Poll: Lucid Dreaming

[Coolness]

I've had lucid dreams throughout my life, though they were more common as a kid.

I remember one lucid nightmare where books with teeth were trying to eat me. Every time I tried to wake myself up out of the library room, I'd wind up with another room with a book in it trying to eat me. And such is the 7th circle of hell.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I am not aware in the dream that "Hey, I'm dreaming!" but I am aware that my decisions will redirect the dream. The great thing about lucid dreaming is that it is a means of doing therapy on yourself. You are walking around in your own subconscious, after all. Things that you do there will stick with you after you wake up. For instance, with the standard-issue naked in public dream [http://www.dreammoods.com/cgibin/nakeddreams.pl?method=exact&header=dreamid&search=nakedintro], I decided to just deal with the issue in the dream head on.

"You're naked!"
"Yes, I am."
"What happened to your clothes?"
"I don't know, they just disappeared."

I refused to acknowledge that I had any reason for embarrassment and noted that it seemed to embarrass the other person, which gave me the upper hand as long as I kept my cool. So I carried on in the dream as though suddenly finding yourself walking around naked in public was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. After that, I became, for lack of a better term, more shame-resistant. I'd some how unlocked the ability to refuse to be embarrassed by circumstances beyond my control or aspects of my life that are just Who I Am. It was a really valuable gift.

There have been other things like that too. If I'm being chased by a monster or something, and I get killed, I wake up pissed off, go back to sleep, and have the exact same dream again and try different options. So really, I'm just replaying the level until beat the dream. It usually takes me three times, which is my usual in video games as well.

 

[stompy]

It'd probably help if I actually dreamt...

 

[Valiance]

No matter what type of lucid/semi-lucid dream I have (they happen often), I seem to always retain one power regardless of how strong I am on any given night: The power to rewind time.

Even in nightmares.

I wish I always retained the ability to wake myself up. Some of them I can do some awesome stuff, but I start getting self conscious and things change.(ie: "Wow, flying shouldn't be this easy. I should have to try to do this." *Starts slowly falling* "AW, BALLS.")

I can usually control things to a point, though. Especially when I can just rewind time and try it again and do it right.

 

[JMeganSnow]

I've had a few lucid dreams in my time--I generally don't remember dreams clearly unless they are lucid dreams. And I usually go flying when I realize that I'm dreaming, although it doesn't always work quite the way I expected.

 

[Fuzzykittensmith]

I used to be able to control my dreams all the time, it was "natural" to me since I was little. I haven't been able to for the last few years though, at least not that I know of, as I'm not able to recall dreams anymore. Don't you need decent dream recall to have lucid dreams? Or is it just to remember the lucid dreams?

 

[hypothetical fact]

I've had a lucid nightmare once where I was being attacked in a back yard by dogs. I had control over my movements but all I did was run around the yard screaming until I woke up.

 

[Raddragon]

I used to be able to control my dreams all the time, it was "natural" to me since I was little. I haven't been able to for the last few years though, at least not that I know of, as I'm not able to recall dreams anymore. Don't you need decent dream recall to have lucid dreams? Or is it just to remember the lucid dreams?

When you wake up, stay a while in bed. Relax. Try to remenber if you had any dreams, and details about that dream. Where you were, who or what you encountered, etc.

If you want to have lucid dreams it is suggested you have a good dream recall, be it a lucid dream or not. The more importance you give to your dreams and lucid dreaming, the more likely you are to have lucid dreams.

 

[Raddragon]

Since everyone is probably going to be too lazy to actually read through wikipedia:

"Wake-back-to-bed (WBTB)"
"The wake-back-to-bed technique is often the easiest way to encourage a lucid dream. The method involves going to sleep tired and waking up five to six hours later. Then, focusing all thoughts on lucid dreaming, staying awake for an hour and going back to sleep while practicing the MILD method. A 60% success rate has been shown in research using this technique."

