Let's get lucid

[m0ds]

Stuck for your latest game idea? Want to fly? Basically want to do whatever you want, whilst you're asleep?

Okay, so "whatever you want" may be a little un-true, but the ability to guide your dreams has inspired me a lot and it's something I'd like to be able to do.

TerranRich started a thread a while back about lucid dreaming and explained about how he gave it a shot. However, it sounded to me more like an OBE (out of body experience) than a lucid dream but, Rich, I could be wrong! He felt his thread didn't get the justice it deserved so I'm starting up a new one.

Lots of people have the ability to lucid dream and last night I was reading up on http://www.lucidity.com about how to achieve it and what not, and it sounds thrilling.

The basic principal is that when you're dreaming, you are aware that you are dreaming, and therefore realise that actually you are just in your bed perfectly safe and therefore can "guide" or "take-control" of your dreams. And pretty much do as you like.

The website explains several fairly easy steps to learning how to be a lucid dreamer. It appears that firstly you have to start realising that when you're awake, you're awake. That it is not a dream. But then also you have to imagine your surroundings as if it WAS a dream. (This bit confused me).

So, has anyone achieved this state? And have you done anything wacky? I know that if I ever have the ability to lucid dream there are LOADS of things I'd like to try out.

My only concern is the Games Factory theory. Basically that means, before I got the Games Factory, I visualised making racing games, 3D games and so forth, and then found out all it was good for was platformers. So, an expectations thing.

None the less, i'm intruiged and want to try it. I'm bored of shitty-dreams I can't control and would love the oppurtunity to be able to go to sleep and lead a "second" life as such. And what's good is that you don't even have to be religious :p

So if anyone's tried it, done it, can do it or knows ways of achieving it - please, let me know.


m0ds

[M]

I keep meaning to try it but havent got round to it just yet. Sounds cool, though. Duzz has whole section about lucid dreaming on his site that got me gripped a while ago.

[Shattered Sponge]

  I tried this a while back, but my sleeping patterns are too erratic and my dream-recall too poor (I tried keeping a dream diary, but I could never think to write in it when I woke up) for it to have been really succesful; however, I do recall one instance where I felt like I was in a lucid dream, and I started flying around (I wasn't really in possession of enough of my faculties in order to be able to think of anything original to do) but when I woke up it felt more like I'd dreamt about having a lucid dream, if ya catch my drift.

 I might give this another go once I've got a bit more flexibility in terms of sleeping patterns, though; it's a very interesting phenomonon.

[Nacho]

There are certain moments in my life when I can be quite good at directing my dreams... Some other times I just can't remember anything, so I can't really say if I'm lucid or not, but let me tell you how it works:

You must be very analistyc... I can control my dreams when I know that they're dreams. I've been told that only the human can remember dreams, because they can differenciate between dreams and reality, while animals can't (And it should be tricky if a cow awakes up thinking it can fly...)

Allways there is something that shows that you're in a dream... I.E. the buildings are different, if there are not happening more major things around (Flying pink elephants or something like that...) so... be aware of any sign of something strange in everything that is around you, in your life.

This is an ability that you must train while you're awake...

After that, the next step is quite difficult... If you're in a dream and you know it, your power is overwhelming, so... it is very easy to expoil it all! I remember that I was once dreaming that I was getting away from a killer... When I've realised of the absurd of the situation (I was in a strange abandoned factory of a big city, nothing similar to what I have to face everyday), I realised that I was dreaming, and then I decided to give a lesson to the killer. The result was absurd, I converted into a superhero and started to fly. This situations finally make you awaken up...

But if you archieve to go on dreaming it's thrilling, bacause,I don't know why, but every little think you have can get true while you're dreaming, which means that if you've felt pessimistic thae previous days, things in the dream can start to go badly... Till you recover the "control" the situation is very exciting...

Well... I don't think that many people here can face dangerous situations ofter, so, strange things happening in dreams can be quite exciting, don't you thing?

