Lucid Dreaming: Technique and Difficulty

[bomba923]

Hmm--what makes you guys think that just b/c a person "knows" he/she is dreaming...

...that they therefore have total control over it?

 

[Telos]

Hmm--what makes you guys think that just b/c a person "knows" he/she is dreaming...

...that they therefore have total control over it?

There seem to be so many people asking this question on the net these days... I don't know what's so difficult to understand.

Dreams are created by us. If you know that you're dreaming, you know that you are creating the scene.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I experience the following variation on the lucid dream on a regular basis:

In my dream I find some coins on the ground. The coins are bizarre in one way or another. For instance, Roosevelt's bust on a penny or a nickel with Jefferson on one side and a buffalo on the other. I know that I only see such coins in my dreams, so I perform the following test. I squeeze one of the coins in my hand to see if I can feel it. I feel it. I rejoice that finally I have really found these crazy coins and that this time I am not dreaming.

This dream occurs roughly two or three times a year. Someday perhaps, I will devise a more accurate test. If I do, then I expect it will either wake me up, or I will experience a true lucid dream.

 

[The_Bled]

I've been playing around with lucid dreaming for several months now, and it's the most amazing thing I've found the mind could do. If you don't know what it is, it's dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming. In a normal dream, you're convinced it's reality.

At first, it doesn't seem like a big deal, and most people I explain to about it don't jump up and get excited... in fact I'm usually brushed off. It seems "too good to be true" or just some more astrology crap. No superstitious stuff... only science.

There are so many different ways to achieve a lucid dream, and the most popular one is WILD (wake-induced lucid dream), where you pass directly from the waking into the dream world. The "journey" there can be frightening for people who don't know what's going on (hypnogogic imagery/sounds, intense vibrations, rapid spinning or flying feeling, sleep paralysis). In fact, that's how I discovered lucid dreaming, I accidentally had one of these WILDs when I lay down to take a nap did some research and poof, lucid dreaming.

The Tibetan Monks performed what are called "reality checks" 21 times a day to become lucid. It's very simple and you can come up with your own. For me, I simply say "Am I dreaming?" and the key is to say it with sincerity, then I try to poke through my palm with my finger. If I'm dreaming, it goes through, if not, it doesn't of course (unless your finger quantum tunnelled through your hand!).

If you think dreams aren't vivid enough to bother with... wrong. They can be extremely vivid to the point where there isn't much difference between the dream and reality. The common dream drug used is vitamin B6. I actually haven't used it that but it's worth a look into.

When you become lucid, you can control your dreams and make them be anything you want. You can fly into space and explore the universe, have sex with the girl of your dreams... whatever.

The site that educated me about everything is www.dreamviews.com . Simply an amazing site, with an extremely active, helpful, friendly forums. They are legit, trust me, there's nothing new-age on there except for "dream meaning or dream sharing" which I don't believe in. If you're starting out, read the homepage first then go to the forums > tutorials and just choose a topic (look into WILD).

It takes a lot of dedication and a stress-free mind... if you have neither, then you might not be very successful. If you don't get it the first night, or second night, or the first two weeks, keep trying. It took me 2 weeks before I had a lucid dream on purpose. It's worth the effort, believe me.

**There are some products out that are supposed to make you lucid dream, I have no idea if they work but you could try them out.:zzz:

 

[-Job-]

I wouldn't try this for the world. I think i would act out the lucid dreams. I've been very lucid in some of my sleepwalks and, though i do what i choose to do, since the reason for my walks is something that is bothering me or i feel like i should do, i only end up doing things that are either dangerous or ridiculous, not to mention the very unstable state a sleepwalker is on, with any little stimulus behavior may change drmatically. One of my biggest fears is of doing something to myself or others during sleep that i'll regret when i wake up. The most ridiculous of my sleepwalks involves walking outside at night to do a chore that i was supposed to have done during the day but that i artfully managed to skip (my guilt was very big for very little reason, it wasn't an important chore or anything) I remember everything very clearly. I remember opening the door, i remember my father (he was awake) asking me what i was doing and i remember how i replied "nothing". I remember walking out into the garden, my vision wasn't focused, kind of blurry, so i remember feeling my way around (my father later told me i was just going around in circles), then my father came outside and told me to go inside, an instruction i instinctively obeyed (he was a rough guy), and i went directly to bed. In the next morning i woke up without remembering much, but, like a dream, it started to come back to me. I remember checking my feet and seeing they were dusty and dirty and then feeling very bad, guilty and stupid, and i had to hear it from my father and 5 brothers for a long time after. One of my twin brothers may be worse than me, not in the magnitude of things he does but in how often.
If that was some sort of lucid dreaming, then i don't want it.

