Dream paralysis/stuck in the dream and lack of dream control....

[OneofMany]

So let's see, this isn't the first time it happened. It's like sleep paralysis but I'm in the dream and can just jump out of it or wake my body up. The last time my dream guide was with me, and he helped me stabilize the dream, and then FA into another dream, then I decided to wake up in physical reality. But this time, he wasn't there, and it was soooo difficult to wake up or escape the dream. To the dream; I decided to meditate within my dream, focus on concentration, and try an move an object with my mind alone. I noticed that as I tried to focus my thoughts single-pointedly on the focus object, I had some stray thoughts, as each thought strayed it would hit an object I could feel or which would then come to life. Anyway, I tried to focus on just my target, and things started to get out of hand, then I started to create rudimentary thought-forms or constructs. I was loosing control of my thoughts, creeping myself out, so I left the room, and took a walk. I decided to try to find out how to get more dream control, no one was around so then I just decided to go to another room and created a computer. I tried to access the database for more information, but I was having trouble breaking through the illusion of the dream and focusing on solidifying the computer so I could search so I decide to make a mental note to do a search when I woke up IRL. I noticed my thoughts were starting to get more out of control and more of my surroundings were starting to come to life. When my dreams get too intense, I usually just escape by waking up or shooting to my body. But when I focused my attention on slipping out of the dream I couldn't wake up(if you ever experienced sleep paralysis, it was almost exactly the same sensation, but instead of unable to move, I could force myself to wake up). I started to get really scared, tried to stay calm, but the harder I tried the more scattered I got. I decided to look for a DC and see if I can use them to anchor my dream or try and wake myself up. I walk into a model of my bedroom, a DC was there sleeping, stuff in that room started to move about, so I start to shake him and try and wake him up. He snores, and I'm trying desperately to wake myself up, all I need is a glimmer of whatever that thing is to wake up, but I couldn't, the dream starts spinning more and more out of control. I try to ground myself on something stable in the dream, the only thing I can affect was my hubby, I'm screaming at him, trying to touch him and feel his heaviness, and then my dream body starts to cease to exist. I feel even more out of control now. Slowly, my dream body is disappearing into nothing, the world is disappearing into nothing, except those things that I accidentally hit with my thoughts earlier. I start to feel discombobulated, there's no body, no up, no down, left or right, I'm spinning wildly, just space, intense sensation of spinning and those d@mn tables in no discernible points in space. I try to discern if I accidentally slipped into my other dreambody(where I'm just thought) or if I'm sliding back into my physical body(like when OBE-ing). This actually helped me calm down a little. I determine I'm just spinning in place, everything in my world is spinning, but I see that the DC is stationary, and his world is stationary. It's like two dreams superimposed on each other at the same time. I try to form a hand or a finger and reach out and touch him, I'm hoping he will help me stabilize and ground my dream so I can wake up. I manage to do so, and then high-tail it out of the dream. I wake up and ground myself again. Okay, so questions..... What's a good way to regain dream control when it's just going wonky? Tips on not freaking out when things are out of control? Um, if you read that whole post(cudos), and any tips/suggestions/opinions?

[OneofMany]

Lol, found a good link on what happens if you have say hyper-awareness/LSD like experience and how to fix it/increase control. Anyway, happy LD-ing everyone.

[Ginsan]

I would get scared and freak out if I landed in nothingness too. But during the rest of the dream your actions seemed very unreasonable. Why do you want dream control and why do you want to wake yourself up? You should just go outside and look around, look for things to entertain yourself. Fly around? I don't know.. There are uncountable possibilities, even without DCs and without control. Damn, I am very grateful for every second of lucidity, no matter how brief, controlless, boring or whatever.

