Hmmm...the impenetrable darkness. Was I conscious or not?

Well, after night 1 of attempting to recall my dreams upon awakening the result was nothing at all. However, I do remember waking up in the middle of the night, but I was still asleep. I know my eyes were closed, and I knew I was in the bed. But I wasn't dreaming of anything. It was just black. I became aware that I should try and achieve lucidity, so I tried to remember what I had just been dreaming about and a dark image of my girlfriend started to appear. It was like seeing her in a pitch black room as my eyes are starting to adjust to the darkness. I was sooo tired, and just wanted to stop thinking, so my mind faded into itself, and nothingness consumed me. Looking back, I can't tell whether the blackness was my mind, or the back of my eyes. I can't tell whether I was conscious or not. I woke up not remembering anything but that. I wish I could explain better, but hopefully you'll understand.

So basically, I don't really know if I was asleep or not, or half asleep. Perhaps It was between two periods of REM. Who knows.

My question is, if I was asleep, how do I become aware that I'm sleeping rather than just sitting in my bed with my eyes closed as I knew I was? I know reality checks are a necessity, but I don't really know what to think when I'm doing a reality check, especially in that state of mind. Perhaps I was dreaming, but knew where I was outside of it (in my bed), so nothing was projected. So, how do I make that impenetrable darkness become colorful lucidity?:eek:

hey, i just joined yesterday and had a similar expierence last night on my first time trying. from what i have been told so far if you are new to this you need to increase yor dream recall (just have a dream, dont focus on making the dream lucid that will come when you strt to have dreams more frequently)

i couldnt explain what i was seeng but it was just dark, i did however have the best sleep i have had in weeks!

i have had lucid dreams in the past and just recently found out that we can train our minds to have dreams more frequent then be able to make the dream lucid.

have you ever had a lucid dream?

yeah iv'e had two I can remember. One was when I was little, I was at the fair with my father, but my dad was doing things that were unlike him, and I realized that it wasn't my father. At the time I realized this, I was in the urinal, and my fake father was pounding on it trying to get in. All I wanted to do was wake up, but I couldn't. I could feel my real eyes squeezing shut each time I tried to open them.

The other one was a couple of years ago when I got real interested in lucid dreaming, and after reading a book on it, started making it a habit to perform reality checks in real life by constantly looking for a clock and checking the clock, and focusing on it really hard. It eventually led into a dream where I was being chased by a mummy, and I stopped and looked at a clock and realized I was dreaming. The mummy was still chasing me, and I got extrememly excited, so I woke up.

Since then, I haven't had one I know about. I never see clocks anymore though, due to everything being handheld, plus im out of highschool, so I need a new procedure for reality checks.

WBU, have you had one yet? I think reality checks are the most important thing. That and, a dream journal

Yep, it was probably in your mind. When you enter sleep paralysis you often see silhouettes of people, they are often called Hypnagogic hallucinations. You were probably about to enter a dream :) Anyway that's very good if that's what happened on your first night, you have good potential

And with that, and a bit of lookin into, my question is completely and utterly answered! Thank you Reclypso. So, I did a little bit of research on hypnagogia and it turns out that it was more specifically a hypnopompic state I was in based on everything I experienced, and the fact that it occured as I was transitioning from sleep to consciousness, inbetween the two. This specificity is unecessary to mention, however, as i learned that hypnagogia is used as a term for both because many effects will occur in both.

Well glad I helped hope you're better at LD then I am lol :P