Lucid Dreaming

[Chef Troy]

I remember in the early eighties reading an article in Omni (I know, not exactly an unimpeachable source of scientific knowledge) about so-called "lucid dreaming," or realizing you're dreaming without waking up and taking control of your dream to fly, etc.

My question is, are there any ways to set out to accomplish this state? I've experienced it on one occasion and it was really neat -- just by thinking about it, I could fly like superman and all kinds of other stuff. I even remembered a technique from the article about how to stabilize yourself if you start to wake up (you make your dream body spin like a top until you're stable again). Unfortunately, my phone rang before I could really get the full effect, and I've never been able to recapture it.

So how about it? Any advice to offer, or anecdotes to share?

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Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

[Joey P]

I've actually been working on it lately. One of the main things to do is to learn to remember your dreams. Cuz if you do have a lucid dream and you don't remember it then what good is it. I've heard the b-6 helps and to an extent it does. I've also been taking valarian root, hops, and passion flower before I go to bed to aid in my dreaming but I'm still working on a combination that will do better. If anyone else has any ideas please share.

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Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB

[Satan]

Everytime I realized that what was happening to me was a dream, i would wake even if I didn't want to. I think I'm too literal minded to manage the concentration needed for such a thing - the same way when I stare at the dot in the middle of the 3D box, I cannot make the whole box disappear before I blink...

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Brian O'Neill
CMC International Records
rockuniverse.com/cmc/cmc.html (http://rockuniverse.com/cmc/cmc.html)

ICQ 35294890
AIM Scrabble1
Yahoo Messenger Brian_ONeill

[StrTrkr777]

Joey, maybe adding some LSD to your mix would help. Just kidding.

I have read similar articles and have been told that it can be done.

Not long after I read the article, I had a dream and in the dream I realized that I was in fact dreaming. I told my dream characters that I knew I was dreaming and that I now could control them, they laughed at me and taunted me for thinking I could control them.

I have often wondered what that must mean about my psyche, if my dreams taunt me. Oh well, I do not think that it has happened since.

Jeffery

[Beadalin]

I've lucid reamed quite a few times, and so have a several people I've talked to. I talking about this in a psychology class I took, and we watched a video of a sleep clinic's techniques in studying lucid dreams. Maybe you could rig up something similar:

What they did was to tell their patients before they went to sleep that there would be a flashing light that would go off when they reached REM sleep. Eventually the patients learned to recognize that a flashing light in their dreams meant that they were sleeping. After seeing the flashing light, the sleepers would take control of their dreams since they could now recognize that they were asleep. It was really neat.

Another study taught people with depression to lucid dream as a means of treating the depression: when the people could control situations in their dreams (or this was the theory) they would feel more in-control awake. An interesting idea, anyway.

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"It says, I choo-choo-choose you. And it's got a picture of a train."

[Joey P]

I don't even think I could pay a friend to sit there and flash a light in my eyes when they started moving.
Does anybody know of any books that discuss HOW to dream (including lucid dreams) instead of just what dreams mean. At the moment I'm more interested in getting to the lucid stage (and remembering it) then what it actually means.

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Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB

[TubaDiva]

A search of Barnes and Noble online turned up a kit and a couple books in print on "lucid dreaming" -- and a bunch of out of print titles still available for sale.

A search at Amazon found several books and a tape . . .including the Amazon auction site.

A google search turned up 6577 references to "lucid dreaming."

All this took me, oh, maybe 2 minutes.

What's difficult about this?

your humble TubaDiva

[Contestant #3]

There you go folks...yet ANOTHER unprofessional remark made by SD staff toward a "lessor" member...

These administrators and moderators really think their shit don't stink!...

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Contestant #3

[TubaDiva]

We are here to fight Ignorance wherever we find it -- but this is not the Knowledge Kareoke, either.

It's like that old saying about "give a man a fish" (and he has food for a day) vs. "teach a man to fish" (and he can feed himself for always).

We want everybody that comes here to be able to fish for themselves. . . and that's really not asking a lot.

To carry that analogy further, we'll show you where to get a pole . . . what bait works well . . . where the fish are biting . . . but it's not our responsibility to put that fish on the hook for you.

Yes, we can point the way, but there are some simple and basic things you should be able to do for yourself, like use a search engine.

If you have enough stuff going on to get here and ask questions, how much harder is it to go look for yourself?

