What happened? Obstructed view and distorted apartment in lucid dream...

This morning I had a strange, frustrating lucid dream where part of my view was obstructed by a black overlay of cracked-LCD like designs that somehow correlated with the dryness felt in my eyes. On top of that, the world that I could see was extremely distorted. The doors of my apartment were tilted diagonally, couches were tilted and mirrored horizontally, and it was difficult to explore this world because I could barely tell where I was, what direction I was moving, and on the whole what was going on. The one thing I wanted was to be able to eliminate the black 'cracked-glass' overlay, and explore a somewhat normal world, but I couldn't change the situation no matter how hard I tried.

Here's a very 'rough' idea of what it looked like:
Attachment 3646

I also tried yelling "increase clarity!" in my dream, along with various other expressions. My voice sounded very muffled and fake. The lucidity felt quite fragile - like I might wake up any second. There are many more details I could include but I think you got the main idea.

Overall, this was a pretty strange lucid dreaming experience, and my question to you is, WHAT HAPPENED? Has anybody else had an experience similar to this, where the view is obstructed somehow and the world is distorted or unclear? Perhaps there is a term for this kind of dream. Could this have been an extremely complex hypnagogic hallucination? Any insights you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated! While I'm not sure how likely I am to experience something like this again, I'd like to know what I could do in this sort of situation to improve clarity and perhaps change the dream scene.

Thanks,

Dalal

How much lucid dreaming experience have you had? Was this your first one? Or just the first one that was like this?

I have never had the exact problem you've described, but there have been times when my lucid dreams have been disorienting and chaotic like that. There are a couple things you can try, which have helped me get the dream under control occasionally.

I find that looking at the ground can help me steady myself. If I feel like things are getting out of control, I stare at my feet until the world around me stops being crazy. When I look back up, sometimes things are more stable.

Another thing to try - if I feel like I am about to wake up, I try spinning. It sounds weird, but it has helped me prolong dreams in the past. I spin in a circle a few times, and when I stop, often I am in a completely different place in the dream, and I don't feel like I am waking up anymore.

I suspect that you won't have the same problem during the next lucid dream you have. But if you do (or if you have other clarity/control problems), give what I suggested a shot. Doesn't always work, but sometimes is better than never.

Can't say my view has ever been obstructed... But I think something similar has happened to me with the whole distortion thing. I remember I was in my bedroom in a lucid dream once... What I experienced is a door that should have been to my left was on my right, and most of my things were in entirely different locations... And some were rainbow colors and such, and they were just... well, distorted. So I guess I can relate to the distortion part... But I don't know what happened to you... And I'm not exactly an expert either :P

Thanks for the input guys!

naikou,

I've been researching and practicing lucid dreaming for a few months now and I've had at least 15 or so successful lucid episodes with varying degrees of dream control. This was the first time I've experienced obstructions and distortions of this type within a lucid dream. I like your idea of looking at my feet. Will try that next time something like this happens! And yes, I've tried that spinning trick with a VERY high success rate. Not just spinning, but flailing, falling backwards, and rubbing my hands together (anything to feel my dream body move). Thanks for the tips!