Lucid Dreaming

[Piggy]

For me, text often mutates in creative ways. Digital clocks are good reality checks as well... I glance at it, look away and glance back. In dreams the time will usually be different. Light switches never work in dreams either. Try flashing the lights on and off in your next LD... they're never "wired" to the bulbs.

In my dreams, light switches do work. In fact, in one of the most significant dreams of my life, a key difference between 2 mirror-image rooms was the functionality of the lights.

 

[Brian Jackson]

In my dreams, light switches do work. In fact, in one of the most significant dreams of my life, a key difference between 2 mirror-image rooms was the functionality of the lights.

That's unusual to hear... most of the LD'ers I've conversed with have mentioned the inoperability of lights, and inability to change the illumination levels of the scene. That's odd that you can control these. Hymen breast... I mean, I'm impressed.

 

[Davo]

Lucid dreaming

Experience lucid dreaming now and then as I`m quite a light sleeper.

I`ve noticed that external noises and sounds around me when I`m sleeping usually incorporate themselves into the lucid dream. Anyone else observed this ?

Best example is if I doze off during a movie, sometimes the dream often incorporates images from the movie I`ve seen before falling asleep and sounds from the movie while I`m in a lucid state. The movie I`ve been dreaming about is very different from the actual movie when I rewatch it properly later on.

Enjoyed some lucid dreams whilst others I have been grateful to snap out of. Can`t give any dream example as I don`t write them down and are they are lost to memory pretty quickly.

 

[Piggy]

Experience lucid dreaming now and then as I`m quite a light sleeper.

I`ve noticed that external noises and sounds around me when I`m sleeping usually incorporate themselves into the lucid dream. Anyone else observed this ?

Best example is if I doze off during a movie, sometimes the dream often incorporates images from the movie I`ve seen before falling asleep and sounds from the movie while I`m in a lucid state. The movie I`ve been dreaming about is very different from the actual movie when I rewatch it properly later on.

Enjoyed some lucid dreams whilst others I have been grateful to snap out of. Can`t give any dream example as I don`t write them down and are they are lost to memory pretty quickly.

In these cases, it's possible you're experiencing a hypnogogic state rather than a lucid dream. Not definite, but possible. If it only happens under such circumstances, and never in a dark quiet room in the middle of the night, I'd say the chances of hypnogogia are better than the chances of lucid dreaming.

 

[Godmode]

Experience lucid dreaming now and then as I`m quite a light sleeper.

I`ve noticed that external noises and sounds around me when I`m sleeping usually incorporate themselves into the lucid dream. Anyone else observed this ?

One night I was sleeping over at my grandmother's house and she had a clock radio that turned on in the morning, which I'm not used to. So I had this really bizzare dream incorporating the song "Let's go crazy" by prince.

 

[Jekyll]

In fact, in one of the most significant dreams of my life...

Honestly, this is the bit I feel is most surprised about in this thread.

For the last few years I've considered dreams to be little more than free style improvisation queued off white noise in the brain and the surroundings and, for me at least, devoid of significance.

I don't suppose you want to elaborate on how your dreams have been important to you?

 

[Brian Jackson]

...I`ve noticed that external noises and sounds around me when I`m sleeping usually incorporate themselves into the lucid dream. Anyone else observed this ?

Yes. That's what led me to designing a peripheral device I called "LISA." It played pre-recorded audio cues from my PC that was wired to earphones and triggered by the REM detector of the NovaDreamer mask. I frequently live out news stories in dreams that are audible from a nearby TV or radio. I'm thinkin' I'll start experimenting with porno tapes! Hey, ya never know!

 

[Josh Redstone]

Lucid Dreamzzz

I've been Lucid Dreaming on and off since I was 13. I heard about it on an Episode of Star Trek Voyager, and had my first spontaneous lucid dream shortly after. Once I had actually experienced one, I was hooked, so I read everything I could find to do with them
I've read all of Dr. LaBerge's books, but Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming is the best one he's done in my opinion. I have always been curious to try the Novadreamer but never have, since I've trained myself to a point where I just didn't need anything but a dream journal, a few techniques and my own willpower. Mind you, I don't have the chance to practise this as much now as I used to with school and work, but I still have the odd spontaneous lucid dream now and then

 

[Piggy]

Honestly, this is the bit I feel is most surprised about in this thread.

For the last few years I've considered dreams to be little more than free style improvisation queued off white noise in the brain and the surroundings and, for me at least, devoid of significance.

I don't suppose you want to elaborate on how your dreams have been important to you?

It seems to me that biology is multi-tasking when it comes to dreams.

On the one hand, they appear to be a byproduct of a kind of mental filing process. So the day's images and concepts appear in our dreams as they are shuffled back and forth, some to be discarded, others to be preserved for later reference. In that sense, our dream world is largely composed of a generally random set of images, something like the product of channel surfing.

