Weird Experience!

[Helios]

Hello everyone! I've been reading this forum for almost a week and have become quite interested in lucid dreaming. First of all, I'd like to excuse my poor grammar. I hope it does not bother you too much! Now, as the thread title suggests, I had a very weird experience last night. It seemed like the "WILD" everyone is talking about. So here's the story: Last night, I slept approximately an hour earlier (12:05), giving me a whopping eight hours of sleep (not enough, actually, ). Took me around 25 minutes for me to become fully asleep. Finally, I slept in. During the night, I suddenly woke up, I believe right after my second REM, if I am correct. That was around 4:05 a.m. I woke up feeling quite heated up and sweaty with my bed sheets drowned in sweat. Pretty uncomfortable. I then tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't for another 25 minutes. So I figured thinking of anything could slowly get me back to sleep. Thought images went through my brain. I slowly analyzed each of them. What struck me is that I hadn't seen any of the images in real life. I thought they could have been from the last dream before I awoke. Suddenly, my friend was brought up through my head. She said "I think it has something to do with this". She held up what appeared to be a name tag. On it, it said "hi-di-ous". Weird, and it was also misspelled. That's when it happened. That word on the name tag was like a password for me to unlock this weird feeling. With my eyes closed, I heard weird whistling noises reaching my ear. I was breathing very quickly, and my heart beating speed doubled. I also felt my eyes were moving rapidly. It was then I realized I might be entering a LD through WILD. I was excited as well as frightened during that period. I had to swallow the clogged saliva a few times. However, the sound stopped. My breathing became normal. My heart was still beating at a faster-than-normal rate. I was afraid to open my eyes to see myself face-to-face with hallucinations (from reading different SP stories), and was too shocked to even try to move a muscle. Recovering from the shock, I slowly opened my eyes. Did a few reality checks. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed with the experience. I thought it could have been my first LD ever, but I guess I somehow messed it up. Unless if the experience was actually anything dangerous, I do feel somewhat regretful. Anyway, that was what happened last night. Thank you for reading this, and I am hoping to solve this "problem"! Thank you again in advance!

[Loaf]

Huh, weird. I used to get really warm when trying to do WILDs, but I don't overheat anymore. I think its partially because the slight fear and excitement of entering the LD world would get my heart racing. Now its comfortable to transition to dreams.

[Helios]

Forgot to mention, I think the heat part was closely related to the fact that I had myself all covered in a pretty hot room. Also, may someone be kind enough to explain to me what was the "feeling" that I had went through? Considering I've never had lucid dreams, hallucinations(?), and all these freaky stuff, I really don't know how I can start to, really, have a lucid dream! Also, once you're in a lucid dream, can anything that you don't "wish" to be in the dream be there? For example, I am an arachnophobic. What if spiders would suddenly crawl in through my bedroom door and devour me up? That would be the worst first experience ever. Also, I've heard that there could be a lot of false awakenings when you try to snap out of your dream. Are they scary at all? I am truly nervous about everything, and just don't know where or when to start! Edit: Just 3 minutes ago, I read about lighting. When it's dark, can you actually not see a thing, and the whole seen changes? Will it become anything insane, like something that can actually make you feel "scared"? Or should I say can anything actually make you feel "scared" in a lucid dream since you're as conscious as you are when you're awake?

[Amethyst Star]

Hey Helios! First off, welcome to DV! We're glad to have you here and I hope we can be of help to you. Feel free to wander around the site and look at the information that's available. Personally, if you haven't read them yet, I'd recommend starting with the Tutorials. What you experienced seemed like what a lot of people experience when they enter a WILD. It sounds like you were pretty close, but getting nervous and stressed might have woke you up. Each person's experiences are different; some people feel physical sensations (floating, falling, rushing towards somewhere, etc.) and hear or see things. Some people float right into a dream very peacefully, but for others it can be really bizarre. The main thing to remember is just to relax. If this happens again, calm yourself down and take it for the unique experience that it is. It may take you several tries (or not) before you successfully enter a dream, but if you keep practicing, you'll see results one way or another. As far as seeing frightening stuff, don't worry about it. If you stress yourself out, it will be reflected in your dreams, so again, just relax. Don't expect something bad to happen. Instead, work towards making your experience enjoyable. Have fun! If you run into a problem, come up with a plan to fix it. If spiders come in your room, grab a flamethrower and burn them to a crisp, or grab a hammer and start whacking away, or even just freeze the dream and go somewhere else. Use your imagination It's possible to be scared in an LD, but if you stay focused and don't panic, you can fix it. I hope this was helpful. Let us know if you have more questions and if there's anything we can do to help! -Amé P.S. Your grammar's not that bad at all. I've seen much, much, much worse.

