Lucid Dreaming!

[DreamSongs]

Since I thought that I would be getting surgery this month, I've been listening to a lot of self-hypnosis tracks. This makes lucid dreaming clearer.

I do better coming out of a dream than I do going in. Going in is difficult, but I find that the more I do it, the easier it ease to control my dreams as I wake upl

[Salome the Persian Witch]

From a Jungian point of view, I always find dream analysis fascinating.

It has happened on quite a few occasions that I realize I'm dreaming, but many many times that doesn't give me the power or control that I would like. Some examples, I'm in a dangerous situation, and I say to myself "this is a dream, I should be able to fly" but I just can't - for some reason my mind has limitations. This has proven particularly disappointing when I am making out with some handsome celebrity and my mind says "you're married you can't be doing this". I answer "but this is a dream, I can do this" but nope my unconscious won't let me. It got so ridiculous that one time when I tried to continue, Santa Claus came down the chimney and interrupted my illicit tryst. :uhoh:

One of my continuous serial dreams is being in a basement (or a large house) realizing it's haunted by a really malevolent, evil paranormal entity, and I have to try to face that sucker down and "clear" it.

[paddington]

I used to have one recurring dream, when I was little. It used to involve, stick men sitting around a table eating meat. At the head of the table was a stickman king. The meat I am sure was beef, because I used to smell beef cooking (or imagine I smelt beef). It was really, really sinister, and put me off eating beef for most of my childhood.

My only lucid dream, was probably more a fever dream. I flew around my local town centre and it felt pretty real at the time, and after I awoke. I felt really i'll though so I am not sure it counts as a proper lucid dream.

[Salome the Persian Witch]

I flew around my local town centre and it felt pretty real at the time, and after I awoke. I felt really i'll though so I am not sure it counts as a proper lucid dream.

There have been many accounts of what some people describe as out of body experiences (where when they are flying around they accurately describe upon waking exact circumstances/situations/colours/people of the places they visit. :dunno:

[straits]

Haha, I attempted to Lucid dream because I wanted to keep a dream diary as I have very vivid and strange dreams.

I tried to stay completely still locking my muscles and concentrating but my muscles went into a weird shock? And it felt like someone had a hold of me and was shaking me aggressively and it was really fucking frightening and the same thing happened the next night, my muscles just locked and I couldn't stop shaking and then it never happened ever again.

Seriously fucking scary though. Safe to say I haven't tried again :lol:

This happened to me periodically for a week. The worst part is that I'm lucid dreaming a nightmare, and every little detail feels absurdly real. I was aware that the house had people talking next door, and that I'm in my bed, but I couldn't lift my hands. I kept being sucked into the dream and I had to focus really hard to stay aware of external stimuli.

And this always happens during a regular dream, which is then turned into a lucid dream once I see a door, or my hands (both are triggers for lucid dreaming to me). The last time that happened, I was answering a knock on the door, and the lucid dream turned into a nightmare when I opened the door. Ugh.

One weird question, have you ever heard wind in one or both of your ears while on the threshold of lucid dreaming? I get that too.

[drawkcabi]

http://en.wikipedia....False_awakening

That describes pretty well what happens to me.

Recurring dreams that I have often,

I find out that my best friend who died 16 years ago really didn't happen, there was a mistake and she's really alive.

I dream I'm back in school. Mostly it's elementary school, sometimes it's middle school or high school. In these dreams I'm the age I am now, but I'm trying to pass myself off as a 4th grader, 6th grader, 8th grader, etc. Most people believe me, but once in a while I get someone who looks at me oddly and says "aren't you a little old to be in this class?"

I also have dreams I'm back in college, but those are more of the standard "Shit! I've been enrolled in this class all semester and I haven't gone to class once and today's the final!" that you see made fun of in media. Sometimes I'm enrolled in several classes and need to pass all of them and I haven't gone to any classes. Usually I'm in my underwear too.

Those dreams makes me appreciate how real they got that scene in Top Secret! when Val Kilmer dreams he's back in school and it's finals time and then he wakes up to find out he was only dreaming after passing out from being tortured, and there's a huge sigh and look of relief on his face as he gladly embraces the torture still being applied to him.

[Sixshells]

Apparently, playing video games helps taking control during lucid dreams. Maybe this is also why some such dreams can take a" gaming" aspect, like clearing stages of the dream.

I never remember flying during my dreams, and I had never thought about it, not doing that never bothered me. I didn't realise it was so present in other people's dreaming.