[Robert Eric]

I'd rather not have control over my dreams.  I like being surprised by what my subconsciousness comes up with.  Just the other day, I had a dream that I was on a rubber raft with a band of pirates looking for Captian Chedder's sacred purple cheese.

[m0ds]

M, thanks for the link to Duzz's site. The only bit thats confusing me still is the whole reality check thing.

Text keeps changing and moving. Look at a word or phrase that you keep with you, and study it carefully to see if the words or letters move around, then look away, and back to see if they’ve changed. Alternatively you could look at your digital watch, and see if it reads correctly.

Okay, do I do this when I'm awake or asleep?

The first time I counted 6 fingers on my right hand then another time 8, and it was all funny colours. Another time my left hand had the right amount of fingers, but they were all spread apart, it’s usually different, but never like my hand is in real life.

And what about this one? When do you do this? When asleep or awake? I mean, I don't understand how I'm suddenly going to see 8 fingers if I'm awake :p

Oh, and Farlander! That was very insightful and intruiging. I have a friend, Owain, who claims about 50% of his dreams are lucid - and knowing him they probably are. I think lucid dreaming is a gift - and it sounds like you have the ability to do it

m0ds

[shbaz]

Another way is through self-hypnosis or meditation. You need to be able to relax to the extreme, where your entire body is numb and you will go into a waking sleep. Once you are totally relaxed, you will feel your heart begin to thump very hard, and it freaked me out the first time it happened so I wasn't able to do it again for a while. After your heart starts thumping really hard, you will eventually start to dream, or some people believe you leave your body. At this point, you are in total control of what happens. Another weird thing is that I was able to control my heartbeats.. maybe not something to mess around with.

[Ghormak]

Okay, do I do this when I'm awake or asleep?

Both. If you do it enough while awake, you'll (hopefully) eventually start doing it while dreaming. And if you check your watch while dreaming, check it again and notice that it doesn't say the same thing, you know you're dreaming. Yippee, lucidity!

[m0ds]

Aha! So, when I experience it when I'm dreaming Ghormak, and see that the numbers have changed or something, I will eventually start realising that I am dreaming.

Gotcha! w00t

EDIT: One dream springs very clearly to mind, and it wasn't so long ago. I have no idea if it was a lucid dream but it almost seems to, if it's not, then it was just a realistic weird dream.

What I remember is sitting at my computer, and chatting on IRC in #ags. I kept asking everyone how it was possible that I was asleep yet sitting at my PC and using IRC, and everyone seemed confused and stunned. It just felt like I was sitting there typing for about half an hour. The next day, I almost went back on and asked if everyone remember chatting to me.

[Mr Jake]

I recall doing this when I was younger, Id have dreams that sometimes would span the entire week with me being this 'other life' during the dreams (about a day of the life total over a week worth of nights dreaming)

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

What I remember is sitting at my computer, and chatting on IRC in #ags. I kept asking everyone how it was possible that I was asleep yet sitting at my PC and using IRC, and everyone seemed confused and stunned. It just felt like I was sitting there typing for about half an hour. The next day, I almost went back on and asked if everyone remember chatting to me.

Ah yes, being stoned on irc. Quite the passtime, eh mods   :

[Meowster]

Yes, Lucid dreams are totally awesome. I used to be really awesome at them. Then, one day, I got so good at controlling my dreams that I told myself I was going to GET UP WHILE I WAS STILL ASLEEP. I started by trying to lift my arm. It was really odd, because I kept lifting it in the dream and telling myself, "no, not good enough, you have to lift it in real life". It was like some sort of frikkin' dream magic. And then finally I managed to do it, and my arm felt so unbelievably heavy... and I let go, and the next moment I woke up because my fist had fallen on my face.

After that,  my lucid dreams just went on a downhill spiral.

