Lucid Dreaming

[PsychoIncarnate]

When I lucid dream, I have a sudden urge to explore the dream world to it's fullest so I spread my consciousness as far as It can go and still be able to stay lucid.

Unfortunately, I usually end up getting distracted and sucked back into the "Story" of the dream

 

[Crimson King]

Pro-Tip: If you feel your focus waning, touch the ground, yourself, ANYTHING. It grounds you back in the dream, or look at your hands. If things start to get fuzzy, spin.

 

[Dastrn]

I always wish I could lucid dream. My dreams are nuts.

 

[Crimson King]

Who says you can't? In fact, one technique I read, and am practicing, says just believe you are a natural lucid dreamer and you can do it whenever you want.

If that doesn't help, try this (this is the method I am using):

About 20 minutes before you go to sleep, meditate on an image, dream, or whatever. Visualize yourself going lucid in this image and believe it.

After about 10 minutes of this (approx. 10 minutes before bed time), lie down and repeat a positive, lucid dreaming mantra. I use "I am dreaming." As you say it, be relaxed and believe the words. Try to get excited that you are about to go lucid.

Stephen Laberge claims this technique (also called MILD) has a 90% (or maybe higher) efficiency when practice properly.

If this didn't work, check page one. I posted Laberge's course on Lucid Dreaming with the text book for it--his book on lucid dreaming.

 

[Lore]

I still haven't started a dream journal... It would be too embarrassing if someone found it. >_<

 

[Crimson King]

You could always keep a pad where you jot down notes then type it in a file and encrypt it. I have never had any issues.

 

[Spire]

Almost every night that I stay up to 12:30-1:00 AM, I am struck with overwhelming memory, a convulation of dreams from weeks past in a second. It's enough to bring me to tears because of how hard it hits. I've been elusive in going to bed earlier.

 

[Crimson King]

Write down as much as you can as a method of clearing room for future dreams. That helps me a lot.

Last night I had A LONG recall. Going to take me a while to write down and I can add Europe to my dream map...

 

[Big_R]

Can you do anything productive in lucid dreams? Like practice something you already know and end up better at it when you wake up?

 

[Dastrn]

I'm not in a place health-wise where I can **** with my sleep in any way.

 

[Crimson King]

Can you do anything productive in lucid dreams? Like practice something you already know and end up better at it when you wake up?

That's where it gets a bit hard to quantify. Some claim they have practiced songs in dreams and it worked perfectly in real life, or practiced languages. You are in an area where your raw subconscious is at your disposal.

One thing I read that I have yet to experiment with is dream healing, which some people swear by.

For another interesting study, check this article: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=76933780

 

[OmegaXXII]

Man, I really need to try this lucid dreaming business, any good dreams?

 

[Crimson King]

Plenty. Once you can get lucid consistently to where you no longer just want to play around, a lot can be done.

 

[Dastrn]

Does your brain get what it needs from sleep when you are lucid? seems like you miss out on the whole point of REM.

 

[Crimson King]

You dream during REM sleep only, supposedly. Lucid Dreaming just works within these parameters. If you deprive yourself of REM sleep long enough, you'll go straight into it avoiding the N-REM stage.

REM sleep is your lighter sleep cycles.

 

[UTDZac]

I had a friend who tried to teach himself lucid dreaming during our freshman college year. Not sure if he succeeded or not...

So I've got this "ability" where if I wake up too early and go back to sleep, I always have a dream. It's like deciding to sleep in on weekends so I can watch a movie. Anyone else heard of this or have something similar?

 

[Palpi]

I can relate, UTDzac, I too always dream when I go back to sleep from waking up early. There must be a scientific explanation for it somewhere

I have actually read that your most vivid structured dreams are in REM sleep, but you do actually dream when you are not in REM sleep as well.

 

[Crimson King]

I had a friend who tried to teach himself lucid dreaming during our freshman college year. Not sure if he succeeded or not...

