New here. Here's what I'm experiencing. I'm super shy about this but would like answers.

[Rysule]

So, where do I begin? This is going to end up being a very long post I can already tell but don’t know where else to find information. I found this forum while googling something I keep experiencing “why do I keep lucid dreaming”? I have been randomly doing it for a while but more recently it’s a lot more often and new, strange, things are happening that weren’t before. So let me just begin by describing. One thing I’ve noticed when I’m about to have a lucid dream is a feeling of pressure around my body. And even stranger, sometimes the feeling I’m not alone, and a feeling of something pressing the bed around me, as if someone is getting into bed with me. I’m completely aware of my body. There’s usually pressure in my ears that comes in pulses. I can’t tell if I’m awake or not and think maybe it’s my roommate then realize it’s not. I am somewhere in between being awake and sleeping or maybe somewhere else. But I’ve gotten use to these sensations and just go with it knowing I’m about to have a lucid dream and go back to this “place”. The dream usually begins when I realize I'm in my room and wonder if I’m awake. At first everything looks the same but it’s staticy and I tell myself I’m not awake and the lucidity is just beginning. Then I get up and I’m like a toddler with absolutely no coordination and start running in circles knocking things over until I get control over myself. I am now able to focus on things and move freely. Here’s when I usually decide to float through my window or door and I take flight. I’m heading back to wherever it is I go and I automatically know the way. I can always feel the air floating on my body and my head. It’s always cool and I love it. There is a place, it’s like a town or village, I’m not sure. There are other people always there! I have no idea who they are but sometimes I think they are lucid dreaming as well. I know this sounds crazy but it’s just become the norm when I’m experiencing this. Sometimes I try to talk to them but I’m usually looking around, trying to fly higher and higher (this is hard sometimes and I start to sink back down and I don’t know why). Here’s where it gets interesting. I’m not a religious person. But here, whenever I float above the city and fly into the air I feel a higher power. I feel it all around me. It’s everywhere. I recently told it how much I loved it there. It’s cold floating in this air but not uncomfortable. The feeling of peace is overwhelming. Wow, just writing this and I realize how crazy this sounds. Every time I mention just a hint of these dreams to a friend they look at me like I’m on drugs or out of my head. I have no one that I can discuss these dreams and experiences with but I need to. Especially because of some things that have started happening. One, the last lucid dream I had, last night, I flew higher than I ever have. I could look down and see that town or whatever that place is but I could also see it wasn’t the only one. I started floating and noticed several, if not hundreds more. Each looked beautiful in its own way. There were some on mountains, others on the ground in the distance, some floating in space, some floating in what looked like the middle of a vast ocean, some even floating high high above me, they were everywhere. Then I felt that presence again and remember thinking I wasn’t alone. Another interesting thing that has been happening is wanting to see art. Here’s where this is kind of cool. I enjoy doodling just as a way to pass time. When I am lucid dreaming I tell myself to see art when I'm in this town. I may be in a room or out just walking around and then a painting or strange toy or sculpture appears. I then understand that whatever painting or sculpture I look at is actually my own, my imagination. And a lot of times I’ll sketch that art I saw in my dream when I wake up. I’m not a writer and I apologize this is all jumbled but there is something else I absolutely must mention. In one of the first lucid dreams I had I was in that town. There was a wooded area and there was this enormous structure, think a column that gets narrow in the middle similar to an hourglass but not with such a dramatic curve. It was orange (I know we don’t dream in color but that was what I must have added later). This column thing had a face but no other body parts. I felt like it was supernatural in some way because I tried talking to it and asking it questions. It would respond in gibberish and in riddles, like it was toying with me. EVER since I saw that being in that first dream I go on a search for it in EVERY lucid dream I've had since. AND I always feel like he’s hiding from me on purpose. I even ask some of the strangers in town if they know where he is and sometimes I think I’m getting closer to only feel like he’s mocking me. I remember in one lucid dream I was certain he was in this building I was looking at and remember thinking “look in your hand” and in it there was a small, squeaky toy version of him grinning. Another point I want to make is that it is no longer difficult for me to stay in the dream. When this first started happening I would wake up the second I realized I was dreaming. As time went on I’ve been able to tell myself to do the opposite. I honestly don’t know why this happens to me. I don’t know if I just have an overactive imagination combined with the lucid dreaming. All I know is that the feelings, thoughts, and experiences are all so real and I am completely aware of everything around me. I remember 99% of everything that happens. I actually enjoy these dreams and the control I have. I get excited each time I realize that pressure around my body while I am falling asleep because I know what is about to happen. It honestly feels like I go somewhere else. This town or space. And now that Ive seen there are other places or whatever you want to call them I will try to remember to explore one in the next lucid dream I have. I love choosing to fly and that feeling of complete serenity I experience in this other realm like place is so pure. If you have a similar experience or know what the hell is happening to me, please share.

[Robot_Butler]

That is an excellent description of what it feels like to lucid dream. You are making me excited for tonight! Have you read through some dream journal accounts of lucid dreaming? They are right in line with what you described. Do you find it unpleasant, or something? There is nothing to worry about. This is exactly what everyone around here is working to achieve

[Rysule]

hey thanks. the only thing i find worrisome is that i never plan on it or even attempt it. i had never even heard of them before i started to experience them. i just don't understand why it started happening and is becoming more frequent. i remember when it first started it would happen like once a month. in the past two weeks i've had 3 experiences. i also find that pressure i feel when im about to go into the dream sometimes a little creepy. the feeling like someone is crawling in bed next to me but knowing there isn't anyone really there. and the pressure pulsing in my ears makes me think my brain is being sqeezed lol. i'll check out the dream journals, thanks for the advice

[XaldiN]

the only thing i find worrisome is that i never plan on it or even attempt it. i had never even heard of them before i started to experience them. i just don't understand why it started happening and is becoming more frequent. i remember when it first started it would happen like once a month. in the past two weeks i've had 3 experiences. i also find that pressure i feel when im about to go into the dream sometimes a little creepy. the feeling like someone is crawling in bed next to me but knowing there isn't anyone really there. and the pressure pulsing in my ears makes me think my brain is being sqeezed lol. There are steps before entering a dream, when your body is sleeping before your mind, you could experience hallucinations being images, sensations, sounds. But they are completely harmless and fun actually, just ignore it. I don't want to mess up your experiences so I won't be talking about this part. Now you are a pro lucid dreamer so for example you should go for Task of the Month. Peace

[Robot_Butler]

Have you done any research on sleep paralysis and hypnagogia? It might give you some clues about what is going on.

[incendrio]

sounds a bit creepy gave me the chills reading some of that but a great description