Anyone here Practice Lucid Dreaming? (phenomena, strange)

[Aspe4]

This is a very fascinating topic. How did you all enter your lucid dreams? Do you have to practice a technique or does it just happen to you at random?

[ragnarkar]

Originally Posted by Aspe4

This is a very fascinating topic. How did you all enter your lucid dreams? Do you have to practice a technique or does it just happen to you at random?

I tried the common techniques they advocate in the books many years ago and although they worked on occasion, I gave up eventually. Nowadays, I have them spontaneously once every few weeks or so. Usually it's when I'm in some sort of danger in the dream (falling, being chased, etc.) then I realize it's a dream and just don't care about the outcome.

[Fullback32]

Originally Posted by Aspe4

This is a very fascinating topic. How did you all enter your lucid dreams? Do you have to practice a technique or does it just happen to you at random?

I have had bouts of lucid dreaming from time-to-time. It does seem to just happen randomly to me. I wouldn't know how to control when it happens or doesn't.

I do wish there were a way to record dreams. That would awesome to get up the next day and watch them all over again.

[90sman]

I saw this on Facebook about how to induce lucid dreaming while you're awake. Is it true?- https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/543296_10150819360671827_717831826_9446842_2464536 65_n.jpg (broken link)

[Chango]

Originally Posted by Aspe4

This is a very fascinating topic. How did you all enter your lucid dreams? Do you have to practice a technique or does it just happen to you at random?

You greatly increase your chances of realizing you are dreaming if you pay close attention to your nightly dreams, such as writing them down when you wake up and holding specific reoccurring dream locations/feelings in you mind and consciously associating them with dreams. For example, I keep having this reoccurring work stress dream where I almost always realize I'm dreaming and either consciously end the dream or (mostly) take control of it and try to twist it into something else.

Some people have luck with a special setup using goggles with lights on them which flash when you go into REM sleep. I've never tried them, however.

If I try hard enough I can usually fall asleep but remain conscious... especially if I'm physically exhausted but caffeined up, or even better if I wake up early in the morning just enough to become conscious and hold onto it but let my body go back to sleep.

The trick is staying there; it's difficult to stay asleep or just slip into the dream and takes lots of practice.

I'm still not all the way there; I normally only get what feels like a minute or two of lucid dreaming.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

This is not necessarily paranormal but is often considered to be paranormal (I believe it could go in that direction for the dreamer), but it is certainly not in the mainstream and many folks don't believe it to be possible. But I have to ask: are any of you Lucid Dreamers?

When I say lucid dreaming, I'm not talking about vivid dreams or dreams that seem real (most all my dreams do that), but dreams wherein the dreamer is actually "self-aware" and able to consciously act in the dream and somewhat control the direction of the dream--or at least control oneself in the dream and react to what's going on in the dream. A typical dream is a series of events that just sort of happen. You may be a player in the dream but you have no control of events. They just happen. Lucid dreams are more like being in somewhat of a real world situation where you are a self-aware being acting as you do in the conscious state--it's not like watching a movie. I've studied this for years. I have several books on the topic. But I've only actually engaged in lucid dreams (when trying) a handful of times. Lately I've become more interested in it and the techniques to set forth a lucid dream.

My own experience with it is that, on one level, you know you are in a lucid dream but at the same time it's so real that you almost wish it were the real world. It's complete freedom. You can be anything or anyone you want to be in a lucid dream--you can fly, you can be another person (what I mean by this is that you can "will" different physical characteristics, stature, gender , etc), you can change the era you exist within--basically change the nature of your "world." I suppose it could be taken to some pretty interesting extremes. As I said, I've had lucid dreams a few times, and it's always been a very positive and memorable experience--actually, my normal dreams are almost always very profound and positive (generally amazing, as well). It's great recreation for me! Just wondered if anyone else here practices or has had experience with Lucid Dreaming? Any advice?

Also, feel free to take it in a more extreme paranormal direction if you like--alternate dimensions, parallel universe/dimension, spirit world visits, time travel, etc. That interests me as well. I'm actually researching the topic to write a novel dealing with "alternate lives" through lucid dreaming.

I've heard of it, but you have explained it better than I remember. I've had spontaneous Lucid Dreams, but I have no idea how to induce that state.

Time travel scares the hell out of me for a number of reasons.

[northsider]

Councellors use that to help patients dealing with anxiety to relax. It's called Visualisation.

[NorthStarDelight]

I've had them occasionally, usually in the early morning when I wake up and fall back asleep again, but it's more of an "awareness" thing rather than me playing movie director and actually controlling the dream. I do remember one occasion in which I dreamed that I was in a bad situation, and then I woke up. I made an conscious effort to "fix" what went wrong in the dream, and when I fell back asleep again, I "forced" the dream to go the way I wanted - pretty cool stuff. Another time, when I was drifting in and out of sleep a lot, I wanted to see how fast "dream time" ran compared to real time, so when I fell into a dream state again, I watched the time, and when a whole hour passed, I woke up again, only to see that only 15 minutes passed in real time....lol. So does this mean that dream time runs at the rate of 4x real time?

Another weird thing I've noticed about my dreams, lucid or not, is that I'm never hard-of-hearing in my dreams like I am in real life. In real life, I have to struggle to hear what's being said, I have to say "what?" a lot, etc. But in my dream state, I can hear perfectly and never have a problem hearing what other people are saying. Is this par for the course for people with disabilities, I wonder?

[Cav Scout wife]

Originally Posted by Aspe4

This is a very fascinating topic. How did you all enter your lucid dreams? Do you have to practice a technique or does it just happen to you at random?

Mine happens nightly. No joke. Sometimes me dreams are so real that I wake up screaming, or from pain and I can't understand why there is no blood from the wound, or I wake up then a second later I land on the bed.

While the majority of the time, it's really cool; sometimes it's a real pain in the ASS! Like during boot camp at Parris Island, that was a doozy to explain, lemmie tell ya!

Or when you pull muscles in your sleep from the dream, or when you have re-occuring dreams that end up coming true, that makes you not want to dream again.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Cav Scout wife

Mine happens nightly. No joke. Sometimes me dreams are so real that I wake up screaming, or from pain and I can't understand why there is no blood from the wound, or I wake up then a second later I land on the bed.

While the majority of the time, it's really cool; sometimes it's a real pain in the ASS! Like during boot camp at Parris Island, that was a doozy to explain, lemmie tell ya!

Or when you pull muscles in your sleep from the dream, or when you have re-occuring dreams that end up coming true, that makes you not want to dream again.

But if they were truly lucid dreams, there would be no pain or blood (unless that's what you wanted to have happen in the dream). Lucid dreaming doesn't just mean vivid or realistic dreaming. Lucid dreaming, in a nutshell, means that you are in control of the dream's direction (at least largely so).