Lucid Dreaming

[Alizon]

hey,

 

I was wondering. Does anyone of you ever have lucid dreams? What is your favorite technique to induce a lucid dream? Do you meditate?

 

I had a few lucid dreams at a time when I also meditated a lot, now I don't have any lucid dreams anymore. I also read that there is a connection to meditation practice.

 

I love it when I get lucid in a dream. I think its absolutely fascinating how one can lay in bed and feel if flying through the air or having someone touch you and feel it or smell. One time I was thinking while I had such a dream: "wow,.. this is like having a hallucination. Its as if this is happening in "real life" ".

 

What are your experiences?  :)

[Guest libra]

I'm a bit of a nut and taught myself to lucid dream by intentionally triggering sleep paralysis and night terrors, but that's not a route I'd recommend to anyone else!

 

The other thing I did that was less... Adrenaline junkie-ish was constant reality checks. Things like obsessively trying to push my finger through my thumb during the day, enough that it's ingrained into doing it in a dream too. Except on a dream, my thumb will warp when I press on it, thus I know I'm dreaming and boom. Lucidity.

 

At this point honestly, I notice nearly immediately that I'm dreaming and whether I take that next step into lucidity or not is a choice. I'll often just let the dream do what it wants, to allow my subconcious to process what it needs to, and just "step in" to nudge it if I feel like I need to get out of a cycle or something.

 

I feel like this Alan Watts quote, while having a bigger point, also sums up where I'm at with lucid dreaming:

 

Let's suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream that you wanted to dream. And that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time. Or any length of time you wanted to have. And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fufill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say "Well, that was pretty great." But now let's have a surprise. Let's have a dream which isn't under control. Where something is gonna happen to me that I don't know what it's going to be. And you would dig that and come out of that and say "Wow, that was a close shave, wasn't it?" And then you would get more and more adventurous, and you would make further and further out gambles as to what you would dream. And finally, you would dream ... where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.

 

I've had my fun with flying, with manipulating the scenery around me to travel instantly anywhere, with becoming microscopicly small and exploring the inner workings of my body, becoming impossibly huge and popping planets like grapes in my mouth. Now, when I dream, I just let out take me where it wants to go! I tend to interfere when it turns into a nightmare though, which is always kinda fun. "Hello, nightmare. You thought you could bully me because I'm passively sleeping, but you forgot. I'm dreaming, this is my realm. I'm the most powerful being in this universe, so let me ask you. Are you done - or would you like proof?"

[Alizon]

Hey Libra,

 

sorry for the late reaction. I kind of forgot I made this thread ;)

 

Some time ago I also used to make the reality checks all the time in the hopes of doing it in a dream again, but I did not have any luck and I have almost forgotten again to try to get lucid and dont do reality checks anymore. 

 

I envy you for your ability to notice that you are dreaming and what you have experienced. I hope some day I will get to this point. 

 

Since you said "This is my realm" - I read that dreams cannot always be manipulated completely and that there are still unexpected things happening and even that some of the dream figures seem to be kind of concious. I find this very fascinating. Did you have any weird experiences with dream figures?

 

Also, do you meditate? I thought that this might be helpful when someone is trying to become concious in a dream.

[AnomalyTempest]

I didn't see this before, but I have been lucid dreaming all my life. I've always been able to control them and to decide what I want to dream. I can also tell myself when to wake up. Wake up as in a specific time, not from within the dream although I probably could but in a dream it's easier to nope right to another place if you don't like how it's going. I"m always aware of the dream and it's like watching a movie. I'm inside and outside at the same time.

[Alizon]

14 minutes ago, AnomalyTempest said:

I didn't see this before, but I have been lucid dreaming all my life. I've always been able to control them and to decide what I want to dream. I can also tell myself when to wake up. Wake up as in a specific time, not from within the dream although I probably could but in a dream it's easier to nope right to another place if you don't like how it's going. I"m always aware of the dream and it's like watching a movie. I'm inside and outside at the same time.

Interesting. Did you ever use your dreams to experiement with it? Like asking questions to dream figures? Trying to find out what they represent for example ... 

 

[Pixie]

I am what I call a natural lucid dreamer, it came very easily without really trying too hard. I have also had natural/unintentional astral travelling experiences while dreaming or in the hypnagogic (half asleep) state. As a child I had frequent night terrors and sleep paralysis, I still do experience these on rare occasions but nothing like back then. Through dream work I have also cut down on the amount of nightmares I have to the point that I have one maybe once or less a month, as opposed to nearly every night as a child. I do not really meditate on a regular basis, but I have enjoyed guided meditations in the past and practice visualization. I think the most important factors are having a strong imagination, the ability to visualize, and putting some emphasis on your sleep/dream experience by practicing dreamwork, good sleep hygiene, and consciously choosing to remember your dreams.

