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Lucid Dreams / Lucid Dreaming

Wheehee!!!

I had my first lucid last night!
The lucidity part only lasted a matter of seconds though as I think I was too 'shocked' at actually being able to achieve one that I got a massive rush from it. Woke up just as I began to lift-off the ground in a flying experiment.

Too eager, must be more patient if it happens again.

I had been reading up on lucid dreams online just before I fell asleep. I didn't really expect anything to happen as I haven't been 'trying' to have one at all, just thinking about it a lot.

The funny thing was I woke up as soon as I began to become lucid and I remembered every detail of the dream ... much more than a normal dream.


:D
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned - I just skimmed through this thread - but here's a tip: If you find yourself in a lucid dream and you know you're about to wake up, rub your hands together (in the dream). It sounds crazy, but somehow it always works. Every time I've done it the dream either becomes more real or I move into another dream, maintaining lucidity. Give it a go!

Maybe I have more incentive than most, though, 'cos when I wake from a lucid dream I almost always wake into sleep paralysis, with weird sounds and feelings, plus loads of buzzing in my ears and weird sensations, so I try to move into another dream and more often than not forget that I'm dreaming and then wake normally.
 
I HAVE! although i haven't been aggressively persuing it like i used to(and could.) when i was still in high school, i didn't sleep well...so i was tired all the time. and this is the perfect state for your brain to be in when you want to dream. dreaming = your brain is tired and recharging, and you don't get enough sleep, your dreams are more vivid and aggressive.

ok, so here are a few instance of my lucid adventures.

i'd be in class and just go to sleep with in a few mines i was in a conscious/sleep state where i was still in the class room, but people were in different places. i'd be talking to people. sometimes i could have sex with a girl in the class...even several. and then i would wake up and everyone would be back to normal. also, i feel alseep in the office a couple times during my breaks and moved my brother infront of and behind the desk. in most of my lucid dreams it never feels like dreaming at all. there is a lapse of a few secs of darkness and then it's like your eyes are wide open again. in fact, i would have lengthy convos with the people in my lucid dreams...the weird part was when i realized i wasn't really taking to them anymore, but awake.

i don't know why i can't do this anymore...i wish i could. it was almost a sport for me. i would practice it and learn how to concetrate but let my subconscious wander so i could bring the two realms of sleep and reality together. lucid dreaming is the best! and i acheived it better in the daytime.
 
I've known that I've been dreaming a few times, but I couldn't make myself control any aspect of the dream. The frustration of this usually results in waking me up.

Epona's light switch advice also turns up in the movie WAKING LIFE.

I've had several recurring dreams involving tooth loss, but instead of them falling out, for some reason I just gnash them together and apply more and more pressure until they shatter.
 
you have the tooth dreams too? mine crack and melt into a green liquid.
 
I've had some really really vile dreams lately, but after reading the naked lunch I've realised that my mind is only mildly creative.
 
the weirdest dream i've had was when Pete from Nickelodian's Pete & Pete was about to rape me with a knife. weird enough? i woke up yelling and shouting "HEY!!! STOP!!!!"
 
I have read, in a dream dictionary, trhat teeth falling out in a dream signifies a fear of ageing and death. Of course it can also meen you need some work done!
I've only managed lucid dreaming once. I had been reading about it around the time. Anyway, since I was very young I'd always had horific horror film like dreams, and most of the time I was being persued by a HUGE, very scary force. Occassionaly with the 'walking through mud' feeling too. I read, if I remember rightly, that the 'force' was my own fear I was trying to get away from. Anyway, in one particular dream I was having, I was being persued as usual. My landlady was also there (!) somehow guiding this force or letting it know where I was. I remember thinking a few things along the lines of, 'I'm dreaming, is this lucid dreaming? I should really try and change things here.' I mustered all the strengh I could, and it was a bit of a stuggle, but then I shouted "NO!" at the top of my voice! I woke up a few moments later really chuffed! And I honestly can't remember the last time I've had a chasing dream. :)
 
Faggus said:
are there any accounts of people who have started lucid dreaming and have become so fascinated by the ability to live and be fully conscious in a dream world that they have become totally obsessed and not bothered to live their lives outside of it?

Hi Faggus. :) I just checked out the first link given in this thread and found this in the FAQ section, headline:
Can Lucid Dreaming Be Dangerous.

