AC 235: June 8, 2004 (Boston)

© 2004 Kurt Leland

I worked on the stubborn last chapter of my book for a least ten hours yesterday. As a consequence, when I went to bed, I was unable to fall asleep for a couple of hours. I found myself in an odd state of consciousness. My mind observed while my body would arrange itself with great purpose in all sorts of uncomfortable positions on the bed. In each of these positions, I would remain as various physical releases of tension would occur, sometimes as small twitches, sometimes as huge thrashings.

My body was throwing off all of the tension that I’ve been building up for weeks while working on the book. I was reminded of things that I’ve read in the yoga literature about kriyas, a Sanskrit word for involuntary physical releases of tension. The founder of Kripalu yoga apparently made a practice of allowing the body to release tension on its own in just this way. I’ve also read about similar effects that arise when the kundalini energy has been raised.

Toward the end of this period, which reminded me of things I’ve experienced spontaneously in afternoon naps, and sometimes at night, I began to feel quite relaxed. I had a sense of my spiritual self as huge, something I also noticed during a visit to the steam room at the YMCA a few days ago.

Besides feeling huge, I felt quite centered and calm. My head seemed to be unusually clear. I began to wonder whether I would have one of those rare experiences of inner light, as in AC 230. Something else occurred, however--although it may be related to these earlier adventures.

I felt an egg-shaped space clear or open up in the center of my head. As if I were looking through a keyhole, I could look into this space and see a landscape.

At first, I saw a clear blue light, like the sky. Then I saw the colorful domes and towers (minarets) of a city that seemed Moslem in design and made me think of Istanbul (although I have never been there). Then I was inside this scene, moving through the city, which was full of sunlight beneath a deep blue sky, but seemed to be empty of people.

I was fully conscious. I’d gone directly into a lucid dream, without having fallen asleep. I’ve had this experience before, but not for many years. I wonder whether this is what is called the opening of the third eye in the esoteric literature.

When I came out of this experience, I got up to use the bathroom and returned to bed. Soon I’d fallen asleep in the usual way, having one other normal (non-lucid) dream that remembered upon waking up in the morning to begin my day.

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