On the other hand, they appear to (at least sometimes) be part of a problem-solving process. I have no doubt that my brain is working on problems when "I" am not thinking of them. Sometimes I'll wake up with the answer to a dilemma clearly formed in my mind. Sometimes the solution to a problem will intrude on my thoughts during the day, unbidden but entirely correct.

I am reluctant to talk about the details of my dreams and their importance, because they are so very personal.

Usually, when I re-read my dream journals, I'm simply struck by the oddity and often the humor of my dreams. But certain dreams have provided me with profound insights, usually into areas of my life which I had been resisting facing up to -- ways in which I was mistreating others and justifying it with bogus arguments... fears that I attempted to bury rather than confront... obligations I was not fulfilling, and distracting myself from even admitting. My dreams have had a way of serving these uncomfortable things up on a platter, alerting me that they needed to be dealt with.

 

[macgyver]

Great thread topic! I'm glad to see there's others who have approached lucid dreaming from a pragmatic angle, and not a "spiritual" one.

I consider a true "lucid" dream to be the type where you realize you're dreaming, and then suddenly the dream becomes what I call "hyper-real". Details, colours, even a sense of "space" around you suddenly jumps into sharp relief. I've found smells, taste, sounds etc. all become quite intense. Also, you can pretty much do what ever you want, from flying to turning invisible (must be a latent voyeur or something, but that's a favourite of mine) to just standing there going "wow, I'm in a dream right now, and I can do whatever I want!".

I can only induce these states with practice and routine. Years ago I was getting quite good at it, but I haven't had a truly lucid dream for going on 9 or 10 years now.

The way that I did it was by teaching myself a routine of doing "reality checks" during the day. This generally consisted of looking at street signs, or anything printed, reading it, then looking away and turning back to read it again. If the words remained the same, then I wasn't dreaming. However, a unique aspect of dreams, is that printed words are never static, so the second reading is what would trigger my lucidity. As soon as I saw that the street sign was completely different the second time I looked at it -- Bam! my dream was lucid. The trick is that if this is a routine behaviour in your waking life, then it will trickle into your dreams as well, and give you an "embedded trigger".

The second problem is "hanging on" to the dream. I find that the lucid dreams want to fade (litterally the world begins to fade) and become non-lucid unless you concentrate on keeping them "focused". Actually putting your arms out, and spinning around seems to help for some reason, although the setting of your dream may shift, you can usually keep it lucid that way.

Has anyone else had similar experiences to this? (I haven't read all the posts yet, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in)

 

[Brian Jackson]

Has anyone else had similar experiences to this? (I haven't read all the posts yet, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in)

Yes. Read post #36 in this thread.

 

[Brian Jackson]

oops...delete

 

[Jekyll]

It seems to me that biology is multi-tasking when it comes to dreams.

On the one hand, they appear to be a byproduct of a kind of mental filing process. So the day's images and concepts appear in our dreams as they are shuffled back and forth, some to be discarded, others to be preserved for later reference. In that sense, our dream world is largely composed of a generally random set of images, something like the product of channel surfing.

On the other hand, they appear to (at least sometimes) be part of a problem-solving process. I have no doubt that my brain is working on problems when "I" am not thinking of them. Sometimes I'll wake up with the answer to a dilemma clearly formed in my mind. Sometimes the solution to a problem will intrude on my thoughts during the day, unbidden but entirely correct.

I'd agree with both of these, they are after all two sides of the same thing. There's no point doing the filling unless you get something out of it.

I am reluctant to talk about the details of my dreams and their importance, because they are so very personal.

That's fair enough.

Usually, when I re-read my dream journals, I'm simply struck by the oddity and often the humor of my dreams.

I think this is down to the scene interpretation part of your brain trying to make sense of what is basically noise and you're left with something that at any one moment makes sense but overall doesn't.

It's a lot like trying to make sentence out of the magnetic words that go on your fridge. My door currently says "We pomegranates of change in heart, accessible in brave gusto, outstanding behind courage, driven to peace."
Joining random scenes together is often going to result in an juxtaposition of different ideas which will come out funny if you keep the hits and forget the misses.

But certain dreams have provided me with profound insights, usually into areas of my life which I had been resisting facing up to -- ways in which I was mistreating others and justifying it with bogus arguments... fears that I attempted to bury rather than confront... obligations I was not fulfilling, and distracting myself from even admitting. My dreams have had a way of serving these uncomfortable things up on a platter, alerting me that they needed to be dealt with.

Again, this is the bit I find interesting as I think of the dream as the screen saver, while the brain works in the background. I suppose with it queuing so heavily off the filling going on it's not surprising that if you're gently teasing out a thread of common behaviour from your past, your dream would be heavily based on these thoughts.

