What's it like experiencing a lucid dream?

As far as I know, I've never had a lucid dream before in the 16 years of my life. I attempted to have one last night for the first time, but I failed (not to my surprise). One of main reasons I failed, I believe, was because I was slightly terrified of the sleep paralysis part (which I’ve experienced before so I know the frightening feeling that occurs while paralyzed) and, as a result, I became a bit nervous and kept waking up whenever I was on the verge of sleep paralysis.

Anyway, I have two questions for you lucid dreamers:

1. What’s it like having a lucid dream? Is it really as clear as real life, or is it much more vague? Are lucid dreams any clearer than non-lucid ones? Can you hear sounds and feel pains in these dreams?

2. Are the steps leading up to lucid dreaming scary? Like previously stated, I’m terrified of sleep paralysis. Would it really be worth enduring the horrors of sleep paralysis just for a few moments of lucid dreaming?

I suppose that’s more than two questions, but I’d greatly appreciate it if they were answered. Thanks in advance.

Welcome (again), Nunquam! :D

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Originally posted by Nunquam
1. What’s it like having a lucid dream? Is it really as clear as real life, or is it much more vague? Are lucid dreams any clearer than non-lucid ones? Can you hear sounds and feel pains in these dreams?

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What it's like is that you are in the process of dreaming, and you suddenly think to yourself, "hey, I'm dreaming!" :mrgreen:

As far as the clarity goes, it can vary from person to person and from dream to dream, just like regular dreams. You definitely can hear sounds (or at least I can). A lot of people say they feel pain in dreams -- I don't recall ever having felt pain in a dream myself, lucid or not.

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Originally posted by Nunquam
2. Are the steps leading up to lucid dreaming scary? Like previously stated, I’m terrified of sleep paralysis. Would it really be worth enduring the horrors of sleep paralysis just for a few moments of lucid dreaming?

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First of all, you will only experience SP if you are using the WILD method of inducing LDs. There are many other methods to have lucid dreams that do not involve SP. I would suggest trying the WBTB and MILD methods -- they seem to have the highest success rate, and are easier for beginners to learn.

Second, SP need not be scary if you know what to expect. Some people find it fun and exciting. There's nothing about it that can hurt you, so if you understand what's going on, you shouldn't be frightened of it, or think of it as a "horror". I know that's easy for me to say, and probably much more difficult for you to actually overcome the fear, but, well, that's how it is.

Please feel free to ask if you have any other questions. :mrgreen:

Since i have not experienced a LD myself, i can only answer to the best of my knowledge. For your first question, all i know is that LD are either easy to remember, or harder to remember than non lucid dreams. It depends on the person. As for how clear they are...i am not sure. And you can hear sounds or pains in and type of dream...it just depends on the person. There is a tutorial on how to make your dreams more real. As for your second question, some people say that the steps leading up to a lucid dream are scary, while others like them. And the only answer that i can give you about your last question is that almost every person says that LD is DEFINETLY worth the time and effort it takes to have one. In conclusion, a lot of your questions have more than one answer...it all depends on the person.

Thanks for answering my questions. :D

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Originally posted by TygrHawk+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TygrHawk)</div>

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Welcome (again), Nunquam! :D
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Thank you. :)

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Originally posted by TygrHawk+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TygrHawk)</div>

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As far as the clarity goes, it can vary from person to person and from dream to dream, just like regular dreams. You definitely can hear sounds (or at least I can). A lot of people say they feel pain in dreams -- I don't recall ever having felt pain in a dream myself, lucid or not. [/b]

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So, in others words, there's no real way to be able to understand what it's like until I experience it for myself, just like regular dreams.

<!--QuoteBegin-TygrHawk@

First of all, you will only experience SP if you are using the WILD method of inducing LDs. There are many other methods to have lucid dreams that do not involve SP. I would suggest trying the WBTB and MILD methods -- they seem to have the highest success rate, and are easier for beginners to learn.

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Alright, I'll try the WBTB method - that seems to be the easiest for me.

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Since i have not experienced a LD myself, i can only answer to the best of my knowledge. For your first question, all i know is that LD are either easy to remember, or harder to remember than non lucid dreams. It depends on the person. As for how clear they are...i am not sure. And you can hear sounds or pains in and type of dream...it just depends on the person. There is a tutorial on how to make your dreams more real. As for your second question, some people say that the steps leading up to a lucid dream are scary, while others like them. And the only answer that i can give you about your last question is that almost every person says that LD is DEFINETLY worth the time and effort it takes to have one. In conclusion, a lot of your questions have more than one answer...it all depends on the person.

