Thread: New guy with some questions

Well, to introduce I've been lurking the forums every now and then for a good two years. (Usually like every 6 months I'd suddenly get into LDing, read up on it for the entire day, try it out, fail, and not care for another six months). For this reason I decided to join the Forums, to sorta "anchor" (hehe) the idea of LDing in my head.
Anyway here I am. So, hello everyone. =]

Now to explain my situation and later my questions.
So, last night I had my first LD that actually lasted more than a second. But, I didn't do it in any conventional method. Didn't WILD that's for sure. Other thing is that it wasn't a DILD because as soon as the dream started I KNEW I was dreaming but nothing out of the ordinary was happening I just knew. Which leads me to believe I DEILD which makes sense since I was trying to do so but I don't remember waking up from and dream and then entering this one.

But onto the main topic at hand, my dream.
I'm standing by myself awake in my room and the first thing I do is open the door and walk out into the hall. As soon as I step outside my room I realized I was lucid dreaming. But besides it being slightly darker and my house looking a tad bigger nothing should have indicated to me that I was dreaming. Next once I realized this, I didn't get all "OMG LD!111!!!" as I've read many new guys do but I acted very nonchalant about it. (Odd but good I guess?) But the thing that bothered me most is that once I realized I was LDing, my movement decreased exponetially and I had to legit, FIGHT to move. (Almost like walking through water). Next my vision started to blur so I started to spin to stabalize my dream (mistake). I found myself back in my room again with normal movement. I decided I'd like a change of scenery so I was about to walk out the door once more with the intent of landing somewhere else. But, it didn't happen. (I woke up)

Now for my questions:
Backgroud - I've had this "walking through water feeling" of severe drowsiness, and heaviness a few times. First, time was when I woke in my bed, (had the same "I'm dreaming" realization happen but for no apparent reason) but I just couldn't for the life of me move. Next was in a dream where I was in my bed and I had my headphones in my ears. I heard my dad comming into the room so as to not get into trouble I decided to quickly pull them out. It SO much effort to move my hands and pull. The only reason I managed was fear of punishment from my dad. Of course when I woke up I found my headphones in my drawer, no where near me.

So. Number 1:
What's with this intense feeling of being unable to move? Has anyone had this happen to them? What can I do to combat it?

2. Spinning to focus my dream was a bad idea right? What can I do besides that? I think it was rubbing hands together? Can't remember.

3. When I want to change scenery or add more people to my dream scenario what should I do?

If anyone has read this, thank you so much. I feel it was a bit long to read.
I appreciate the help, and hope to get good feedback.
Hope I can make some beastly friends here~

Hey Zeff, welcome to the Dreamviews forum! ...Sort of.

Sometimes in a DILD, you can be aware in the beginning of the dream. Think of a timeline - you can have points in between the beginning and end, but there's nothing stopping you from having a point in the beginning.

Acting nonchalant often means you weren't quite as aware (semi-lucid), which you can tell by basically seeing if you felt very aware in the dream, or if you became slightly less aware and just casually noticed it. As for the movement, sometimes that can happen - dream control, or the ability to control aspects of the dream, can sometimes suck and this is just dependent on the dream - sometimes there's nothing you can do about it. Other times (most of the time IMO), you can stop, relax, and attempt to alleviate the problem by focusing, but not stressing, on fixing it. If you're having trouble moving, you can invent something that the dream can use as an explanation. Since you felt like you were wading through water, for instance, you could "believe" that the room was filling up with water - even if you don't actually see water at this point (which you can do by simply "expecting" it to be there), there's now a reason for exponentially slower movement! So, you can then say out loud to a dream character that's standing by, "open the drain" or something, which will get rid of the problem. You really just have to be creative with it. Try making a list of potential problems (blurry vision, slow movement) and solutions before your next LD.

Spinning, on the other hand, has its ups and downs. How fast did you spin?
Going too fast will cause you to ignore details of your surroundings, and therefore lose attention, destabilizing the dream. Some people can spin without this happening, but others find it easier to just walk through a door and expect the location of choice to be on the other side. Rubbing hands, touching objects (the more the merrier), and simply saying "I am dreaming, I am dreaming, stay lucid" can all help to stabilize the dream. You can spin, but don't go fast - spinning is best done when you're doing it slowly, to simply look at your surroundings and take in all the details. This helps keep you in the dream because your mind has to actively work to create more dreamspace for you to see.

If you've teleported and want to add people, use the same principal as above - it all comes down to expectations. Expect a person to come up behind you and tap you on the shoulder, and they will. It helps to visualize what characters you want to summon before entering the dream, and when you're in the dream itself, imagine the feeling of them tapping on your shoulder to cement the notion that someone's "really" behind you to the dream. Same goes for animals, objects... You can turn a corner and make up a reason for a candle to be sitting on the ground, for example; in this case you could just silently visualize and "expect" it to appear, or add a reason - "I can't believe my mom left the candle around the corner... And I of all people have to pick it up!"

Hope that helps.
If you have any other questions or need clarification, don't hesitate to ask!

Wow! An actual reply! Thanks a lot, I was starting to think I wasn't going to get one any time soon, hahaha.

