Once a skeptic...

[Theo]

Okay, so I became "aware" of Lucid Dreaming about three weeks ago, and thought it sounded great, because I've always had really vivid and long dreams, and being able to control the dream world would be wild to me(as I already have a lot of dreams where I'll be doing something unbelievable, like jumping from freeway to freeway, I'm just not really in control). I was, however, extremely skeptical of these claims that dreams can be so realistic and once you're lucid you have full control over everything. My dreams are pretty wild, but I seem to know I'm dreaming most of the time, and I had never gained the control everyone was talking about. Still, I was willing to try, hoping that all these forum posts I had read weren't all just extremely exaggerated forms of the dreams I was already having. So first, I read up on the steps to attaining Lucidity, starting with dream recall. I figured I had a head start on this, as I usually tell my dreams to someone, just because I find them so strange/long/clear, and I usually can remember most of my dreams even if I dream four times a night or more. I read up on doing reality checks and whatnot during the day, which I found to be kind of ridiculous, so I skipped out on that part. So, after reading about different techniques to gain lucidity, I found a link to this audio file that was supposed to induce lucid dreaming. After listening to the whole thing while laying down, I was sure this was all just some big sham. The audio included a guy basically just saying things like "I will Lucid dream tonight, am I dreaming? I WILL Lucid dream tonight, it's only a matter of willpower, I will become the master of my mind." etc. So, Lucid dreaming was either a moneymaking scheme, or just an exaggerated explanation of dreams I was already having. Anyhow, I completely stopped reading about it after that, so that would've been maybe two and a half weeks ago. Last night, however, my mind decided to slap me in the face with my own doubts. I was having a standard dream, I was in a mansion with friends, but the mansion was extremely creepy. At one point randomly, I had to go to the bathroom, so I walked into what seemed like a really dark carpeted bathroom, and saw the toilet in an odd place. I walked over, looking at the paintings on the walls and everything, and then leaned down to where I thought the toilet was, only it was gone, replaced by a magazine rack. I turned around, and saw the toilet right in front of the door, and thought "Wow what a weird place for a toilet." I then turned back around to look at the magazine rack, except the toilet was there now. For some reason I felt panicked and I looked back towards the door and there was no toilet again. The room started spinning, and for some reason at that point I thought "WAIT I'M DREAMING, and this spinning is trying to wake me up."(I have waken up from dreams by the spinning effect many times, usually feeling like I'm spinning once I wake up). I focused on one of the magazines, and tried to calm down, which I actually managed to do. Once the room stopped spinning, something was very very different. I was completely aware of my dream-state, yet I hadn't woken up, and I was looking around freely as if I were awake. I almost panicked again, but I thought "Wait, this is what everyone is talking about, Lucid Dreaming." Though this was something I had never felt before in a dream, I was still the skeptic, so I tried a test. There was a bowl on the sink counter, and I thought "If I'm dreaming I should be able to make this float." Well, I was not only surprised at the fact I made it float, but once I started to almost throw it, it was heading straight for a wall, and I didn't want it to break, so voosh, right through the wall it went, without breaking. Amazed, I ran straight for the wall without thinking, and jumped straight through it, right into a patch of grass where I was now outside. Needless to say, this feeling was amazing. I realized my mind had created this whole outside world I was in(which looked like a school/park/fair type place), and I decided to have fun with it. The first thing of course I wanted to try was flying, but I remember hearing a lot of people can only float, so I think that held me back. After jumping a few times with no success, I instead just focused on getting into the air without jumping, thinking "If it's a dream I shouldn't NEED a boost from jumping" I managed to float, but I felt limited, and then I got kind of unbalanced, and turned upside down, floating with my head maybe a foot off the cement. A lot of people in the dream were family/friends/people I had seen before. I noticed backflipping through walls became a sort of favorite thing of mine to do, with other people acting like it was nothing. I saw someone that looked like this person I knew, but her face looked a little different. I walked up to her, and managed to morph her face into what I remembered her looking like, then she thanked me. One person I remember got angry at me for removing a door he was about to walk into, and I made him disappear before he managed to take a swing at me. Things like this went on for what really felt like hours, though I'm not sure if it was really that long. I knew when I was going to wake up though, as people started disappearing, and everything was kind of dissipating. I ran over to this table where these three people were playing cards, and I sat down, but when I looked over at them, only one girl was still there, except she was only her legs, her whole upper boddy was missing. I still heard her voice say though "Time to wake up" and I opened my eyes to my room, still in awe. Sorry for the extremely long post, but I was really excited and felt the need to share. Skeptic-no-more, this has really been an amazing experience, and I now understand why people sound so enthusiastic about it(making it sound more exaggerated ). Being Lucid is a draw-dropping state of mind, and makes me wonder what else the human mind is capable of. I can only hope to experience this again. *EDIT* I forgot to mention that I was VERY touchy-feely during the dream, and was amazed at how everything felt. I would run my hands along walls, grab people's arms, rip grass from the floor, anything I could get my hands on I would(nothing too sexual other than lots of peck-kissing though as I think lips are sensitive, surprisingly that wasn't on my mind, maybe I was too much in awe? )

[.jared.]

