Lucid Dreaming

[phoreus1911]

Any thoughts about this, has anyone tried this. I looked up some of the benefits, and they sound great. I was wondering if anyone here has tried it, or can either atest, or detest(I think that's the right term) to the benefits?

 

[horaholic]

I used to try to do it. I've never had true control over one though. A few of them were close, but not quite.There are websites/self hypnosis that helps you do it.

 

[Vice]

I've been doing it on and off since I was young. Fun stuff, got into out of body experiences for about a week when I accidently did it during a daytime nap. It was very eerie to feel like I was floating over my bed.

There are websites that can help you with the technique, and they have all kinds of foods and supplements that help boost brain activity to the point where you can induce dreams.

It may sound phenomenal, but trust me, it's all very real and there is actual neuroscience backing it up. Your brain can actually "simulate" experiences, since after all, your senses end up being translated in your brain as electrical impulses. That's why you can see and hear things in dreams, and in other states of mind actually experience varying sensations.

 

[squirrels]

Happened to me yesterday afternoon, actually. I've had it happen three times now, unintentionally. First time was a while ago...I got excited too quickly and woke up almost immediately. The second and third times it was a lot more "stable".

The key to stability in a lucid dream, I've found, is that you almost HAVE to take an "active" role in stabilizing the dream. Your mind can re-create experiences, but doesn't do so well creating experiences you've never had before.

For example, if you've never driven a Ferrari, your mind would have trouble creating that driving experience...it would probably draw from other cars you've sat in/driven to fill in the blanks of the experience.

If you find the dream destabilizing, you have to actively envision sensory inputs that can create a stable experience. Again, for example, once I was placed out on a small island over the water...my mind was having trouble creating a stable image of being by the sea, so I had to actively work to recall details like light shimmering off the surface of the water, the sounds of waves lapping, etc.

That means the more vivid your experience in REAL life, the more vivid you can make your dream experience. It also means that if you aren't getting LAID in real life, you're not going to get LAID in your dreams, unless you make something up, and that will be a shallow substitute for the real sensations. If you're getting laid all the time, though, your mind will have plenty of experience to draw on.

I'm just so thoroughly amazed every time I realize I'm in a lucid dream, I've never been able to make much of a conscious choice with regard to actions. Once I start getting "used" to it happening, I imagine I'll have some more flexibility in architecting and interacting with a dream realm.

This most recent time was just yesterday during a nap. It was weird how I got there...I actively felt my mind "trying to wake up", but my body wasn't ready to yet. You know how sometimes when you try to tear yourself out of a dream, you THINK you're waking up but you're really still dreaming? That's kind of what happened. I tried to wake myself up and I thought I was pulling "through the fog", but I quickly realized, "hey, I'm still asleep".

 

[Vice]

Man, this lucid dreaming sh*t is AWESOME. I've been taking three pills of fish oil a night plus ZMA, and my dreams are incredibly complex. They also seem like very long adventures, and when I wake up I always feel well rested and in a good mood.

One recurring theme that I keep having is that I'm in this alternate reality, and I can jump between realities. It's bizzare, because I can "leap" into an object and go through a dark tunnel and emerge in a new world.

The supplements I use, just fish oil and ZMA, are already potent. I want to try using some of the more specific supplements that the lucid dreaming community uses to amplify my experience. Since these things boost brain function too, maybe I'll become super smart too!

http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/lucid-dreaming-supplements-store.html

 

[Tortendieb]

I've done it a couple of times when I was a kid. It only worked when I had a dream that was completely wacko, and at some point you just go "man this is so ridiculous, I'm definitely dreaming" and BOOM suddenly you have full control and can fly etc etc... it's literally like in the Matrix!

It works especially well if you have the same dream over and over again, possibly a horror dream, and after the 3rd time you go "wait... I know that from before... it's that stupid dream!" and BAM you're chuck norris!

Then you get really excited about what you can do and you wake up

 

[squirrels]

Then you get really excited about what you can do and you wake up

That's what happened to me the first time. I forget the details of the dream...I just remembered being attacked by someone or something, then realizing I was dreaming and then thinking, "If I'm dreaming, then I should be able to do THIS!!" and shot fire from my hands.

Then I woke up.

Once you've done it a couple of times, you learn how to pull from the depth of your experience to "stabilize" dreams, to sustain the dream environment and shape it. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen to me nearly enough.

