Beginner Questions Welcome!

Hello! I have read many of the articles but mostly it makes no sense to me. So can you help me? I would like to know if I could achieve Lucid Dreaming as a beginner by using hypnagogia and go immediately into LDing? If not, can you give me some strategies that are easy for beginners to try out, mostly idiot-proof(that'd be me) to guarantee lucid dreams soon? Thank you! (P.S. I read something about twitching your finger a little and that'll help you LD?)

Hi, I have a question.

I have not had my first lucid dream yet, but I am expecting one soon. I will probably try using super powers once I stabilize the dream, but I have a question about that...

I would like to become the super hero I made up, The Black Panther, a panther-humanoid cross species, but is it possible to turn into something that drastic in a LD? If so, how? I think it would be harder than just commanding the dream to turn you into something strange like that.

Thanks for any help :)

Is there a certain age where your brain is developed enough to actually have a lucid dream? Just a thought...

Ive done a lot of research on LD and OBE since 2006, but havent taken it seriously till now. Two nights ago I stayed up till 730am with friends then fell asleep and had a very vivid dream. I thought i woke up but was actually dreaming. I "woke up" to my mom and brothers in my apartment. This was shocking cuz i was sleeping naked like i do most nights. So i was asking them what r u doing here while covering my junk with my blanket. Then i noticed there was melting snow outside and it hadnt snowed in weeks. Bewildered by the situation I started asking myself questions and checking them off. "am I on drugs?" "am I going crazy?" "what the hell is going on?". I couldnt find the answer and I dont know why i didnt ask the question am I dreaming? I knew that it wasnt real. I feel like I was soo close to lucid dreaming but not quite. What did I do wrong? The next day I dreamed I was on my Harley on the highway and it was scary cuz it didnt turn as good as it used to and i was going 90+mph. Again I knew it wasnt real but didnt know it was a dream. So I said screw it and closed my eyes and did a couple of free floating backflips. While doing this i was still going fast and could hear the wind and everything. After I opened my eyes my bike was back to normal and I had much better control of it and slowed down. Was this lucid dreaming? How do i do this more often and with more control? Thanks

:shock: Ok, I just had a crazy experience. I'm not sure if it was a WILD or my epilepsy, but I know I've never experienced this before. So, I decided to take a nap cause I was tired, and I made a lame attempt at SILD (senses induced lucid dream). I got bored of it and just decided to let my mind wander. Well, I guess it wandered a little too far, cause I was seeing weird, distorted tiki faces, and I remember passing through an old archway in a car. But they disappeared after a while.

Then, things got crazy. My eyes would NOT stop twitching, I felt really cold, and through my closed lids, I was seeing flashing white lights. On top of all this, I felt like I was rolling down a hill really fast (I didn't see a landscape though). My heart rate must have picked up to 200 mph, cause I was in a panic. I opened my eyes just to make sure I was still alive, but the world was STILL spinning! @_@

I closed my eyes again and the spinning stopped. Finally, I was just fed up with it all and got up. (Whenever I wake up in the mornings, I'm all shaky cause of the epilepsy). I dunno what that whole deal was, but I'm not about to try it again. FYI: I don't take ecstacy or anything of that sort, and I hadn't had caffeine for a few days.

is there any techniqes simmiler to Wi=ILD but have a low chance of causing sleep parilys

Ok so i got a situation:

whenever i try to fall asleep with while playing a lucid dream in my mind to trigger a genuine lucid dream while sleeping, i simply can't manage to fall asleep. It's just because i'm focusing that i stay awake. I just don't get how anyone could fall asleep while focusing on something.. i don't see how it's possible.

Can anyone explain this?

have an exausting week. Works with me. I get an immediate wild.

Hello, I just wanted to know if you had to be exact when it comes to waking up 5 hours after you go to sleep so you can interrupt R.E.M. sleep. Because, it usually takes me about 10-15 minutes to actually go to sleep. So, say it's 9:00 P.M. and I set my alarm for 2:00 A.M., but I actually go to sleep at around 9:20 P.M., would this time difference matter much?

I just found out that my best friend (13) knows about Lucid Dreaming too. He says that, at his old school, they made their own "dreamworld" together. They even made some crazy-ass things, like Facebook, but if u click on your friend he or she pops up next to you, and many others I cannot bother to write, one of them including a type of bank process but you can't make your own money in the "server" somehow. Robert Wagoner (I think that's his last name at least) did say he shared a friends dream, but I do doubt a scale of at least more than 10 people could join in one dream. He did say it "lagged". I kinda doubt this, maybe he was overreacting or something. Anyways, I still wanted to know if its possible, or at least what is true about what he said, and what's false. :|

