Thread: My lucid dreams do not feel real at all.

By definition, a lucid dream is simply a dream in which you know you're dreaming. The term "lucid dream" does not have to correlate in any way with that dream's vividness or the control you have over it. However, it's said that by rubbing your dream hands together or spinning in a circle, your dream becomes clearer and more stable. Or, try yelling out "Increase lucidity!", or something to that effect. Unfortunately, though I've had a few clear lucid dreams, I'm still working on getting them more frequently, so I can't say much other than the one time I did rub my hands together, I do think the dream became clearer. Maybe you could literally try yelling out to your subconscience during a lucid dream to take away the fogginess. Are your normal dreams like this too? If it's only the lucids, it might just be a matter of stabilizing them and increasing their clarity. Otherwise, I guess I'm not really sure.

There are lucid dreams that don't feel real at all. It mostly depends on your sleep stage, energy level and perceptual maturity in dreams. You can manipulate your sleep inside the dream, exercise your attention or both.

There is an empty space around the bubbles of the fragile dream construction. You can delve into deeper stages of sleep if you jump through the floor or step into a wall and start to fall in that space. It's important to fall head first.

You may want to increase your presence or perceptual coherence before you do this so you have a better chance at remaining conscious. The best way to do this is to look at your palm very closely. Look for the tiniest details that you can make out.

Unfortunately, this fixates your physical eyes and brings you closer to wakefulness so don't stare for too long. Best to shift your attention around your palm, and move to other objects as well. This will make your dream very stable and detailed. Now jump!

That's really weird. Whenever I realize I'm dreaming, its like my focus increases, and everything looks (and feels) lifelike. Really trips you out when you wake up and its not much different.

Try stability techniques, or yelling random commands out (not too loud ). I've never really heard of anyone having frequent low quality dreams. If you're having realization that you're dreaming randomly during a dream, it might be that you're realizing it near the end of a dream (near the end of my dreams things become less amazing).

Next time (if ever) you wake up after a dream, figure out how long it's been since you've been asleep. If it's over 6 and a half hours (will vary from person to person) or so, I think that's why they're not very realistic.

Also, don't be afraid to try a technique like WILD (wake inducing) it really makes things look scary realistic if you have a good one. A hard technique, but once you have even one, it's well worth it.

@baseballmk92

Hey, thanks so much for all your input. Those all sound like good idea's, I am fairly new to all of this. I will make sure to make a note in my dream journal to try it tonight.

It's not only lucids though, although the only dreams I remember that aren't lucid, I am usually woken up from. But all of my dreams have had this fogginess to them. Maybe I just need to train my mind to understand that I can make my dream more clear and that I have complete power over it.

@Conquer

Thanks again for your help. Yes, from the feedback I've gotten, most people don't have them near as often. I have about 1 -3 a night, but usually at least one every night. But they are never very clear, or real feeling, and usually very short.

I will try setting an alarm perhaps, for a couple hours after, then try to go back to sleep. I find when I drift back to sleep after waking up, Its easier for me to go into an LD.

I've read about WILD, and attempted to do it today, but ended up letting my brain go offtrack, and I ended up halfsleep and waking up an hour later with nothing.

But I intend to experiment alot with WILD whenever I have the time, and really try at it. Everyone I've heard from says that they are amazing. And I think with some effort I could grasp it.

Thankyou so much for the detailed responce.

@Transflux

Wow, that is really really interesting. Possibly the most bizarre piece of advice that I have heard so far. It sounds kind of hard to be honest. But Im going to give it a shot and practice it. The good thing about getting LD's regularly, is I have lots of time to practice. I've made a list of things to try tonight to improve clarity and realism in my dream tonight. Im really hoping it works out. Surprisingly, the only trouble I have with my eyes waking me up, is when I close them for a while and then reopen them. Other than that, talking outloud alot is what wakes me up the most.

@ Everyone to Reply so Far

Thankyou soo much, Im really glad I have found this site. I love how everyone is so detailed with there responses. It's really helping me out.
I will make sure to make note of these things, and try them tonight, and the next couple of nights.

I can not wait to acheive a realistic LD!!!

Oh, and feel free to reply more if you wish. I will be keeping an eye on this thread still.

Good luck! ^^

I'm going to try to wake induce a lucid tonight, this thread inspired me. It's been a while.

And I like the personalized responses. Hehe.

Good luck to you as well.
I'm glad it inspired you.

Haha, yes, I definently enjoy the personalness of this site.

Usually my dreams are normal without any vividness until I become lucid. I can recall many lucid dreams where I took the time to think, "Wow, this dream looks very real." Push a little more awareness into your time and look around you, making out details. Such details include "What's the texture of my wall, and what color?" Just noticing details of objects can be planted into your dream world, for all you know, the next time you sleep.

It sure does work. One time one of my lucid dreams was very vivid, and coincidently I was in my room, where I saw it so many times in real life that I know the exact details of it. Another lucid dream I had a month or two back, I was looking into a forest during winter, so very detailed that it amazed me. The reason for this is because I lived to the side of a forest my whole life, and even explored in it during my childhood, since it's right behind my backyard. I've seen it so many times, it was a simple explanation why the dream looked so real.

