Lucid dreaming

[swood1000]

A lucid dream is when you suddenly realize in the middle of a dream that you are dreaming, and can then explore the dream and take active control of it by flying, walking through walls, teleporting to Paris, etc. I have had a number of lucid dreams and just started reading a book on the subject. Typically there is something in the dream that triggers the awareness that this must be a dream. Sometimes for me it is when I find myself running and taking longer and longer leaps and then realize that this has happened to me before, always in a dream. Recently I was flying and realized that nobody was noticing that I was flying, so this must be a dream. Another recurring setting for me is that I am in a car and discover that the brakes are defective and no matter how hard I press the car doesn’t slow down. I then realize that this has happened to me before and it means that I am dreaming. I am always amazed by how vivid and realistic everything looks.

It is typically recommended that beginners should start by making a conscious effort to remember their dreams, and write them down when they wake up. There are many different methods people have recommended for inducing lucid dreaming, or triggering the awareness in the dream that you are dreaming. Some induction techniques are listed here.

Back in the 60s and 70s Carlos Castaneda wrote a series of books about the teachings of Don Juan, in which lucid dreaming played a role. To induce the lucid dream he recommended that you spend about five minutes right before sleep in which you quietly sit in your bed looking at your hands and repeating to yourself "Tonight while I am dreaming, I will see my hands and realize that I am dreaming." The idea is that at some point in a dream, suddenly your hands will pop up in front of you (or you will see them naturally) and you will instantly make the connection, "This is a dream!"

Another technique people recommend is to perform reality checks. Ten or more times during the day you briefly check to see if you are dreaming. One person pulls on his finger. If it does not elongate he is not dreaming. Another person tries to put one of his fingers through his other hand. If he can’t do it he is not dreaming. The point is that if you establish a habit during your waking life it will continue in your dreams and will alert you when you actually are dreaming.

On occasion as soon as I realized I was dreaming the whole dream collapsed. There are techniques said to keep that from happening, or to bring the dream back, as well as how to deal with fearful things in the dream and how to avoid losing lucidity and having it turn into a regular dream. Then there are all sorts of suggestions people have about things you can do in your dream. Flying is always a big one, of course. One person asks dream objects what they represent in his life.

There are a number of books and websites with information about various aspects of lucid dreaming. One person well-known in the field is Stephen LaBerge, who has an informative website, www.lucidity.com. He has written a number of articles including Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep. There are a couple of interesting articles in Scientific American: How Can You Control Your Dreams? and The Neuroscience of Lucid Dreams. Scientific studies are out there, such as this and this. There is a forum here.

Has anybody else had lucid dreams? Are there any good books or techniques people can recommend or interesting dreams to relate?

[BLPOG]

I have had them occasionally, but not for several years. Mine usually involve flying but they tend to be fleeting.

There are some devices, both commercial and homemade, that use blinking lights on a timer to try to trigger lucid dreaming.

I think this could be a very interesting thread.

[tteettimes]

You two guys from Chapel Hill ??

[camion]

I'm still trying to achieve lucid waking.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I'm still trying to achieve lucid waking.

Life is but a dream

[weezie]

You two guys from Chapel Hill ??

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAH, cymbal crash.

[luburch]

Along similar lines...has anyone else ever experienced sleep paralysis? Terrifying feeling.

[rsvman]

I have, on occasion, realized that I was dreaming while I was in a dream. However, even in that setting, I have been unable to actually alter what was happening.

In fact, I have had dreams in which my basketball team is down by one point with 5 seconds left in the game and the other team has the ball. I steal a pass and head toward the rim, sail into the air to deliver the game-winning dunk, and then...miss! Then I'm like, Dang it! This is MY dream! I should be MAKING that shot!!

I have never made an attempt to increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming; I never knew such a thing was even possible.




Years ago I kept a dream diary. When I did that, it seemed like I had more vivid and interesting dreams. But most of my dreams are incredibly pedestrian. My wife will tell me this fantastically interesting dream she had and she'll ask me, "What did you dream last night? Do you remember?" And I'll remember very clearly my dream, which was something like this: I got into my car and drove to the local convenience store. Jimmy was working. I said, "Hey, Jimmy. How you doing?" He said, "Fine. It's a little slow today." I walked to the coolers and grabbed a soda. Then I went over and picked up the USA Today, scanned the headlines, then put it back. Then I paid for the soda. Said, "See ya later, Jimmy," and he nodded to me as I walked out the door. Fin.


Literally, I have dreams that are that boring. One of your links said that in dreams we are so much more creative, but for me maybe not. In real life I compose choral music, write stories, and paint pictures. In my dreams I go to 7-11 and buy a soda. SMH.

[mkirsh]

I think you guys have been Incepted. Gotta avoid the long flights with DiCaprio sitting across the aisle.

[devildeac]

I dreamed Bruce Springsteen was trying to sell me a new (or was that Used Cars) auto. Then, he came home with me and invited me to an Eagles concert with him, knowing he'd be playing a song or two with them. Does that count?

[nmduke2001]

Along similar lines...has anyone else ever experienced sleep paralysis? Terrifying feeling.