Things like tactile and olfactory memory really help bring "reality" to a situation. Anyone can imagine a naked woman, but few people can vividly recall smells, or the mass and movement of her hips when you place your hand on them, the weight of her breasts, or the smooth texture of a girl's legs.

Adding these details, even sensations such as "hot" or "cold" to a dream environemnt, increases the degree of vividity and thus "stabilizes" the dream, so your conscious mind feels comfortable walking around in it.

 

[Marvin Gaye]

That's what happened to me the first time. I forget the details of the dream...I just remembered being attacked by someone or something, then realizing I was dreaming and then thinking, "If I'm dreaming, then I should be able to do THIS!!" and shot fire from my hands.

Then I woke up.

Once you've done it a couple of times, you learn how to pull from the depth of your experience to "stabilize" dreams, to sustain the dream environment and shape it. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen to me nearly enough.

Things like tactile and olfactory memory really help bring "reality" to a situation. Anyone can imagine a naked woman, but few people can vividly recall smells, or the mass and movement of her hips when you place your hand on them, the weight of her breasts, or the smooth texture of a girl's legs.

Adding these details, even sensations such as "hot" or "cold" to a dream environemnt, increases the degree of vividity and thus "stabilizes" the dream, so your conscious mind feels comfortable walking around in it.

Same here!

And sometimes what you can't do in reality, it seems liek your brain performs that to the best of its knowledge; for example if I wanted to fly up, I'd try and raise myself up, and then I'd suddely be able to "swim" in midair

When I'm asleep it's never me creating the dreamscape; I'm always placed in a situation and am free to roam around in the already-constructed dreamscape.

I lucid dream pretty much every night, but I never "hypnotize" myself or eat special foods or anything like that. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with your dream stages, but I wouldn't know enough about that to full explain it. Keeping a dream journal is pretty cool too; last night I had the craziest dream in a while, I was time traveling and visiting myself in various stages of my life, we ended up going to the future and were having drinks in the bar, I thought "This is insane I gotta write all this down," unfortunately I dreampt that I woke up, and wrote everything down...then I actually woke up

Keep a dream journal guys

 

[Scars]

I've had two my entire life. One was while I was in California the day before my grand mothers funeral. I was having a dream I was in Arizona and it suddenly clicked in my head "This is a dream, I'm not supposed to be in Arizona!" and I took full control of it. Thought about flying and I did. Then the scenery started changing and I was in Egypt, hovering above the pyramids. Then I got excited and woke up.

Then I had another one where I was at work, and it was almost like a nightmare. A lot of weird stuff was going on and I felt like I was in a black and white television. I got control of the dream for like a minute and started asking all these dream people questions, and they would just give me back garbage answers. Extremely creepy.

-Scars

 

[CuriousGirl]

I did it once! It happened earlier this year, for the first time I was in a dream and realised I was dreaming for a second and so I attempted to levitate, I lifted off the ground and a feeling of euphoria rushed straight through me and I think I woke up for a split second and fell straight back to sleep, because after that I was sucked back into a different dream and I wasn't aware I was dreaming anymore.
It was amazing!

 

[CuriousGirl]

The key to stability in a lucid dream, I've found, is that you almost HAVE to take an "active" role in stabilizing the dream. Your mind can re-create experiences, but doesn't do so well creating experiences you've never had before.

For example, if you've never driven a Ferrari, your mind would have trouble creating that driving experience...it would probably draw from other cars you've sat in/driven to fill in the blanks of the experience.

If you find the dream destabilizing, you have to actively envision sensory inputs that can create a stable experience. Again, for example, once I was placed out on a small island over the water...my mind was having trouble creating a stable image of being by the sea, so I had to actively work to recall details like light shimmering off the surface of the water, the sounds of waves lapping, etc.

That means the more vivid your experience in REAL life, the more vivid you can make your dream experience. It also means that if you aren't getting LAID in real life, you're not going to get LAID in your dreams, unless you make something up, and that will be a shallow substitute for the real sensations. If you're getting laid all the time, though, your mind will have plenty of experience to draw on.

Hmmm that's interesting because I have all sorts of experiences in dreams that I've not in real life, and also if I'm not having sex in real life then I have it a lot more in my dreams.
Also my lucid dream experience (above) I went straight for something impossible. Although I've always had a pretty vivid imagination, like when someone describes something or if they mention something then I picture it straight away, not so great if someone makes a really sick joke. When I was a kid I used to write really crazy stories too.