How do you lucid dream?

[Luna-]

Don't know where this topic would go but since it probably has to do with an altered state, I've put it here.

 

How do you learn to lucid dream? I don't want to do drugs as my brain chemicals are messed up as it is and I don't think I can afford to play with them. But I would love to lucid dream - that doesn't seem like it would be harmful to my BP or interfere with my meds. It also sounds very creative and I like the idea.

 

 

 

[WhiteFemale]

I've never actively tried to lucid dream. I have always just done it sporadically and randomly. Sometimes the strength of the lucidity is different. At times, I'll change a simple decision or background. Then, at times, I'll control everything entirely. I just drift off to sleep and it happens sometimes. I am also prone to out of body experiences at times, and what I believe to be a light form of astral travel. I don't think this belongs here, though. Perhaps it belongs in spirituality or something.

[Indigo 'n dye]

I wonder why you thought that speaking of lucid dreaming was a go for the     Stuff That Makes You Feel Like Crap    → Substance Abuse / Addictive Behavior - 8-balls, Highballs, Deal Me in One Last Time forum?

 

One learns to lucid dream by application, repetition, practice, determination, and devotion. There are many books dealing with the application, however your mileage may vary on how useful any book can be.

 

Frankly, it is not a practice that I personally would advise for anyone with a MI. The initial stages of developing the practice can be stressful and very disruptive of sleep and many of us, if not most, of us are impacted by disrupted or interrupted sleep.

[WinterRosie]

I'm going to move this to the sleep forum.

[Zxrtpky7g]

I lucid dream a LOT, especially when I am in a light state of sleep. At night, what I do is I pick something to dream about and I close my eyes. Then, I fall into a light state of sleep and I still have some degree of control over my dreams for a while, but I'm not sure how long since I am asleep at the time, and then I fall into a deeper state of sleep and then I lose control. Then, every morning, when I go into a lighter stage of sleep again, I gain some control back of my dreams and then I eventually wake up. 

 

I don't know how to tell you how to lucid dream though. I mean, you can try what I do, pick something to dream about when you are getting tired. Make yourself highly relaxed, and nothing to bother you. Then, close your eyes, and continue to dream of what you want. Eventually, you will be might be able to fall asleep and still have some control of your dreams. 

 

Lucid dreaming comes very natural to me. So, it is not easy for me to explain how to do so. 

 

ALSO, please note.....Not all lucid dreaming is good and fun!! I have had countless nightmare lucid dreams. 

Edited May 26, 2013 by CynicalReality

[Luna-]

Argh, never noticed there was a sleep forum. Thanks Rosie.

[Luna-]

I wonder why you thought that speaking of lucid dreaming was a go for the     Stuff That Makes You Feel Like Crap    → Substance Abuse / Addictive Behavior - 8-balls, Highballs, Deal Me in One Last Time forum?

 

Sorry. It was an off-shoot of a thread there. I wanted to ask in the thread itself, but then didn't want to interrupt. It was about alternatives to smoking weed. Then I figured since it might be akin to getting into an altered state of consciousness, which I think dreaming is, I put it there. But it belongs in a sleep forum. Sorry.

[water]

I have lucid dreams.  The best advice I've read to create more lucid dreams:

 

Look at the back of your hand every hour or so during the day.  Say to yourself: am I dreaming? Looking at the back of your hand becomes the trigger.  In your dream when you look at the back of your hand  you remember, oh! I am dreaming...

 

Then, you fly.   I read somewhere that flying is the mode of transportation for lucid dreams.

 

 

 

[owly]

I lucid dream occasionally, but it's almost never intentional. Sometimes I can induce it by waking up, realizing I'm awake, and then falling back asleep immediately. My lucid dreams tend to be horribly boring, though, haha. I realize that I'm dreaming, but it seems like I have very little control over what is happening.

[Indigo 'n dye]

 

I wonder why you thought that speaking of lucid dreaming was a go for the     Stuff That Makes You Feel Like Crap    → Substance Abuse / Addictive Behavior - 8-balls, Highballs, Deal Me in One Last Time forum?

 

Sorry. It was an off-shoot of a thread there. I wanted to ask in the thread itself, but then didn't want to interrupt. It was about alternatives to smoking weed. Then I figured since it might be akin to getting into an altered state of consciousness, which I think dreaming is, I put it there. But it belongs in a sleep forum. Sorry.

 

 

No reason to be sorry. I asked as I thought there might be something regarding lucid dreaming you found to either addictive or "crappy"!

 

It has been my limited experience that lucid dreaming and altered states of consciousness are two very different things.

[AnneMarie]

I wouldn't say that I lucid dream but if bad stuff is about to happen, I change the story. I have always done this. I rarely have nightmares because the deadly falling thing turned into feathers, or something like that. Then I wake up. It might not have made sense, but the "nightmares" are resolved before I wake. I just remember that something bad was going to happen but then it all was okay.

