Lucid Dreaming

[CBM]

I have been watching some youtube about lucid dreaming.

Does anyone here on Doomworld have any experience with Lucid Dreaming?

 

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by CBM

[Hawk of The Crystals]

I did it once, but it was really boring.

[Rakuen]

Did it once and was nice. However, I got scared and they won't happen if you're consciously or subconsciously afraid of them. While you are lucid dreaming you are in control of yourself, but the dream itself continues "playing." It's like being awake on a train, while normal dreaming is being asleep on a train. That's why I saw things there that I don't want to see again. That's my experience.

[RDETalus]

I have had about a dozen lucid dreams in my lifetime. I have two types of lucid dreams: natural and sleep paralysis. They've all been very short, but unmistakably lucid dreaming experiences. The harder you try to control them, the more likely you are to wake yourself up.

The "natural" variety is where I am already asleep and dreaming, then I suddenly realize I am in a dream. I can do a few things like look around, look at clocks, turn on/off light switch, open doors, but not much more than that.

 

The "sleep paralysis" variety is where I am falling asleep and I enter sleep paralysis. When entering sleep paralysis, I am suddenly unable to move my body and I "hear" a loud unintelligible syllable being screamed into my mind over and over. I can "see" the room that I fell asleep in. One time, I noticed that the room that I could "see" while in sleep paralysis was not my real room and I wasn't using my real eyesight, I was actually "seeing" a dream reconstruction of my room. After I realized that, I understood that sleep paralysis is actually a form of lucid dreaming. From then on, whenever I had a sleep paralysis episode, I was able to control it and use it to launch into a lucid dream experience.

[MrFlibble]

3 hours ago, RDETalus said:

The "natural" variety is where I am already asleep and dreaming, then I suddenly realize I am in a dream. I can do a few things like look around, look at clocks, turn on/off light switch, open doors, but not much more than that.

I've been "kinda" interested in the topic (by which I mean I never bothered to extensively read literature on the subject) and read once, somewhere, that to keep the lucid state longer once it has started, one should stand straight up (in the dream I mean) and turn around your vertical axis. Well, sometime after reading that I had a lucid dream and remembered that instruction and tried it out. Didn't help much.

 

There was one lucid dream where I tried to go around and break things (like tableware that happened to be around) just to see what would happen. Curiously I don't remember if anything actually broke. But there's always this sensation of acute detail in lucid dreams that makes the surroundings more "realistic", but the dream also seems to very often flee and "fall apart"

 

Sometimes I wonder if lucid dreams are really that, that you're literally "awake in a dream", or just a special kind of dream where you're dreaming that you're awake in a dream (if that makes any sense).

 

4 hours ago, RDETalus said:

The "sleep paralysis" variety is where I am falling asleep and I enter sleep paralysis. When entering sleep paralysis, I am suddenly unable to move my body and I "hear" a loud unintelligible syllable being screamed into my mind over and over. I can "see" the room that I fell asleep in. One time, I noticed that the room that I could "see" while in sleep paralysis was not my real room and I wasn't using my real eyesight, I was actually "seeing" a dream reconstruction of my room. After I realized that, I understood that sleep paralysis is actually a form of lucid dreaming. From then on, whenever I had a sleep paralysis episode, I was able to control it and use it to launch into a lucid dream experience.

That sounds a bit like false awakening experiences when one struggles to wake up and out of sleep paralysis but the mind instead simulates the awakening, often repeatedly. Sometimes this indeed seems to be is accompanied by an unintelligible background noise or speech that you cannot recognise.

 

I've never made any connection between false awakenings and lucid dreaming, because in lucid dreams one realises that it is a dream, while false awakenings are the exact opposite, i.e. you think you're awake after sleeping and try to go about the usual daily routine (while normal dreaming is neither of those because one does not question whether it is a dream or not). But quite possibly, both occur in the same of a similar state of mind/brain between being asleep and awake.

