Bob's Red Pill #13 - Sleep & Other Altered States

by Crypto Psi

Sleep is having a moment in the health-sphere. Everyone irradiating themselves all night with bluetooth wearables, in chase of a perfect “sleep score” arbitrarily determined by app designers. Blackout curtains, red goggles, supplements, grounding sheets, all en vogue now. I don’t have a problem with any of these tools, and I use a few myself. Yet our goals with respect to sleep should go far beyond the current biohack-zeitgeist. This seems to be turning into a theme of the Rare Candy BRP essay series (as I’ve probably noted before).

I recently opined about this phenomenon on a recent episode, but it’s humorous how ancient health and wellness wisdom is often recycled for our age in the most derivative, bland, and surface-level ways possible. This is, of course, to be expected to a degree. Knowledge depth is lacking in almost every modern niche. Perhaps an example is in order — pressing one’s tongue to the roof of the mouth. [quick rant:]

Based health circles call this “mewing”. Usually the goal is to restructure the face to improve jawline, physiognomy appeal, and to better fit in with the Greek statue twitter avatar scene. The thing is, it works, quite radically in some cases. I highly recommend it! I’ve been doing this for almost a decade, based on studying Mantak Chia’s work on Taoist energy flow. Taoists, for well over 5,000 years, have been diligently placing their tongues on their palates, for one very specific reason — it completes the energy circuit known as the Microcosmic Orbit, the foundation for energy flow within the body. This allows for vast amounts of spiritual energy to be channeled up and down the spine safely. The tongue is basically an electrical on/off switch.

When this cropped up on my feed years later as “mewing”, I kept waiting for the real reason for this technique to be revealed, but it never came. Only talk of jawline, improving physical attractiveness, with maybe a cursory nod to nose breathing as a benefit. Now, I don’t want to dismiss improving one’s physical appearance, which is not an insignificant part of life. Also, anyone practicing this technique will benefit, even if their intentions aren’t deep. Imagine, however, the depth of knowledge we miss by ignoring the pioneers and the larger realities they were leading us toward.

A big reason for the aforementioned surface-level analysis afflicting our health conversations is the materialist dogma standard in any even semi-scientific topic. Health is no different. An example is Andrew Huberman, a guy I quite like and respect. He recently came under some dumb scrutiny because he admits he “believes in God”, a completely tame belief. What’s funny is his podcast, which I do enjoy from time to time, is quite materialistic, finding neuroscience reasons for déjà vu, et cetera. A guy just can’t talk about real human experience that breaks the mold and build a massive audience at the same time, at least not one comprised of the science trustooors.

As an aside, I’ve found that much of modern “esoteric health” influencer material stems from Taoist techniques, usually without the influencer even realizing it. But I digress, I’ve already gotten off-track.

Bob Monroe

We are indeed more than our bodies and brains, and sleep is perhaps where this is most apparent, where rubber hits the road. Indeed, one of the easiest ways to prove the depth of our existence is by training to leave our bodies by leveraging the sleep state.

Robert Monroe authored the seminal Journeys Out of the Body in 1971. Two decades prior, while living as a successful radio broadcast producer, he began experiencing spontaneous astral travels, and dedicated the rest of his life toward the rigorous study of this phenomenon. Rare Candy guest Joe Gallenberger is a veteran of the Monroe Institute, the living legacy of Bob Monroe’s studies of the mind-body-soul. If you’ve tried Joe’s “liquid luck” meditation like many RC listeners, you’ve experienced binaural beat technology and brainwave entrainment.

Two distinct tones played over headphones, separated by a few hertz, will trick the brain into creating the state associated with the difference in hertz. If a 120 hertz tone is played in the left ear, and a 128 hertz tone is played in the right ear, after a few minutes, the resultant brainwave state of the listener will settle on an alpha state, around 8 hertz. Of course, brainwaves in reality are a bit more complex, layered, and nuanced, but many a seeker has found this simple technology indispensable.

[notes: L-Theanine is unique and rare among natural nootropics as a potent and safe stimulator of alpha brain waves, as we’ve covered in a previous BRP. A cheap, non-habit-forming tool to assist all spiritual endeavors and live a calmer life. Also, there are endless phone apps to create simple binaural beats of your choosing, usually free!]

Monroe is famous for his CIA-vetted Gateway Tapes, a home audio course combined with binaural beat (“HemiSync”) technology. It has gained a cult following among explorers of consciousness worldwide. The intended purpose is to create the conditions for Out of Body Experiences (OBEs) in the early morning hours, with the body deep asleep but the mind fully aware. However, users generally note a radical increase in lucid dreams, coincidences, manifestations, and psi abilities, even if OBEs are absent. I have yet to fully work through the tapes; even with dedication it takes about a year, but I will say that the program makes meditation fun and vibrant, and not a chore, which is why most people avoid it. Much to the chagrin of Glen (and myself), I’ve found Reddit to be a great launchpad for getting into Gateway. I know, I know …

Monroe is an absolute legend. It had to take quite a bit of courage to depart from a successful career to create the preeminent consciousness study center in America, well before such fields were cool or accepted publicly. A Rare Candy fan that shares our love for Art Bell will find Bob Monroe is cut from the same cloth.

