Not sure if this dream was lucid...

So I have never really experienced a truly lucid experience where I was both aware of the fact that I was dreaming and able to mold my dream from being aware.

However yesterday I read about lucid dreaming from Reader's Digests and it really got me thinking. Going to sleep that night it took me longer to fall asleep and when I did something strange happened.

A disturbing image of a mask started gravitating towards me and after a while vibrated and kept flying towards me. The sound it made while doing that felt surreal and was very loud. I tried waking up and opening my eyes but they would not, then with my arms and hands to the same results. It then got to the point where I felt I was suffocating and now I was genuinely scared. Finally I managed to concentrate and move my feet and eventually my leg which led me to awake.

This experience felt like it lasted 10-20 seconds but in actuality I don't know how long it was.

I'm not sure if this was even a dream. It sounds more like sleep paralysis to me, which means you were about to enter a dream. If something like this happens again, you can use it to attempt a WILD.

Yeah I guess it's far too short to be one, what's a WILD though?

WILD stands for Wake Initiated Lucid Dream. It's a technique where you make your body fall asleep while keeping your mind awake until you enter a lucid dream. Sleep paralysis is usually experienced in the middle of it. It is explained much better here: WILD Tutorial - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Sounds like sleep paralysis. Read up about it and about WILD, so next time you know what you can expect and you not scared. You were very close to entering a lucid dream. You just keep watching the images behind your eyelids, until they turn into a movie/dream. Then you pick a spot in the movie and wish to be there. I usually say slowly and deliberately 'I ...am...there'. That transports me to the ground in a dream. And you are lucid. Good luck:)