As an ENFP, you have gifts that are specific to your personality type that aren't natural strengths for other types. By recognizing your special gifts and encouraging their growth and development, you will more readily see your place in the world, and be more content with your role.
They should embrace and nourish these strengths:
They're exceptionally perceptive about people and situations. The're often able to quickly and accurately assess where someone is coming from. They accept and value people as individuals, and are strongly egalitarian. They believe that individuals have the right to be themselves, and are very tolerant and accepting of most people. They're often deep and intelligent, and may be quite brilliant in their ability to tie things together. They're wired to look for connections int the external world, and so may mentally put things together more easily than many. Their interest in understanding the world usually makes them in tune with what's socially acceoptable and what isn't. This may help them to be popular and likable. They're highly creative. This ability may be used in an artistic way, or way to be used to generate ideas and new ways of thinking. ENFPs who have developed their Introverted Feeling to the extent that they apply judgment to all of their perceptions will enjoy these special gifts:   They will have the ability to follow through on projects they've begun. They will be less gullible and malleable, and generally more able to discern between "good" and "bad", rather than accepting everything without question. They may be highly artistic. They will have the ability to focus and concentrate deeply on tasks. This enhanced ability to think and process information internally will make them more capable on many levels. They will balance out their desire to meet new people and have new experiences with the desire to put their understand to use in some way. They will find more meaning and purpose in their lives. Ten Rules to Live By to Achieve ENFP Success :
Feed Your Strengths! Make sure you have opportunities to have new experiences to feel your quest of understanding the world. Face Your Weaknesses! Realize and accept that some traits are strengths and some are weaknesses. By facing your weaknesses, you can overcome them and they will have less power over you. Express Your Feelings. Don't let anger get bottled up inside you. If you have strong feelings, sort them out and express them, or they may become destructive! Make Decisions. Don't be afraid to have an opinion. You need to know how you feel about things in order to be effective. Smile at Criticism. Try to see disagreement and discord as an opportunity for growth, because that's exactly what it is. Try not to become overly defensive towards criticism; try to hear it and judge it objectively. Be Aware of Others. Remember that there are 15 other personality types out there who see things differently than you see them. Most of your problems with other people are easier to deal with if you try to understand the other person's perspective. Be Aware of Yourself. Don't stint your own needs for the sake of others too much. Realise you are an important focus. If you do not fulfill your own needs, how will continue to be effective and how will others know you are true to your beliefs? Be Accountable for Yourself. Don't waste mental energy finding blame in other's behaviour, or in identifying yourself as a victim. You have more control over your life than any other person has. Assume the Best. Don't distress yourself by assuming the worst. Remember that a positive attitude creates positive situations. When in Doubt, Ask Questions! Don't assume that the lack of feedback is the same thing as negative feedback. If you need feedback and don't have any, ask for it.

Happy Xmas to everyone!
I wish happiness, love and wisdom to all the beings in this forum. May grace be with you  Today, I want to give you guys a christmas present! It's a gift from my heart that arose after months of applying one of the most profound techniques I have ever learned - Letting Go - applied to the body!
 
1. Introduction
It's a perfect tool for healing and spiritual growth. It's so simple but so easily overlooked. You can do it everywhere, anywhere, all the time. Big news, it will happen by itself spontaneously when you invest some time in it. It's so effective that you'll have no chance but to do it. Everything's going to get better from the moment you start applying. I know, I know, one of more of those... Skepticism is healthy. But don't let the mind prevent you from just trying it.
 
If this guidance is aligned with your destiny, you're in for some good surprise! Read it slowly and let it be understood experientially. Stick to it and watch what happens. I will try to keep it as short as possible.
 
2. Theory
Your Ego is made out of resistance. Resistance to what is. Resistance to Reality. Since you were a toddler, you have been resisting Reality. Because of this, you have developed some deep layered contractions and tensions that are still with you today. These tensions are right there in your body and keep you from enjoying your full potential in life. The Ego is made up of these contractions which create a mediocre sense of self. The more contractions there are, the more the Ego feels real and solid. It's hard for an ordinary person to sit still because there's so much contraction that it's painful. These tensions corrupt your energy system and give rise to all the negative thoughts. These contractions are basically suppressed energies in motion - emotions.
Energy in Motion => Resistance (Contraction) => Thoughts
As this energy is released, the thoughts that originate from the corresponding emotion disappear altogether, the Ego is dissolved, slowly and gradually. The goal is to dissolve every bit of contraction till full liberation.
While applying the technique for months and years, you'll experience higher and higher emotions, higher consciousness and all the benefits from dissolution of the Ego. The benefits are fast and easy.
 
3. Technique
Stop moving for a second. Be aware of the entirety of your body sensations all at once, specially the torso. Do that for 15 seconds. Now, think something from your life that makes you uncomfortable (the most uncomfortable thoughts make best for this example). Notice that there's an immediate response in the physical body. There's some contraction in the chest, abdomen, solar plexus or other place. The uncomfortable feel is that contraction. Now focus on it like a laser without trying to remove it or change it. Just be still and focus on it. Watch it dissolve magically. What's left is a lighter emotion, less thoughts and higher awareness. DON'T LISTEN TO THE THOUGHTS. They are just mind rationalisations for the discomfort, no matter how true and reasonable they might seem.
Discomfort => Body awareness => Contraction detected => Focus and release
You have been denying and contracting for all your life so it might (just might ) take a bit of time till you 1) are aware of your body contractions 2) can free up the tensions fast. Usually it takes days to dissolve these contractions once you are aware of them. As time goes on, you'll find yourself releasing them in a matter of minutes. There are literally dozens of thousands of these contractions which are stored in a layer of feelings. The more you apply the technique the more you dive deep in this layer.
 
4. Applications
You always have contractions on your body. There's always some tension underlying your current experience, even if you're not aware of it. Spend some time being aware of your body (body awareness is key here) and let go of the contractions that you can perceive. Remember, let go is just to focus and release the energy. Do this all the time, ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Specially when you feel triggered and uncomfortable. You'll see, in a matter of days, that this is (the?) most powerful technique and you'll be doing it all the time. Then there comes a point where there's always great awareness of the body and the technique just works by itself without "you" doing anything.
Even if you don't feel triggered, you can always be aware of the contractions present right now. Just turn your attention to the body. Be still. Tip: usually it's on the torso area that these blocks manifest, but not always.
 
