lucid dreaming

[thymeandspace]

I'm new to crazy boards and thought I'd try posting a topic a little less depressing than the rest.

Alot of you seem to have problems with nightmares or maybe living in what you consider a bleak reality.

I think I have your answer.

Lucid dreaming is just about the most incredible thing ever. I started experiencing it very recently and I already know this is something I want for the rest of my life.

They are also really good for getting rid of nightmares. You face them head on, which at first is the epitome of your fear, but once you look your own fear in the face, its not so scary anymore. It's beautiful, really.

Has anyone here gotten good at lucid dreaming?

[NullChamber]

it's probably a great remedy for night terrors. now if id only start reading that "exploring the world of lucid dreaming" book..

Edited March 10, 2012 by NullChamber

[thymeandspace]

it's probably a great remedy for night terrors. now if id only start reading that "exploring the world of lucid dreaming" book..

Not only that, its good for anyone who wants to free run like in assasins creed, or jump off a mountain and fly all the way down knowing you wont get hurt, or shapeshifting and anything else imaginable

[Eden]

I actually started exploring lucid dreaming in my early teens if not earlier, though I wasn't aware of what it was. I only remember waking up scared once when I was very young, since then I have observed my dreams but never been emotionally affected in any way. I'm woken up after some very disturbing and horrible dreams feeling like I just watched a cheesy horror flick.

It's actually an interesting point.

[thymeandspace]

I actually started exploring lucid dreaming in my early teens if not earlier, though I wasn't aware of what it was. I only remember waking up scared once when I was very young, since then I have observed my dreams but never been emotionally affected in any way. I'm woken up after some very disturbing and horrible dreams feeling like I just watched a cheesy horror flick.

It's actually an interesting point.

thats awesome. did you ever try controlling them?

[Eden]

I never researched the topic in any real fashion, so I don't actively practice, it's just something I stumbled across in the pre-crazy years as a coping mechanism. I do often control them subconsciously, but I don't work to, nor do I really think about it. It's just been something I've done since I was little and feels natural.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Eden

[thymeandspace]

I never researched the topic in any real fashion, so I don't actively practice, it's just something I stumbled across in the pre-crazy years as a coping mechanism. I do often control them subconsciously, but I don't work to, nor do I really think about it. It's just been something I've done since I was little and feels natural.

well, coming from someone who works her ass off to lucid dream, you have an incredible skill/gift and im envious.

i recommend trying it out- you can use it for virtually anything from pure recreation to practicing social situations and getting over fears.

[Eden]

I don't know about all that, I have had lucid dreams where I was normal, happy and not anxious. It's easy to pretend, reality is far more harsh.

[thymeandspace]

  

Edited March 25, 2013 by thymeandspace

[Birdee]

Interesting topic. Chronic nightmare sufferer here. I stumbled on some info about lucid dreaming by accident and read that you can take some control over the dream outcome. So I kinda tucked that info into my internal "to do" list.

I've had a couple of lucid dreams since then. The first lucid dream… I was still frozen in sleep paralysis. Just couldn't break thru. But the next one I was able to interact in… just a little. It was scary… but I haven't had a nightmare since then. Weird.

That was only a couple of months ago. And while I'm not looking forward to "facing my fears"… I know now that I can. And am prepared to do so.

I think it'd be really cool to be able to have lucid dreams at will… but the good kind like you've talked about. One question I have about lucid dreaming is this…. If you're semi-concious during a lucid dream… is your body getting the right kind of restful sleep? Do you wake up tired or energized?

[saoirse]

Almost all of my dreams are lucid dreams. :/ I think it can sometimes take the fun out of it, because when awesome things happen I always know I'm just dreaming it. However, it also means I get to do wonderful things in my dreams, such as explore old abandoned cities and pick my way through enchanted mazes and that kind of stuff.

... If I'm even getting the definition right. Is lucid dreaming when you know you're dreaming and can control your actions? My dreams have always been like this. Now that you mention it, it is kind of cool. I thought everyone dreamed the same way.