Finally, some people worry that lucid dreams are so exciting and pleasurable that they will become addicted and "sleep their life away." There is a biological obstacle to living in lucid dreams: we have a limited amount of REM sleep. More importantly, lucid dreams can be inspirations for how to act and improve in reality. Your behavior strongly influences your experience in both worlds. Lucid dreams can be signposts for how you can make your waking reality more exciting and enjoyable.

I hope that helps answer your question. :)
 
I've found that lucid dreaming is very easy to induce if you WANT it enough. All you have to do is think about it a lot and read about lucid dreaming a lot. Then practice reality checks - ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" at regular intervals - to check this look at some printed text - look away - then look at it again - if it has changed or starts to twist and morph then you know you're dreaming - another good technique is to look at your hands or feet and move them around a bit to check they feel real.

Also if while in the lucid state you feel yourself slipping into waking consciousness try spinning - put your arms out and spin around - you'll either wake up flailing in bed or go back deeper into the lucid state - often through a "vortex" into a new dreamscape - you may even learn how to use this technique to choose the place you want to go.

An interesting lucid dream experiment is to create a television and go channel surfing...

Finally, has anyone ever been able to look at themselve's in a mirror in a lucid dream? I always seem to wake up just before I see my face...
 
Seroxat and lucid dreaming

Thought I'd move tmy post below from "News Stories" cos it's probably better here...

Has anyone else had lucid dreams for the first time since taking the anti-depressant Seroxat? I know one of its side-effects is very vivid dreams, and I've experienced that since being on Seroxat. But recently I've started having proper (and frequent) lucids.
I'd never had them before, and also have taken other SSRIs - Lustral and Prozac - in the past without any effect on my dreaming.
Interested if any of you have had similar.
(I taped the Panorama but haven't watched it yet - so apologies if this is something which it deals with.)
 
I had a lucid dream this morning - I went up to lie on my bed ( being a lazy person ) and fell asleep . The dream included one of my sisters and three other people I didn't know , it was night and took place in a large empty building , like an industrial unit. I was sitting in the middle of the building and my sister was at the far end - she threw me a ball ( a dark blue and red ping pong ball ! ) and I tried to catch it a couple of times , and throw it back , then I started throwing it at the end wall and catching it on the rebound . It kept going wide and I had to lean over to reach , then I found I could direct it back right into my hand , after this happened a couple of times I realised I was controlling my dream and it became full blown 'there is no spoon' lucid , the fabric of the environment ceased to mimic reality and I got the good old urge to fly . At which point I woke up ! Nothing woke me up , I had the feeling as I was dreaming I was skimming very close to wakefullness anyway .
So , the element that put me into the lucid dream state was the repeated attempts to catch the ball , finally resorting to using my mind to direct it which made me concious I was dreaming .
I often dream of things that I know can't be real but they don't send me off into lucidity . Also this is the first time I have had a lucid dream where I have not felt psychically vulnerable .
 
In my dream last night I see a truck parked outside the window with some weird name written down the side of it and an address on it also. I had the mind to think to myself...I must write this information down...to see if it exists in the real world!
I grabbed a pen and wrote the information down on my leg...Ha!
There was no way I could lose the information now...no pieces of paper to lose.
So I get all excited about checking this info out the second I wake up. No sooner than I had thought this I was waking.
Of course...no bloody writing on my leg! LoL!

I have to work on my lucidity a bit more, it's obviously harder than I thought it was.
:rolleyes:
 
how to lucid dream

Lucid dreams are extramly easy to induce, one just neads something to wake you when are rougthly in the middle of rem sleap. It is important that you are very tird whn you wake up and that you do not open your eyes or stimulate them in any way (so being woken up by light is a no,no) if you drift streight back to sleap you should be in a lucid dream.
when in a lucid dream you can controll what happens but you realy have to work hard at it repeating what you want to happen several times and it is incredably difficult to do anything not within the origanal parimiters of the dream.
 
I often fly in dreams, which you'd think would be a good way of telling that I'm dreaming... unfortunately what tends to happen is that I go "wow, I can really fly and I'm not even dreaming!". Pants.

