Lucid Dreaming

Emet said:
Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The term was coined by Frederik van Eeden who used the word "lucid" in the sense of mental clarity. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream when the dreamer realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a dream.
http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html#LD
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Okay, I stand corrected.

However that makes my experiences even stranger then. My experiences were certainly "lucid" in that they were entirely real and totally indistinguishable from reality - unlike "normal" dreams" there was no "waking up and realising" that what was going on was a dream - or while within the dream things happened that were not "real". My experience was totally real - and the only reason I know I am not still dreaming is that this (current) "episode" has not ended... The only thing I experienced was a sense of forboding near the end of each episiode. Without being able to use "lucid dreaming" to characterise my experience it then becomes totally inexplicable.
 
Rramjet said:
There seems to be some confusion in this thread between “lucid dreaming” and being aware of (or being able to control) dreaming and waking up from a dream and realising it was a dream and “sleep paralysis” (the state between waking and sleeping where one is partially aware/ partially dreaming, but cannot move and often will feel as if they are being “sat on” or “held down” by some external force or “being”). In a lucid dream, one is completely unaware that one is either asleep or dreaming.

For example I had a lucid dream a year or so back where I was lying on the sofa asleep and a huge bang from the kitchen woke me up. I immediately thought our dog had knocked something over and got up to investigate. I went into the kitchen to investigate, saw nothing out of place, then realised I was thirsty, so I went to the sink and proceed to pour myself a glass of water. As I did I looked around and the corner of the kitchen suddenly seemed “dark”, as if I could not quite make it out. “Something’s not right here” I thought. Perplexed and just a little frightened, I started walking back to the lounge – BANG! – I found myself back on the sofa awakening from sleep. “Wow!” I thought, “That was some dream!” I realised I was still thirsty and obviously I had not yet investigated what the “bang” was that woke me in the first place… I got up and went to the kitchen… I looked around … “Oh no! Same deal as before! Something’s just not right here”… I became even more frightened … I started to walk back to the lounge and …BANG! …I was back on the sofa, waking up again! This time I got up and determining never to go into the kitchen again even if my life depended on it switched on the TV and waited for the wife to get home!

There was absolutely no difference in my experience of the world between “going to the kitchen” and the final act of switching on the TV and watching it. Spooky is an understatement!
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well, My husband was completely unaware that he was asleep or dreaming, he had told me many times that he tried to wake me to help him, but if i am off topic, than my apologies. I, myself have never really had a lucid dream, so it was hard for me to differentiate
 
Halfcentaur said:
I've never been able to lucid dream beyond a certain degree of control. I begin to realize I am dreaming, and often at times I realize I am having a dream inside a dream, or sometimes I dream about telling other people about a dream I had while dreaming, but I never am able to fully awaken in the dream and do whatever I want. I always end up sort of letting the reality of the dream get the better of me. I may begin to try to fly or float, but the gravity is always wonky and inconsistent, I have to concentrate really hard, or put lots of effort into clearing my mind, to make supernatural abilities manifest.
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All my lucid dreams are dreams inside dreams. I'm always concerned that I'll be like my golden retriever who runs and makes noise in his sleep.
 
I have lucid dreams perhaps one a week if lucky. It's something that's always fascinated me. I remember as child I had lucid dreams all the time - it was only until later in life when they became a lot rarer, I realized how special they are; so when I experiences one now I try to make it last as long as I can.

I have tried to increase the frequency through different methods, but usually only succeed in have one simply because it's on my mind a lot, and even then it's random.

I find if my sleep pattern is very disturbed, or I've had a few Red Bulls recently it can improve the chances. The realization that I'm dreaming can be suddenly noticing something odd, or just spontaneously becoming aware for no reason. I have tried to resist the urge to instantly turn it into something sexual lol, and focused more interesting things ranging from: flying, having Jedi powers, exploring fantastical places etc, or just inspecting the quality of objects, there texture and appearance - some of which are amazingly detailed.

I can easily see how you could attach some spiritual significance to lucid dreams - the places, music and other things can truly amazing. It's only a shame there's nothing like Inception where you can share or even record these things. It's hard to convey the beauty of something to someone else. Unless of course you can create the place in some kind of game level maker as I used to do.

