Thread: Oneironaut in training

Hi InTransit! Welcome to dreamviews.
First of all, i can't see how changing from a notepad to laptop to record your dreams would effect your recall, as you said it is just as accessible as your notepad was. Bare in mind however that the longer you are awake, the less of the dream you will probably remember, so if the laptop takes a few minutes to start up then that could be causing a slight problem in your recall.
To your next problem; the best way of distinguishing between imagination and a dream would probably be to look out for any dreamsigns. Dreamsigns are things that are common to a lot of your dreams, and so therefore whenever you see one it will remind you to perform a reality check. If you haven't already found a dreamsign of yours, read over your dream journal entries and see if anything jumps out at you. It could just be as simple as the sky being red in your dreams, for example.
Bodily signs that you will experience when falling are sleep would probably all be centred around sleep paralysis, which includes paralysis of the body, a "sinking feeling", hypnogogia, (i.e hallucinations, hearing voices), and i personally feel a very noticeable tingling all through my body.
I hope that helps.

Thanks for the reply Chris. Looking at my journal, it seems like I tend to interact with people that I don't know, or haven't hung out with for a while, like we're best buddies or something. I even had one dream where I was part of an assassination group with Brad Pitt taking charge, and Goerge Clooney was Splinter Cell ruining our plans. Like seriously, how often would I be in the company of super stars? On the other hand, some of my close friends have been reoccurring dream characters. I'll have to be more aware of my surroundings during my dreams to pick up more dream signs other than the people I interact with.

I have experienced paralysis of the body, the sinking feelings, and the tinglings. To be more specific, I experienced all of those going to sleep last night, but every time I would get close to drifting off, I'd hear my cousin sneezing in the room next to me, or my parents getting a drink of water or setting the alarm. Those events were probably actually happening, but would it also be safe to assume that those were signs of hypnogogia? I mean, all of the other bodily signs were there, and maybe all of that was just a hallucination.

I suppose it is possible, but I'd probably say that it was infact just them making the noise. It's important to not get distracted when attempting something like this and so it would be best to do it when there will be no distractions at all (i know that's harder than it sounds). Hypnagogic imagery will sometimes just come in the form of bright colours or patterns, and occasionally may appear as something more sinister, aswel as the sounds. It wouldn't be uncommon to hear a sort of evil laughter or voices engaging in a whole conversation, when nothing is really happening at all. If you're not sure whether it is just your mind making these sounds then give the benefit of the doubt and remain still.
Have you managed to get into a dream state from sleep paralysis yet?

I don't think I have yet. Every time I experience sleep paralysis I keep thinking to myself, "Alright man, just relax, and allow yourself to dream." Then some feeling comes over me, I get too excited, and I find that I can't go to sleep. I guess I just give up after a considerable amount of time of just laying there and move my body to break the sleep paralysis. It's always after that, that I slip off into a dream with my guard down.

I had a lucid dream earlier! It didn't last very long though...my cousin woke me up when he was getting ready for school, that bastard. I did some dream spins and rubbed my hands together, which kept me lucid when my dream started to fade. That was an awesome experience lol.

Originally Posted by InTransit

I had a lucid dream earlier! It didn't last very long though...my cousin woke me up when he was getting ready for school, that bastard. I did some dream spins and rubbed my hands together, which kept me lucid when my dream started to fade. That was an awesome experience lol.

Success! After you have one lucid dream on purpose, others are easier. Good luck, and try RCs.

Man, RCs are one thing I always forget to do. I've had a lucid dream every morning since the 7th, and I sort of just realize that I'm dreaming.

The dream I had on Tuesday was filled with bycicles pedaling by themselves, and little mythical creatures before I became lucid. But when I went back inside the dream house, something just clicked, I blinked my eyes, and all of that went away. I went back outside and there was a whole new scene before me. There were rolling hills with lush grass that seemed so vivid and oversaturated with color. And frogs. Everywhere.

Ill try to perform as many RCs as I can tomorrow morning, hopefully that'll ground myself into the lucid dream, because they always end so soon