 

[___]

i had one yesterday.
in that i was being chased by some people. infront of me was a cliff and behind me, death. then i realized that i had this dream before too(that one was not lucid and i am not sure how it ended).
it was like playing with my memories of other dream life in a dream itself and veryfiying that i have had this before. i told myself that i have had this dream before, it is only a dream, and i can jump off the cliff nothing wil happen to me. i jumped.
i was also aware of my real life body. i had been wanting lucid dreams before and told myself not to open my real eyes. it was like being aware of my real body and the darkness of the bed-room and not wanting it.
after that i woke. as soon as i thought of the bedroom i was in and my real body, i woke up.

Beginner's Tips:

-Keep a Dream Diary.
-Set your alarm for six hours from when you go to sleep, look up at your "third eye" (the middle of your forehead) for a minute or so, and go back to sleep.
-Ask yourself several times a day "am I dreaming?" even when you know you're not. Think about it and find reasons why.
-Before you go to sleep tell yourself "I AM going to have a lucid dream" and believe it.
-Sleep as long as possible, 8 hours or more. (your alarm is at 6 hrs.)
-To trigger lucidity, try to find something that's broken. A common one is a broken lightswitch.

 

[Mk]

i was also aware of my real life body. i had been wanting lucid dreams before and told myself not to open my real eyes. it was like being aware of my real body and the darkness of the bed-room and not wanting it.
after that i woke. as soon as i thought of the bedroom i was in and my real body, i woke up.

I thought this was really weird.

Once instance, I was dreaming, dreaming a nice lucid dream. *thunder lashes outiside the window* in reality. I can feel my body try and wake up, for fear or inspection of this sudden loud noise. I say no way José, I'm having a nice dream here. We mingle (fourth person?), my instinct wins, I wake up, and yell "Dammit!" I get mad every time it happens. Dammit!

Keep a dream diary

This is important to raise your awareness of lucid dreaming. And its possibilities. You can look back and think about what you would have done differently, or changed. Also, so you can remember your dreams better. They can escape you rather quickly.

-Ask yourself several times a day "am I dreaming?" even when you know you're not.

This works very well, I am a much more frequent lucid dreamer now, and with a higher degree of lucidity. Ask yourself that as much as possible.

-Sleep as long as possible, 8 hours or more. (your alarm is at 6 hrs.)

Try and sleep like 10+ hours on one day a week. Or two or three. Just sleep in blocks as long as possible. And dammit when you have a dream lucid or not you want to remember, outline the events in your head twice, then write it down if you can. If you finish writing the dream (it doesn't have to be a great work), you'll remember it more vividly, and for much longer (x?).

They work, try them out. Reap the benefits.

 

[___]

I thought this was really weird.

Once instance, I was dreaming, dreaming a nice lucid dream. *thunder lashes outiside the window* in reality. I can feel my body try and wake up, for fear or inspection of this sudden loud noise. I say no way José, I'm having a nice dream here. We mingle (fourth person?), my instinct wins, I wake up, and yell "Dammit!" I get mad every time it happens. Dammit!

that was what i was trying to say. i was wanting it and i knew i was in it(my wishes realized). i was aware of my room, my earlier dreams, my body and the dream and also the power over it (being god of that universe).
and i got up with this realization.