That's not being rude, in fact, it's rude to expect US to do your legwork for you.

your humble TubaDiva

[Contestant #3]

Weak attempt at butt-covering Jenny...the member didn't ask to be deluged with references to every book in print that deals with lucid dreaming...in fact, he asked specifically for a book that instructs on "HOW" to have a lucid dream...there's a difference there, one that your smart-alecky search results didn't take into acount....but then, you WERE in a hurry to belittle, so I guess you just didn't have time to interpret his question thoroughly...

Gee, whatever you do Jenny, don't ever be seen admitting guilt right?...is that staright out of the SDMB moderator's guide?

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Contestant #3

[Byzantine]

I guess I just don't agree with you TubaDiva. Most of the posts are things that could easily be looked up but I think asking for personal input is always valid.

I record my dreams and also tell myself each night that I will lucid dream (like an affirmation) and I do it fairly often. It's a lot of fun and I think sometimes it's a way to work out problems.

[Chad E.]

Well, for anyone who's interested in getting one of those flashy little REM things to induce lucid dreaming, I found a site where you can buy one for the low, low price of only $275.
http://www.lucidity.com

With all the books, tapes, lectures, conferences, and workshops, it kinda looks like one of those self-help, suck-your-life-away organizations. I didn't really do research on their credentials, but if your really hurtin for some lucid dreaming, it's an option.

[Byzantine]

Hell, for 275.00 I'll come over and poke you when you start to REM! Uh, maybe I should put in shake for poke? Naw, no one will get the wrong idea here...

[Chad E.]

course not

[Road Rash]

I've had a few of those dreams. They are super cool. The best way to wake up is to try to manipulate it too much, like trying to fly or conjuring up a bunch of naked girls (or guys if that's what you like). THe way to enjoy it to the fullest is to go along with the plot of the dream.

[Road Rash]

I've had a few of those dreams. They are super cool. The best way to wake up is to try to manipulate it too much, like trying to fly or conjuring up a bunch of naked girls (or guys if that's what you like). THe way to enjoy it to the fullest is to go along with the plot of the dream.

[Road Rash]

I've had a few of those dreams. They are super cool. The best way to wake up is to try to manipulate it too much, like trying to fly or conjuring up a bunch of naked girls (or guys if that's what you like). THe way to enjoy it to the fullest is to go along with the plot of the dream.

[Road Rash]

I've had a few of those dreams. They are super cool. The best way to wake up is to try to manipulate it too much, like trying to fly or conjuring up a bunch of naked girls (or guys if that's what you like). THe way to enjoy it to the fullest is to go along with the plot of the dream.

[Byzantine]

Cooldude you are like, stuttering! Or you really, REALLY want to make your point! Just teasing you!

One other thing and I don't know how wise this is: Drink a big glass of water before bed. Sometimes this wakes me just enough to start the dreaming. You'll find once you start doing it (lucid dreaming) it gets easier. Just don't pee the bed.

[mangeorge]

I've found that getting plenty of sleep really helps me to control my dreams. Of course, when I don't get enough sleep I don't dream much at all.
I kinda picked up on lucid dreaming from that horror movie (the one with Freddie in it, I think). I had been doing it since I was a kid, but started paying more attention after seeing the movie. It's easy for me. No special diets or riruals.
Two related questions;
I see normal colors in my dreams, and most people I ask say they do too. But I often hear this asked.
And, I sleep nude and am usually nude in my dreams. It doesn't seem embarassing, just awkward sometimes, as if I were wearing jeans to a four star restaurant. I've never asked anyone if this is true for them. So, is anyone else nekkid in their dreams?
Does the fact that I live in Berkeley, CA have anything to do with it? :) I haven't smoked a joint in over four years. :(
Peace,
mangeorge


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Work like you don't need the money.....
Love like you've never been hurt.....
Dance like nobody's watching! ....(Paraphrased)

[Pooch]

I should let it go, but....Sweet Jesus, TubaDiva, the guy indirectly asks for a book recommendation and you assume he can't use a search machine.

Are there any good books out there on common courtesy? Ooops! Never mind, I'll check it out myself.

[MrKnowItAll]

I've had a lot of experience with lucid dreaming. Unfortunately, they tend to result in very horrific nightmares. It's like it occurs to me what would be really scary to have happen, and it does. I sleep much better if I leave my dreams alone.

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Carpe hoc!

