Hello - I felt I must post

[Dreamnine]

Just an hour ago I had a LD. My name is Richard . Just recently my doctor had suggested I try a course of relaxation and positive thinking exercises to combat lifelong depression and anxiety issues. They consist of listening to a 15 minute mp3 at the same time every day for 12 weeks. I am in week 1. The first weeks mp3 is all about relaxing, tensing then relaxing the muscles again, deep breathing etc. I have my mp3 player by my bed and have listened every night to this just prior to falling asleep. I have felt calm, and generally positive about this new - for me - technique and had no problems falling asleep. Generally this week I have felt good during the day - plenty of exercise, good food etc.. But.... this morning I had sleep paralysis, a couple of false awakenings, and then a very, very scary period of lucid dreaming. I awoke, knew I was dreaming, and looked around the room - it was my bedroom but changed somewhat. There was a bunch of large, pink flowers and I thought - that's interesting, I'm dreaming, I wonder what they're made of? It turned out they were synthetic. I then turned to the window and looked out. It was raining, men, women and children were busily scurrying along the street, although it wasn't my street. All the women had red-checked umbrellas and the men blue-checked ones. Weird. I started getting a little scared and felt dizzy. Was it possible I could take a heart-attack while dreaming and being aware of it too? I collapsed back onto my bed, then physically dragged myself - it felt so hard - upright again. There was a bottle of Coke - the old-fashioned 70s type on my dresser. I never drink the stuff, but in the dream it felt nice to swallow. Suddenly I awoke, a really heavy-headed feeling; I went to the kitchen for some OJ, then looked on google for this site. Scary, and I knew I was dreaming. Typing this I realise it was unlikely I could have stayed in that state for ever - what kind of alternate reality would that be? But at the time... I just had the feeling of dread and foreboding. I used to get periods of sleep-paralysis many years ago but saw a doctor, was reassured and got over them. This Lucid dreaming is a whole new realm, though and I am a little worried. I do feel better for writing, though - unused to writing much except at night, so apologies for my awkwardness and I would welcome some advice. Richard

[Darkmatters]

Hi Richard, sorry to hear about your depression and anxiety. But you might be on to a very good thing if you've achieved lucidity. I would recommend reading Steven LaBege's book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming.... get this... whether you intend to persude lucid dreaming further or not (!) and here's why... Basically in order to understand what lucid dreaming IS, it's necessary to first examine exactly what consciousness itself is (most people never really think about this). And what you learn is that dreaming and waking life are very much the same thing.... data from the senses is carried to the brain, which constructs a sort of CGI Matrix world duplicating your surroundings. That's how it works when we're awake anyway.. when we're sleeping on the other hand... the exact same mechanisms are at work, constructing a simulacrum world in your mind... except there's no realtime data coming in from the senses... so it's free to improvise. What this MEANS is... that dreaming is in its own way just as real as waking existence, but you're in contact with your subconscious to a much stronger degree. So in a sense it's actually MORE real than waking life... in which the subconscious is hidden away and you have little contact with it at all. In the book, LaBerge discusses many ways to use lucid dreaming to better your life... to confront fears in a safe environment (what happens in a dream is only a dream, and as long as you understand this you can face any fear this way). Upon reading the book you'll develop a strong understanding that dreams are a way to understand yourself better... to come to terms with what might be going on down inside. When lucid, people can replay nightmares but without the fear... and if you ask a nightmare creature who it is or why it's in your dream it will often become human and tell you things.... become a helper rather than a monster. Ok, Im rambling... but my point is this... even if you DON'T pursue lucidity, a better understanding of consciousness helps you to understand the extent to which our fears and anxieties can be dealt with through belief (if you believe it's so, then in a dream it is so). And dreams are a great way to practice that belief. A dream is a safe place to confront fears and try things you might not be comfortable trying in waking life, and when it starts to work in dreams, it boosts your confidence. Lucid dreaming can make you feel wonderful.. whereas regular non-lucid dreaming often results in weird dreams that make you feel bad for the rest of the day, or even nightmares. But it sounds like you were lucid and had a bad experience anyway... I'd say that's because you were a bit frightened of the experience. Understanding exactly what dreaming and lucidity are (and what consciousness itself truly is) can take away that fear and anxiety. Of course I can't guarantee it would work for you. But all I'm recommending is that you buy the book and give it a read... it really opened my eyes and I find myself constantly re-reading parts of it. It's more heavily marked up and dog-eared than any other book I own. And I must say, I was a bit angry upon discovering this wealth of information that it isn't taught in school!!

