Very New to Lucid Dreaming

[Chipmunk85]

Hello everyone, I have been very interested in lucid dreaming ever since my friend has mentioned it to me a while back at school. The problem i have is fear i have had or think i had a very traumatic lucid experience when i was little and still remember it today. I'd rather not go into because to this day i have had problems describing the fear i had of the dream or lucid dream im not to sure how to classify it. Anyway back on to topic, i am currently very interested in trying lucid dreaming but can not get over this fear that i will not be able to control my dream or im not quite sure but i guess i have fear of my own mind, and i know to get over this fear i just need to confront it but i just can't i don't know what it is. If someone could help me i would appreciate it very much

[chase]

Hi and welcome to the forums! One thing to remember about lucid dreaming is that you ARE in control. There are different forms of lucidity but for the most part you control your actions and if something were to terrify you in any way you could change that. Another thing is you can almost always wake yourself up from a dream if you have to. It takes a little practice but you can do it to escape any nightmare etc that you come across! By the way, lucid dreaming in itself is not scary, dreams on the other hand can be but by becoming lucid you can possibly change all that. -Chase

[Ancient]

Lucid dreaming will be a great tool to help you overcome such fears. You are in control, so nothing can happen in the dream unless you let it.

[Chipmunk85]

Thank you guys for replying to my post. On a side note, I have been reading on false awakenings,im not quite sure what they are could someone kinda explain it to me? Is it just when you wake up and your still dreaming? This also steers me away from trying for lucidity.

[sloth]

Is it just when you wake up and your still dreaming? Yuh.

[Chipmunk85]

Is there a way to not false awaken, or does it just happen at random?

[Angusaurus]

Reality check every time you wake up?

[Oreo]

I don't think there is a way to prevent false awakening, but you can try to get good at catching them when they happen. If you notice you're in a false awakening rather than falling for the trick, you could just continue the dream. Doing reality checks every time you wake up like Angusaurus said could actually be an advantage. If you had a false awakening during a non-lucid dream and did a reality check, you could become lucid.

[Angusaurus]

How about sticking some notes around your room saying "are you dreaming?" If you see them in your dream, you may remember to reality check. If you notice they are not there, that could also help question your reality.

[Chipmunk85]

That seems like a really good idea Angusaurus. I will try that tonight. thank you for the idea

[Chipmunk85]

I dont know if this is related or a medical issue, Ok i tried going to sleep a few minutes ago i wasnt really concentrating on anything and then my body started to feel weird not a tingling sensations but something along the lines of that and i started feeling that my eyes were moving really fast or vibrating or something, they have done that before i haven't been paying to much attention towards it, but anyway i was wondering if this is a sensation i should embrace to attain lucidity or if this was something just my body does normally?

[Oreo]

Both I'm sure. You were in a REM (rapid eye movement) period. It sounds like you were experiencing the stages leading up to sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is something your body goes through every night. Difference this time was you were awake enough to feel it. More information on sleep paralysis and how to use it to become lucid: WILD Tutorial