Dissolving problems
So, this is the most important technique for all of your problems... I see people debating on the forum on many topics: dating problems, self-help problems, insecurity problems, anxiety problems, etc. Know that all of those are just internal blocks which are creating all the thoughts and "problems" on your life. Apply this technique and watch those disappear. Then, you won't need to fix your problems, because they will magically dissolve when the energy is not blocked. See what contraction is causing your current suffering/problem.
 
5. Key messages
Be aware of your body.
Be aware of the contractions right now.
Don't listen to the thoughts.
Be still.
And let gooooooooooo.
 
6. Final bells
This technique is amazing, you'll benefit a lot! I'll bet it will become your favourite practice. As time goes on, it will not be seen as a practice but just as surrender. This teaching is heavily discussed in David Hawkins' book Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender. But here, I strongly point that the blocks are in the body, not in an imaginary land.
Lots of love and I would love to read your ideas and experiences! I wish you well 

Being able to remain conscious during all sleep stages is the ultimate skill. This will open doors to almost anything.
- Introduction
When people want to have a deep meditation, they either try to:
(A) lower their brainwaves, and thus make their consciousness more non-dual. This includes techniques like: Kriya yoga, trance, hypnosis and the majority of all meditation techniques. (B) directly make their consciousness more non-dual. This includes contemplation and self inquiry.  When people try to get into lower brainwaves, they usually start from their everyday waking consciousness. This works, but it will take ages (lifetimes for most people) till you get into really deep brainwaves - even if you do very direct techniques like trance.
We already spend 8 hours each day in very deep brainwaves. Why not take advantage of that? So rather than trying to bring lower brainwaves to waking cosnciousness (tirelessly trying to lower your brainwaves during the day), we can try to bring consciousness to lower brainwaves. 
That is sleep yoga.
 
- Benefits of Sleep Yoga
All of your dreams will be lucid (2 hours each night) During the rest of the night (light and deep sleep) you can either abide in deep non-dual awareness (by far deeper than any normal meditations), or astral project as much as you like. You gain 8 hours each day (~ 3 000 hours each year) No lapse of consciousness upon physical death.  
This is obviously very significant for enlightenment. Apart from that, it will benefit you in so many ways. Merely the 2 hours of lucid dreaming each night will radically transform your psyche. Here I wrote about reasons why to bother about OBEs: 
 
- Difficulty
Monks usually require many years of training till they are able to remain conscious during sleep. It takes long because their techniques are not Fire. They usually consist of standard meditation, waking up a couple of times during the night and visualization techniques.
I've lately done a lot of research and experimenting and tried to combine all the hacks and tricks I found. This should make the process a lot quicker.
Before I get to the technique, let's first lay a foundation. (or jump to "Chapter 2: The Technique")
 
Chapter 1 : Sleep - 1. Basics
During the night you go through several sleep cycles, each around 90 minutes long. Sleep cycles consists of:
- N1( light sleep). Only when falling asleep.
- N2 (light sleep):
Usually around 50-60% of your sleep. N2 is the ideal sleep stage to wake up from - N3 (deep sleep = SWS = slow wave sleep):
Important for regeneration Around 20-25 % of your sleep. You need typically 60-120 minutes of SWS. defined as having more than 20% of delta brain waves.  Majority of SWS during your first few sleep cycles - REM  (rapid eye movement) :
Here you have most of your dreams brainwaves somewhat similar to your waking state sleep paralysis so you don't act out your dreams 20-25% of your night  you need 60-90 min of REM As the night progresses, each sleep cycle contains more and more REM A sleep cycle usually begins with N2. Then N3 then N2 again and then REM.
 
- 2. Segmented Sleep
About polyphasic Sleep: https://www.polyphasic.net/introduction-to-polyphasic-sleep .
Segmented sleep means dividing your sleep into 2 segments: See https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/biphasic/ and https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/dual-core/ .
SWS peak is usually at 9-12 pm. And REM peak is at 6-9 am. Sleeping during these times means most efficient SWS and REM. More about that here: https://www.polyphasic.net/sleep-mechanics/biological-rhythms/ and here: https://www.polyphasic.net/blog/three-noons-and-their-importance-to-determining-the-shift-in-circadian-rhythms/
 
- 2.1 Benefits of segmented sleep:
Having a REM core with little or no SWS is perfect for trying to learn sleep yoga, more on that later You have a heightened likelihood for lucid dreaming during the REM core because of the high REM percentage and the long time awake after your SWS core. You basically have a very long WBTB (wake back to bed). The longer a WBTB, the more effective.  Prolactin surge benefits: https://www.mattressnerd.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/segmented-sleep/ If you sleep monophasically, you can't cover both SWS and REM peaks. Thus segmented sleep is more efficient. ... therefore you need less total amount of sleep Yogis say that the time at around 3-5 am is most valuable for meditation If you usually sleep 8 hours, you could schedule a 3 h SWS core and a 4.5 h REM core.
The time between the SWS and REM core should be at least 2 hours. Ideally 3-4 hours. Otherwise your body treats it as interrupted sleep rather than segmented sleep and you don't get all the benefits. More time between your cores also means that you cover more of the SWS and REM peak.
Segmented sleep is not something to do occasionally. You need to do it every night, otherwise you will just be tired and not get all the benefits. Your body needs 1-2 weeks to adapt to the schedule.
Segmented sleep is not necessary, but it can help a lot. Alternatively, you could just sleep for 4-6 hours and then either add a normal WBTB or just go straight to the techniques.
 
