One more question: Are any of you out there lucid dreamers besides me?

Question

A lucid dreamer is someone who recognizes that they are asleep and can manipulate and control their dreams in any way they see fit.

Answer 1

I have had lucid dreams, but not in a long time.

Answer 2

I've had those dreams in the past, they're fascinating :]

Whenever I have them (which isn't that often) I end up realizing "Hey, wait I'm dreaming!" and then I wake-up.

I've read a few sites on it and would love to be able to have more lucid dreams, but the techniques they suggest don't work for me. The visual cues, the dream journal etc.

I've heard about the whole astral plane junk but personally I don't buy it. If it's true well... that's some wild stuff. If they could discover how to induce lucid dreaming it would be a very powerful tool for society. In the span of a single night you could experience what seems like days or weeks on end :] Would be great for brainstorming, writing/illustrators, philosophers, etc.

Answer 3

Yes, sometimes. I learned to do it by recognising some of the common motifs that recurred in my dreams, and training myself to do "reality checks" whenever I recognised those motifs.

It takes some practice, and I find I usually need to focus on the process before I go to sleep for lucid dreams to be likely to occur.

I can't always control the dreams, though - for me the key feature is that I recognise the experience is a dream rather than normal conscious reality.

I find that all my lucid dreams tend to end suddenly in full wakefulness, in contrast to normal dreams which fade and wakefulness is more gradual. This suggests some to me that some parts of the brain might be active in lucid dreaming that aren't in normal dreaming. They can be a lot of fun especially if you master flying, and it's interesting to explore different ways of being conscious.

I agree with Simon C about the astral plane stuff. Initially when I learned to lucid dream I wondered if I was moving through the real world as a disembodied entity, but soon realised that the lucid dream environment is as imaginary as any other dream setting - it just "feels" more real. Perhaps other people have different experiences.

Answer 4

I've been studying lucid dreaming off and on since the late 80s. It's not as flawless and long-lasting as it looks in movies like "Dream Scape", but it's not pseudo-science. It's a learnable skill. Dr. Stephen LaBerge proved it by recognizing that a patient was in the sleeping state, and consciously repeated back a series of specific eye movements that could be observed during the R.E.M. state.

Answer 5

particular those on innovative and prescient Quests discover ways to Lucid Dream Others can use meditation to place the techniques right into a state of this manner of dreaming additionally you may start up by skill of asking all day--"am I dreaming?" This starts to software the techniques to ask each and every of the time--even in sleep. as quickly as you recognize you're dreaming you're lucid and would then take over the dream and craft it as you like--artwork on an argument, have an extremely marvelous experience, face a terror wisely...

Answer 6

I used to lucid dream a long time ago. I stopped doing it because I decided that since I'm in control of my life when I'm awake, it was good to release that control when asleep.

Now I mostly use what I learned in lucid dreaming for two things--to wake myself up from bad dreams, and to keep myself from waking from a dream I'm enjoying.

Answer 7

I have had lucid dreams but it wasn't because I decided to I just realized that I could manipulate objects as I was already dreaming.

Answer 8

Yes and no. Sometimes I don't recognise it till days later.