alan Watts. YouTube is full of his lectures. In fact, after listening to one of his talks I was half asleep and felt as if I was merging with the bed I was lying on, I almost felt becoming one with the whole room surrounding me. I got out of the bed, went to the bathroom but I couldn't shake that weird feeling for quite some time. I waved my hand in the dark, my mouth open in disbelief.


I guess the times they are a changing...

The Taoist philosophy is also always available.