[OneofMany]

Critical much? No, really, joking aside. I see your point, I lost control, crumbed, and wanted to run home to my body like a little baby. Why do you want dream control? I don't like being swept away by the dream, and into the drama of the scene. When I loose dream control, then rather than playing with the dream scene, I become an actor in the play(but often loose my lucidity). Also, when I can focus myself in the dream element, I can do *anything* The amount of focus I can harness, generally goes in line with abilities within the dream. why do you want to wake yourself up? Okay, so I've learned that I can switch or even split awareness between bodies. There are three that I'm currently aware of....physical body, dream body, and mental body. Each has their intrinsic qualities and good tools for a particular type of exploration. So there are certain things I don't like to experience during dreaming; throwing up, and strong emotions. When I feel any strong emotions/physical sensation, I can slip myself into my mental body for clout, if that fails, I put my last card which is escaping to my physical body. The physical body is like an anchor or a security blanket, but one I really wish to dispose/grow out of. You should just go outside and look around, look for things to entertain yourself. Fly around? I don't know.. There are uncountable possibilities, even without DCs and without control.I did go outside, walk around in the dream, noticed this, noticed that...entertained myself, decompressed(didn't type everything in the dream, god that would be loooong) mostly my problem points. But yeah, I get your point, it's like what would you do with unlimited power away kinda thing? Except, my whole purpose in posting here is to learn from it and next time, take that pony, slap on a saddle and ride it for what it's worth. I don't want to repeat the same thing, certainly not proud, nor happy about it, but I'm learning, preferably fast. Damn, I am very grateful for every second of lucidity, no matter how brief, controlless, boring or whatever.I think that is a great point, every experience, no matter how it may seem to the person involved has a positive or aspects to be grateful for, one's reactions is what makes it positive or negative, as all are inheritanly neutral. I suppose it can appear ungrateful because I wish to learn from it, improve upon myself and understand more. I did realize due to the experience, that I spend too much of my waking time on awareness and cutting through life's illusions without focusing on concentration. From what I've read if a person pushes awareness without concentration to stabilize one's mind, it can lead to an runaway, high-sensation experience. It(concentration) causes the person to anchor within so there is no need to use a physical body or external anchor in the dream, so theoretically, if/when one attains that awareness again, being internally anchored, one could do as you say. I do hope you get stuck in a dream too, It's well within your capabilities, I think it's everyone's right really. Thank you for replying, you've given me much to work with.

[Ginsan]

Man, that's that's quite an answer. Though I didn't get the last part about concentration. You say that if you can concentrate you don't need an external anchor in the dream. If I'm correct, that external anchor serves as a final protection measure, protection from what? Strong emotions? And what do you want to concentrate on? Btw, you seem like an interesting guy, why don't you join my competition? It is also a good learning expierience, to pit your skills against other people

[OneofMany]

I try to keep things short, but thorough. I like your writing style, so effective, and gets the point across in such few words. You say that if you can concentrate you don't need an external anchor in the dream. It's not so much protection, more of stabilizing the dream content. Okay, so before I would use my DG, or a dream teacher, with just their touch I could stay lucid, as well as focused. More so now, it's like I have to learn how to do this on my own. Some people focus on their hands, or spinning in place. It's more of an inherent stabilizing technique which I'm trying to develop, but I imagine it's like reinventing the wheel, someone's done it, better in fact, but I'm bludgeoning my way through LD-ing. I've found protection is really unnecessary, there are lots of techniques, but my favorite one is to shift out of the dream. So say a DC is stabbing you, you can just shift yourself out(of that dream layer/dream body)and you effectively disappear to them(and can also enter into an another dream if you so choose or sit back and watch yourself get stabbed). You can practice shifting in meditation, so say you are having some gnarly images arise, if you can realize that it is due to your state of mind, and take some deep breaths, then focus on a relaxing, positive stuff, and the images will change. You can do the same thing in LD-ing as it's all mind stuff. protection from what? Strong emotions? Yes, I imagine in this respect it's more of my problem than one you might experience. I view emotions as a tool as any other. I do experience mild Alexithymia with synesthesia , so for me feelings have a strong physical sensation(anger is like a burb, or pushing sensation), the stronger the emotion, the stronger the sensation, which can be quite uncomfortable. So in a sense, protection from strong emotions(positive or negative), which are confusing and in extreme situations, can be very painful and feel akin to death(although that in itself is still an illusion, it still sucks). And what do you want to concentrate on?Irl or LD-ing? In either I've used an object, in the dream something I've created. I've noticed that I can "wipe" the dream free of stuff/clutter, then I'll form an object and focus on that. I'm still experimenting though for LD-ing, and don't really know, I imagine it's similar to IRL object meditation as they are all tied together anyway. why don't you join my competition? It is also a good learning expierience, to pit your skills against other peopleThanks, looks really cool! I really struggle with ideas, or creativity, your competition is rather inspiring!