Thread: Scream and shout!

Try shouting and screaming. Might be old hat to many of you, but I'm writing this mainly to get the excitement out of my system. Biog. stuff and rationale follow:

Yesterday: after talk with friend re: positive lucid dreaming experiences, decided to start again, this time very innocently. Simple self-suggestion before bed: "I will remember my dreams. I will control my dreams." Tonight, I relaxed my body, steadied my breathing and just followed the flow of images. As I was seeing fantasy elements such as Gothic ruins, an idea struck me: "To realize you're dreaming, try shouting!"

Well, I continued drifting. Then I found myself in a dream. I was in a room that had elements from my previous flats, a place I felt was my "home". I was browsing the web and thinking about music (was there also a podcast about paranormal?). There was some stuff about one of my teachers and his girlfriend. I moved around like I was still wearing my stupid real-world headphones that need to be charged constantly, and hence are always attached to a cord. Limits my movement from computer to chair! Anyway, a slight shift occurred when I pulled out a set of LP sleeves. Now, I don't own any LPs, and as I flipped through the pieces (many classics, Pink Floyd's Meddle and Dark Side were there for sure), the room began to grow dark.

I could see the tiny light give out and moved to try to make it work (wonky lights — a familiar sign, anyone!!!). I couldn't. Oppressive atmosphere. I moved to the main switch, which was located in the part of the room that was modeled after the flat I'm staying right now. Pressed myself against the wall. I toyed with the switch, but nothing. Darkness, fear of demonic shapes or invisible forces barging in. I started to shout! The vibe began to change. Comparable to previous lucid experiences. As I continued to scream, everything began to turn white, with tiny sets of busy rainbow colors. I tried to hold on, could for a while, tried suggesting possible images, too many, nothing solid, woke up.

Wondered at the speed of my little self-suggestion technique and cursed that I stopped keeping my dream journal after a few dry weeks (last entry before this is dated May 11...). OK, two major observations, i.e. why I think this worked:

1. Self-suggesting lucidity brought about a nightmare situation. This is consistent with my other LDs, esp. those in early childhood (the ability to pull out of a nightmare at will).

2. Shouting or screaming as a means to induce lucidity. Now, I'm not sure if this should be called a Reality Check, per se, because I see no point in enforcing it while awake. And there's its power: I (we all do!) enforce it anyway: whether going on about our lives among other people or enjoying a bit of solitude in isolation, screaming and shouting loudly for no good reason at all is not something we would do. A huge social no-no = a major mental resource. In my case, a real showstopper. The nightmarish vibe reminded me of my promise to try out this technique, and its effect was immediate. And the act of shouting is very natural, progressive: all you gotta do is open your mouth and release just a little bit of noise. Your dream body will pick it up from there.

At least I hope mine does when I get back to sleep.