 

Developing better dream recall will help you to lucid dream more often in the sense that you will overall remember more dreams, therefore remembering more lucid dreams. Some tips I have found helpful in the past for dream recall and lucid dreaming:

 

*Good sleep hygiene. This includes relaxing your mind/body to prepare for sleep, such as taking a shower, going to bed at a consistent time, waking up at a consistent time, and most importantly NO screen time immediately before bed (I usually try to cut out screens an hour or more before bedtime).

*Dream journaling is the best technique I have found for developing stronger dream recall.

*Consciously making the decision to remember your dreams and have a lucid dream. This is really easy, I usually spend about 30 seconds each night telling myself "I will remember my dreams. I will have a lucid dream." Does it always work for having a lucid dream? No. But it almost always works for dream recall. You are training your mind to view your dreams as something worth remembering, so you don't instantly forget them as soon as you wake up.

*Reality checks. A lot of people recommend looking at a watch and then looking away and looking back again multiple times throughout the day, for example. Little exercises like that will help to train your mind to recognize when you are in waking reality as opposed to when you are in a dream.

 

On average, I now remember about 2-3 dreams a night and have a fully lucid dream one or two nights a week, sometimes more if I am putting a lot of emphasis on it or other times less if I am stressed out, busy in real life, or just don't really keep up with my dream work.

 

On 3/27/2019 at 10:20 AM, libra said:

At this point honestly, I notice nearly immediately that I'm dreaming and whether I take that next step into lucidity or not is a choice. I'll often just let the dream do what it wants, to allow my subconcious to process what it needs to, and just "step in" to nudge it if I feel like I need to get out of a cycle or something.

This is very similar to my experience, as well. At first, I found the experience of lucid dreaming either unbelievably amazing or even at times, underwhelming. I would sometimes recognize I was in a dream and then out of excitement accidentally wake myself up. Other times, I would recognize I was dreaming but I was unsure what to do with that information because I could not quite control the dream. It really is just a matter of consistent dreamwork practice and exercises, at least in my experience. I have gotten to the point now that even when I do not have a fully lucid dream I still recognize that I am dreaming on some level most of the time and simply allow the dreams to happen without intervention. Similarly, I do tend to interfere only if the dream is becoming overly stressful or starts to become a nightmare.

 

My first fully lucid dream was one in which I was being chased by some sort of government officials, it was a very stressful dream at first. Upon realizing I was dreaming and able to control the dream, I decided to change my environment from city to a fantasy-like setting and just peacefully flew over forests, mountains, countrysides, and old timey villages. Toward the end of the dream I decided to fly over the ocean to try and visit another continent before waking up. That was about 15 years ago.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Pixie

[AnomalyTempest]

9 hours ago, Alizon said:

Interesting. Did you ever use your dreams to experiement with it? Like asking questions to dream figures? Trying to find out what they represent for example ... 

 

No. It's almost like watching a movie. I see it all. I'm aware it's a dream but I'm not in it exactly. I can feel and smell and taste what I'm doing but I'm outside the dream kind of.

[McFaire]

I've worked with lucid dreaming on and off for some years. Sometimes it happens naturally for me but not that often and I wanted more control. I've learned to have them more often and to control them better. I'll mention a couple of books below. The techniques they offer actually do work.

 

For most people, it takes time, practice, and trial and error to develop consistent control of the dreamscape and to have long lasting lucid dreams. Kind of like learning Tarot.

 

I use reality checks. Right now I'm using an app on my phone that chimes one chime on the hour. At that moment, I look at my hands and examine them, and determine whether I'm dreaming. Hands always look strange in the dreamscape. If you do this consistently, you will become much more mindful of whether you are awake. You can also use this moment to set your intention about what you want to do when become lucid in the dream. It works.

 

Often when we become lucid, we're startled and don't know what to do at first. Plan ahead.

 

Second, you need to develop good dream recall as mentioned above. Journaling works.

 

From your journals, you identify your dreamsigns -- situations that pop up frequently in your dreams that you can use to make yourself become lucid. For example, you're back in school and haven't shown up to class or taken the exams. You're in the car trying to drive but you're in the back seat. You're improperly dressed in public. These are common anxiety dreams that are easy recognize, and we tend to recognize them more than pleasant dreams.

 

Third, a tip that works extremely well for me is waking up about 2 hours early, getting up for an hour or two until I'm fully awake, and then going back to sleep. Dream researchers have documented that this technique increases the number and length of lucid dreams dramatically. It works for me.

 

The dreamscape and the dreaming mind are fascinating. It's really worth the effort I think, if you're interested.