 

BTW, have you guys ever had this effect in a dream when you flip a switch to turn off the lights or a TV set and it does not work, i.e. the TV keeps working? Almost as if the brain is trying to tell you that this is a dream and not real.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

I've had too many episodes of sleep paralysis, with each episode going the same way. I "wake up" to a gunshot an inch from my ear, and I can clearly see the room I am sleeping in, but I'm aware that I'm not fully together in the head. I usually see figures moving around me very quickly, sometimes people I can't make out, sometimes my dog. A feeling similar to a panic attack occurs, like I'm being crushed. I'm usually aware on some level that I'm having an episode, but the feeling is so morbid that knowing doesn't make much of a difference.

[DSC]

Got interested at first... Lucid dreaming is a fascinating topic. Then I saw who made the video. Screw Thoughty2.

[RDETalus]

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

I can clearly see the room I am sleeping in

When you have a sleep paralysis episode, you have to remember that you aren't "seeing" your real room. You're asleep in your bed, your eyes are closed, and what you are "seeing" is a dream construct.

 

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

I usually see figures moving around me very quickly

A lot of people who get sleep paralysis report seeing figures, I never have this problem thankfully. 

 

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

A feeling similar to a panic attack occurs, like I'm being crushed

Yeah, you just have to find a way to relax through the initial onslaught. If you manage to calm down enough, you will remain conscious while dreaming. You should then be able to begin lucid dreaming from there. However, it takes some practice because you'll often wake yourself up by accident.

 

 

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

There was one lucid dream where I tried to go around and break things (like tableware that happened to be around) just to see what would happen. Curiously I don't remember if anything actually broke.

 

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

BTW, have you guys ever had this effect in a dream when you flip a switch to turn off the lights or a TV set and it does not work, i.e. the TV keeps working? Almost as if the brain is trying to tell you that this is a dream and not real.

There are certain things that don't work properly in lucid dreams and lights are apparently one of them. Many people report light switches not working, and I experienced this as well. Doors can open and close though. Looking at writing and numbers doesn't work either, it's usually not legible.

 

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

just a special kind of dream where you're dreaming that you're awake in a dream (if that makes any sense).

Mentally, it doesn't feel like a dream to me. I feel very mentally sharp while in the lucid dream. Physically, it is a bit different. I can feel sensations, for example I can feel hot or cold in a lucid dream, something that doesn't happen in normal dreams. But my body isn't solid, it's not there, if I stop thinking about my body it doesn't exist.

[TenenteZashu]

I tried once, sneezed myself awake and went thru five minutes of sleep paralysis

[Lizardcommando]

I did it once. The only thing I could remember was I was flying only a few feet off the ground in my backyard, then I got bored and watched some giant crossover between CSI, Law and Order SVU and some other crime drama.

[MrFlibble]

5 hours ago, RDETalus said:

Mentally, it doesn't feel like a dream to me. I feel very mentally sharp while in the lucid dream.

I think it might be a bit tricky, at least in theory, because "normal" dreams generally do maintain the illusion that the actions one makes in such a dream are conscious and logical, although in some cases I had a vague impression, upon awakening, that the dream or its parts were basically a first-person illustration for some kind of narrative told by a voice in the background. But I'm not certain on that.

 

Anyway, in a lucid dream one is conscious that this is a dream and appears to make decisions and actions on the spot -- e.g. let's try out this or that, if I know that this is a dream and not real. But in a regular, non-lucid dreams one also frequently makes what appears to be conscious decisions and actions, except without realising that this is a dream. So it is not obvious whether we should think that a normal dream follows some kind of external scenario while lucid dreaming gives the ability to consciously act the same way as in reality. There's no denying though that lucid dreaming gives a different sensation and the surroundings feel more detailed and real.

 

1 hour ago, Lizardcommando said:

The only thing I could remember was I was flying only a few feet off the ground in my backyard

Right, the flying thing. I don't know why but it's almost always as if you have to struggle to just lift off, and never to a considerable height. Maybe it's because there are no real-life bodily experiences of flight/levitation the dream could build upon. Although I now vaguely remember that once, just once I had this dream where I was able to fly to the ceiling of a rather tall room, but that took a lot of effort and concentration to pull off. Another time I also attempted throwing fireballs in a lucid section of a dream, to a similarly meagre effect. I wonder if one can get a better grasp on controlling the environment of a lucid dream and not have it just flow outside your direct will.

