Lucid Dreaming I Think

This is my 1st time posting in this forum. I hope I can explain this well - I've been having these different/odd dream experiences the last few months.

As I'm laying in bed and just as I'm entering sleep, I start dreaming, but I'm dreaming that I'm laying in bed but this scary sensation starts happening. The odd thing is, I'm able to think logically and remind myself it's a dream - I'm reasoning with myself and actively thinking. If it's get's too creepy I wake up. Last night it happened off and on 4 or 5 times and this is very annoying

Another strange thing is sometimes I'll wake up for a few seconds and then pick where I left off with the same dream. In a way it's cool because I'm asleep and I know this - but I'm dreaming that I'm laying in bed. Sometimes it will feel so real, that I think I'm awake in my bed and this is when I get scared and wake up.

I think I might be having lucid dreaming. I always thought dreaming happened, a fair time after being asleep and when you're in a deep sleep - not just when you're drifting off. Sorry for the long post but this is difficult to explain.

It does sound like lucid dreaming, which makes sense it would happen in a lighter sleep state, don't you think? Lucid dreaming can be a pretty neat ability to have, as you get more control in your dreams. I think that if you practice, you might be able to have more control over the lucid dreaming itself - even to do it when you want to, or take control during regular dreams, or even not to dream.

I love lucid dreams! Its like being able to simulate all of the things you can't do in real life. It definitely sounds like you're having them.

Thank you Rapunzel and siempre nada for your posts. I admit it's a cool feeling but the 1st time it happened I was a little scared and confused. I just saw a post that JD put in Current Events about certain music altering brain waves. You're going to laugh but I like to play Nintendo DS while I'm laying in bed. I play a game called 'Brain Age" - there's one game called 'Virus Busters'. It says on the game pamphlet that it's for relaxation and it really works. I'm thinking, playing this game might be helping me with the 'lucid dreams'? After I play this game, I'm sleeping in less than 2 minutes lol.

That makes sense. There were some old windows games I used to play all the time, that they don't have anymore, and I played those games in my sleep sometimes, and did so much better at them when I was sleeping than I did when I was actually at the computer. I knew what I was doing, and could even slow it down and get it just right. Yeah.

Thanks Rapunzel. I just wanted to point out that I play while I'm awake, but I think this relaxing state might be setting me up for lucid dreaming. I've also been known to sleep walk. The last time I knew I did was 14 yrs ago but that's because I left evidence lol. Does lucid dreaming mean anything? Is it a good thing? Do you experience lucid dreaming?

The next step could be walking around while you're conscious. That's called Out of Body or Astral Traveling; it's when you're lucid but the dreamworld closely resembles the real one and behaves on a more realistic level. Here's an experiment if you get to that point: in your normal waking life take out a random card from a deck of cards without looking at it and place it somewhere out of reach. The next time you walk around your house while you're dreaming or Astral Projecting, find the card and see if you can tell what it is. Then when you wake up see if you can verify the card. It has worked for people before. I'm currently trying this, and the more I remind myself the more I lucid dream as well. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips sweetmadness. This all new to me so I'm confused a little. If I place the card somewhere.......when I'm dreaming would I physically get up and sleep walk to where the card is?

I think you're describing the hypnagogic state rather than lucid dreaming; lucid dreaming is more when you're asleep, in REM sleep and dreaming and then control an actual dream; hypnagogia happens as you're going to or coming from sleep.

http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.c...gic-state.html

Thank you for the interesting link Perna. Now that I know this is a cool state to be in, I think I'll welcome it, rather than waking myself up from now on. I know some people are anxious to experience states like this.

Basically Astral Projection is a different type of dreaming than lucid dreaming, or seems so. Think of it like having two bodies, the dreaming/astral Body and the normal waking one. The dreaming body can walk around in what looks like the real world. Scientists think it's based off of memory, so basically it's like you think you're awake but it's based off of memory or the dream re-creates reality so that it's similar to being awake, but you're not.

So if you can astral project, you can walk around in the memory re-created dream world, find the card and flip it over to see if it matches reality or if you know ahead of time, so basically that it is not actually based off memory.

Here are some links to help explain: http://www.skepdic.com/obe.html
http://www.astralinfo.org/index.htm
http://www.monroeinstitute.org/

I hope that better explains Astral Projection/OBE experiences.

Thank you sweetmadness for explaining further and posting the links.

Lucid dreaming is a great thing! You don't have to have "bad" dreams if you can lucid dream at will. You can continue therapy work through lucid dreaming also, controlling the direction of the dream and working through a tough issue, for example.

When I studied in martial arts we learned about astral projection. It's really not something to enter into lightly, and can be powerfully devastating (as in death) without proper guidance.

Thanks JD for your post. I've heard of Astral Projection but I don't really understand it very well. I hope it just doesn't involuntarily happen -it would scare the PJ's off me lol.