- 3. SWS Core
- 3.1 Binaural beats
If you listen to delta binaural beats, you increase the duration and depth (decrease the brainwave frequency even further) of your SWS. For example, in this study ( https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00387/full )   they played 3 Hz delta binaural beats when the subjects were in N2. Thus, some N2 turned into N3. The length of N3 increased by 30% (N3 length of first two nights without binaural beats was 93 min. On the next night, with binaurals, N3 was 126 min). The subjects were probably new to binaural beats. If you have already trained your brain with binaural beats, the effect could possibly be even more drastic.
Using a sleep tracking device might be helpful to keep track of your SWS.
I recommend you try the binaural beats from Jody Hatton. Either on youtube:   
or on his website. you decide the price for a download.
Sleeping with headphones might not be the most comfortable. But it can be worth it. Delta binaural beats are only interesting for your SWS core. Instead of over ear headphones, you could also use headband headphones like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014T3QLBA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=9td9sm-5xsk-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B014T3QLBA&linkId=82c4b0488d4ece45af2f57a9ea6427c0. they are more comfortable to sleep with. But might have lower quality.
I don't recommend opting for isochronic tones for delta sleep. They do have the benefit of not neading headphones, but they are said to be inefficient to entrain you to delta brainwaves.
- 3.2 Melatonin
Melatonin is important for SWS. How to optimize Melatonin levels:
Only red lights 2-3 hours before bed (or no light). You can buy red light. Or wear blue light blocking glasses (preferably should block green light as well) or use apps on your mobile phone and pc (for example "Flux") which filter blue light. Sleep in total darkness. Either buy something to block all light from your windows or just take a huge sheet of black carton and tape it over your window. Thats what I do. It takes around 1 minute each morning and night to tape/remove. You could also use a sleep mask. But then, a small amount of light is still registered by your skin. But that is probably negligible. enough (sun)light during the day. decalcify your pineal gland fasting can increase melatonin levels as well. - 3.3 Schedule
For our sleep yoga practice, we prefer to have all our SWS during the SWS core. So the REM core can be fully dedicated to Sleep yoga practices.
If you want to get the most out of each night, you also want to have as little light sleep and REM during your SWS core. You want these in your REM core so your REM core is longer and you have more time to practice each night (First we learn to be conscious during light sleep and REM, and only then do we try it during SWS). Depending on your personal SWS needs (which can vary a lot) and depending on how well you can optimize a sleep cycle for maximum SWS, you can choose following SWS core lengths.
6h: easy 4.5h: Healthy and comfortable  3h: for serious practitioners 1.5h: not recommended  I think you don't need to strictly schedule according to the 90 min sleep cycle rythm. You can extend it if you want.
A very unrecommended polyphasic sleep schedule - Everyman 4 : https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/everyman/  - has only one 90 minute SWS core plus 4 short naps for REM. Someone who follows that schedule tries to get all 90 minutes of SWS requirement into the 90 minute core, which is close to impossible. For our use, if you perfectly optimized it and extended the length from 90 to 100-110 minutes, you might be able to get 70-90 min SWS into a 110 min SWS core. But beware, if you shorten your SWS core too much, you risk SWS creeping in to your REM core.
 
- 4. Core Gap
Once your body adapted to the new schedule, you won't be as tired during it After spending some minutes on my mobile phone, I'm fully awake. Make sure your devices block blue light. And I use a red light. And I also listen to gamma binaural beats. I like these: https://www.brainwave3d.com/spiritualitaet/erleuchtung/38/the-gateway-to-enlightenment-das-tor-zur-erleuchtung?c=30 and  https://www.brainwave3d.com/meditation/tiefenmeditation-fuer-profis/96/god-consciousness-gott-erleben?c=30 and  https://www.brainwave3d.com/psi-faehigkeiten/dmt/98/mystical-dmt-trip-erlebe-eine-intensive-dmt-erfahrung?c=34 (Use google translate for the website.) The "core gap" is a good time for meditative practces, just make sure you don't fall asleep. If you are likely to fall asleep during meditation, then do it right at the beginning or end of the core gap. So you still have at least 2 hours of continued wakefulness. I recommend spending a few minutes of hard-core concentration at the end of your core gap, as a preparation for your REM core practice.  
- 5. REM Core
-5.1 Basics
Your REM core should ideally consist of only light sleep and REM. Consider:
Getting enough SWS during your SWS core Having your REM core during or close after the REM peak Applying tricks for lighter sleep You will set MANY alarms which wake you up all the time, giving you plenty of opportunitues and optimal conditions to practice.
 
