Drinking the milk of paradise
The hypnogogic state and how to access it.
Samual Taylor Coleridge wrote ‘Kubla Khan’ in 1797 after waking from a dream. It was, according to him, an opium-induced dream, but the state he describes is known as a hypnogogic state: the threshold of consciousness where creativity and prophetic vision meet. And you don’t need opium to access it.
Coleridge’s poem is famously subtitled ‘A Vision in a Dream’ for good reason. The whole poem is incredibly evocative, but my favourite lines are at the end:
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
YES Coleridge. Nailed it. If this doesn’t give you ‘I just had this really strange dream that I couldn’t make sense of but it left me with this feeling’ then I don’t know what will.
So what is a hypnogogic state?
A hypnogogic state is described as the liminal space between wakefulness and sleep. Specifically before you actually hit the unconscious state of sleep.
This ‘Twilight zone’ isn’t full-on dreaming, but pre-dreaming. A rare window into your subconscious mind. It’s associated with vivid sensory experiences, and is incredibly fertile ground for creative ideas.
There’s a brief window of creativity, right in the “twilight zone” of sleep as a mind gradually fades into total lack of consciousness.
Source: The ‘Twilight Zone’ Before Deep Sleep Could Boost Your Creativity
The opposing state, when you first wake up from sleep, is referred to as the ‘hypnopompic’ state, though in many texts, ‘hypnogogic’ is used to mean both states. Both are liminal states, and both are enhanced sensory states. The hypnopompic is a bit foggier, but it can still lead to vivid dream recall and insight, especially when being pulled out of sleep abruptly.
Yes, there is science to explain this
In neuroscience, the hypnogogic state is characterised by changes in brainwave activity: shifting from beta waves (fast, alert) to slower alpha, theta, and eventually delta waves as you drift into deep sleep.
During the hypnagogic phase, the brain is lingering in alpha-theta, a zone associated with vivid sensory experiences, relaxed focus, daydreaming, and enhanced access to the subconscious mind.
Hypnogogia: The Nature and Function of the Hypnagogic State by Andreas Mavromatis, Brunel University, 1983
Multiple studies have been conducted using EEG to track brainwave states. You can read one study on EEG and hypnogogic states here.
How can I experience hypnogogia?
Plot twist: you’ve already experienced hypnogogia. Most commonly, people experience it before drifting off to sleep. We can also slip in and out of it through the day (otherwise known as daydreaming), and it’s similar to the deliberate trance-like state of hypnosis, reached during hypnotherapy, and to meditation.
Your thoughts start to melt, and your body can take on a sensation of floating. You might hear distant voices, have lucid thoughts, or see colours or images start to bloom behind your eyelids. You're still sort of awake, but logic is dissipating, reason is suspended, things take on an air of surrealism. Time goes sideways, or doesn’t seem to exist at all.
Coleridge and his contemporaries reached this state via opiates, but other creative minds such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Salvador Dalí, and Mary Shelley were all reported to have deliberately practised accessing a hypnogogic state, with methods such as dozing off with a rock in their hand (in Dalí’s case, a large key across his chest) that would drop and wake them up before slipping into deep sleep - then quickly note down any visions, messages, and insight that had arisen.
The outcomes of hypnogogic vision
Maybe the most well-known products of hypnogogia are the creative ones - poetry and art, like in the case of Coleridge and Salvador Dalí.
Hypnogogic visions are not only creative, they can also be prophetic. They can sometimes provide the missing link our conscious mind is looking for. It’s like finishing a puzzle or completing a thought process we haven’t been able to fully follow during our waking day. According to Dierdre Barrett, a Harvard lecturer on psychology, hypnogogia involves a lot of activity in the secondary visual cortex - the part of the brain responsible for interpreting and making meaning of the sensory data we’ve taken in during wakefulness.
Example: In the 1860s, German organic chemist August Kekulé had been studying the mysterious structure of the compound benzene and dozed off by the fireplace. In a hypnogogic state, a vision appeared to him of atoms twisting like snakes, and eventually forming into an ouroboros (a snake wound in a circle, biting its own tail). The vision led to the breakthrough discovery that benzene wasn’t linear, but a ring of carbon atoms - changing the course of organic chemistry.
These insights of half-thought, half-image are what makes hypnogogia valuable in the creative and therapeutic worlds. When your ego is detached, you can observe what is unfolding without logic or reason to obstruct it. Ideas that would feel ridiculous or impossible in a conscious state can be followed through and take form. The subconscious can come to the surface.
How to try it for yourself
1. Find a comfortable place
The aim is not actually to have a sleep here, so it doesn’t have to be at bedtime, but you need to be relaxed enough to drift off. Before you settle in, find an item that is heavy enough to make a noise if it drops (without breaking anything). It could be a metal spoon held in your hand, with a metal bowl placed underneath so it clangs. Also get a piece of paper and a pen and place them next to you. Find a quiet, cosy position on the sofa or bed at a time when you won’t be interrupted. Put your phone on silent or in another room so you’re not distracted by it.
2. Let your mind drift
Close your eyes, soften your face, relax your body, let your thoughts drift away like clouds. You could set an intention here about what you want to think about (if it’s a problem you’ve been mulling over) or just hold the intention to be open to what comes up. Then let it go - you’re not trying to meditate, just linger in that space between awake and asleep. (And if you do fall asleep, your dropped object should wake you up). You might start to notice colours, sounds, images, or random thoughts. Don’t try to interpret them or control them, just observe.
3. Capture your insights
CLANG! You’re awake. Get your piece of paper and pen and quickly write down what was in your head: images, phrases, feelings, scenes. Don’t edit, just get it down. The weirder the better.
