Hello All,

I sort of stumbled into lucid dreaming in 1994 when I started keeping a dream log to help pass the time while at sea in the U.S. Navy. Without realizing it, I was doing many of the steps necessary to instigate a lucid dream. During the 2 years that followed, I had somewhere around 20 lucid dreams (most of which still amaze me). After my time in the Navy, I stopped keeping a dream log and of course began having less and less lucid dreams. I still have around 2-3 lucid dreams a year, but am eager to get things going full force again. It is simply too amazing to pass up.

I have read several books related to lucid dreaming over the last few years, including Stephen LaBerge's books (haven't read NightLight yet however). I tend to retain general information and not the specifics, so I will have to catch up on some of the terminology and techniques.

One "side effect" of all of the dream work over the years is that I have a tendency to wake with sleep paralysis. I remember reading that this can work in favor of instigating a lucid dream, but I am normally too gripped with fear during the paralysis. Most often, it becomes a seemingly perpetual cycle: struggling to move and wake up, finally thinking that I am awake, then realizing that I am waking up into more sleep paralysis. It is difficult to explain, but it is not a pleasant experience. During the sleep paralysis, I am aware of my body position and the room that I am in. I can "see" the room as it actually is, but it tends to have a grayish and gloomy color tone. I almost always hear muffled footsteps and voices around me (they are not actually there). The level of fear and urgency to wake up seems almost uncontrollable. I would like to think that I could learn to ride it out and eventually use this state to begin a lucid dream, but the fear almost seems to be a automatic response.

With many of my lucid dreams over the last 5, I become so excited about being lucid that the dream stops and I find myself in the dreaded cycle of trying to wake up from sleep paralysis. At least 3 of these times occurred while flying in a lucid dream. In these cases, it seems that the dream ended when I tried to control my flight with my arms or legs... as if I had inadvertently tried to move my physical limbs instead of my dream body.

At any rate, that is my lucid dreaming history. I am looking forward to resolving the sleep paralysis fear and tuning up my lucid dreaming process.

By the way, do any novadreamer masks ever come up on ebay? There are not any currently and I did't see any sites that sell them. I did notice the novadreamer 2 was to be released in 2008-2009? Any news on it?

Thanks,

Justin S.