[Eden]

Almost all of my dreams are lucid dreams. :/ I think it can sometimes take the fun out of it, because when awesome things happen I always know I'm just dreaming it. However, it also means I get to do wonderful things in my dreams, such as explore old abandoned cities and pick my way through enchanted mazes and that kind of stuff.

... If I'm even getting the definition right. Is lucid dreaming when you know you're dreaming and can control your actions? My dreams have always been like this. Now that you mention it, it is kind of cool. I thought everyone dreamed the same way.

Generally dreaming is considered a function of the subconscious, out of your control.

[thymeandspace]

Interesting topic. Chronic nightmare sufferer here. I stumbled on some info about lucid dreaming by accident and read that you can take some control over the dream outcome. So I kinda tucked that info into my internal "to do" list.

I've had a couple of lucid dreams since then. The first lucid dream… I was still frozen in sleep paralysis. Just couldn't break thru. But the next one I was able to interact in… just a little. It was scary… but I haven't had a nightmare since then. Weird.

That was only a couple of months ago. And while I'm not looking forward to "facing my fears"… I know now that I can. And am prepared to do so.

I think it'd be really cool to be able to have lucid dreams at will… but the good kind like you've talked about. One question I have about lucid dreaming is this…. If you're semi-concious during a lucid dream… is your body getting the right kind of restful sleep? Do you wake up tired or energized?

I had the same lucid dream once, where i was frozen in sleep paralysis but my eyes were open. that one was particularly frightening because i kept losing my grip on reality and i would start believing that i was paralyzed for the rest of my life haha...

there are a few different techniques that will help induce lucid dreaming, but it sounds like you naturally have a hold on the art. your so lucky! i have 4 alarms set every night so i can wake up right after a REM cycle and remember the dream i was just in.

the curious thing about dreams is how unknown and unstudied they are. scientists arent even sure what their function is. however, from my experience, when i achieve lucidity within a dream i wake up invigorated. the thought of me wandering around my own mental construct results in a sort of mash of realities, where one is just as real as the other.

[thymeandspace]

Almost all of my dreams are lucid dreams. :/ I think it can sometimes take the fun out of it, because when awesome things happen I always know I'm just dreaming it. However, it also means I get to do wonderful things in my dreams, such as explore old abandoned cities and pick my way through enchanted mazes and that kind of stuff.

... If I'm even getting the definition right. Is lucid dreaming when you know you're dreaming and can control your actions? My dreams have always been like this. Now that you mention it, it is kind of cool. I thought everyone dreamed the same way.

thats so awesome. i have to work my ass of to have and remember my lucid dreams. your definition of lucid dreaming is correct, but not entirely. there are types of lucid dreams you can have while not knowing you are dreaming, such as after being sleep deprived for some time. how much control do you have in your dreams? how many do u remember a night, on average? how vivid are they?

if ya dont mind me askin

[saoirse]

thats so awesome. i have to work my ass of to have and remember my lucid dreams. your definition of lucid dreaming is correct, but not entirely. there are types of lucid dreams you can have while not knowing you are dreaming, such as after being sleep deprived for some time. how much control do you have in your dreams? how many do u remember a night, on average? how vivid are they?

if ya dont mind me askin

My amount of control varies. Most of the time, I can only control myself, not outward events (ie: I will decide to go into a room, or explore something, or speak to someone.) Other times, I can make things happen -- and these are the BEST dreams. If I want to fly, I will grow wings. If I want to have a sexual experience with someone in my dream ( ) they will be there. If I want to go on a magical journey, I can decide what the background will be like and what kind of people I will meet. The dreams where I can control things other than myself are amazing, blissful. Pure joy that I can't touch while awake.

I haven't had as many since my sleeping has become disrupted lately. I used to have them about 4 times a week and now it's less. They are almost always still lucid (where I know that I'm dreaming) but I have less control. It's annoying. I miss being able to make decisions and go on adventures.