Krishna12 wrote: I have been lucid dreaming for years now. Usually the dreams are nightmares though. For instance the reason that I am awake right now is because I just had one. It took me four hours to fall asleep, though looking back I think I might have been dreaming that I was trying to fall asleep. When I finally "fell asleep", I woke up immediently with a terrible feeing that someone was breaking into my house. I got up quietly and tried to turn on the light. The switch would not work and my eyes were so heavy that I could barely open them. I opened the door and rushed to the hallway to turn on the light, my eyes were still heavy, but I could see shadows of people. I ran to my roommates room and began to shake her. This is when I realized that I was dreaming. I tried to make the dream better and began screaming at her, but all that came out was mummbling. I drug her to the living room and kept shaking her. I was screaming out(though it was muffled) wake up, wake up to myself! I could not get myself out of the dream. Finally I bit myself so hard that I woke myself out of the dream. Any ideas on better ways to get yourself out of nightmares? Usually I can yell at myself to wake up, but the last few dreams, where I realze that I am dreaming, it seems harder and harder to get out of them.

Now this is something I can help you with! For me, nightmares help me get lucid so I even try to get them :lol: . Some of this I should thank to my older sister. She said to me that whenever I have monsters in my dream I should throw soap at them and be happy. I know, funny, but it helped me. I'm not saying you should do this exactly, but that you should just be happy and look at everything positively. Just laugh at them instead of asking them why you're doing this and that like most people would say. That gives an atmosphere of seriousness, and so more bravery to break out. If this is hard for you, maybe you should be positive on your real life as well. It helps a lot. If you read a lot of books, and you can't seem to become happy in a nightmare, just let yourself be inspired by characters! Authors tend to make them brave, smart, or something like that. As for me, I like reading ALOT, I even read adult books already. Therefore I like to become characters in my dreams and turn the nightmare into a battlefield with an army of stories at my side. So long, scary things! I know this might be hard for you, since I'm a child and there's always a level of fun for us kids, with less stress than an adult. But this is the best advice I can give to you from my perspective. But kids have loads of arrogance ;)

I can enter a deep deep daydream whenever I want, due to my ADD, age (13), and wild imagination, even I have to admit. I can enter another world during class whenever I want, even with the concentration pill. Yet when I LD its hard to control stuff, while my first LD, a lucky WILD, I could do it easily. Its even hard to STAY lucid with the stabilization checks. Why so? Is there any way I could use my knack of day dreaming for lucid dreaming?

Sterre Duiker wrote:

parinaz-t wrote:hi!im actually asking this question on behalf of one of my friends!she has been a lucid dreamer for a long time without even knowing what exactly it is!but as i was talking to her the other day she said that she wasnt having any fun during LD!she said that just as she realizes that she is dreaming everything starts to seem fake to her!for example she is able to summen some one and talk to him!but she cant belive it and she thinks what he says is just her own thoughts!it is unbelivable for me,but she told me that she prefers not to get lucid anymore to enjoy her dreams but she cant stop it! does anyone know what she is doing wrong??

A person who Lucid Dreams easily? Lucky! I would have no idea how to stop being lucid but she could try doing a lot of hard things in her dreams maybe? Doing that for me always gets me in a Non-lucid state due to the complications. It tires me. Maybe she could ask a dream person what to do but I doubt that might work if she thinks its herself answering :lol: . Or else just say out loud she wants to be non-lucid or something. These are just guesses because I haven't heard of this before, but it never hurts to try. Sorry I know nothing else. If I could do what she had even with the same problems I'd try to make it fun though :) .

yes she just thinks she herself is answering the questions:))but trying to do sth difficult may work for her and I'm gonna tell her!thnx:)

Yow,

A In my last lucid dream i saw an old lady somewhere in the 70-80 and i showed her how high i could jump (what must be flying) and she smiled and told she won't do that, becouse it's dangerous. I am wondering.. What part of the brain did she represent? If i am thinking it must be wisdom/common sense, What are you guys thought 'bout it?

Dark wolf wrote: Yow,

A In my last lucid dream i saw an old lady somewhere in the 70-80 and i showed her how high i could jump (what must be flying) and she smiled and told she won't do that, becouse it's dangerous. I am wondering.. What part of the brain did she represent? If i am thinking it must be wisdom/common sense, What are you guys thought 'bout it?

maybe just an intrusion of your waking life thoughts/feelings about elderly people coming thou subconsciously into the dream eg a part of you may be thinking that its unsafe for a very elderly person to do very high jumps in the air.

it is also very likely to subconsciously symbolically represent something else too.. sorry right now I cant think what high jumps can symbolise so cant give u any clues for the actual possible message of this dream. umm high jumps.. maybe freedom?? Maybe a part of yourself which is often holding you back. Im not sure if the age is representing a "higher part of yourself' eg wisdom..thou old age can. Higher parts of ourself (our wisdom parts) often like to be in high places and would love to be doing high jumps not rather holding ourselves back. To me its not feeling right but as its your dream.. its what feels important to you which is important.

Sander wrote:

taniaaust1 wrote:Sleep paralyses is nothing to do with the sensations felt thou various sensations often do appear in a sleep paralyses state eg buzzing. Sleep paralyses is having ones physical body PARALYSED.

