Lucid Dreaming

The Mad Thatter · Feb 23, 2011 6:24 PM

Has anybody heard of lucid dreaming? It's where you realise you are dreaming in the dream and are able to control your unconcious thoughts. It's a skill you can gain, and HELL YEAH I am going to try and get it. You could do so much - it'd be like being in Inception.

Apparantly the difficult bit is staying asleep after you've realised you're dreaming. Both my sister and sister's friend have half-lucid-dreamed. I've not come close yet, but I'm going to start to try.

Stormy · Feb 23, 2011 7:08 PM

I used to have them when I was really young. I didn't even know what "lucid dreaming" was or that you could learn how to do it; I just figured they were really weird dreams. I think I've told this story on this forum before, but what the heck.

I remember having really vivid dreams where I would be flying around my room. After having same the dream a few times, I came up with the idea of testing if it was a dream or not by trying to bring one of my stuffed animals with me into the air. I figured if I could hold onto something real, it must actually be real. Of course, I never got it to work. I never had a dream like that again past the age of probably 10, though.

Latias fan · Feb 23, 2011 8:02 PM

I've never had this happening to me,plz tell me how?

ontels · Feb 23, 2011 8:28 PM

About 10% of the dreams I remember place me in some controll.

riverhippo · Feb 23, 2011 10:32 PM

Somewhat related: Has anyone ever experienced astral projection?

I believe that astral projection is real, that is, being suspended between demensions in which you can travel around "virutally" while you are sleeping. And that the things you are seeing aren't dreams, but things that are really happening. Like you're a ghost for a short time.

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Feb 24, 2011 12:42 AM

.

Last edited by 36IStillLikeSpyro36 (Feb 07, 2016 5:53 AM)

SapphireSheep · Feb 24, 2011 3:33 AM

I've been trying to have lucid dreams for awhile now but it's so freakin' hard. I want to have lucid dreams so bad ;_;

bmah · Feb 24, 2011 4:10 AM

Apparently, it helps to keep a diary where you write everything you remember of your dreams as soon as you wake up. Supposedly this facilitates lucid dreaming in some sort of way. I've had these dreams I think 2-3 times ever. I love em, but too bad they're so rare. If you're really fascinated by it, try collecting your memories in a diary.

The Mad Thatter · Feb 24, 2011 7:49 AM

I'm going to buy or find some sort of book to write my dreams in - but then there's remembering them when I wake up, and that's difficult enough.

bmah · Feb 24, 2011 10:10 AM

That's why you write them down as soon as you wake up - don't hesitate or you'll quickly forget. Have the diary and pen next to your bed.

ontels · Feb 24, 2011 10:56 AM

I've been thinking of doing a dream diary for a long time now, if onlly I wasnt a lazy slob.

Lwr (reptillion) · Feb 24, 2011 11:28 AM

im experienced in this kind of stuff.... you could ask me if anyone have any questions.

ontels · Feb 24, 2011 3:07 PM

How are you experianced?

The Mad Thatter · Feb 24, 2011 5:52 PM

bmah wrote:

That's why you write them down as soon as you wake up - don't hesitate or you'll quickly forget. Have the diary and pen next to your bed.

How can I write down what I can't remember? Sometimes I can't recall it even as soon as I wake up. I was trying to for ages this morning.

ontels · Feb 24, 2011 7:44 PM

Just write the scraps you remember, if you remembered you had a dream then surely you will itleast have a fleeting picture in your head of a part of the dream. If you really can't remember anything just write "I had a dream last nite".

Clock-la · Feb 24, 2011 7:50 PM

I had one where i KNEW i was in a dream, but no controll over myself XD DAMM lol

ontels · Feb 24, 2011 7:53 PM

Thats just a normal dream. tongue

The Mad Thatter · Feb 25, 2011 8:07 AM

ontels wrote:

Thats just a normal dream.

It isn't really. I can't even recognise I'm in a dream yet.