[Chopkinsca]

I feel like most of my dreams are in a semi-lucid state. I remember having a dream where someone was telling me to do something. I was like "I don't have to do that, this is my dream". 

 

I have the experience of flying in dreams. It is indeed tough. Most of the time it is from running away from something and I'm trying to get onto a roof to escape something. Moving through solid objects, even just a glass wall/door is even more difficult.

 

Oh, I've heard that when lucid dreaming, never look into a mirror. I've done it and it reminds me of the mirror scene in Doom 3. Just sudden screeching and a distorted face.

 

I need to become more aware when I'm actually dreaming. Sometimes I have a desire to run through my apartment building naked, but I'm not sure if I'm in a realistic dream or real life.

[ReX]

I've had dozens of lucid dreams. But I have learnt that knowing you're dreaming and being able to control your dream are two very different things. In most of my lucid dreams I feel like I'm watching a movie, and I have no control over what's happening. This is particularly true of nightmares, which I realized a long time ago were not anything to be afraid of. To me, most of them simply felt like I was watching a horror movie. As a kid I might have been afraid of horror movies, but as an adult, not so much.

 

Still, lucid dreams are interesting and entertaining.

[CBM]

20 hours ago, MrFlibble said:

Sometimes I wonder if lucid dreams are really that, that you're literally "awake in a dream", or just a special kind of dream where you're dreaming that you're awake in a dream (if that makes any sense).

I think its more like you are dreaming that you are awake while in the/a dream.

 

20 hours ago, DSC said:

Got interested at first... Lucid dreaming is a fascinating topic. Then I saw who made the video. Screw Thoughty2.

Why Screw Thoughty2?

[DSC]

5 hours ago, CBM said:

Why Screw Thoughty2?

He has made several incredibly dishonest and blatantly false videos pandering to the "new bad, old good" mentality just to cheaply earn some Internet points.

[Zilch]

I have a friend that had a dream once, a very long one (from his perspective).  This actually caused him to be tired the next day.

 

The brain needs to sleep, properly.

 

As cool as lucid dreaming is, if you constantly have it, there could be undesired side effects if it occurs too frequently.

[CBM]

On 9/26/2021 at 3:46 PM, DSC said:

He has made several incredibly dishonest and blatantly false videos pandering to the "new bad, old good" mentality just to cheaply earn some Internet points.

interesting... any concrete examples?

[omx32x]

i have done it in the past but really its nothing special unless you have a lot of self control because its very easy to fall into the normal dream state again

 

so when it happens the first thing i do is look at my hands because your brain does not know how many fingers you have so when you look at your hands you will always see something weird like last time i did it i had six fingers in my right hand and 3 fingers merged into 1 on my left hand

 

its weird

[Zilch]

I'm 19, and I can only remember having self control <5 times.

 

All kinds of weird shit happens.  You can't scream properly.  And as @omalefico32x mentioned your perception of your own body is not as it should be.

 

I haven't had a lucid dream in about 3-4 years.  Sad, because I'd like to do it maybe once a year.

[DSC]

On 9/27/2021 at 4:25 PM, CBM said:

interesting... any concrete examples?

The "why is modern music so bad" video comes to mind, but by far the worst offender is the "snowflake generation" one.

[CBM]

4 hours ago, DSC said:

The "why is modern music so bad" video comes to mind, but by far the worst offender is the "snowflake generation" one.

just watched some counter argument videos regarding his snowflake video and you have a valid point.

 

I found a different lucid dreaming related video for my original post

[Zilch]

On 9/26/2021 at 3:46 PM, DSC said:

He has made several incredibly dishonest and blatantly false videos pandering to the "new bad, old good" mentality just to cheaply earn some Internet points.

 

Doom is old, and still good.

 

I'd argue 'old' Doom is more timeless than modern Doom (2016 & Eternal).