[Sci-2]

This has proven particularly disappointing when I am making out with some handsome celebrity and my mind says "you're married you can't be doing this". I answer "but this is a dream, I can do this" but nope my unconscious won't let me. It got so ridiculous that one time when I tried to continue, Santa Claus came down the chimney and interrupted my illicit tryst. :uhoh:

Heh, I almost never have good sex dreams. There's almost always something going wrong. One of the worst was [a dream where] I was "cheating" on an ex who broke up [with] me with my current crush. I woke up feeling horribly guilty, then realized I could have stayed in the dream.

[SkyBry]

I always imagined lucid dreaming meaning you're like a God and you can do anything you like. That would be pretty amazing. Anyone had such an experience?

[AverageGuy]

I always imagined lucid dreaming meaning you're like a God and you can do anything you like. That would be pretty amazing. Anyone had such an experience?

No, I never had any luck. I got to the point where sometimes I could realize I'm dreaming, but then I'd either wake up or go right back into a standard dream almost immediately. After a while I gave up.

[Theda Baratheon]

This happened to me periodically for a week. The worst part is that I'm lucid dreaming a nightmare, and every little detail feels absurdly real. I was aware that the house had people talking next door, and that I'm in my bed, but I couldn't lift my hands. I kept being sucked into the dream and I had to focus really hard to stay aware of external stimuli.

And this always happens during a regular dream, which is then turned into a lucid dream once I see a door, or my hands (both are triggers for lucid dreaming to me). The last time that happened, I was answering a knock on the door, and the lucid dream turned into a nightmare when I opened the door. Ugh.

One weird question, have you ever heard wind in one or both of your ears while on the threshold of lucid dreaming? I get that too.

I'd never hear wind but always hear my heart beat as a deep, slow thud.

I had quite a few instances when I was fully aware that I was dreaming though, and couldn't move at all and then suddenly felt like I was falling down down down before I started awake.

However, very few times have I been able to control anything, it was always like watching a movie.

When my muscles locked, I was properly awake; it felt like someone was shaking me and I really couldn't move at all. It didn't last too long but ugh, scary.

[Opisthokont]

When my muscles locked, I was properly awake; it felt like someone was shaking me and I really couldn't move at all. It didn't last too long but ugh, scary.

Sleep paralysis. It's apparently quite common and sometimes accompanied by hallucinations - voices, a sense of being watched, strong emotions etc. It supposedly happens because some of the mechanism of dreaming kicks in before you're completely asleep.

[Theda Baratheon]

Sleep paralysis. It's apparently quite common and sometimes accompanied by hallucinations - voices, a sense of being watched, strong emotions etc. It supposedly happens because some of the mechanism of dreaming kicks in before you're completely asleep.

I thought it was this, I'd done some research after, but I have a really, really, REALLY massive phobia of Ghosts (even though I don't even really believe in them) so it feeling like someone had a hold of me was beyond terrifying for those reasons too even though I knew, logically, that it was sleep paralysis.

[Zoë Sumra]

I lucid dream quite a lot - maybe a third to half of the time. It can be a good way to get out of dreams that I'm really not enjoying. A fortnight ago I had to get up early for a competition, and I had a false awakening - dreamt I'd missed my train, was going to miss check-in, all bad stuff - but I realised that in the dream I was wearing one brand of specialist socks but in RL I'd specifically put out a pair from the other brand to wear that day, and was able to stop the dream immediately. Normally the lucidity is more of the fun kind than the practical kind: adventuring, etc. I do tend to have quite clear dreams under most circumstances: I still remember one from when I was two, for instance.

The most offbeat dream I ever had was a few nights before my wedding. My sister (also my matron of honour) and I were trying to get to the venue with everything, but things kept going wrong - we forgot the jewellery, or we lost her husband and my now-husband in the station, etc. - so every time it went wrong, I reloaded the dream the way one used to reload an old PS1 game: all four shoulder buttons plus the two in the middle. Given that anxiety dreams are quite common for me before important events (see the competition mentioned up-post), learning how to do that at will would be quite good.

[thewingedwolf]

Anyone here who can Lucid Dream?

Please share your dream with the rest of us. What can you do in your dreams and what can't you do. And how much of that is due to lucid dreaming.

Could you do it automatically or did you teach it to yourself, if so what is the best way!?

I want to be able to do it as well.

I suffer from terrible nightmares who have had physical effects on me in the past so I had to train myself to prevent further health consequences. Namely I learned to look for clues in my dreams that would make it impossible to be real. Does that make sense?