My friend tried this and it worked. He said he dreamt that he was in a Left 4 Dead scenario and controlled pretty much everything.

"Prolongation"

"One problem faced by people wishing to experience lucid dreams is awakening prematurely. This premature awakening can be frustrating after investing considerable time into achieving lucidity in the first place. Stephen LaBerge proposed two ways to prolong a lucid dream. The first technique involves spinning one's dream body. He proposed that when spinning, the dreamer is engaging parts of the brain that may also be involved in REM activity, helping to prolong REM sleep. The second technique is rubbing one's hands. This technique is intended to engage the dreamer's brain in producing the sensation of rubbing hands, preventing the sensation of lying in bed from creeping into awareness. LaBerge tested his hypothesis by asking 34 volunteers to either spin, rub their hands, or do nothing. Results showed 90% of dreams were prolonged by hand rubbing and 96% prolonged by spinning. Only 33% of lucid dreams were prolonged with taking no action."

 

[Valandar]

I most often dream on the edge of lucid dreams. Not enough to fully control what happens, but enough that I can usually overpower anything in my way, or have at least some limited form of flight. I'm also not quite fully aware that I'm dreaming during these instances. But other than danger to someone other than myself, I have not had a nightmare in decades. Every time it tries to become one, I overpower whatever danger is in front of me, or I stop falling in mid-fall, or what have you.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

Hehe. i've had one or two. One that sticks in my head is when i was dreaming i was in a corridor with my cat.
I suddenly said to myself "this is a dream" and decided to float/noclip through the walls in a slow backflip. For some reason before i left i said "sorry, Dreamcat. You're not real".

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

Normally when I lucid dream I immediatly wake up after realizing but when I have a prolonged one I'm an overlord and do a bunch of crazy shit inadvertently fucking myself and losing powers right then saying oh shit jumping off a building and wait to hear a loud beeping or woman voice waking me just to avoid dieing in dream if I die let it be once in real life


[edit] has anyone new posted if so i cant see the new posts because this has happend to me before

 

[orifice]

I no longer dream at all. I used to as a child but now, nothing.

 

[Ultrajoe]

My dreams are always so surreal, so inhuman and so displaced from the normal viewpoint that i i think if i ever for Lucidity i would just freak out. The page says to look for watches and fingers. My dreams don't have watches and fingers, they are poorly shaped and driven by ideas, not images. They are off-track, off beat. Sometimes it's just a sea of color that i drift through, or pure noise. I never notice that this is unusual or wrong, and if i do i wake up.

Lucid dreaming sounds overrated, that's what imagination is for.

I no longer dream at all. I used to as a child but now, nothing.

You do, you just don't remember. Trust me, it's impossible not to dream.

 

[Incompl te]

I LOVE THEM! i try to kill myself and fail...then do naughty stuff to people...*joking*

its so fun though

 

[notyouraveragejoe]

Happens to me all the time.

Yeah I do Lucid Dreaming quite frequently. I agree from the dreams I remember it can be quite fun.

 

[Brokkr]

I have had them a few times. I never really did anything with the dreams though. Once I found out that I was dreaming, all I did in the dream was try to wake myself up.

 

[Dele]

I once had a lucid dream starting from a situation similiar to Resident Evil 1. After meeting afew zombies I realized I could manipulate my dream, so started beheading them with my newly materialized shurikens and superhuman speed. Just before waking up I tried flying, which felt magnificent. I wish I could have another lucid dream as there are tons of things I want to experience.

Lucid dreaming sounds overrated, that's what imagination is for.

If imagination is a TV, lucid dream is a new virtual 3D machine with real sensations.

 

[Jharry5]

Yeah, I've had quite a few lucid dreams.
Worryingly though, I've had more lucid nightmares. Nightmares that only got more bizzare and scarey after I'd realised I was dreaming.
Anyone with any ideas why...?

 

[acer840]

I think I always lucid dream. I always have control over what I am dreaming and change it to suit. Or is this normal?