Do you know anything about lucid dreaming?

[spage 0]

I love lucid dreams! Sadly I usually forget (or don't have time) to write them down in the morning, and by the time I am out of the shower they are forgotten.

If you haven't already, check out dreamviews.com for some great info. It is a fairly active forum dedicated to lucid dreaming, with some pretty interesting discussions.

[Marinus 0]

I

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never really set out to learn how to do it, but I guess being able to do it is my reward for a lifetime of sleeping problems.

I wonder if there's a link between sleeping problems and (spontaneous) lucid dreaming. I can't really support it with evidence, but the people whit whom I talked about it usually had troubles in the sleeping department. I personally suffer from insomnia and some sleep-related phenomena like sleep paralysis.

[Shotgun 1]

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I wonder if there's a link between sleeping problems and (spontaneous) lucid dreaming. I can't really support it with evidence, but the people whit whom I talked about it usually had troubles in the sleeping department. I personally suffer from insomnia and some sleep-related phenomena like sleep paralysis.

I don't know about other people, but for me, there is definitely a link. I have a life history of excessive nightmares, "waking" during sleep paralysis, and insomnia. I think the nightmares and sleep paralysis sort of forced me to learn lucid dreaming. Extreme fear turning to, "Wait a minute, I've been here before, and this is just a dream." I think I first just learned to wake myself from it. But then I discovered it was more fun to stay asleep and take control of the dream. And now I've gotten where I often become lucid even in regular (non-nightmare) dreams.

[MikeJD 0]

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what nearly everything fictional seems to get completely wrong is the continual ties to "reality". Where is the real imagination? You can do, be, go anything anywhere in dreamtime. Why would you only wander in the fields you know?

Do you mean in lucid dreaming, or in regular dreaming? Because for me dreaming invariably involves places and people I know, but there's always something different about them which might only seem strange on waking.

One thing that fascinates me is that locations and people in my dreams might not resemble their real-life counterparts at all - so that in waking life you wouldn't recognise them, but somehow in your dream you know it's them. It's as if you have a subconcious narrator who tells you what's going on, even though you'd be in complete confusion if you were only reacting to the dream experience.

For the most part, the dream worlds in Inception did appear too 'real'. I think Nolan's justification for that was that when you're dreaming even the most outlandish stuff seems like normality. It's doesn't really work, but I think you'd be hard pushed to produce a coherent action movie without that compromise.

[riddler 0]

Lovecraft was a racist, of course, and his prose is beautiful. But considering his family life and relationship with his mother, he could have just as easily become Norman Bates.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Squeak 17]

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I wonder if there's a link between sleeping problems and (spontaneous) lucid dreaming. I can't really support it with evidence, but the people whit whom I talked about it usually had troubles in the sleeping department. I personally suffer from insomnia and some sleep-related phenomena like sleep paralysis.

I don't know about other people, but for me, there is definitely a link. I have a life history of excessive nightmares, "waking" during sleep paralysis, and insomnia. I think the nightmares and sleep paralysis sort of forced me to learn lucid dreaming. Extreme fear turning to, "Wait a minute, I've been here before, and this is just a dream." I think I first just learned to wake myself from it. But then I discovered it was more fun to stay asleep and take control of the dream. And now I've gotten where I often become lucid even in regular (non-nightmare) dreams.

that's also pretty much my history with it.
I dont remember my dreams of late, but for a long while almost all my dreaming was lucid.
It was like being the star and director of your own movie

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Zenister 0]

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Lovecraft was a racist, of course, and his prose is beautiful. But considering his family life and relationship with his mother, he could have just as easily become Norman Bates.

Ah yes, because the value of a literary work is entirely dependant on the real life of the author instead of what is contained in the text. :\

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Shotgun 1]

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One thing that fascinates me is that locations and people in my dreams might not resemble their real-life counterparts at all - so that in waking life you wouldn't recognise them, but somehow in your dream you know it's them.

I've always found this fascinating too. There will be somebody or somewhere that is obviously not that somebody or somewhere, but for whatever reason I "know" it is them.

[Marinus 0]

I've also a very sadistic and creative part of my brain producing the dream stuff, and I also suspect the lucid dreams are because of that. I usually wake up after I become aware so I don't really get to play with the dream.. But even if I'm not aware I'm dreaming the dreams about monsters are not that scary, more like a interactive horror flick. I somehow understand that there's no real danger.

Of course my brain has found interesting ways to be able to keep scaring me. There's the hyper realistic nightmares about things that are possible. And there's the false awakening, where my mind tricks me back into thinking I'm awake by letting me dream that I wake up. It's almost like I need to have nightmares whether I like it or not.