Holly
 
I had a particularly lucid one this afternoon, I was knackered after working in the garden this morning and passed out on the couch, slept for nearly 4 hours and only woke up when I realised that my hubby was hooting for me to let him in the garage. But I was conscious that it was him while I was dreaming and I just woke up.
I like my lucid dreams. today I visited a fairy lady's house, drove a porsche really fast and bust a counterfeit drug ring. Wish I had more every night but I think I don't remember them.
I haven't flown for a while, miss that cos its not a gradual levitatation, more like a bounce in my case but the feeling is fantastic all the same.
 
flying and other fun ludic dreaming activities

I lucid dream every so often. I am sure if I tried I could develop my lucid dreaming abilities, as they have come pretty naturally to me.
Like some of you, my first reaction to realizing that I am dreaming is to fly. I like to fly in my dreams as often as possible, since I can't do it in this realm. Flying in my dreams always feels kinda like swimming in the begining, and then I feel lighter and can fly more like a bird. Sometimes instead of flying, I visualize myself a big yummy feast and munch away! Dreams are fun.
Nightmares on the other hand....what really sucks is being stuck in a lucid nightmare. I usually can wake myself up by yelling really loud or reaching until I can feel blanket and then pulling myself out of it. Nightmares suck. :eek!!!!:
 
I had the opposite of a flying dream last night. Me and another guy were going somewhere, and it involved an obstacle course practically - through gardens and houses, up and down.

He was leading, and we went into a greenhouse or conservatory, and the only way out was through the roof. He quickly climbed up and was away, but I couldn't do it - there seemed to be nothing to stand on or get a hold of. Very frustrating! So the dream ended there.
 
Had a lucid dream for the first time ever this morning.
not entirely sure why, but probly to do with the fact I'd been up all night doing a last minute essay so I was real tired and stoked up on caffeine at the same time, so was sleeping quite lightly

don't realy remember how it started out, but at the point I realised I was dreaming I was pushing a PC on one of those L-shaped trolley things they use when stacking shelves in supermarkets (ive worked in my local supermarket quite a lot so thats not quite as weird as it sounds...) anyway, was heading down a road I know realy well and was having a hell of a time getting it to go in a straight line. I'm not entirely sure how I recognised it was a dream, I think it was a mix of realising what a stupid situation it was and in my attempts to get the thing to go in a straight line I suddenly thought 'Im dreaming, it shouldn't be this hard..' then suddenly I could control it.. so I decided to create a great big hill and ride down it very fast on this trolley (no, realy...). 'course I crashed at the bottom and woke up..:(

I beleive there is a South American (?) herb known as 'dream herb' that has a history of shamanistic use to induce more meaningful & interactive dreams - anyone else know more about this?
 
Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares

This will be no surprise for you forteans, but now someone will get his PhD in this subject!

It was all over the newspapers here in Holland. So I did some web browsing, looking for some English articles that I wouldn't have to translate:

Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Series of Cases
Victor I. Spoormaker, Jan van den Bout, Eli J. G. Meijer

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(3) 181-186, September, 2003

Abstract

Goal of this series of cases was to investigate lucid dreaming treatment for nightmares. Hypotheses were that lucid dreaming treatment would decrease nightmare frequency and state / trait anxiety, and improve the quality of sleep. Eight participants received a one-hour individual session, which consisted of lucid dreaming exercises and discussing possible constructive solutions for the nightmare. Nightmare frequency and sleep quality were measured by a sleep questionnaire, anxiety was measured by the Spielberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. At the follow-up two months later the nightmare frequency had decreased, while the sleep quality had increased slightly. There were no changes on state and trait anxiety. Lucid dreaming treatment seems to be effective in reducing nightmare frequency, although the effective factor remains unclear.

KEY WORDS: nightmares; lucid dreaming; treatment

From another website:

Thursday we had an interesting experience. A friend of hours (Victor Spoormaker) was to receive his Ph. D on Nightmares. We were lucky enough to be invited to the ceremony. After weeks of being on the radio and in the Newspapers he did a great job and of course he got the approval. Tt is now officially Dr. Victor Spoormaker Bet he would like some less publicity for a while. Chilled with some more beer and wine and a nice dinner afterwards.
 
lucid dreams, afraid to sleep

Can anyone help with this one?For the past week, i have had the same, reoccuring dream, so vivid, so real that i wake up feelig like i dont "fit" in my skin. I am myslef in the dream, but have the hands of another person. Each night, the setting is the same, but the act in the dream is commited on a diffrent person, whom i dont know. I am beyond exhausted at this point, afraid to go to sleep and feel like, yes it sounds stupid, but like i am posessing someone else or something. Any ideas? Any sights that deal with things like this?
 