If a person has sleep paralyses when they try to move.. they cant.. eg if you tried to move your whole body.. you couldnt move even when you try..this is sleep paralyses. Hence why at that point people end up focusing on eg a single finger or toe as it usually takes an INTENSE FOCUS to break what is sleep paralyses (not a half hearted effort to move like it sounds you did in your attempt as you were trying not to wake up). You cant see if you have sleep paralyses or not by trying to move but not wake up your physical body as then you truely arent "really trying" to physically move at all.

I suggest to think about rolling out of bed next time you get those sensations.

If you get sleep paralyses... you will know and wont need to be asking that question.

thanks for your reply. the reason i thought it was sleep paralysis was because of the sounds. i've read that this is a common sensation in people that experiance sleep paralysis. I also read that having a sleep paralysis event is a good opputunity to induce a LD, so trying to roll out of my bed is not really an option for me, as i'm still trying to achieve my first LD after putting it on hold for a while. So what do you suggest alternatively? What should i do to induce a LD/OBE when i'm experiencing this sensation again?

If you want to LD you need to let your mind go more and start drifting a little. (but when still hopefully maintainiing awareness. Relaxation for LD isnt just about physical relaxation, the mind needs to be able to drift enough that subconscious images can start coming in so a deeper state there then for an OBE (its hard to say how close you were to LD). For OBE its different.. you dont need to get your subconscious mind creating stuff but rather for those need to shift your energy elsewhere so that you are (that can also trigger off a LD as well due to the imagining..for LD you need to be able to start to imagine stuff). You could be completely in the right state for OBE yet not know it as you havent tried to move away from your physical body.

Dark wolf wrote: Yow,

A In my last lucid dream i saw an old lady somewhere in the 70-80 and i showed her how high i could jump (what must be flying) and she smiled and told she won't do that, becouse it's dangerous. I am wondering.. What part of the brain did she represent? If i am thinking it must be wisdom/common sense, What are you guys thoughts 'bout it?

http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/ Elderly To see an elderly person in your dream represents wisdom or spiritual power. Pay attention to the message or advice that the elderly person is conveying to you. He or she can help provide life answers and solutions to your problems and try to guide you toward the right direction.

I advise you not to jump off the swimming-pool high board today.

taniaaust1 wrote: If you want to LD you need to let your mind go more and start drifting a little. (but when still hopefully maintainiing awareness. Relaxation for LD isnt just about physical relaxation, the mind needs to be able to drift enough that subconscious images can start coming in so a deeper state there then for an OBE (its hard to say how close you were to LD). For OBE its different.. you dont need to get your subconscious mind creating stuff but rather for those need to shift your energy elsewhere so that you are (that can also trigger off a LD as well due to the imagining..for LD you need to be able to start to imagine stuff). You could be completely in the right state for OBE yet not know it as you havent tried to move away from your physical body.

not sure i got that...

Sander wrote:

taniaaust1 wrote:If you want to LD you need to let your mind go more and start drifting a little. (but when still hopefully maintainiing awareness. Relaxation for LD isnt just about physical relaxation, the mind needs to be able to drift enough that subconscious images can start coming in so a deeper state there then for an OBE (its hard to say how close you were to LD). For OBE its different.. you dont need to get your subconscious mind creating stuff but rather for those need to shift your energy elsewhere so that you are (that can also trigger off a LD as well due to the imagining..for LD you need to be able to start to imagine stuff). You could be completely in the right state for OBE yet not know it as you havent tried to move away from your physical body.

not sure i got that...

AKA, when you are falling asleep, let go of your current thoughts and start with a blank mind. Forget about recent problems. Be calm. Close your eyes and do nothing. Slowly, you will see random patterns or visions. This is your mind drifting away. Don't resist as your brain leads you to where it wants. Let it have its fun for a while, at least until you are calm and a little satisfied. Then just say "I want to be Lucid" in your head. Maybe just give the word. It works with me sometimes. Thats for having an LD, I can't explain how to do OBEs.

To see a shadowy figure in your dream represents characteristics which you have not acknowledged or incorporated into your own personality. Alternatively, it symbolizes the young, the helpless or the under-developed.

This might sound weird, but I just had to share. You see, I have constantly been imagining the same shadow dude when day dreaming. He also seems to appear a lot in my dream logs. So I spoke to him when I was lucid once, and he told me he was my "dream figure." :?: Now it gets weirder. I recently cannot remember my dreams, but I get small snippets of him helping or teaching or advising of some sort. One shred of the dream is when I just wrote a book that he...inspired :| me with. Like in the definition, he's like a characteristic of me I haven't used. In this case, that missing personality is writing. Ever since, I often have the need to put something down on paper. I create random, unfinished paragraphs. Sometimes I suddenly have this mad urge to write a short story, and I do it in 3 hours, though it seems like minutes. My English teacher also happens to read one or two of my unfinished "stories" in my notebook and says they're amazing. Now here's the creepy part. When I daydream, I get a simple plan for a book, and suddenly I'm in it, part of the story, visual pictures and all, creating it along the way in a mere 15 minutes of zoning out. The shadow dude is sometimes part of it, which results to really good stories, otherwise he....becomes a...talking...part of my personality. Isn't that a little crazy, a talking characteristic? Its like I'm listening to voices inside my head. When you have conversations with an imaginary figure in your heads that means your psycho, right? It does run in the family because one of my aunts is crazy. Could it be possible I have it? I heard some Whack'Os have high IQs, like me. Be honest, because the sooner I know, the better it is. I'm even afraid to LD now. Should I visit a psychologist?

