“Am I awake or am I dreaming?” I ask myself for probably the hundredth time. I am fully awake, just like all the other times I asked, and to be honest I am beginning to feel a bit silly. All week I have been performing this “reality check” in the hope that it will become so ingrained in my mind that I will start asking it in my dreams too.
If I succeed, I will have a lucid dream – a thrilling state of consciousness somewhere between waking and sleeping in which, unlike conventional dreams, you are aware that you are dreaming and able to control your actions. Once you have figured this out, the dream world is theoretically your oyster, and you can act out your fantasies to your heart’s content.
Journalistic interest notwithstanding, I am pursuing lucid dreaming for entertainment. To some neuroscientists, however, the phenomenon is of profound interest, and they are using lucid dreamers to explore some of the weirder aspects of the brain’s behaviour during the dream state (see “Dream mysteries”). Their results are even shedding light on the way our brains produce our rich and complex conscious experience.”
Read more at New Scientist
I’ve been dreaming semi-lucidly from about age 13 onwards, when I figured out that I could just wake myself up or change the dream if it was frightening me. I don’t exactly remember that I’m dreaming, but I do have a sort of realisation that I’m in control, so if I find myself on holiday without my luggage, I visualise said luggage, open my eyes and hey presto, luggage. If something fucks up badly, I rewind and redo it. If the dream gets scary, I ‘change channels’ or wake myself up.
It’s not exactly the do-whatever-you-want type of lucid dreaming, but it’s a useful skill. On the other hand, when I got pickpocketed in the real, waking world, it did make me desperately try to rewind, only to remember I wasn’t bloody dreaming…
Now and again i can do this …. I’m aware that i’m dreaming and whatever i think of happens. I cant control when i can do it though and perhaps only happens once in 3 months. I have also had a strange state where iv’e been woken by a really loud buzz coming from within my head. It’s like a half awake half asleep state and i have to shake my head to get rid of the noise as its deafening!
It’s quite ambitious aiming to control dreams, not knowing what they actually are or what causes them. But that does sound like an amazing experience, if it’s possible. No doubt after a while we’ll all choose to live in our dream worlds.
Every now and again I can do this and it stays with me for periods of time and then goes away for years. But really, I just want to pass out cold and be undisturbed thankyouverymuch.
I have had some dreams where I realize I am dreaming. it’s a weird feeling because you understand you can do whatever you want, and nothing bad will happen
I do this a lot. I find the best way for me is to wake up early in the morning, stay conscious for a few minutes and think about lucid dreaming and then try to sort of retain that as I fall back to sleep. Rarely do I lucid dream during a long sleep. It’s usually after having woken up for a bit or during naps. Doesn’t work all the time though, I’m not sure what really triggers it for me, sometimes I just notice something is wrong in a dream and then think “oh I’m in a dream” then off I go. Other times I just find I’m lucid and can’t remember why. The method you mentioned sounds good, I’ve read about it before but never had the self-discipline to remember to keep doing it! Good luck
lucid dreaming is a fantastic experience.
Nice link to Amazons book of the week 59 Seconds.
I frequently have lucid dreams. They are amazing, as soon as I realise I am dreaming I do what I want! Usually flying
I was thinking about this in the shower last year, thinking would it be like the matrix. I thought I had thought of something original, after a little research I realized it was real. I don’t think I have ever had a lucid dream before, there is only one occasion where I cannot explain what happened but I was around 5.
While I have enjoyed lucid dreaming a great deal, I would like to add a caveat.
When I first did it, I was a horny 15 year old. It helped me to manage my nightmares and eventually eradicate them.
I then did some exciting stuff like climb on the roof of a train or jump out of a plane. Wow. It is amazing how detailed the experience is, especially if you look at surface like grass. You can smell it, touch it, pick individual blades, just incredible.
HOWEVER – I found that if I wanted to have random sex with an imaginary stranger, they would react just as if it was real. Running away, screaming.
I am not in the habit of pretending to rape imaginary people. I totally failed to have realistic sex in my lucid dreams. No sex at all, in fact.
No lurid dreams for me.
I at times have the feeling that I dream during the day .. that I am in a nightmare … that this can not be reality. It feels simply too surreal at times for me.
I dont recall having had lucid dreams. Not sure if I would find that so exciting. I can use the same mind while being awake, can’t I? And let all things happen in there I want to happen….
I do remember that my way of sensing/feeling things is not the same as during the day. Although that also differs with dreams .. is not always the same .. so I think those scientists did not see the complexity of it yet .. the brain twirls through a lot of states there as well .. as it does during the day ..
Being aware that we are aware .. Hm, other animals have that too. Not really something I’d call human-only.
I have lucid dreams very often. I can even decide what I want to dream about before I fall asleep…
Another interesting point – for those who would like to try lucid dreaming.
Do as the article says – ask yourself ‘am i awake or dreaming?’ throughout each day. Eventually you will ask yourself that in a dream.
Try to look at your hands in a dream – this was the key for me. When I ‘intended’ to look at my hands, suddenly my conscious mind was awake but I was still in a dream environment.
The next stage – keep looking at your hands, but hold them in front of you. Move your ‘gaze’ away from your hands to look at your surroundings. See how real they look! The periphery might swim and change, but the central point of vision will be incredibly detailed and realistic.
Then – look at some other stuff. Keep your mind focused or you will ‘fall asleep’ again.
It doesn’t always last long.
