Has this happened before?

Hello everyone,

My name is Jake. This is my first time using a forum, much less one about LD (yeah, I read the cheat sheet haha). I recently found out about LD today and can't get enough of it. I love the idea of it all. I have read a lot of introductions for meditation, sleep cycles, and general LD information. I was hoping to get some information from people who have experienced these dreams personally. In my reading I think I have actually had some of these experiences before. I wanted to list some of them for you and see what you think.

There have been multiple times where I will wake up in the mornings and not want to get out of bed. Instead, I will just fall back asleep. It is in some of these moments that I have had dreams that I felt like I was half asleep. I could control what I wanted to happen. I just always assumed I wasn't actually dreaming, but that I was just having normal thoughts while I was half asleep. Would this be considered a DEILD?

Secondly, I have a very vivid memory from a time when I was in middle school. I was asleep in my bed and I "woke up", except that I wasn't actually awake. I remember seeing one of my friends in my room and when I asked them why they were there they didn't reply. I kept asking them that and remember sitting up (in the dream, not actually. I think anyway) and eventually yelling at them. It was kind of a creepy experience. Was this a possible DILD?

Finally, I don't normally take naps, but occasionally I do. I don't like to take naps because I get SP very often. I usually don't like it because when it happens all I want to do is wake up and I can't. When this happens I'm usually having one of those half asleep dream things again and I try yelling for my roommate but no sound comes out of my mouth. Eventually I usually have the feeling of trying to roll my body over (with no success I might add) until I wake up.

I was just curious if any of this sounded familiar to any of you. I'm really looking forward to your responses

Hello Bentonj002 and welcome to DV! :)

By definition a lucid dream is one in which you are aware, i.e. you know you are dreaming.

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It is in some of these moments that I have had dreams that I felt like I was half asleep. I could control what I wanted to happen. I just always assumed I wasn't actually dreaming, but that I was just having normal thoughts while I was half asleep. Would this be considered a DEILD?

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It would be a lucid dream if you knew you were dreaming. In such dreams you can change the contents of the dream, what we usually refer to as dream control. Yet, you can also have dream control like for example telekinesis or flying without knowing you are dreaming. In such a case, those can be used as dream signs to help you achieve lucidity. That is, you recognize that a particular situation applies to dreams and become lucid as a result. DEILD is a lucid dream that is induced by falling asleep right after waking up from sleep. (Dream exit induced lucid dream)

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I was asleep in my bed and I "woke up", except that I wasn't actually awake. I remember seeing one of my friends in my room and when I asked them why they were there they didn't reply. I kept asking them that and remember sitting up (in the dream, not actually. I think anyway) and eventually yelling at them

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This is referred to as a false awakening. Although one is not lucid by default in such situations, one can train to recognize them and turn them into lds. DILD is when you become aware during the dream.

I hope this clears things a bit! You can read more about different ways to induce lucid dreams here:

Induction Methods and Techniques

Ok thank you so much for clarification! I've been trying to practice some techniques such as RC and the awake then back to sleep method the past few nights. I know I can't really expect it to happen on the first nights, but I feel like I've been on the bubble a few times. I'll wake up and feel my body completely relaxing, but I try keeping my mind constantly thinking about lucid dreaming. I'll get to the point where my HH start to look like fuzzy images and then I come out of it. Do you have any advice for me in trying to cross that barrier?

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I'll wake up and feel my body completely relaxing, but I try keeping my mind constantly thinking about lucid dreaming. I'll get to the point where my HH start to look like fuzzy images and then I come out of it. Do you have any advice for me in trying to cross that barrier?

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Just keep being relaxed and if you are going for a WILD (i.e. being aware during the transition from wake to dreaming state) you might try finding an anchor so that you don't black out completely. An anchor is something you focus on in order to retain your awareness during the transition to sleep. You can use your breath as an anchor or the feel of your body. You can also focus on the images that appear and imagine yourself acting in them, visualize doing movements with your hands inside the dream, etc.

But this is only if you are trying to enter the dream directly (WILD). If not, you can use a wake back to bed (wbtb) where you focus on expecting to have a lucid dream and then just allow yourself to fall asleep. You might then realize you are dreaming after you fall asleep (DILD).

I would recommend reading about the techniques and doing some day time practice (awareness related, RCs, etc.) and some journalling for starters. You can also combine this with wbtb for better results.

Best of luck and see you around! :)