I "suffer" from sleep paralysis. I used to get it quite often in college. Maybe once or twice a week. Since I now get regular sleep, it's much less often. Maybe once a quarter or so. My first episode was when I was about 12. It was awful. I'm 38 now and have learned to manage it. Many people, me included, can turn a sleep paralysis episode into a lucid dream. I move towards lucid dreams sometimes, but often just force myself to wake up by either breathing really loud (one of the things I can control) and waking up my wife. She'll shake me awake. Another way to get out of the paralysis is by putting all my concentration and strength into my pinky. If I try hard enough, I can move my pinky and then my hand and then I wake up.

Sleep paralysis is very interesting. It's worth reading up on. Some people believe that alien abductions and ghost sightings can be explained by it because of the lucid dream element.

[Jeffrey]

I have an honorary PHD in Lucid Dreaming. I attended a few hundred Grateful Dead concerts.

[swood1000]

I have never made an attempt to increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming; I never knew such a thing was even possible.

Years ago I kept a dream diary. When I did that, it seemed like I had more vivid and interesting dreams.

I'm currently reading a pretty good book on the subject: Lucid Dreaming, Plain and Simple, by Robert Waggoner. He recommends that you pick one induction technique and stick with it for at least a month before switching. He says he started with the 'hands' technique and achieved a lucid dream within three nights. (Maybe I'm making some progress. Last night at least I dreamed about hands - I was wearing a shirt with very unusual buttons so part of the dream was spent looking at my hands while I tried to button the shirt.) Everybody seems to say that keeping a dream journal, in which you write whatever dream fragments you can remember, is essential.

[BLPOG]

I "suffer" from sleep paralysis. I used to get it quite often in college. Maybe once or twice a week. Since I now get regular sleep, it's much less often. Maybe once a quarter or so. My first episode was when I was about 12. It was awful. I'm 38 now and have learned to manage it. Many people, me included, can turn a sleep paralysis episode into a lucid dream. I move towards lucid dreams sometimes, but often just force myself to wake up by either breathing really loud (one of the things I can control) and waking up my wife. She'll shake me awake. Another way to get out of the paralysis is by putting all my concentration and strength into my pinky. If I try hard enough, I can move my pinky and then my hand and then I wake up.

Sleep paralysis is very interesting. It's worth reading up on. Some people believe that alien abductions and ghost sightings can be explained by it because of the lucid dream element.

I had sleep paralysis maybe twice in college, half a dozen or so times in high school, and probably over 100 times in middle school. It was pretty terrifying (I was unable to breath) and it happened almost every morning back then. I used a similar technique to break out of it, either concentrating on moving my pinky, my toes, or my eyelids. I was never really sure if it worked or if my body just broke out of it after my breathing had stopped for too long.

As far as I can remember, it never turned into lucid dreaming for me. I really hate sleep paralysis.

[swood1000]

I "suffer" from sleep paralysis. I used to get it quite often in college. Maybe once or twice a week. Since I now get regular sleep, it's much less often. Maybe once a quarter or so. My first episode was when I was about 12. It was awful. I'm 38 now and have learned to manage it. Many people, me included, can turn a sleep paralysis episode into a lucid dream. I move towards lucid dreams sometimes, but often just force myself to wake up by either breathing really loud (one of the things I can control) and waking up my wife. She'll shake me awake. Another way to get out of the paralysis is by putting all my concentration and strength into my pinky. If I try hard enough, I can move my pinky and then my hand and then I wake up.

Sleep paralysis is very interesting. It's worth reading up on. Some people believe that alien abductions and ghost sightings can be explained by it because of the lucid dream element.

If you Google Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Dreaming you get a bunch of sites that claim to show you how to transform sleep paralysis into a lucid dream or how to just get rid of sleep paralysis. For example, http://dreamstudies.org/2011/02/08/3...a-lucid-dream/ and http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.c...paralysis.html

[Tom B.]

I think you guys have been Incepted. Gotta avoid the long flights with DiCaprio sitting across the aisle.

Along those lines, I've had several experiences where I've "woken up" in a dream, only to realize that I'm actually still asleep and still dreaming, and that I only woke up from a [Impressive Clergyman voice] dweam wivvin a dweam [/Impressive Clergyman voice].

Of course, I didn't realize I was in a dream-within-a-dream at the time I was in it -- I just thought I was in a regular dream. It wasn't until after I woke up from the dream-within-a-dream -- and after I spent a few minutes in the "next level up" dream -- that I realized I'd been in a dream-within-a-dream and I was, in fact, still asleep and still dreaming.

To make things even more trippy, I've had experiences where I've gone through four or five levels of dreams-within-dreams in a single sleep session before finally waking up for real. Talk about disorienting.

[weezie]

You guys display very impressive mental activities during your sleeping hours. Signs of great intellectual abilities all around.

I spend a fair amount of my lucid time dreaming about clobbering my husband with a frying pan when his snoring begins.

[-jk]

You guys display very impressive mental activities during your sleeping hours. Signs of great intellectual abilities all around.

I spend a fair amount of my lucid time dreaming about clobbering my husband with a frying pan when his snoring begins.

I rather suspect that'd be called a day-dream or perhaps wishful thinking!

-jk

[OldPhiKap]

I have an honorary PHD in Lucid Dreaming. I attended a few hundred Grateful Dead concerts.

"PH"D? I'm guessing this is an autocorrect thing.

Sunshine, daydream . . . .

[YmoBeThere]

This thread makes me think of this song from my undergrad days. First started listening to them and wore out my Operation:Mindcrime cassette during my senior year in high school.