Anybody heard of or practiced lucid dreaming before? Lucidity is being aware that you're dreaming while you're still inside the dream. This means your wakened conscious state can actually control the content of your dreams. Not only is your imagination untamed but dreams are 100% real whilst you're in them, so all your other senses come into play and you literally do whatever you want as if it was real - drive fast cars, meet deceased family/friends, and of course fly. (There's naturally infinite potential for chronic nightmare sufferers).
I've only had a lucid dream once before, like a year back or so. And it was awesome. I was in a car park and I thought to myself "I'm dreaming aren't I?" So I pointed to the other side of the car park to test it out and teleported instantly (I wish now I did something more exciting). Unfortunately I managed to wake myself up. Teleporting on a whim had actually confirmed my belief it was a dream - you have to strike a fine balance between remaining conscious enough to remain in control, but on the other hand let the dream run or you'll wake up.
So I thought it was about time to have another lucid dream. I'd heard of it before but didn't realise there were ways to induce them [naturally]. Apparently I have to keep a dream journal and get used to a "reality check". This is something like counting how many fingers you have during the day (last time I checked it was seven), so you can cross-reference how many digits you own in your dream.
Has anybody else had any experience with lucid dreams? I'll keep you posted if my return to Lucid Land is successful.
I have lucid dreams all the time.
In fact most of the dreams that I remember are like that.
It's very strange having a nightmare whilst being aware that it's a dream because when you suddenly realise that you are dreaming everything becomes instantly less threatening.
For some reason I have zombie and vampire nightmares a lot and it's bizarre being surrounded by zombies but having absolutely no fear of them.
I can also wake up from these dreams at will. The way I do this is I tell my eyes (in the dream) to open widely and it seems to make my real eyes do the same.. i'm not sure why that works as a trigger.. just does.
I used to have them occasionally from the age of 4 to around 12-13. Sometimes, I'd be in complete control. Usually, though, I was only able to wake myself up at will (using the same technique as Calin.) Since then, I very seldom remember any dreams ever taking place. In the rare event that I have a memorable dream, I almost never have the ability to wake myself. Still, it does happen (though usually only during nightmares.)
I also remember that when I was much younger, I would sometimes have repeat dreams. Usually, I'd be in almost the exact situation. However, I'd realize that the dreams were repeats, and I was better able to control them.
I saw the same information on lucid dreaming a while back. I never got around to testing it, but it does sound interesting. Let us know how it works out for you if you decide to try it.
I had a lucid dream once, and one of the first things I decided to do is to test if I can wake me up. I guess that was kind of stupid ;D
Although I usually can't control my dreams, it happens very often that I get aware of that I'm having a nightmare. In this situation, I can deliberately choose to wake up by killing myself in the dream. That's some kind of lucid, I guess.
Quote from: grim107 on Wed 27/04/2011 23:02:58
I also remember that when I was much younger, I would sometimes have repeat dreams. Usually, I'd be in almost the exact situation. However, I'd realize that the dreams were repeats, and I was better able to control them.
I have repeat dreams quite often..
I am also often aware of being in a dream, but can't say I have much control of the dream.
I have a huge problem whenever I know I am dreaming and wakes up though... I goes back to sleep to continue the dreams.. :P
Oh and also, while probably a bit OT. I VERY often feel I am in a deja vu situation in real life. Where I see things happening that I am sure I've seen before. Would be interesting to know if any of you know what that type of stuff is called (just deja vu?) and what causes it? :).
I very rarely have lucid dreams and don't really seek them. I'm more into dream escapism. Sometimes I even enjoy being scared in my dreams in a way.
I love bedtime. That's when I'm a space pirate! 8)
I get lucid dreams every once in a while, although it hasn't happened recently. I once started to write a choose-your-own adventure style story based on what I can remember from some of my lucid dreams, the idea being that the reader has some degree of control over the story playing out before him.
I'm not very good at waking myself up from them though. If I try to wake myself up, I often awake into some kind of in-between world that looks very much like my bedroom, but then I'll realise I'm still dreaming, and have a choice of going back to the original dream 'narrative', or having another crack at trying to wake up for real. This can go on about 5 or 6 times before I actually do wake up.
Sometimes I wonder if that inbetweeny state is where coma patients dwell.
I will have a lucid dream perhaps once a month. They are more common when I set an alarm or wake up early for a bit and then go back to bed. I tend to wake up quite soon after becoming lucid as well, and have not really managed to do anything exciting within the dream.
