Alright im Dave, got some questions that need answering.

[DaveTheRave]

Alright everyone im Dave, Been reading about lucid dreaming for a while now and been trying to achieve lucidness for a little over a week now. Still no luck. The problem I have is in every technique ive read about in one way or another you have to think about lucid dreaming in order to become lucid where as if i think about going to sleep or dreaming in any way shape or form i can not get to sleep. The only way i can get to sleep is if i lay there long enough my mind wonders away from thinking about dreaming and eventually falls asleep. See my problem? How do i become lucid WITHOUT thinking about dreaming or lucidness? Also i have some questions i need answering before i continue my quest for lucidness. 1.) When your in a lucid dream do you actually realise your in the dream at the actual time or do you wake up and remember you had dream where you realised you was in a dream ?. If this is the case i don't understand how its possible to forget a lucid dream if it seemed like you was there and actually experienced it. you wouldn't forget something you just did 5 minutes ago? 2. ) The roll over test. I watched a video where someone was saying when lying in bed your body does a test to see if your still awake where it tries to make you roll over and in order to trick your body into believing your asleep you have to resist it. My problem is i don't believe this is what the body is doing at all I believe we get the urge to roll over because we have been in the same position too long which is the same with anything foe eg. when carrying a bag of shopping in one hand for too long your body wants to change hands because you've been carrying in the same hand for a while and when your switch your body wants to change back after a while which is the same as rolling over in your sleep. Can some one convince me otherwise? 3.) how can you tell the difference between dreams and thoughts when laying in bed half asleep. When were in bed falling asleep we think about things which create images in our head and we might drift of too sleep and wake up a while later and think did i dream that or was i just thinking it ? . This has been happening to me alot lately where i dont bother to do reality checks because i believe im just in thought not actually dreaming. you wouldn't think about doing a reality check whilst thinking about a maths problem or something? If any one can clear this up for me i would be most appreciative. Thanks in advance.

[Liger]

Hey! Well as for the firs question, you do realise your dreaming when your having it, there are different levels of lucidity, but generally the more lucid you are the more control you can excerpt over your dream. In my experience lucid dreams And when your dreaming you can actually move your body, at least you think you are I'm not sure about the second question though, when I try to wild (not very successfully) I manage to stay in one spot, it's just nothing happens are generally alot easier to remember, but if your not sure what their like, read peoples dream journals where their lucid

[SillyDreamer]

to DV! This happens when we are reading a lot and applying little efforts. Answers to the questions. 1. Lucid Dream is the dreaming with full awareness while dreaming. In LD, you(your mind) control the events, persons you meet and the places you visit, you are the director, scriptwriter and the hero (just few of them, it is vast). Just remembering a dream is not Lucid, it is named Dream Recall. 2. 'Roll over' scenario you found on movies are not happening in your waking life. There is another stage as 'Body Asleep, Mind Awake'. It is also called 'Sleep Paralysis'. Try to find more articles on this (plenty on this site, but I dont remeber the locations) 3. The thoughts and images flashing through our senses prior to the sleep is called Hypnogagic Hallucinations. It helps us to realize that we are close to sleep. Dreams are created by our sub-conscious mind, using all the senses we may have. You can see with your eyes closed, taste any thing, feel the sexual sensations with your body kept still on your bed. Hope that this brings a slight idea. Good Luck

[Spectrum]

The problem I have is in every technique ive read about in one way or another you have to think about lucid dreaming in order to become lucid where as if i think about going to sleep or dreaming in any way shape or form i can not get to sleep. The only way i can get to sleep is if i lay there long enough my mind wonders away from thinking about dreaming and eventually falls asleep. See my problem? How do i become lucid WITHOUT thinking about dreaming or lucidness? I would like to know this also.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Welcome to Dream Views, Dave. The problem I have is in every technique ive read about in one way or another you have to think about lucid dreaming in order to become lucid where as if i think about going to sleep or dreaming in any way shape or form i can not get to sleep. The only way i can get to sleep is if i lay there long enough my mind wonders away from thinking about dreaming and eventually falls asleep. See my problem? How do i become lucid WITHOUT thinking about dreaming or lucidness? This is something that you might just have to get over, with time. If you have been trying to reach lucidity for about a week, you might still have a long way to go before you find something that works for you. You might want to try the WBTB method. That way, your body will already be tired, so when you try to get back to sleep, simply thinking about dreaming will probably not be enough to keep you awake. Your body will be try to slip back into sleep. The best thing you can do, in the meantime, is to work on your reality checks and questioning your state. The more that you do this, while awake, the more easily it will become a habit and you should start to do it at random, while dreaming. Hope that helps. 1.) When your in a lucid dream do you actually realise your in the dream at the actual time or do you wake up and remember you had dream where you realised you was in a dream ?. If this is the case i don't understand how its possible to forget a lucid dream if it seemed like you was there and actually experienced it. you wouldn't forget something you just did 5 minutes ago? Yes, while you are lucid, you are consciously there, in the moment. Forgetting the dream can happen for a couple of reasons. 1) Because it is a shift in consciousness. As a rule, we don't normally remember our dreams. Lucid dreams are no different in that respect. Shifting from sleep to wakefulness involves an actual physiological change in the brain - one in which dream content is usually ushered to the back of your mind. 2) Because we don't always wake up during our REM cycle. When you have a lucid dream and the dream ends, you are often still asleep for minutes/hours, before waking up. After all that time of dead sleep, you are bound to forget most of what you've done. 2. ) The roll over test. I watched a video where someone was saying when lying in bed your body does a test to see if your still awake where it tries to make you roll over and in order to trick your body into believing your asleep you have to resist it. My problem is i don't believe this is what the body is doing at all I believe we get the urge to roll over because we have been in the same position too long which is the same with anything foe eg. when carrying a bag of shopping in one hand for too long your body wants to change hands because you've been carrying in the same hand for a while and when your switch your body wants to change back after a while which is the same as rolling over in your sleep. Can some one convince me otherwise? I'm not familiar with the roll-over test. I've never used it. 3.) how can you tell the difference between dreams and thoughts when laying in bed half asleep. When were in bed falling asleep we think about things which create images in our head and we might drift of too sleep and wake up a while later and think did i dream that or was i just thinking it ? . This has been happening to me alot lately where i dont bother to do reality checks because i believe im just in thought not actually dreaming. you wouldn't think about doing a reality check whilst thinking about a maths problem or something? This is called hypnagogic imagery. This is a precursor to sleep. Before you go to sleep, your mind begins to let visualization flow into your field of view. They can start as colors, or fleeting images. The deeper you get, the more vivid and drawn-out they become. After a while, you have fallen asleep and have shifted into full-blown dreams. That is how people do WILDs; they keep focus on the imagery until they become stable, and then the person "steps into" the dream. This can also happen when you're waking up. It is then called hypnopompic imagery If any one can clear this up for me i would be most appreciative. Thanks in advance. Welcome.

[Rathez]

Its not really a test to see if you're asleep. The roll over signal comes because you've been laying in the same position for a long time and the body finds it uncomfortable and wants to move. We use this to our advantage to deny the rollover signal, thus making the body think the mind is unconscious (asleep, we gave no response) and it will then proceed to fall asleep itself. Hope this helps.