Hi!

[FurioM]

I'm completely new to the forums. I've always been fascinated about dreaming, analysing those dreams, keeping dream journals. However, I couldn't bring myself to try out all these lucid dreaming tutorials as I'm afraid I would just jump out of the window while dreaming or in a slightly better case, get sleep paralysis. Seeing how involved you are in all these stuff you might be able to convince me that I won't burn down the house in my sleep or something and maybe a tip or two for complete beginners who completely want to avoid sleep paralysis, which I've never had in my life but reading about it makes me think it's quite terrifying. Anyways, I'm terrible at making short introductions, see you around!

[Obviously]

Welcome to the forum FurioM! I can promise you (atleast if you don't usually walk in your dreams) that you won't jump out your window. :p For SP, yes, it is scary. It partially happend to me just a few days ago, but i managed to move my foot and get out of it before it really started. However, this condition is extremely rare. Many people say that it might happend 1-2 times in your life if you are not a person that gets them frequently (and you know if you are one of them). So don't worry mate, this is a natural and not dangerous activity. Have fun!

[FurioM]

Thanks man! I think I've experienced lucid dreaming like once in my life, when I was a child. It lasted for approx. 10 seconds, I have no idea how I managed to be aware that I'm actually dreaming but it was pretty cool I must say, especially as it was completely unintentional. I thought I was going nuts, lol. However, now that I know it's true maybe I can reproduce it, but I said I'm quite a pussy, pardon my french, so I'm naturally afraid of seeing shadow figures, demons and whatnot while being completely paralyzed and unable to move. I hate nightmares and anything even remotely looking like one.

[splodeymissile]

just an fyi, dilds don't typically have sleep paralysis (or rem atonia), so you might want to try that. good luck.

[JoannaB]

Even WILD does not result in you being paralyzed, you can move during WILD if you want to, but if you want to do it successfully don't pay attention to movements. WILD does not necessarily result in any demons or shadowy figures, in fact you are most likely to experience those only if that is what you expect or fear, and it is a good idea to not attempt WILD if one is fearful or stressed out. As long as you attempt to WILD only when you are relaxed and in a good mood, the hypnagogic images you see are likely to be pleasant and interesting - mine are. Lucid Dreaming is not more likely to produce nightmares. Actually LDing is a useful method for combating nightmares. If you have a nightmare, and you become lucid, you should be able to do something to improve your dream. In addition, since we do dream every night whether we remember it or not, it is quite possible that you are experiencing unpleasant dreams, and just do not remember them. Once one improves dream recall, one at least is aware of the potentially negative thoughts at night. And then once one learns to lucid dream, one can use that as a tool to transform nightmares into potentially empowering experiences.