The last time I was lucid and tried to do something fun I went into a handstand position and stayed like that for a bit. Dunno, that was just the first thing I thought of :P
A few weeks ago I attempted using Theta binaural waves in a brain entrainment experiment to try and force a lucid dream. Of the two or three times I've attempted, I have not gotten it to work. Maybe it is because I do not have a long enough wave track (I use a 120 minute rain and 7.83 Hz track that is looped twice) or because I wake up with the headphones tangled around my arm or chest and they fell off before the effect would kick in.
I will try this some more and get back to you with my results!
For those of you who have trouble waking from lucid nightmares (killing yourself is never a good ending, even if it's just a dream) and Calin's tip of opening your eyes wide doesn't work, try either 1) closing your eyes in the dream, then opening them, your real eyes will do the same, or 2) lie down on the ground as if you're trying to sleep inside the dream, then sit up - again, your body should follow this impulse. Sometimes these can lead to a false awakening, i.e. dreaming that you're waking up in your bed, but if so just repeat the routine.
Edit:
QuoteOh and also, while probably a bit OT. I VERY often feel I am in a deja vu situation in real life. Where I see things happening that I am sure I've seen before. Would be interesting to know if any of you know what that type of stuff is called (just deja vu?) and what causes it? :)
Didn't you ask this question before? :P
No, but seriously, I also get this sometimes and I really cannot explain it without invoking parapsychology. Not just strict deja vu (which happens after the event, and as you say mostly you're not sure why it seems familiar), but also dreams of stuff that later happens or facts that turn out to be true in real life, although I had no awareness of it. The "most credible" but not terribly satisfying rationalization I could give for some of my more "psychic" dreams is a combination of cryptamnesia (having seen something without consciously noticing it, and later on recalling it in a dream) and self-fulfilling prophecy. But from a less skeptical point of view, precognition would explain it a lot better. To paraphrase the bard: There's more between your ears than is dreamt of in our psychology.
Also, there's seems to be a strong link between "precognitive" dreams and general feelings of synchronicity in the waking state. Generally I experience these when I'm either head-over-heels in love or deeply immersed in creative work for weeks at a time.
I also lucid dream occasionally. I usually use the opportunity to fly around. I should start keeping my dream journal again.
I'm usually more focused on trying to stay asleep rather than wake up when that happens :D.
I don't think I've ever had a dream that I've been in control of unfortunately. In fact, I very rarely have dreams at all (or ones that I remember anyways). Not sure why this is. The subject of lucid dreaming does fascinate me though. Bit jealous of anyone that is able to have them on a regular basis.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Thu 28/04/2011 06:02:52No, but seriously, I also get this sometimes and I really cannot explain it without invoking parapsychology. Not just strict deja vu (which happens after the event, and as you say mostly you're not sure why it seems familiar), but also dreams of stuff that later happens or facts that turn out to be true in real life, although I had no awareness of it.
Not to derail this thread too much, but the skeptic in me has to comment on this:
Déjà Vu is the
false notion that one experiences something for the second time. It is still happening for the first time but the brain simply misfired.
"Precognition" in the sense that a dream becomes real is basic statistics. Using some arbitrarily chosen numbers like "people have 3 older relatives" and "people remember a dream every other day" you quickly get to a few thousand people worldwide dreaming every day of the death of a relative that's going to happen soon after.
Quote from: Khris on Thu 28/04/2011 13:09:03"Precognition" in the sense that a dream becomes real is basic statistics. Using some arbitrarily chosen numbers like "people have 3 older relatives" and "people remember a dream every other day" you quickly get to a few thousand people worldwide dreaming every day of the death of a relative that's going to happen soon after.
I'm well aware of the confirmation bias involved in these things. And I'm not claiming there's such a thing as true precognition, but some of my dreams make a very compelling illusion that there is. If it was "just another dream" that turned out to come true, I'd agree it's a matter of statistic. But when you can tell those "special" dreams from your ordinary ones enough to think they'll be worth following up on, and they then turn out to be true, you do get slightly weirded out.
About lucid dreams: I've read an article in "New Scientist" about them. They say you can achieve it with a lot of practice. Some people do it quite easily.
It's a very peculiar state of mind that has been revelaed only quite recently (before that, people were confusing it with hypnosis, or thought the dreamer wasn't actually conscious).
