New, First Successful Attempt
Hi there! I found a link to a lucid dreaming website a few days ago (honestly can't remember if it was this site or another), and it sounded like something I would be interested in. It gave some tips about doing reality checks and recording dreams, so I've been doing that for the past three or so days. Whenever I think of it, usually every couple of hours, I hold my nose and try to breathe through it, pinch my arm, and look at my watch. I've also tried to fall asleep every night thinking about lucid dreaming.
First couple nights were uneventful, although twice I woke up in the middle of the night holding my nose and trying to breathe (cracked me up the first time). I didn't have any memorable dreams to record, unfortunately.
This afternoon, however, I laid down to take a nap, again thinking about lucid dreaming. I remember feeling very distinctly between sleep and wakefulness, and feeling a butterfly sensation in my chest. Actually it was quite disconcerting, since the tingling was pretty intense.
I didn't realize I was dreaming, as I was still laying in bed, until I looked at my watch and saw it contained four roman numerals in odd positions (my actual watch doesn't have roman numerals at all). This is when I got the butterfly sensation in my chest, and for a few seconds found it hard to breathe. I pinched my nose, as if doing another reality check, and found that then I could breathe just fine. Now realizing I was in fact dreaming and lucid, I felt euphoric. The rest of the dream went by quickly, sort of like mini-scenes that didn't make any sense at all but that I was completely aware of. Unfortunately too much time has passed for me to remember specifics, but at one point I was flying close to the ground, and could only fly by placing my arms straight forward in a diving position. I remember being able to exert a very small amount of control in the dream, but don't remember what I was controlling.
The dream ended when I walked into a dark room, and I remembered reading something about really bad lucid nightmares. I decided I didn't want any part of what might be in a dark room, so I told myself to wake up. After a few tries, I did. When I woke up I looked at my watch and about 10 minutes had passed (the dream seemed slightly quicker than this). I fell back to sleep without difficulty but didn't try for anothe lucid dream.
Overall I found the experience pretty overwhelming, but it's definitely something I'd like to try for again. I'm pretty encouraged by this afternoon's dreams, so figured I'd find a forum to share and get help.
One question (I do apologize if the answer is staring me in the face in the website, but there's so much info here I'm finding it difficult to wade through it all). Is the tingling/breathlessness common? And is there any way to reduce it a little? It was a little intense for my taste, but well worth the overall dream experience.
Thanks and nice to meet you all!