[Chef Troy]

On the other hand, if you were ALREADY in a nightmare and could achieve lucidity you could take control of it and steer it in a more positive direction.

I've tried the affirmation technique but maybe I'm just not convincing myself. The flashing light thingy sounds promising but I don't think I could justify the expense to my wife.

Thanks to almost everyone for your input; C#3 and TubaDiva, you kids knock it off or so help me, I'm turning this car around and we aren't going to WallyWorld after all!

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Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

[JoeyBlades]

Nearly everytime I dream there's an element of lucidity. i.e. I know I'm dreaming, but I don't consciously control it. It's more like watching a surrealistic movie. I go, "Wow! That was weird. Good thing it's only a dream." Ostensibly, my dreams are merely a form of entertainment where I am both participant and observer. They rarely end in any kind of nightmare-ish scenarios, so maybe I do control them at an unconscious level.

I am very skeptical that you can learn to control your dreams by reading a book or through the use of some specific mental gymnastics, though I don't doubt that some people have more control of their dreams than I do. To be honest, I wouldn't want any more control - where's the entertainment value in that?

"All the world's a stage"... have you seen my script?

[Joey P]

so maybe I do control them at an unconscious level.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well controling them at an unconcious or sub-concious level and controling them at a concious level is the difference between a lucid dream and a normal dream

To be honest, I wouldn't want any more control - where's the entertainment value in that?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well I suppose we could consider this a can of worms.

[Ukulele Ike]

Joey,

HERE'S a recommendation you won't find in any stinkin' search engine.

Read Winsor McKay's DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND (Dover, 1973), reprints of comic strips for adults that ran originally in 1905. Then, just before you turn in for the night, eat a large amount of melted cheese.

As one of McKay's shuddering protagonists says in a final panel, "You cannot tell me that Dutchman did not put something into the rarebit besides ale."

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Uke

[JoeyBlades]

Joey P,

You wrote:


Well controling them at an unconcious or sub-concious level and controling them at a concious level is the difference between a lucid dream and a normal dream


Hmmm... I always thought that you merely had to be aware that it was a dream for it to be a lucid one... but then I've never seen the official definition, so you could be right.

[pluto]

I have two recurring dreams that are always very frightening -- one where I'm being chased (or else I'm just lost) in some sort of dark Hollywood style industrial area, you know, with big pipes and valves and steel stairs. Really scary, but I don't dream it all that often.

The other one, which I dream all the time, is your basic "Omigosh I just realized I'm not wearing any pants!" dream. I dream this one so often that lately I've begun to be aware, in my dream, that "no pants" = "dreaming" (since I almost never go out for the day without wearing pants). If I could just be a little more aware maybe I could move on to a new nightmare.

p.s. I wonder at what age or level of maturity I will stop having this dream? I'm way past teenage fantasies, happily married, not (so far as I know) a closet exhibitionist. When I discover I'm not dressed it's not a "here I am, take a look!" kind of feeling at all -- just acute embarassment and (of course) a crazy idea that if I do this just right I can get away with it and no one will notice.

Any Freudians out there that can help me out?


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"non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem"

[Zyada]

pluto - I'm an anti-Freudian(The more I know about Freudian theory & current knowledge, the more horrified I get)

Both of your dreams are quite common -here is a page with interpretations (somewhat Jungian) of the ten most common dreams.
http://www.jeremytaylor.com/hitparade.htm

[TubaDiva]

Read Winsor McKay's DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND (Dover, 1973), reprints of comic strips for adults that ran originally in 1905.

You're talking Little Nemo, right?

Totally off topic, of course, but you just mentioned something SO wonderful!

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of old comic strips, you have missed quite a fabulous experience.

If you loved Calvin & Hobbes, you'll appreciate Krazy Kat. Somewhere around here I've got a book of collected Toonerville Trolley strips that are still fresh and funny eons later.

One warning: you'll be disgusted at how juvenile a lot of our stuff is compared to these guys. (I also reference you to Walt Kelly; Pogo will never grow stale.)

Krazy Kat (http://www.krazy.com/coconino.htm)
Pogo (http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/pogo.htm)
Little Nemo and LOTSA NEAT OLD COMICS (http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/nemo.htm)

your humble TubaDiva
Impressed with Ike's tastes, literary and musical

[MrKnowItAll]

Sorry, TD. IIRC, Dreams was a different strip from Little Nemo though the subject matter was similar. In Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, the main character was an adult who had strange dreams. It predates Little Nemo.

