How close was I?

[nzguy]

Just a bit of quick background, I came to DV about three months ago. I read about lucid dreaming and decided it would be a bit of a laugh and a lot of fun. After all, how hard could it be? So, I did some research and made a few half-hearted attempts. My lack of full commitment was based on a combination of ignorance about how difficult it would be and also a fear of the unknown. Reading stories about people swearing they had been abducted by aliens during the process as well as the frequency of hallucination reports made me kinda anxious. As a result, I would sense even a whiff of what I thought could be SP, my heart would beat so loud I could hear it, the adrenaline would start pumping, and I would sit up breathing heavily and sweating like crazy. Knowing this simply wouldn't get me to lucid dreaming, I basically gave up, stopped writing in my dream journal - everything. And then last night, I got kinda bored and decided to have a go at this lucid dreaming. I convinced myself that nothing could happen while I was dreaming that could hurt me, and, rather cynically, closed my eyes and tried not to think of anything whatsoever (mostly because I had forgotten what the tutorials has said to do.) It really wasn't a serious effort at all. I didn't go to sleep and wake up four hours later or anything, I just got straight into it. I also didn't try too hard not to move - if I was itchy, I would scratch. After what seemed like hours, I was convinced - obviously LDing wasn't possible for me... and then it happened. I got a really weird tingling sensation running down my spine and I could hear a high-pitched droning (a bit like what you hear when you yawn really hard.) I also remember feeling extremely calm (which is strange because I'm really stressed out at the moment.) and unaware of my body - sorta 'floaty'. I waited a while longer, but nothing happened, so I slowly started moving again. So, I'm kinda intrigued now. Does anyone know how close I was to lucid dreaming? If so, what should I have done next? Thanks in advance

[Citizen]

Look up WILD... Thats what that sounds like... Also look up Pins and Needles! Another possibility lol

[Citizen]

K I had yet to try a WILD and I tried to last night and it felt exactly the way you described it. Exactly. I never actually got into the dream state because of outside noise and little bit of outside light but I am convinced that a mask and earplugs will send me straight to the land of nod.

[Redrivertears]

Hey there, When the body goes to sleep, it paralysis itself to keep you from acting out your dream (on a side note: people having trouble with sleepwalking is often associated with this phenomena, with researchers claiming the regular paralysation fails in their case). Anyways, while the body is preparing itself, moving towards this 'sleep paralysis', you can feel various strange sensations. Usually by this time you're already fast asleep, so you won't really notice it, but by forcing yourself to remain awake while your body falls asleep, you become aware of these sensations, exactly like you did. So what you felt was your body preparing itself for sleep. How close were you to lucid dreaming? It's difficult to say. For many people they enter a state of sleep paralysis first, and then have a sort of consciousness shift into a lucid dream. For others sleep paralysis never fully sets in, but they start dreaming all the same. For yet others sleep paralysis does set in but they fail to enter dreaming, and yet for others sleep paralysis fails and they never start dreaming either Still, if you are trying to achieve WILDs (Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams), you are definately taking a step in the right direction! Good luck with future attempts! -Redrivertears-

[Citizen]

Yeah... In my case last night, my body was getting there and I could feel it all up and down the place lol but my mind kept getting interrupted by outside noise (roommate shifting in bed, coughing, fishtank, etc). I went out and got some "Noise Husher" ear plugs so hopefully I can try it again tonight!

[nzguy]

Awesome. Thanks for your help guys I tried the same thing last night, and the same thing happened, except this time it was as if I was dreaming, but I was still fully awake - almost as if I was a 'passenger' inside my own brain. Quite freaky stuff. It was also extremely difficult to remain conscious. But like you mentioned Citizen, I think a mask and earplugs would have been all that was needed... looking forward to trying that in tonight's attempt! Just wondering, are there any risks associated with being fully awake while your body is shutting down? Sounds like it could be a bit dangerous long-term. Thanks again.

[Redrivertears]

Hey there, Are there dangers? It seems unlikely, there's certainly no well known phenomena or shared experiences about dangers to lucid dreaming or even WILD'ing. The only thing that can happen from time to time is that you get so focussed on your experimentations that you're inadvertedly messing with your own sleep rythme and you get exhausted (because you wake up in the middle of the night, spend an hour doing the exercises, wake up again one hour before its time to get back, exercise again, etc etc). In that case your body will just get real tired, but that's nothing that can't be fixed by either a good night sleep, or changing your habbits again to ensure you get enough restful sleep and still have room to experiment. Some people worry that being conscious in dreams means your unconscious is no longer doing what it should be doing (whatever that is, there's no actual answer to why we dream). But you need not worry about this. Even in the very height of lucidity, your unconsciousness is still creating over 99% of the dream, you're consciousness is just guiding it a bit, but even lucid dreams are still full of the usual dream elements. Additionally, what they forget is that the consciousness is in fact part of the unconscious, so even being fully conscious does in no way shut out the unconscious part of the dream. So go ahead, have fun, the worst thing that can happen to you is that you'll enjoy it immensely and find a whole new world opening up for you! -Redrivertears-

[Citizen]

Additionally, what they forget is that the consciousness is in fact part of the unconscious, so even being fully conscious does in no way shut out the unconscious part of the dream. Try saying that ten times fast