[Logicalmale]

Oh btw, I quickly learned that, when in SP, your feelings are reflected in your hallucinations. So if you're freaked out, your hallucinations are most likely gonna be scary. If you're relaxed, they'll be quirky. Haha, just thought I'd let you know, try and consciously relax yourself.

[Helios]

Thank you, Amethyst Star! That pretty much cleared many if not all the "issues" I had during the experience. But can I ask: Can that experience get anymore strange than what I have encountered? It had been bugging me for a while, thinking that there would be an even odder part to the experience, but ended it before I ever felt it. I see, that really helps me to be a little more confident. But if I ever meet up with any of my fears, can I actually be not scared, but instead, ask it why I have been fearing it? Is that possible at all? Will it give me a reasonable answer? P.S. That was extremely helpful! Why, thank you! I am also in attempt to work towards better grammar use, so I don't seem too much of a fool by leaving tens and thousands of errors in a little paragraph @Logicalmale Thanks! I will definitely give it a shot if any accident happen during a lucid dream and enter a SP, although I would rather not have one, .

[Amethyst Star]

Can that experience get anymore strange than what I have encountered? ...But if I ever meet up with any of my fears, can I actually be not scared, but instead, ask it why I have been fearing it? Is that possible at all? Will it give me a reasonable answer? "Strange" is a subjective term, so in a sense things can always get stranger. I'd say you had a pretty weird experience, and I honestly don't see it getting worse than that. For one thing, now you have an idea of what to expect, so it won't feel so foreign. If you do come across something that you're normally afraid of, it's possible that you'll see it in a different light when you're dreaming. On the other hand, it might still make you feel scared, but just remember that it's your dream and nothing can hurt you. Other people have used their dreams to work through their fears, so that's a possibility. By confronting your fear and perhaps examining it from a different angle, it might help you to become less afraid of it. I can't say for certain as everyone is different and processes things differently, but if you want to get over your fear of spiders, it's possible that you can find one in your dream and talk to it. It might not give you "the secrets of the universe" or even answer your questions, but you might be surprised by what you do get. Planning and persistence is the key, though. Know what you want to do ahead of time and then keep trying until you get results.

[itsadream]

I recognize myself and my own feelings about LD'ing in your story! I was also really scared after having close-to-dream experiences like sounds and energy rushing through me, and I'm also scared of hallucinations even though I never experienced them (only once during a false awakening when I was 9 years old). To calm myself down while experiencing these sensations I now think about good things, like how special it is for me to experience something like this. Everytime I'm getting close to a LD I'm feeling sensations like energy rushing through my body and I hear white noise... But it really isn't scary at all if you just close your eyes during those sensations and think about how amazing it is that your own mind can create things like this!

[Helios]

@Amethyst Star I'll definitely keep that in mind. It really crept me out when it happened! However, if I do actually meet my fears and they're chasing after me like there's no tomorrow, should I snap out of my dream first just in case? @itsadream May I ask what did you experience during that night when you were 9 years old? ._. Also, I believe my experience was the exact same as yours! The white noise, the energy, everything! Well, I guess I'll have to experience more of these in order for me to be fully immune to the somewhat irregular feelings I get during the transitioning...! ---- Also, just this morning, I kind of had this weird thought or dream thing. I didn't know what it was. I was using the FILD method, and I did a RC around 30-60 seconds later. I was surprised that I was able to breathe! I kept this position for a while, and without thinking (I think it may have been the excitement or the terror(?) I felt), I opened my eyes quickly. Then I felt completely normal, my hand back in the blanket (I had my hand on my nose for the RC), and it was reality again. Now, what I don't understand is that was that actually a dream or was it just my imagination?

[itsadream]

This is the experience I had when I was 9 years old: I was walking outside in a city, and suddenly bats appeared. They tried to attack me, and I ran away. I was so terrified but somehow I knew it was a dream (I've been aware of the fact that I'm dreaming during some nightmares since I was a little kid, but back then I never heard of Lucid Dreaming so I never took advantage of it). I 'made a deal' with myself, that when I was looking upward during a dream, I would wake up, and most of the time it worked perfectly. But that night things were different. I tried to look upward while the bats kept attacking me. Suddenly I was lying in my bed again, I could see the daylight through the curtains and thought I was awake. But I wasn't... I was paralyzed and a bat came flying through my window and bit me. The room turned black, I heard a deafening sound and I finally woke up again. After that I never had false awakenings again, untill last week when I was having 9 FA's in one dream! But that really wasn't scary, there were no sounds or hallucinations. I was quite fun actually! ---- You were really close to lucid dreaming last morning! It was definitly a dream and the RC worked. But don't try to open your eyes quickly or feel too excited or you'll wake up. Next time try to imagine a dream scene you'd like to be in and convince yourself after doing a positive RC you'll be in that scene when opening your eyes.