[MrKnowItAll]

Aha! Found a site with some reprints of Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. Enjoy!

http://www.wondersociety.com/rws/art/mccay/rarebit/index.html

[TubaDiva]

Aha! Found a site with some reprints of Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. Enjoy!

And quite fiendish they are. Thank you!

On another sort of fiendish level, there's also: The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (http://www.ripoffpress.com/)

Should we split this discussion of things comic (and cosmic) off to another thread?

your humble TubaDiva
Remembering Agent F. Frederick Skitty" in
"I Led Nine Lives!"

[Temujin]

What a great topic!
I've had a few very lucid dreams, but in my experience, there's no clear line between a lucid dream and a non-lucid dream. Rather, dreaming involves varying degrees of lucidity.
For example, when I was a child, I developed a technique for waking up from nightmares: In my dream, I'd open my eyes wide. Then I'd wake up.
In these instances, I was lucid enough to realize I was only dreaming, but not lucid enough not to be afraid. As an adult, I've had some dreams during which I knew I was dreaming, but I didn't take control and change the dream. Instead, I just let myself dream.
I've also had dreams where I took control and just did whatever I wanted. Usually, when I do this, I get very sluggish and sleepy in my dream, and then I wake up.
My gut feeling is that when someone decides to take control of a dream, different parts of the brain that were resting begin to turn on, because you are DOING more. Maybe this prompts a person to wake up.
Maybe the trick is to find a middle ground: to achieve a degree of lucidity while dreaming, and yet also to stay relaxed enough so that you don't wake up.

[Joey P]

Well controling them at an unconcious or sub-concious level and controling them at a concious level is the difference between a lucid dream and a normal dream

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm... I always thought that you merely had to be aware that it was a dream for it to be a lucid one... but then I've never seen the official definition, so you could be right.

_________________________________________
Well I'm not sure of the exact meaning (although the first post says realizing and controling) but just becuase you realize your dreaming (which alot of people do) does not mean you'll be able to control it. The only thing I can think of to compare it to right now is when you are doing something and someone starts talking to you. You KNOW they are talking to you but for some reason you just to comprehend (or hear) any thing they say.

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Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB

[eggo]

the usual progress of my lucid dreams:

1. walking along (usualy), non-lucidly
2. the scenery changes suddinly
3. i realize that i am dreaming
4. i say to myself "man now i can control my dream! what should i do?"
5. i think a little
6. my sleep body disolves
7. i wake up and feel like i fall off the celing--very disconcerting--

on another note, until about a year ago every dream i had ended the same way...the world came to an end (usualy as a result of something i did) and i was floating in space-the only living being left in the universe. talk about guilt!

eggo

[Sonic]

I read a thing about lucid dreaming in this dream book I had and it had some was to make yourself have lucid dreams. I can't remember them that well, but it was something like; as you're falling asleep, say everything you're experiencing, but keep reminding yourself that it's a dream. (Not out loud, please) Then when you start to fall into a dream, your subconcious (I know, I can't spell) will keep reminding you that you're dreaming. I've had lucid dreams before but I never tried this method, so I have NO idea if it works. Hope it helps though!

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Remember- If you're angry it takes 42 muscles to frown, and only a few muscles to smack the idiot that mad you angry in the first place.

[Mirage]

A quick yahoo search will turn up all sorts of websites, some good, some bad.

The best way that I've heard of to dream more lucidly is to keep a dream diary. Not as much to not-miss lucid dreams, they are so vivid that you'll remeber them regardless, but to become more in tuned with your dreams. Writing them down will make you think of them, and the more that you think of them, the more you'll remember. Because your consious mind is getting "exercise" working with the dreaming areas of your brain, you'll start to have more lucids dreams and they will be more stable.

[Podkayne]

What I've heard is that the key is to be able to realize that you're dreaming. One way to do this is to train yourself to periodically think, "Am I dreaming?" If you do that enough while you're awake, the behavior is supposed to spill over into your dreams and so finally while dreaming you think "Am I dreaming?" and, by garsh, you are. Another is to recognize recurring elements in your dreams. (This is where having a dream journal is helpful.) Again, you train yourself to notice these elements while you are awake, and then when you encounter them in the dream, they should make you notice that you're dreaming.