So I've got this "ability" where if I wake up too early and go back to sleep, I always have a dream. It's like deciding to sleep in on weekends so I can watch a movie. Anyone else heard of this or have something similar?

Everyone does. When you wake up naturally, you are able to go right back into REM cycles. Typically, the later in the night, the longer the cycle. In Lucid Dreaming, we call this Wake-Back-To-Bed, and it is a valuable tool in achieving a WILD. Essentially, you wake up in the middle of the night after 5 - 6 hours. If you can do it naturally, PERFECT. Get your wits about you. Walk around, etc. Then lie down and count backwards from 100 focusing on the numbers and visualizing while remaining as still as possible. If it works, you'll enter sleep paralysis, from there you'll see hypnogogic imagery and eventually be ready to stop out of your body.

 

[Lore]

You could always keep a pad where you jot down notes then type it in a file and encrypt it. I have never had any issues.

Then hurray for PGP!

 

[Grandeza]

I'm pretty sure I had a lucid dream last night but my memory is fuzzy. There was a period of a week or two about a month ago where I was consistently having lucid dreams. It was strange because I never really cared enough to try to lucid dream but they just kept coming. It stopped though. I get them every so often though.

 

[sooshi shef]

I'm pretty sure I had a lucid dream last night but my memory is fuzzy. There was a period of a week or two about a month ago where I was consistently having lucid dreams. It was strange because I never really cared enough to try to lucid dream but they just kept coming. It stopped though. I get them every so often though.

Usually this kind of thing doesn't happen. It's rare but it can happen. I've lucid dreamed without trying once or twic but usually I still remember. So that is kinda strange.

I've actually been able to do this when listening to music. Usally I'll listen to something like Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men, Attack Attack!, or Woe Is Me while going to sleep and I'll dream about doing lead vocals and bass. Yeah my dreams seem a bit dull to some but I love them.

 

[Evil Eye]

Everytime I try to lucid dream, if I actually pull it off, the moment I know I'm dreaming I become aware of the sensation of my bed, which kind of pulls my mind out of the dream. So I gave up haha.

 

[Grandeza]

Usually this kind of thing doesn't happen. It's rare but it can happen. I've lucid dreamed without trying once or twic but usually I still remember. So that is kinda strange.

Yeah it was pretty weird. I had them every other day or every third day pretty much. A year or so ago I tried keeping a dream journal but gave up after a week or two.

I've actually been able to do this when listening to music. Usally I'll listen to something like Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men, Attack Attack!, or Woe Is Me while going to sleep and I'll dream about doing lead vocals and bass. Yeah my dreams seem a bit dull to some but I love them.

I'm liking this guy's musical taste.

 

[Alien Vision]

Everytime I have a lucid dream. I will yell: ''Show yourself!''. Then the dream will become very ugly in an instant, and torture me.

I'm not sure why, really. I'm guessing the dreamer isn't allowed to identify the shadow archetype? (If that's even the case).

 

[army man]

Man, I really need to try this lucid dreaming business, any good dreams?

it's hard. i've done it a few times. they're VERY fun!

 

[Crimson King]

Everytime I have a lucid dream. I will yell: ''Show yourself!''. Then the dream will become very ugly in an instant, and torture me.

I'm not sure why, really. I'm guessing the dreamer isn't allowed to identify the shadow archetype? (If that's even the case).

Nah, it's more of expectation. Dreams are, for the sake of argument, all about expectation and intention. If you expect something bad to happen because it happend once or so, it will always happen.

 

[Grandeza]

Just had a lucid dream last night. I remembered reading in this thread someone said they always try to expand their consciousness as far as they could. I was trying to do that and create a nice New York City environment I was familiar with and started losing it so I tried the ground touch thing. I don't know if it worked because I can't remember anything else from my lucid dream. I might have fallen back into a regular dream.

 

[Evil Eye]

I was nappin' on the couch earlier, and I actually kind of felt myself falling into a lucid dream. But, I of course became aware of the feeling of the couch as soon as I realized this and became alert. I don't understand why that always happens.