However the most terrible nightmares I've had are the one during lucid dreams - even though you know it's a dream you can't stop it or seem to wake up from it. Real Nightmare on Elm street stuff.
 
Senex said:
I've only had three or four lucid dreams in my life but I remember I did some sort of mental test to prove to myself I was dreaming each time. I needed to be certain I was dreaming before I engaged in the reckless behavior afforded me.
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Sometimes I've done a test and failed. Usually looked around and thought, "No, there's too much detail here - it can't be a dream."

Other times I was sure. Some I remember: "Oh yeah, there's no such thing as wolfmen, this must be a dream", "Oh yeah, the Addams Family is just a TV show, this must be a dream", "Oh yeah, real life is not a cartoon, this must be a dream". In the Addams Family one I started hitting myself on the head. Morticia asked what I was doing, and I said "Trying to wake myself up."

Other times I have realized it was a dream and then believed I had woken up, not realizing I was still dreaming; or, a short time after realizing it was a dream, forgot all about it. That's the problem with lucid dreaming: in our dreams, we are dumb.
 
LD4all is another good forum also.

Long time lucid dreamer here as well.

What I totally fail to understand is how the brain can, for all intents, create a world that seems as real if not more so than waking life. The detail, the texture, the sensations are all there, even enhanced. Some are so.... um losing words to describe here... so full of experience that by comparison waking life is like being asleep!

I remember after one such "super real" lucid dream that I walked around in a daze for a couple of days afterward trying to figure out WT* just happened. And wanting to go back.

Why would the brain do that? Reserve it's best for when I'm asleep? Stupid brain lol. I need you when I'm awake!
 
i sometimes know i'm dreaming, and i can wake up if it's an unpleasant dream. i had a girlfriend who could lucid dream. i had a girlfriend who was a lucid dreamer. good thing, too, because she about wore me out in real life.
 
Craig4 said:
There are some anti malarial drugs that will cause some REALLY lucid dreams. Again, be careful.
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I would contend that these are VIVID dreams, not lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming is specifically when you realise you are dreaming and exert control over the "action" within a dream.

Vivid dreams are just very realistic and can sometimes cause confusion about "reality" just after waking, or trying to wake up.
 
I had more lucid dreams as a teenager than as and adult, though I do still occasionally have one. As a teenager, I would immediately transform the content of any dream to that of a more intimate nature. Usually involving either Brittney Spears or Salma Hayek.
:o
 
I had an odd dream just last night. I dreamt that I was performing as a singer in a large auditorium and yet had no idea what I was supposed to be singing. I told the band to play a couple cover songs just to kill a bit of time. Then someone in the audience yelled "Play your song!" I had no idea what "my song" was, but I told the band to go ahead and play it.

They struck up a song that I had never heard before, but yet somehow I knew. I knew the lyrics, when to start and stop, the musical breaks, the whole thing. I performed this song to wild acclaim, and then I woke up. I'm damned if I remember much about the song though. I remember a couple of the chord progressions, and the last line of the chorus was "all I need is my car and a road to dream on." Not exactly Shakespeare, I know, but I never claimed to be a songwriter.

It made me wish I kept a dream journal.
 
I had one really good one, in which I even pulled aside a random character and tried to convince her that she was just a figment of my imagination. It was an interesting conversation - eventually I convinced her and she was a little disturbed but overall took it well.

My most terrifying dream ever was bordering on a lucid dream - I don't know how much it counted because I woke up pretty quickly after realizing it was a dream and so I didn't get to actually try and influence it. Still, there's nothing worse than getting scared, realizing (to your great relief) that it's just a dream and saying so out loud... only to have someone in the dream shrug and say (with a super creepy smile) "You don't actually think you're going to wake up, do you?"

Gah.
 
Lucid dreaming is high on the list of things I wish I could do. That might just be because I've never had one and don't realize the limitations, though.

As it is, I never remember anything from my dreams. I've had a couple vivid ones, but all I remember now is waking up and thinking "wow, that was a really weird dream!" ... then two minutes later I'm thinking "wait, what was that dream I had...?"
 
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