- 5.2 Gamma brain waves
I believe they are the key for being conscious during sleep. Monks have increased gamma acrivity during non-REM sleep: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073417#pone-0073417-g001 .  The significance of 40 Hz for lucid dreaming:  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.zmescience.com/medicine/mind-and-brain/lucid-dreaming-electrical-trigger-042342/amp/ . I guess, the main difference of brainwaves during sleep, between a sleep yogi and a normal person, is gamma activity. The more gamma (and beta) you have, the more alert/aware you are. So if we want to be aware during sleep, we need more gamma during sleep.
How to have more gamma during sleep:
gamma brainwave entrainment audios during sleep.   Applying the tools for having"Lighter Sleep" (more on that later) day-time meditation practices (more on that later)  
- 5.3 Schedule
If you are concerned about your sleep, then do the practices only for 1-3h, and then turn off all alarms, go back to sleep and sleep as long as your body wants. Depending on how easily you tend to fall asleep on any given day, you spontaneuosly decide for the right amount of "lighter sleep" tools.  
- 6. Lighter Sleep
- 6.1 Benefits
You are closer to the awake/asleep threshold. That means a) it is easier to retain consciousness while falling asleep and b) it is easier to stay in that state. The deeper your sleep gets, the greater the risk of losing consciousness decreased risk of SWS creeping in increased likelihood for DILDs, WILDs and DEILDs better dream recall  - 6.2 How to have lighter sleep:
- 6.2.1 Body Position:
Level1: Turn in bed 180 degrees. So your head is now where your feet used to be. Level 2: lie on the floor.  Level 3: Be in an inclined position. for example of 60 degrees. https://www.theminimalists.com/drew/  Level 4: Sleep sitting upright with head support.  Level 5: Upright with no head support. That is particularly good, because everytime you fall asleep, your head drops and wakes you up. Thus it is easier to get closer to the awake/asleep threshold. - 6.2.2 Noise
Tv or music.  listen to a hypnosis audios about falling asleep.  
- 6.2.3 Gamma brainwave entrainment:
I listen to these binaural beats during my REM Core:   https://www.iawaketechnologies.com/product/gammaburst/ . You can cutt off the beginning and end so that it's only in the relevant frequency of 25-45 Hz. I listen them during my whole REM core. Another option are these 40 Hz isochronic tones: https://www.iawaketechnologies.com/product/gamma-40/ . But I only listened to them once, I found the binaural beats more effective. But they have the advantage of not needing headphones. - 6.2.3 Discomfort.
Level 1: wearing headphones Level 2: Add any discomfort you can think of Level 3: Hold your arm up vertically. Ellbow supported on the matress. https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-lucidity/107214-wild-awareness-training.html - 6.2.4 Alarm clocks
Level 1: Every 15-30 min. It turns itself off. So you have a lower likelihood of waking up if you are in a somewhat deeper sleep.  Level 2: Every 8-12 min. Alarm needs to be manually turned off. (you press snooze. So it will ring in a few minutes again) Level 3: Every 3-8 min. Alarm needs to be manually turned off Some alarm clock apps are able to play the alarm through your headphones only.
- 6.2.5 Light: 
Level 1: Leave on some red light Level 2: Remove your curtains from the windows just before your REM core Level 3: Turn on artificial light. Light will have a negative impact on your melatonin levels. In terms of melatonin, we are most concerned about it's effects on SWS sleep. So light after your SWS sleep is relatively fine. It is recommended that one spends 8-10 hours in darkness (or at least red light rather than blue light) each day. So if you turn off normal lighting 3 h before your SWS core, then have a 3 h SWS core, followed by a 3 h core gap, you have 9h.
- 6.2.6 Others:
Intention  uncomfortable temperature   
 
Chapter 2: The Technique Our approach consists of:
SWS Core Core Gap REM Core + Alarm Clocks  and there you practice "Conscious Falling Asleep"  
- 1. Getting yourself closer to sleep
Some tips:
Reverse Blinking. Thats very effective to get tired very quickly. Close your eyes for 2-7 seconds, then open them briefly. Continue till you are very tired. https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-lucidity/24607-inducing-trance-wild-part-1-a.html Hypnotic suggestions/affirmations "sleepy" Concentrate on the "sleepiness" sensation and deepen it Pretend having fallen asleep  
- 2. Awake/Asleep Threshold Tools
Everything I listed under "Lighter Sleep" can be helpful to remain conscious during the awake/asleep threshold. Particularly powerful is:
Holding up your arm vertically, ellbow resting on the mattress. Sleeping sitting without head support. When you fall asleep, your arm or head will sink/fall down and wake you up.
 
- 3. Deepen your Trance
When trying to fall asleep, you are basically in trance. When you deepen your trance, you get your body closer to sleep. But apart from that it also alters your consciousness in a different way (than just using normal tips like those listed under "getting yourself closer to sleep") which can be helpful for conscious falling asleep.
- Tips for deepening your trance:
Falling sensation. Either visualize how you are somewhere else - in a visualized body - and experience a falling sensation there (literally falling, going down steps, elevator, etc...) or 'stay' with your consciousness in your physical body and visualize the falling sensation there (I personally prefer that). Try to visualize the sensation you have in your gut when being on a roller coster.  
Use Hypnosis. Here I wrote in detail about hypnosis (keep in mind, when I wrote older posts, I had less understanding):   
Use your Hypnotic Triggers. You can anchor every state of consciousness. so for example anchor being sleepy with the word "sleepy", or anchor going into a deep trance with visualizing going downstairs. Hypnotic Triggers are like key words for your subconscious that tell it what state of consciousness to produce.  
Visualize it into being. Visualize how you are in a very deep trance. Visualize having no more body sensations and being in the void. It's hard to expplain how exactly to do it, but it works.  
Visualize how you are expanding. Expand your consciousness to include your room, then house, etc. It is said that this produces more theta brainwaves   
 
Fractionation: A hypnotic induction technique. The idea is to get out of trance and then immediately go back down. If done skillfully, you will end up deeper than where you started.  One way to do it is to count from 1 to 3 (feeling how you are getting more out of trance with every number), open your eyes, count down from 3 to 1 (feeling how you are getting deeper), and closing your eyes again.  
Dissociation from the body. Some possibilities: Pretend that you are lying in bed upside down. Your head where  your feet used to be. Till you are actually convinced. The axis going from your feet to your head. Visualize turning around that axis. Like you are rolling in bed.  Visualize how you are in a visualized body in your room. Turn around and look at your physical body  
Try to induce the sensations of your body: becoming heavy.  quickly shrinking, expanding, shrinking, expanding, .... feeling strange  becoming weightless having no sensations melting with the room fading out of existence  
Completely surrender. And use some of your non-dual hypnotic triggers  
Visualize how you are in a visualized body somewhere. For example in your kitchen. Try to immerse yourself in these visualizations as much as possible. This produces deep theta brainwaves. And the more often you change your environment (particularly using doors, floors, etc) the more theta brainwaves are produced. So they say at least.  
some say looking up with your eyes to the 3rd eye helps  
Amnesia: Try to forget your body. Forget the physical universe  
Pretend like you are moving your astral arm. And you could try any OBE exit technique  
All of these could also induce an OBE. If they do, great, but their actual purpose is to help in conscious falling asleep.
 
