I did it!

[Johncottoncandy]

finally after about 4 months of practice i finally had a dream where for a moment, i could control it. i dont remember much but i realised i was in a dream because of how my arms felt. i put them in the air and they felt as if the were "asleep" and my first instinct was "quick do something cool that you will remember in the morning" so on the spot i made a handgun, out of thin air i remember the pieces looking like clay and the gun was very grey and bland. when i tried to pull the trigger though it did not fire. but never the less i achieved my short term goal of making a gun in my dream. if anyone could give me some more advanced tips on LD and such, i would appreciate it. thank you :3 P.S. whenever i have tried sleep parlasys i always end up focusing on my breathing too much. any tips?

[gab]

Good job on your first lucid! Sounds like it was a DILD ( lucid dream that starts as regular, in which you realize you are dreaming). You can have a lucid, and not have any control. And you can have regular dream with some control. I don't have much experience with dream control, so maybe someone else will help you with that. But I have read, that you can pull stuff out of your pocket. Before you do, don't hesitate, trust yourself and know for sure, that what you'll pull out will be a working gun. But I believe, that more control will come with more experience. During the transition, try to relax as much as you can and not focus on anything. But the transition and paralysis happens when you trying to WILD. Were you trying to WILD?

[Taffy]

Hey, congrats! Feels awesome, huh? As for dream control, nothing is truly 'difficult,' you just need to practice a bit. I rarely ever summon things in my dreams, but when I do, I just firmly believe that the item is in my pocket or around the corner, just as gab said. Good luck getting lucid again.

[Cacophony]

That's fantastic! Congratulations It sounds like upping your dream recall would be very beneficial. Do you keep a dream journal? That's the #1 most important thing (in my humble opinion) for dreaming/recalling your dreams, etc. You could have epic lucid dreams and not remember them. As for sleep paralysis, in my experience it can be really scary. The first time it happened to me I had absolutely no clue what was going on and had a definite freak out moment. I've come to enjoy when I find myself in sleep paralysis because you can go back to sleep while staying entirely conscious. One technique that has practically always worked for me in this situation is counting along with a mantra. Example: "1, I am dreaming, 2, I will remember my dreams, 3 I am dreaming, 4... etc..." This keeps your mind conscious while your body falls back to sleep and you slip into a dream. Sometimes I've even experienced dual awareness when I do this. That's when you're aware of your dream body and your physical sleeping body. Some people don't like it, but I think it's pretty cool. Good luck, sounds like you're on the right track

[Arch]

WILDs are tough, but your goal shouldn't be to experience SP, rather to fall asleep and remain slightly concious, try focusing on a more subtle senstation such as the feeling of your body on your bed.