 

Currently I am working with Robert Waggoner's Lucid Dreaming, Gateway to Inner Self, and Stephen LaBerge's Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. Both are practical and effective guides but I would say LaBerge is my favorite of the two right now. He is a professional academic who has been running a sleep lab for decades. His research is remarkable. But Waggoner is an experienced expert too.

 

 

[Flaxen]

1 hour ago, AnomalyTempest said:

No. It's almost like watching a movie. I see it all. I'm aware it's a dream but I'm not in it exactly. I can feel and smell and taste what I'm doing but I'm outside the dream kind of.

This is what it is like for me. I’m both in and out of the action at the same time. Often I’m commenting to myself too. Things like ‘This in interesting - that mushroom is from the nature programme I just watched’ or ‘Another drowning dream, haven’t had one of these for a while’. 

[McFaire]

11 hours ago, Alizon said:

Interesting. Did you ever use your dreams to experiement with it? Like asking questions to dream figures? Trying to find out what they represent for example ... 

 

I did this once a few weeks ago. I set my intention to ask to meet a dream guide, and it worked! I used reality checks to set my intention. See post above.

 

I became lucid, and said out loud "I want to meet a dream guide." Instantly a figure appears. I began peppering him with questions, but he spoke so softly that I couldn't hear his answers. I asked him to speak louder but he didn't.

 

I asked him who he was and this time I heard him answer, "I'm a doctor, like your grandfather." Well, I don't have any ancestors who were doctors, so I became a bit frustrated with him at this point, and went off to have some fun in my dream.

 

Later I did a Tarot reading to explore the encounter further. I wanted to know who he was, why he appeared as a doctor, and why I couldn't hear him. It was a very interesting reading. I guess I would need to post that elsewhere though.

[McFaire]

1 minute ago, Flaxen said:

This is what it is like for me. I’m both in and out of the action at the same time. Often I’m commenting to myself too. Things like ‘This in interesting - that mushroom is from the nature programme I just watched’ or ‘Another drowning dream, haven’t had one of these for a while’. 

I have a lot of these too. I know I'm dreaming, but I'm not fully lucid or taking control.

[AnomalyTempest]

6 hours ago, McFaire said:

I have a lot of these too. I know I'm dreaming, but I'm not fully lucid or taking control.

I have control, I just don't use it. I can change the channel, for lack of a better explanation. I can put things in or take them out. I can tell myself to do things, but I mostly just watch and see how it all plays out, Maybe it's because I really want to be objective, and not force my will on things. Maybe what I'm really doing is learning to keep my emotional reactions in check. Now that I'm thinking of this, there seems a lot to unpack. 😋

[McFaire]

3 hours ago, AnomalyTempest said:

I have control, I just don't use it. I can change the channel, for lack of a better explanation. I can put things in or take them out. I can tell myself to do things, but I mostly just watch and see how it all plays out, Maybe it's because I really want to be objective, and not force my will on things. Maybe what I'm really doing is learning to keep my emotional reactions in check. Now that I'm thinking of this, there seems a lot to unpack. 😋

Me too. For lack of a better term, I've been calling these passive-lucid. I make choices as to how I want the dream to go, but I don't stop the dream to leave and go play/explore or create a different ream from scratch. Versus active-lucid. For me the passive-lucid type happens most nights.

 

I've noticed that the dreaming mind has an agenda; it seems to employ various techniques to keep me unconscious or at least passive. The scientists say the brain processes, sorts, files, deletes, and cross references data at night. Like a bio-neural computer performing a disk de-frag each night, the brain has work to do that requires passivity from the conscious mind.

 

So my theory is that people who are mindful and self-aware probably have a lot of these passive-lucid dreams that don't disrupt the sleep-dream process.

 

I've also been having a lot of dreams-within-a-dream, sometimes more than two layers. The dreaming mind is fascinating!

 

I've thought of going to a lucid dream forum, but it's pretty cool to discuss with tarotists because they tend to really dig deep. Also tarot is an excellent tool for dream work outside of the dreamscape.

[Flaxen]

7 minutes ago, McFaire said:

I've also been having a lot of dreams-within-a-dream, sometimes more than two layers. The dreaming mind is fascinating!

Yes! Those dreams within dreams are weird. I’ve also had that really odd sensation where I wake up and for a moment am not sure if I’m still in a dream or actually awake. 

[AnomalyTempest]

8 minutes ago, Flaxen said:

Yes! Those dreams within dreams are weird. I’ve also had that really odd sensation where I wake up and for a moment am not sure if I’m still in a dream or actually awake. 

Okay, kind of related but I often have to ask if things really happened because I can sit up, open my eyes, and hold a conversation without waking up. It happened more often when I was a child, but an aunt had the same issue.

 

Edited to add: I sleep with eyes open too, so no one ever knows if I'm asleep or not.

