# Lucid dreaming.



## The Tourist (Oct 14, 2013)

For the past several years I've been looking into lucid dreaming and attempting to master it.  During that time, I've done it twice.  The best one was last night, and I might be able to help you guys.  It is quite stimulating.  You might even be able to utilize it in your stories.

First, a touch of background.  In doing some research, I happened across an older episode of Star Trek Voyager.  One of the characters explained he knew he was dreaming when he saw the Earth's moon.  Recognition of dreaming is a very big step.  I sought to find my own.

I have very aggressive daily gym work-outs, and my legs are always sore.  Many times I will be in a dream walking to some distant point--like across a huge empty parking lot--and my legs will ache.

Last night I had a rather mundane dream, and I was walking down hill on a calm day and felt I was struggling against a stiff wind.  I actually mused to myself, "This feels like dreams I have..."

There was a instant and enlightening realization!  I was in a lucid dream!  The dream got visually clearer immediately and despite everything I've read about men not being able to dream in color, the entire landscape changed to more brilliant hues!  I laughed, well, the first test is flight--and I lifted off easily.

As I wondered if I should go looking for a old girl friend, I landed next to a crowd of shoppers.  One woman asked me if I knew any customer service personnel at a nearby shop as she was having trouble.  Believe it or not I interrupted her, told her this was a lucid dream, and commented that if I was dreaming, so was she.  I advised her to use the experience to take a flight!

However, she prattled on and I left her earthbound.

But the breakthrough is valid, none the less.  The concepts of lucid dreaming do work, and once attained they make dreams a fantastic new adventure.

Do some research.  Oh, and I have a theory.  I have often heard stories from friends who dream about each other.  I had one such experience with a woman from my church--we both were in each other's dreams about an escaped tiger.  When we/they relate these experiences many times we/they were having the same dream at the same time.  A mental link?  I'm going to find out...


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## ToBeInspired (Oct 14, 2013)

I'm often aware that I am dreaming while asleep. I'm even able to retain a sense of time which I use to wake myself up as needed. My dreams are never to the point where I'm as rational as I would be awake. I know that I'm dreaming and I'm able to make changes, but it's not like "hey, I'm dreaming. I think I'm going to fly."

While aware of my dreams, however, I do switch things up to become more appealing in nature. If I don't like the current settings I'll switch completely to something else. In fact, I don't remember any of my dreams unless I'm aware that I'm asleep. I go to sleep and then wake up. It's just a blank. The only times I remember dreaming is when I'm in control, to some degree, and that's only for a smaller period of time. 

They also vary greatly in vividness. There's only been a few times when they've seemed to be as clear as real life. In fact, there was one once when I realized it was a dream and then later began doubting that it was. The responses from people made me doubt that I would have envisioned this myself. When I later heard a person say the same thing I had dreamed... well I had some funny thoughts.

Edit: After discussing this I found myself in a short Lucid dream. I told the person I was walking by that this was a dream and found that I took control. I then chose to fly because I was able to remember this post. I simply flew a few inches off the ground at a fast pace. My entire body felt odd and I had an overwhelming urge to wake up. I was stuck between fighting to remain in the dream and to wake. I woke shortly after and cannot remember any dreams after that or from before.


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## The Tourist (Oct 14, 2013)

My wife makes appearances in my dreams quite often--she doesn't trust me even when I'm asleep.  She's beginning to sound like my parole officer, but I digress.

I told her this morning that if I realize I'm in a lucid dream, I'm going to turn to her and tell her something--anything.  Upon waking, I'm not going to say a word.

However, she just might turn to me over breakfast and ask, "Who's Maria Ouspenskaya?"


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## Pluralized (Oct 15, 2013)

Lucid Dreaming is an endlessly fascinating topic. Never really experienced it personally, aside from moments near wakefulness where I feel bound by chains and have just the beginnings of control over my dream-world before I wake. 

Definitely want to read up on it, though. There's real power in there somewhere, if you can get at it. Just ask Edgar Cayce. 

Fodder for some fiction, at the very least. Ideas!