Thats really awesome man. I have yet to have a good lucid like that. When i get discouraged or bored with it its posts like these that get me back into the groove.

[Bjango]

I turned around, and saw the toilet right in front of the door, and thought "Wow what a weird place for a toilet."[/b] That cracked me up. But anyway, congrats on your first real LD! Hope you have a lot more in the future!

[Ariox]

I wasn't even a skeptic, and I was still pleasantly suprised by my first LD. :-D It's still only the first though, next time I have to remember to increase the realism as much as possible, in hopes of a dream as vivid as yours.

[Jupilér]

''once you're lucid you have full control over everything'' don't just think like that, it is verry hard to control your dream, it will take a few months to have fully controle over your LD's. well goodluck with your LD's and offcourse your control ''Jup''

[Oneironaut Zero]

It just goes to show you: It doesn't pay to just assume something is bunk, on faith alone. Welcome to the club, man Now you see what everyone's been ranting about. Heh. Trust me, it gets even better.

[wombing]

Last night, however, my mind decided to slap me in the face with my own doubts.[/b] *points finger and let's out an enormous "HAH!"* heh, just kidding. glad you realized how incredible lucids can be. skepticism is an admirable quality in most areas, but now i hope you realize that lucid dreaming is not one of them past a certain point. nothing you can imagine is impossible in a lucid. nothing that you can possibly conceive of. look forward to hearing about more of your adventures

[BillyBob]

I realized my mind had created this whole outside world I was in(which looked like a school/park/fair type place)[/b] thats when you know you've reached full lucidity, something snaps and you say to yourself "holy shit, my mind made this shirt that im feeling on my body" ''once you're lucid you have full control over everything'' * don't just think like that, it is verry hard to control your dream, it will take a few months to have fully controle over your LD's. * well goodluck with your LD's and offcourse your control * ''Jup''[/b] wtf man? dream control isn't something you get with practice, its a state of mind. if you go around telling noobs "you wont control your dream much until your more experienced" then your condemning them to low dream control just because they heard they wouldn't have good control. just because you suck at realizing that a dream isn't real doesn't mean you should kill every other noobs chance at it (I've seen another of your posts telling someone that they shouldn't be excited because "its gonna be awhile before you have good control". true, they might not have had good control for awhile, but I myself had perfect control in my first LD, mostly because all I had heard is "anythings possible" again in a dream anything is possible until you hear or believe it isn't) bob,

[Theo]

Thank you for all the feedback To .jared. : I'm glad you enjoyed reading about my experience, and I hope you have a good lucid dream soon To Bjango : Thank you Yes, for some reason the dream-world me doesn't usually question anything(which could be bad for Lucid Dreaming! I have to change that ). I hope to have many more Lucid Dreams in the future as well. To Ariox : Well, being the skeptic, I almost laughed when I woke up. My mind just decided to prove me wrong I guess. I wasn't aware you could focus on increasing the realism? Mine seemed realistic, but I was only really appreciating the realism(as I said, VERY touchy-feely throughout the whole dream) not trying to make it MORE realistic. The dream was definitely enjoyable, so I hope you have a similar experience soon. To Jupitér : Well, I obviously wasn't in COMPLETE control, as my flying endeavors had no real success. I was also kind of trapped in the one setting, but I wasn't too concerned with changing it. Either way, I felt like I had enough control to have a lot of fun for a first time, but there are many other things I'd like to try in the future. Hopefully I won't feel limited. To Oneironaut : T r u t h. and thank you. If it gets even better, I'm surely looking forward to it. To wombing : Well I certainly am the initial skeptic with most things, so being skeptical about this wasn't out of the ordinary. My statement about my mind proving me wrong though pretty much sums up how I felt. A real slap in the face . That's the idea that excites me so much, the possibilities... I've also decided to start a dream journal today, so if you'd like to hear more of my adventures(I couldn't have worded it better myself, that's exactly what I like to call them ) Feel free to read/reply. To BillyBob_001 : It really was almost an epiphany(the non-religious kind) . I don't know if I emphasized how much in awe I was the whole time, but it really blew me away. I also believe anything should be possible in a dream, which may be why I was a bit less restricted(aside from a few things). Again thank you for all the replies!