My lucid dreams are always extremely vivid. I wake up swamped in bliss, mostly. They recur a lot. I still have a recurring dream where I explore an abandoned city underneath a museum that has been going on since I was 9 or 10, it comes back every few years.

My non-lucid dreams are not as vivid And they're nowhere near as euphoric. Since my sleep is all screwed up, I've been having more of these lately. It sucks. Or I just don't remember my dreams at all.

Bah, I wrote a novel. Anyway, thank you for this thread. It's very interesting. I've never thought about my dreams so much.

Edited March 12, 2012 by saoirse

[crtclms]

I am a lucid dreamer, and have a couple of lucid dreams a week. I can control what I do, but when I am having a nightmare, all I want to do is end the nightmare. Not so easy. I have tried prying my eyes open (at least in my dream), jumping off of cliffs or high buildings hoping that by killing myself, I will wake up (doesn't work, by the way). I can't trick myself awake.

Sometimes I walk into the living room looking for my husband to wake me up, and usually he has turned into something bizarre, like a man with a dog's head.

I also have confronted aliens (even remembering that dream makes me really uncomfortable), and found a place to hide, because I knew the building I was in (my college dorm), and it was a hiding place we used in college.

Most of them are nightmares, as you can kind of guess. But even though I can direct action, I can't wake myself up.

[thymeandspace]

I am a lucid dreamer, and have a couple of lucid dreams a week. I can control what I do, but when I am having a nightmare, all I want to do is end the nightmare. Not so easy. I have tried prying my eyes open (at least in my dream), jumping off of cliffs or high buildings hoping that by killing myself, I will wake up (doesn't work, by the way). I can't trick myself awake.

Sometimes I walk into the living room looking for my husband to wake me up, and usually he has turned into something bizarre, like a man with a dog's head.

I also have confronted aliens (even remembering that dream makes me really uncomfortable), and found a place to hide, because I knew the building I was in (my college dorm), and it was a hiding place we used in college.

Most of them are nightmares, as you can kind of guess. But even though I can direct action, I can't wake myself up.

dreams are a trip. part of the reason you cant wake yourself up is because in the back of your head, you believe you won't be able to.

heres some advice for you:

once I realize Im in a dream, I do what I can to make sure I don't wake up out of it. To do this, I move around in my dream. I create the sensation of movement so that my body doesn;t realize it's actually just laying in bed.

so for someone (like you) trying to wake up, stand in one spot and completely stop all movement within your dream. realize that your actual body is in sleep paralysis laying on your bed. this should wake you up.

[crtclms]

What? That makes absolutely zero sense. You yourself say you haven't ever wanted a lucid dream to end, so how do you know what will work to end them?

You say your ability to dream lucidly is a recent development. I have been having lucid dreams since I was a teenager (i.e., 30 years ago). But thanks for the tips.

I don't know where you got the "sleep paralysis theory" from.

[Maybell]

cool topic. I've had quite a few lucid dreams in my time. When I was younger I had some where I could jump so high that I was practically flying and could change the direction I bounced in to go to different places.

I've also had a few unpleasant ones where I knew I was dreaming and I was desperately trying to wake up but couldn't. Those ones I don't like at all, but they are not frequent. Next time I have one I will try to remember your theory about 'standing still' to see if that helps!

I don't think this is lucid dreaming as such, but I sometimes wake up from a weird dream, then fall asleep again and have a dream where I'm telling someone about my first dream, then I wake up and think "that's weird!" and I fall asleep again and have a dream where I'm telling someone about having a dream that I was telling someone about a dream etc...etc...I also have very vivid yet kinda boring dreams where I'm just doing regular stuff and when I wake up, it's sometimes hard to tell if I actually did the things I dreamed in real life or not (like I'll ask someone a question in my dream, then in real life I can't tell if I actually asked them or not)

Dreams are pretty fascinating stuff

[thymeandspace]

What? That makes absolutely zero sense. You yourself say you haven't ever wanted a lucid dream to end, so how do you know what will work to end them?