- 4. Anchors
In order to remain conscious while your body falls asleep, it's recommended to have an anchor to focus on. (In past posts I used the word "anchor" as being a trigger for a state of consciousness. To avoid confusion, I use in this post "hypnotic trigger" for that instead). 
- Anchors:
any mantra works but for our purpose I would use sth like "mind awake, body asleep" so you also benefit from its affirmative effect. Awareness itself. just try to remain conscious Any trance deepeners The True Self Hypnagogic images or sounds counting your breath chakras any sensations  visualizations  
- 5. FILD
Finger induced Lucid Dreaming. It is usually used as a form of DEILD (or WILD) in order to induce a lucid dream. The technique is very effective at keeping you awake while your body falls asleep. Lucid dreamers use it to lucid dream, but we can just as well use it for general conscious falling asleep. I actually believe that this might be the key for conscious falling asleep (in combination with the other points I wrote).
You alternate slightly moving your middle and index finger of one hand. As if playing piano. The movement must be extremely tiny. Just keep doing it and decrease the range of motion. Eventually your fingers shouldn't be moving any more at all (or only less than a millimeter). But the information to move is still delivered to your fingers. The tendons and muscles might be moving or tensing slightly. You find more detailed tutorials on the internet, like:  https://www.dreamviews.com/induction-techniques/36683-finger-induced-lucid-dream-fild.html And on reddit are countless FILD threads as well, including impressive success stories.
You could say FILD, is just another anchor. But I believe it is more powerful than other anchors. Actually moving a body part seems to keep the mind more awake (perhaps by activating an additional/different brain region). And the movement is so tiny that it doesn't prevent your body from falling asleep.
For the purpose of lucid dreaming, FILD is usually only done for 20-120 seconds (then you should just fall asleep and try later again). But we will just keep wiggling until we made the transition.
 
- 6. Reviewing the keys
The following points are the most significant. Most monks are not aware of them, that's why we can achieve sleep yoga quicker.
REM core without SWS MANY alarm clocks Gamma brainwave training Reverse Blinking  awake/asleep threshold tools (hand up, sitting + no head support) Trance deepeners FILD   
Our goal is that the body falls asleep, while retaining consciousness. For that to happen the body must be tired (which is achieved by the many alarm clocks, when they wake you up, your body is still in sleep mode and wants to return as quickly as possible. And by reverse blinking, trance deepeners and by sleep deprivation, in case you end up being sleep deprived) while your mind must be alert (which is achieved through the "lighter sleep" tools and anchors). To achieve that, some astral projectors, would go for one night without sleep (body tired) and then trink coffee (mind alert) before going to sleep the next day.
 
- 7.  Simplified Technique Overview
Upon waking you do either of these (or a combination):
Just try to remain conscious while your body falls asleep awake/asleep threshold tools Trance deepeners focus on anchors FILD  
- 8. Tips 
You can also experiment with using strong intention. Jus don't allow your mind to fall asleep.  You need balance between concentrating too tightly and too loosely If you notice you are about to lose consciousness, open your eyes. Regain consciousness and then close them while using your hypnotic triggers. This sudden fractionation could be enough to send your body one step closer to sleep whlile retaining consciousness  You can switch between sitting and lying during your REM core Reverse FILD: Suddenly stop the finger movements and pretend you fell asleep. https://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initiated-lucid-dreams-wild/101305-reverse-fild-technique-100%-success-out-4-attempts-so-far.html When you can't fall asleep during your REM core, keep being conscious and see it as awareness practice, thus no time is wasted It's very easy to end up half-heartedly doing the technique upon waking up and then very quickly fall back asleep. When you wake up, strengthen your intention and determination first.  
 
Chapter 3: Daily Practices - 1. Conscious falling asleep (during your REM core)
- 2. Perfect concentration
When you are very alert and have perfect concentration you produce more gamma brainwaves. Spend every day 5-10 min of perfect forced concentration. Don't allow thoughts. Don't allow anything other than what you are focusing on. 
I usually focus on being extremely alert. Alert of whether there are thoughts. If a thought appears immediately cut it off. Don't even allow subtle thoughts. 
You can also listen to gamma brainwave entrainment at the same time.
- 3. Relaxed awareness 
Spend every day 5-15 min doing relaxed awareness. The objective is to stay aware. And allow everything to happen.  Allow all thoughts and passively observe them. That's alpha brainwaves (and some theta).  But don't lose your awareness. Aim for zero lapse of awareness. That's the gamma (and beta) brainwaves.
This is the sate of mind you need during conscious falling asleep. Relaxed and passive, yet uninterrupted awareness.
 
- 4. ADA periods
Doing all day awareness (ada) surely helps for conscious falling asleep but I don't think ada is worth the effort. Effort/Benefit ratio is poor. 
Instead, I recommend you do ada only for a short period - like 2 to 10 minutes - around 1-3 times a day. Perhaps while driving, cooking, exercising. Just do your normal activity while trying to stay conscious.
 
- 5. Binaural beats during the day
All the above practices develop your gamma brainwave skills. Additionally you can listen to gamma (and other frequencies) brainwave entrainment while doing daily activities like reading, cooking, etc. I wrote about that here: 
 
- 6. LOA Visualizations 
Visualize everyday for 1-3 min how you are successful at sleep yoga. Know that this is true. If your memories say otherwise, regard them as false memories.
You can apply all LOA stuff for sleep yoga. Here i mentioned some more LOA stuff: 
 
 
- 7. Trance 
Trance practice is not required but can be helpful.
- 7.1 Procedure
Strengthen your intention and LOA visualize how your session will unfold Get to your awake/tired sweet spot: (Reverse Blinking, hypnotic trigger, suggestions) Body relaxation: body scan, progressive muscle relaxation, tensing/relaxing muscles, visualize a light relaxing your muscles. You could also stretch, move and massage some muscles beforehand) Mental Relaxation Hypnotic suggestions Trance Deepeners and using your Hypnotic Triggers Listening to Guided Hypnosis or freestyle.
0-60 min each day, as you believe necessary.
 