 

[Piggy]

I suppose with it queuing so heavily off the filling going on it's not surprising that if you're gently teasing out a thread of common behaviour from your past, your dream would be heavily based on these thoughts.

Yes. And although I do think dreams can be a part of the sub/co-conscious "thinking" process, a dream's significance can also come from a Rorschach effect when we wake up and remember it.

In other words, if many of the images in a dream are involved with my current obsessions, then when I recall the jumble of images and actions, I'm likely to see what I need to see. If I treat my dreams as though they might be significant, it can be easier for me recognize in them certain truths that are uncomfortable for me to admit in myself otherwise. I can let the dream trigger it, and "tell me" that, for example, I'm actually feeling pretty bad about how I've been treating a family member even though I've been pretending not to, or that the reason my girlfriend left me was because I was being jerk (and not because she was being unreasonable which is what I'd been telling myself).

Know what I mean?

It's funny, a few months ago, I had a dream which involved characters in an elevator using 2 nonsense words in their speech. Turns out they were actual words, though very obscure, and I was able to develop scenarios in which their use was highly significant.

ETA: "Significant" in a very general way, not particularly meaningful to my life.

So is that proof that some higher being trying to communicate with me? No. It just shows what you can do when you're free to choose how to spell a word you hear, and when you're free to interpret the surrounding "symbols" any way you like.

 

[Jon the Geek]

The funny/sad part of this is that I almost never remember my dreams unless I really work at it. While I was actively keeping a dream journal and working on lucid dreaming, I could remember between 2 and 8 dreams every night. I think I'll try to start keeping a dream journal again, and see if I can repeat that performance...

After reading this thread and deciding to work on lucid dreaming again, I remembered pieces of 2 dreams last night. Did anyone else have any positive results from this?

 

[Josh Redstone]

After reading this thread and deciding to work on lucid dreaming again, I remembered pieces of 2 dreams last night. Did anyone else have any positive results from this?

Yep, I've been out of practise for a little while, but recently my dream recall is getting better, mostly because I'm taking more of an active interest in it again, both in this thread and on another forum.

 

[Lynx2174]

I've also been having lucid dreams fairly often. most commonly they involve flying, or are quasi-nightmares. it's always good fun though. I've also experienced an inability to move during the dream, which always seems to happen at the most inoppertune moments in nightmares. That kind of paralysis is more common for me in non-lucid dreams, or is the point where the dream shifts to lucidity.

What often happens is I actually have a regular dream, but It's like I'm watching it as well as experiencing it. so when inconsistant things happen, I comment in my mind about how it's odd or stupid. For example, I had a dream where I was in an elevator and the cable broke. part of me was preoccupied with falling to it's death, but another part was thinking about how the elevator would have never passed building codes, because it didn't have that automatic safety function where the elevator engages teeth in the shaft when tension on the cables is released.

Conjuring up random objects seems to be hit and miss. sometimes it takes a while, and a few "scenes" to get what I want. Sometimes it works right off.

 

[slipknotmcfadden]

I've always been able to control my actions and recognize that I was in a dream. I never knew it was an odd ability until recently. It is nice, and yes, I use it for sexual fantasy

I'm also a very light sleeper. I think some part of your conscious self has to be "awake" for it to work. I usually don't have control over my environment, but I do have control over myself. Sometimes I can will things into existence.

Another thing I have always been able to do is wake myself up if the dream goes bad - I close my eyes in the dream and try to reopen them. The reopening part is difficult, like my eyelids are stuck together, then it becomes apparent that I'm opening my real eyelids. When they open, I've awoke. In this state, I can concentrate on a situation or environment and fall back asleep in that situation or environment, but it's not quite as "real" as before unless I can really get back to sleep.

It is extremely fun, especially on weekends when I can sleep in. I'm thankful that I don't have to work at it, from reading all the comments here.

 

[slipknotmcfadden]

I had a dream once when there was a sign written in Russian (a language I was studying at the time). The sign said "He kypute" (my Roman alphabet approximation at it), which I had never seen before, but translated in my dream as "No Smoking". When I asked my professor about it later, I learned that that is the phrase for "No Smoking". Perhaps I'd seen it before and didn't remember, but I always thought that was cool that the "translator" part of my brain was working in the dream. Not only did I translate it into English during my dream to read "No Smoking", some part of my brain had translated it into Russian in the first place. Fascinating.

 

[osmosis]

After reading this thread and deciding to work on lucid dreaming again, I remembered pieces of 2 dreams last night. Did anyone else have any positive results from this?

I've been working on it too, although it's apparently a skill that takes practice and I've only been trying for two nights.

I recalled parts of an odd dream I had last night (all my dreams are "odd") and was able to recognise several clues that could have been used as a reality check. From what I've been reading, this is the first step.