You say your ability to dream lucidly is a recent development. I have been having lucid dreams since I was a teenager (i.e., 30 years ago). But thanks for the tips.

I don't know where you got the "sleep paralysis theory" from.

haha well i can definitely let you know where i got it from

the website is http://www.dreamviews.org/content/staying-lucid-26/

its pretty much a forum specialized in lucid dreaming. the content on it is read and used by at least thousands of lucid dreaming enthusiasts.

its no problem if you find that to be an unreliable source.. i found the tips really helpful in my experience however.

[thymeandspace]

cool topic. I've had quite a few lucid dreams in my time. When I was younger I had some where I could jump so high that I was practically flying and could change the direction I bounced in to go to different places.

I've also had a few unpleasant ones where I knew I was dreaming and I was desperately trying to wake up but couldn't. Those ones I don't like at all, but they are not frequent. Next time I have one I will try to remember your theory about 'standing still' to see if that helps!

I don't think this is lucid dreaming as such, but I sometimes wake up from a weird dream, then fall asleep again and have a dream where I'm telling someone about my first dream, then I wake up and think "that's weird!" and I fall asleep again and have a dream where I'm telling someone about having a dream that I was telling someone about a dream etc...etc...I also have very vivid yet kinda boring dreams where I'm just doing regular stuff and when I wake up, it's sometimes hard to tell if I actually did the things I dreamed in real life or not (like I'll ask someone a question in my dream, then in real life I can't tell if I actually asked them or not)

Dreams are pretty fascinating stuff

hahahaha yeah ive had similar experiences.

your dream where you keep telling the story of your past dreams sounds crazy!! haha reminds me of an Escher work for some reason..

my dream themes tend to change cyclically, from vivid exciting adventures to vivd extensions of my daily life which I would often times confuse with my reality and then to abstract half-lived dreams where the setting is always dark and dreary and faded..

i agree, dreams are very fascinating!

[Antlers]

Oh god, where do i begin? I've had lucid dreams since my BP II kicked in (i was wrongly diagnosed with depression and only started the right treatment a couple of weeks ago) which is THREE YEARS ago and i hate them. I think i hate the good ones even more than the anxious bad ones. I've never had insomnia, my illness makes me sleep for ridiculous amounts of time, today, for example, i slept for 19 hours. Usually it ranges from 12-19 hrs and you know what? HAVING GREAT ADVENTURES IN YOUR SLEEP FUCKING SUCKS. I hate that i have a great intresting eventful lovely time when i sleep and then wake up to a bleak life with rarely a reason to get out of bed, which, most of the time, i dont. I hate missing people i havent seen in months because i just saw them in my dreams. And yes, i hate controlling my dreamworld, because of the contrast it has with my real life. I loved the times when i wasn't depressed and didn't dream at night. I miss it. Today i had a great time, people cared about me in my dreams and it's just plain painful to be awake with none of that love. It's emotionally exhausting. So, any tips for getting rid of them?

[crtclms]

Talk to a therapist? How does one stop dreaming? It isn't even healthy to do so.

It sounds like your depression is a more of a pressing issue than lucid dreaming, frankly. Once you have that under control, the lucid dreaming may resolve itself. And if it doesn't, you will be in much better shape to address it.

[thymeandspace]

Oh god, where do i begin? I've had lucid dreams since my BP II kicked in (i was wrongly diagnosed with depression and only started the right treatment a couple of weeks ago) which is THREE YEARS ago and i hate them. I think i hate the good ones even more than the anxious bad ones. I've never had insomnia, my illness makes me sleep for ridiculous amounts of time, today, for example, i slept for 19 hours. Usually it ranges from 12-19 hrs and you know what? HAVING GREAT ADVENTURES IN YOUR SLEEP FUCKING SUCKS. I hate that i have a great intresting eventful lovely time when i sleep and then wake up to a bleak life with rarely a reason to get out of bed, which, most of the time, i dont. I hate missing people i havent seen in months because i just saw them in my dreams. And yes, i hate controlling my dreamworld, because of the contrast it has with my real life. I loved the times when i wasn't depressed and didn't dream at night. I miss it. Today i had a great time, people cared about me in my dreams and it's just plain painful to be awake with none of that love. It's emotionally exhausting. So, any tips for getting rid of them?

