Lucid dreaming

[Disorder]

Is anyone here into lucid dreaming? I started reading about it a long time ago but today I decided to actually try it out for myself. For those who do not yet know what I'm talking about :

What is lucid dreaming?

Lucid dreaming means that while you are dreaming, you are conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, rather than taking everything what happens to you for granted. That's why it is also called 'conscious dreaming'.

[...]

There are several "gradations" of consciousness in a lucid dream:

Pre-lucid

You have a nagging feeling that something is not right, but you can't put your finger on it. When you wake up, you realise:"Of course something wasn't right, I was dreaming! How couldn't I see?"

Low lucidity

For a brief period you are conscious of the fact that you are dreaming ("Hey, I'm dreamin, aren't I?"), but you can't hold on to that thought. Before you know it you go with the flow of the dream again.

High Lucidity

You are conscious of the fact that everything that happens is a dream and, that there is no real danger, and your body is safely asleep in bed.
Everything is very bright and clear. Colors are more intense, smells smell better, and it seems you can look infinitely far.
High lucidity will give you an enourmous kick.

Absolute lucidity

From the moment you fall asleep you know you are dreaming and you have everything under control. Rather than becoming conscious while dreaming, you go into the dreamstate consciously.

So in other words. The more you learn to become conscious of your dreams, the more you can control them. You can fly, talk to imaginary people and walk around in fantasy worlds. It's not all that easy, but it's worth reading about it. And practice makes perfect. Check this site out for more info and tricks and tips: Through the mirror. Don't say that this is all hippie bullshit. There has been scientific research and patients were asked to respond to signals while in a state of sleep. They responded by blinking and moving their hands while dreaming at the same time. It's simply dreaming, and knowing that you're doing just that.

[Draconio]

It's happened to me a few times, but not consistently.

[Tobester]

Lucid dreams kick ass.

Cause when I know im dreaming, I can control it.

so instead of having random imagery in my dreams, ive got pandora peaks in my dreams.

kickass

[pritch]

I experience pre-lucid regularly, low-lucid occasionally, and I've only had a few occasions I can rememeber of high lucidity. Haven't got to total lucidity yet.

[Lüt]

I think I faked total lucidity once.

At the end of a dream, I was swimming laps across a pool. Everybody had left and I was by myself. Then I heard a rather irritating beeping noise. There was an alarm clock at the end of the pool. I climbed out of the pool to turn it off and woke up (I think the dream ended by me getting electrocuted). Anyway, it turns out my actual alarm clock had worked its way into my dream. It was even more irritating now that I was awake, so I hit the snooze button, but it didn't turn off. Then I hit the off button, but it still didn't turn off. Then I got pissed and pulled the plug out of the wall, but it still didn't turn off. The rest of the people in the house were getting irritated by this point, so I started beating it on the wall, but it still didn't turn off. I was like... WTF? Then I threw it on the ground, picked up a hammer and smashed it to pieces, but it still didn't turn off. Then I woke up.

[Grimm]

Once, and I swear I'm not bullshitting you, I was both dreaming and controlling my body in the real world. I was conciously closing my eyes in reality, but I was moving about in the dream world, like freakin' virtual reality. Oddly enough, it took place in my house. It was almost like when in video games and such someone sends out their spirit to explore teh area around them. Anyway, it was a kinda weirdish nightmare, with a very evil feeling in the air as I was walking around my house, and then it became too much for me; I opened my eyes and it was over.

[toxicfluff]

Lüt said:

...entertainment....

I love dreams within dreams. They rarely happen to me though, but my friend claims to have had a tertiary layer of dreamstuff.

[The Heretic]

Yes I am, I study lucid dreaming and control, and is one of the fascinating things I am developing to master. When I get my next mail, Ill give you a link to a Lucidity discussion group I participate in, if you want to know and share stuff there; your call.

[Sharessa]

My dreams are all like 'High Lucidity' on that list, except the fact that I can't controll stuff around me, and I often don't know its a dream. Everything is very realistic and I can walk around and do stuff, but I cant control what other people do/turn into.

As for dreams within dreams, I had a pretty frighteneing dream when I was a kid where I kept trying to wake myself up. Whenever I did though, I woke up still in the dream. Even weirder, the dresm seemed to go on for about a month. It was pretty scary. When I finaly DID wake up, I was very tired and pretty suspicious for a few hours as to weather or not reality was reality.

[Ultraviolet]

the_Danarchist said:

My dreams are all like 'High Lucidity' on that list, except the fact that I can't controll stuff around me, and I often don't know its a dream. Everything is very realistic and I can walk around and do stuff, but I cant control what other people do/turn into.

As for dreams within dreams, I had a pretty frighteneing dream when I was a kid where I kept trying to wake myself up. Whenever I did though, I woke up still in the dream. Even weirder, the dresm seemed to go on for about a month. It was pretty scary. When I finaly DID wake up, I was very tired and pretty suspicious for a few hours as to weather or not reality was reality.

YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING
YOU'RE STILL DREAMING

[Disorder]

Well I failed it last night. I kept checking the time yesterday to do the same thing while dreaming to realize that there was something wrong with time (this happens while dreaming, time's always messed up in dreams). But I can't remember doing that. I did experience the start of a dream, but then I realized I was having a dream. I got excited and I woke up. Shit.

I do remember having fake awakenings like Lüt described though. Just before an important exam I dreamt about waking up and being late for the big exam. I hurried and hurried but no matter what I tried, I was not gonna make it. Then I woke up. Very annoying.

[Dunbar]

I dunno what this would be classified as, but once I was able to convince myself I was dreaming, and I thought a bazooka into my dream that I could use to kill something that was chasing me. It was cool, like I could think whatever I want into the dream. So I confronted the beast and was thusly killed when I missed with my first and only shot and had my head bit off.

I wish I could remember what the monster looked like, I remember it was really cool looking and I'd like to try drawing it.

[Grazza]

Dunbar said:

So I confronted the beast and was thusly killed when I missed with my first and only shot and had my head bit off.

I've always found that sort of thing happens. You may have control over many of the details, but can't change the overall outcome.

[Amaster]

I experience all of those pretty frequently except Absolute Lucidity. Anytime I know Im dreaming I like to do really insane things like jump off of buildings and whatnot.

Anyone here ever experience Awareness of Sleep Paralysis? I dont know the full details, but it's a situation where you wake up and cant move. You will often either see or sense a malicious presence in the room, which is sometimes sitting on your chest. There's a rational explanation for it, but like I said, I dont remember what it is. I've experienced it though, and man is it horrible.

[Darkhaven3]

I dreamed I was in E1M5(PSX) just last night and I knew it was a dream. No cheats, tho - grabbed a shotgun and kicked zombie ass, on Nightmare skill I think it was.

Lucid dreams kick ass.

Yes, I've experienced that Paralysis thingie, and it was not pretty. The maliscious thing was a Baron of Hell standing on my chair and my monitor was busted (I think it came out of my PC). I think it's supposed to happen after a lucid dream, but I've experienced it without ever having a lucid dream. ???

[fraggle]

It helps greatly if you keep a journal of all your dreams.

[Doom-Child]

Hippie bullshit.

Of course, I routinely have dreams that come true in reality. Pretty scary shit. Hippie shit, but scary hippie shit, given some of my other dreams.

DC

[Draconio]

Assmaster said:

Anyone here ever experience Awareness of Sleep Paralysis? I dont know the full details, but it's a situation where you wake up and cant move. You will often either see or sense a malicious presence in the room, which is sometimes sitting on your chest. There's a rational explanation for it, but like I said, I dont remember what it is. I've experienced it though, and man is it horrible.

Yeah, I think that happened to me once. I was lying in bed and felt the certainty that a demon or vampire or something was coming down the hallway towards the door of my bedroom, but I couldn't move. I was trying to move my arms and legs but it was like they were locked down.

Something a bit opposite has happened to me once too. I once dreamed I was fighting a monster, and punched it, only to wake up finding that I had punched the radiator next to my bed and cut my knuckle. As a matter of fact, I think that may be what gave me the scar I have on my knuckle, and not the hamster bite I had previously credited for it.

Grazza said:

I've always found that sort of thing happens. You may have control over many of the details, but can't change the overall outcome.

Yeah, one time my first thought on realizing I was in a dream was "OMG I want sex" and a naked woman got put into the dream. But while I could look at her, I wasn't able to touch her. Quite frustrating really.

[Disorder]

fraggle said:

It helps greatly if you keep a journal of all your dreams.

I started doing that as of today.

[Fletcher`]

My life is a pre-lucid dream.

[Shaviro]

I don't remember ever having a lucid dream...I can, however, tell about some other stuff, fun and creepy.

I know this is not a real dream, but I was in a dream-like state. It was a year ago at a LAN-Party. It took place in the classroom at my old school with some classmates. I hadn't slept very well the days before the LAN and I was at that point already tired. The hours went by and I became more and more sleepy. Going some 60 hours straight without normal sleep had twisted my mind completely. Sounds were distorted and weird, I couldn't tell where they came from. A friend spoke to me, but had to ask me several times before I reacted...when I did react I looked in the wrong direction. Visuals were fucked up too, I thought I was in a completely different room. I could clearly see walls that were not there. Everything was a blur...I don't remember much from that LAN from that point.

I've also had those dreams were you keep waking up...those are annoying.

[insertwackynamehere]

Teh Matrix!!!!!11 Ahhhh!!!11

But seriously that sounds cool. Imagine, you could be in any video game with any woman, with whatever 1337 skillz you want!