- 7.2 Tips
body and mind relaxation is crucial. it is the foundation for altered sates. Don't wave them aside, thinking they are not worth doing. I made that mistake and wasted a lot of time therefore. Once I realized the importance of body relaxation, I spent a few days - 2-4 hours each day - only trying to relax the body.  The objective is to get alpha and theta brainwaves. So practice when you are tired, because then it is far easier to enter these brainwaves. Find your sweet spot, of tired enough but still able to resist falling asleep. Exhaustion. It has a similiar effect like being tired. Hypnotic suggestions are more easily absorbed and it is easier to surrender into trance. Here I wrote more about exhaustion, including it's value in terms of enlightenment:  Use hypnosis (see my hypnosis thread) Use brainwave entrainment   
 
Chapter 4: Stages of Progress  
- Stage 1
Getting close to the awake/asleep threshold for brief moments, but then being immediately snapped back
- Stage 2
Able to stay conscious while the body falls asleep. But after a few moments, you either lose consciousness or are snapped back.
- Stage 3 
Able to reliable stay conscious while the body falls asleep (during your REM core of course) and smoothly transition into a lucid dream.
- Stage 4
Able to enter the void. No, or almost no sensations of your body left
- Stage 5
Able to remain in this void during your whole REM core (both light sleep and REM)
- Stage 6
You stopped your segmented sleep schedule. You can retain consciousness while sinking into deep sleep, but are not able to hold it there for long
- Stage 7
Able to stay conscious during the whole night
- Stage 8
Able to enter epsilon brainwaves during deep sleep without losing consciousness 
- Stage 9
Able to enter the exact same depth, in your meditation during the day, when you are not tired.
- Stage 10
Able to do that in less than 5 minutes.
- Stage 11
Able to do that while sitting
- Stage 12
Able to do that while walking. You are able to split your consciousness. One part is astral projecting on Mars, while a small portion of your consciousness remains in your physical body, cleaning the kitchen.
 
 
Chapter 5: Resources and Notes - 1. Resources
There is not much information out there about Dream Yoga.
- In this post I mentioned it a bit: 
 
- Books:
Dream Yoga by Andrew Holecek The Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Dreaming Yourself Awake by B. Alan Wallace. - Forum posts: https://www.dreamviews.com/beyond-dreaming/142072-exploring-delta-sleep.html
- A Website: http://www.swamij.com/yoga-nidra.htm
 
- 2. Depth of Sleep Yoga
Some reports of being conscious during sleep, don't appear as fantastic as one would expect. I guess it's the same as with psychedelics. The average person might take 700 ug of LSD without getting nondual, while a spiritual seeker might get completely blown away by 300 ug. How deep your mystical experiences are (for psychedelics and sleep yoga alike) depends on many factors but the biggest are:
your baseline consciousness  self-inquiry / contemplation skills surrender skills intention (for pyschedelics, there are some more, like personal tolerance etc).
 
- 3. My progress so far
I had tried WILD a few times a year ago with zero success.
I have done quite a lot of meditation during the past 2 years. But I don't think this is required or provides a huge advantage compared to someone who hasn't done any meditation so far. A few months of the above-mentioned Sleep yoga practice, is more valuable in terms of sleep yoga progress than 3 years of meditation.
I started my sleep yoga practice around 3 weeks ago. My attention has been mainly on figuring out the right technique/schedule rather than trying to actually achieve sleep yoga (but I did try, of course). Now I'm finally somewhat satisfied with the technique, so the real practice starts tomorrow.
So far I'm roughly at progress stage 1. 
I'm gonna keep updating.

I don't normally feel a need to share, but I felt a deep calling to share this one with the community. I just released a video on my YouTube channel about my experiences meditating 2 hours per day for a year. If you're interested in hearing about what deep, consistent meditation practice looks like, check it out. If not, you still may find the below post useful.
Below, I elaborate on some of recent feelings regarding the forum and this whole meditation vs. psychedelics debate, as well as share more in depth about my meditation journey.
Lately, there seems to be a growing chasm in the Actualized.org community regarding psychedelics and then other spiritual practices such as meditation. In one camp, we have people raving about the power of psychedelics, how they provide higher levels of awakening, raise consciousness to higher degrees and how psychedelics more or less shit on other sober practices like meditation, being far superior for Spiritual Awakening or more recently "God Realization." In the other camp, you have people who are against this growing sentiment regarding psychedelics. I seem to have fallen into the latter camp.
Initially, I was extremely pro-psychedelics, believing spiritual teachers who more or less dismissed them were full of shit. Let me be clear, I am still pro-psychedelics and still believe many spiritual teachers who dismiss them are full of shit. I have achieved enormous amounts of healing, enormous amounts of spiritual growth, have elevated my baseline levels of compassion and understanding using these tools to degrees that I cannot attribute to anything other than psychedelics. They've propelled my meditation practice into levels and depths that I do not see other meditators achieving, even serious practitioners with more experience. They've tested the limits of my sanity, broken my conceptual paradigms over and over, provided absurdly magical, mystical, and profound journeys into the fringes of consciousness… The journeying has been utterly beautiful and I still have every intention to continue their use for these purposes of exploration. At the very least, they're fun! And even after some heart wrenchingly dark trips, like borderline traumatizing trips that almost feel like they've left scars on the energy body/soul, all of my trips have been nectar for the True Self awakening to what it really is.