I agree with crtclms. lucid dreaming is what you make of it, literally, and if you are depressed about your daily life, then you will be depressed about your life in dreams.

the way i see it, everyone dreams. you can either make the most of this other realm of reality and love everything about it, including the fact that its NOT your waking world, OR you can ignore it and pay no attention to this time in your life.

recent dream research is showing that not only do you dream in REM but also in deep sleep. so basically, you are spending a hugely significant portion of your life in this state.

To me, im ecstatic that i even get to experience the bizzare world of dreams and play inside it. it doesn't need to be compared to daily life nor does it need to be associated with it. what i mean by this is that if you say you can control your dreams, then why make it so you see people from your waking life at all? why not just experience the unimaginable, or whatever it is you want.

they are two separate entities. find what you enjoy in both of them and leave it at that. its a whole lot more simple and beautiful than many may realize..

[xxyercutexx]

I lucid dream at least once a week. I have gotten quite good at it. I love it!! I wish I could sleep all the time and just live in my dreams.

I always make myself fly in my dreams, or have super cool powers. It's so fun. I will just dream that I am flying around my town all freaking night and it feels so real!!

Lucid dreaming is great but it also leaves me feeling exhausted in the morning, like I was literally out all night.

[scatty]

I have lucid dreams a lot. I like them, but I agree they are exhausting.

[Alien Navel Cord]

I think I have only had a few lucid dreams before, but they were pretty neat. Both of them were like I was awake and walking around in my bedroom, and everything was in its right place, looked and seemed so real but I realized it was just a dream. One of them, though, was induced during a sleep paralysis episode which I don't have any longer eversince going on medications. before I took any medication I used to have a lot of sleep paralysis. Unfortunately it only ended in a lucid dream the one time. But I'd like to learn how to have them again.

[JennaMarieHehe]

For the longest time I always thought everyone controlled their dreams...I thought it was normal, I''m just now realizing otherwise.

I remember having nightmares when I was younger and riding them out for a while, then once they got too overwhelming I'd say to myself, "alright, you're dreaming, now wake up." I've always been able to wake myself up when a dream gets unpleasant, but I don't know if that's common either. I had a dream the other night that was amazing I guess I'll give some background on it, after living in the same house for most of my life, we ended up moving, which was hard for me, one thing I never got back from the house was my bathroom mirror, which I had covered in stickers, notes, etc. It was pretty sentimental to me, So I had this dream, and in the dream I was back in my old house, but everything was moved out and the next family had moved in, I remember going up the stairs sneakily to get my mirror, and seeing my room empty, then going in the bathroom and seeing the mirror has been cleaned [which meant a lot of smudged marker] and nearly all the stickers were gone. It felt so real I thought I was going to cry.

It was a lot more intense than it sounded, but like I said, I always thought lucid dreams were normal

[Antlers]

Well, right now my bipolar d is totally under control, sorry, i was obviously bitter and depressed when i wrote that, it was sad to read. Still have lucid dreams, it's pretty fun sometimes. I read somewhere that when you realize it's a dream it helps to spin in circles to stop you from waking up. Funnily enough i always keep that in mind when i dream, sometimes it helps.

With dreams like these, it's pretty cool to keep a dream journal, just for the weird stories, haha. And now they even help me realise things i may not admit to myself, pent-up anger and such.

[GhostLine]

--

Edited December 1, 2012 by GhostLine

[Indigo 'n dye]

Ooooohhhh! necrothread!