So last night I had my first, I think 'real success'. It was quite short though. I was sitting the the passenger side of my mother's SUV(the interior was similar, not quite the same. I assume my mother was driving, there was a female in the seat next to me.), and as soon as we pulled into a garage I suddenly shouted "I'M DREAMING!".(No reaction from my neighbor) I watched myself lean forward as i said this in third person directly behind and above my head, and suddenly I was in first person. At this point I believe I was in control of myself, I felt my heart beating hard, I'd read that most people shock themselves out of their first time. I tried to calm down, did my chosen reality check, which is trying to put my hand through my hand, usually my right through my left... but it didn't go through! I could feel my nails pressing against the skin, even though I pushed as hard as i could. I got disheartened after that, I then went with the dream and then got out of the car and pushed some random buggy as my mom said, "Help me unload the car." The buggy swerved close to the car when i tried to push it, and I remember ditching it and walking around the back of the vehical toward the house. At that point I woke up, thought about what I had seen and felt long enough for it to take hold in my memory, and then went back to sleep. I had normal dreams the rest of the night. This entire experience felt like it lasted around 10-12 seconds.

My typical routine is to watch the shapes when i close my eyes, and wait for them to look like something, at one point I was seeing momentary color images, that would sort of get closer and farther as if they were resting just under a dark surface of water, like momentary holes in the froth. (funny story, I ended up dreaming about being able to see black and white images through my eyelids that time, i remember complaining that there wasn't enough light in my room to see more words on the pages on the book i was trying to read.) This was my second small breakthrough. The first was when I dreamed I was sitting in a fast food joint, then tried to put on a pair of sweat pants only to find that I was already wearing an identical pair. I felt confused for a brief moment because I didn't remember putting the first pair on, but then I took off the extra and went back to eating, then stole an iPad and a laptop from a nearby table.

Was I not completely lucid, or was the exhilaration and seeming control just another part of the dream? I'm wondering if me talking about lucid dreaming and how I've been creating characters out of fragments of my personality or psyche right before I went to sleep caused me to only dream about being lucid. Is it possible to be in control of yourself, but not the dream?

I've only been at this for about three and a half weeks now, I discovered this forum two weeks ago, but only just made an account today since I finally have something relatively meaningful to share. I'm going to go to sleep now, I'll be back on in the morning.

alfedrier wrote: and suddenly I was in first person. At this point I believe I was in control of myself, I felt my heart beating hard, I'd read that most people shock themselves out of their first time. I tried to calm down, did my chosen reality check, which is trying to put my hand through my hand, usually my right through my left... but it didn't go through! I could feel my nails pressing against the skin, even though I pushed as hard as i could. I got disheartened after that, I then went with the dream

I think it sounds as if you were lucid but when your reality check failed.. you probably felt confused at that point and hence just then went along with the dream (as it can be harder to use your waking mind when dreaming even if you know you are dreaming). Things not going as expected can confuse esp if lucid but not to the level they are in normal waking life.

Congrats :D (try not to be so put off when things dont go as expected. LD is a balance between the waking consciousness and the subconciousness so unexpected things do and will happen at times)

Sterre Duiker wrote: To see a shadowy figure in your dream represents characteristics which you have not acknowledged or incorporated into your own personality. Alternatively, it symbolizes the young, the helpless or the under-developed.

This might sound weird, but I just had to share. You see, I have constantly been imagining the same shadow dude when day dreaming. He also seems to appear a lot in my dream logs. So I spoke to him when I was lucid once, and he told me he was my "dream figure." :?: Now it gets weirder. I recently cannot remember my dreams, but I get small snippets of him helping or teaching or advising of some sort. One shred of the dream is when I just wrote a book that he...inspired :| me with. Like in the definition, he's like a characteristic of me I haven't used. In this case, that missing personality is writing. Ever since, I often have the need to put something down on paper. I create random, unfinished paragraphs. Sometimes I suddenly have this mad urge to write a short story, and I do it in 3 hours, though it seems like minutes. My English teacher also happens to read one or two of my unfinished "stories" in my notebook and says they're amazing. Now here's the creepy part. When I daydream, I get a simple plan for a book, and suddenly I'm in it, part of the story, visual pictures and all, creating it along the way in a mere 15 minutes of zoning out. The shadow dude is sometimes part of it, which results to really good stories, otherwise he....becomes a...talking...part of my personality. Isn't that a little crazy, a talking characteristic? Its like I'm listening to voices inside my head. When you have conversations with an imaginary figure in your heads that means your psycho, right? It does run in the family because one of my aunts is crazy. Could it be possible I have it? I heard some Whack'Os have high IQs, like me. Be honest, because the sooner I know, the better it is. I'm even afraid to LD now. Should I visit a psychologist?

