Thread: Getting lucid to fight nightmares

On three separate occasions, i got into a string of nightmares. I would have at least one horrifically scary nightmare a night. But when i became lucid in one, i could change the outcome of the dream. In the first one i believe i woke my self up after becoming lucid. The second time, i think i flew away. The past time, about 3 or 4 nights ago, i fought back and won. Once i would become lucid and end a nightmare either by waking up, escaping, or fighting back; the string of nightmares would end. Now you're probably wondering what i did to get lucid in those situations. I used the most obvious dreamsign, "fear". I would tell myself throughout the day and right before bed that the next time i felt any form of fear, i would become lucid. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 nights, but it always worked. This really helped me alot, because at one point, i dreaded going to bed because i knew that i would probably have a horrible dream. You should give it a shot. One really important thing to remember is that i said any form of fear. Fear doesn't have to be something chasing you about to kill you. Like you said, it could be being late for school or your laptop is broken. Keep the "fear" dreamsign broad, so that you will be more likely to catch it in a dream. Good luck.

really weirdly bad dreams are how i got into it too. the oddest of which was when i slept in my car one night. the lack of sleep led to some kind of freaky projection in which me and my car were dragged by some odd beings onto the motorway in front of the traffic. i could have sworn i was there man. drove home in a shot after that.

the reason i say that i guess is because you really can turn the negative into a massive positive. i know its not what you want to hear but just drill it into yourself to question reality as often as possible. in your case id suggest every time something bad happens in real life, or you get a bad feeling, or see something in the media to perform reality checks. simplest way is to write something on your hand that you will see often, or get yourself some new piece of jewellery etc to wear on your arm that will remind you to reality check more often. best of luck. peace

i really need to take my own advice too some freaky bad dreams this week for the first time in a while

Mm yeah, I am doing RCs with my digital clock whenever I feel any form of fear or unpleasant, like having trouble with schoolwork so I get annoyed, or laptop messing up with me, etc. What PercyLucid has said to me is that I am "at the edge of success" but well... I don't know about that myself.

Anyway, yeah, I keep trying. Maybe after getting some lucids my normal dreams get a bit "better"? Like, I have noticed recently a little change that I fight back against nightmare creatures, suddenly having guns, so that kinda prevents the dream from becoming a nightmare, even if I seem to die in the end. I think this is because it's my lucid goal to fight nightmare monsters?

In any way, getting something unpleasant about every other night can feel depressing at times.

I learned how to lucid dream at a young age essentially because I wanted to fight my nightmares. Eventually i was able to become lucid or not at will and change the mood of the dream. If you have ever experienced psychedelics you may know that you can change your perception of reality(colors, feeling, mood) just by thinking positively or negatively. Dreams are much the same way in that you can use your power of intention to change the form and direction of the dream. Ive gotten out of practice recently and subsequently have been experiencing more and more nightmares like I had in childhood. I feel that it is because I havent been entering sleep properly therefore am unprepared for the dream world.
I would suggest a few things...

-Enter sleep with positivity
-Use your power of intention to create feelings of positivity before sleep and during dreams
-When you become lucid and face your dream monsters dont fight, just ignore them. Simply face whatever it might be and act as if it isnt even there and in doing so you will probably defeat them.
-Once you "deactivate" your dream monsters you can even ask them why they are bothering you and you may be surprised what they'll say.
-After experiencing an encounter, you can go over it again in your mind before sleeping and use intention to assign positive feelings to the memory

It can be hard to see through the nightmares especially if they are overwhelmingly powerful. Just remember that it is your mind and deal with these dark creatures with confidence and positive intention.

Just a reflective side note: nightmares are the expression of fears in our minds whether on the surface or hiding in the corners. Remember that in order to understand and overcome any feelings you must first embrace them and make them part of yourself. Acknowledge that they are there, embrace them and be aware that those feelings alone cannot harm you. once you overcome the feelings, you will overcome your nightmares. Thats been my experience anyhow, I hope you have the same luck I had.

Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

I learned how to lucid dream at a young age essentially because I wanted to fight my nightmares. Eventually i was able to become lucid or not at will and change the mood of the dream. If you have ever experienced psychedelics you may know that you can change your perception of reality(colors, feeling, mood) just by thinking positively or negatively. Dreams are much the same way in that you can use your power of intention to change the form and direction of the dream. Ive gotten out of practice recently and subsequently have been experiencing more and more nightmares like I had in childhood. I feel that it is because I havent been entering sleep properly therefore am unprepared for the dream world.
I would suggest a few things...