[ambient.explosions]

I can chose to have a lucid dream or not.

and I have dream control when I want. I trained myself to do this with the help of an awesome forum.

[water]

I can chose to have a lucid dream or not.

and I have dream control when I want. I trained myself to do this with the help of an awesome forum.

I have lucid dreams though I have not yet been successful in triggering them myself. What is the awesome forum?

[Kodos]

Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. is the "father of lucid dreaming" - he did a lot of the pioneering research

You could check out his book: http://www.amazon.com/Lucid-Dreaming-ebook/dp/B0034184XC

There are other books out there as well that may be worthwhile.

I find that when I have the occasional lucid dream (maybe 2-3 times year), I'm still bound by the laws of physics - e.g., I can't fly. I can pull out weapons, though.

[water]

I find that when I have the occasional lucid dream (maybe 2-3 times year), I'm still bound by the laws of physics - e.g., I can't fly. I can pull out weapons, though.

Once I was dreaming about my old apartment in NYC. I was looking around in the dream, noticing all the gorgeous wall tiles and then realized that it must be a dream because the place looked very different from the real apartment. So I decided to fly, right? THIs is supposedly the transportation mode of lucid dreaming. So I look up at the ceiling and fly up but as soon as my hand broke through the ceiling I woke up. I was so disappointed.

[Maybell]

so I've been making a few attempts at the whole lucid dreaming thing lately, read something about how you know you're lucid dreaming if, in your dream, you make yourself look at your hands....

 

anyway...wasn't having any success, so forgot about it. Then had some really disturbed sleep last night, and in one of my dreams I suddenly thought, hey...I wonder if I can look at my hands? So I raised my hands in front of me and could see them, then couldn't remember if that meant I was lucid dreaming or not? so clapped my hands...then was like...I dunno...what do I do now?

 

I was in some apartment and there was a guy there, sitting at his desk, so I went over and thought to myself...hmm if I'm lucid dreaming then I can ask him something! So I asked..."where am I?" and he looks at me and says "Sweden...we're in Sweden" in this "duh" kind of voice, like where else would we be?

 

Which is weird because I didn't recognise this guy, and I don't know anyone in Sweden (I live on the other side of the world)...anyway, it was just a weird dream...still not sure it counts as lucid dreaming, as why would I ask some irrelevant question and make myself look dumb if i was controlling the dream? 

 

yeah...anyway...that was one of my weird dreams last night (out of many)

[melissaw72]

When I dream, if I start flying i feel like I am dropping and wake up feeling like that.  Same with other things that are impossible to do. I wake up at the peak of a dream too, when the dream becomes so stressful it wakes me up.  That happens the majority of the time, so I wake up a lot at night (or when I am sleeping, whenever it is).  I am almost always woken up by a stressful dream or having to go to the bathroom.  I never have any ending (it seems at least) to my dreams, then wake up.

[aus-drummer882]

hey guys.. ive been on seroquel for about 5 yrs now, and in comparison to wat i understand is a normal dose, im on quite a large dose, (2 x 300mg xr) before bed. i also have been a heavy pot smoker for even longer... but can't say it's ever given me night mares. im currently in the process of (TRYING) to learn how to lucid dream. and am wondering if seroquel use makes it more difficult? if youve got any suggestions, would love to hear them i can remember dreams no problem, but having grief transfer ing ' to 'lucid dreams

[melissaw72]

hey guys.. ive been on seroquel for about 5 yrs now, and in comparison to wat i understand is a normal dose, im on quite a large dose, (2 x 300mg xr) before bed. i also have been a heavy pot smoker for even longer... but can't say it's ever given me night mares. im currently in the process of (TRYING) to learn how to lucid dream. and am wondering if seroquel use makes it more difficult? if youve got any suggestions, would love to hear them i can remember dreams no problem, but having grief transfer ing ' to 'lucid dreams

 

Just a thought, you might want to start a new thread ... you might get more responses that way.