However, after my first 9 day vipassana meditation retreat, there was a 180 degree paradigm shift. Originally, I was using meditation as a tool to propel my psychedelic journeying to deeper levels. I was successful; the harder I meditated, the deeper my trips became. Yet after that retreat, something very primordially deep shifted, almost like an internal earthquake, a transformation at the level of soul, at a level of self identity which transcends individual lifetimes and is instead the self activity driving reincarnation into subsequent and past lives (I don't know the validity of this necessarily, only that the experience points to something 'like' that). I spent 5 straight days in the most heightened states of consciousness I've ever experienced, essentially tripping balls while being completely sober. Every time I sat to formally practice, reality would just melt into and out of itself. My concentration had penetrated so deeply into the present moment, I was just watching infinite intelligence spontaneously emerge, moment by moment, while simultaneously being palpably conscious of the boundless, formless void of God as giving rise and fall to these microscopically transient fluctuations of formed experience. The space of consciousness would boundlessly expand into infinity as the formless jhanas, and contract into a singularity of non-existence… It is a challenge using words to describe just how profoundly powerful these meditative states really were. Since this retreat and after 2 other vipassana retreats within the span of the next 5 months, these types of mystical experiences have become regular. By the end of this first retreat, I realized psychedelics are tools for plunging more deeply into meditation first and foremost, not the other way around. While rigorous meditation will certainly facilitate deeper trips, meditation will also uproot the attachment to psychedelics as the means by which we awaken to God.
Though I do respect the authority and individuality of everyone's path, from what I read on the forum, Leo and those who align with Leo's paradigm have vastly underestimated the potential for meditation and utterly misunderstood the true nature of God. It is very clear to me Leo understands the mechanics of God, his videos are evidence of this, but true understanding of God is the embodiment of God in all moments, not in the transient states of psychedelic trips nor the intellectual conceptualizations about reality after the fact. Furthermore, the paradigm that claims it understands God because of psychedelics and meditation is peanuts in comparison is a paradigm NOT based in direct experience. It is a paradigm based on reifications of self that happen when the ego structure reforms after a deep psychedelic trip. Without the appropriate attentional skills (mindfulness) sober meditation trains, this paradigm occurs at an unconscious level, at a belief level, at a level that is silently creating the context by which psychedelic experiences are conceptualized after the fact.
Of course such an explicit criticism will most likely be met with opposition by the ego structure, an authority built behind "You don't know what you're talking about, I've achieved levels so far beyond all teachers, teaching or techniques. Your awakening is far less than mine! Etc. Etc." But please keep in mind, I have enormous experience with tripping. Not just tripping, tripping fucking balls. Please look at my past trip reports as evidence. This position I'm coming from is from the very principles Leo promotes - radical open-mindedness, experimentation, rigorous work ethic, balance, taking my own authority, existential curiosity for knowing what is really true.
 
Now let's be clear -
 
The True Nature of God
God is none other than this moment, exactly as it is.
This moment, exactly as it is appearing in all of its ignorance, entanglement, delusion, and suffering is an expression of divine perfection, as none other than the love of God.
The capacity for God to awaken to itself is infinite.
The context out of which experience expands out of, and contracts back into, moment by moment, is God.
You as what you really are, is God.
God is not an ego structure, but an ego structure is God.
God is Mind.
The human mind is not God, but arises out of God, as God.
God is pure intelligence.
God is pure imagination, manifest.
God is pure formlessness, unmanifest.
 
The True Nature of Love
Love is that which holds space for all states of consciousness.
When the mind stops pushing and pulling at experience through the contraction of craving and aversion, the surface level of the human mind slowly comes into union with God's Love. In Buddhism this is referred to as Equanimity.
Equanimity is Love. As the activities of the human mind cultivate Equanimity, you are merging into the union with divine, Absolute Love.
Notice, the Universe never fights with itself; the actuality of what is happening is the IS exactly as it is appearing as itself. As the Universe permits the actuality of what is, is radical permission of all form, as Love. A mind which radically permits all form, regardless of state, is a mind that embodies Absolute Love. This form of love is heart wrenching, heart cracking because it recognizes the necessity, role, and beauty of horror, delusion, suffering, atrocity.
All states of consciousness are Loved, recognized in divine equilibrium.
Absolute Love is not an emotion, perception, or transient form, but the context out of which all forms appear.
 
The True Nature of Self
You are the field from which all arises, passes, emerges, and vanishes.
You are comprehensible through direct incomprehension.
You are the expansion and contraction of all phenomena.
You are the expansion and contraction as all phenomena.
You are the context out of which all phenomena expand and contract.
You are the witness that sees self activity act its drama.
You are the witness, witnessing, and witnessed.
You are the witness of the witness.
You are the space from which time and space manifest themselves into and out of existence.
You are the womb, the creator, the created, simultaneously.
You are the grain of sand and the Sahara. 
You are the wave in the ocean and the ocean.
You are paradox itself.
You are the absolute unknown mystery, as well as the humility and arrogance that proports to understand.
You are the nothing at all, the still point where all points of reality envelope, develop and exist as unmanifest potentiality.
You are yourself, exactly where you are, as you are.
You are always here; you are always now.
You could never have been more or less you.
If these types of insights and pointers are only deeply available through psychedelics, if you believe you cannot become palpably conscious of these insights and pointers through meditation, then your paradigm may very well be backwards. A psychedelic insight's true utility is to bring back the insight into lived, everyday, mundane experience. How can we effectively do that? Meditation. A LOT of meditation.
There are two fundamental lessons we will learn from deep meditation practice.
1) Meditation can take us into states rivaling and surpassing the profundity of psychedelics, while doing so in a way which actually trains the mind to access these states without the need for psychedelics.
2) Right where we are, exactly as we are, is Absolute Truth. This is the beginning of the final awakening that 'what we are' truly seeks. The self activity keeps going, the dramas of life keep playing. The awakenings pull us ever deeply into the unimaginable depths of consciousness, yet on some level 'what we are' understands that what it is cannot exclude even the most unconscious of states.
The appreciation I have for Actualized.org is ineffable. I found Leo at an inflection point in my life, a point where I was so lost. It was Leo's brash, borderline arrogant teaching style that cracked open my mind to start questioning itself. It was Leo's wit and philosophical intelligence that forced me to challenge my long held intellectual positions about the nature of self, mind, and consciousness. It was Leo's channel that invigorated my interest in psychedelics and facilitated a Hero's journey across the internal cosmos. It was Leo's channel that lead me to understand my own authority and limitation. It was Leo's channel that challenged me to become a true sage, mystic, and lover of Truth. It was Leo's channel that propelled me to take self-actualization and the cornerstone practice of meditation even more seriously.

But it is precisely because of Leo that I write these words. It is precisely because I Leo that I so vehemently disagree with the direction this forum is heading. And in a sense, I'm writing into the collective here, urging, challenging and demanding that this community, an actual gem for humanity, not get pulled off track.

And yet Actualized.org will do and become whatever it will. As a move and practice of detachment, and love, I won't be spending as nearly as much energy trying to pull back on the collective ego that is caught in the hamster wheel of samsara, constantly seeking the illusion of deeper, more grandiose awakenings. As long as you're meditating, you will awaken to infinite degrees of consciousness until you die; you don't need psychedelics to do it. And as you're awakening to the true nature of God, you will lose attachment to all of it.
When you finally awaken, you will let yourself unfold in its own time, in its own sequence.
When you finally awaken, you will recognizing the perfection of every step up the mountain, honoring the necessity of every grain of sand, blessing the flow of each drop in the ocean.
 