.

[Luna-]

Thank you so much everyone. I am going to try the advice.

 

I fly in my dreams but I only know about it when I wake up - I'm not aware of it being a dream while I am dreaming. It is a wonderful feeling to fly.

 

What I would really love is to be able to direct a dream and do things I can't irl. If I wasn't so scared of depression, I'd probably experiment with hallucinogens, to be honest. As it is, I have a reputation as a responsible adult and parent to uphold and am afraid of messing with my neurotransmitters, so that is not likely to happen. So I guess lucid dreaming would be my equivalent - where I could let my imagination run wild. It would also give me ideas for my art. I think my meds have a flattening effect on me - I am just not as creative as I was before the Lamictin and the Geodon. If I could have my imagination come to life in dreams, it might mitigate against that.

 

 

Frankly, it is not a practice that I personally would advise for anyone with a MI. The initial stages of developing the practice can be stressful and very disruptive of sleep and many of us, if not most, of us are impacted by disrupted or interrupted sleep.

 

The way you mention "practice" sounds like there is more to learning it that what has been mentioned above. Why would you have to disrupt your sleep? I like my sleep and need it and don't want to disrupt it. I am looking to increase my creativity AND manage my BP. I don't want the two to be mutually exclusive, but I do feel my meds blunt me a bit. The reason I stick to the straight and narrow is that depression blunts me totally.

[Indigo 'n dye]

There are folks who spontaneously lucid dream, for others it is a case of practice, practice, practice. When learning the techniques, see the works of Dr. LaBerge, Stanford University, the usual response to lucid dreams and then learning to control dreams, is to awaken after each dream.

 

Some folks go right back to sleep but many find that further sleep avoids them. Secondarily, one of the techniques for remembering dream states is to record them throughout the night as they happen---in effect, you train yourself to awaken after every dream and write them down in your dream journal. Disrupted sleep? Yeah.

 

There are at least a few universities in the USA that offer courses in lucid dreaming. That would provide a good start to learning the process.

[A208B]

I lucid dream when I'm able to recognize that I'm in a dream. I've never been able to pull myself out of nightmares before waking up, but normal dreams seem more likely to trip my "Woah, that would never happen in real life" alarm. Because of how vivid my nightmares tend to be, there was a point during which I kept a dream-journal; I didn't do anything hardcore like write in it multiple times a night or log my dreams in detail, but I did write one or two lines about whatever I could remember when I woke up the next morning. Easy, peasy. I definitely noticed that there are patterns to the way I dream and the more of these patterns I discovered, the more influence I had over my dreams. Still no luck with the nightmares, though, which I find odd.

[venusflower]

The main advice I can give is just to repeat two things that have already been said. The first is to find reasons to ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" during the day, which is called doing a reality check. It works especially well if you do it after you notice something particularly odd, and there are a few ways to get it done. A popular one is to wear a watch and check it twice; if it changes drastically the second time, more than likely you're in a dream. Another is to pinch your nose shut with your fingers and try to breath. Obviously, if you can then you're dreaming. These two are popular because they literally almost never fail.

The other big thing is to keep a dream journal. I'm saying this second, but it's actually probably the most important. If you don't keep a dream journal your chances of having long, vivid lucids drops significantly. The reason it works is because the more often you record your dreams, generally the more you can remember. You can start with things like just little notes if that's all you can recall at first, but it can evolve all the way to several paragraphs for several dreams a night if you stick at it enough. Given how little effort this requires, it's the most recommended thing to do.

Aside from that, sometimes autosuggestion can help. I usually seem to get lucid or remember my dreams more often when I fall asleep telling myself that I will. Present tense generally works the best - "I realize that I'm dreaming.", "I remember my dreams.", etc. If you just try to increase your awareness of what's going on around you in real life more often you'll probably have a better chance of noticing odd things in dreams, too. Just little things like this to help you remember to question what's going on.

I know some more if you want to ask or message me or anything, but that should be all you really need to get started. Good luck with it.

[water]

 

There are folks who spontaneously lucid dream, for others it is a case of practice, practice, practice. When learning the techniques, see the works of Dr. LaBerge, Stanford University, the usual response to lucid dreams and then learning to control dreams, is to awaken after each dream.

 

Stephen was my intro to Lucid dreaming.  That was the only book I read cover to cover but these are all very good.

 

[Luna-]

Wow, thanks so much for all the information, everyone. I don't often remember my dreams so this is going to take some work. I assume that I AM dreaming and that I just don't remember. To everyone, did you find that once you realise you're in a dream, you can direct what happens after that?

 

I have experienced something (very rarely), but I don't know if this has to do with lucidity. It happens in the morning during my last sleep cycle. I will wake up from a dream, but want to go back to the dream (because it's a pleasant dream) and sometimes I can do that by shutting my eyes again. Then I carry on dreaming. Is it something like that?