I've had very few lucid dreams. Unfortunately, they were usually along the lines of me thinking, "Hey, I'm dreaming!" and waking up immediately. :( I also have recalled dreams when I knew I was dreaming in the dream, but really, I was just dreaming that I knew I was dreaming. . . you know what I mean? Not a true lucid dream.

[hazel-rah]

i had a book once called "lucid dreaming in 30 days" which i got at the used bookstore and cracked me up. it had a whole chapter on ideas for "lucid sex dreams" for "advanced lucid dreamers." brilliant! but i did try and follow the advice for a while, as did my pals.

podkayne had similar advice- it recommended pausing throughout the day and asking yourself "am i awake?" and then performing some kind of test to prove wakefulness. do it for a while, and you'll do it during a dream and "switch on" when the answer is "no, i am dreaming!"

in theory.

the problem is, how do you distinguish a dream about lucid dreaming from a dream about whatever else it was you thought about all day? if something is on your mind all day, you'll probably dream about it. i question the amount of true "lucidity" in lucid dreams- it's probably just very good dream recall.

my final conclusion is that most people would benefit a lot more from a book called "lucid consciousness in 30 days." it would recommend you pause throughout the day and ask yourself "am i doing something stupid?" and then perform some kind of test.

-fh

[Johanna]

Years before "lucid dreaming" became a fad, Carlos Castaneda
(¿hey, what happened to the tilde in Castañeda?)
wrote that "Don Juan the Yaqui shaman" taught him the technique. The trick had to do with looking at your hands in your dream. If you could just get the hang of this simplest of volitional acts -- look at your hands! -- you could develop the will to do more and more advanced things in your dream.

[Badtz Maru]

Usually when I realize that I am dreaming I wake up in what feels like a few seconds (though I know dream time can be very different from real time). I did once have a dream when I was a freshmen in high school that I was at school, and I realized that some of the people in my class were friends from the town I lived in the year before - I realized I was dreaming, but stayed asleep long enough to get up and walk out of the school.

I am frequently able to go back to sleep and continue a dream, which I am told is a form of lucid dreaming, but I usually forget that I am dreaming not long into it once I am back in.

Lately I have been having more lucid dreams - I can only think of a couple before the last few months, but I've had several since then, including some where I changed the subject of the dream and did things I could not do in real life. It's all been since I switched to working overnight and have been sleeping in the day. I used to be a light sleeper and it was virtually impossible for me to fall asleep if I wasn't in a dark room, or if there was any sound other than white noise like from a fan, but I have had to adapt and can now fall asleep easier. I think it's somehow related.

[Annie-Xmas]

I've had insomnia my whole life. It got to the point where when I was asleep I would be dreaming that I was in bed unable to sleep. When I heard about lucent dreaming, I decided to see what I could do about it.

The next time I thought I was dreaming about trying to fall asleep, I decided to "make something happen." I turned over, and a guy on a diving board jumped onto my stomach. That woke me up in a hurry.

Since then, when I'm dreaming I'm in bed trying to fall asleep, I've been stabbed, shot, carved up, strangled, and even hit by vehicles, all in my bedroom. On August 30, 1997, I dreamed a huge black car came into my bedroom through a tunnel and ran over me. Then I woke up and heard about Princess Diana. Coincidence, but very weird.

[hedra]

I vote with the folks who say 'practice being aware of your dreams' - that's all I did.

You don't even have to write them down, but spend some time each morning (or whenever you wake up) going over (in your mind or with anyone who wants to listen) whatever you can remember of your dreams - even if it is just a vague feeling. You can also write them down, which is useful, as one tends to forget the details fairly quickly. Do this every day. After a few months of this, I was remembering 15-16 dream periods each night, from snippets that were probably less than a second long to multiple stages of a single dream. I realized that my longer dreams were actually several dream states, where I would continue the previous dream in the next dreaming phase of sleep, continuations being sometimes three or four sections. Often in the continuation, there would be some weird shift, like 'suddenly I'm flying over the ocean' or a sudden plot or character change (often really intense complex plots - apparently my subconscious likes adventure/thriller/spy movies). In remembering them, I could recall the slight hiccup between sections. Hard to describe, it was like a layer of black in between two spaces, or like a bad spool change in a movie theater.