Edited May 8, 2019 by AnomalyTempest

[McFaire]

9 minutes ago, Flaxen said:

Yes! Those dreams within dreams are weird. I’ve also had that really odd sensation where I wake up and for a moment am not sure if I’m still in a dream or actually awake. 

The other night I was in a dream, became lucid, went off on an adventure, and then afterward returned to the same earlier dream, where I excitedly told my partner about the lucid dream! When I awoke, I had to tell him all over again!

[Canid]

I’ve recently been in training to LD & occasionally succeed. Hogwort & Galantamine with Choline help induce lucid dreams, plus I bought a  REM Dreamer sleep mask. It has a censor to detect when you’re in REM, then flashes lights to remind you that you’re dreaming. There’s a much cheaper mask called REMY, but it doesn’t have the censor, so you have to pretty much have a well-regulated sleep/dream cycle in order to know what time to set the lights to flash.  I’ve found that frequent ‘reality checks’ during waking time is almost mandatory. I so love my flying nights!

[Canid]

On 5/8/2019 at 1:33 PM, AnomalyTempest said:

Okay, kind of related but I often have to ask if things really happened because I can sit up, open my eyes, and hold a conversation without waking up. It happened more often when I was a child, but an aunt had the same issue.

 

Edited to add: I sleep with eyes open too, so no one ever knows if I'm asleep or not.

That sounds like it may be a False Awakening, very similar to an LD, & leads up to it.

[Canid]

On 5/8/2019 at 1:12 PM, McFaire said:

Me too. For lack of a better term, I've been calling these passive-lucid. I make choices as to how I want the dream to go, but I don't stop the dream to leave and go play/explore or create a different ream from scratch. Versus active-lucid. For me the passive-lucid type happens most nights.

 

I've noticed that the dreaming mind has an agenda; it seems to employ various techniques to keep me unconscious or at least passive. The scientists say the brain processes, sorts, files, deletes, and cross references data at night. Like a bio-neural computer performing a disk de-frag each night, the brain has work to do that requires passivity from the conscious mind.

 

So my theory is that people who are mindful and self-aware probably have a lot of these passive-lucid dreams that don't disrupt the sleep-dream process.

 

I've also been having a lot of dreams-within-a-dream, sometimes more than two layers. The dreaming mind is fascinating!

 

I've thought of going to a lucid dream forum, but it's pretty cool to discuss with tarotists because they tend to really dig deep. Also tarot is an excellent tool for dream work outside of the dreamscape.

There’s a good FB forum on Lucid Dreaming that I belong to.

[Canid]

On 5/8/2019 at 2:54 AM, McFaire said:

I did this once a few weeks ago. I set my intention to ask to meet a dream guide, and it worked! I used reality checks to set my intention. See post above.

 

I became lucid, and said out loud "I want to meet a dream guide." Instantly a figure appears. I began peppering him with questions, but he spoke so softly that I couldn't hear his answers. I asked him to speak louder but he didn't.

 

I asked him who he was and this time I heard him answer, "I'm a doctor, like your grandfather." Well, I don't have any ancestors who were doctors, so I became a bit frustrated with him at this point, and went off to have some fun in my dream.

 

Later I did a Tarot reading to explore the encounter further. I wanted to know who he was, why he appeared as a doctor, and why I couldn't hear him. It was a very interesting reading. I guess I would need to post that elsewhere though.

That’s so very cool!

[McFaire]

32 minutes ago, Canid said:

That’s so very cool!

Does your mask work? Is that the one invented by LaBerge?

 

I tried Galantamine and it worked.

 

 

[Canid]

32 minutes ago, McFaire said:

Does your mask work? Is that the one invented by LaBerge?

 

I tried Galantamine and it worked.

 

 

I don’t know who invented the REMDreamer Pro, I’ll check. The book touts Pawel Herchel & Steve Tibbets. Yeah, it works, but not 100%. The first night I had a dream that there were robbers outside the house shining lghts in all the windows...that should have been a big tipoff that I was dreaming lol! But I just kept snoozing. I have to remind myself before I go to sleep - ‘When the lights flash, Candis, you’re dreaming...’. Oh, this mask also has a voice alarm that you can customize yourself in addition to the lights.

[McFaire]

Oh, heh heh!

[devin]

If anyone's interested, here's a free how-to book on lucid dreaming / OOBEs by a medical researcher / neuroscientist: 

http://www.dondeg.com/metaphysics/do_obe.pdf

 

 

[Decan]

24 minutes ago, devin said:

If anyone's interested, here's a free how-to book on lucid dreaming / OOBEs by a medical researcher / neuroscientist: 

http://www.dondeg.com/metaphysics/do_obe.pdf

 

 

Interesting I take note! Maybe one day I'll be able to do an astral projection or to have a lucid dream; I don't seem to have much predispositions for that though.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Decan