Hello all.

[mtfuji]

I'm 31 years old living in Sweden. When I was six, I had been reading a Donald Duck comic where someone pinched their arm asking "Am I dreaming?". I was intrigued by the idea of knowing whether I was dreaming or not and tried it out myself a few times. Pretty soon I had my first lucid dream. Next time I was 21, starting to get interested in meditation and such. I had been reading a bit about lucid dreaming on the internet and wanting see if I could do it again. I still used the arm pinching technique (which I've heard isn't supposed to work very well, but it worked for me.) I didn't find the experience as overwhelming as people usually describe it. Maybe that's why I didn't bother to keep trying. Recently I've gotten into it again after seeing the movie Waking Life and reading the book Experiencing the World of Lucid Dreaming. Yesterday I had a lucid dream again. This time I got lucid from a dream sign. I will tell you about the dream in another post. Anyway, this time I feel ready to keep trying. Well, thats the short version of me...

[Seeker]

Welcome on board mtfuji! It's always nice when an experienced dreamer finds us. Please look around and feel free to share your experiences and knowledge with us. If there is anything you need, please make a post, or as always you can PM me or one of the staff

[Tornado Joe]

Hey MtFuji - welcome to DV! ...where someone pinched their arm asking \"Am I dreaming?\". I was intrigued by the idea of knowing whether I was dreaming or not and tried it out myself a few times. Pretty soon I had my first lucid dream. . Holy crap, I've been on this site for over six months now and that's the first time I've ever even seen that particular RC referenced!!! LOL, it's gotta be the all-time classic reality check!! Anyway, I'm curious about your study with meditation - did you end up finding it helpful with lucid dreaming? If so, could you elaborate a bit on it - did you meditate every day, a couple days a week, before bed.... etc.[/quote]

[Placebo]

Welcome Nice to hear you've already experienced some - we've had some arguments in the past as to whether it's all lies or hallucination Once you experience one and read Stephen Laberge's studies, there's no doubts left I've also not heard of the pinching the arm RC on the forum yet ! Bizarre, considering it's the most well know RC concept in the english language ('pinch my arm - I must be dreaming') Fortunately it worked for Joe! It's a bit like the hypnosis technique of swinging a watch and saying 'you are getting sleepy' - it's the most well known, and also doesn't work too well on most people

[Tornado Joe]

Originally posted by placebo Fortunately it worked for Joe! Me? Actually I never tried it, I just found it funny how I never saw it on the site before. But I'm at a point now where I'll try just about anything!!

[Placebo]

Originally posted by Tornado Joe Me? Actually I never tried it, I just found it funny how I never saw it on the site before. But I'm at a point now where I'll try just about anything!! Whoops ... I meant mtfuji. I must have looked at the last poster's name instead of the first

[mtfuji]

Originally posted by Tornado Joe Hey MtFuji - welcome to DV! Anyway, I'm curious about your study with meditation - did you end up finding it helpful with lucid dreaming? If so, could you elaborate a bit on it - did you meditate every day, a couple days a week, before bed.... etc. Hi, Thanks all for the warm welcome. First, I'm not an experienced lucid dreamer. My total combined time in LD state is probably less than one minute. I don't meditate regularaly because the first five minutes of it always bore me to pieces, even though I know that when I'm done I will feel like it have made my day. What I do every day before going to sleep is yoga techniques very similar to the 61-point relaxation and the awareness techniques described in LaBerge's book. It usually makes me feel very comfortable and I sleep like a baby.