Lucid Dreaming

[Yianni]

What are people's experiences with lucid dreaming, that is dreams where you consciously know that you're asleep and have full control over what you do. They are also very vivid.

I have had a few where I have been able to do what I want. I normally fly. Flying dreams are fantastic, it's the most incredible feeling ever, and it feels so real, like I know exactly how it would feel if I were able to fly when awake.

Has anyone else had/studied/read about lucid dreaming?

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

I had a few when I was younger, not anymore though. They were usually really short, sort of like "I know I'm dreaming...oh crap, I'm waking up...nooooo" and that was it.

 

[Asgardian]

Lucid dreams are usually those encountered by boys entering puberty

 

[PC28]

Originally posted by Asgardian
Lucid dreams are usually those encountered by boys entering puberty

A subscriber to the theory of Freud?

 

[skilts]

Why would you take any notice of something said by people about their experiences/memories of something which happened while they were not here, that is unconscious?

Surely an unreliable source?

 

[ian_rocks]

I used to have heaps when I trained myself to have them, but when I stopped so did the lucidity

 

[NICK THE PIE MAN]

I wish I still had them.

I would run around nude and punch every person in the head and steal cars.

 

[saiak]

I had one, I thought I was dead because I knew I was dreaming, so all I did was kick things, hoping to do that in real life and wake myself up somehow

 

[Possumisagun]

Originally posted by Yianni

Has anyone else had/studied/read about lucid dreaming?

I seen that movie 'waking life'.

It's all about Lucid Dreaming, this guy continues to wake up, but all the time he's in the same dream, he starts to control his dream but can't wake up from it.

The words in it were way to big for a sixteen year-old though and the animation made it hard to concentrate on what they were saying. Good thought-provoking film though.

 

[Tony_Clifton]

This is when you know you are dreaming.

Following some wikipedia links from the space thread I read some stuff on lucid dreaming. I have had 2 lucid dreams proir to this, in the space of 20 something years but I followed the advice given and have had 2 in the past week.

You are meant to check if you are dreaming when you are awake so that hopefully in your dream you remember to check, and thus realise you are dreaming. Apparently looking for non sequiters in the recent past works as does checking the time and then looking back at a clock to see if it has changed.

Once you are lucid dreaming it is easy to wake up immediately and you can do things like rub your hands together or twirl round in circles to maintain it longer. Another problem is that when you realise you are dreaming everything goes black. This is what happened to me in the past two dreams so I haven't been able to do some cool stuff. In my first two lucid dreams when I wasn't trying to have them I made myself fly which was pretty cool.

 

[trueblue_91]

When i was young this happened to me all the time. Doesn't really happen any more. I just knew i was dreaming and could controll what i did.

It was very weird actually

 

[>A<]

Interesting, not sure I understand but interesting. I have just been getting into meditation, which is underrated. But dreaming, I don't understand how look at a clock twice, and checking to see if your dreaming through the day, to which I wouldalways get the answer no...I think, would create this cool ability.

Got a link, for me to read up??

 

[nicky]

Interesting, not sure I understand but interesting. I have just been getting into meditation, which is underrated. ??

interesting, do you have any meditation tips to give and can you give some detail as to why its underrated?

 

[Tony_Clifton]

Meditation tips:

• sit up don't lie down
• start with guided meditations, there are some good podcasts out there
• go on to do breath meditation
• clean the room before you start

 

[FIGJAM]

I can do it, but my lack of meditation means that I can't concentrate enough to hold it for more than a relatively brief period.

Concentration is a result of practicing mindfulness. Being focussed on events, instead of sleepwalking through life. You sleepwalk through life your dreams are the muddled mess that they are for most of us.

A simple trick (and I'd recommend further reading on Astral Projection) is when you see something really odd in real life, to jump on the spot with the intent to hover. If you don't, then you are (probably) in the real physical world, however if you float, then you are in the dreamscape and can do all sorts of things if you can maintain concentration thoroughly.

 

[>A<]

It was explained to me like this, concerntrate on your breathing, if you think of something, release the thought, and think back onto your breathing. At first you have to keep thinking breath in and breath out, and that is it, no other thoughts of your day, or anything else. Think nothing.

 

[Braddock]

I have the occasional lucid dream. Embarrassing as it is to admit, most of the time the second I realise what's going on I wander around 'looking' for girls. I could be dreaming about doing things beyond the realms of possibility and yet I somehow always end up trying to track down the hot chicks from high school. On the up side, let me tell ya, those trashy dream girls will do anything.

P.S. Yes I know it's sad.

 

[Kangaroopit]

You should watch Waking Life, a good film by Richard Linklater, who also did Dazed and Confused, and A Scanner Darkly. It's essentially set in a lucid dream, and is a series of monologues from people the main character meets in his dream, covering philosophy, pop psychology, lucid dreaming itself and other matters. Better than it might sound from that description, but definitely worth checking out.

 

[The Passenger]

when i was about 13 to 15 i used to know i was dreaming quite often... probably every two to three months. doesnt happen anymore. and i never knew there was a term for it.

 

[Gets!]

I lucid dream a lot. Maybe every 2 nights I will have a lucid dream.

When I was younger I couldnt understand the concept of dreaming that you are in a dream, but when experienced it, instantly knew what others were talking about.

More recently I have control over what I do...like I know its a dream so I do stupid stuff and know that I cant get in any real trouble...I float around, drive my car through parks and into buildings and stuff.

Good fun, and its a struggle to stay asleep once I have control of the dream!

More recent still, I have had 'false awakenings', where I am not having a good dream and I try to wake myself up, then I think I am awake but Im actually not. I think this is when your sub-conscious is awake but your body isnt it. So I try to hit the bed and yell out to try and wake myself up, even though in reality I am not doing either of the two. The other day I had about 7 false awakenings in a row and my sub-conscious was literally active for a minute while I kept trying to wake myself up. VERY weird feeling.

Anyone experienced similar things?

 

[Brad Goodman]

That's pretty cool. I pretty much go to sleep, then wake up. I can remember probably only 5 or 6 dreams that I've had in my lifetime.

 

[RoosterLad]

Same thing happens to me. I haven't had any lucid dreams or sleep paralyis experiences for a while but I used to wake up without being able to move a lot. A first it scared the **** out of me, now I just find it very irritating but during that time you can have an out of body experience if you know what to do.

 

[de_LICA_ish18]

I have multiple dreams every night. I enjoy it mostly although some are so intense it feels like I haven't slept at all. Sometimes my dreams can alter my mood for that day. There are times when I wake up very flat or with a sad feeling, all because of a dream. Other dreams are fun, and its like watching a movie.

I have quite a mixture of really strange stuff and then there are others where my dad visits (he is no longer here). In those dreams I know he has been gone for a long time but don't think too much of it. Those occurances sometimes feel like dreams but a lot of the time feel very very real, in that feelings/emotions that I had forgotten come back. Weird.

 

[fryingpan]

I actually got sleep paralysis (if it is that) last night. I woke up (or maybe I didn't??) and I couldn't move, tried moving my mouth but didn't get far, then about 5-10 seconds later I was able to move. Scary but get it all the time.

 

[Bretski]

Thats very cool, I cant say i have been in that situation. However when i am woken by my alarm/phone, I occasionally turn my lamp on/off, press red on my phone, press buttons on my alarm, and when all else fails switch everything off at the wall and pull the plugs out. Lol im a spycho when i wake up if i dont know where the noise is comming from, or what button to press.