[venusflower]

Wow, thanks so much for all the information, everyone. I don't often remember my dreams so this is going to take some work. I assume that I AM dreaming and that I just don't remember. To everyone, did you find that once you realise you're in a dream, you can direct what happens after that?

Yes, you can! That's usually people's biggest reason for getting to it, from what I've seen. Sometimes it is nice to just take a back seat and watch what gets thrown together for you, but generally it's the dream control that keeps me coming back as well. Flying is something I've just always been good at it in dreams and I love it, it's amazing. Most other powers took practice to get working, it does take some dedication, but it's totally worth it if you stick with it. And I mean, you're not doing anything important at that time anyway, right? But just as a quick example, some of the other stuff I've done in lucids are moving through walls, shapeshifting, mentally controlling multiple dream characters' actions at once, possessing them, telekinesis, ice powers, summoning people, places, and objects right before my eyes, and... just all kinds of great stuff lol. It honestly comes really highly recommended from me that you stick with it if you have the willpower, it adds so much fun to my life even if I have a down time where I only get one every now and then.

Pretty much the only people who don't dream are those with some kind of physical head trauma, so if that doesn't include you then I'd say you're probably good to go. Make sure you get a good sleep over the next few days and just thinking about it should help some. Like I said, that autosuggestion can do good too. Just write down literally anything you can think of at first, even if it's like "blue, bowling, pizza" and you will eventually start to remember more.

 

I have experienced something (very rarely), but I don't know if this has to do with lucidity. It happens in the morning during my last sleep cycle. I will wake up from a dream, but want to go back to the dream (because it's a pleasant dream) and sometimes I can do that by shutting my eyes again. Then I carry on dreaming. Is it something like that?

This will help you so much if you let it! Here's a few acronyms for you first: DILD, WILD, and DEILD. The first one is Dream Induced Lucid Dream, and the second and third are the same except Wake Induced and Dream Exit Induced. A DILD is the most basic kind, the ones that just happen because you noticed something was off in your dream. A WILD is more complicated, and involves holding on to a shred of mental awareness while tricking your body into thinking you've gone to sleep, making it move into REM atonia where your body begins to dream and you actually watch it form in front of you. A lot of people have trouble with that, it's definitely not easy, but what some people find is much simpler is waiting to come out of a dream before the end of a REM phase and simply not moving so that the body never fully wakes up, and that dream-entering state begins almost immediately with little effort. It sounds to me like this is exactly what you're already doing, minus the lucidity, and it happens mostly in the last sleep cycle because REM lasts longer the later in your sleep it is.

So basically what that means is that if you start getting DILDs and can keep working on that technique you have but trying to hold on to that same lucid awareness while falling back asleep, you can probably have a little more of a head start than most people. I'm still not really good at WILDs or DEILDs myself, but I don't have that kind of natural experience with. I would definitely make use of that!

[Luna-]

OK, I have a  notebook next to my bed now and am ready to go with that. I'm not going to do that hardcore thing that you (Indigo 'n Dye) mention of having to wake up after every dream. I need a full night's sleep or I feel wasted the next day. Like now - I only slept 6 hours last night and 6 the night before and it just isn't enough for me, I feel horribly tired this morning and still have the whole day to get through.

 

... but what some people find is much simpler is waiting to come out of a dream before the end of a REM phase and simply not moving so that the body never fully wakes up, and that dream-entering state begins almost immediately with little effort. 

 

Wait - I am having trouble parsing this. Do you mean wait to come out of a dream UNTIL the end of a REM phase? How do you mean? Can you rewrite this part in other words to explain it a bit better? Do you mean staying in that last dream and not moving and trying to stay asleep and keep dreaming, like keep on with what I have previously been able to do? It hasn't happened for a long time now and I haven't been able to make it happen - I've tried but lately I've been coming wide awake right after waking and been unable to go back to sleep even though I am really tired.

 

But that will pass. I have to be really relaxed for it to happen and currently I am in the week leading up to an exam so I'm tense and have a lot of studying to get through.

[water]

 

Do you mean staying in that last dream and not moving and trying to stay asleep and keep dreaming, like keep on with what I have previously been able to do? It hasn't happened for a long time now and I haven't been able to make it happen - I've tried but lately I've been coming wide awake right after waking and been unable to go back to sleep even though I am really tired.

 

I remember reading in one of the books that if you start spinning your body immediately in the dream when you sense yourself beginning to wakeup sometimes you can stay in dreamland. The direction of the spin is important but I don't remember if it was clockwise or counter clockwise.

[Luna-]

I have now gone and googled this and there is a wealth of information there! Quite exciting to read about. I found LaBerge's Lucidity Institute's page and it has an FAQ on it that explained so much! It talked about what you mentioned, veunusflower (MILD and so on) and also about the spinning you mentioned, water - they didn't mention a direction, just to spin.

