Lucid dreaming

[Booldawg]

I saw an advert in a magazine the other day for some weird electronic device that helps you develop the art of lucid dreaming (which is awareness you are dreaming so you can take control of the dream environment).

I've always had lucid dreaming capabilities ever since I can remember, not every night, but once in a while I'm aware I'm dreaming and can control the environment to be able to fly etc. Its not easy and is quite hard to control but I was under the impression that this was something that everyone can do -is this the case ?

[woofgang]

I think that everybody can learn to do it. I can wake myself up out of nightmares which is useful.

[FP]

I can also go back to sleep and finish a dream if it is really interesting!    As somebody who has vivid, weird dreams most nights and can remember a great deal about them, I have learned to control them (but can't always)

[OBonio]

No, not everyone can control them though they can learn I think. I read something about this in a great little book called Counting Sheep. I think the idea to 'training yourself' was to try and get awareness of when you are going to sleep... going into the hypnagogic stage. At this point the 'sleeper' is semi-conscious and can have what feels like hallucinations. This is also referred to as 'faces in the dark' apparently. Anyway, I should best leave it to the experts to explain. Just read Counting Sheep if you're interested in the science of sleep (or the lack of understanding about it!).

[Champagne]

I tend to remember numerous dreams from the night before. I have experiencecd lucid dreaming 2 or 3 times but it's definitely not a regular occurrence for me.

[georgit79]

Wish I could do it- I'm forever dreaming about stuff I don't want to be dreaming about!

[pixi]

hey booldawg, I can do this, I have extremely vivid dreams nearly every night,  in fact I love dreaming almost as much as I love being awake in the real world.  so much so that  if I go to sleep and cant remember dreaming the next day, I feel ripped off

hi obonio, this faces in the dark thingy, is that where when you are dropping off to sleep faces seem to loom out of nowhere then disappear ?cos I get this a lot too

[Robinia]

Same here FP - I actually got some sleep last night & managed to get back into a rather nice dream.

I did once go back to a dream & woke up thinking - 'well that wasn't the ending I really wanted!'

[OBonio]

Hi pixi, yup that's the 'faces in the dark' thing.

http://skepdic.com/hypnagogic.html

[nedflanders]

I can control them too ! Usually in dreams where I am being chased like in 'The Matrix' (One of the reasons I love the film)

I can also wake up if neccessary.

But when I am dreaming about (you know Racy ladies and stuff) I dont seem to be able to control them (Damn women never do what you want)!

I think it is a confidence thing that I can run fast and fight and jump and fly etc. as I am physically confident but lack confidence in the other matter ?

[pixi]

Thanks for that obonio, I also have had the sleep paralysis and thought I was going mad till I saw a programme on tv about it years ago

[inky]

We sleep in 4 stages...bout an hour a stage then its goes back to the first stage! stage 4 is the lightest stage of sleep, which is y people say 8hours is gud...its divisable by 4...so 8 hours is better then 9,10,11hours sleep!Or like 4 hours is better then 5,6,7hours! We tend to dream the most in the deeper stages of sleep...which can rarely be controlled....if ever, when we dream in the lighter stages of sleep e.g 3rd stage, and 4thstage they can often and easily be controlled.
hope this helps....phil/inky

[Booldawg]

Hmm, seems 50/50 to me. Guess its like anything else in life, ability to paint, play music, everyone has a certain amount of it, some more than others. Thanks to all who have answered.

[littleoldme]

It happens to me occasionally - like woofgang, I can often force myself to wake up if I'm aware I'm having a bad dream, but if I wake up for any reason in the middle of a good dream, I can't go back to sleep and resume it.

[Booldawg]

i can usually remember my dreams quite well. There is a stage, just before I go to sleep when I can recall dreams that I've had like, 10 years ago, they all start rollling in, one after the other - I'm awake enough to be able to remember it

I'm getting interested in this subject and have started blogging my dreams each day as an aide memoire, and just for a bit of fun.

[Trillipse]

now then. when i was with my pretentious/hippified philsophy crowd way back in uni, certain bores would drone on and on about directed/lucid dreaming with the same vigour that they'd talk Donne, or Nietszche or internet or smart drugs or kaballism or jazz or ... you get the picture.

At the time i was too self-involved to listen, and never read any of the books they touted, but since then i have experienced some lucid dreaming through employing some of the dribs i picked up from them. I am a great fan of sleep, and value dreams extemely highly.

Now, I'm a psychiatric nurse, and find the relationship of dreams to certain psychotic states extremely interesting, and talking with eg schizophrenics is most rewarding. i like to see value in anything i can, and am trying to imbue some into the illnesses i see.

as point three, while talking to a patient today, i was letting my mind drift as he chatted randomly, in response to my responses etc, and a very vivid image of a long ago dream came to me, BANG in the front of my mind, seeming in some indefinable way linked to some aspect of our chat... I love it when that happens, even if just to bolster my belief that all is interconnected.

Does this happen to others?

[b13thy]

I have very trippy dreams but put this down to a healthy dose of THC before i drop off. I have also experienced lucid dreaming, but its very few and far between.

[mycatis]

I always hae these kind of dreams and have always felt sorry for people who dont seem to enjoy dreaming as much as I do. I have a dream diary which is full of rambling cause I usually remember everything about my dreams, I have had dreams that when I think about them in the morning, it's clear that I should do something or change something. I also have bout 3/4 dreams that I have had (on and off ) since I was really small and find these incredible comforting. I LOVE DREAMS
Saying that, have any of you ever had sleep paralysis? I've had it a few times but the first time was by far the worst, I have never been so scared in my life. I thought there was an evil person in my room which was making it all worse, it wasn't untill I researched it that I discovered that that is actually part of the paralysis, really weird and scary!

[MargeB]

From my research (ie a previously asked AB question) I think we discovered two good conditions for lucid dreaming:

-food in general, but especially CHEESE before bed.

-getting about 6 hour's sleep, waking, getting back to sleep again. The later sleep seems to be ripe for lucid dreaming.

I LOVE it. My only problem is if someone else is in the room. When I lucid dream, I talk my way through the whole experience, pretty disturbing for whoever is there. My sister does it too, but in italian. How weird is that.

No mention of 'Vanilla Sky' yet!

[Dark Angel]

I'm a lucid dreamer. Its not something that I taught myself, but am naturally so. Even if a hundred people are chasing me I manage to fly, walk through walls, go up stairs at high speed like a cartoon character etc.

There are also dreams that can't be classified - they are dreams where you know you're dreaming, but cant wake yourself up. It was not a nightmare but there were dead people who were talking to me, and though it was not unpleasant, I wanted to wake up to reality, but couldn't!!!

[Otrere]

I am almost certain that I can control my dreams. Though I hate the ones that I can't as usually they're nightmares. I only seem to be able to control the nicer dreams?