For lucid dreams, I could be aware that I was dreaming, or I could do something about the dream. I used to have a LOT of nightmares (like at least one really horrible one a night), so I was trying to manage these, as well as doing a lot of self-analysis through them (which has been mighty useful). What I ended up doing was pulling myself to a lucid state at the normal end of a bad dream, then re-winding the dream to some decision-point and running a new ending. Sometimes several times, until the new ending stuck. Usually worked, or at least ended the dream with a sense that I was somewhat in control of the process. Sometimes I would go lucid mid-stream, and just go along for the ride, knowing that it was all a dream. I love the flying feeling, so I would often just extend that part of a dream as long as I could before feeling enough pressure to let the plot continue. (Kind of like me and my subconscious were working together, rather than me trying to take complete control, which would probably have woken me up.)

I no longer keep that level of dream 'fitness' - and I also now only remember dreams a few times a week. Practice, stay in shape, and see where it goes. I also recommend being specific to your subconscious that you don't want to take over, just join in. Say it out loud, so your subconscious can 'hear' you. Dreaming is seriously important to your processing of daily info and life events, so if you 'take over' too much and don't allow time for normal processing of info, your subconscious will probably boot your butt right out.

Good luck!

[smoke]

Try coming up with some control gimmicks. You want to fly? Tell yourself that whenever you extend your arms up in classic Superman style, you fly. You want to change dreams, or simply change the setting or POV of a current dream? Use your eyes as a remote control, ie. blink to "change channels".

I know it sounds goofy, but it's all a matter of suggestion and convincing your dream self of your control. It works really well for me, and has for years.

Have a nice flight! ;-)

[pagan]

hi. i'm new.

i'd have to agree with pretty much everything that has been already said, but i figured i'd add a little based on my own experiences (and from reading a lot from the lucidity.com site mentioned above): getting enough sleep and wanting to have a lucid dream are essential. testing to see if you are dreaming also seems to help me. simply asking 'am i dreaming' might not be enough (it's too easy to say 'no - this is real', but be wrong if you're not aware enough in the dream state.) every so often when awake, conduct a few mental tests to see if you are dreaming - can you will yourself to fly? do machines work properly (it's common in dreams for things to not work when you need them to - lights won't turn on, and if they do, they often don't actually increase the amount of illumination in a room, mirrors don't reflect the correct image, etc.)? does written text stay consistent from reading it once, looking away, and reading it again (in dreams it will often change)?
by checking a couple of these things at random times during the day, you can train your mind to check them while dreaming (as an aside, i'd recommend testing more than one thing at any given time. i had a dream a couple of nights ago in which i tested to see if i could fly. i wasn't able to, and so convinced myself that i was awake. i think a second test could have prevented that).
once you become lucid, i've found that rubbing my hands together vigorously helps to keep me in that state pretty well. as was mentioned in the op, spinning your dream body can also do it, but i've found that that will prompt a 'scene change' in the dream, which i usually don't like much. the rubbing causes an interesting sensation, as i can feel my dream hands moving, but i'm also aware that my 'real 'hands aren't.
hope that helps.

[Gravity]

Originally posted by MrKnowItAll
I've had a lot of experience with lucid dreaming. Unfortunately, they tend to result in very horrific nightmares. It's like it occurs to me what would be really scary to have happen, and it does. I sleep much better if I leave my dreams alone.

Wow, I thought that I was the only one that this happened to. When I was still trying to lucid dream, 4 out of 5 of them turned really ugly. Terrible, terrible things would happen. Must say something about us, huh? :)

Something to do when the rush of realization hit you and you think that you're going to wake up: spin around. Concentrate on twirling, and when the rush of feeling that you get when you realize that you are asleep and dreaming passes, you can stop. It's concentrating completely on one small action that anchors you. It doesn't work all the time, but I had a fairly good sucess rate.

[Johanna]

I have heard that the herb mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) helps to have more vivid dreams. You sleep on a pillow stuffed with mugwort. I tried it and it seems to help. Another suggestion is to take vitamin C before bedtime. This too seemed to help. I think.

[Atreyu]

I've had a longtime interest in this subject, for I had experienced lucid dreaming since early childhood. Didn't even know what they were called until I stumbled across a book on the topic in a library while looking for books on dream for a high school psychology paper. The book, called Lucid Dreaming was written by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., a researcher (at Stanford?) and is largely concerned with the background and research in the subject. His second book, which is called Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, IIRC, has more of a "how-to" approach. I highly recommend both.

Both should still be in print and available at the online book vendor of your choice.