[DSC]

5 hours ago, Zilch said:

Doom is old, and still good.

I wasn't talking about media especifically, and I didn't say all things past are bad or anything.

[Koko Ricky]

I experience lucid dreaming regularly and had a particularly odd one this morning: I was at my dad's house, talking to Christopher and Paulie from The Sopranos. Apparently Chris was a capo and I was requesting admission into his crew, but I also broke the fourth wall and referred to the show itself. It was as though the Sopranos was "real" in the dream, as there were no visible cameras or crew, but I was simultaneously acting as though I was reading a script and wanted to break character for a moment.

[omx32x]

14 minutes ago, Koko Ricky said:

I experience lucid dreaming regularly and had a particularly odd one this morning: I was at my dad's house, talking to Christopher and Paulie from The Sopranos. Apparently Chris was a capo and I was requesting admission into his crew, but I also broke the fourth wall and referred to the show itself. It was as though the Sopranos was "real" in the dream, as there were no visible cameras or crew, but I was simultaneously acting as though I was reading a script and wanted to break character for a moment.

would this be considered lucid dreaming though? because for the sounds of it you never left the dream state (that is you were just following what was happening in your dream)

 

4th wall breaks dont necessary show lucid dreaming just acknowledgement that "oh yeah i have seen this before"

[Koko Ricky]

2 hours ago, omalefico32x said:

would this be considered lucid dreaming though? because for the sounds of it you never left the dream state (that is you were just following what was happening in your dream)

 

4th wall breaks dont necessary show lucid dreaming just acknowledgement that "oh yeah i have seen this before"

It feels almost like I was half lucid. I remember when I broke the fourth wall, I had this half-completed notion that the experience wasn't real; this is a bit different than the notion of being an actor on a set. If I had been fully lucid, I suppose I would have been much more adventurous! 

[omx32x]

1 minute ago, Koko Ricky said:

It feels almost like I was half lucid. I remember when I broke the fourth wall, I had this half-completed notion that the experience wasn't real; this is a bit different than the notion of being an actor on a set. If I had been fully lucid, I suppose I would have been much more adventurous! 

so it was more you were lucid for a few moments

 

like i said above its really hard to maintain a lucid state when you are dreaming with is something that people always left out when they are talking about it

if you do happen to enter into it again one day remember either look at a mirror or look at your hands it will be weird because your brain has no idea how tall you are how many fingers you have and how you look so it tries to improvise and it always gets weird

 

to anyone else reading this a easy way to enter into a lucid dream is to make an habit of looking at your hands every once in a while when you are awake if you do it for sometime (lets say a few weeks or so) you will probaly try to do it in your dream as well instantly breaking the illusion you brain is creating

 

also you may have heard that lucid dreaming makes it more likely that you will have sleep paralysis i dont know if thats true but as someone who has had sleep paralysis many times in my life it really is no big deal and most of the time it only lasts a minute

[MrFlibble]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:21 PM, omalefico32x said:

also you may have heard that lucid dreaming makes it more likely that you will have sleep paralysis i dont know if thats true but as someone who has had sleep paralysis many times in my life it really is no big deal and most of the time it only lasts a minute

IIRC sleep paralysis occurs every time during REM sleep (i.e. the dreaming phase), precisely to prevent the body from making any of the movements one might make in their dream. It's just that most of the time it wears off as soon as (or even shortly before) you wake up. I'm not sure what causes sleep paralysis to desynch from the regular sleep-wake cycle and persist after waking up, but I think there's enough research to easily find the answer.

 

I've read about looking at your hands before, somehow this was in relation with Carlos Castaneda's books.

[omx32x]

12 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

I've read about looking at your hands before, somehow this was in relation with Carlos Castaneda's books.

never heard about them well i guess he makes books about dreams right?

[MrFlibble]

On 10/2/2021 at 1:46 AM, omalefico32x said:

never heard about them well i guess he makes books about dreams right?

More like altered states of consciousness, Mesoamerican shamanism and stuff like that. He used to be a pretty popular, albeit controversial author, towards the end of the past century, and probably still is, in some circles at least.