Scientists are desperately looking for people who are able to do it, because it allows them to monitor the "dream" activity, while being able to interact with the dreamer.
I tried it last night and during hypnagogia, where you picture random images or "hear" random sentences, on the threshold of sleep, I kept reminding myself that I was in essence still in reality. When my body entered sleep paralysis soon after it began to kick off - I felt my body become weightless and my mind was left floating in a vacuum. My eyes were going mental in my sockets (I was awake during REM) and even though they were closed I could "see" the darkness around me as if I was in a dark room. If I "commandeered" my eyes I could move them about freely. But REM carried on as soon as I relinquished control. I can only describe it as being hopelessly alone.
So rather than gaining awareness of dreaming during the dream, I was stepping into a dream while my mind was awake (something apparently called WILD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-initiated_lucid_dream_(WILD)#Wake-initiated_lucid_dreams_.28WILD.29)). Unfortunately I didn't get that far - I remember some men round a table were beckoning for me but it was lost. So I engaged my motor neurons and sensation came back to my body. It's was the scariest experience I've had - the only thing that kept me with one foot left in reality was the sound of my breathing. I'll have to keep experimenting on myself :)
Found a really nice book about lucid dreaming on Google Books. Seems to be the whole thing, at least I didn't come across any limited access while flipping through it: The Lucid Dream Manifesto (http://books.google.com/books?id=cv-CbDbCng8C&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false)
One part in particular struck me. Unfortunately Google Books doesn't allow cut-n-paste so I can't quote, but it's the bit about the Senoi tribe of Malaysia on page 58. Now why weren't we brought up with this kind of encouragement to interact with our dreams? Seriously, why does western culture have such a boring approach to the powers of imagination?
I remember being able to wake up from my dreams on command when I was a child. As I grew tired of the nightmares about trolls I just told myself that the next time it happend I should just tell myself to wake up. And it worked every time. Haven't tried it in many years though. (not so many troll-encounters in my dreams anymore...)
Another thing about dreams, i learned how to ride the bicycle that way. Being the last child in the street to learn it, I one night dreamt about the technique. The next morning I went outside, climbed my bike, and rode it without any problems. Strange, but fascinating.
Often times I can tell when I'm dreaming though controlling them is something I find rather difficult, While I can control my own actions fairly well controlling the actions of the rest of the dream environment is a lot harder, Also waking from a dream at will is something I can sometimes do, but often times I can find myself in unpleasant dreams and not realizing it's only a dream and waking up. Occasionally I have dreams that I can't see because my eyes are closed but I know if I try to open them I'll probably wake up.
Be up 64 hours. It's extremely hard to do in a row, so you might have 2-3 30-minute naps during period.
Lucid dream guaranteed. Infact, you won't even be sleeping, but dream is overlayed onto your reality. I had mine with eyes open (first at long being-up period, second when flying to US. I saw the plane and everything yet dreamt at the same time). Being awake for 40+ hours is very stressful for your brain though, you have no clue what time or date it is and general perception of time will be totally messed up (4 hours = 5 minutes, etc). Also, you might develop rapid acne and extremely reactive mood, like bursting into laughter one second and tears another. I bet long-distance truck drivers or pilots can confirm what I said.
What also sometimes works is getting up in the morning, moving around (toothbrush maybe) and THEN taking extra 2 minutes nap. You have to break free from previous sleeping state first, so about 3-4 minutes you should move and do something, not stare angrily at alam clock.
I tried to force lucidity last night, but it didn't work. I'll keep trying ;)
@InCreator - The longest I've been awake for is 70 hours (so close to 72 :(). I didn't experience any kind of dreaming while I was awake, but I just selpt solidly for 14 hours after that. I definitely dreamed during that time, but I didn't remember it, and I certainly don't remember it being lucid.
Oh man oh man!
Last night I went to sleep. I had a long weird dream which I won't go into details here.
But then somebody screamed "Hey everybody, look at the moon", and I looked up and there was a huge star moving and covering the moon. It was all very vivid and bright.
It was then I recalled this thread, and thought to myself, "wait a minute, this isn't real!".
I figured, ok, interesting, let's test this by doing something illogical. A friend from work suddenly appeared in front of me, so I just grabbed his leg and hoisted him in the air, then he jumped 2-3 meters and looked at me strangely.
Now I was sure this is a dream, and I had complete control, and thought "ok, let's do some crazy shit..."
