Strange occurrence.....

**OrangeCrush** · 06-09-2015 06:29 PM

Hey everyone,

I had a really weird experience the other night and I wanted to share it and see if anyone else has ever had something like this happen before. I am 43 and have been able to lucid dream since I was roughly 13 years old. It just came naturally to me, but I wasn't able to control it at all. It wasn't until a few months back that I really got serious about lucid dreaming and have thus been trying to develop my lucid dreaming skills. Anyways, last night I laid down for bed and tried to lucid dream. Normally when I lucid dream, I get these electrical like feelings that go through my head. Sometimes they can be really strong and uncomfortable, but once I relax and let the feeling overtake me, I am able to lucid dream. Last night that feeling started very softly and slowly built up over time. I have never experienced it like that before. Eventually it felt like I was sitting in one of those vibrating chairs that make your whole body vibrate, but for some reason I just couldn't get past that phase. Its like I got stuck there. I kept trying to relax more and more as I figured I was very close to lucid dreaming, but for some reason, I just wasn't able to do it.

I read a really cool description of this phenomenon on some misc Lucid Dreaming website that I can't remember. It said something like "imagine that your waking life and dreaming were 2 different radio stations and that electrical sensation is very much like the static in between those 2 stations. When you go from waking to dreaming, you have to get through that static". I always found that description to be very interesting. Anyways, normally those electrical like feelings last a very short period of time, maybe 30 to 60 second tops, but last night I had vibrations instead of the electrical feelings I normally get and I was in that vibration phase for an extended period of time. I just didn't wan't to give up as again, I felt like I was really close. I am betting I was in that stage for at least 45 minutes to an hour. I would shift around on my bed and the sensation would get lighter and then slowly get stronger again. It really felt like I was lying on one of those full body massage chairs. For some reason tho, I just couldn't get through it. I eventually wound up falling asleep and didn't even have a lucid dream, at least that I remember.

The strange occurrence happened when I woke up that following morning. I woke up and was just really disoriented. It was like I was still half asleep. Everything looked really weird. Honestly, it reminded me of my younger years when I used to use mushrooms. I felt like I had taken psychedelic mushrooms the night before and was only around 80% back to normal. I got up and had to drive and pick up a prescription. I was actually nervous driving as I just didn't feel right at all. I wound up taking side roads as opposed to getting on the freeway and even after an hour of being fully awake, I still felt really weird and disoriented. Basically, just all spaced out. I bought a Mountain Dew to inject myself with a nice dose of caffeine. It helped as about 10 minutes after drinking a quarter of the bottle, I began to feel more normal, but I didn't feel 100% normal until roughly 4-5 hours later. Its like I nuked my brain in the static between radio stations.

Has anyone ever had anything like this happen before? If you are unable to get through that vibration stage, like I was that night, should you just abandon trying as opposed to staying in that state for long periods of time? I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous that I had done something to my brain by staying in that state for too long. Is there any danger from staying in that phase too long? Anyways, I was just curious if anyone else had ever experienced anything like this before and could maybe shed some light on exactly what happened. Definitely one of the stranger things I have experienced in recent years.

**dolphin** · 06-09-2015 08:25 PM

Your method of lucid dreaming is known as WILD or Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming. Your goal is to consciously fall asleep and enter a dream.

While we sleep, we go through something known as sleep cycles. In a cycle, first we go through the Non-REM stages before we reach the REM stage when we have most of our dreams. We go through 4-5 sleep cycles in a given night in a full night of sleep. The first sleep cycles spend a lot more time in Non-REM. With each sleep cycle more time is spent in REM.

When you consciously fall asleep, you may experience a wide variety of sensations upon falling asleep. That electrical feeling in your head is known as tinnitus and one of the sensations of falling asleep is the strengthening of that tinnitus. The vibrations you felt is another sensation you can experience upon falling asleep.

In describing your experience, the first thing you mentioned was you went to bed. From this, I take it you didn't sleep prior to attempting to fall asleep consciously to lucid dream. Because of this, you did fall asleep consciously but had no dream to enter because you were still in Non-REM. The first bout of Non-REM is very long. Also, these sensations of falling asleep don't go away until you're both in a dream and are no longer focused on the sensations.

As for waking up disoriented, it's probable that you woke up during stage two of Non-REM sleep. You wake up more disoriented when this happens than if you wake up from stage one or REM.

So, what can you do? If you don't like waiting through a lot of Non-REM get a few hours of sleep before trying to consciously fall asleep in order to lucid dream and try to wake up after REM in order to feel refreshed.

**sisyphus** · 06-10-2015 10:44 PM

It's hypnagogia. Basically, the transition from wake to sleep is not an on-off switch but a gradual process. Usually, we are not aware of it, but inducing a lucid dream via WILD is one way of experiencing it more strongly. And sometimes you get partway through the process but don't finish. All the sensations you described are typical, and it is also typical that they can vary from night to night. The vibrations are just a stronger form of the sparkly electric feelings you have had before.

None of it is directly dangerous, either short term or long term. But as you experienced, the strangeness of it might have the side effect of making you feel uncomfortable, anxious, frustrated, concerned, or plain lose time asleep. And any of those may negatively impact your sleep quality. And in turn, that might drain your strength or mood the following day. Anyway, I just want to reassure you that there is no cause for concern. Knowing what it is and having now experienced it once before, your next experience shouldn't have such a marked side effect. It's just like an unpleasant dream. It might ruin your day but the cause is not the dream itself; it's your reaction to it.

You mentioned a prescription and past mushroom use. Again, these aren't necessarily causes for concern. Certain prescriptions may exaggerate the effects (many on anti-depressants or hypnotics report this). Meanwhile, the memory and comparison of the experience to a past mushroom trip might have subjectively affected your reaction to hypnagogia, positively or negatively, but that would be psychosomatic.

As to why it happened and what to do about, @dolphin covered some of that. Why it happened more strongly this time and not before might be because you tried at a different time from normal. Or because your strong intention and anticipation caused you to be too alert. Or any other factor from that day like stress or what you ate or what television show you watched. Anything that can affect your sleep or dreams has a chance of also affecting hypnagogia. The standard advice is: Wait until at least 4.5 hours of prior sleep before trying WILD. Don't focus too much on the sensations as this will keep you awake. Instead use a visualization or breathing technique to very lightly hold onto consciousness through the transition. And if you become uncomfortable after a long while (say 30+ minutes) it's fine to give up and just get some good quality sleep. You can always try again after the next REM cycle or the next night.