[JCThunder]

Wow, great thread! I've had lucid deams for years & have recently been asking friends if any of them are able to...

1) Realize they were dreaming, remain in the dream, and do whatever they want. I usually fly around or try to find a car to drive like a madman.

2) Bring themselves out of a bad dream. Often, during a nightmare I realize it's a dream & 'pull' myself out by repeating 'this is a dream' and sort of 'swimming' upward.

3) Wake up from a great dream & go back to sleep intentionally to re-enter successfully.

I read a book recently, called 'Journeys out of the Body' where the author claimed that he was able to have Out-of-body experiences at will just before falling asleep. Some of what I've heard here reminded me of his experiences which he documented for years.

Sorry to do a slight Hijack, but has anybody heard of this book or what ever became of his experiments? Has anyone ever thought they had an OOB experience themselves? Someday, I'll start a new thread on the subject with descriptions of the 3 different dimentions he suggested & all, but right now I have to go pop some Vitamin C & drive my crazy dream car!

[Measure for Measure]

I started lucid dreaming (sometimes called directed dreaming?) at the tender young age of 6 or so. I was having nightmares and for some reason was annoyed at the fact that I was bringing this suffering upon myself.

I figured if I had a problem in my dream, I would just fly away: hey, it's a dream, right? I speculate that I acquired the ability to do that by thinking about the issue before I went to bed. After a while, within-dream flying (more like floating, actually) became a standard motif, as it were.

If I am aware that I am dreaming, I can generally manipulate the dream at will, with partial (never complete) success.

JCThunder: 1) Yes, but I usually don't focus on driving cars. 2)Yes, but I generally just make a conscious effort to wake up (sometimes with mixed success: I dream about waking up!) 3) Yes, directed dreaming is easiest on weekends, when you can drift in and out of sleep.

The only additional advice I'd give aspiring practitioners is not to take it too seriously. It's not that big a deal. I confess that I haven't actively monitored my dreams for years. I understand that certain religions encourage lucid dreaming although I'm not sure why...

[Badtz Maru]

This is something of a hijack...I mentioned that usually (almost always until recently) when I realized I was dreaming I would wake up almost immediately. This comes in handy in nightmares, but when horrible things are happening in real life I try to wake up, and it always makes me feel worse when I realize it's real.

Well, one time I had this very vivid dream...I was in a mountainous jungle-type area, and me and a bunch of other guys in green uniforms were lined up at a rope bridge over a gorge. There were men with gray uniforms on both sides of us, and in the middle of the bridge there was a man in a khaki uniform with a pistol. When a guy in green got to the front of the line, where the guy in khaki was standing, he would get down on his knees and bend his head forward, and the guy in khaki would shoot him in the head and then kick him off of the bridge. Then the next guy would step up, and the process would repeat. I was towards the end of the line, so I saw this happen over and over again and was dreading getting to the front of the line. When I started to get close, I thought to myself 'This must be a dream' and tried to wake up, but I didn't, and I thought to myself 'This is no dream, you are about to die'. When I got to the front of the line I kneeled and closed my eyes, and I kept thinking over and over that this was going to be the last thought that went through my mind, knowing that I would not feel or hear anything when I was shot, that my existence would just stop. I was squeezing my eyes shut so tight my head was shaking, but I wasn't as afraid as I thought I would be. I then thought 'Why is it taking him so long?' and then suddenly I felt like I was in a different place, and felt something soft pushing up at my face. I was surprised, as I don't believe in an afterlife, and then after a few seconds I realized I was in bed, and I was surprised again as I was sure I wasn't dreaming.

That dream really effected me, made me think about death a lot, and I was kinda proud that I didn't start panicking or crying when I knew I was about to die. Less than a week later I was in an accident where I was sure I was going to die (I was sliding backwards down a slick highway and towards the guardrail of the overpass I was going over) and I remembered the dream while I was thinking 'I'm about to die'.

[AxeElf]

I've found that people in my dreams don't much like to be told that they are just in my dream--of course, people in the office don't like it much either.

The advantage to the dreamstate is that you can do something to prove it to them, like fly, or cop an unconsequenced feel on Cindy Crawford. Then they usually believe me, but I always wonder how it makes them feel.

Just waiting for the day at the office when my attempt to fly fails, and the joke is on me...

Or worse yet, someone ELSE tells me I am just in THEIR dream, and then perform a triple barrel roll around the quad to prove it.