Unity will emerge
As infinity unfolds
Life will be death
And all states, surrendered
 
All moments will be one
A seeking which as was sought
All delusions to be none
Contractions of craving
Finally, undone
 
As children, we'll keep growing
Expanding evermore
But in the light of Truth,
Does this moment truly soar
In the Love of God
Perfection's indiscriminate pour
 
I am happy to answer any questions below.
I wish all of you well on your path. Perhaps you may find value in my perspective, perhaps not. Thank you for your path, thank you for your dharma, in whatever form it takes on.

With Love,
You
 

just read this jewel from nisargadatta so thought you would enjoy
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When we concentrate our attention on the origin of thought, the thought process itself comes to an end; there is a stillness, which is pleasant, and again the process starts. Turning from the external world and enjoying the objectless bliss, the mind feels that the world of objects is not for it. Prior to this experience the unsatiating sense enjoyments constantly challenged the mind to satisfy them, but from the inward turn onwards then its interest in them begins to fade. Once the internal bliss is enjoyed, the external happiness will lose its charm. One who has tasted the inward bliss is naturally loving and free from envy, contented and happy with others' prosperity, friendly and innocent and free from deceit. He is full of the mystery and wonder of the bliss. One who has realised the Self could never inflict pain on other.
In this way, with heartfelt love and devotion, the devotee turns to God; and when he is blessed with His vision and Grace, he feels ever happy in His presence. The constant presence establishes a virtual identity between the two. While seeking the presence of the supreme Soul, the devotee renounces all associations in his life, from the meanest to the best, and having purged his being of all associations, he automatically wins the association with the supreme Self. One who has attained to the position of unstinted emancipation will never be disliked by others, for the people themselves are the very Self-luminous soul, though ignorant of the fact.

In this world of immense variety, different beings are suffering from different kinds of ailments, and yet they are not prepared to give up the physical frame, even when wailing under physical and mental pain. If this be so, then men will not be so shortsighted as to avoid their saviour, the enlightened soul.

That overflowing reservoir of bliss, the beatific soul, does confer only bliss on the people by his loving light. Even the atmosphere around him heartens the suffering souls. He is like the waters of a lake that gives nourishment to the plants and trees around the brink and the grass and fields nearby. The saint gives joy and sustaining energy to the people around him.
 
Spiritual thought is of the Highest. This seeking of the Highest is called the "first half" by the saints. A proper understanding of this results in the vision of God, and eventually matures into the certainty of the true nature of the Self in the "latter half".

One who takes to the path of the spirit starts with contemplation and propitiation. It is here, for the first time, that he finds some joy in prayer and worship. At this preliminary stage he gets the company of co-aspirants. Reading of the lives and works of past incarnations of God, of rishis, of saints and sages, singing the glories of the Name, visiting temples, and a constant meditation on these result in the photic and phonic experiences of the mystic life; his desires are satisfied to an extent now. Thinking that he has had the vision of God, he intensifies his efforts of fondly remembering the name of God and His worship. In this state of the mind, the devotee quite frequently has a glimpse of his cherished Deity, which he takes to be the Divine vision and is satisfied with it. At this juncture, he is sure to come into contact with a saint.

The saint, and now his preceptor, makes it plain to him that what he has had is not the Real vision, which is beyond the said experiences, and is only to be had through Self-realisation. At this point, the aspirant reaches the stage of the meditator. In the beginning, the aspirant [sadhaka] is instructed into the secrets of his own person, and of the indwelling spirit; the meaning and nature of prana, the various plexuses, and the nature and arousal of the kundalini, and the nature of the Self. Later on, he comes to know of the origin of the five elements, their activity, radiation, and merits and defects. Meanwhile his mind undergoes the process of purification and acquires composure, and this the aspirant experiences through the deep-laid subtle center of the Indweller; he also knows how and why it is there, only that the deiform element is kindled. This knowledge transforms him into the pure, eternal, and spiritual form of a Satguru who is now in a position to initiate others into the secrets of the spirit. The stage of sadhakahood ends here.

As the great saint Tukarama said, the aspirant must put in ceaseless efforts in the pursuit of spiritual life. Thoughts must be utilised for Self-knowledge. He must be alert and watchful in ascertaining the nature of this "I" that is involved in the affairs of pleasure and pain arising out of sense experience.

We must know the nature of the active principle lest its activities be led astray. We should not waste our energies in useless pursuits, but should use those energies in the pursuit of the Self and achieve identity with God. Spiritual life is so great, so deep, so immense, that energy pales into insignificance before it, yet this energy tries to understand it again and again. Those who try to understand it with the help of the intellect are lost to it. Rare is the one who, having concentrated on the source atom of the cosmic energy, enjoys the bliss of spiritual contemplation. But there are scores of those who take themselves to be spiritually inspired and perfect beings. They expect the common herd to honour and respect their every word. The ignorant people rush towards them for spiritual succour and do their bidding. In fact, the pseudo-saints are caught in a snare of greed, hence what the people get in return is not the blessings of satisfaction, but ashes.

The self-styled man of God, speaking ad nauseum about spiritual matters, thinks himself to be perfect, but others are not so sure. As regards a saint, on the other hand, men are on the lookout for ways to serve him more and more, but as the ever contented soul, steeped in beatitude, desires nothing, they are left to serve in their own way, which they do with enthusiasm, and they never feel the pressure.

Greatness is always humble, loving, silent and satisfied. Happiness, tolerance, forbearance, composure and other allied qualities must be known by everyone; just as one experiences bodily states such as hunger, thirst, etc., one. must, with equal ease, experience in oneself the characteristics connoted by the word "saint". As we know for certain that we need no more sleep, no more food, at a given moment, so too we can be sure of the above characteristics from direct experience. One can then recognise their presence in others with the same ease. This is the test and experience of a tried spiritual leader.
 
"