[PantsParty]

That's a great experience there. I'm hoping I'll be able to do somethig like that soon. If only I can stay awake long enough to do the freakin HILD technique... *mumblegrumble*

[Glorfindel_III]

Originally posted by Theo Last night, however, my mind decided to slap me in the face with my own doubts. LOL. Glad to see we have a new 'believer' With my most vivid Lucid I've had I can recall a VERY similar experience of awe. Just looking around my Dream world and thinking 'Holy shirt this isn't real.... ' And I too ran my hand over every surface I could. The textures that you can notice are AMAZING when you're in the state where you know everything is not actually real (think Matrix). Also one of the best feelings is the rush of wind when you're flying around over beautiful dreamscapes, there's really not much like it in the world. Welcome to DV and I hope you have many more lucids and share all your experiences, Glor

[Chaos Psyche]

"I forgot to mention that I was VERY touchy-feely during the dream, and was amazed at how everything felt." When I was probably 6 or 7 I would be in a dream, and I would touch someone, and it would just feel overwhelming. I use to have them all the time when I was little (and no,it's not a wet dream or sexual). The only way I can describe it is, it's almost like there is billions of nerve endings in your fingers instead of thousands! That's what I am going to do the next time I lucid! I'm going to envision the skin on my whole body covered with TRILLIONS of nerve endings, then I am gonna swim in the ocean with a beautifull mermaid!!! Yeah, the spinning effect is a bitch when you become fully aware that your dreaming. It has nocked me out of the dream several times, and then several more. I'm getting better though. Congratulations on your amazing experiance! Hope you have many more!

[Theo]

To PantsParty : It certainly was. A what-what-what technique? I'm not familiar with all these acronyms, though I should really become so. If you read this message again, please, do share knowledge. To Glorfindel_III : Yes believer by force(my own mind). I haven't been fortunate enough to feel the flying effect, as I haven't had a lucid dream since this one YET. That is definitely something I want to try though. Oh and I was definitely amazed by the textures, as I said, I was really addicted to touching everything I think my most prominent memories of how certain things feel came through, and just amazed me with their realism. Hmm, I feel like watching the matrix again suddenly haha To Chaos Psyche : I think it might be because(and this is only a guess) your mind is so intent on making sure you feel something when you touch that arm or wall, that it just overwhelms you with feelings - and most likely those that really stick out to you. Like this wall feels how YOU think it should feel ideally, as opposed to how it might really feel That sounds like quite a fun act, and swimming deep-sea(or non-deep sea, either way ) is something on my "To-do" list. Yeah, I'm surprised I've never caught on before to the spinning and managed to prevent myself from waking up before this. It has happened plenty of times. Thanks as well, and I hope you have many more, to give that swim a try

[wombing]

Like this wall feels how YOU think it should feel ideally, as opposed to how it might really feel [/b] haha, now you've got the hang of it!! that's the most psychedelic portion of lucid dreaming. let us know how you imagine walking on the sea floor

[samchestido]

While I don't know why, this topic has inspired me unbelievably much! Thanks for that! Anyway, it's great you believe it now. A friend of mine is an unbelievable sceptic, and I convinced him at last. He had a lucid already, and he's really in awe about it Isn't lucidity great 8) 8)

[Theo]

To wombing : Wow I haven't heard anyone use the word psychedelic for a while, but that's a great way to describe it If I manage to succeed in having another lucid, and I remember to go to the ocean, I will most certainly post it in my dream journal To samchestido : Even though you're not sure why you feel inspired, I'm glad and you're welcome. You know what's strange? I just looked up "sceptic" because I saw your spelling and I thought "Have I been spelling it wrong? I think I've seen it spelt both ways" and on dictionary.com sceptic says "Variant of skeptic." and it links to "skeptic" which says "Variant of sceptic." and links to sceptic. An interesting sort of loop Anyhow, enough rambling. I'm sure many people would be(and are) skeptical of Lucid dreaming, but just as I was in awe, so is your friend. How many more people will find out about Lucid dreams, have one, and be in awe, I wonder? Thanks again for the replies. (I noticed I use this smiley far too much. Oh well, I like it. )

[TAISIA]

I am going to have my husband read your post. Every time I LD I go into detail about it to him. He says he does not even dream. I know he thinks I am crazy.. but until one actually does LD, there is no way to imagine how cool it really is! Congrats on this It is awesome. I have been doing it since I was a kid. I do not come in here every day. But when I have a dry spell, I come in here and read others LD experiences and I always have a LD that night. It is like it reminds me to do it.