[Helios]

That sounds like a very horrible experience! If a bat ever came through my closed window and bit me, I'd probably be unable to sleep for the rest of the week... Have you ever been afraid of false awakenings? I don't know why, but the concept of a FA really freaks me out! ---- Well, I guess it must have been it then! I just can't believe I wasted such a chance! I must tell myself to do things slower in a LD. Also, this morning (at 2:00 - 3:00), I tried doing the FILD method. I did it a few times, and during these trials, I try to keep my mind blank. However, I keep on thinking about the songs that I heard just last night. Also, I keep on imagining these distorted ghost heads popping in from all over my room once I actually do get into a LD! So before I could get into any dreams, I thought to myself "That's it. I had enough of these thoughts popping up. No way will I be entering a dream with these crazy thoughts." I decided to quit, or I might really end up in a terrible nightmare of ghost heads popping in and out of the walls of my room... How can I clear my mind effectively, so that not even a single hint of the image would reach my mind? It really irritates me whenever I have random bad thoughts that stops me from doing fun things! Thank you.

[itsadream]

I used to be very afraid too when I first tried LD'ing. It's completely normal though, because darkness cause most people to feel insecure. The brain associates darkness with fear and shows scary images. The best thing to do is to laugh about it and understand everything you see is just something you created by yourself. You're the one in control and remember Lucid Dreaming can be a lot of fun! Don't try to get into a LD while feeling scared or unconfortable because it just won't work or you'll freak out when feeling the sensations from a close-to-dream-like state (rushing waves of energy, white noise) and you'll wake up again. To be honest, I tried Lucid Dreaming for the first time a few months ago but I was too scared to actually have a LD. Nothing bad happened or something like that, it was just because all the stories I read about sleep paralysis, hallucinations, voices etc. I decided to stop trying to LD, but 2 weeks ago I got interested in LD'ing again, and this time I only thought about the fun things you can do while being lucid. And guess what? I had my first two lucid dreaming just at my 3rd and 4th FILD attempt! And it wasn't scary at all. I felt energy rushing through me while entering the dream, and I heard white noise, but it was fun! I was just lying there, thinking about my amazing mind being able to create all this, and I was so happy it was finally working! So the best advice I can give you, is to just relax and don't worry about scary images/feelings. Remember that you're in control and you can wake up whenever you want. Oh yeah, and about FA's: Don't worry about 'em. They'll rarely occur when waking up from a normal dream. Most of the FA's happen while having a Lucid Dream, so everytime you think you've woken up, Do a RC to be sure! I had 9 False awakenings in a row after my second LD, but all the time I knew I was dreaming after performing a RC. It's a bit frustration to find out you're not really awake again and again, but it's not scary at all! I never try LD'ing at night because of the darkness in my room, I'm more confortable when I wake up with the lights on, So I only FILD in the early morning, when the sun is just rising. Good luck! Jasper.

[Amethyst Star]

I'll definitely keep that in mind. It really crept me out when it happened! However, if I do actually meet my fears and they're chasing after me like there's no tomorrow, should I snap out of my dream first just in case? Sorry this reply is a bit late and you might already have formed an answer to this question, but here's my two cents. Some people greatly benefit from facing their fears head-on and taking control of the situation. Others deal with their fears in other ways, but in this case when you're dreaming and there is nothing that can harm you, I see no problem turning towards your "fears" and standing firm. If you're scared, chances are you may not be thinking logically, so you may run instinctively, but if you do realize what is going on and remind yourself that you are in a dream, try to calm down and think rationally. Decide what you're going to do ahead of time. If you are afraid of seeing spiders, decide before you go to sleep what you're going to do if you see a spider in your dreams. Decide to pick up a really big shoe (or something) with which to squish them. Stop and talk to them. Freeze them and examine them from a different point of view. It's your dream, so what you say goes. The main piece of advice I will give you is this: don't expect the worst. If you're worried that spiders or whatnot are going to appear in your dreams, you will get stressed out and it will be more likely to happen. Choose to not worry about it. It may be difficult, but focus on what you would like to dream about. Look forward to excellent dreams, and if you happen to come across something scary or stressful, then deal with it as best you can at that time and then leave it in the past. Stress kills your dreaming experience, so relax, think happy thoughts, enjoy your dreams, and if you get worried, make a plan as to how to deal with a situation and then stop worrying. You have a plan! Happy dreaming.

[MadMonkey]

False awakenings are the least scary thing ever. It just looks like you woke up and you go about your day or it can be a great way to become lucid. I think your worying about your fears to much. "theres nothing to fear but fear itself"