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Okay, thanks for your help. I'll continue to attempt to have lucid dreams, despite my fears - do you recommend I use dream journals? Do they really make much of a difference?

If you dont remember atleast 2 dreams per night it would probably be helpful if you kept a dream journal. It helps out a lot with Dream Recall. At first i thought that keeping a DJ(dream journal) would be annoying but acually i enjoy it. Its not that much effort and its pretty cool when you read about a dream that you wrote about at 2am in the morning but you have no memory of it later on in the day. I hope that last sentence made sense! :D PM me if you have an questions and ill answer them the best that i can!

First off, welcome to Dream Views!

Now, there really isn't anything to be afraid of. Everyone goes through sleep paralysis, with the exception of sleepwalkers. It's a natural occurrence that takes place so you don't act out what's going on in your dreams and end up hurting yourself in real life. People who have experienced it have had different opinions on it. Some say that it's frightening and they often feel an evil presense in the room, but others have found the experience exciting. It's one thing dreamers can use to know they're close to having a dream, and a lucid one at that.

And a lot of people will become lucid due to something that's going on in the dream, and not necessarily with the WILD induction method, of which SP is a common aspect. I've never managed a WILD, personally, so all of mine have been induced by things that aren't making sense.

As for what an LD feels like, it depends on the level of lucidity. Sometimes it may feel like you're awake, though often to me it feels "even more real" than real life. I'm always elated when I finally manage to become lucid, and it's great to know that you could be in control of your surroundings. But you really do have to experience it for yourself to know what it's like.

If you keep working towards a lucid dream, you will have one. There's no questions about that. How long it will take is hard to tell because everyone is different. Just keep doing reality checks and if you have trouble recalling dreams a dream journal can do wonders! If you have any more questions, just let us know.

-Amé

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Originally posted by Nunquam+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nunquam)</div>

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So, in others words, there's no real way to be able to understand what it's like until I experience it for myself, just like regular dreams.[/b]

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I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment. Although I think you can get a general idea from reading our other members' experiences, you will likely not experience them exactly like anyone else does.

<!--QuoteBegin-Nunquam
do you recommend I use dream journals? Do they really make much of a difference?

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If you have trouble remembering your dreams in any detail, a dream journal is an excellent way to improve your recall -- a very important step in learning to lucid dream. And even if you already have good dream recall, having a journal of your dreams makes it easy to go back and review past dreams to see if you have common themes, places, people or things. If you can identify things that appear often in your dreams, you can use those as "dream signs" to help you recognize when you are dreaming -- or at least prompt you to do a reality check.

If you're like me, you will write down your dreams, then go back and look at a dream you wrote down months ago and think "I dreamed that!?" :wink:

Thanks for the help, guys! :)

I know it seems kinda odd that I'm afraid of lucid dreams, but I guess that's only because I don't understand what it's like. I'm sure once I have my first LD, my fears will completely disappear. Also, since I'm going to try methods other than WILD, I'm hoping I won't have to go through sleep paralysis.

I've created a dream journal like you guys instructed me to. So far, I've been recording for four nights and have been able to recall 3 dreams. This may not seem like a lot, but it's awesome for me because I only used to remember around 2 dreams per week.

Tonight I’m going to attempt the WBTB method – only problem is, I’ll have to find a way to wake up at five in the morning; alarms usually don’t wake me up for some reason. Any ideas?

I had my first LD a few nights back, and let me tell you, it was amazing. Mine wasn't as clear as some of my dreams are, but I was able to remember a lot of the little events that happened. Of course, that being my first one ever, I can't say too much on the subject, but what I do know is that the feeling of pure freedom is amazing. Knowing that you can do anything you want to without any kind of laws or restrictions is one of the most awesome feelings in the world.

I wondered what is a lucid dream, i searched and found the following, maybe you will like to have a look.

1.1 WHAT IS LUCID DREAMING?

Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The term was coined by Frederik van Eeden who used the word "lucid" in the sense of mental clarity. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream when the dreamer realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a dream. Often this realization is triggered by the dreamer noticing some impossible or unlikely occurrence in the dream, such as flying or meeting the deceased. Sometimes people become lucid without noticing any particular clue in the dream; they just suddenly realize they are in a dream. A minority of lucid dreams (according to the research of LaBerge and colleagues, about 10 percent) are the result of returning to REM (dreaming) sleep directly from an awakening with unbroken reflective consciousness.

The basic definition of lucid dreaming requires nothing more than becoming aware that you are dreaming. However, the quality of lucidity can vary greatly. When lucidity is at a high level, you are aware that everything experienced in the dream is occurring in your mind, that there is no real danger, and that you are asleep in bed and will awaken shortly. With low-level lucidity you may be aware to a certain extent that you are dreaming, perhaps enough to fly or alter what you are doing, but not enough to realize that the people are dream representations, or that you can suffer no physical damage, or that you are actually in bed.