[Theo]

To TAISIA : I can tell you from first hand experience that reading the posts here(mine included) might just seem over-exaggerated to him if he's already skeptical, as most did to me before I actually experienced a Lucid Dream. You never know, though, maybe it'll at least convince him that you're not crazy. I also couldn't imagine sleep without dreams(I know people who say they don't dream, or if they do, they don't remember). I'll have certain nights of sleep without dreams, but if I go too long without dreaming I get sad/angry because dreams are so enjoyable to me, and the concept of dreaming is amazing. Thanks and that's awesome that you've had this ability for so long. You're extremely fortunate and your husband doesn't even realize it. Instead he thinks you're crazy I know what you mean with the dry spell(I'm currently ALMOST in one with just dreaming in general, because my sleep hasn't been too great lately, mainly due to weather where I live) but I hope another Lucid will hit me eventually. Maybe I should read here a lot before going to sleep as you do

[grayegg]

I've wanted to jump into the ocean a few times in lucids, but in those instances it was too scary (and cold, bleh). Flying has been hit or miss for me, sometimes it crosses my mind but gravity feels as real as things look. Sometimes it's natural as walking. The first LD I had after visiting here, I managed to float briefly. I've contented myself with observing so far, not wanting to wake myself prematurely by getting frustrated with trying to control things. I thought after reading your post maybe it's not really dificult if you don't read about people needing experience to do it. A lot of times I'll do extoardinary things because it's "obvious" I can do it, that is I don't second guess my abilities, which might otherwise come from reading too much about LDs. In other words, yay for placebo optimism.

[Theo]

To grayegg : If I ever manage to actually get near an ocean in a Lucid, I am hoping I won't be scared to jump in . The flying bit is strange to me as well, because I also managed to float in my first lucid, but last night I had my second lucid and tried to jump off something, and I just fell like a rock, so gravity felt very real. I think my lucid last night had me waking up from being frustrated that two thing I tried didn't really work(both being trying to make water appear, and go to the ocean). I think reading about experiences where people CAN'T do it indeed limits you, because as real as the dream feels, it's all about your mind, and if your mind is in doubt about you doing something, you'll probably be unable to do it. Placebo optimism is a nice word for it, I just have to convince myself that anything's possible in a world my mind creates. It's an opportunity to do anything you can think of Oh and anyone else who might by chance read this thread, I'm happy to report I have had a (albeit much shorter) second Lucid Dream . You can read about it in my dream journal if interested at all. Thanks again for replies.

[BillyBob]

Originally posted by Theo To grayegg : If I ever manage to actually get near an ocean in a Lucid, I am hoping I won't be scared to jump in . The flying bit is strange to me as well, because I also managed to float in my first lucid, but last night I had my second lucid and tried to jump off something, and I just fell like a rock, so gravity felt very real. I think my lucid last night had me waking up from being frustrated that two thing I tried didn't really work(both being trying to make water appear, and go to the ocean). I think reading about experiences where people CAN'T do it indeed limits you, because as real as the dream feels, it's all about your mind, and if your mind is in doubt about you doing something, you'll probably be unable to do it. Placebo optimism is a nice word for it, I just have to convince myself that anything's possible in a world my mind creates. It's an opportunity to do anything you can think of Oh and anyone else who might by chance read this thread, I'm happy to report I have had a (albeit much shorter) second Lucid Dream . You can read about it in my dream journal if interested at all. Thanks again for replies. I actually wrote a post on overcoming your dream limits if you want to read (ignore the part about it making you have less LDs its just to freak people out ): http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....=asc&highlight=

[NiGHTS]

Originally posted by samchestido While I don't know why, this topic has inspired me unbelievably much! Thanks for that! Ditto. I haven't been lucid dreaming for about a year, when I moved here. I had around 6 in a short period of time then, after finding this site and figuring out what it's all about. They were some of the most amazing experiences of my life, and reading this just brought back a ton of feelings I've had while in lucid dreams, and made me think about some things I wanna do in dreams. I'm going to go for a lucid tonight, I'll post if I get it.

[Theo]

To BillyBob_001 : Some very interesting stuff. I'm very interested in the workings and understanding of dreams, so it was a good read. Hopefully I'll remember it while dreaming and be able to have absolute control I really need to rid my mind of any doubts about dreams, and really realize that it's MY mind's world, so anything should be possible, even if not logical. To NiGHTS: I'm glad I could inspire you as well Inspiring people inspires me, not in the competitive way like "I have to out-do you" but in the wanting to share experiences way like "Oh you did that in your last lucid? I've done it before, it's so fun " So thank you for taking the time to respond and I hope you achieve that lucid!(and if you do, be sure to share!)

[kobalt]

Quote :dream control isn't something you get with practice, its a state of mind. You're right about that, but what you have to practice is having a clear mind when you go to sleep,any problems, toughts of the past day (unless it's your focus) still floating in your mind will be a part of your failure. If you can relax yourself to the point treshold when images starts to flash and you hear bits of sounds of the actual dream without any toughts in your mind, and still be awake (lucid) it's almost certain that you'll acheive it. So yeah, state of mind is right . Edit: maybe it's just me but i find that it happends more often in the afternoon for those lucky enough to be able to nap during the day

[yellowknots]

That sounds really cool. I have yet to Lucid Dream.