Just be a little more aware of your surroundings and soon enough your dreams, at some point at default, will have much more vivid details. You might forget what you noted down about any object, but when it comes to making out dream details, your mind doesn't forget.

Originally Posted by noiseissound

@baseballmk92

Hey, thanks so much for all your input. Those all sound like good idea's, I am fairly new to all of this. I will make sure to make a note in my dream journal to try it tonight.

It's not only lucids though, although the only dreams I remember that aren't lucid, I am usually woken up from. But all of my dreams have had this fogginess to them. Maybe I just need to train my mind to understand that I can make my dream more clear and that I have complete power over it.

This is a funny coincidence, because last night, for the first time ever, I had 2 DILD's in one night. Now, looking back on them, neither were vivid or life-like (and all I can remember doing is flying!), so I can relate to what you're saying about your dreams being foggy. However, a few nights ago, I was attempting to WILD by visualizing scenes and actions as I drifted off into sleep (so that I might WILD without going through a stage of sleep paralysis), and my thoughts began to drift off slightly as I retained a low level of awareness, and eventually I remember visualizing/thinking of checking my email and deleting a few from my inbox, when suddenly, the scene became three-dimensional, and I immediately assumed I was in a WILD, because everything was completely life-like and 3-D now. Unfortunately, I startled myself awake with the discovery that suddenly my visualization had gained a third dimension along with clarity and realism, so this possible WILD only lasted about a second. However, it does show me that WILD's do in fact have that potential to seem very real compared to some DILD's, so maybe that's a great part of what there is to the vivid vs. not vivid lucid dreams.

If you find you can WILD and stay calm through sleep paralysis, I encourage you to try to do so (the few times I've unintentionally entered sleep paralysis, it's been pretty freaky), but since I personally haven't been able to enter full sleep paralysis at bedtime, and would probably jolt myself out of it anyway if I did, lately I've been trying to drift straight off into sleep while visualizing scenes and actions with a very low level of awareness. The next time my visualizations suddenly appear three-dimensional and real (presumably this is the moment they’ve become a vivid WILD), I plan not to startle myself out of it.

By the way, in one of my lucid dreams last night, I started rubbing my hands together, and the dream definitely grew brighter. I’m not sure about clearer, but it definitely brightened it as I rubbed them together.

@Caleb

More great advice. Starting today I am going to start paying alot more attention to detail, and also do my RC's alot more regularly. Hopefully this starts helping out in my dreams.

@Baseballmk92

Once again, thanks. I think WILDS sound incredibly interesting. I attempted one last night, but I had already had a nap earlier in the day, and went to bed early to attempt one. Not to mention I had drank a coke like a couple minutes before this. And basically I couldnt focus enough to do it, my mind kept wandering and I could not get tired. So after about an hour of failed attempts, I got up for a while and went back to bed. Around 4 AM I woke up again, and decided to attempt it once more. I got to a point were I could focus simply on my breathing, and started trying to do that while visualizing environment. I started seeing patterns start to move in my vision, with slight auditory hallucinations, and then I woke up an hour later. I guess there is such a thing as letting your self get to calm, haha.

Unfortunately last night didn't work out to well, other than that, I had two regular dreams, neither of which did I become lucid in, I was too involved in the stories in my dreams to try an RC.

The next couple of days I work 9 hours a day, so I come home fairly tired. Maybe I will attempt one again. Or I will just set my alarm and try to MILD. I'm not sure yet. I just can't see myself pulling off a WILD if Im not at least slightly tired.

And by the way, your WILD sounded like a crazy experience. Congratulations on that eh!? Hopefully next time you don't get too excited about it. I'm sure eventually you get used to the realism and manage to not wake up. Haha.

I used to have the problem of startling myself when images became 3D too, have nearly gotten over it.

The key is to trick your mind that you're not paying attention to it, otherwise it'll probably just vanish and you'll wake yourself up enough to need to relax for another good 10 minutes (not fun if this happens again and again, gets really annoying and frustrating.)

Btw, I really don't understand people that think paralysis is freaky, I enjoy the feeling, its very calming, feels like floating down a gentle stream of water on your back. It will make things very relaxing if you visualize this while trying to wake induce, might help with the 3D startling you're experiencing.

To me when I start to see visuals, it's like the feeling from standing up too fast, the vision becomes all brown-yellow colored with strange shapes and patterns, then eventually from the inside outwards it resolves and I can see again (into a dream if I'm wilding). Really amazing experience.

Just remember, when it feels like you're being "pulled in" (you'll definitely know what I'm talking about) ignore the feeling, don't think about how your body is feeling or anything like that, don't think something to yourself like "wow this feels weird", just let it take you.

Good luck people

Originally Posted by Conquer

Btw, I really don't understand people that think paralysis is freaky, I enjoy the feeling, its very calming, feels like floating down a gentle stream of water on your back. It will make things very relaxing if you visualize this while trying to wake induce, might help with the 3D startling you're experiencing.

I wish I could agree, but I've gotten auditory hallucinations with it, and it just makes it quite scary, even though I am completely aware none of these hallucinations can harm me. Some people get visual ones too (that'd be my worst nightmare), and some people just don't get any at all. You don't seem to get any hallucinations with it, based on your feeling that SP is "calming". Really, I wish it was like that for me, it just isn't, at least when I enter it unintentionally. But for anyone who doesn't experience anything like hallucinations in SP, definitely try to WILD that way if you're able to. Otherwise, be like me and try to visualize things until you're in your visualizations for real.

Yeah, I don't hear things until I'm just about to enter the dream. Body just feels really heavy. It's like my body's gone and I'm just in a state of mind. Calming. ^^

If by visual hallucinations you mean with my eyes closed, then yes I do see things (shapes, patterns, lights, etc). But with the eyes open, I definitely do not see or hear anything.

I think since I started wake inducing, I notice SP more often (watching a movie, on the computer late at night, etc) I honestly don't mind it.

I tried to WILD last night, but when I woke up after like 4 and 3/4 hours of sleeping, I fell asleep because I was so tired. But I woke up after a dream, so I remember it. The issue was temperature, I was too hot, then I pulled the sheets down to my waist and I was too cold. For me, too hot = nightmares, too cold = can't get to sleep.

Originally Posted by Conquer

If by visual hallucinations you mean with my eyes closed, then yes I do see things (shapes, patterns, lights, etc). But with the eyes open, I definitely do not see or hear anything.

Those patterns and lights are probably just hypnagogic imagery. What I meant is that during SP, people often hallucinate sounds and images, even with their eyes closed. For example, a few weeks ago, I randomly awoke from a dream in sleep parlaysis, and had an auditory hallucination of bats flying over my head, flapping their wings, and it sounded extremely real for the few seconds it lasted. A visual hallucination, for example, could have been seeing these bats above my head as I hallucinated that sound during sleep paralysis. Personally, I haven't gotten any visual hallucinations, but others do. As is noted in this wikipedia article, hallucinations during sleep paralysis are one scientific explanation for people's alleged accounts of alien and ghost encounters...so we should be glad not to get any visual hallucinations during SP.

That sounds terrifying, I'm suddenly very glad that I don't get that. And yes, its just H Imagery that I'm talking about. Wasn't sure what kind of visualizations you were talking about.

I heard that creating friction between your hands increases vividness. Worth a shot.

Originally Posted by Conquer

Btw, I really don't understand people that think paralysis is freaky, I enjoy the feeling, its very calming, feels like floating down a gentle stream of water on your back. It will make things very relaxing if you visualize this while trying to wake induce, might help with the 3D startling you're experiencing.

My first SP (Sleep Paralysis) a few days ago was in the morning through a WBTB & DILD technique. It started by me hearing a very loud screeching sound in my left ear (the sort of sound when your ear randomly pops) in a whirling tone, increasing in volume, it was extremely loud, and I felt extremely forceful vibrations throughout my whole body... I couldn't move. It felt asthough my body was being torn into another dimension. My eyes were half open and mouth open, trying to yell in a way; like when Neo first enters the matrix from the neberkanezer ship, he opens his mouth but only hears screeching. Then I woke from the shock :/

Nasty stuff, but awesome experience.

Was trying to WILD last night, soo close.. Had auditory hallucinations of a small dog barking. Only happened for a few seconds, but it was really creepy. I've never had any hallucinations before so it was weird.

Spoiler for Last night's story:

After about an hour of concentration, SP, and HI. I was suddenly looking at my cell's screen and was like "Whoa, why's my battery dead, I just charged the thing.." and then I noticed the ground I could see below where I was holding my phone was all distorted, odd colored and it was like the boundaries of everything were kind of shaky.

This usually happens at first when I WILD. Very quickly I remembered (well, the thought came to mind so to speak.

However, my mind was so clear I barely noticed it was a dream that had come up. and not a thought. "I was trying to WILD" I remembered, and I got too excited having seen all of this. Lost the dream, couldn't get back any imagery. Gave up and rolled over after about 10 minutes.

What about Lucid Dreaming? That's a hallucination . Don't you hear sounds in your LD's?

Of course your achieving a real Lucid dream, remember, lucid dreams are any dreams that you are consciously aware of.
I suggest taking the old "slow down and smell the roses" quote to heart. If you focus on something in particular like say a human, they might look blurry in the corner of you eye but you will notice that they are extremely realistic looking w/ your full attention.

Originally Posted by Conquer

That sounds terrifying, I'm suddenly very glad that I don't get that. And yes, its just H Imagery that I'm talking about. Wasn't sure what kind of visualizations you were talking about.

Bit of a bump considering this was 2008 but I find the best way to deal with SP is to try not to move if that makes sense. I know when I have SP and if I try to move my leg, I get freaked out. If I acknowledge it but don't react then I feel fine.