More in: http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html




Sleep paralysis:
During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain, because otherwise the movements which occur in the dream would actually cause the body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens. This can lead to a state where a person is lying in his or her bed and he or she feels frozen. Hallucinations may occur in this state, especially auditory ones. People also generally report feeling a crushing sensation on their chest (possibly because they try to consciously control their breathing). People trying to lucid dream sometimes try to trigger this state, or accidentally trigger this state, while using a waking induction of lucid dreaming (WILD) technique to enter a lucid dream directly when falling asleep.

More in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming



I myself experienced some lucid dreams, some were frighteing that i asked help from God to get me out of the dream! :o

I'll answer based on my experiences.

1. I feel instantly happy when I realize I'm in a dream. I can do ANYTHING... almost :D still practising. The stability of LDs changes from dream to dream but as far as I know the dreamer can affect that. Realistic dreams are harder to recognise so that's kind of ironic. Realistic dreams are in my opinion the best ones to be lucid in. On the other hand you may not have 'powers' (like flying) in a realistic dream. In every dream I have heard sounds... sometimes clear, sometimes a little distorted or echoed. Quite often I also sense pain and feel things.

2. I have never had a SP where I'm sort of trapped or fear something. So not a problem for me.

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Originally posted by Nunquam
Tonight I’m going to attempt the WBTB method – only problem is, I’ll have to find a way to wake up at five in the morning; alarms usually don’t wake me up for some reason. Any ideas?

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Well, if you have a regular sleep schedule, then your body should have it's own "internal clock." When I was on a very regular schedule, I could tell myself what time to wake up and I would wake fairly close to the time I desired. Even if alarm clocks may not wake you up, you can still try using one. Keep it set for a specific time and use it every night. Tell yourself before you go to bed that you will wake up when this alarm goes off. It may take a couple of nights before it works, or it may not. The important thing is to develop a cue that will wake you up to WBTB.

I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head that doesn't involve someone else waking you up at an ungodly hour. :roll:

-Amé

Thanks for telling me about your experiences. :)

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Originally posted by Amethyst Star
Well, if you have a regular sleep schedule, then your body should have it's own "internal clock." *When I was on a very regular schedule, I could tell myself what time to wake up and I would wake fairly close to the time I desired.

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Yeah, I've noticed for the past few nights that I've just woken up without any kind of alarm clock. I'm remembering a lot more dreams because of it (I guess I'm waking up during REM.)

You can wake up through shocking yourself aswell. Try to jump down from a mountain, get eaten by a monster or something alone those lines. It used to work for me before, and I have used it before to escape uncomfortable dreams.
But now I'm immune to falling, and get back on my feets once I have reached the ground; monsters can't shock me either, because I'm automaticly immortal in all of my dreams, so there is no need to fear them.

Well, if I dream about something scary, I'll do what LaBerge says and try to overcome my fear rather than avoid it. Running from my fears won't get me very far. :D

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Originally posted by Nunquam
1. What’s it like having a lucid dream? Is it really as clear as real life, or is it much more vague? Are lucid dreams any clearer than non-lucid ones? Can you hear sounds and feel pains in these dreams?

2. *Are the steps leading up to lucid dreaming scary? Like previously stated, I’m terrified of sleep paralysis. Would it really be worth enduring the horrors of sleep paralysis just for a few moments of lucid dreaming?

I suppose that’s more than two questions, but I’d greatly appreciate it if they were answered. Thanks in advance.

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1. well, for me my first few kinda sucked, they were sorta like thinking about something during waking hours. But after a few it seems to get better, it can be very realistic. I've smelled salt air by the sea, and heard seagulls flying over head. I've felt a warm summer brese on my face, and felt the sensation of falling from a skycraper. (which I intentionally did, it was awesome.)

2. well, I can't really help you out much with this one, I have tried WILD but have given up, cuz of the sleep paralysis. I mean, it's kind of a stupid fear, I know why it happends, and I know it's going to happen, but each time I freak and wake up, for some reason I get this stupid thought in my head that if I let the sleep paralysis continue, I'm going to sink into death or something, allthough afterwards I realize how silly that is. I'm going to over come my fear of it, and you should to, I've heard its quite worth it. :wink:

Yeah, I'm the same way with sleep paralysis. For instance, recently I tried to overcome my fears and do WILD but when tried it, I heard screaming and it freaked me out so I stopped.

Maybe if I try to do it during an afternoon nap I won't be as scared. For some reason, all my fears intensify during the night...not sure why.