Hi - New to Board & Had First Lucid Dream

Hi All . . . I am new to the board tonight and wanted to say hi and relay some information about my first lucid dreaming experience. I had heard of lucid dreaming quite some time ago, but didn't really know anything about it. A couple of weeks ago I came across an article about it and read it. I have always had better than average dream recall.

I wasn't attempting to lucid dream last night, but it happened. I slept for about 7 hours and then got up to take my dogs out . . . after that I went back to sleep and that is when it happened. I was dreaming for awhile when I suddenly realized that I was dreaming and was having a frustrating dream. Unfortunately, instead of trying to stay in the dream and lucid, I told myself to wake up and actually said wake up . . . I felt a very strong reaction, a sudden sensation of being jerked out of the dream. Then something really interesting happened. In the dream I had been standing in a neighborhood at sunset . . . when I awoke I was laying on a blanket outside (as if I had been on a picnic and fell asleep . . . when I woke there I recognized having been there before . . . possibly in a dream earlier in the evening?? I have no idea), then when I opened my eyes (actually awake now) I was laying in my bed. It was the strangest sensation . . . like a dream within a dream. I read a little today about false awakenings. It was like layers of the dream . . . and it brought to mind an Edgar Allen Poe quote . . . "Everything we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream." . . . Also, when I came awake so suddenly like this my eyes really hurt . . . I am wondering if this is because I was jerked out of REM sleep? I would love to hear about others experiences and if anyone has had anything similar to this happen. I am hoping that I'll be able to become lucid again and next time will try to stay in the dream as long as possible!

Wow, a WBTB DILD and a false awakening. :) Way to keep your head with all that going on.

As for the eyes hurting, REM isn't what most people think it is. The eye movement during REM is actually more like you're looking around while your eyes are closed - not like your eyeballs are buzzing and twitching under your eyelids. It's like if you were walking around during waking life, looking at cars, people, buildings, etc., but with your eyes closed. That's more what the eye movement is like (I'm basing this on personal experience watching numerous peoples' brainwaves and muscle movements in a sleep lab). It may have been that your eyes were scrunching or something because of the way you physically responded to your LD, kind of like how some people grind their teeth in their sleep. Hopefully it doesn't persist.

Keep going! And Welcome to DV!

:welcome: to Dreamviews!
Congrats on the LD! It may have been short, but it's a great start. False awakenings can also be very useful for becoming lucid, if you train yourself to RC as soon as you "wake up".
As for the eyes hurting, SilverZero pretty much covered it all. I wouldn't worry about it, unless it persists.