Also – it can be hard work, and requires commitment.
I have stopped doing it because I enjoy unpredictable dreams and adventures and because it no longer happens so easily for me.
It helped me to stop the sleep paralysis. I don’t know why.
Make sure you are comfortable in bed, but not too comfortable. If you are cocooned in a 15 tog duvet with 4 pillows you will sleep too deeply (and get a bad neck).
On your side, not back.
Wearing blue pyjamas and a pentagram pendant.
Chanting liturgies and drawing sigils in your sleep.
With your familiar at your side – a cat is best.
Woo woo!
Just my little joke.
When my Thyroid started to stop working and I was put on thyroid tablets daily, I began to have the most amazing, eventful and inticate dreams. Many were anxiety based so now I keep a sketchbook next to the bed to draw what I’ve seen.
When my grandmother died (a family rift had prevented me from contact with her for 8 years) I could not remember her house as I’d last seen
it aged 9. Months later I dreamed I visited it, and examined all the rooms. I went into drawers, looked at books, all kinds of stuff right down to the order of her writing table. When I spoke to my auntie about it & descibed stuff without disclosing it was dreamt- I found out it was a perfect recall. Odd how the brain stores info as I’d only stayed at the house about 3 times as a child- suddenly having to leave when my mum had a massive row with her mother.
I would love to be able to dream whatever I wanted. As I’ve gotten older, my dreams have grown more and more life like (when I was little I used to dream in cartoons
) and I sometimes have trouble remembering whether something was real or whether it was just a dream. But despite them being very vivid, I can’t control my dreams at all (I can sometimes wake myself up if I’m having a nightmare, but that’s it.) I’ve tried telling myself to dream about certain things, or have the same dream twice, or dream in black and white (one of my friends does that…I think it would be cool,) but they’re still totally random, and I never realise that I’m dreaming.
It’s an interesting subject here.. Lucid dreaming is such a strange thing, but if you’ve experienced it, it really is so amazing. I have had one lucid dream, and this was recently. It was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me and it’s so lifelike. Your mind can create bizaare things in intricate detail. If you want to learn to lucid dream, I’d recommend going on wikipedia and wikihow. They have everything you need to know, apart from the fact that playing video games (especially sandbox) heightens the chances of being ‘lucid’. I remember when I found that out – a couple of weeks ago on here actually – and that night, after playing on PS2, had a lucid dream during sleep.
Flying is awesome.
I’ve had a few lucid dreams before, or at least, what I percieve to be lucid. The first one occured when I was younger because I had nightmares. Nightmare, actually. It was a reoccuring dream dealing with me and my old elementary school and dinosaurs. I was afraid of dinosaurs at the time, and it was reflectant in my dreams. Time and time again, the T-Rex would show up and gobble me up because I couldn’t out run it. Yet – when I had my first lucid dream, I became aware that I could change things. I was enlightened in my dream, and I proceeded to walk through one of the walls into an empty classroom, rendering me safe from T-Rex. The lucid dream that started it all off. Recently, I had a lucid dream, where I was able to fly, control air, and “understand” how things worked. Such fun :]
One way I have found that works, is tell yourself as your drifting off to sleep, to look at your hands in a dream. If you remember to look at your hands sometimes it can trigger a lucid dream. It’s worked for me quite a few times.
@Jess – Cartoon dreaming sounds great. I will try that in my next nightmare. It will probably involve Joe and Lou.
@Jess it would be so cool to have a cartoon dream, then again mine would probably been some weird Felix the Cat/ Ren and Stimpy/ late night cartoon network craziness : s
BTW love the picture that accompanies the article.
i am aware that i am dreaming when i am dreaming. i have tried to direct my dreams and it works up until a point, i can never reach the house which i allways try to, instead thier are obsticals that stop me from getting there;.
I have lucid dreams all the time, and use them almost as meditations, and I can revisit dreams when I want to, taking different paths each time which is amazing. I always have these dreams in my last sleep cycle, just before waking up in the morning, or if I fall asleep briefly without realising it. I’ve also been having predictive dreams recently, where I’ll dream something and it will happen the next day! Not sure what to make of these as it’s always mundane things, one example was my chair being taken in work, so could just be coincidence, but I’ve had a lot of these, so finding it a bit weird! I think dreams are fascinating, and I’m always disappointed after a night of dreamless sleep!
I have very vivid dreams. Unfortunatly I can’t control them. But sometimes they are so realistic when I wake up I’m still tired as I’ve been so busy all night! one good one was running a shop in Victorian times. I loved my outfit in that one!
LUCIDOLOGY 101
Best course on how to lucid dream
I don’t think I’ve ever had a lucid dream. Well I probably have at some point, but maybe I didn’t realise. But then thats not a lucid dream, is it? This is confusing…
I am a pretty good lucid dreamer and have been persuing this topic for about 2 years
Have have done whatever i could to learn this skill
and at last i am a good lucid dreamer and want to say that everyone should learn it its a great skill to develop
I promote lucid dreaming in every opportunity
so i will tell u can use lucid dreaming not only for fun but also for exploring new ideas as i have don myself
For derren brown if you want to see your portrait of anyone u want to make u can see that portrait before its made with the utmost clarity and reality
My problem is that half the time when I ask this question to myself in dreams, my dream-self mostly determines that it’s not a dream at all but reality! I used to be able to figure out I’m dreaming then happily lucid dream but alas not for a long time now!