Originally Posted by
corranhornchamp
Well, the other night, I attained my first lucid state inside of a dream. Predictably, I was so excited, and for some reason horribly frightened (I guess I didn't really believe lucid dreams were real or as powerful or clear), by the realization of what was happening that I woke up. Now I've read about how to stay dreaming, or at least various techniques to keep the dream going. And I'll practice them if I can ever get back into a lucid dream (more on that way below). But I still have a few questions (and bet others do too) about what happens next.
First off, congrats on becoming lucid. Even though it only lasted a few moments, that is progress and you can build on that success!
How long can a lucid dream last?
Lucid dreams can last quite a long time. The perception of time seems to be a bit different in dreams. Some dreams will feel like they have lasted for a very long time. I have had a WILD where the dream lasted about an 1.5 hours in actual time. The dream felt like it lasted much longer than that. It felt like it lasted a good 8 hours or more.
How often does one have to try to regain control of a dream or keep it going?
It is a good idea to perform some stabilization techniques ever so often throughout a dream. This will keep everything vivid and help prolong the dream. I would suggest performing a few after any intense or emotional situation. Any excess in emotion cause a dream to become unstable. If you ever feel the dream fading or destabilizing, you can perform some of these techniques to "save" the dream.
Are there sensory limitations? (e.g. what happens if you try to taste something you've seen on TV or in a film but never actually tasted in real life?)
Ah, well that will be up to your imagination. You never really know what something may taste like. I have had strange meats taste like strawberries and inedible objects taste like random foods. It is pretty interesting going around tasting different things. Of course, some times you may eat something that doesn't have much taste at all. You will have to just try it out yourself and see what you come up with.
When dreaming normally, external stimuli can shape the dreamer's world. How does this work with lucid dreaming? (For example hearing an alarm go off, a radio playing, someone flushing a g-damned super toilet located suspiciously close to one's bedroom on the other side of a paper thin wall?)
It works much the same is it does in a normal dream. Outside stimuli (especially noise), will often break through into the dream state. Sometimes it will cause changes to the dream environment, and sometimes it won't. If you focus your attention on them too much, they can cause the dream to destabilize and possibly even wake you up. A lot of the times though, you won't really notice something like a toilet flush. Things like this will generally disguise itself within the dream. For example, a toilet flush may become a roar of thunder in your dream and you won't even really notice.
-Sometimes when I sleep I choke slightly because of postnasal dripping (allergies) and at first I dream that I am choking or drowning, then I wake up. Or maybe I fall asleep on my arm and it goes numb and my body wakes me up. Will I immediately wake up from the lucid state if these happen? One time my cat got into my room and slept on my bed, which I didn't realize until it was too late. My body began to break out in hives IRL while I was sleeping, and in my dream I dreamt I was diseased and growing tumors all over my body. So yeah, external stimuli affecting the senses can come out in the dreams, but if I control the dream, to any extent, removing the nightmare aspect, that doesn't stop the external stimuli IRL. So what then?
Well, these things aren't guaranteed to wake up. Of course, they can wake you up. What happens is, these stimuli will cause the dream to destabilize first. Then if you aren't able to stabilize the dream back to its normal state, you will likely wake up. If you break out in hives while you are sleeping, then it will be pretty hard to stay in the dream state :P. The numb arm wouldn't be as much of a problem. Though it may render that same dream arm useless. Or it may cause a DC to cut off that arm completely :P. You never know how a dream will react to these types of things. It is pretty interesting. Small noises generally won't penetrate the dream state and you will be fine. Keep in mind, your body and brain have been sleeping ever since you were born. Waking up from external stimuli is really a built in defense mechanism. Any usual sounds that go on at night, won't bother you because you mind is trained to treat them as a non-threat.
How do you end a lucid dream (or can you even do that)? Can you wake yourself up from a lucid dream? Can you willfully stop being lucid and go back to "normal" dreaming?
It is very possible to do both. It would take some practice to figure out what works best for you. I find waking up fairly easy. Thinking hard about waking up and making the effort to do so, will often do the trick. You could try getting your adrenaline flowing in some way (becoming overly emotional). These will help kick you right out. Just know that, when trying to wake yourself up, false awakenings are pretty common. As for losing lucidity. That would be much tougher to do on purpose. I have never tried it, so I'm not entirely sure. You could just simply act like you are not lucid. That should help increase your % of losing lucidity for sure.
And okay, here's a dumb one stemming from watching Inception :hug: can you go "deeper"? I'm also a resident of a couple other websites that talk about lucid dreaming as well as hypnosis, trancing, etc. What happens if you try to "trance" in a dream? Do you just .... fall back asleep normally? Is that how you stop being lucid but continue to sleep?
Well, I have dreamed within my dreams before, but it doesn't seem to take me into a deeper state/level or anything like that. I will get some pretty cool hallucinations when I WILD within a lucid dream, but I basically end up in a similar dream. It does seem to change the environment around me though :P. Which is pretty cool in itself.
What happens if I hurt myself in my dream?
Sometimes you can feel pain in a dream, and sometimes you can't. Most of the time you won't feel actual pain (especially if you don't want to feel pain). I have purposely felt pain several times and felt it accidentally too. It was never bad enough to make me stop dreaming. Even the worst of pains, go away and you sort of just forget about it (in my experience anyway). There is definitely no reason to fear pain in a dream though...you will be fine.
(((About lucid dreaming))))
When I first went into a lucid dream it was kind of a fluke. I had been trying for a while to have one but I've been mainly working on dream recall. Well the night it happened I had a reoccurring nightmare. It sort of went through, then started over, looping until the point where I sort of shouted "NO" and wrested control of my dream away from... myself? Anyway it was at that moment I went lucid and it shocked me. I'd like to do it again but, the huge anxiety and fear of the nightmare was a catalyst. A great one.
And since then I've not really been able to recall any dreams - it's been 3 nights or so now. What do I do?
You are fine. Sometimes recall will simply go through droughts and dry spells. Just continue to work on your recall and stay confident. If you get discouraged and start doubting yourself, this can cause problems with regards to LDing. Just be confident and keep working at it. I'm sure there will be many more lucids in your future.
Good luck to you and if you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask!