But I've started a dream diary now, so I'm on my way.

bmah · Feb 25, 2011 9:59 AM

I've encountered this sort of topic before, so I went back to it and snatched up some info that you should read on:

The most important thing you can do is keep a journal next to your bed. When you wake up, write down as much as you can remember. You tend to forget dreams very quickly after you wake up. This practice of writing will help you keep that part of your memory active and you will start to get a better feel for certain patterns/common elements in your dreams that, over time, will help you subconsciously realize when you are dreaming. Being able to recall dreams more strongly allows you to lucid dream more frequently. Write down anything you remember -- it all helps, no matter how spotty. Pictures help too.
The general idea, to take it further, is to reality test. You need to get in the habit of "testing reality" so often that you do it in your dreams. Have you ever studied a foreign language so much that you sometimes have dreams where that foreign language is used subconsciously? This is somewhat similar. For me, it's the lightswitch. When you use lightswitches in your everyday life, do so as you normally would, but pay attention. Of course, things will turn off/on as they should. But if you pay attention to lights in your dreams, you'll typically find that things are strange. The idea is to get in the habit of doing something that has an expected effect in real life but a strange one in a dream. This might be looking at the time on your watch, looking away, and looking back. It might be looking in a mirror. It might be checking your body for a certain mark. Whatever works for you.
Once you master recognizing that you're dreaming, the next challenge is learning to remain in that state. The hard part for most people is that they realize they're dreaming, get excited, and wake up. You have to train yourself to just go with it. This is typically easier when you're *really* sleepy. For me, during college, I had an easier time with this when I had used caffeine to help me stay up and study... only to have a really hard crash/vivid dream later that was not so easy to wake up from. Spinning your dream body is a good way to keep yourself interacting in your dream if you feel that you're starting to wake up. This honestly took me a while to get the hang of -- but after enough caffeinated sleep-crashes, I got used to the feeling of going lucid such that it no longer excited me out of sheer novelty, allowing me to stay asleep. In other words, let the novelty wear off over time. It's kinda like your first orgàsm, haha. After a while, it's just the same old same old.
Next step of the challenge is to figure out how to actually exercise your control. This is different for everyone, but in general, you can't be *too* focused/direct about it because that will wake you up. Start out simple by just "realizing you're dreaming" but not trying to change much. Just see where that revelation alone takes you as you allow the automation of the dream to continue. Then you can try different methods of changing things/altering the direction of your dream/screwing with physics/inserting people into your dream/etc. It's a skill that you'll hone over time. Again, it's taken me a few years to really get a good grip on what I can control in my dreams. Going lucid is pretty easy for me now, and staying asleep once I've gone lucid is equally simple. The hard part is directing your subconscious to control things in a way you "consciously" want without botching it.

More info here.

Clock-la · Feb 25, 2011 10:02 AM

yer there's a point, bit off topic, but how come we do forget dreams so quickly?

ontels · Feb 25, 2011 12:22 PM

Maybe your brain is a bit embarassed.

Clock-la · Feb 25, 2011 2:59 PM

ontels wrote:

Maybe your brain is a bit embarassed.

could be i certenly was when I had the flintstones dream...don't ask.

ontels · Feb 25, 2011 4:40 PM

On the opposite side of things what about nightmares? I have been having a lot less now I'm older, is it the same for other people?

Clock-la · Feb 25, 2011 5:10 PM

ontels wrote:

On the opposite side of things what about nightmares? I have been having a lot less now I'm older, is it the same for other people?

same...ish...

I got a dream catcher in my room ((Not that I belive in the whole it catches dreams)) but my theory is that some how in subconsily ((AWFULL SPELLING D:)) makes you think its doing that...if you know what im trying to say XD

ontels · Feb 25, 2011 7:09 PM

Maybe, I pray to God to protect me from horrors every night so maybe it's the same thing.

#1 Feb 23, 2011 6:24 PM

Lucid Dreaming

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