Why does this happen?/What is it?

[Raijian]

I recently spoke to a family member of mine who has been experimenting with LD for a long time, and I told him what I'm about to tell you. I trust his opinion but I want more feedback on this. Apparently, having control over your dreams is abnormal, I didn't know this, but for as long as I can remember, if something bad is happening in a dream, I can turn the tables and create things or make things disappear on command. Also, I am certain that I'm always fully aware that I'm dreaming. I remember a lot of my vivid dreams and sometimes I wake up remembering multiple dreams in one night. Anyway, about this realization that I am dreaming, I'm constantly telling people around me in my dreams that "it's alright, It's just a dream, I'm gonna wake up soon" and then I do whatever I want. Some of my dreams I pull large weapons out of my pocket that blow away the bad dreams, or I sink into walls to get away from things. I often dream of doing things and then wake up the next morning feeling as if I just drove a car at 120 mph or shot a rifle or something that never actually happened. My dreams are very vivid, and are similar to short stories in the sense that one dream can have a lot of complexity and I can be in multiple places, or traveling.. etc. I remember as a young child whenever I had a nightmare, I would close my eyes in my dream and cover my ears and I would wake up. It would work without fail, but I never spoke to people about that or being able to control a lot of what goes on in my dreams because I thought everybody could do it. Also, I don't know if I'm diagnosed with sleep paralysis, but I can almost fall into a sleep paralysis state on command. Whenever I sleep somewhere abnormal, or on my back I often "wake up" or at least it seems that I am, but I don't think I'm really awake. During this awakening or whatever, I can't move my body, but I am still in control and I'm saying to myself "oh, not this again" and I try to snap out of it by tensing my eye muscles and attempting to lift my arm. If I take a nap during the day, it is almost 100% guaranteed that I will fall into a paralysis. I say this because I hate napping during the day, therefore I've done it on very VERY rare occasions and I remember them. I remember them specifically because I get paralyzed and then say to myself "I'm never napping again" and then like 7 months later I do it and it happens again. One of my paralysis sessions took place on my couch in the living room, and I fell asleep on my back with my head on its side watching the window (The window on the front of my house that you can see the living room if you look into) and I saw two things: 1)) my dog run past the couch in front of me, and 2)) my dad walk in and turn off the TV and walk out of the room. My dog was at the groomer that day and my father was working, I was home alone. That scared the shit out of me and I was about 10 when that happened. I thought that these paralysis things were just nightmares, but then I did some research and discovered that it was sleep paralysis. Another time, I fell asleep on a reclining chair and left a heating pad under me on my back. It was like 2:30 in the afternoon and I was watching some random disney movie, and I fell into paralysis and I could see the movie and feel the heat but I couldn't move once again. I was reclined pretty far back and i started thinking like "When is this gonna be over" and I thought of random things to see if anythign happened, and all of a sudden I felt like I was on a speeder bike or something going up a loop like a roller coaster with a rocket under me.. I have no idea Its hard to explain but it was really weird and I instantly woke up after like 5 seconds of that weird feeling and I jumped up and started like patting myself down. Anyway I have no idea what is wrong with me, but can someone tell me what is going on? Any feedback appreciated!

[Amethyst Star]

Well, it doesn't seem like anything is "wrong" with you. As far as constantly being aware when you're dreaming, we're what you would call a natural lucid dreamer. I knew a girl in college who always knew when she was dreaming and she thought it was weird when I said most people are not the same. She actually didn't believe me. As far as your ability to alter and control your dreams, that has just come with time, practice, and habit. Some people who suffer from nightmares often develop a reflex of waking themselves up using some technique or another. Others change their nightmares into something that they can face and thus develop control over their dreams that way. I'm rarely lucid, but I've noticed I am sometimes able to exert some control over my dreams from time to time (flying, changing the scene, etc.). There's nothing wrong with you. You just dream differently... everyone does. To be honest, I know some people who would love to hear about your experiences as a natural. There seems to be no set reason(s) why someone develops dream awareness and someone else doesn't. It's interesting to me, I can say that. As far as sleep paralysis, again, there's nothing wrong with you. Everyone - aside from those with some physical sleep issue - experiences sleep paralysis. It's just that not everyone wakes up during it; I haven't. It may seem bizarre and scary, but it's a natural process our bodies go through. Some lucid dreamers are actually able to use it to relax and go into a dream or re-enter one they were in the middle of. There's information about SP here and lots of people's experiences, so feel free to browse through what's here and if you have more questions, let us know. We hope you're able to get more information here and enjoy yourself in the process. Welcome to DV, Raijian! -Amé

[Robot_Butler]

I'm convinced that habit and expectation plays a huge part in stuff like this. For example, when I have a few good weeks of lucid dreaming, I start to have control of even my non-lucid dreams. It is like I just get used to controlling and influencing things.

[Raijian]

I've never LD'd before, or even tried. I just thought coming here might clear up some confusion since you all seem like an intelligent bunch! I dunno, I just thought I would ask because I've had people tell me I'm gifted for being able to on-command enter sleep paralysis. The reason I asked what was wrong with me is because I have an extreme sense of terror and fear when paralysis takes over and I can't move, but I can see, think, and talk. Once I talk I wake up though, It takes a lot to mutter out a word but once it comes out I snap out of it.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Apparently you LD all the time. Lucid Dreaming is simply dreaming while knowing you are dreaming. Dream Control is taking that knowledge and using it to manipulate the dream in some way. Terror during sleep paralysis is quite common. People experience not being able to move and whatnot, while they are conscious, and it freaks them out. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. And welcome to Dream Views. Always nice to have another natural around.

[Raijian]

Well then, thanks for all the help guys. I'll definitely be back; these forums are great.