New and eager to start, but nervous at the same time. Opinions on why?

Hello there! Newbie here! :)

I found this site after hearing about lucid dreaming and wanting to try it for myself! I just wanted to get some questions out of the way, since I'm actually kind of nervous to even attempt lucid dreaming at this point, but so excited to do it at the same time!

My question is this: Are certain people more or less likely to achieve this, or other, kinds of dreams? I ask because I've had some terrifying dreams in the past that I can't explain and I am nervous that I would encourage those 'nightmares'...

The first happened at a relatives house really, really late at night. I was sleeping in the guest room and woke up for no reason. I opened my eyes and there were tons of HUGE spiders in the guest bed with me so I started screaming and got out of bed only to find the ceiling covered with them too. They all started falling to the floor and I was screaming and slapping at them-- not a pleasant experience, shew! The last thing I remember is seeing the window, wanting to escape and then my sister in law flips on the bedroom light and wakes me up for real, instantly. I was standing in the middle of the room and my screaming had woke the entire house up. The weird thing is, I couldn't remember getting up, I wasn't facing the window as I had been in my dream (it was right behind me) and I couldn't remember screaming or any reason why I would have been screaming. It wasn't until I laid back down and thought about it for a minute that I remembered dreaming about the spiders and all that.

The second experience I'm afraid to go through again happened in my own home, in my own bed. I woke up to find someone standing over top of me and I couldn't move, speak or anything. My blood ran cold and I just laid there and stared at them. The 'person' raised a hand and pointed at my nightstand. Although I don't recall ever having a moment where I realized "oh, hey! I can move now!" I shouted "What?!" and spun my head around to see what 'it' was pointing to. It was my son's baby monitor. I don't remember thinking anything else at that point, I just shot out of bed and ran to my son's room and woke him up. Thinking back, I don't think that 'person' was there after I looked away. (He was fine, in case you're wondering.)

I have no explanation for either of these 'dreams' but I do know that they terrified me enough to stay with me. I was wondering if having dreams like that would mean that it would be easier or harder for me to dream lucid but at the same time, I don't want it to be easier if I'm going to terrify myself all the time!

As I said before, I'm excited about the idea of lucid dreaming and I want to try but I'm nervous that I'll either fail and be disappointed that I can't do it or succeed and dream myself being eaten by a giant tarantula or something.... I think I would literally die in my sleep, purely from fear... :(

Opinions?

I think if anything, lucid dreaming will probably help because you'll have better control over your dreams. Once you start to realize how everything works and do it a few times, it starts to not scare you as much. I was pretty scared of starting at first too, but in my (limited) experience it's really not that bad, as long as you realize that nothing in your dreams is real or can harm you.

I think this will be great for you! Everyone has nightmares, just like the ones you described. While most don't sleep walk, everyone experiences them to a varying degree. Lucid dreams are actually considered a great solution to confronting your nightmares, and to conquer your fears once and for all. As for the man standing over you, you are a mother and I'm sure home invasions and your child's safety are the most scary things! I think it was just a stress dream, nothing more. While the dreams you experience when trying and achieving lucid dreams are very vivid (sometimes almost impossible to tell apart just by sight), I think it is still very much for you!

~Raven

Hello Miss! Welcome to Dreamviews.

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Are certain people more or less likely to achieve this, or other, kinds of dreams?

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I think the important thing is that everyone is capable of achieving lucidity, and has probably done so a few times without remembering it. It just all comes down to effort and dedication. There are, however, those who have much more emotional or provoking dreams such as nightmares which could put them in a state of lucidity. There's also the age. Our REM periods (the sleep period where we get the most vivid dreams) get shorter as we grow old, hence children tend to lucid dream more, naturally. But again, it doesn't matter too much if you have shorter REM periods, as long as you know how to utilize it well, then you can lucid all you want. :)

As for your first dream, have you ever had sleepwalking tendencies before? Normally when we sleep, we get "REM atonia" which paralyzes our body so we don't act out our dreams. But for some people (sleepwalkers and sleeptalkers), this process could be defective, so they end up moving while they are asleep. If you are one of them, that could explain it. Keep in mind that what happens in your dream doesn't have to be exactly how things are when you wake up (i.e. why your window was behind you) since dreams are projections inside your mind and you're not actually seeing in the real world.

The second situation you mentioned, to me, sounds like sleep paralysis. Remember the REM atonia i told you about? It normally wears off right before we wake up, so we can move again. But for some people, they can wake up BEFORE it wears off, so they are mentally awake while their body is paralyzed. In this state, it is typical to have hallucinations (You know how people say they see demons and can't move? This is it.) and have feelings of anxiety, heaviness in the chest, etc. I think many people have experienced this some time in their life, though maybe not as intense as the hallucinations go. But the important thing is to remember that, again, they are projections of the mind and are not actually physically harming you, so the best thing is to relax and let it pass.

And don't worry, you won't die from your dreams unless you have some serious condition that affects other processes in your brain while sleeping :D btw, check out http://www.dreamviews.com/introducti...-dreaming.html and if you have more questions after that, ask away! Or send a message.

Sorry for the ridiculously long reply, I tried to make it as concise as I can but I think I failed haha.

See ya!

This is starting everyone feel this way.

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Originally Posted by oliverclay

This is starting everyone feel this way.

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Indeed, every one feels this way I think, it's natural to feel like that when going Ito a new experience. Say if you moved to a different country, you would probably feel that way then. Trust me, your all good.

Lots of good advice here, look around. Good luck! :)

Lucid dreaming could help you a lot! If you become lucid during a nightmare, you can blast those spiders to bits, or push the person on top of you off. It's a great experience and it cures nightmares very well, because you know you're dreaming and nothing can hurt you. You'll know everything around you is just a making of your imagination, and then you can do anything you want. It's really amazing and I love it, and I know you will too.