Does anyone have lucid dreams?

I had one once. I decided to try and fly like everyone talks about in dreams, turns out I could jump really high and far, but not really fly. I woke up disappointed.

http://www.fluther.com/disc/11431/whats-the-best-tenchnique-to-have-a-lucid-dream-like-what/

http://www.fluther.com/disc/11448/is-there-a-way-so-i-can-have-a-lucid-dream/

Mine come pretty close, but not quite. In my flying dreams I need to stay focused and aware of my flying, otherwise I lose altitude (weird, I know) and I’ve had nightmares where I’ve been aware of being in a dream and woke myself up.

I have never had a lucid dream (to my memory, I do forget about 95% of my dreams). I certainly wish I did though, it sounds ridiculously awesome…

I went through a period in my adolescence where it happened rather frequently, but not these days.

For people who are really into it, there is a bizarre device on the market for helping a dreamer realize that they are dreaming. It senses the eye movements associated with REM sleep (the dream stage) and blinks LED’s positioned right in front of your eyes. The idea is that you can train yourself to recognize the flashes as a signal that you’re dreaming. It was developed by a guy who’s considered the “guru” of lucid dreaming, and folks say it actually works. I don’t think I could ever sleep well wearing something like that, though.

Rarely. It seems like a sidetrack to me. I think we are supposed to spend our lives focusing on our awake time.

I’ve had dreams where I’m falling from an airplane, but in reality I’m rolling off my bed, falling three feet to the ground.

I always do. I had terrible nightmares as a kid, and I had to tell myself every night before I went to sleep to remember that they were just dreams. Now, it’s just natural. I’m more of an active observer than a real participant.
Funny, I thought about this the other day, looking at old school photos. I have dark circles under my eyes in every one.

@knot. I’ve got dark circles too, but not from a lack of sleep. The more likely cause are allergy shiners. People used to ask me if I was hit in the nose because they looked so bad.

I have had a couple of lucid dreams, its basically when you suddenly wake up during an ongoing dream and have remember everything that happened. your choices are a) get out of bed or b) continue that dream if you want to see how it ends. Sometimes if it’s a good dream or just if there’s some unfinished business, I like to end it and all I have to do is close my eyes (with a general direction for the dream in my mind) and the dream ends like that. There have been a couple of times that I am having a lucid dream but then fall asleep again, still the dream continues the path I wanted it to go…which is really interesting.

That’s interesting…as an aside, my little brother used to get into fights all the time. At one point, he had two black eyes and two grey teeth. When we were shopping, people used to look from him to my mom, back to him, back to my mom… She said she was considering printing “I didn’t do it!” on a shirt.

@ Marina

Yeah, actually I’m torn on lucid dreaming. Since we’re supposed to spend about 1/3 of our life asleep I do believe dreams are rather significant, but is there a “correct” way to dream? My friend who lucid dreams regularly also has most of those dreams turn into crazy life or death scenarios, with over the top plots, which is cool but I wonder also about the flip side of just analyzing your dreams as they naturally occur. I’ve heard of Native American tribes where dream interpretation and understanding are part of everyday life…........

I’ve been trying for lucid dreams for months. I had two, each about a month apart, then this week I’ve had two, and a bunch of really vivid dreams that I remember perfectly when I wake up.

The two techniques I’ve been using recently that work really well for me are
1. Sleeping on my back as opposed to my side.
2. Imaging that I’m playing tennis as I’m falling asleep.

@PnL
As far as I understand, a lucid dream is when you know you are dreaming and you can actually make things happen and feel the experience as you are actually doing it awake. Then I’ve had sooo many, but I don’t know if you can induce yourself to have one… the lucid dream is a fantastic experience

I have great dreams and usually can do things within my dream, but usually am not thinking that I am dreaming, and rarely consciously shape my dreams as in choosing what to dream about.

BTW I also dream in color always, and have died several times (though that ends the dream), which I gather counters some truisms about dreams.

