(insert Generic Awkward Introduction Here)

[DeepThought]

Good evening, everybody. I'm glad to have found this site. I am a fairly well-educated American male of nearly seventeen years, and, although I am not familiar with any of your terminology, I am certain that I have been experiencing much of what is being described here during my dreams. During my early adolescence, I was on a number of psychiatric medications; Zoloft, Ativan, Seroquel, etc.. During that entire period, I did not dream at night (or at least, I didn't remember any dreams.) Ever since I have come off of my medications, my dreaming patterns have been going through a progression of sorts. At first, the only thing that struck me about my dreams is how olfactorily stimulating there were. As I mentioned, any and all dreams I had had before then were, at the best, a blur of jumbled thoughts. For months, I would be woken up by excessively sensory dreams that would often shock me back into the waking world. This, as one could expect, began to throw my sleeping schedule off-kilter, but I refused to take anything more than over-the-counter sleep aids when consulted by my doctor; I had had bad enough experiences with aforementioned psychiatric drugs and had decided to refrain from further medication. After about five or six months of this, my sleep schedule had become sporadic enough to affect my entire lifestyle (grades, social life, family, and the like) to a noticeable degree. A rough estimate of my daily sleeping pattern would be two to three periods of one or two hours of sleep throughout the day, the rest of which would be spent in a semi-conscious, caffeine-induced awareness. It was around this time that I began to experience a new phenomenon almost every evening; A state which I approximated to being between somnolent and waking states. I would be laying in my bed, deep in thought, when without warning my vision would become blurry and shaky, and I would be able not move my body. Sometimes I would hear sounds, see a light out of the corner of my eye, or experience a suspended sensation of falling in no direction in particular. I would try to force myself out of this frightening state, and, with some persistence, usually could awaken myself, although I often could not sleep for the remainder of the evening after such an event. I believe that you call this a "sleep paralysis," although I have only just begun to scratch the surface of your reading material (I have been busy with the holidays.) These sleep paralyses (once again, forgive me if I am using the wrong term,) progressed as time passed; the sounds, sights, and sensations I would feel began to grow more elaborate and distinct. I began to hear distinct phrases or otherwise determinable sounds. I began to see patchworks of other rooms, stars, or strange amorphous lights. I began to be aware of two consciousnesses - I would scratch my face, trying to wake myself up, or fall off of the bed, but at the same time be completely aware of the fact that my body was not moving. I do not know if you have a name for such things, but I had nicknamed the two consciousnesses as the "Asleep" and the "Awake" selves, respectively (original, I know.) For a few months now, almost every day I am able to sleep, I have become fully immersed in distinct worlds with their own terrain, physics, and people. Usually, this starts out with a paralyzed sensation (as described above) and, if I am unable to awaken myself, I would wake up instead to a bizarre world (not of my choosing.) I would be able to interact with this world as I would in real life, although I would still constantly be aware of both my "Asleep" and "Awake" selves as separate entities. These worlds are usually nonsensical patchworks of real-world places, but extremely sensory; the smells and tastes are even distinct. When I wake up from these dreamscapes, I would either be unable to sleep for the rest of the evening or wake up to a paralysis state in a world that approximated my bedroom (or a bedroom from my past,) at which point the entire process would start over again. Upon reading your website, it seems I have only scratched the surface of this phenomenon. I read of people who are able to control their dreams, however I am still bound by the physics and dynamics of whatever world I find myself in. I have no control over the nature or length of these experiences, although they are frequent enough for me to detect some inconclusive patterns in these realms. I hope, with your guidance, to be able to achieve such control over my dream worlds, or dismiss this surreal happening from my life permanently (at this point, either would be fine by me.) If you know anything about the experiences I have described above, please, explain to me in detail what is going on - I'm a fast learner. Finally, I would like to tell you a bit more about myself. I keep a regular journal, which doubles as my dream journal at times, which has allowed me to assign approximate time periods for each stage in my "dream progression" as described above. I attend high school, where I achieve excellent test scores, as well as dreadful class participation and homework scores (the tests seem to be an innate talent of mine, and my dismal sleep schedule interferes with the latter two.) I enjoy reading, writing, mathematics, and music, and I try to keep to myself as much as possible. Although I have been experiencing some degree of lucidity in my dreams for almost two years now, I am still new to the LD community and have very limited experience with your terminology at present, so please correct me where I go wrong in this respect. I hope I am well-received here and this community provides me with insight and control over my somnolent life. Regards, Deep Thought.