[Leviatahon]

Welcome to DV And nice one on th lucid

[Robot_Butler]

Did you know about lucid dreaming before having the dream? I see how that could be a frightening experience. I believe that misunderstanding this altered state of consciousness has helped build all kinds of mythologies. Alien abductions, demonic posessions, glimpses of the afterlife. Many of these accounts read a lot like a sleep paralysis/ lucid dream scenario. If you were a superstitious person, and had no knowledge of sleep paralysis or lucid dreams, what would you have thought of your experience? Hopefully you can overcome the frightening feeling of weirdness, and learn to turn your future sleep paralysis and spontaneous lucids into fun adventures.

[Dreamnine]

Many thanks for your replies. Yes, I will try that book you mention - it certainly seems like an enlightening read. I had heard of lucid dreaming before - I knew it existed and that some people practised it; and I have had my own experiences of sleep paralysis over the years. But that was a long time ago - I used to have terrible trouble getting to sleep as a young adult although it did settle down over the years. I'm just in my early 40s and my sleep now is better although I have had recurring anxiety/depression since my teens. The idea of tackling - or maybe just exploring it - while asleep intrigues me, and I have a lot to learn starting with some reading on this site. Again, thanks. It's 10.20pm here and I'm not afraid of sleep tonight. It just seemed so very odd when almost everything else in my life has improved lately, and I've been helping others a bit (I'm a recovering alcoholic),to have this strange episode. A friend quoted Hamlet to me today - A dream within a dream.

[Dreamnine]

What is happening? Last night I dreamt that my neighbours were executed, mafia-style and the police were interviewing me because they believed the killers gained access through my bedroom window. Nothing lucid, just a really bad dream. Midnight approaches, it's a full moon and I'm a bit scared of sleep tonight.

[Squaddle]

What is happening? Last night I dreamt that my neighbours were executed, mafia-style and the police were interviewing me because they believed the killers gained access through my bedroom window. Nothing lucid, just a really bad dream. Midnight approaches, it's a full moon and I'm a bit scared of sleep tonight. You shouldn't be scared of dreams..... especially nightmares... because they are just not real

[Dreamnine]

I had more bad dreams last night, not as scary as the previous night or that one LD, but I seem to me more aware of stuff in general, hyper-vigilant almost. Listened to a Velvet Underground album today and almost believed I was in New York in the 60s.. Weird.

[Squaddle]

I had more bad dreams last night, not as scary as the previous night or that one LD, but I seem to me more aware of stuff in general, hyper-vigilant almost. Listened to a Velvet Underground album today and almost believed I was in New York in the 60s.. Weird. Lol..... but if it's very bad. it shoudl trigger your logic that it's a dream.... though even I half of the time know I'm dreaming.. .and then I don't, but I don't seem to be capable of RCing.... I mean last night I was dreaming... I see this image of a fleet of ships.... I buffed them and they got this yellow aura... I'm supposed to be in one of the ships... and I said something from macross frontier... gonna check... 6 mins later... I kept chanting Be Obliterated, to the ends of the galaxies.... Prompted by me watching the matrix revolution... which I watched yesterday... and remembered that when I was a kid, I kept chanting For Zion while watching that movie... Well I kept saying The former............. and then our yellow fleet went past the purple fleet...... we got annihilated... and for some reason I was Kept prisoner because I pissed off the enemy's fleet commander... Anyways.... how am I suppose to RC when I dont even have a body lol?

[Darkmatters]

"Anyways.... how am I suppose to RC when I dont even have a body lol?" Yeah, does present a problem... I'm sure there's a way though. But that's classic!

[Squaddle]

Lol.... Classic.