[Felipe]

I used to be able to do some things when I was younger that could be considered 'lucid dreaming'.
I remember once I managed to say to someone in my dream - a famous (and beautiful) Brazillian actress - that I was dreaming. I mean, not like saying "This can't be true!" but as actually saying "I'm in my bed right now and this is my dream."
I also managed to 'fly' when I realised I was dreaming and, more often, I used to... how can I say... "play" with every female in my dreams... like, 10 in a row :

However, nowadays, although sometimes I still can realise I'm sleeping, when I do that, I tend to wake up. It's like being awake and sleeping at the same time - 'IN' my dream I realise I'm about to wake up, and I can hear both "Worlds" - the "sounds" from my dream and the 'noises' IRL - for a few seconds before waking up...

[Robert Eric]

Why, just last night, I was dreaming that I was driving from Canada to Okinowa, and I accidently stumbled into the long forgotten psychadellic love tunnel created by the feet of drunken, homosexual chinese men wearing leather.  They waved to me and shouted, "Join us, and we will lick your armpits and dry you of your ball sweat!"  Naturally, I started driving faster, when Robert DeNiro popped up out of nowhere, and stood right in the middle of the street.  He seemed to be having an epileptic seizure, and was wearing a wedding dress.  I couldn't stop in time, and ran him over.  His body popped open and spewed forth many copies of Penthouse and National Inquirer.  I grabbed a copy of National Inquirer, and saw that m0ds had recently gotten a sex change opereration from Yufster.  M0ds had also changed his name to m0dsette.  At the end of the tunnel, BOYD1981 was riverdancing and singing a song in a high-pitched voice.  I ran him over too, but he managed to get back up and chase after me.  He did catch up, then pick up the car, and flung it into the air.  After about two hours, I landed in Scotland, then realised I was dreaming, and woke myself up.

Would that be lucid dreaming?

[m0ds]

Nope, that'd just be you making a twat of yourself and turning a fairly interesting thread into a stupid, immature one.

[Robert Eric]

Well, it's a good thing that dream never happened, eh?

[Peter Thomas]

They waved to me and shouted, "Join us, and we will lick your armpits and dry you of your ball sweat!"  Naturally, I started driving faster, when Robert DeNiro popped up out of nowhere, and stood right in the middle of the street.  He seemed to be having an epileptic seizure, and was wearing a wedding dress.  I couldn't stop in time, and ran him over.  His body popped open and spewed forth many copies of Penthouse and National Inquirer.  I grabbed a copy of National Inquirer, and saw that m0ds had recently gotten a sex change opereration from Yufster.  M0ds had also changed his name to m0dsette.  At the end of the tunnel, BOYD1981 was riverdancing and singing a song in a high-pitched voice.  I ran him over too, but he managed to get back up and chase after me.  He did catch up, then pick up the car, and flung it into the air.  After about two hours, I landed in Scotland, then realised I was dreaming, and woke myself up.

*sigh* That sorta thing happens to me in REAL LIFE!!!

[Gregjazz]

Lucid dreaming -- been there, done that. Actually, the first step to getting lucid dreams more often is just to get dreams more often. What works for me is to keep a notebook or post-its by my bed, and when I've just awoken from a dream, write it down. Even just a couple of unconnected words will work. The whole purpose is remembering your dreams. I find that if I don't write it down, my dream can be easily forgotten.

Once you get in the habit of writing down your dreams, you'll be able to have a dream every night, and pretty soon, a majority of those dreams will be lucid. For example, I've had two lucid dreams in the past week.

I get really great ideas for games and movie plots from my dreams, too. It's a great way to get good ideas.

[Peter Thomas]

I hate people who have lucid dreams so easily  :'(

A year or so ago, I spent about two months FULLY concentrating on lucid dreaming. And where did I get?

Abso-friggin-lutely nowhere.....

Life is cruel.

[Meowster]

Why are me and Mark the object of so many admiration and fan stories?

Are we both that sexy?