 

Last night I took a sleeping tablet as I was nauseous and shaky from sleeping so little and then having caffeine to try and stay awake for the day. So I slept about 12 hours and now I feel fine. I recorded one dream. There was another earlier in the night and I remember thinking afterwards "I must remember this so I can write it down" but by the time I woke up in the morning it was gone. But I can't afford to disrupt my sleep now to wake up and record dreams as they happen., so this will just have to suffice.

 

This is quite the adventure. Thanks for all the information and replies, everyone.

[Luna-]

So what kinds of lucid dreams has everyone had? What did you do, what happened?

[water]

Here's a short one:

 

I was in my apartment in the city just messing around.  The apartment was amazing, but small.  As I was checking out the tiles on the wall I realized this was NOT my apartment.  I did not have wild tiles on the wall.  This must be a dream.  It was when I was reading all the books so I immediately wanted to fly.  I put my hands up like superman and flew toward the ceiling.  My hands went thru the ceiling but then I woke up. :-{

 

My friend who has lucid dreams practically every night just goes with the flow. He has learned not to be scared of whatever is happening. He has no interest in changing the dream so he just dreams along and knows it is a dream.

[Parapluie]

Abilify bestowed upon me the ability to lucid dream, most of the time. It's one of the more pleasant side effects.

[Luna-]

Now I want Abilify! (not really... anyway I can't afford it).

 

I have memories of vivid (but not lucid) flying dreams, but I look forward to doing it lucidly.

 

I didn't sleep so well last night. I had my first dream and then lay there thinking "I MUST remember this" and tried to hang on to the memory, but sort of stayed half-awake for a bit, wanting to leave it until the morning, then had another dream and then lay half-awake again, trying to hang on to it. By morning I could only remember snatches anyway. I must either decide to wake up and write them there and then or just let them go and just get the last one of the night. Otherwise I can see this will mess with my sleep. I feel tired again this morning.

[cfranco92]

I suggest going through your sleep cycle without the intention of writing things down--just enjoy your sleep and when you wake up, if you remember anything that stood out, write that down. That way you aren't stressing yourself out.

 

I lucid dream all the time. My most recent one was this morning was I was in the bed half naked with this guy Im hooking up with and his mother and her supposed father were coming in and he comes up to my face to wake me up and opens up my right eye with his index and thumb. He says to me, "AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" waking up the guy, and his mother saying "shut up els (the name of the guy who woke up/the guy I am hooking up with). I looked through the walls to find the time and it was like 7:15am and I shut my eyes and they were gone and I "woke up" again, glanced at my phone to check the time before they burst in the room again. Then I woke up in real like half naked waking up the guy, "what time is it?"

 

it was weird. But i lucid nightmare mostly. 

[sonicwhite]

I had to go thru a psychotic break to be able to lucid dream.....I was in a lucid for like ten minutes and what I saw aroused my curiousity to know God. But, anyway well examine the world around you....Believe in yourself while your awake that you can manipulate things. Just don't make it noticable for the fact that people will really start talking. Um when your in a lucid try to concentrate on something you normally see but in a different setting. For me thats when I start. Now I don't have them all the time because I really just like dreams to do what they want as long as there not nightmares. No drugs.....Thats a big no no. They will hurt more then help. Dreamviews.com is a good lucid dream forum that invites you to know the secretes and experience what people go thru in lucid dreams.

[Luna-]

Thanks so much sonicwhite and cfranco. I actually went and joined DreamViews about a week ago and am in a beginner's class and on the road to lucidity. It has really captured my imagination and I can't wait to lucid dream.

[crtclms]

 

 

it was weird. But i lucid nightmare mostly. 

 

Same. I like the idea of lucid dreaming more than the experience of it. I often try to kill myself during nightmares, to try to wake up. But it doesn't work (either trying to kill myself, or waking up). So I don't know why I keep trying that method. I've had some really horrible nightmares, though.

 

I never made any effort to have them, and the first one I remember is from when I was about 5 years old. It was a recurrent dream of being chased by a French vampire (in a French Navy top). I was terrified of vampires, even at that age. One time I threw my pet fish at him to placate him. Another time I ran to the kitchen to get a knife while he was sucking the blood of my sisters, and I cut his arms off. Sometimes he chased me farther than other times.

 

I've never flown in any type of my dreams.

[sonicwhite]

Thanks so much sonicwhite and cfranco. I actually went and joined DreamViews about a week ago and am in a beginner's class and on the road to lucidity. It has really captured my imagination and I can't wait to lucid dream.

 

 

 

It's going to be a blast....Really when you start to fly at super sonic speeds....I watch alot of DBZ so alot of what I experience is from that show....