No you dont at all need a psychologist... you know he's not "real" but rather a part of you and he's not making you do bad or crazy things. Sounds cool :) .. let him talk away. (I wouldnt thou tell others in your real life thou that you have another talking in your head as they may get the wrong idea)

taniaaust1 wrote:

alfedrier wrote: and suddenly I was in first person. At this point I believe I was in control of myself, I felt my heart beating hard, I'd read that most people shock themselves out of their first time. I tried to calm down, did my chosen reality check, which is trying to put my hand through my hand, usually my right through my left... but it didn't go through! I could feel my nails pressing against the skin, even though I pushed as hard as i could. I got disheartened after that, I then went with the dream

I think it sounds as if you were lucid but when your reality check failed.. you probably felt confused at that point and hence just then went along with the dream (as it can be harder to use your waking mind when dreaming even if you know you are dreaming). Things not going as expected can confuse esp if lucid but not to the level they are in normal waking life.

Congrats :D (try not to be so put off when things dont go as expected. LD is a balance between the waking consciousness and the subconciousness so unexpected things do and will happen at times)

Awesome! That makes me feel so much better. Now if only I could figure out why a lot of my dreams either revolve around pants or me not wearing any. :/

alfedrier wrote:

taniaaust1 wrote:alfedrier wrote: and suddenly I was in first person. At this point I believe I was in control of myself, I felt my heart beating hard, I'd read that most people shock themselves out of their first time. I tried to calm down, did my chosen reality check, which is trying to put my hand through my hand, usually my right through my left... but it didn't go through! I could feel my nails pressing against the skin, even though I pushed as hard as i could. I got disheartened after that, I then went with the dream

I think it sounds as if you were lucid but when your reality check failed.. you probably felt confused at that point and hence just then went along with the dream (as it can be harder to use your waking mind when dreaming even if you know you are dreaming). Things not going as expected can confuse esp if lucid but not to the level they are in normal waking life.

Congrats :D (try not to be so put off when things dont go as expected. LD is a balance between the waking consciousness and the subconciousness so unexpected things do and will happen at times)

Awesome! That makes me feel so much better. Now if only I could figure out why a lot of my dreams either revolve around pants or me not wearing any. :/

I just had to add, It was too tempting :) .

Pants To see or wear pants in your dream suggest that you are questioning your role in some situation. Consider the material and color of the pants for additional interpretation. Alternatively, the dream may be hinting at some sexual matter.

To dream that you are wearing velvet pants signifies your sensual side.

bumming really hard right now... i was in a dream and everything all seemed so real, i was so cinvinced that i wasn't dreaming that i told my gf and even did a RC to prove it. the RC failed and my point was confirmed. the worst part is that at some point before i did the RC, i noticed something was off... but my mind refused to believe that i was dreaming.. :( i couldn't be dreaming because everything i saw, everythingi felt, everything i said just felt so real :(

how do i increase my awareness in the dreamworld?

Sander wrote: bumming really hard right now... i was in a dream and everything all seemed so real, i was so cinvinced that i wasn't dreaming that i told my gf and even did a RC to prove it. the RC failed and my point was confirmed.

that's what you did wrong.. you were convinced you were not dreaming!! Hence due to that your reality check failed. What you believe will happen in a dream and you need not to be biased towards whether you are dreaming or not when you do your reality check other wise they wont work. When you do a reality check.. you got to be genuinely wanting to know "Are I dreaming or not?" and realise that you could well be.

Setting out to "prove" you arent dreaming.. that reality check basically had no chance of succeding.

how do i increase my awareness in the dreamworld?

Your awareness wasnt at all the issue in that dream but rather your need to prove you were right which was the issue. (One will nearly always prove oneself to be right about something in the dream world even if you are wrong). You need to be open to other possibilities and that you may be wrong about some things. Being closed minded in the dream world will block out all kinds of things as it will conform to your own expectations of it.

taniaaust1 wrote:

Sander wrote:bumming really hard right now... i was in a dream and everything all seemed so real, i was so cinvinced that i wasn't dreaming that i told my gf and even did a RC to prove it. the RC failed and my point was confirmed.

that's what you did wrong.. you were convinced you were not dreaming!! Hence due to that your reality check failed. What you believe will happen in a dream and you need not to be biased towards whether you are dreaming or not when you do your reality check other wise they wont work. When you do a reality check.. you got to be genuinely wanting to know "Are I dreaming or not?" and realise that you could well be.

