Lucid dreaming

[dreamer]

Have you experienced it? You're in a dream and you know it's a dream (or there is at least a vague realization to that effect), but you don't wake up and can control (at least to some extent) what's happening in that dream.

It happens to me every once in a while, maybe two or three times a month. Started a few years ago, I don't know why.

I think this is fascinating and it can be a lot of fun. It's like the ultimate virtual reality. What I find particularly interesting is how well the imagination works if we don't really try to imagine something but let our brains just generate the sensations naturally. What I see in a lucid dream is undistinguishable from real reality, it looks exactly the same, as if I were actually seeing stuff with my eyes open.

I mention virtual reality here because I think this is a good indicator that one day full immersion virtual reality (via direct brain stimulation) will be possible.

One more thing: When I'm in a lucid dream and I want to do something that would be impossible in the real world (like radically modify my surroundings, teleport myself to another place, summon objects and people, fly around etc.) it's often not possible. It only works if I convince myself that I can do it. For example if I want to fly and I start thinking "this isn't right, I should fall back to earth" I will fall. It's almost like the Matrix.

[TheBarrett]

Originally Posted by dreamer

Have you experienced it? You're in a dream and you know it's a dream (or there is at least a vague realization to that effect), but you don't wake up and can control (at least to some extent) what's happening in that dream.

It happens to me every once in a while, maybe two or three times a month. Started a few years ago, I don't know why.

I think this is fascinating and it can be a lot of fun. It's like the ultimate virtual reality. What I find particularly interesting is how well the imagination works if we don't really try to imagine something but let our brains just generate the sensations naturally. What I see in a lucid dream is undistinguishable from real reality, it looks exactly the same, as if I were actually seeing stuff with my eyes open.

I mention virtual reality here because I think this is a good indicator that one day full immersion virtual reality (via direct brain stimulation) will be possible.

One more thing: When I'm in a lucid dream and I want to do something that would be impossible in the real world (like radically modify my surroundings, teleport myself to another place, summon objects and people, fly around etc.) it's often not possible. It only works if I convince myself that I can do it. For example if I want to fly and I start thinking "this isn't right, I should fall back to earth" I will fall. It's almost like the Matrix.

I don't dream often, but when I do I always realize that I am, and I totally seize the opportunity to fuly control what I can do. Dreaming is like a trip, a roaming soul, where you can experience anything and make anything happen, your worlds can come alive, your fantasies, wishes, desires, everything, and i'd have to say I feel so bummed when I wake up.

Most of my dreams however, also have an influx of nightmares, one such event is when I 'dreamt' that I was Maximillien Robespierre, and you probably know what happened to him towards the end...

[mibir]

Originally Posted by TheBarrett

I don't dream often, but when I do I always realize that I am, and I totally seize the opportunity to fuly control what I can do. Dreaming is like a trip, a roaming soul, where you can experience anything and make anything happen, your worlds can come alive, your fantasies, wishes, desires, everything, and i'd have to say I feel so bummed when I wake up.

Most of my dreams however, also have an influx of nightmares, one such event is when I 'dreamt' that I was Maximillien Robespierre, and you probably know what happened to him towards the end...

Ouch, rough dream.

As far as Lucid dreaming goes, I can't say that I ever have and will forever be envious of those who can. I definitely dream, hell I remember mine from this morning, I just didn't have any control .

[lefty12357]

I occasionally have lucid dreams like that too.

Have you guys ever experienced this; I am at least partially asleep, yet I know exactly where I am, what day it is and the approximate time. I am totally unable to move, even though I try. I feel a sense of panic, because I feel like I’m not breathing and that it’s imperative that I move something, even my little finger, to break the paralysis. A few moments go by and finally I am able to move and my eyes open and I am totally awake. This usually only happens to me when I’ve already awakened, and I decide to doze off and sleep in late. It’s when I’m waking up the second time that it happens. I know other people who have also experienced this or something similar. It doesn’t happen often, but I hate it when it does. Fortunately, it only lasts a moment.

[TheBarrett]

Originally Posted by lefty12357

I occasionally have lucid dreams like that too.

Have you guys ever experienced this; I am at least partially asleep, yet I know exactly where I am, what day it is and the approximate time. I am totally unable to move, even though I try. I feel a sense of panic, because I feel like I’m not breathing and that it’s imperative that I move something, even my little finger, to break the paralysis. A few moments go by and finally I am able to move and my eyes open and I am totally awake. This usually only happens to me when I’ve already awakened, and I decide to doze off and sleep in late. It’s when I’m waking up the second time that it happens. I know other people who have also experienced this or something similar. It doesn’t happen often, but I hate it when it does. Fortunately, it only lasts a moment.

It happens to me quite a lot, I think what affects the mentality in such a way is either past experiences, non-recognizable trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, or perhaps everyday problems/dilemmas. Perhaps it can also be an effect of a more imaginative person, being in case having a dominant left-brain, leading to the course of such odd behavioral patterns and effects of dreaming and post-dreaming.

In the spiritual sense of things, everytime you sleep, your spirit may roam the world, and your sense is left to wander around your known world and information. I've often seen pictures in my dream, for example, in one of my most recalled dreams, I saw a red chair in a white room, I never thought of the meaning of this. rather 5 days later after having this dream, I was in my friend's home, and there was the white room with the red chair, exactly how I pictured it in my dream before, the angle, the placement, it was exactly the same.

The brain is truly mysterious, I don't know how everything works and I don't want to know, but it is still strange, and it haunts me often.

[Tchaikovsky]

I have never been the ruler of my own dreams.

[Yaceman]

I had several dreams just last night. One was about an old friend whom showed up at a house i was at with a gun. I thought he was mad at me but he broke down and stuck the gun in his mouth. But i saved him don't worry It was strange because i remember the first 2 shots he took were blanks, but then he fired a real bullet, then a blank then a real one (it was a revolver).

There are ways to have more vivid dreams. I used to be on some meds called Risperdal and started remembering several dreams a night, sometimes up to 4. I talked to my doctor guy and he said something about it pushes your REM state back later, so you're in REM just before you wake up. This allows your memory to hold more dreams because you come right out of them.

for a while I had a reocurring dream that i would be in water (the ocean or w/e) and i would either see sharks, or a shark would be eating somebody i knew. I would try to help them but the shark would always get away, sometimes it seemed as if the shark was even teasing me while eating.

[tbailey]

do you guys ever take a nap and when you wake up your mind is awake but your body doesn't really respond for a few seconds?

it's like you're paralyzed but just for a few seconds
but it feels like an hour

[TheBarrett]

I just got one, it was a bit scary... Certainly more nightmarish than my others. This is what happens when you listen to too much Finnish Metal...

I fell asleep, then the dream started (obviously), I was on a Viking longboat headed towards the New World, it was cold, raining, and waves were rough. Everyone on the ship was yelling in Scandinavian tongues, and I could understand it, even though I don't know a single bit of it. I could go on forever, but it was scary considering I was just raiding villages and all that...an epic tale weaved from the very Theater of my Dreams.

[heyamigo]

they sell a device that alerts you to a lucid dream state by flashing blue lights on a visor you wear to sleep. it's not supposed to wake you up, but remind you that you can step in or something like that. it works by detecting certain eye movements during REM state.

let me try to find it on the web.

edit: http://www.lucidity.com/novadreamer.html