 

[scott1]

http://www.dreamviews.com/index.php
Good site about lucid dreamign
I had a lucid dream once I was able to control anything in it all I could do was wake up.When I did wake I felt really weird(I'am not sure to describe)

 

[michealsmith]

cyclo ..im am part of the yahoo groups lucid dreraming group ..join us ..if u haven't already...here is a useful site moreless covers everything
http://brain.web-us.com/lucid/lucid...id Dreams to read 1 million words per minute?

 

[Evo]

I don't understand what all of the fuss is about. All my life I have been aware when I dream. I direct all of my dreams. I control them, it's like I'm directing a movie. If I don't like the way a dream is going, I can stop, rewind, and change it.

I also have dreams that continue after I wake up. Those are weird. The last one I had, a man was sitting at the end of my bed and offered me a drink. I was lying down and he held the glass out to me, so I sat up and reached my hand out to take the glass, but everytime I tried to close my fingers around the glass to hold it, my fingers went through the glass instead. I then realized that the man was becomming transparent and so was the glass. I realized I was trying to take and hold a glass that was actually in a dream and hold it in real life, I couldn't. I was wide awake watching the deame scene which was superimposed over what was real in the room slowly vanish.

 

[mugsby]

you want the most vivid lucid dreams of your life, take antipsychotic medication 4 hours before you sleep.

 

[Mk]

I don't understand what all of the fuss is about. All my life I have been aware when I dream.

Yar, in all dreams I eventually become lucid, its just a matter of time really. But the more intense the dream is, the quicker I become lucid. I feel sorry for people with nightmares :( I don't have any. I always become lucid if the dream starts to get scary.

I also have dreams that continue after I wake up. Those are weird. The last one I had, a man was sitting at the end of my bed and offered me a drink. I was lying down and he held the glass out to me, so I sat up and reached my hand out to take the glass, but everytime I tried to close my fingers around the glass to hold it, my fingers went through the glass instead. I then realized that the man was becomming transparent and so was the glass. I realized I was trying to take and hold a glass that was actually in a dream and hold it in real life, I couldn't. I was wide awake watching the deame scene which was superimposed over what was real in the room slowly vanish.

A false awakening? A kind of dream where you thought you woke up from a lucid dream, and you may even move around, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water (or in your case an alcoholic drink), but later you wake up again. What is really strange is if you wake up from a dream where you thought you woke up. If I woke up from a dream where I thought I woke up from a dream in which I thought I woke up my head would explode from the insanity.

 

[Mk]

you want the most vivid lucid dreams of your life, take antipsychotic medication 4 hours before you sleep.

I was thinking... one of my friends recently had an appendectomy, she said the morphine caused terrible nightmares. This maybe a side-effect or just that she made a connection, but maybe I should take some morphine for lucid dreams.

 

[gumbythescientist]

EVO I believe those dreams that continue when you are awake are known as nightterrors for some people these nightterrors can be horrible expeirences. The reason is usually since when people wake up they assume the dream is over but then they see a vision such as the man you saw and assume its real. This can be vary bad for the person sometimes because he/she assumes the vision is actually a burgler or murderer in their house but its just remant of the dream. One of my friends went several weeks were he saw a shadowy figures walking through his house with a knife or some kind of weapon. He almost went insane until he convinced himself it was just a nightterror.

 

[gumbythescientist]

This website better explains nighterrors.
www.nightterrors.org

 

[Mk]

I remember when I had night terrors. I was like five. I'm very sure I learned lucid dreaming from them.

I was just in a hypnogougic state today. Beautiful. Reds and blues and purples and greys, oranges. Wow. I also saw a women's face, and a man's upper torso + head and neck. He was pleasently disfigured. (for lack of better terminology) He was like spitting out decks of cards too...

I tried to focus in on a part of what I was *seeing* when I did, it quickly grew faint, and turned grayscale.

I also one time noticed I was falling too asleep for comfort. My objective was to get past the hypnogougic state, into dreamworld. Like I read at the lucidity institute, I pictured myself climbing up stairs. It worked! I stayed awake.

I was also almost fully awake in terms of the audio world, that's what kicked me out of hypnogougia. The power went out (happens too frequently in Guam), and scowling, I got up. Had to turn all the stuff on backup battery off. Like my computer. I really love my computer.