-Enter sleep with positivity
-Use your power of intention to create feelings of positivity before sleep and during dreams
-When you become lucid and face your dream monsters dont fight, just ignore them. Simply face whatever it might be and act as if it isnt even there and in doing so you will probably defeat them.
-Once you "deactivate" your dream monsters you can even ask them why they are bothering you and you may be surprised what they'll say.
-After experiencing an encounter, you can go over it again in your mind before sleeping and use intention to assign positive feelings to the memory

It can be hard to see through the nightmares especially if they are overwhelmingly powerful. Just remember that it is your mind and deal with these dark creatures with confidence and positive intention.

Just a reflective side note: nightmares are the expression of fears in our minds whether on the surface or hiding in the corners. Remember that in order to understand and overcome any feelings you must first embrace them and make them part of yourself. Acknowledge that they are there, embrace them and be aware that those feelings alone cannot harm you. once you overcome the feelings, you will overcome your nightmares. Thats been my experience anyhow, I hope you have the same luck I had.

Thanks for the tips, I'll be sure to make use of them!

Those tips are definitely useful. I can vouch for the one about ignoring enemies - an easy way is to walk away calmly, and focus on something unimportant like a rock or a doornob (pretend it's the most amazing thing you've ever seen, and concentrate hard on it), and the monster often disappears.

Im glad my experiences were able to be useful!
Let us know how that goes in future too, i would be interested how an adult handles that kind of dream. Hopefully i can put those back into practice myself, and once again be a masta dreama! lol

When I was little, I always knew I would spontaneously become lucid in nightmares. It always added to the terror, and sometimes just the thought of being trapped in a dream that could turn bad at any minute used to make an ordinary dream a nightmare. Then I began learning about lucid dreaming and have almost never had a nightmare again. I mean, I still have unpleasant dreams from time to time, but almost every full fledged nightmare triggered lucidity somehow. Then it just became fun.

Actually, one thing that ended the nightmares was when I began to fight the monsters (though some advise against this). Once I was being chased by something or other, and realizing I could never outrun it I just stopped and turned saying "Oh yeah? Bring it on!" or something like that. The monster didn't last a minute. Dream monsters, I quickly learned, are good chasers but pathetic fighters.

It's the just plain depressing dreams (like loved ones dying) that get me.

In my first and only truly lucid dream. about a month ago, I did the obvious thing and tried to fly, it didn't work...then I tried to bend the world around me, that didn't work either. So finally I shouted to my subconscious, "Why don't you do what I want?" And a voice responded, "Because we are against you." So after a nightmare that left me in fear of my entire room when I woke up I decide it was time to figure out why my subconscious is against me, I had the nightmare last night so this is my first step to figuring it out. so yeah when you say you feel your subconscious is against you I know the feeling.

I am very, very, very close at getting some "real" lucids. I got two lucids in two nights in a row but can't remember the other one, and although both were shorter than 20 seconds I knew I was dreaming, though, no control.

Just a matter of time before I can fight my nightmares. They haven't gone anywhere.

no need to fight them bro. just turn around and laugh at (and hopefull with) them. its great when you can just turn around and tell them that they cannot hurt you. i remember having some guy keep swinging punches at me while being mystified as to why they were not doing anything

But it depends on what kind of nightmares you have, if you are like me and have dreams about demon doll things and the Grim Reaper, then you aren't afraid of them getting you you are afraid of the the very thought of them, let alone a "physical" form of them in front of you. Plus, the one person who knows just what will scare you the most is yourself, and it is you who makes the nightmare. Actually thats a cool line, you create your own nightmare, I'm going to make that my sig.

Originally Posted by whiterain

no need to fight them bro. just turn around and laugh at (and hopefull with) them. its great when you can just turn around and tell them that they cannot hurt you. i remember having some guy keep swinging punches at me while being mystified as to why they were not doing anything

Yeah that's kinda what I ment with the fighting part, making the nightmare monsters harmless or, something. Anyway, still need to progress with lucids in order to even get any control or so.

Thought I would post some progress of mine here.

1) I figured out why I seem to have so many dreams where I am a push-over and all: it's the food I have eaten before going to sleep. It's been (somewhat) fastfood, so I have now been eating bread/yoghurt at evening and I can't even remember when I last time had a nightmare.

2) This week I had my first lucid with actual control, although vividness was crap and I screwed up, waking myself up. But it's progress!