Setting out to "prove" you arent dreaming.. that reality check basically had no chance of succeding.

how do i increase my awareness in the dreamworld?

Your awareness wasnt at all the issue in that dream but rather your need to prove you were right which was the issue. (One will nearly always prove oneself to be right about something in the dream world even if you are wrong). You need to be open to other possibilities and that you may be wrong about some things. Being closed minded in the dream world will block out all kinds of things as it will conform to your own expectations of it. and THAT is what i don't get... how do i control what i'm thinking in the dream world?? i don't have the slightest bit of free will. While dreaming.. everything just happens.. my actions, everything i say... even my thoughts are completely beyond me... when i woke up i immediately realized thtat i was dreaming, but during my dream, my subconcious was convinced that this was reality. THAT is my question... how do i make my dream self realize that there is a possibility that this is all a dream??

Sander wrote: and THAT is what i don't get... how do i control what i'm thinking in the dream world?? i don't have the slightest bit of free will. While dreaming.. everything just happens.. my actions, everything i say... even my thoughts are completely beyond me... when i woke up i immediately realized thtat i was dreaming, but during my dream, my subconcious was convinced that this was reality. THAT is my question... how do i make my dream self realize that there is a possibility that this is all a dream??

Then you do really have problems. If you havent got enough of your normal waking consciousness (eg not lucid enough) coming into the dream, you wont be able to control your thoughts at all. If you have full lucidity you will be fully in control of your thoughts and actions as much control as you have in real life. Lucidity varies from knowing you are dreaming while in the dream and having partial control to having full control. If someone has NO control at all over their own thoughts or actions but think they are lucid.. it may be cause they are only dreaming they are lucid rather then they actually are.

It wasnt at all a lucid dream then if you only realised it was a dream once you woke up.. you were still completely in your subconscious mind rather then your waking mind coming into things too. It sounds as if you dreamed you were lucid rather then really being lucid.

taniaaust1 wrote: Then you do really have problems. If you havent got enough of your normal waking consciousness (eg not lucid enough) coming into the dream, you wont be able to control your thoughts at all. If you have full lucidity you will be fully in control of your thoughts and actions as much control as you have in real life. Lucidity varies from knowing you are dreaming while in the dream and having partial control to having full control. If someone has NO control at all over their own thoughts or actions but think they are lucid.. it may be cause they are only dreaming they are lucid rather then they actually are.

It wasnt at all a lucid dream then if you only realised it was a dream once you woke up.. you were still completely in your subconscious mind rather then your waking mind coming into things too. It sounds as if you dreamed you were lucid rather then really being lucid.

i'm not saying i was lucid.. i missed a great oppurtunity to become lucid.. the problem is that my mind has no intention to question the dream world. I had a lucid dream once, but that was an accidental WILD, i think.. That 1 lasted for about 20 minutes and was a fun experience. I only had 1 lucid dream that was induced by realizing something was weird and doing a RC to see if i was dreaming and that one only lasted for 5 seconds at best (was my second and last LD).

My question, thus, is: how to make my mind take a more critical position while dreaming. I'm doing my RC's mindfully, so i'm pretty sure that's not the problem.

This question is not related to Lucid Dreaming but I'm guessing you adults should have experience with this. For some reason I can't seem to fall asleep for a week now. I barely get 5 hrs of shut-eye per night. My mind is always busy thinking of complicated stuff sub-consciously, and I get a lot of head-aches. I'm physically awake but mentally I'm exhausted. What am i doing wrong?

Sterre Duiker wrote: This question is not related to Lucid Dreaming but I'm guessing you adults should have experience with this. For some reason I can't seem to fall asleep for a week now. I barely get 5 hrs of shut-eye per night. My mind is always busy thinking of complicated stuff sub-consciously, and I get a lot of head-aches. I'm physically awake but mentally I'm exhausted. What am i doing wrong?

Obviously, your mind is too jumbled with thoughts... are you having trouble at some point or aspect in your life? Pondering too much about things is sure to cause you a lot of hours awake in your bed, trying to get some sleep. Dust off these thoughts and try to make your mind blank. Otherwise think about fun stuff.. like things you would like to do when you have an LD, recall a past fun experience... stuff like that. You can also try to meditate shortly before you go to bed. This is likely to calm your mind and body and you will fall asleep faster.

One question: do you game before you go to bed? If yes, that could be the problem. Try to stop gaming for at least half an hour before you turn in.

Sander wrote:

Sterre Duiker wrote:This question is not related to Lucid Dreaming but I'm guessing you adults should have experience with this. For some reason I can't seem to fall asleep for a week now. I barely get 5 hrs of shut-eye per night. My mind is always busy thinking of complicated stuff sub-consciously, and I get a lot of head-aches. I'm physically awake but mentally I'm exhausted. What am i doing wrong?

