New members experience of lucid dreaming

[delta8472]

Hi everyone, I've been looking around this site for a few days now learning more about lucid dreaming. My curiosity about lucid dreaming was sparked when i believe i had a lucid dream 5 weeks ago. That is why i have come here to explain my dreams to others who have had similar experiences in the hopes that i can find some help and understanding they way my dreams work and if they are lucid dreams. Furthurmore, i am completely sincere in what i say concerning my dreams. i have not heard about lucid dreaming before my expiriences nor had i tried any training exercises. they all come naturally. However, the following only happenes when i dream, there are many nights that i don't dream. First of all, whenever i dream i almost always know in the dream that i am dreaming. I might not have control at all in the dream but i know that i am dreaming throughout the whole dream. It feels as if i am looking at a story through someone elses eyes even though I know it is me. Furthermore, i can tell in the dream what will happen next even if i can't influence it. This happened 8 or 9 times out of 10 whenever i dream. Secondly, around 1 or 2 times out of 10 when i do dream and recognise that i am dreaming i seen to be able to influence the dream. It feels as though the body in my dream is my body and i can consciencely control how i move it and what i say free of the "storyline" dream. however, i have no control over the other people or the environment. On the other hand, i am able to change the "storyline" of the dream. in the dream i just know the path of each decision before i make it, then choose the one i find most appealing and excpirience it. lastly, i have had dreams in which i have had complete control of the dream. this has happened a total of 3 times that i can remember. i knew that i was dreaming and i changed the enviroment and characters to my likeing. in the dream, i could feel there was no "storyline" at all nd i could just wave my hands and alter the surroundings and make things appear. in my latest one about 5 weeks ago i knew that i had to make the most of it. i was also able to keep myself asleep and in the dream for a longer period of time than most dreams. if i were to give a real life timeframe to the length of the dream, it felt like around 45 mins while awake. I have had other dream experiences that i am unsure how to explain, although i do know know if they classify as being lucid. sometimes when i am asleep i can feel being awake. i know that it may be a false awakening because i have had one before. i woke up in my bed and looked around my room. i noticed that my bedroom door was open which is strange because i always leave it closed when i sleep. but in the false awakening i lied down an went back to sleep. when i woke up for real the door was closed. however, several times i have expirienced being both in a dream and partially awake at the same time. i will be in the dream, expirienceing it, knowing that i am dreaming, yet i can hear the regular noises of my household that you normally hear in the morning, like family talking and the tv being on. when i fade out of the dream after a minute ot two trying to juggle the both, the sound of the real world are unphased and uninterupted. there is a continous flow of noise that is just as coherent in the real world as the dream world. this once happened with my eyes. i could see both my room with the morning light pouring in the window and my dream at the same time. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my post. i hope some people would be able to reply to me and and answer my questions and help me understand my dreams. Are they lucid dreams? andif they are , what stages or levels are they at? is it normal for a lucid dreamer to expirience this much when they do dream? what does it mean that i can dream like this? How can i develop these dreams? Thank you very much, sincerely, DG

[nina]

Hey there...first of all a big warm WELCOME to the forum. It seems that you are a natual lucid dreamer (like me)...and really, after reading through this site and all you must realize how lucky you are to be a natural at it like you are. To be lucid in a dream means, by definition, that you are aware that you are in fact dreaming. In those dreams where you say that you know that you are dreaming but are almost sort of following along a movie script or watching something happen I am not sure that your mind is REALLY convinced that you are lucid. Because if it was actually and completely convinced that you were dreaming those dreams would feel more like the other ones you talked about where you felt like you were really there and could sort of control things. Try doing a reality check in these dreams, it should make you more lucid and make your dream more vivid and able to have control. Some good reality checks you can try in your dreams are to stick your finger through your palm, or hold your nose shut and try to breath in through it, or just simply try to float. The amount of vividness and control in your lucid dreams really depends on your state of consciousness at the time...so doing reality checks even when you KNOW that you ARE lucid make it even MORE vivid and realistic. In regards to your other dreaming experiences I've had the same...these usually occur during later morning hours or while I am napping during the day. I will be having a lucid dream and am sometimes SO conscious that I can even open by eyes a tiny bit and look around my room, or hear my parents walking around upstairs and still be dreaming. Also, a good way to avoid FAs is to try a reality check whenever you wake up. Therefore if you make a habit of it you are bound to catch yourself in an FA eventually and from there you can either choose to wake up (or sometimes have another FA so watch out) or enter a lucid dream. Feel free to PM me or any of the other Dream Guides here if you have any more questions!!! -nina