Problems awaking or opening eyes

[sypher7]

I just woke up from a pretty freaky dream and I wonder if anyone else typically has the same problems when they begin to obtain lucidity. Basically, there are two problems that I typically experience when I begin to control a dream: 1) If I do not like the way the dream is going, or it is just freaking me out, I try to wake up; however, I usually end up "waking" into another dream. 2) Sometimes when I gain lucidity, I think that I begin to wake up; however, I get "stuck" somewhere between the sleeping and waking state. This usually enters my body in a form of sleep paralysis in which, in the dream, I cannot open my eyes (or if I do, I still cannot see anything). It is like I know that in the waking world my eyes are closed, but I cannot control that from within the dream. Here is the dream that I had last night that combined both of these for a quite disturbing experience: http://www.sypher7.com/?p=133

[Seeker]

Sypher7, Both experiences you mentioned are fairly common and will be experienced by anyone learning to lucid dream at one time or another. The first is call a False Awakening, it is one of the main reasons you need to get into the habit of performing reality chechs often. The second as you stated is sleep paralysis, which is very useful as you have a foot in both world, waking and dreaming. In this state, it is usually simple to enter a lucid dream.

[nightowl]

what seeker said. Im not sure how you can combat this problem though. For the false awakenings(problem #1), you must do reality checks. So like what seeker said, get in the habit of doing them. As for the second thing, well, i'm not really sure a great way to fix this. The only thing i can really suggest is to ignore the thought of "feeling" like you're going to wake up since it might be actually causing you to wake up. Just occupy yourself in the dream and keep yourself from thinking those thoughts. Also dont do anything that will excite you since you seem to be a light sleeper

[loudlikeamouse]

Can these problems occur in non-lucid dreams? I haven't yet gotten a lucid dream, but I use both to get out of bad dreams.

[MrEvers]

As a child i had some looping (non lucid) false awakenings, I woke up, ran down the stairs, but when I was almost down, this black ghostlike monster picked me up and put me back in my bed, I woke up again, glad that it was just a dream, but the same thing happened! this looped a couple of times until I finally really woke up. I was afraid to go down those stairs for the next few months. I recently also had a lucid nightmare from which i couldn't wake up: evil doctors pushed me down on the ground and I tried to wake up, but I just couldn't move (probably some sleep paralysis) and then they stuck a needle in my spine and it really hurt, only then did I wake up. (I fell asleep again and the dream was altered to a non lucid happy dream in which I saved the world )

[O-Nieronaut]

MrEvers, you need to light a white candle. That sounds like malevolent occupation to me. I could be wrong; it might just be a dream, but I would light a white candle anyway ... just in case.

[themindsi]

malevolent occupation? is that scientifically proven? please don't scare people like that! if you're going to talk about something, give some details so the person can decide if they believe in that or not. otherwise, sombody that knows nothing of this so called 'malevolent occupation' could get scared witless, or even worse....scared away from the forums!

[MrEvers]

I'm not so easily scared I look at everything from a scientific point of view, that's why I study physics. I think, though I was lucid, I still believed I was captured and trapped, which made it impossible for me to wake up until after the injection, most of the time my problem is that I do wake up. (btw I get injections every two weeks as a treatment for allergies, and I'm used to those, they don't hurt anymore, but on a subconcious level, I'm still afraid that it will hurt, which was then projected into that dream) The running down the stairs thing was something that happened when I was really young, and happened only once. The trick in dreams is, truly believing something will happen or else it won't work. (edit: spelling)

[O-Nieronaut]

Originally posted by themindsi malevolent occupation? is that scientifically proven? please don't scare people like that! if you're going to talk about something, give some details so the person can decide if they believe in that or not. otherwise, sombody that knows nothing of this so called 'malevolent occupation' could get scared witless, or even worse....scared away from the forums! I certainly didn't mean to scare anyone, and I couldn't realy be more specific without experiencing the phenomenon myself, or getting a lot more details. As is, I offered a pretty generic "fix" for a haunting: Light a white candle. It can also help if you encourage the entity to "go towards the light." If anyone is personaly made uneasy due to my posting about ghosts/spirits, just tell me, PM me or something, and I'll keep those replies in the "Beyond Dreaming" and "Senseless Banter" forums. I just wanted to offer the most relevant advice I had. I will try to be more circumspect in the future, though. Either way ... [/end-off-topic]