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## The Tourist (Oct 15, 2013)

My understanding of the experience is that it usually happens in REM sleep about four to five minutes before waking.

Personally, it's like no other dreaming.  Once I know I'm dreaming it's like opening the door on "The Wizard of Oz."  Instant color, clarity, a feeling of elation.

There was nothing forced about flight, I raised my arms slightly and watched the horizon lower as the buildings fell beneath me.


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## Staff Deployment (Oct 29, 2013)

Had a dream where I wasn't lucid but somehow my dream-avatar knew he wasn't real. I was hiding behind the eyes of someone who knew he was in a dream, yet I had neither control over my actions nor his. It was rather sureal. We went many strange places, most of which I have forgotten (as well as the majority of the details).


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## Gumby (Oct 29, 2013)

I once had a very strange dream/experience. I was flying feet first through space, in the prone position, it looked like that old screen saver 'flying through space' as it was all dark, other than the stars or points of light as they moved past my vision. It didn't feel like a normal dream as I was hyper aware of myself, lying in my bed in the exact same prone position. So I opened my eyes and sure enough I was in my bed, could see the ceiling fan whirring, the walls and doorway, everything. But as soon as I closed my eyes I was back flying, prone, through space. I opened and closed my eyes several times and each time I opened them, I was lying in bed, but as soon as I closed them, I was flying, prone, through space. It was the most exhilarating and strange thing I've ever had happen to me.


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## The Tourist (Oct 29, 2013)

Gumby, please tell me I'm having a lucid dream right now.

This morning I sent more poetry to Pandi.  A sonnet.  No kidding.

Hey, a sonnet is actually an "Italian sonnet," so I have that going for me...

(I'll be waking up any minute now.)


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## Kevin (Oct 29, 2013)

> ...everything. But as soon as I closed my eyes I was back flying, prone, through space.


Hmm...'alien'...knew it.


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## Gumby (Oct 29, 2013)

Shhhhhhhh...eep-ka it-ka iet-qua.


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## Lewdog (Oct 29, 2013)

I've been able to do this for many years now.  It started when I was young when I would have nightmares.  I would remember the nightmares quite vividly so in order to fight the dreams I would make very detailed plans on what I would do each time I had a certain nightmare.  I didn't know at the time, as I was a kid, that this is how most dreamers who are able to control their dreams first become able to.  Ever since then I have had many 'flight dreams,' and I often have problems distinguishing memories from what were actually dreams.  It used to drive my friends crazy.  I would be having conversations with them about things we had talked about and done, only to have them tell me it never happened.

As I have gotten older, plus with the medicines I take, my dreams have gotten stronger to the point I wake myself up talking and oddly enough I'll even finish the sentence as I wake up almost as if the dream isn't ending abruptly but instead fading away.

My advice to someone that wants to learn how to do this, is to make a journal of your dreams, then try to think of things you would like to have done while in it.  Try to think about these things before you go to sleep at night.  Don't get frustrated if it takes awhile, I have read that the older you are, the harder it is to learn.


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## Gumby (Oct 29, 2013)

The Tourist said:


> Gumby, please tell me I'm having a lucid dream right now.
> 
> This morning I sent more poetry to Pandi.  A sonnet.  No kidding.
> 
> ...



Hmmmm, try opening and closing your eyes several times...hey, it worked for me.


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## The Tourist (Oct 29, 2013)

Gumby said:


> Hmmmm, try opening and closing your eyes several times...hey, it worked for me.



As I've said, "leg pain" is a signal I use to confirm I'm dreaming.  But coming out of it is natural.  I can reckon time fairly well, and my dreams seem to be in 'real time.'  Once I feel that specific pain I have three to four minutes before waking.

If I'm going to fly, or find someone, I have only minutes.  Then there's a foggy pixilation and I wake up.


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## greggb77 (Nov 6, 2013)

According to Occult belief, a lucid dream is a travel into the astral plane. There's a book called "The Astral Body" you might find really interesting. I don't actually believe any of the theology that goes along with Occult doctrine, but I find it to be one of the most fascinating religions. And, if you're writing fiction, it can provide you with a great framework for any stories that get into the fantastic... I'd bet serious money that JK Rowling did some research on the Occult before writing Harry Potter. It's an old book. I found a copy at the local library. Again, I'd highly recommend it, with your interest in lucid dreaming.