Doesn't sound like a lucid dream

Lucid dreaming is when you realize you are dreaming, and you take control. If you can take control of this dream, and turn it ridiculous (say, by moving those hands, and pulling a rabbit out of a hat), then your conscious mind can direct your subconscious.

Once you take control, then you can enjoy the dream, and eventually let your subconscious work itself out again.
 
Thanks, that helps a bit, but now, how do you make yourself control the dream ? Is it possible?
 
Ann Faraday's books "Dream Power" and "The Dream Game" are quite useful. I think they're still in print and you could probably get them through the library.

They look as various ways of taking on your dreams, and look at the dream practices of the Senoi.

Can't suggest any quick solutions though, by keeping a dream diary and becoming more aware of your dreams you can control them more.

On a down to earth level practical level it may be a stress-related thing, or possibly you've overdoing something caffeine, alcohol perhaps.
 
Yeah u can control them quite easilly. As a kid i used to look forward to sleeping because of this!! Mom never had a problem getting me to bed but I never told anyone why that was, lol.

Basically, you have to realize all day long when your awake that you can control your actions. You want the thought of being aware to become synonimous (sp?) with the fact that you can do whatever you want. And since you are aware during your dreams (its no different), dont forget that you can do whatever u want! See? The feeling of awareness and freedom with your own actions have to become synonimous in order to control your dreams time after time. There are other ways, but its hit or miss with them.
 
I am skeptical of this 'lucid dream' thing, having tried it myself with interesting results.

People say you become 'awake' in your dream, but how do you know you're not having a dream that you're awake? In my 'lucid' dreams, after I woke I realised my thought processes had been different to how they would have been if I were awake - such as not being scared of scary things; accepting nonsensical things as 'real'... etc...

It's not unheard of to dream about something you've thought about during the day, so by asking yourself 'am I awake?' in the course of the day, you're programming yourself to dream about being awake in your dream during the night. (You are not learning an ability to 'wake-up' in your dream.)

The interesting thing about 'lucid' dreams is not that they entail being conscious in a dream, but that they demonstrate to us how easily the illusion of consciousness can be faked - which is a far more provocative lesson!

Directing the original poster to change their dream isn't going to affect the underlying cause of these unpleasant sensations - which may be psychological or physical. (I don't know.) It's not the dream causing the problem, but the nasty feelings that accompany it, which are putting the dreamer off going to sleep.

Duncan.
 
Gawrsh, this thread has really made me think! :yeay: First, may I ask how dilemma is getting on? Here's hoping you've had some restful nights.
Yeah u can control them quite easilly
Human, perhaps you have some sort of natural aptitude (I'm jealous!). I've tried various techniques (on and off) for about 14 years, with limited success. In my experience, the 'interface' between dream logic and normal understanding is a fine line to tread. For example: I become aware that I'm dreaming, therefore I'm in bed, therefore I'm not wearing my glasses and so although I can produce whatever imagery I want, it's not in focus (obviously not lucid enough to deliberately dream some contact lenses!).
Duncan - an excellent Cartesian argument (I totally take your point), but could you elaborate on your "interesting results"? On one occasion I managed to direct the most beautiful sunset...and then wasted my time taking photographs with a dream digital camera (D'Oh!) Nevertheless, I count this as a Bona Fide lucid dream.
Try writing a word on a piece of paper and keep it in your pocket. Several times a day check it to ensure you are awake. Eventually you should find yourself doing the same thing when dreaming.
I dig that theory, Astral. I have heard that it's impossible to READ in dreams (different hemispheres of the brain and all), but I definitely HAVE read in dreams before, or have been able to convince myself that I have, so I don't see how this can avoid falling foul of duncan's objections.
Insofar as Dilemma has a real, practical problem, it seems to me that although 'subverting' the nightmare through lucid dreaming is a foolproof solution, it's probably not the easiest one. 14 years without sleep , anyone?
 
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