Unfortunately, that was when I was kicked out of the dream. It's like the guy in my mind that invented the dream said, "oh no, he found out, everybody retreat", and I was transferred into that state between dream and awakeness.
I tried to go back to the dream, but at this point I was already feeling the pillow on my head and realized that I'm awake.
It was all very exciting for the few seconds I had control, too bad it didn't last, but I'll keep trying in the coming days.
If anybody has any idea about how to stay asleep, please let me know.
Hmmm, maybe this thread should move to Beginners Technical Questions...
I remember that I pretty much always had those lucid dreams. When I was little (maybe 4 or 5 or 6 years old) I had my own tricks to wake myself up or change the dream.
I had a dream back then about a huge, boar-like monsters chasing me around in front of our house, but everything was so pitch black that I could barely see anything, not even stars at the sky. And the door was locked. Suddenly I discovered that I could fly, but it did not work very well. I could lift into the air for like 10 seconds and see the roof of the house, but soon I made a crash landing somewhere else in our garden. I tried and tried and nothing worked, and everytime I made a crash landing I hoped that I landed as far away as possible from the monster, even if it always closely behind me. At last, I had the idea to just jump in the air, super mario-style, and land on my head to hurt me really bad. I did it and it worked - as soon as I hit the ground I woke up. From then on, I always ended my nightmares with that little tactic.
But in most cases, it just turned into a fake waking. Sometimes, when I woke up in my dream and saw my room, a creepy looking robot appeared in my lego box and dragged me somewhere trough the ground. Or sometimes it was a floating goat head on a stick (how could come up with something like this?) that appeared in my door and slowly moved towards me trough the dark room. CREEPEY! :o
Quote from: tzachs on Fri 29/04/2011 14:11:00
[...] thought to myself, "wait a minute, this isn't real!".
I figured, ok, interesting, let's test this by doing something illogical. [...]Now I was sure this is a dream, and I had complete control, and thought "ok, let's do some crazy shit..."
Unfortunately, that was when I was kicked out of the dream. It's like the guy in my mind that invented the dream said, "oh no, he found out, everybody retreat", and I was transferred into that state between dream and awakeness.
I tried to go back to the dream, but at this point I was already feeling the pillow on my head and realized that I'm awake.
That's exactly what me experiences wiith lucid dreams are like! With the only exception that sometimes when I try to use my newly discovered dream freedom to do something I wouldn't ever do in real life, I find I can at first but instead of waking up soon after that, I tend to slowly lose control... I become a viewer again, like it's not really me doing things but I'm just there for a ride, watching, engaged in some ridiculous dream-story playing out if front of me.
Sometimes I force myself to remember that I was supposed to do really exciting things and that the time is running out, but my attempts fail quickly as 'something' -or 'someone' in real charge of my dream tries so hard to divert my attention by throwing tons of random stuff at me that it's impossible to stay in control. So I become part of the dream again...
I didn't realize you can actually LEARN how to induce lucid dreams! I must read that thingie GarageGothic has pointed to. This is something I find really interesting... Maybe with more experience, I could remain in control for longer? I'd sure love that.
This is a sweet website for those attempting it too: http://www.dreamviews.com/section/what-lucid-dreaming-7/
Found this on 4chan just now:
Click to see image (http://i.imgur.com/5WYJc.png)
That's a nice way to screw up a thread. Ever head of mspaint?
Quote from: InCreator on Mon 02/05/2011 06:16:18
That's a nice way to screw up a thread. Ever head of mspaint?
No, what's that?
Has anyone come across some info on grass smoking and lucid dreaming? Dreams can get pretty wild when you can remember them, would like to know if it aids lucid dreams.
Quote from: Chicky on Mon 02/05/2011 17:26:46Has anyone come across some info on grass smoking and lucid dreaming? Dreams can get pretty wild when you can remember them, would like to know if it aids lucid dreams.
Depends how regularly you smoke and how it affects your dreamlife. Personally, I find I don't dream as much in periods where I smoke weed, whereas the moment I take a break, within a week or two I start having very strange and vivid dreams, often lucid or half-lucid ones (where you tell yourself things like "if this is a dream, this is the coolest dream ever" but aren't entirely sure) . If you are serious about lucid dreaming I'd recommend staying off drugs - go to the health food store and get some melatonin instead, I've heard that should increase lucidity. Weed is excellent for meditation and achieving waking-state closed-eye-hallucinations though.