Lucid Dream V Normal Dreaming Options

Hello!

I believe this is my first substantial post to these forums.

I've been working on my ability to astrally project and lucid dream for a few days now, though I have been working on it on and off for a while.

Last night I had what I thought initially may have been my first lucid dream. After failing to astral project I kept chanting to myself 'I will take control of my dream' until eventually I fell asleep. At first it definitely felt as though I was projecting, though eventually the environment around be began to distort a little. For example, things that were in my room or the upper floor of my house when I was 'projecting' wasn't actually there. I vividly remember initially having a -lot- of trouble moving. I was stuck in my bed. I then got the idea of pulling myself up via some shirts hanging on the door, only these weren't actually there.

Basically I definitely had awareness of what was going on at the beginning, but I'm more tempted to label it a lucid dream rather than a astral projection per se. This however leads me to the topic.

On reflection I'm a bit skeptical as to whether it was, in fact, a lucid dream at all. Towards the end of the 'dream' laid back down in bed and put in my mp3 player (that was actually downstairs) and listened to music (that I didn't actually have on my mp3 player). It may have started out as one, but I'm assuming as time wore on the natural inclination to sleep got the better of me. As an aside, I do notice that a few recommend keeping any initial projection as short as possible and I'm assuming this is the reason why.

How does one tell the difference between a dream and a lucid dream? This may seem a bit obvious, but is it really? Could I not have easily dreamed I was in control of my actions through a subconcious desire to do so? Can anyone recommend any firm tests to tell?

Thanks!

Hello!

I believe this is my first substantial post to these forums.

I've been working on my ability to astrally project and lucid dream for a few days now, though I have been working on it on and off for a while.

Last night I had what I thought initially may have been my first lucid dream. After failing to astral project I kept chanting to myself 'I will take control of my dream' until eventually I fell asleep. At first it definitely felt as though I was projecting, though eventually the environment around be began to distort a little. For example, things that were in my room or the upper floor of my house when I was 'projecting' wasn't actually there. I vividly remember initially having a -lot- of trouble moving. I was stuck in my bed. I then got the idea of pulling myself up via some shirts hanging on the door, only these weren't actually there.

Basically I definitely had awareness of what was going on at the beginning, but I'm more tempted to label it a lucid dream rather than a astral projection per se. This however leads me to the topic.

On reflection I'm a bit skeptical as to whether it was, in fact, a lucid dream at all. Towards the end of the 'dream' laid back down in bed and put in my mp3 player (that was actually downstairs) and listened to music (that I didn't actually have on my mp3 player). It may have started out as one, but I'm assuming as time wore on the natural inclination to sleep got the better of me. As an aside, I do notice that a few recommend keeping any initial projection as short as possible and I'm assuming this is the reason why.

How does one tell the difference between a dream and a lucid dream? This may seem a bit obvious, but is it really? Could I not have easily dreamed I was in control of my actions through a subconcious desire to do so? Can anyone recommend any firm tests to tell?

Thanks!

In a lucid dream you do become conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, unfortunately it seems to be difficult to maintain control for any length of time. You either wake up from the shock of being able to manipulate the dream or you eventually slip straight back into normal unconscious dreaming after a short while.

One way of maintaining it is to do couple of things that act as both control methods and proofs of the lucid dream state:

Look at your hands - for some reason, in the lucid dream, looking at your hands reaffirms your conscious mind and you maintain the consciousness while in the dream state,

Look into any mirrors or shiny objects - I have found that this helps. If you do this you will see that the reflections are often distorted somehow, be it the mirror looks dirty, or foggy or like a carnival mirror.

Switch lights on and off - for some reason light switches don't work in dreams, especially lucid dreams.

Read any books/magazines/writing in the dream - the parts of our brains that deal with reading and the written language are de-activated during sleep, so any books or magazines we see will not make any sense if we attempt to read them.

These little things help you maintain control. Once that control is established you can do anything you want. The first thing I always do is attempt to fly. If I tell myself that I want to fly when lucid dreaming then bingo, it happens. It's also possible to astrally project from the lucid dreaming state, but once again, the shock of doing this almost always is enough to wake you up, unless you are experienced at Astral Projection.