It was interesting though, because it was an accidental nap; I was just lying there thinkin' about stuff, then I started thinking more lazily, then I was drifting to sleep still thinking about that stuff actively, next thing I know I'm starting to dream and aware of as much.

 

[Pikaville]

I had a dream last week where I revisited a place I had created in my dreams a couple of months ago.

It was this huge enclosed bay/cove dotted with small rock islands.

The bay itself was surrounded by vast granite cliffs.

A one of the islands had a white wooden house and another had a HUGE memorial plaque which was built at the end of my previous dream.

There had bee a huge battle in my previous dream and me and my old gym teacher were showing 2 of my friends around.

I knew where everything was, like I said to my friends in the dream "Guys just around this big rock is where the memorial is" and it was there.

The strangest part was, in my dream I knew I had been to this place only in a dream before, but didn't click that I was dreaming then.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I don't personify the dream, the dream itself is my creation to mold

It can't "Show itself" because it's my sandbox.

Show that dream whose dominant

 

[Airgemini]

I attempted to Lucid Dream two nights ago, but it was unsuccessful. I laid on my back for the longest time when I was especially tired and I kind of fell into this "calm" state of mind. I didn't actually get to the part of dreaming, but it made me feel more relaxed and more susceptible to sleep. I think I was just meditating rather than doing a process to Lucid Dream, hahaha. Also, time went faster. Maybe I'll use this technique whenever I want to manipulate time to my liking.


I read somewhere that waking up while Lucid Dreaming or doing something incorrectly can cause temporary (I hope) paralysis? Is this true?

 

[Crimson King]

You undergo sleep paralysis every night. To do a WILD, you consciously undergo sleep paralysis which can be intense.

 

[Lore]

Sleep paralysis scares the living **** out of me. I have vivid hallucinations during those moments. A bit... Too vivid. *shudder*

 

[Crimson King]

My last sleep paralysis (and WILD) had me sleeping, then I hear the phone ring. I knew my wife would get it if it were real, so I ignored it. Then I heard a voice whisper "Hey" in my ear. It wasn't hers. I ignored it then "rolled" over into a WILD.

Before that, I heard the TV on in the living room, which was weird because it was off when I went to sleep. I check my clock and email (I even made notice because I got an email from DJ Earworm). I go to the living room, then I get grabbed by a figure. It felt real.

 

[Big_R]

That's where it gets a bit hard to quantify. Some claim they have practiced songs in dreams and it worked perfectly in real life, or practiced languages. You are in an area where your raw subconscious is at your disposal.

One thing I read that I have yet to experiment with is dream healing, which some people swear by.

For another interesting study, check this article: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=76933780

Wow!! Practicing a song would be damn productive for my purposes. I don't think my sleep schedule is healthy enough to practice lucid dreams. I sleep with my girl and I get woken up from time to time..... Hmm

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Waking sleep paralysis is what causes people to think they are being abducted by aliens or seeing the devil.

Every time I have waking sleep paralysis I swear I am being abducted by aliens since the lights in my room seem to strobe and the sounds turn into vibrating hums.

I struggle to lift myself up to fight back (I sleep on my stomach). With all my strength. When I succeed, it ends.

 

[Crimson King]

I think you are thinking too much for it. For sleep paralysis, it is all mental. You can break out of it at any time, but you need to have the awareness of what it is, when it occurs, etc.

Yeah, you are 100% correct. In my experience, you can feel a heavy pressure as if someone is sitting on you. This phenomenon is what people report when they claim possession.

 

[Lore]

Yeah, you are 100% correct. In my experience, you can feel a heavy pressure as if someone is sitting on you. This phenomenon is what people report when they claim possession.

Actually, that pressure is what caused the myth of Incubuses. The heavy feeling, especially when combined with nightmares, was considered during medieval times to be a sure sign that an Incubus had attempted nocturnal intercourse with you.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

More info

I'm not sure if it can be broken or not

 

[Crimson King]

I have woken myself out of it numerous times.