Hypnagogia

A common thread between Monroe Institute advice and countless other consciousness techniques, manifestation teachings, and esoteric exploration is emphasis on the importance of the hypnagogic state — in plain English, the state right before we drift off to sleep. Many of us have had the experience of being jolted awake with the sensation of falling through the bed as if pushed off a cliff, a common hypnagogic phenomenon. Others include bright lights and strange sounds, proto-dreams or dreamlike imagery, and more.

This state can be harnessed, extended, and explored, as it has for thousands of years. Yoga Nidra and Tibetan Dream Yoga are two examples of this practice. Of course, you know the Taoists got down. With the modern technology referenced earlier, anyone can expand their awareness as they drift off. A simple binaural app on an iPhone — in airplane mode of course — with a set of headphones can transform one’s life. However, even these tools are unnecessary. The most important tool is intention, simply intending to stay aware as long as you can as you begin to transition to sleep. This costs us nothing, and what else are we doing during this time, anyways?

I’ve noticed many distinct manifestation teachers, channeled texts, and spiritual works place deep importance on the emotional state attached to hypnagogia. If you can induce and maintain a positive and grateful state as you drift off, your waking life will change drastically. I’ve begun to take this advice to heart recently. Apparently, we can harness the natural alpha brainwave patterns to leverage intentions that would otherwise be washed away by more distracting wakeful states. Perhaps an evening wind down routine, a pre-bedtime theanine dose, and some hypnagogic intention would be a wise habit to install?

The Taoists were masters at focusing on mundane and oft-overlooked states of consciousness as powerful gateways. Indeed, the final goal of advanced Taoists was direct intention of consciousness upon death. If we are more than this physical body, we have to consider that we visit the broader non-physical reality every night while slumbering. An experienced OBEer wouldn’t disagree.

Again, I would emphasize: you’re going to sleep every night of your life anyways, might as well leverage this overlooked gift in consciousness! I’ve noticed that I usually wake up in the same state I “installed” the previous night, for better or for worse, consciously or unconsciously.

Dreams

No treatment of sleep would be complete without dipping into dreams. I’m going to assume if you’ve made it this far, you’re already familiar with the basics of dreams and even know what a lucid dream is — full awareness while dreaming. Anyone paying attention knows dreams are important. It seems that remembering dreams more regularly would be a good practice. The number one piece of advice I run across to remember dreams every single night is to keep a dream journal immediately upon awakening.

I have yet to faithfully follow this advice, but I have implemented other techniques, including all the aforementioned, to radically change my relationship with my dreams. I’ve encountered lucidity but not regularly. I’ll start to keep a dream journal to see how much it moves the needle and report back. I have high hopes.

I have found a few supplements and herbs really boost dream recall and REM sleep, and honestly there are endless recommendations to try. If you’re truly dedicated, you can set an alarm for very early in the morning (3:30-5:00 a.m.) to briefly wake, take a supplement or two, and go back to bed to get one final sleep cycle in before your main awakening. I don’t do this regularly, but have found it to guarantee vivid dreams and often lucidity. This works best with choline sources (like alpha-gpc), huperzine-a (club moss extract), and traditional shamanic “dream herbs”. Huperzine-a seems particularly powerful. Galantamide is often mentioned for lucidity, but I’ve found it a bit unstable and weird, and several pros much better at dreaming than myself say the same.

Lion’s mane before bed will extend REM, and is a general tonic for the brain. Most people in my sphere recommend against regular serotonin boosters as a rule, but I’ve found 5-HTP before bed (intermittently) induces extremely vivid movie-like dreams, and causes me to wake up early with zero grogginess. Still, I only do this a few times a month if at all.

OBEs

I mentioned OBEs (astral travel) earlier, but it seems beyond the scope of this piece to dive deep into such a subject. I highly recommend Monroe’s three books on the subject. Tom Campbell’s My Big TOE is another classic from a Monroe acolyte and all-around genius. Of course, the Gateway Tapes will get you started on your journey.

I will say this: true OBEs cannot be confused with lucid dreams, they are a completely unique and jarring experience. Also, while there is much fear around OBEs with demonic entities, possession, spirits etc. most experts say that this is a fear that can be overcome, and doing so will lead to truly beautiful life-affirming experiences. I mean, we’re all probably OBE-ing every night anyways, might as well master the skill consciously. I’ve only had a few brief ones years back, but it’s stunning how much our awareness can separate from our physical shell. What struck me most was the transition period, I remember how “loud” the sound was in my eardrums, like a train roaring past. I also remember them occurring around the same very early morning hours with consistency. These things are definitely not dreams.

The world is a different place at night, especially in the early morning hours. I consider it a gift if I wake up super early, even if I fall back asleep later. It’s like exploring a side of yourself that is fundamental to who you are, yet is hidden from you — almost like flying by the dark side of the moon. I hope you begin to explore these states more and more, as countless humans before us did for thousands of years. There seems to be minimal risk, easily mitigated, and endless potential for transformation by harnessing the states around sleep. Again, these modalities are free and just waiting for us to claim them, our natural birthright.

Sweet Dreams!

-Psi