[Snowy Egypt]

Wow... You're member name fits you perfectly. to DV!

[ExoByte]

That was long, and Im tired. So instead of giving one of my awesome long assed intros, I'll just tell you what you need to know: 1. Im Exo 2. Im God 3. Give Me Money We good? Good.

[Burns]

Hey, DeepThought What a well-written intro post that was! Nice one. I'm glad you found the forum - I'm sure you will find it extremely helpful in your lucid dreaming journey. Here are some helpful links to get you started: Acronyms Tutorials Book List Search function Looking forward to seeing you around the forum. Good luck and have fun!

[wasup]

This is sleep paralysis, indeed. The visual sensations that occur are called "hypnagognic imagery." There is a technique called "W.I.L.D." (link at bottom) which stands for Wake initiated lucid dream. Through this technique, a person stays concious as they are falling asleep and experience the same thing that you experienced. I have never done this method... (I've never been able to see hypnagognic imagery), but I've been at this forum for like 3 1/2 years so I know a lot about it (not to mention I've tried and researched it a lot). Still, your sensations are like that of people who use the W.I.L.D. method. Everyone in the world experiences this, you should realize... however most are not concious during it. Everyone experiences sleep paralysis (I am generalizing... some people with medical conditions/under medical treatment or taking drugs may not have sleep paralysis... but I am saying for the MOST part) and has these "visions" unconciously. I do not think I fully understand your problem... are you in your bed when this happens? To me it sounds like you are just in your chair and you doze off. I am no doctor, so I cannot diagnose why this happens to you. What I would do is email your story (or just drive) to a person who studies sleep and dreams and the mind. Your doctor might work as well, but I personally believe a sleep doctor will be way more knowledgeable than a regular doctor could be. It might be easier to just find someone who researches the way the mind works than a sleep doctor, but whichever. Here is my opinion (I do not know too much about where/how/when you fall asleep, so this isn't a very good opinion): To solve the problem, stop taking caffeine, go to sleep at any time that allows you to get 8-9 hours of sleep and wake up to go to school in the morning. This could be anywhere from 8-11 depending on when you have to get up for school or whatever you have to get up for. I'm not sure how your eating habit is, but if you only eat crap then that could affect your lethargicness and everything. Also, maybe get some exercise. Walk for 45 minutes a day or work out and this can help you become tired at the right time and help with chemical imbalances and everything. Of course I am no doctor... so take my advice with a grain of salt... I can however help you control your dreams. Have you ever actually TRIED to control your dreams? Or did you simply jump in in the air and come back down and think "I can't fly" or try to materialize something and when it didn't materialize you said "I can't materialize things." You have to realize: it is a dream, anything is possible and there are no physical restrictions like in reality. The only barriers to do anything are mental barriers, and you have to get past the mental aspect and realize that you can do anything. I am a kid too... younger than you (hopefully that doesn't affect your opinion of my advice), and I totally emphathize on the sleeping problems (not as much as you though... you have it much more intense than me). Sleep affects my school work, general performance and it is VERY important you get a decent amount of sleep. Here is a link to the WILD tutorial: http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/inde...howtopic=12621 There is another one, but it is outdated and not too informative. On this one, only worry about stage 3, 4, and 5. On stage 4, the transition for you happens naturally, but notice how the things he describes match what happens with you. Hope I could help, ~Alex

[DeepThought]

Thank you, all of you. I found your information very helpful. Ataraxis, thank you for cluing me into some of the terminology I may have missed, and I will be sure to look further into the WILD, as you described to me. As far as helping me with my sleep patterns, I somehow doubt that will ever happen. I've tried everything you have described (and then some,) but never to any avail. I'm a fairly stubborn person with a very addictive personality, and my habits tend to die hard. As far as my dream control is concerned, I honestly couldn't tell you. I have only just recently realized that dream control was possible, and every time I have tried to control my dreams since then, my vision usually goes red and I begin to feel and hear things beyond my control. I hope to be able to gain a better degree of control soon, however. Once again, I heartily thank all of you for your welcomes / advice, and hope I can report some degree of progress soon. - Deep Thought

[wasup]

Good luck.