Images

While resting during a Reiki session, you may see specific, vivid images, like a leopard or a simple traffic light behind your eyelids. While these experiences can feel like a dream, they are actually a result of your brain entering a neurological state.

The Hypnagogic State: 

As you relax, your brain waves slow down, moving you into a state between wakefulness and deep sleep known as the hypnagogic state.

Because your brain is still partially awake in this state, the images it generates often feel much sharper and more vivid than those we experience during deep REM sleep. It is a half-sleep where the contrast of internal visuals is at its highest, which is why these images can feel so startlingly real.

How the Brain Translates the Room

In this state, your mind doesn't stop processing information; it begins to translate the sounds and things going on around it into pictures. Your brain takes the sensory data it is receiving and converts it into a visual narrative.

You are the Decoder

While traditional dream journals often try to assign universal meanings to certain images, each brain is different.

The images you see are constructed from your own personal data, your memories, your environment, and your unique life experiences. If you are looking for the meaning behind a vision, the best way to understand it is to look at the facts of your own life:

1. What is my personal connection to this specific image?

2. How did the image make me feel when it appeared?

By focusing on your own emotional and logical connections, you can better understand how your mind is processing.