[Arno]

Assmaster said:

Anyone here ever experience Awareness of Sleep Paralysis? I dont know the full details, but it's a situation where you wake up and cant move. You will often either see or sense a malicious presence in the room, which is sometimes sitting on your chest. There's a rational explanation for it, but like I said, I dont remember what it is. I've experienced it though, and man is it horrible.

From a website:Awareness during Sleep Paralysis, or ASP, is any Awareness during the Paralysis that naturally occurs in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep to prevents us from harming ourselves or others by acting out our dreams.

Pretty interesting website.

When I'm aware of my dream, I usually do one of two things. If it's a scary dream, I drop myself to the ground, which always causes me to wake up. If it's a nice dream, I'll be flying like Neo does in Matrix Reloaded.

[pritch]

Lüt said:

Alarm clock

Yeah I've incorporated the alarm clock into my dream before. I think it must be the brain's way of saying it's not done with dreaming yet, leave it alone. The one I distinctly remember I was climbing a tree and my alarm clock was on one of the boughs. I couldn't quite reach it and this ended in me waking up out of annoyance.

[Kid Airbag]

pritch said:

Yeah I've incorporated the alarm clock into my dream before. I think it must be the brain's way of saying it's not done with dreaming yet, leave it alone. The one I distinctly remember I was climbing a tree and my alarm clock was on one of the boughs. I couldn't quite reach it and this ended in me waking up out of annoyance.

I used to set my clock to play a CD when it went off, and on more than one occasion the music has been incorporated into my dreams.

[insertwackynamehere]

Kid Airbag said:

I used to set my clock to play a CD when it went off, and on more than one occasion the music has been incorporated into my dreams.

Yeah same here. In one of my dreams, I was in house or something (I don't really remember) and I hear music coming from a dollhouse, and I'm wandering around confused, and slowly drift out of sleep, and realize it's my radio.

[Darkhaven3]

Just last night I dreamed that I was trapped in hell, then when I woke up, I, like, was. Then I woke up again and I was on Earth during the Doom2 events, then I woke up again and I was in bed and I had the Awareness of Dream Paralysis. I just knew something extremely evil (Icon of Sin if it could walk, an Arch Vile, etc.) was coming towards my bed. It turned out to be my cousin. :P

I've also experienced a wierd loss of sleep scenario also, but it was at school. I could swear I was in an Alien Vendetta map.

[Sharessa]

There were two instances of that happening to me:

First of all was the time when I was standing on the bridge with my Dad in this huge city that is riddled with islands and inlets. Suddenly we see this huge tornado just ripping through the city and everyone around starts running. I dont get away fast enough and get picked up by the tornado. Its picking me up higher and higher and higher then it suddenly stops. I begin to fall.

First thing that pops into my head is "Oh shit I'm going to die", then "Wait, the water will cushion my impact", then "You idiot, water doesn't cushion your impact from this high up", then "Oh well, I had a good life" and I resigned myself to my fate. Then when i was about 50 feet above the water I saw for a breif instant, my computer hanging in midair at a 90 degree angle.

This startled me so much that I didnt realise I was amazingly still alive after impacting the water at 100 mph. As I slowly sank to the bottom I thought, "Why did I just see my computer there. Kinda looks like what I'd see if I were laying on my bed. Wait...ooooh, I get it. I'm dreaming." Then I woke up.

I guess I must have blinked while sleeping or something and got a brief flash of ocular vision there.

The other instance was back in 9th grade when I was borrowing Rammstein's Sensucht from a friend. I left it playing on repeat all night at a loud volume. Though i didnt actualy hear any of it in my dreams, all my dreams were in German, Only one wasn't and it had a Wolfenstein-like plot. :P

[DemonDemon]

In most of my dreams, I have full control. It may seem cool and all but there is something you should know... I'm VERY bad at lucid dreaming! I once dreamt I was in my house, and I knew it was a dream, so I decided, 'hey, this is boring, I'm gonna go outside'. :/ So I say to myself, 'ok, I'm gonna go over to the door, open it, and see a giant wearwolf'. ...can you guess what I found on the other side of the door? ._.; (luckly I seem to have a better time getting out of places by jumping out of windows. I don't even know WHY I decided in my dreams that diving through windows (open or closed) was an excelent way to leave a room. But it sure is fun. :) Usually when I have control of my dream, I just let it slip as I might just hurt myself with that kind of power. :|

Still makes me laugh when I wake up though. :D

[Zakath]

Sounds like some of you *MIGHT* have Astral Projected before...that is to say, if you even know what the hell I'm talking about, since thats what Disorders talking about.

Do a google search on 'Astral Projection'

It has to do with Out-Of-Body experiences. It also simulates what 'Death' is like.

ravage said:

My life is a pre-lucid dream.

That can be said for everyone.