First lucid dream? [pls help]

[Crashyy]

So I went to bed at 11pm. I kept repeating two mantras until I fell asleep: 1) I will wake up after every dream. 2) Tonight, I will realise I'm dreaming. Ok so it all happened at about 1.30am. So in my dream I was standing in front of some entity who was sitting on a chair in a grocery store. We were just watching eachother, no one moved. I suddenly thought to myself: This must be a dream!? Right after that I could see my body sleeping on my back and It felt like I had two bodies, 1 in my dream and 1 laying on the bed. Then immediately after I woke up. I could still see the entity in my room. It was like a vision. I kept observing it and after 5-10 seconds it disappeared. After that I sat up and did some reality checks cause I thought it was a false awakening. But I was officially awake. My heart was beating quite fast and I was so happy and excited. I think I was lucid for a second and then I ended up in sleep paralysis cause I could still see the entity while I was laying in my bed. I never tried to move though, so I'm not completely sure if I was fully paralyzed. So I have a few questions: 1) Was this my first lucid dream? 2) Did my dream end because I got too excited? 3) Or did my dream end because I 'woke up' at the end of my dream cause of my mantra? Because apperently REM is quite short in the beginning of the night. And everything happened at 1.30am. 4) Do you think I ended up having sleep paralysis after the dream? I've never experienced something like that in my whole life. I'm still amazed tbh ;o. I fell asleep while I was laying on my left side, so I think I must have rolled over onto my back while I was asleep xD. Sorry for my bad English btw!! -Crash

[Wolfwood]

I'd say you certainly had a lucid dream (DILD), despite how unstable and brief it was -- in fact, waking up shortly after experiencing your first lucid dream could easily be attributed to excitement. However, you said that you saw your body.... and then you woke up. This happens to me sometimes from a shift of attention: from my dream body to my apparent real body. It's tricky to explain what I mean by 'shift of attention', but I'll give you an analogy you've probably experienced. Whilst trying to get to sleep, you may find that you become somewhat involved with hypnagogic imagery (sort of drifting off), and then suddenly you'll realise what you're experiencing and snap! back to normal consciousness and the imagery will stop. You'll find this happens with day dreams too. So what I'm getting at is that you suddenly waking up, whilst it could be attributed to excitement (or even the end of a short REM cycle), I think it was because you saw your real body... and then snapped your attention back to it; a shift in consciousness if you will. I used to get this tons of times, and now only a few times. Solution: focus on the fabric of the dream and things that are indicative of a dream world, not the real world. What you experience after your shift in consciousness was most likely sleep paralysis. It's typical of dream collapse to end up in sleep paralysis (which you're already in anyway) -- nightmares are a classic example of quick dream collapse leading to a shift in consciousness back to reality, where sleep paralysis is still in effect. Auditory and visual hallucinations during sleep paralysis are indicative of that state between dreams and wakefulness (where wakefulness can carry over to dreams, and dreams can carry over to wakefulness). Well done, your first lucid. ^_^ I hope next time that you don't see your body and end up with that shift in attention. Focus on the details of the dream. Good luck.

[Ekyu]

1: U sayed "This must be a dream!?", it all depends on this, did u know that u where dreaming? If the answer is yes, then u where lucid dreaming. It's not about thinking, it's about knowing u are dreaming. On answer 2 and 3 i have no idea. 4: Probably, or atleast some sort of Hypnagogic imagery. Hope it helps u a bit! But if you wheren't lucid dreaming, u where as close as you could get. So that should give u some motivation aswell.

[Crashyy]