@Jess I think dream interpretation is different. In that case, one is trying to listen to any messages from one’s subconscious as delivered in naturally occurring dreams. There are a few resources on this thread you might find interesting.

I constantly “wake up” when I am dreaming. I realize I am dreaming and usually try to fly. Most of the time it works, but sometimes the dreams are hard to control. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. It started out with me having a nightmare and becoming aware of things not being real. I’d just tell myself “wake up”, and I would.

I have them almost every night. The bad thing us that sometimes I don’t feel like I sleep. I am aware that I am asleep and dreaming and when I wake up I remeber all I dreamt about. I do enjoy changing my dreams and controlling what happens, but sometimes I miss just sleeping. It seems like I never rest and just close my eyes at night for several hours. I don’t remember the last time I didn’t have a lucid dream.

@ stevenb – i went through a phase not too long ago (about 2 months ago) where I really wasn’t getting any sleep. I was tired allll the time. All my dreams were too crazy and I just woke up feeling tired from the dreams. By the end I was begging for no dreams sleep. Just simple white noise if you will. Glad that ended. I know it’s not exactly the same situation as you but yours reminded me about it.

Its my own fault. I tried for a long time when I was a teenager to have them, and it started slowly, but then got to be like it is now. I do get to have a lot of fun, and its amazing what you can do in dreams. Its like writing a sci fi novel every night. I do also have crazy dreams still. I let them start and see where they are headed, then step in and have fun taking it someplace crazy.

@stevenb: it’s just the opposite with me. When I have really vivid dreams or lucid dreams I feel like I’ve gotten more rest when I wake up.

That would be nice pete. I just feel like I am awake 24–7.

I generally have lucid dreams several times a month. I’ve been keeping up a journal at
http://www.luciddreaming.com

I had a dream I was being chased by the entire army and I ran into a forest and I found a door and when I opened it it lead to my room and I could see myself sleeping.

@kauperajam: Interesting. Did you wake up at that point?

Yes,when I saw my self sleeping

@stevenb: have you tried going to sleep in the lucid dream?

No. Never have tried that. I usually get caught up in what I’m doing. I will have to try that.

this other dream I had I was on a feild trip to some dusty 70’s stadium and they forgot me so I ended up playing tennis with this guy and he hit his last ball over the fence into a dugout so I left and I was being chased by fire fighters trying to catch me. Then I woke up

I had one lucid dream.. I was already dreaming and suddenly I realized I was dreaming, that me knowing this meant I could do whatever I wanted. I looked around me, got more and more excited, while trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but in the end, the excitement woke me up. Pooh.

May I suggest LSD. I love it!

Wouldn’t the events in your question details be comparable to Somnambulism (sleep walking)?

Yes, I always just try to figure out what I was doing in the first place with the dream before “waking up”. Wind up always just separating from dream self and my awoken form, helping myself out.

on the unlikely occasion where i do dream, i find that a vast majority of my dreams are lucid. to the point where i no longer experience negative dreams. the nicest thing about it is being able to change the ‘scene’ to something you might enjoy.

strangely, i’ve never had an inappropriate or naughty dream. should probably start working on it

i have these all the time i am a natural lucid dreamer as i have had them since i was a baby almost every night they are fun but these somtimes leasd to night mares as i had a dream and i saw this buldgiing black at the end of my couch but it then jamp out at me and i could feel lots a pain

i wish. i used to read up on techniques that made you more likely to be able to have lucid dreams, but it never quite worked for me. ):

I have lucid dreams on a regular basis. I’m one of those folks lucky enough to have been able to train myself to do it.

I am often lucid within my dreams. I am conscious that it IS a dream…I will actually hear myself saying…” Oh this is just a dream’ and then I am able to continue as an observer rather than a subject, if that makes sense. lol

I’m a lucid dreamer since I can remember and it’s absolutely great! I’m completely addicted to the adrenaline of flying or orgasms from fantasies! I keep telling my friends to control dreams and concentrate, but they can’t! Glad to know there are more folks out there!