Heavy Body feeling in semi-lucid dream

[midnightfire]

A little while ago after doing the WBTB method I had what I initially thought was a lucid dream but that now think might only have been a semi-lucid dream. What happed is I realised the time-frame/context in the dream was not correct – and that I couldn’t remember how I got from A to B or what had happened before. Then I knew I was dreaming and things seemed to go into focus. I could control my thoughts and think about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go but they had no influence and I was stuck in the same place. What I find interesting is that when I tried to move around I was very aware of my limbs feeling very heavy – it felt like I had iron chains around my wrists and ankles. Is this a common sensation and why might it be? Was it that I was identifying too much with having a physical body? When I shouldn’t have actually needed it in the dream? Also is it true that if you have a fully Lucid Dream you will know 100% and there-for any time you question if you actually were fully lucid you didn’t have a lucid dream? Thank's in advance for any thoughts and advice ^^

[dolphin]

This is a common sensation. It could because you think you are trying to move your real sleeping paralyzed body rather than your dream body. Or, it could be symbolic of feeling helpless or pinned down in some aspects or circumstances of your waking life. When this happens, you should try to get another dream body. Among other things, you can do this by imagining another body inside of you escaping your current body or by teleporting to a new dream scene where you have a new body.

[midnightfire]

Hmm...Yeah...both of those make sense. That is good advice I wouldn't have thought to try making a new dream body hopefully will have more control next time

[Paradox7]

It sounds to me like you weren't grounded enough in the dream itself. A lot of times when first becoming lucid in a dream, you need to ground all of your senses to fully immerse yourself into the dream scape. The best way to do this is by focusing on each sense, one at a time, and utilizing it in the dream. In your case, it was your dream body that had not fully transitioned, as dolphin suggested above. Do you recall if you actually looked down at yourself? (hands, feet, legs, etc.) If you happen to get stuck in the grounding process, good old verbal commands usually work wonders. For example, saying something like "decrease gravity" may result in decreased gravity, and increase the ease of motion. You may also want to start small, moving your fingers first, then forearm, then the shoulder, etc. To answer your other question, yes and no. It is very possible to become lucid, and then lose lucidity and fall into a normal, unconscious dream. If at any point you find yourself losing lucidity (whether it be the dream coming to an end, or because you are fading), ground yourself again. Dream spinning is a great technique used to both stabilize a dream that is collapsing, and to transition into another lucid.

[midnightfire]

Yeah I realise now I did not spend enough time (actually none) to ground myself. I just did the reality check and looked at my hands so it makes sense what you are saying.i was too busy trying to focus on where I wanted to go rather than where I was and on grounding myself Will keep all these points in mind so I can try them next time

[BlairBros]

^^ Midnightfire I have had this experience too, also in more of a semi-lucid rather than a lucid. I became aware from a false awakening and when I tried to get up off my bed it was like I weighed 4 or 5 times what I normally do, it was quite a struggle hehe. I believe this is a great example of how using gravity as an RC can work, it is something something that Hukif and Azul have refined and I have attempted (but been too lazy/busy lately), where you focus on the feeling of gravity and weight for testing your waking state, which would then carry very to dreams. Having the experience you've had means that you know what gravity can be like in dreams, so you might want to to try incorporating this into your routine, but idk do what you want . Good luck!

[midnightfire]

that is interesting. Well it reminded me very much of a time when I was under the influence of marijuana (not condoning regular use) I had that same heavy feeling. Under that influence it was a feeling of pressure from all around what I imagined gravity must feel like. I've heard that plants like marijuana can help you become more aware of these types of things, however I'm find it very difficult to feel it in normal waking life. I guess this is really making me wonder now, is gravity different in dreams? And why would I sense gravity in a dream if I hadn't been using gravity as a RC if dreams do not necessarily need gravity? Or is there gravity there but you can overcome it if you choose to like flying etc? I don't k ow haven't had enough experience I guess. :p

[BlairBros]

From what little I know I will attempt to explain . Most of the time in dreams gravity either appears to be not there or wildly different from waking life, either not strong enough or way too strong. If you develop an awareness of what gravity and your weight feels like in waking life, similar to any other RC or ADA style technique, then this awareness will carry over to dreams and you will notice you are dreaming because the gravity is screwed up. I tried this technique for several weeks and did make a bit of progress, but due to laziness and other stuff in life I sorta stopped. This technique, from my own experience and the advice of Azul, will take a long time to come to fruition, but once it does people like azul and hukif have achieved lucids almost every night. So i guess there's my two cents, if you want to pursue this route you must train yourself to become very aware of your weight and the effects of gravity, rather than say becoming hyper aware of your hands through everyones favourite RC . Good luck, feel free to check out http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...5-gravity.html for more info if you want.

[midnightfire]

Thank you BlairBros, that makes sense. I think the gravity RC would have some advantages like taking more focus than is needed to just check your hands so it might be a good one. I have had too many dr ams where I check my hands and then keep on dreaming. Will def have a look at that three and give it a go