Help! I have insane dreams!

So I was wondering if lucid dreams counts as being able to close my eyes and pull myself out of a nightmare. When I occaisonally have a true nightmare, I feel a weird sensation and I immediatly realize I am dreaming, and use that to try to pull myself out. I read a lot of fantasy books, so all the dreams are crazy. Like a Germanish village place but not really and I ate a yogurtish icecream thing. I flew three times. Once, I had bat wings, the second, I was right outside my house a few years ago.(I dreamt it a few yrs ago.) I flew with no wings or anything for a few mins. Third time, my favorite however strange, is that I would flap my arms like a bird to fly above the Savahnnah kinda place. I saw my Dad, friend, and couple others. Every time I dream it seems to never be scary, unless a crazy nightmare. Does realizing I can breath underwater while realizing it is a dream count as LD? All of my dreams never are really perfectly clearly a certain place. Sometimes they are sci fi or I switch between them quickly. Is it alright to not remember all of my dreams? Sorry for all the typing. Just signed up, I never thought dream control was possible.

Dream control is very possible! To give an example, I just read a dream someone had yesterday; he stopped time, made portals, water and air bended, and summoned a car in his first lucid

When you realize you're dreaming because of something like breathing under water it counts as a LD. Although I believe you've only had partial lucidity up until now. If you were truly lucid you would have the ability to solve the problem of the nightmare and confront whatever demons are after you. If you do this you'll feel much better upon awakening. What kinds of nightmares do you have?

Dreams shift often, so your observation that the dreams never have a certain setting is completely normal. It's fine that you don't remember all your dreams :) Try writing down the ones you can remember right after you wake up, don't think about what ou have to do for the day or you'll start to lose your dream memories. Once you write them down your dream recall with start to dramatically improve. Within a week you could be remembering 1-5 dreams a night depending on how much focus you give. 1 dream a night is the basic prerequisite for lucid dreaming though, but if you have more than 1 that you can remember a night you should still write them all down and you'll have amazing recall.

I'll come back after breakfast to type some more but anyways WELCOME TO DREAM VIEWS!!! Great to have you here :D

Matt

Nightmares for me are never monsters chasing or fallingf off a cliff. My body goes taght and stiff and everything is black and white, time seems to almost slow and Im frozen in place. Well, I sometimes think about staying to see what happens, but I always dont want to and yank myself out and awake. Last night, however, at the glimpse of black and white, and I don't think they start out scary, I yanked myself out but only to another place i did not intend. I thought I was awake, and then I actually woke up. One dream/nightmare was I was hidden in a dark closet with Sly Cooper and a voice suddenly laughs. It was deep and sounded like Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. Another was me in a hall, this one black and white and strange feeling etc. I see a character from Invader Zim holding a petry dish. Seriously. I don't even watch much TV. There is a feeling that now comes with them, I cant move,etc. black, white, and it is almost like vibration mixed with a foot falling asleep, except everywhere. The thing is, it STAYS WHEN I WAKE UP. Then if I close my eyes, I slip into a random dream, yank. Slip, and yank myself out again, because these are not usually nightmares, I just want to stay awake. Some of my dreams are deeper than others. Usually ones that donnt switch. Maybe it is because when I read, it is as smooth and detailed as a dream, but I am awake.

What do you know about Wake Induced lucid Dreams?

No, what are they?

Don't worry you're not the only one! I was swallowed by a whale last night ;)

What lucid dreaming is is when you know that you are dreaming. Infact you don't have to be able to control the dream in the slightest for it to be considered a lucid dream. If you know that it is a dream then your lucid. Dream control comes with practice and is basicly the whole point of LDing. Having crazy dreams is a good thing so don't worry and welcome to DV. I suggest you check out the tutorials. :)

With enough practice you can make certain "tweaks" to your dreams which will eventually lead to dream control.

There are two things you seem to be talking about; one being dream control, and one being dream awareness (lucidity)

Now, contrary to popular beliefs, to be in control of your dream, you don't have to be lucid. You may have a dream where you are controlling things abnormally or unrealistically, but you may not realize that you are truly dreaming.

However, when you are lucid, you still may not be able to control everything. Most of the time, this comes from unconfidence.

I do think that would be considered being lucid, as you have realized you are dreaming, which is the definition of being lucid.

Wake Induced Lucid Dream (WILD) It's a way of going into a dream strait from being awake. You keep your mind aware and don't move your body and it falls asleep.

In the middle of the process there is Sleep Paralysis (SP) and Hypnogogic Imagery (HI). Sleep paralysis happens right before a dream; why? Your body freezes itself so you don't act out the things you're doing in the dream with your real body right there in bed :) You enter strait into the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep stage, which is the stage that your brain is most active -- due to dreaming. You take your dream experiences as if you were awake in your waking experiences, which is probably why you get so scared when these nightmares come around.

Hypnogogic Imagery can be anything from random geometric patterns to hallucinations to black and white blobs... can you explain what you saw during this part of your nightmares?

Quote:

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I see a character from Invader Zim holding a petry dish. Seriously. I don't even watch much TV. There is a feeling that now comes with them, I cant move,etc. black, white, and it is almost like vibration mixed with a foot falling asleep, except everywhere. The thing is, it STAYS WHEN I WAKE UP. Then if I close my eyes, I slip into a random dream, yank. Slip, and yank myself out again, because these are not usually nightmares, I just want to stay awake.

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You may have been waking up and experiencing SP and tied with HI hallucinations, which was why you couldn't move. These are called "Night Terrors". Either that or you just need to realize that it's actually a dream and that you can move. You can do whatever you want :D Do this by repeating to yourself firmly before you go to sleep that "When I become scared I become Aware and know that I am Dreaming."

What do you think?

Whenever I have a nightmare, it always ends with myself curling up and closing my eyes to "escape from it", but I'm never actually aware that I'm dreaming. I don't think it constitutes a lucid unless you're actually aware, and realize that you're dreaming. So if you get a "rush" or an epiphany that you "might be dreaming!", you probably are lucid. :)

As for dream control, be sure to know that it and lucidity are totally different things. You can have dream control (or bad dream control) if you're lucid or not. In a normal dream, you could end up summoning a dragon for instance, without actually realizing that you're dreaming! You could also be lucid in another dream, but can't seem to do anything right because the dream is being stubborn. The two can be related, but they aren't connected as in you'll always have control when you're lucid.

Dream control is very possible, though. It's all about expectations. You're watching a movie you've already seen a dozen times, so you know what to expect on the screen - who will come out of the right side of the screen towards the protagonist, and who will [insert scenario here]... Relate this to dreams. You "know" something will happen and it will. It's good to visualize things you want to do in a lucid dream beforehand, so you already know what to do (and what it'll look like) in the dream itself! This way, you don't waste dream time figuring out what to do. It's very simple once you get the hang of it.

The second part of what Puffin said was pretty much exactly what I said haha, but perhaps better stated.
I agree with Mathias that you were most likely still in sleep paralysis when you woke up, and that fact that you felt it when you were dreaming was probably that sleep paralysis leaking into your dreams, which has happened to me a few times.