Thread: Do you use lucid dreaming to control nightmares?

last week, I had 3 dreams and in all of them i was being chased by mental patients of mount massive asylum. i never became lucid in them, but i never felt too afraid. now when i was younger i used to have nightmares that would really scare me. they would be bad enough that id realize i was in a nightmare and try my hardest to wake myself up and usually wake up. some nights i could not. but back then i knew nothing about the dream world other than they happened. now i am a bit more educated. i see some nightmares as opportunities. sometimes scary stuff still heightens awareness, but i havent really become lucid because of them. "sleep paralysis" used to scare me too, it wasnt till this past summer i realized i could use that feeling as a pathway into the lucid world. they would always make me wanna wake. but now i know to remain calm. it happened last night to me. i used WILD and was stuck upon entry. 4 undead corpses were headed for me whilst still not able to move and they scared me at first until i told myself this is my dream I have no reason to be afraid. I finally gained mobility before they reached me, and i put my hand on them one by one and made them instantly vanish because i did not want them here. so fear can help jump your awareness into action. or not. but it has for me. i feel like i got off track here but hope you got something out of it!

My first lucid dreams as a kid happened during nightmares, I think a lot of people have that experience. I still become lucid during most nightmares but I rarely take control of the dream because I've kind of programmed my reaction to be to wake myself up. So it's kind of rare that I will take advantage of the opportunity.

I think that being lucid during nightmares is a great way to deal with underlying psychological issues/fears. I sometimes like to induce a nightmare while lucid to face my fears, that's helped me a lot with things like snakes, zombies, tornadoes, and social anxiety.

When I was younger and didn't understand lucid dreaming often I would be able to create a pause menu when I lucid dreamt from a nightmare. There I could restart the dream or exit... too many video games lol.

Originally Posted by AnotherDreamer

My first lucid dreams as a kid happened during nightmares, I think a lot of people have that experience. I still become lucid during most nightmares but I rarely take control of the dream because I've kind of programmed my reaction to be to wake myself up. So it's kind of rare that I will take advantage of the opportunity.

This was/is pretty much the same boat that I've been in. As a kid I found myself lucid dreaming primarily during nightmares (which led to a few years of trouble sleeping). As I learned more about lucid dreaming and learning to control it however, I was able to take control and quite literally conquer my fears.

In one of my dreams these super natural demons from the 4th dimensional city(strange name i know) chased me in a dream when I became lucid I just spawned a m16 and took them out one by one the last one destroyed the m16 and kept punching me so I grappled it and put it on the ground and kept smashing its head into the ground constantly while blood was splattering everywhere(dream demons have blood apparently) until it died

I used to stop nightmares by becoming lucid as a kid, but now I'm older and have had lucid nightmares where I couldn't stop them. I think the problem is that you need to stand your ground and be completely unafraid, knowing its a dream and it can't physically hurt you. Problem is that I've had dreams where I feel pain, so when someone tries to stab me in a dream I try to avoid it instead of standing my ground. Need to get back to the good old days. Just let them stab you and laugh in their face.

Originally Posted by Nhuc

When I was younger and didn't understand lucid dreaming often I would be able to create a pause menu when I lucid dreamt from a nightmare. There I could restart the dream or exit... too many video games lol.

Hahah! I play lots of games too, and alot of the mechanics of gaming have popped up in my dreams because of it. You know how sometimes you can glitch outside a playable area in a game and see the black nothingness around it where nothing was coded? Had a lucid dream like that, where I saw the "outside void" as I was fighting to get out of my pure dream state.

As for my nightmare/lucid experience overall, I don't really have pure nightmares. Just creepy scenarios. Alot of times I go to my old house. It was haunted irl, so in my dreams its always spooky and filled with ghosts.

One time I became lucid, I had dream characters telling me to go down to the spookiest portion of my house - the basement. Suddenly I became lucid, realized what I was doing, said "Oh Heeelllll no!" and walked away.

Alot of my reaction to these spooky moments when lucid isn't anything amazing like plowing down baddies or throwing dark forces into the pits of oblivion. Its usually just me saying "I am so NOT doing that! Lets go see whats going on over there.." The funny part is the dream characters desperately attempt to get me back on track. "No..no, sorry, headless ghostie guy. I am having too much fun over here to have time for you."