Author Topic: How to Lucid Dream -- Nice wikiHow page (Read 29,870 times)

mouser · « **on:** September 10, 2009, 01:27 AM »

Quote

The most basic definition of lucid dreaming is "being aware you are dreaming while dreaming". Most lucid dreams are about things you want to happen. Although most people know they're lucid dreaming, you can change your dream to how you want it to be... You can control your dreams using the lucid dreaming methods that follow...

http://www.wikihow.com/Lucid-Dream

from http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/

Paul Keith · « **Reply #1 on:** September 10, 2009, 01:33 AM »

Just out of curiosity mouser, what did you find nice about the article?

mouser · « **Reply #2 on:** September 10, 2009, 01:51 AM »

i read the cognitivedaily blog regularly -- you'll see it linked above after the word "from.."

(my academic background is artificial intelligence and neuroscience)

zridling · « **Reply #3 on:** September 10, 2009, 02:19 PM »

I once got shot in a dream and went down, thinking I was going to die. Then I realized I was dreaming, wasn't actually hurt, got up and finished robbing bank. It's never happened again.

Dreams (reality) = good.
Lucid dreams (alternate reality) = awesome!

Edvard · « **Reply #4 on:** September 10, 2009, 03:28 PM »

I heard a guy on the radio once who said an easy way to get into LD was to ask yourself MANY times daily:
"Am I awake, or am I dreaming?"
The theory is that if you repeat that enough, the phrase would make it's way into your subconscious and subsequently your dreams.
Once you ask the question in your dream, you enter a lucid state.

He went so far as to sell tshirts with the phrase on it because of course people would comment on it and remind you of it.

Never worked for me BTW.

f0dder · « **Reply #5 on:** September 10, 2009, 03:45 PM »

When I ask myself that question while dreaming, I usually wake up

JennyB · « **Reply #6 on:** September 10, 2009, 05:21 PM »

Quote from: zridling on September 10, 2009, 02:19 PM

I once got shot in a dream and went down, thinking I was going to die. Then I realized I was dreaming, wasn't actually hurt, got up and finished robbing bank. It's never happened again.

Dreams (reality) = good.
Lucid dreams (alternate reality) = awesome!

So long as you don't start thinking reality works like that!

I've been able to dream lucidly since I was very young, and remember being bitterly disappointed when I discovered the limits of their "reality". There is a fine line between being aware of that sort of weirdness (otherwise you fall into normal dreaming) and letting it happen without questioning it too much (otherwise you wake up). For example, I start to levitate in a dream, and I realise that I can't "actually" be doing that, because no one else is taking a blind bit of notice. But I think of the dream world as a coherent and objective whole, so I begin to wonder if they can tell me what I'm "actually" doing. Of course, since it is my own brain that is both confabulating the dream and trying to make sense of it, I have yet to get a satisfactory answer!

40hz · « **Reply #7 on:** September 10, 2009, 05:47 PM »

Quote from: Edvard on September 10, 2009, 03:28 PM

Never worked for me BTW.

I've been experimenting with hypnogogic and lucid dream states since I learned about them in college.

One of the most effective 'lucid' techniques is to simply tell yourself (at bedtime) to look for your hands, and then to try to raise them, if you realize you are dreaming. No need to repeat it to yourself all day. Supposedly, trying to force it on your subconsciousness only makes it more difficult. FWIW, this technique worked for me and several friends who also tried it. Takes a bit of practice to get it to work reliably however.

Quote from: zridling on September 10, 2009, 02:19 PM

I once got shot in a dream and went down, thinking I was going to die. Then I realized I was dreaming, wasn't actually hurt, got up and finished robbing bank. It's never happened again.

One of the weirdest lucid dreaming experiences was recounted by the fantasy author Neil Gaiman. He spoke of having a lucid dream where he was very saddened to learn that a close friend of his had died after a long illness. Neil said he couldn't begin to express how relieved he was to wake up and realize it was only a dream - only to awaken a second time "for real" and remember that his friend had actually died after all.

Lao Tsu would have felt right at home with that one.

Paul Keith · « **Reply #8 on:** September 10, 2009, 11:06 PM »

Quote from: mouser on September 10, 2009, 01:51 AM

i read the cognitivedaily blog regularly -- you'll see it linked above after the word "from.."

(my academic background is artificial intelligence and neuroscience)

Nice! and thanks for the link.

Would you or anyone else share your views of dream interpretation?

Ironically enough, I just had a lucid dream. (I rarely recall my dreams so this was highly coincidental)

Currently looking for an interpretation

@40hz

Thanks for sharing the idea. Going to consider it next time I'm dreaming.

I fail all the time at these "How to lucid dream" articles that I usually don't bother with them. One thing I noticed though is that I can much more easily lucid dream when I don't care for it at all.

It's like the more I think lucid dreaming when I go to sleep, the more I'm disappointed that I either don't dream or get too busy thinking that idea that I don't realize I'm dreaming.

However, when I don't think of it at all, I tend to get to control of that rare dream where it's often about me making some kind of a choice. (In a twisted way, it's like my dreams are lulling me into a lucid dream.)