I've heard the best way to initiate a lucid dream is to make a habit of asking yourself, "am I dreaming" throughout your waking hours, and take the question seriously. Really look around and examine the things around you and look for anything that seems unrealistic. I once had a lucid dream because in my dream, a dog used some logic more advanced than a dog would normally use... I said, "wait a second, a dog doesn't have those kind of logical abilities."

I don't like to have lucid dreams. Once I realize I'm dreaming I want to wake up. It takes a tremendous amount of effort, and in the process I stop breathing. My theory is this: breathing is both a voluntary, and involuntary process. I can breathe, or hold my breath if I choose to. But if I get busy doing something else, some part of me (maybe my subconscious) will remember to breathe for me. There are no other processes I'm aware of that are both voluntary and involuntary. Our hearts have a pacemaker that causes it to beat (making it completely involuntary), and we move all of our muscles on will (voluntary). Breathing falls into no-man's land, and I think that's why I stop breathing as I'm coming out of sleep paralysis. 

And anymore, my dreams are usually so exciting I don't want to wake up from them. 

The 'incubus' is another interesting topic related to this. That's the belief in a male demon some people either see or feel as they're waking up. One theory is that during our transition from sleep to wakefulness, we're very vulnerable because we're still under sleep paralysis, so our brain creates the concept of a threatening presence near us, I guess to motivate us to get our butts up. 

Don't quote me on any of this... it's been a while since I've read about it. 

Anyhow, a fascinating topic.


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## Nico (Dec 24, 2013)

Can't say my experiences have ever been too good, because I mainly get stuck in the sleep paralysis stage. Some people purposely put themselves into that mode as a step to lucid dreaming, but I don't have that kind of control and fear the paralysis too much to do it purposely. 
When I had to take a medicine that ended up causing me to have sleep paralysis every time i fell asleep, sometimes I would get so scared that I'd have to try very hard to get into a dream. One time I think I managed it, just existing vaguely in a space that would be best described as white hallways. I was kind of like, "what should I do, I finally might be lucid dreaming" and the only thing that I could think of was to make out with a cute person. Unfortunately I couldn't even get the right person, ha!


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## movieman (Dec 27, 2013)

I've been doing it for years, though I don't know how. When I realize I'm dreaming, I can change pretty much anything that I can't see, but have to be careful I don't try to change things I can see, or I'll wake up.

One easy technique is to find a door, and put whatever I want behind it. Turning away, changing things, and then turning back often seems to kick me out of the dream.


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## Lewdog (Dec 27, 2013)

One of the medicines I'm on now makes me remember almost EVERY dream and I jump in them and out of them as soon as I fall asleep or wake up.  I also have a period after I wake up that the dream keeps going and I can still see the dream and I start acting out in real life what I am doing in my dream until I realize I can't actually touch or pickup the things in my dream and that I am really touching my bed, the wall, my pillow...it's one of the oddest feelings you can imagine.

After several years of having such lucid dreams and always remembering them, I've started to have problems remembering what was a dream and what really happened in my past.


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## OrigamiSweaterClub (Jan 19, 2014)

Hello all! I've managed to lucid dream several times with the guidance of many people throughout the internet. The key is in making "reality checks". It is advised that during your usual waking state, to either check your watch, look at your hands or look into a mirror with the intention of doing so when you are dreaming. If make this a habit, to make these "reality checks" you will eventually imitate them in your dreams. When you do these reality checks in your dream you will notice that time cannot be read, your hands will be disfigured, or your reflection will be distorted. For some reason if you notice these in your dream they will always look weird, which will trigger yourself to know you are dreaming. The best time for lucid dreaming is after you've waken up too early in the morning and then return to your bed to sleep. 

Check this informative info graphic for further guidance 

http://www.penguininked.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/how-to-control-your-dreams-infographic.jpg


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