Please help. Am i lucid dreaming?

**Lunna** · 01-24-2011 07:31 AM

hey all, i really need your help. i think im lucid dreaming but i don't really know. Please read my post and comment. Thnx

2 months ago I dreamt that someone or something kept trying to pull me out of my bed. At 1st it felt like I was awake which totally freaked me out and of course I immediately woke up. Imagine my surprise when I found out I was dreaming.... a few seconds after that it happened again except this time I knew I was dreaming but it still scared me to death so I woke up with a fright…again. It happened like 4 times that night. eventually I fell asleep.

2 weeks after that I had the same dream or experience again. feeling like I’m awake but knowing it is a dream while someone is trying to pull me off my bed, well it was more like a nightmare. at this point I started thinking something is stalking me in my dreams. Yea I know it sounds crazy...

The 3rd time I dreamt something completely different. I took an afternoon nap and yet again I felt like I was awake. I was sleeping with my back to my bedroom door. when I heard someone come into my room, I couldn't turn myself around I was completely paralyzed. I felt someone’s weight on my bed like they were leaning over me or something at this point I was so afraid I remember I kept telling myself to wake up. which I did.

At 1st I kept it to myself thinking it was just some crazy weird dream but after the 3rd one it started bothering me allot so I talked 2 my friend about it. he advised me to try and change my dream like try and put the light on or something. A few days after having that conversation with him it happened again. Bringing me to my 4th dream...

I immediately knew what was happening. I was completely paralyzed making me realize that it was one of my wacky awake dreams again. I tried to calm myself I could feel I was already getting panicky but I just couldn’t stand it so I willed myself to wake up just to fall back into my wacky awake dream a few seconds later. this time I tried to change my dream by turning on the light but I was paralyzed. So I woke myself up again. it happened about 3 times more after that. Every time I will myself to wake up only to fall "asleep" within a few sec.

After my 4th dream I decided to google it. The results where lucid dreaming... except all the research lets me believe that if what I’m having is infact lucid dreams it’s not normal to just have them without some "training"

I should also mention that after I wake up from one of my weird dreams the 1st time, I hear a strange noise in my head. This usually happens before I slip into unconsciousness again..

Am I lucid dreaming or should I lay off the coffee? I really want it to stop. I feel like I’m going crazy

Ps. I know this might all sound confusing and I might not be explaining this in the best way. Please just remember that this IS all confusing to me and I tried my best to put in a way you guys can understand…

**Arra** · 01-24-2011 07:49 AM

If the feeling of being pulled out of your bed felt at all like you were floating or rising out of your body, then that was an OBE (Out of Body Experience). If it just felt like someone was literally pulling you, it might have been something different, or just a dream.

Being paralyzed upon waking up or falling asleep is called 'sleep paralysis'. It's not uncommon. Often, people feel a pressure on their bodies, specifically on their chests, while experiencing it. This probably explains the feeling that someone's weight was on your bed. Hallucinations can happen too during sleep paralysis. Your body naturally releases a chemical while you're asleep to paralyze your body, so that you don't act out your dreams. Sleep paralysis is when this chemical remains in effect after you've woken up, or comes in effect too early.

If you're dreaming and know that you're dreaming, you're having a lucid dream. This doesn't include the sleep paralysis, but includes the false awakenings you describe, in which you think you wake up, but then realize you're dreaming. If you don't realize you're dreaming, it wasn't a lucid dream.

It's not abnormal for people to have lucid dreams who haven't had 'training.' Almost everyone has had at least one in their life. Some people, though rare, like my aunt, lucid dream very often without even trying. When I was younger, before hearing about lucid dreaming, I used to get sleep paralysis almost every night for about a year, unintentionally, as well as OBEs.

EDIT: Lucid dreaming is a very worthwhile, fun thing to try to do, as everyone on this website agrees. Consider it if the idea of experiencing a virtual reality which feels very life-like, where you can control anything, appeals to you. Again, lucid dreaming is just dreaming while you're consciously aware that you're dreaming.