I'd say you certainly had a lucid dream (DILD), despite how unstable and brief it was -- in fact, waking up shortly after experiencing your first lucid dream could easily be attributed to excitement. However, you said that you saw your body.... and then you woke up. This happens to me sometimes from a shift of attention: from my dream body to my apparent real body. It's tricky to explain what I mean by 'shift of attention', but I'll give you an analogy you've probably experienced. Whilst trying to get to sleep, you may find that you become somewhat involved with hypnagogic imagery (sort of drifting off), and then suddenly you'll realise what you're experiencing and snap! back to normal consciousness and the imagery will stop. You'll find this happens with day dreams too. So what I'm getting at is that you suddenly waking up, whilst it could be attributed to excitement (or even the end of a short REM cycle), I think it was because you saw your real body... and then snapped your attention back to it; a shift in consciousness if you will. I used to get this tons of times, and now only a few times. Solution: focus on the fabric of the dream and things that are indicative of a dream world, not the real world. What you experience after your shift in consciousness was most likely sleep paralysis. It's typical of dream collapse to end up in sleep paralysis (which you're already in anyway) -- nightmares are a classic example of quick dream collapse leading to a shift in consciousness back to reality, where sleep paralysis is still in effect. Auditory and visual hallucinations during sleep paralysis are indicative of that state between dreams and wakefulness (where wakefulness can carry over to dreams, and dreams can carry over to wakefulness). Well done, your first lucid. ^_^ I hope next time that you don't see your body and end up with that shift in attention. Focus on the details of the dream. Good luck. OMG THANKS SO MUCH!! I'm soooo happy atm. After 10 weeks of putting all this effort into lucid dreaming, I can't believe I've had my first lucid dream haha. Even though it only lasted for a few seconds, it felt so real. And all this time, I was so afraid of sleep paralysis that I refused to do WILD. And now I ended up having sleep paralysis. It actually wasn't bad at all.. It was quite cool though. While I was in SP, I had no idea what was actually going on.. but I still can't believe it haha xD. I wanna thank everyone on Dreamviews for replying to my threads, giving me advise and helping me. THANKS EVERYONE!! ;D

[Wolfwood]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that what Ekyu just covered: as he says, simply speaking the words that you're dreaming is not indicative of being lucid; however, if you felt conscious, then you were lucid dreaming. It's that simple. Right now, you know you're conscious -- you just know. ^_^ Seems like you were. OMG THANKS SO MUCH!! I'm soooo happy atm. After 10 weeks of putting all this effort into lucid dreaming, I can't believe I've had my first lucid dream haha. Even though it only lasted for a few seconds, it felt so real. And all this time, I was so afraid of sleep paralysis that I refused to do WILD. And now I ended up having sleep paralysis. It actually wasn't bad at all.. It was quite cool though. While I was in SP, I had no idea what was actually going on.. but I still can't believe it haha xD. I wanna thank everyone on Dreamviews for replying to my threads, giving me advise and helping me. THANKS EVERYONE!! ;D Well, I hope this trend continues. And I hope you do try that WILD method now (I think it's the best method ).

[Crashyy]

1: U sayed "This must be a dream!?", it all depends on this, did u know that u where dreaming? If the answer is yes, then u where lucid dreaming. It's not about thinking, it's about knowing u are dreaming. On answer 2 and 3 i have no idea. 4: Probably, or atleast some sort of Hypnagogic imagery. Hope it helps u a bit! But if you wheren't lucid dreaming, u where as close as you could get. So that should give u some motivation aswell. I knew I was dreaming, but right after I realised it, The dream kinda ended

[Ekyu]

I knew I was dreaming, but right after I realised it, The dream kinda ended Yep, that's a lucid dream! Was about time u had one! haha And the first lucid dream is always the hard one for most people, so your second one shouldn't take so long, and hopefully it will last longer!

[littlezoe]

Yeah, that was definitely a lucid, that ended really fast ...and that you could still see that "entity" after you woke up, it sounds like it was definitely sleep paralysis... The others already said everything i wanted to

[Crashyy]

My first Sleep paralysis experience which I mentioned in this thread wasn't as bad as I expected. But if I would induce it in order to get into a lucid dream. Is it possible it might get even more scary? Cause now, I only experienced it when I woke up from a dream. So if I would experience it when I would enter a dream, is it possible that I might hear voices, pressure on my chest etc..?

[Wolfwood]

I can't say with certainty that the experience of sleep paralysis doesn't change each time; however, for me, it is exactly the same each time. I experience auditory hallucinations, a ringing, and a wave of fuzziness cast itself across me... and I actually like the experience. Just keep in mind, you can get out of sleep paralysis if you don't like it by wiggling your fingers quickly, changing the focus of your eyes, or rapidly breathing.

[Ekyu]

Sure it's possible, but u know it doesn't have to be a scary experience. Most of mine where really beatifull ones, just remember u are in full control if u want. Trust me there is NOTHING to be scared about.

[Crashyy]

Everyone says after you've had your first lucid dream, it'll be easier to have your second. It took me 10 weeks to have my first one. Does anyone have an idea how long it might take until I have my 2nd lucid dream? Cause hopefully I don't have to try 10 more weeks to have my 2nd LD

[benzilla04]

That's pretty crazy.. Sounds scary but still quite an experience i can imagine