[Sheogorath]

Im not sure if this was a lucid dream or just a strange one :P

I had a good friend at work that teased me about a serrated knife i used on fruits and cakes. He says its a shit knife if you cant sharpen it. I also have a wusthof classic that I sharpened daily.

The dream :

I am In what looks like Morgan Jones' house in walking dead, season one. (My dreams are often in movie or video game settings) Im standing in the house with my friend from work and a few people i did not recognize. Enter a random zombie. She sees me and starts dragging at me. Everyone tells me to kill it, so i get into what i think a combat stance should feel like. She is about 6ft from me when I realize Im holding the serrated knife. She is 3ft. from me and I yell at my friend for help, but he only laughs at my weapon. This is where it gets weird... The moment my friend refused to help me I knew I was dreaming. I think i slashed at her neck and caused no damage, and hit her on the top of the head with the handle. I thought to my self again, this is a dream, this is a dream, i need my other knife . Just like that, I had my other knife in my hand and somehow the zombie did not bite or grab me, it just bumped into my chest. Then it was on its knees and i easily put my good knife through the top of its head. Miraculous recovery. End.

I am kinda obsessed with zombies BTW

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

I have had dreams where I knew I was dreaming, I have had the fake wake up dreams and reaccurring dreams. I have also had dreams where I was killed.

When I was a kid, I used to dream about trying to escape from an alien space ship (by crawling though a long metal tunnel). Happened a lot for about a year. This was in the mid 70's so it is not like I was spending my days watching Ancient Aliens or UFO Chasers (we didn't have cable then, and only had 4 tv channels, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS)

Also as a kid, I dreamed my brother and I (both males in our early 20's, even though we were barely teens in actuality) were snipers in a war (WW1 or WW2, not sure which) and I was shot in the head. I felt the stinging burn in my head and everything went black and then I woke up.

I tend to have very vivid dreams and remember most of them.

[Lady Shadow Cat]

I always imagined lucid dreaming meaning you're like a God and you can do anything you like. That would be pretty amazing. Anyone had such an experience?

From my own experience, not at all. When I lucid dream its more like I have control of certain things, but not others. Sometimes I have to concentrate pretty hard to make a change, and sometimes changing too much wakes me up.

I do have "out of body" or what I think of a 3rd person observer dreams. In these I am not directly affected by anything. Its like watching a movie. I also have dreams that are like a video game setup. For example, I am me in my dream, but I am following myself around in the dream. Also like a video game, I can swing the viewpoint around as see myself from another person's perspective. Weirdly enough, I am not a gamer by even the broadest definition,

Sleep paralysis. It's apparently quite common and sometimes accompanied by hallucinations - voices, a sense of being watched, strong emotions etc. It supposedly happens because some of the mechanism of dreaming kicks in before you're completely asleep.

I think its related to REM sleep. Because this is the stage you dream in, your brain paralyzes your body to keep it from moving around and acting out the dream. If IIRC people that sleep walk have a dysfunction with their sleep paralysis.

Recurring dreams: I can't say I've ever had one. I have had dreams that are broken up into Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, three nights in a row. Literally, the dream just picked up where it left off the night before. Anyone else have this?

[Crazydog7]

I don't really have dreams I remember anymore but on the rare occasion I do I'm always a child (like 12-14) for whatever reason.

[Noontidal]

From the time I was 4 I had/have a reoccurring dream about once a year. I am in some strange control room where we are supposed to be firing some sort of weapon. I get the sense that I am in charge, but also synced with the weapon. Second in charge at the beginning of the dream says "Here we go again". A bunch of stuff happens culminating in the weapon being fired. I get what I assume is supposed to be an orbital view after heading up and I rapidly descend. A couple times I have woken up to see a sidewalk under me that almost feels like it was part of my dream.

Yeah, I have somehow finished that dream while getting dressed and going for a walk outside irl.

I had a fun two-part zombie dream last week. The zombies in this dream were incredibly persistent - unless you had a bomb shelter well below ground your best bet was hiding somehow. One part was a group hiding out in this huge mansion where a husband and wife supposedly lived, but she was said to never be seen.

At one point one of the characters (not me) went after what appeared to be the wife disappearing into a secret passage. The character followed and after a strange journey came upon the husband who said "You will find Tuesday in that direction". This made sense in the dream.

The other part of the dream involved an airship, and I have forgotten 'our' (I'm not sure I was there either) destination. But we had issues at one point so we landed on a mountain reasoning that it would take days at least for the zombies to get to us.