That said, I never lucid dreamed until I read some of these lucid dreaming articles.

Edvard · « **Reply #9 on:** September 11, 2009, 12:37 AM »

Quote from: 40hz on September 10, 2009, 05:47 PM

Quote from: Edvard on September 10, 2009, 03:28 PM
Never worked for me BTW.

I've been experimenting with hypnogogic and lucid dream states since I learned about them in college.

Aw jeez, hypnogogic is old hat.
A little sleep deprivation, a long drive, a decaf mocha and I'm THERE, baby!!

40hz · « **Reply #10 on:** September 11, 2009, 03:29 AM »

Quote from: Edvard on September 11, 2009, 12:37 AM

Aw jeez, hypnogogic is old hat.

[attach]

mouser · « **Reply #11 on:** September 11, 2009, 03:31 AM »

Quote

although can get the same effects by attending a PowerPoint presentation

mahesh2k · « **Reply #12 on:** September 11, 2009, 06:12 AM »

I don't know what you guys think but so far i've seen the dreams i get is what my mind wants to see. So it makes easy to interpret dreams. ( Please don't laugh but When i play some computer game like serious sam, project igi, world of warcraft then i find myself in those games in dream. Kicking creeps or getting kicked by them as well )

Paul Keith · « **Reply #13 on:** September 11, 2009, 06:16 AM »

@mahesh2k,

Well if you've browse some free dream dictionary sites, something as simple as being kicked and doing the kicking can have different interpretations.

That's why I'd rather ask mouse than bother with dream forums.

f0dder · « **Reply #14 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:10 AM »

Quote from: 40hz on September 11, 2009, 03:29 AM

BTW: If hypnogogic state sounds too 'old hat' you can always refer to it by the more modern term: Zoned Out

Lucid in the sky with diamonds?

mahesh2k · « **Reply #15 on:** September 11, 2009, 07:27 AM »

lol..I've seen snakes many times in my dreams (cause we've few here). and those sites interpret something like this. Which is not making sense to me ever. This is the reason i don't buy those telekensis,paranormal people's opinion who try to interpret dreams/events. So gotta agree dream dictionary/forums are of no use

40hz · « **Reply #16 on:** September 11, 2009, 11:33 AM »

Quote from: mahesh2k on September 11, 2009, 06:12 AM

I don't know what you guys think but so far i've seen the dreams i get is what my mind wants to see.

Nothing unusual about that. Reality works the same way for most people.

Quote from: f0dder on September 11, 2009, 07:10 AM

Quote from: 40hz on September 11, 2009, 03:29 AM
BTW: If hypnogogic state sounds too 'old hat' you can always refer to it by the more modern term: Zoned Out
Lucid in the sky with diamonds?

Perfect! When I read that, I had to look twice to be sure you weren't cranioscopical. Bravo!

Paul Keith · « **Reply #17 on:** September 12, 2009, 03:05 PM »

Quote from: mahesh2k on September 11, 2009, 07:27 AM

lol..I've seen snakes many times in my dreams (cause we've few here). and those sites interpret something like this. Which is not making sense to me ever. This is the reason i don't buy those telekensis,paranormal people's opinion who try to interpret dreams/events. So gotta agree dream dictionary/forums are of no use

Well the telekensis paranormal people are scams. Most interpreters though seem like the modern day Freudians.

These dictionaries though aren't based on accuracy but on quantity. That's kind of why they're a dictionary and not a recommendation system.

See this for example where the interpretation is interlaced with user's sharing of their dreams and supposed interpretation to generate a wiki-like compendium of interpretations in the hopes that you win the lottery.

OldElmerFudd · « **Reply #18 on:** September 28, 2009, 03:40 AM »

Became aware I was frequently lucid dreaming when I was a young man. It's kind of second nature; I'm aware I'm dreaming while I'm in the dream. Some of my favorites involves "layers"; an awareness you're dreaming inside a dream where you're dreaming inside of a dream. It's like telling yourself "I'm dreaming" and knowing that outside is not awake but still another dream.

No tips, tricks, or mantras for this; it just happens.

40hz · « **Reply #19 on:** September 28, 2009, 08:39 PM »

Quote

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

-Edgar Allan Poe

Deozaan · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2009, 05:39 AM »

I've had lucid dreams where I've stopped what I was doing to take a moment to figure out if I was dreaming or not because what I was about to do was something I would never do in reality. Much like robbing a bank.

But there have been other times when I know I'm dreaming and I think to myself that since I'm dreaming I can control what happens but things still don't happen the way I want them to. Then I get frustrated and wake up because I'm focusing so hard on getting things to work the right way and rejecting the stuff that is happening without my approval.

Xenonym · « **Reply #21 on:** November 21, 2009, 02:31 PM »

Here's another good link for info about lucid dreaming: Lucid Dreaming @ Wikibooks

Man why do you people have so much more interesting dreams than me? The only slightly interesting ones involved me dreaming that I woke up and went on my daily routine.

Dreams = life for me I suppose. sigh~