Good luck with the lucid dreaming, it's hard to master as the ability to Lucid dream relies a lot on the dreamers ability to recognise a dream. Best way to enable yourself to do this regularly is to come up with some sort of reality control, either develop a habit that will let you know you're not sleeping (kinda like Cobb does in Inception, spinning his top which is an incredibly elegant method of dream or reality affirmation) or begin to question your reality once every hour. If you can do this consistantly you'll develop the habit and will do it in your sleep, literally!

This post has been edited by Tom Foolery: Feb 22 2011, 02:43 AM

How does one tell the difference between a dream and a lucid dream? This may seem a bit obvious, but is it really? Could I not have easily dreamed I was in control of my actions through a subconcious desire to do so? Can anyone recommend any firm tests to tell?

Thanks!

Lucid dreaming implies that you are aware that you are dreaming. If you are not aware, then it isn't a lucid dream, although i believe there are degrees approaching lucidity. The point in a dream just before achieving a lucid state within it are usually incomparably vivid, and it is possible to reach that vividness and not actually achieve lucidity. Because of the influence of the conscious mind, that phase of dreaming usually progresses in a somewhat linear fashion, as opposed to a much less lucid state where no real concept of time or cause/effect is present in it's traditional form.

So the test is literally, in the dream, ascertaining whether or not you know you are dreaming - "Am I dreaming? Oh, wait, I am!"

Sometimes there are natural triggers, in my opinion one of the best ways is to focus on those. If you have a recurring dream, for instance, especially a nightmare of some sort, that makes an excellent trigger. I for instance have dreams about my teeth falling out, and have for over a decade now. For the first five years or so it was just a terribly disturbing dream. However, there came a point when I began to remind myself while awake that if my teeth start falling out suddenly I'm in a dream. I wore a little bracelet and continually fiddled with it reminding myself of this throughout the day.

The next time I had this dream, I was at a sink spitting my teeth out when I suddenly just realized "Wait, this would never happen, I must be dreaming." Now, there's a short period where you do at first worry that maybe your not dreaming, but in my case I was just conscious enough to hold onto it and insist that, "No, really, this has to be a dream." Then, *poof* just like that I was fully lucid. I think there's something about the stress response that does it very well.

So, even if it's not a nightmare of some sort, figure out if there is a reoccurring symbol or theme that you dream about, and try to make that into your trigger in a dream. Habits do sometimes carry into dreams, but it also will depend on the setting. Looking at your hands and checking lights, etc., are actually good ways to stay lucid in a dream more than they are triggering them, at least in my experience. Then, when you have checked in the dream more than once, getting there becomes a little bit easier each time.

Another way is to create a dream object of some sort. If you're able to invest a great deal of significance into objects, then a dream fetische can be a powerful tool. Essentially create some small, very interesting object, it doesn't matter what it is because it has to be personal to you and very catching to your attention. Keep this object with you all the time, under all circumstances where it is possible - sit it on the side of the tub while you bath, put it under your pillow or on your side table when you sleep, etc. Bring it out often to look at it and fiddle with it, and invest as much interest and fixation on it as you are capable of. Think about it all the time. After a few months, put it away in special place and stop thinking about it if you can. At this point the concept of the object becomes 'repressed', and you will dream about it. When you do, you will become fixated on the object in the dream, and will become lucid. It's a long method, but very powerful. You can invest certain qualities in the object - if you treat it and speak to it as a guide, or even invite a spirit guide to attach itself to it, then at the dreaming point you can communicate with that guide in the dream; their purpose in fact might even be to wake you up inside the dream.

Good luck, keep us updated!

peace

A lucid dream is when you are aware that you are dreaming. Like Vagrant said, it comes in degrees but I want to mention that I'm pretty sure dream quality comes in degrees also so even if you are able to wake up in your dream every time you dream, you still may not have the perfect clarity everyone wants. For example think of lucid dreaming like watching a tv. If you have bad vision then you won't be able to see the amazing quality of a high def tv. But even if you have amazing eyes (as in you are fully lucid during a dream) you won't be able to make out the picture of a poor quality tv no matter how good you can see.

Also I don't use hands or objects to wake up in my dreams, its just sort of a habit because I concentrate on it every night which works fine for me. Good luck with your dreams!