Feeling Rain

I have heard many people tell of their experiences with hypnogogic hallucinations as being bright flashes of light, stars, or the feeling of something crawling on you. In the past I have noticed the bright flashes of light, but I never had a really convincing hallucination until last night.

To back up a little, I began my lucid attempts about three weeks ago with varying success. I have not experienced any LD's, but my dream recall has improved and I can enter SP fairly consistently. Recently I had the idea to integrate WBTB with my WILD attempts since so many DV users have recommended it (thnx btw!).

Anyway, I preformed a WBTB last night and experienced the most fascinating hallucination. At first I could hear the pitter-patter of rain and assumed that a storm was starting outside. The sound started to pick up, increasing in intensity. Then I started to feel it. As the rain became a down pour, I could feel it land on my face and drizzle down it as droplets. Weirdly, I remember very clearly feeling the sensations of wetness and coldness. Upon realizing this, the rain immediately went silent and the sensations disappeared.

For me this is a huge breakthrough in my attempts at LDing. To me it proves that my mind can accurately record and simulated such abstract sensations as wetness and coldness. I have never known the level to which one can experience sensations in a dream, but now I have a pretty good idea of what is possible.

Plus I'm making good progress. Trying WBTB again tonight! :D
After what I experienced last night, it seems to be a promising method.

That sounds really cool! Do you mind telling me what WILD technique you used? :D

its so exciting its ridiculous!! The more lucids or even recall improvement that i have had gives such a reward just for experiencing the realness of supposedly non real things.

Some of my favourite lucids have been weather based. Simply feeling the coldness of the snow or the heat of the sun.

More interestingly still i have found is accesing old memories in the dream state. For example feeling the skin of a loved one who is not around anymore, and feeling it as if they were still around and next to you
WOW!
enjoy yourself ;)

That sounds really awesome! WILD definitely seems like a great method, can't wait to experience hallucinations myself. It fascinates me how it's all just created in your mind.

Weather is amazing in dreams. One of my favorite lucids was nothing more than me standing outside on a cold, snowy day. I wasn't wearing a shirt and could feel the cold air blowing against me. I definitely felt the cold in the dream, but there was no discomfort like there would have been in reality. It was a pure and perfect sensation.

What interrupted your WILD? It sounds like you were succeeding, right about to enter a dream. Did you fall asleep afterwards?

I don't know, I guess it was my excitement at noticing the hallucination. I have never quite gotten that far into one before, so you can imagine my excitement. As for the technique I used, I suppose it was a regular WBTB. I had set my alarm for around 3:40 am (a time I had noticed was ideal for remembering dreams if I woke up by accident) and was prepared to do a WILD, but my body was already so relaxed that I had only counted to 15 or so before things started happening.

I think a major factor in all of this has to be belief. When I woke up, I seriously thought that it was really raining, and my mind worked out for itself what it should be seeing if I hear rain in my room. When I realized it was a hallucination, my mind quickly adapted to this too and made the illusion disappear.

I guess in the end, the trick to all of this is going to be convincing my perceptions that something is real, while still understanding that it is not.