Hi. I've Been Lucid Dreaming For Years, Just Didn't Know It.

Hello everybody.

I've been having lucid dreams for about seven/eight years now but I wasn't aware it wasn't typical. I have some control over them but since this was always just in the back of my mind, it never occurred to me to proactively use it for fun or experimentation (it was always about ending nightmares). I first learned that they had a name this weekend. Needless to say, I am very exited about exploring this much further.

As an interesting aside, within the last year I was awarded a BA in Psychology and not once did I hear of this. I hope to learn much from all of you.

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Originally Posted by BBRam

Hello everybody.

I've been having lucid dreams for about seven/eight years now but I wasn't aware it wasn't typical. I have some control over them but since this was always just in the back of my mind, it never occurred to me to proactively use it for fun or experimentation (it was always about ending nightmares). I first learned that they had a name this weekend. Needless to say, I am very exited about exploring this much further.

As an interesting aside, within the last year I was awarded a BA in Psychology and not once did I hear of this. I hope to learn much from all of you.
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How's it goin, man? Nice to have you around.

Yeah, it seems that from those of us here that are "naturals," our experiences began with becoming lucid in reaction to a nightmare. It wasn't until after highschool that I found out about "lucid dreaming" as something that could be done for fun and self-discovery. And as unfortunate as it is for you have not heard anything about it, throughout psychology, it's not too surprising. Damn shame though, really, that something so beneficial could be downlplayed and ignored to the point of near-nonexistence, culturally.

Anyway, welcome to DV. If there's anything we can do to help you out along the way, don't hesitate to ask.

Hi and welcome, its cool your a natural, I'm stuck doing LD's the hard way.
See you around :)

Thanks for the welcome.

To be honest, I don't know how much credibility I would have assigned to this had I not experienced it myself. As a born skeptic I would have needed some more research than I have found so far. I'm really giddy with exitement.

Anybody know where I might find actual papers on this phenomena?

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Originally Posted by BBRam

Anybody know where I might find actual papers on this phenomena?
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This should overwhelm you: :D
Tenth Anniversary Issue of Lucidity Letter
The Lucidity Institute
Wikipedia:Lucid Dreaming (contains many links)

Thanks DuB! I've been reading for hours and you are absolutely right, I'm overwhelmed.
I do feel kind of stupid for not looking through the Wiki references before.

BBRam and everyone -

Hi. I'm new here too. This is my first post.

Your story is very similar to my own. I only recently realized that what I have been doing my whole life has a name. I also have a degree in Psychology and had never heard of lucid dreaming. I was telling someone about a dream I had recently and he told me to pick up the book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. I am only about half way though it and have been able to do amazing things with my dreams already. I am a very "grounded" person and I never would have believed any of this if I wasn't doing it myself. I wasn't planning on telling anyone because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I finally told my Mom and found out that SHE has lucid dreams as well! Is this kind of thing genetic?

My biggest "issue" at the moment is that the people in my dreams won't interact with me once I become lucid. They just kind of fade away. They won't respond when I talk to them or ask them questions. They just stand there and then fade to nothing. Can anyone give me any advice or insight about why this is happening?

Another issue I had recently is that I was having what seemed like a very long lucid dream and I decided to wake up because it was getting to long and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to remember all of it. I had a very difficult time waking up from it and was very "out of it" when I finally did wake up. I couldn't walk straight and I developed a terrible headache. This experience freaked me out a little and I haven't had another lucid dream since. That was 4 nights ago. Does anyone know why that happened and what it was? Is lucid dreaming dangerous in any way?

I am cautiously excited to be here and I really want to learn from everyone. Feel free to email me as well, if you want

Thanks!

Hi indigo.

Although it has never happened to me, from reading around those links DuB posted, I have read that being afraid you are not going to wake up is not atypical.

As for genetics, I have asked all my immediate family members and they all have had experiences similar to mine, for what that's worth.

I also have no experience with fading LDs. They suggest spinning around like a child if you are fading but I haven't heard of any suggestions if it is others who are fading.

I'm going to be asking for an adopter pretty soon. I am searching but if anybody would be interested please by all means, let me know. :bowdown: