Lucid dreams? They're real?

[merlinfire]

I have had perhaps one or two dreams in my life (currently 22) that I have felt as if I had....unnatural amounts of control of my dreams. But not complete control, I could sort of make decisions, and even think logically, but I didn't reshape the world or do anything really strange. I had heard other people, average people, talk about dreams where they knew they were awake, and could do anything. I thought they were full of crap. However, recent events prompted me to do some research, and while looking for info that I found this. See, I had been suffering from a recurring sleep paralysis. When I was a child, I had a recurring nightmare that the reaper opened the back door and walked down the hallway to my room, and turned the knob. The dream always ended there. However, my mom caught me trying to sleepwalk out that same door and out of the house, often during the same dream. Creepy. The sleep paralysis started only in the last year. Every few weeks I would have a dream, except that something was paralyzing me, I could not move or scream, but instead was terrified by a presence. The last one I had was so terrifying, the first words that escaped my lips as I broke the paralysis was "mommy." I haven't called for my mom like that since I was 8. Anyway, having found this, and what seems like proof that lucid dreams really exist, I think I would like to learn more. But let me ask you, are there any bad side effects? Greater frequency or risk of sleep walking? Anything else?

[Luminous]

Welcome to DV! There aren't really any bad side effects to lucid dreaming. And no greater risk of sleep walking, as sleep walking usually occur in non-REM sleep, when you are not dreaming. Sleep paralysis can actually be used to have lucid dreams. If you look around in the tutorial section, you might want to read about WILDs. And I'm sorry that sleep paralysis is so scary to you. But do keep in mind that it's completely harmless, even though that might not make you feel better.

[merlinfire]

What's all this WILD and other acronyms? Thanks for the advice. I almost wonder how scary it would be to LD, when I am alone in this house, especially at night, I have what I consider to even be a mild paranoia, and have to explain everything with my conscious mind. I wonder how much harder that would be in my dreams?

[Luminous]

We use acronyms for our convenience, especially when it comes to lucid dreaming induction techniques. WILD is one, short for wake initiated lucid dream. LD stands for lucid dream, and you might see SP a lot too, which is short for sleep paralysis. The thought of being aware that you are dreaming might seems scary to some, but it's actually great, being able to do whatever you want. If you want to know more about lucid dreaming than what you can get from this forum, I recommend the book Exploring the world of lucid dreaming by Stephen LaBerge.

[DuB]

Hi, it sounds like you need to read the collection of articles on the Dream Views main page. You can use the side bar on the left to navigate through them. These articles are well-written and informative and should answer many of your questions about lucid dreaming. As for the acronyms, the most common/important ones are explained here on the Tutorials page. Welcome to Dream Views. Have fun dreaming.

[merlinfire]

I'm looking at the tutorials on LD now. I tried doing research about SP, but the descriptions of common scenarios were so much like mine, I don't think I can look at them anymore without having some real problems. Hehe, and here I am the typical guy that can handle the goriest movies and freaky horror, but my own dreams can freak the crap out of me. Lol.

[Swank]

Learning about lucid dreaming and how to practice it I guarantee will help you with your problems. Unfortunately you might have to face them head on Anyhoo you will learn how to fix these problems in time, to begin with try not to be afraid of going to sleep, and read some of the tutorials!

[Twoshadows]

I had heard other people, average people, talk about dreams where they knew they were awake, and could do anything. I thought they were full of crap. I went through a stage when I started to believe lucid dreaming was all fake. It wasn't long after that that I had my first lucid dream. You can imagine the surprise and wonder I felt when I discovered that it was real. It was the most amazing thing. You're gonna love it when it happens to you. I haven't noticed any negative effects of LDing. The worst thing I can think of is that after a really long lucid dream I will sometimes make myself wake up so I can write it down--so it may cut back a little on the amount of sleep I get that night, but usually not enough for me to think of it as something negative. I'm usually in a great mood after those LDs and don't mind missing a little sleep.

[skysaw]

Welcome to the forum. Lucid dreams are very, very real! I'm a big time skeptic of anything that sounds suspiciously "magical" or new-agey. I don't believe in ghosts, fairies, psychics, crystals, candle-power, astrology, astral-projection, or god. But having had over a hundred lucid dreams over the past years, I can tell you that they are real, and they are amazingly fun! My very favorite hobby (among many).

[ride-or-die]

definitly real, and like complete control real. I've only had three and the last one I had, the world was mine to shape. The best virtual reality ever.