The sleep paralysis is still the nastiest thing. Even now I know what it is it's usually enough to ruin the rest of the night for me. Luckily I only have it once a month or so.

[Marinus 0]

One thing I often experience is "hybrid" people. People in my dream are often composed out of components of real people. So someone can be partly my best friend, partly my spouse and partly a neighbour, all formed into one new person. This hybridization also often happens to things and places.

[OlympiaStoica 0]

I have experienced it a few times and I found it to be incredibly fascinating. Basically, at some point in the dream I realized I’m dreaming … if it was something pleasant, I would go along with it and modify it to my liking. If it was something unpleasant, I would take action to end it.

A few times I woke up from a pleasant dream, felt disappointed since I didn’t want it to end, fell back asleep and continued it. The mind is an interesting thing.

[Nataly 38]

Sooooo strange to come across this topic for the first time... It's not something I've given much thought yet I have experienced both lucid dreams and sleep paralysis. I've been reading more and more on it because it's absolutely fascinating - can't believe I've never heard of it. I remember my brother telling me once he realised he was in a dream whilst he was sleeping... I remember thinking this was not that unusual. Although I've never consciously directed what happens, I have on a number of occasions analysed the events and concluded it was too incoherent and therefore must be a dream. Every time, this was immediately followed by me waking up.

The sleep paralysis has happened about half a dozen times and it's really frightening. I have always felt there was a very real danger but couldn't will myself to move for what seemed like several minutes. Twice I thought I heard a noise and that the house was being burgled and it's a horrible feeling. Once I thought the house was on fire and I just couldn't move. A couple of times I thought I overslept and was late for work but just couldn't get up... Always just assumed it was a bad dream that felt real but reading more on it, I really think I was awake. Huh...

ETA: I have terrible sleep patterns... Don't know if they are related, but I have always suffered from insomnia.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[Shotgun 1]

Before the Web, I never knew what "sleep paralysis" was, even though I experienced it regularly. Was so cool to finally find people who had had the same experience as me.

And I remember discussing the expericence on here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=545305#545305, which was pretty cool.

[MikeJD 0]

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The sleep paralysis has happened about half a dozen times and it's really frightening. I have always felt there was a very real danger but couldn't will myself to move for what seemed like several minutes.

That feeling of dread is 'normal' too, Nat, and people have been reporting it for centuries. Even more macabre, there's a very common hallucination that involves some kind of malevolent creature sitting on your chest while you're paralysed.

Unlike some people, I don't believe this is evidence of actual demonic activity! But it's fascinating nonetheless to read about how similar people's experiences are.

I don't think I've suffered from sleep paralysis - but like everyone, I guess, I've occasionally woken up from a dream feeling very uneasy and found it hard to go back to sleep.

[runningman 0]

I'd like to begin by saying this is probably the coolest thread on this website. I love dreams and all aspects of the subconscious world, and it's refreshing to see that it is actually quite popular. I've had a few instances of gaining lucidity in a dream, but they always resulted in my waking. I remember one night I decided that I would learn the art of lucid dreaming, so I kept reminding myself that I was drifting off as I was lying in bed. At some point, I realized I was in that place between the conscious world and subconscious existence; the feeling was so strange and powerful that it shocked me awake.

I think just being a passenger in dreams is equally as interesting, however, since the symbolism present in dreams can reach prolific depths. Attempting to interpret the myriad details of your own dreams or the dreams of others is actually quite fun.
*edited for typos because I'm particular like that

[jeepers 0]

There's an excellent free e-book that pretty much guarantees you to have a lucid dream within three days of following their instructions.

I had one on the first night of trying and have had many since. Haven't had much time to do it lately but have been meaning to get back into it.

http://obe4u.com/files/SOBT.pdf

Its a long book but the first section will do for beginner stuff.

[runningman 0]

Why thank you, sir. I'm going to have to find some time to read that whole thing and give it a go.

[Shotgun 1]

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I've had a few instances of gaining lucidity in a dream, but they always resulted in my waking.

A lot of my lucid dreams involve me "floating" around my own house, but when I try to go through a window or something, it wakes me up. The more interesting lucid dreams have started from a regular dream when I was in some surreal location, suddenly realized I was dreaming, and took control. I've gone flying over tall buildings, oceans..... lots of flying.

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I think just being a passenger in dreams is equally as interesting, however, since the symbolism present in dreams can reach prolific depths.

I agree with this. I have had a lot of insights from the dreams in which I was just a passenger.

[Shotgun 1]

Thanks for the link! I will definitely read it.