Obviously, your mind is too jumbled with thoughts... are you having trouble at some point or aspect in your life? Pondering too much about things is sure to cause you a lot of hours awake in your bed, trying to get some sleep. Dust off these thoughts and try to make your mind blank. Otherwise think about fun stuff.. like things you would like to do when you have an LD, recall a past fun experience... stuff like that. You can also try to meditate shortly before you go to bed. This is likely to calm your mind and body and you will fall asleep faster.

One question: do you game before you go to bed? If yes, that could be the problem. Try to stop gaming for at least half an hour before you turn in.

I've tried making my mind clear but 5 minutes later I'm thinking about complicated things again. I have stopped gaming 30 minutes before sleeping to read. And of course I ponder :P . Maybe I need to learn how to be calm or learn a couple of tricks of sleeping. (No counting sheeps I'm bad at math)

focusing on your breath is another way to calm your mind...

otherwise, google some relaxation techniques. Stephen Laberge's 'Exploring the world of lucid dreaming' book describes some of these.

Sterre Duiker wrote: AAARGH! Remembered me becoming lucid again! I don't remember anything else after that :x this is, like, the 3rd night in a row.

you should be happy. It means you're progressing :) you should read some on dream stabilization en set a thorough intention that you'll use a stabilization technique when u become lucid again.

gotta think positive ;)

Sander wrote:

Sterre Duiker wrote:AAARGH! Remembered me becoming lucid again! I don't remember anything else after that :x this is, like, the 3rd night in a row.

you should be happy. It means you're progressing :) you should read some on dream stabilization en set a thorough intention that you'll use a stabilization technique when u become lucid again.

gotta think positive ;)

Good idea :) . Where can I read something about dream stabilization?

dunno... the blog... stephen laberge's book 'exploring the world of lucid dreaming', etc

I've noticed that when I'm dreaming normally, I remember it. When I'm lucid, I forget it (and I just started reading about dream stabilization today Sander, don't worry I took your advice):lol: . I just remember this from a lucid dream, IDK if it might help in any way. (Blur=forgot) -Blur-I'm in this chamber and lucid (don't know how I got there) I kind of realize that I have angel wings (no I'm not religious) on me and they're perfectly crafted of smooth blue metal, silver, diamond, and ice. I think they were more "angels" with me, probably 3 of them. The chamber is like a secret Aztec-Mexican-ish themed place with a secret passage in front of me which looks like a decorated sun. I think I'm supposed to enter it.-Blur- BTW, before this, I've always day dreamed-don't ask, long story- of someone teaching me in lucid dreams on how to do it but me always forgetting when I wake up.(I was pretty stressed not being able to LD in, like, half a year) Even then, this daydreaming was 3 months ago or so. Feed back? It seems kind of fishy to me :P

Sterre Duiker wrote: Good idea :) . Where can I read something about dream stabilization?

I know there has been some good posts on the forum where we talked quite abit about our dream stabilization techniques..sorry I cant thou remember which ones. There are a ton of different things one can try thou to do that.

My latest dream stabilization technique is to bring an ex lover who I still like, into my dream and ask this DC then to touch me (not sexually thou but in a way thou which puts my focus strong onto the dream and excites me just a little. I then walk off as soon as I feel more stabilized (if you try this technique, you got to make sure you dont take things too far as that will wake u up). Its kind of funny as after doing that to my ex lover DC.. he was left looking rather disappointed by the second time I did that to him.

Having the DC do the moving and touching me..tends to work better for me then if Im about to loose a dream and I try to move to touch something in the dream, in which can at times cause me to then loose it at that moment.

I recently also found that me singing in the dream about the things I can see in the dream, can also stabilize me.

For myself big no nos if I arent stable are focusing on my hand (makes me drop out), spinning makes me drop out, moving fast makes me drop out... You'll have to play around to find what works best for you.

one question that has been on my mind is when you have sex, can you stay in the dream instead of waking up because you get too excited. i always wanted to know if proffessional lucid dreamers can stay in the dream while having sex.

btifuldreamer wrote: one question that has been on my mind is when you have sex, can you stay in the dream instead of waking up because you get too excited. i always wanted to know if proffessional lucid dreamers can stay in the dream while having sex.

Some can. Climaxing thou ALWAYS wakes me up (if I dont get over excited and wake up even before that). I frustatingly usually wake up just right before the crutial moment so now dont waste my LDs by trying to have sex. (I can have fun thou messing around a little but then stop so I dont loose my dream).

haha i never knew you were a girl, taniaaust ^^

but now you're screen name makes sense to me and i feel stupid that i never realized it before :P

Can somebody explain to me how in detail to do WILD(And why do i fail). I lay down,relax,try to stay conscious,wait for 20-30 minutes and i either fall asleep or nothing happens. I have tried to do it at least 10 times, failing every time. Its really frustrating, someone please help.

Dreamer1488 wrote: Can somebody explain to me how in detail to do WILD(And why do i fail). I lay down,relax,try to stay conscious,wait for 20-30 minutes and i either fall asleep or nothing happens. I have tried to do it at least 10 times, failing every time. Its really frustrating, someone please help.

