Rid of nightmares

[Akole]

One thing I have noticed very quickly is that I get a lot of nightmare-ish dreams. Usually I'm not afraid, but when the dream gets too intense, I have found I can wake myself up from the dream. (I realized this ability when I was like four. Never really fully understood it.) That early technique I use to do was I close my eyes tightly! Very tightly. Then between fighting to keep them close and fighting to get them to open (it's eyelids fighting eyelids. My hands stay at their sides) I somehow force myself awake. Major problem is, I wake up so abrubtly I fall back asleep almost immediately. But it's a good technique to help.

[Luminous]

The best way to deal with nightmares is to try to face it with a friendly approach, and come up with a solution. This will of course only work when lucid... But as mentioned in another thread, this is how I learned myself to deal with and get rid of nightmares when I was a kid. Nothing can hurt you in dreams, so there is not really anything to fear. And if you expect something bad to happen in a dream, it will happen.

[Barns]

Ya, if next time you have a nightmare you turn around and do something you will have a 100% lucid dream. It isn't easy in the middle of a nightmare but you need to stay strong.

[Clairity]

Akole, luckily I very rarely get nightmares but it's always good to have a technique that can help me wake out of one. Thanks for sharing!

[Iamerik]

If i can't stop the nightmare DC I usually try to teleport away with dream spinning, but your technique sounds good too. Thanks for sharing

[sourcejedi]

I learnt to wake up in an easier way. I would simply opening my eyes twice. It's something about doing it once then trying to do it again for real, even though in the dream it already feels like your eyes are open. I haven't had much experience lately but I'd agree its worth trying to stay in the dream. If you're at the point where you're desperate to wake up, then you're already lucid in a sense. You can turn that desperation round into a strong desire to change the dream. Even if you don't turn the dream around completely, you can make it more bearable. Many of the dreams that I remember well and have stuck with me are pretty... apocalyptic, if not nightmarish. But I think they're easier to deal with now I've had some experience of lucidity.

[Barns]

Ya, staying in the dream should always be your top priority in a nightmare. If you stay in the dream then you can get rid of the nightmare forever. If you wake yourself up it will keep coming back.

[juroara]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend facing every nightmare. Even if you are aware nothing can hurt you, you can still be seriously grossed out and throw up in your dream if the nightmare is unnecessarily gory. (unless you like gore?) I mean pain isn't the only sensation that is bad in a dream. What about just being touched up and felt by something you don't like? Or some horrific sound? Or a smell? Yuck! No, not all nightmares are something you need face. Sometimes they're things you gotta walk away from Waking up is one way, but you do run the risk of falling back asleep into the same nightmare. Or worse, not falling back asleep at all. My suggestion is just leave the dream scene when appropriate and create/go to a new one.

[ruff23]

Try sleeping differntly, if you sleep on ya back try sleeping on ya side... ect i found i use to have alot of nightmares when i slept on my back. I had a dream where an angel told me to try sleeping on my side so that negative energies could flow through me easier... It worked very well! i also developed a tech where i could instant open my eyes. Infact i did it lastnight when i dremnt a demon was standing above me on the end of my bed.

[DrTechnical]

Ya, staying in the dream should always be your top priority in a nightmare. If you stay in the dream then you can get rid of the nightmare forever. If you wake yourself up it will keep coming back. This is a very valid and important point. Let's take recurring nightmares. If you believe the principles of Tibetan Dream and Sleep Yoga, you believe that all dreams are caused by karmic threads. Typically nightmares are the result of negative karmic threads which were generated when you reacting poorly to some real world event. If you recognize the recurring nightmare and become lucid, treat the situation with compassion and an understanding that it cannot hurt you. If implemented correctly, you will never have this dream again. I personally have eliminated a recurring nightmare in this very manner. Running away from the dream by waking pretty much gaurantees it will crop up again.

[Dizko]

When i was younger i would put my hands on either side of my head and shake my head. Worked every time but once. I found it funny when i would wake up terrified and then realise just how silly the dream was. "So..i was afraid of a man in a carrot suit...well there we are then..."

[halfasleep]

Ever since I was young, I could wake myself up from nightmares as well, or simply from dreams I didn't want to have. My method would be to fall flat on my face. I'd stand straight up, and tip forward, normally off of a higher area, like a sidewalk. Right before I hit, I'd wake right up. Worked every time. Never really had a recurring nightmare, maybe a similar one twice a year, but that's all. I wasn't as tuned into lucid dream/dream control as I am now, so I have yet to see if I can regain the control I previously had.

[Michael]

Ever since I was young, I could wake myself up from nightmares as well, or simply from dreams I didn't want to have. My method would be to fall flat on my face. I'd stand straight up, and tip forward, normally off of a higher area, like a sidewalk. Right before I hit, I'd wake right up. Worked every time. Never really had a recurring nightmare, maybe a similar one twice a year, but that's all. I wasn't as tuned into lucid dream/dream control as I am now, so I have yet to see if I can regain the control I previously had. What if you thought you were dreaming, but you really weren't? There's another suicide statistic...

[halfasleep]

Haha, I dunno, it's not every day I'm running around my elementary school being chased by a T-Rex =P