Well. As for the spinning, it wasn't too fast or anything but I certainly wasn't paying attention to anything besides the floor.

And what's the potential difference between Semi-Lucid Dreaming and an all out Lucid Dream? I mean what's the difference if they're both "lucid" dreams. Plus wouldn't being Semi-Lucid be better as there is less chance of having your emotions over take you and make you wake up?

Again, thanks a lot. =]

No problem!

Semi-lucid is when you're aware, but not too aware. You're still fairly passive and may lose lucidity easier than a fully lucid dream, which is when you're quite aware and can consciously make most decisions regarding control, etc. Semi-lucid dreams can be frustrating if one keeps getting them, because since the person is still slightly unconscious, they aren't able to make as many decisions as they'd like. When one wake from a semi-lucid, sometimes they do a facepalm because they didn't remember what they were going to do in the dream, while they were still in it.

To answer #3: Rubbing your hands helps to stabilize your dream. I've found that it works 99% of the time--the problem is remembering to do it. Whenever I can remember to, I always rub my hands together and really focus on the feeling of the friction, what my hands look like, my surroundings, etc. to cement myself into my dream while remaining lucid. Doing so periodically helps to keep it stabilized and prolong the dream. From my experience, I've been able to actually "prevent" waking up, even if only for a few minutes. Whenever I feel myself about to wake up, I look at my hands and rub them together and I can usually get a few minutes to remain lucid and have fun and a few minutes does seem like hours in a LD. At least in mine.

As for the difference between semi-lucid and all-out lucid, I believe it lies in what you are able to do. A semi-lucid would just being aware that you are dreaming but lacking the power to actively change your dream world. An all-out lucid would be knowledge that you are dreaming (of course) and the ability to change the world around you based on expectations (as Puffin said). However I don't know if that's the correct definitions of the terms; Puffin will be able to provide better ones I'm sure. Edit: Puffin ninja'd me.

Yeah, hand-rubbing can also help if you feel the dream ending on you, and give you some extra time.

(slurry; I like your username!)

Thanks both of you.

Now. How would I go about moving from a SLD to a LD. I mean if just realizing I'm dreaming only gets me as far as a semi-lucid dream, what do I do to emphasize this awareness to become fully lucid?

Truly be skeptical of what's around you - pay close attention to where you are and how you ended up there. See how objects feel - is the texture of certain things "off"? Look around to see if things are distorted. Is the lighting dim, even though it shouldn't be? If you're in a house, look outside to see if you can catch the details of buildings and plants, because sometimes if you look out a window in a dream, it can dark and hazy.

People don't question reality because it feels incredibly real, but dreams also feel extremely real, therefore we don't question them either. So what's the real difference? How can you tell if you're awake or asleep without first questioning things and doing a reality check to see?

Sorry for all random questions but I've got another one. Haha. xD

I see you have a few DEILD's under your belt and I've been trying to do that for the past three days but I can't seem to get it.

1. Can you explain how you feel after you've woken up from a dream? (I feel pretty normal but shouldn't I be in like small-scale SP?)

2. Any idea how I can remember to not move at all, and to keep my eyes shut?

3. Any other tips/tricks for doing a DEILD? (Or even a DILD)

4. Usually on a weekday, I have to wake up at around five in the morning (internal alarmclock ftw) but due to splashing a bunch of cold water on my face/body I find it hard to fall back asleep very quickly. I only have until 6:30 before I have to get up for school. Is there anything I can do to get a lucid dream in this period? (I find that when I finally fall asleep I do have a dream or two).

I think I had one more question but I can't seem to remeber. =O
I guess this'll have to do for now. =P

When you wake up from a dream, you're usually already out of SP. After all, your body doesn't want to be paralyzed at this time. When you lie still, however, it tricks your body into thinking it's you're still asleep, therefore causing SP again. At the point when you're DEILDing, visualize or imagine a dream scene forming around you. Imagine yourself touching an object or running, and feeling the wind blow past you. It will help to bring you back into a dream.

After waking up from a dream, you're just back in your bed. Your eyes are probably closed, and you may feel a bit stiff - to me, that's what causes the urge to move right after waking up. It's good to catch yourself as soon as you can after waking up, and trying not to move. Even if you only remember not to move after ten seconds or so, eventually, it should get to a point where you can hold still as soon as you wake up.

DEILDs are easiest after waking up from lucid dreams, because you already know when you're going to wake up - you can feel the dream fading, etc. But be careful of FAs.

As for your last question, you could try taking a nap (don't forget to set your alarm clock to wake you up again, though!). I used to get up at 5:00, stay up for an hour as I drove to school, then fall asleep for a while before class started. Since I'm usually hazy or groggy at this time (classic early morning tiredness!), it's easy to just fall onto the bed and relax right away without worrying about what position you're in, etc. I'd often hit SP at this time, and this was before I even knew was SP was. It just happened, usually after ten or fifteen minutes.

I believe the only way to attain SP at this time is by napping, and only if you're tired enough, because you may have leftover REM from the night before. Your body will use your lying down and relaxing as an opportunity to sleep a bit more.

Alright sweet thanks for the help!

Hope you don't mind if I end up PMing you with more questions in the future. =O

Sure!

No problem.