I have this strange thing where I can do "mind over matter" if you know what I mean. One of the things I can do is "make" myself mentally tired, and after achieving that I make my whole body weak. Feeling very tired makes you slip into the dream easily: trying to think of a WILD the whole time restrains you. Pretend you never heard of it. Become very deep in thought when you're transitioning to sleep, the reminder of LD will come eventually, for me right before I fall asleep (its like a subconscious schedule). It happened by chance at my first LD :D . Good luck! BTW, just curious, why are you interested in WILD? I've always wonder why people wanted one. Its not much different, right? Or is it like a thing that helps you guys practice and all? I just do it cause it increases my chances of having an LD, even if the WILD fails.

Hi!

I had my first lucid dream already, but since then, I can not do it again. I am not sure why. I still do the reality checks and all, but it's like it stopped working or something. Please help, I want to have more lucid dreams! It passed two months since I had my first lucid dream (which was awesome btw)!

• Is it possible to have lucid dreams every night?

Barb

Barbara wrote: Hi!

I had my first lucid dream already, but since then, I can not do it again. I am not sure why. I still do the reality checks and all, but it's like it stopped working or something. Please help, I want to have more lucid dreams! It passed two months since I had my first lucid dream (which was awesome btw)!

• Is it possible to have lucid dreams every night?

Barb

Have you been taking any new medication? Was there a turn of events in your life that may have changed your mental stability? Or has your circadian rhythm been interrupted? And yes, it is possible to have LDs every night :D

How does medication effect LD? I'm asking because this is MAJOR allergy season for me, and I find myself taking a lot of Benedryl (which causes drowsiness) just to keep my head from feeling like an over-ripe melon. I was making "good" progress with LD until recently. Could the medicine be messing with my dreaming and if so should I take a break from LD until allergy season passes?

Thanks, J

LD43081 wrote: How does medication effect LD? I'm asking because this is MAJOR allergy season for me, and I find myself taking a lot of Benedryl (which causes drowsiness) just to keep my head from feeling like an over-ripe melon. I was making "good" progress with LD until recently. Could the medicine be messing with my dreaming and if so should I take a break from LD until allergy season passes?

Thanks, J

You should definitely take a break, sorry to hear about it :(

Thanks Sterre! I cross-posted this to an allergy forum as well (without the LD stuff) and someone suggested I try Claritin-D as it doesn't mess with your sleep like Benedryl. I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes.

In the meantime I had a couple more questions if anybody want's to take a stab at them:

1. I tried taking a nap this afternoon. I wasn't super tired, but I've been know to drift off before, so I figured I would give it a try. I also decided to try the MILD technique from the PDF (more on that below). About ten to 15 minutes after lying down my extremities started to feel very heavy and almost sore (like after a workout). My arms and hands were tingling a bit as well. I've never experienced sleep paralysis before (that I can remember anyway). Is that what happened? I don't know that I ever really fell asleep for a meaningful period of time, and I didn't try to move (I was worried that if I was making progress I might mess it up). Is it possible to even have sleep paralysis without actually falling asleep?

2. I've been trying the MILD technique out of the e-book. I've been repeating "the next scene will be a dream" in my head until I feel like I'm about to fall asleep. Sometimes it's had to know when I'm about to fall asleep, and I don't seem to hypnagogia very often so I can't really use that as a guide. I do notice that sometimes as I'm "chanting" the phrase I start to mess it up and say the wrong thing, or thoughts or images (some very abstract ones!) tend to want to push in. Is that a sign I should move on to the visualization step?

3. This is probably a stupid question, but I had the day and night MP3s and want to make sure I'm using them correctly. I plan on using "night" on for before I go to bed at night and the "day" ones for the afternoon nap. I plan to play them when I go to bed. Is that the idea?

Kinda long, sorry. :)

J

Hey, Not really sure how this forum works and haven't really had a look around. I had my first Intentional lucid dream a couple of nights ago. I was always interested in LD but never really had the patience or time to get involved. A few weeks ago I researched a reoccurring sleep problem to find that I suffer from sleep paralysis often. I made the connection between that and the WILD technique and thought I’d give it a shot. I knew that my dreams were most active when I went back to bed in the morning. I just lay there focusing on my eyes and the visions until I entered what I imagined was sleep paralysis. I freaked out……I felt as if I couldn’t catch my breath and I could feel my teeth clenching. After a couple of attempts I ended up feeling extreme vibrations until I entered a dream. As this was my focus my mind completely wigged out when it realised I had successfully transitioned. I couldn’t really control what I was doing that well….I floated for a bit but also fell. I was aware the whole time that I had been trying to enter a dream and had done so. I feel lucky that I got that far after just a month or so of research. I have a couple of questions……is it normal to feel intense vibrations and shortness of breath when your body falls asleep? I think I understand the best times and method to keep trying but how do I gain more control? The lucid dream I had was still very hazy and I went with it rather than directing it. Cheers in advance…the human brain huh!!! Lewi