absolutely worth trying; had two lucid dreams I can remember, one of which was flying over the Swiss alps. It was as real as real life gets, it's quite weird and amazing. Unfortunately didn't succeed yet. r/luciddreaming is good to follow, as some already said.
Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
11–20 of 99 posts
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#12I occasionally have lucid dreams without trying to do so. They're almost always a lot of fun, basically the best sandbox game you can think of. I've been pondering trying to trigger them, but I've been a bit spooked by suggestions that I'd have to try to learn tp distinguish dreams from reality.
I can distinguish any dream from reality, but the problem is that when I'm asleep I don't ask myself "Am I asleep?", I just continue following the dream's story. If I ever ask myself that question, or notice something isn't right (which is difficult in dreams, because what would be bizarre in reality will easily be considered normal by your brain in the dream) I will become lucid.
The article talks about flying. I often will fly in my dreams even if I am not lucid. When I am lucid, I am always able to fly.
One interesting thing you can do when you find yourself lucid dreaming is conducting experiments. You just have to remember what experiments you decided to conduct when you were awake or think of some on the spot. I found if you close your eyes and imagine something, it will be part of the world when you open them.
I found it is easier to become lucid when you are waking up, although by the time you are lucid you won't have much time left to do anything in the dream.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#13I had lucid dreams fairly regularly during my teen years (I suspect due to some strangeness caused by sleep apnea). These days it's treated and I don't have these anymore. Though, for anyone interested I think it's totally worth trying to trigger it. It's an interesting experience.
I had lucid dreams as a teenager too, and completely forgot about it. Then about a year ago it happened again - and I remembered how cool it was.
I find I can nearly always do it if I wake up in the middle of the night then just think about it as I fall back asleep. I guess my subconscious then keeps a look out for weird stuff... "That elephant wasn't there when I looked a minute ago. Wait, elephant?! I'm dreaming!" Then it's flying time.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#14I'm convinced I could operate some kind of (very sensitive) input device while lucid dreaming. I can touch type well so I'm thinking of making "keyboard gloves" or something to communicate from the other side. Though I should have a look - I can probably already order them on Kickstarter.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#15I wouldn't spend time trying to "cause" a lucid dream, I have enough goals to chase that affect my awake life.
But I have these dreams sometimes, it's always just fun. My two favorite things are to fly, and to make portals.
Yeah, portals like in computer games. You only decide that you wanna go somewhere else, and you let the passive part of your brain select that place.
I got this whole idea by reading an article about how to detect you're in a dream. It suggested you find a mirror and try to step through it, and that somehow turned into my portals.
That's the best thing about lucid dreaming, you can do whatever you want.
Now I don't have these dreams to often. When I realize I'm dreaming I'm too awake to have a realistic dream, so it's something between a dream and a day-dream or whatever.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#16I had lucid dreams fairly regularly during my teen years (I suspect due to some strangeness caused by sleep apnea). These days it's treated and I don't have these anymore. Though, for anyone interested I think it's totally worth trying to trigger it. It's an interesting experience.
I had lucid dreams as a teenager too, and completely forgot about it. Then about a year ago it happened again - and I remembered how cool it was. I find I can nearly always do it if I wake up in the middle of the night then just think about it as I fall back asleep. I guess my subconscious then keeps a look out for weird stuff... "That elephant wasn't there when I looked a minute ago. Wait, elephant?! I'm dreaming!"…
This is called a wake-initiated lucid dream. It is also possible to become lucid in the middle of a dream.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#17I'm convinced I could operate some kind of (very sensitive) input device while lucid dreaming. I can touch type well so I'm thinking of making "keyboard gloves" or something to communicate from the other side. Though I should have a look - I can probably already order them on Kickstarter.
Eyes would probably be the best way to communicate with the outside world, since during dreams you retain full control over their movement.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#18I occasionally have lucid dreams without trying to do so. They're almost always a lot of fun, basically the best sandbox game you can think of. I've been pondering trying to trigger them, but I've been a bit spooked by suggestions that I'd have to try to learn tp distinguish dreams from reality.
I can distinguish any dream from reality, but the problem is that when I'm asleep I don't ask myself "Am I asleep?", I just continue following the dream's story. If I ever ask myself that question, or notice something isn't right (which is difficult in dreams, because what would be bizarre in reality will easily be considered normal by your brain in the dream) I will become lucid. The article talks about flying. I of…
One thing to try (if it's worth it to you) is to get in the habit of checking if you're dreaming, even in waking life. Try to read printed text, or use an electronic device, and really pay attention to whether it works the way you expect. It feels pretty silly to do this when you're awake, until you do it really thinking you're awake and realize you're actually dreaming.
You do need to be quite studious, though-- I've had dreams where I managed to convince myself that that shifting, swirling mass of words and characters probably says something in Russian.
One of my favorites is something I call the "five finger rule." This is a mnemonic for remembering how many fingers you have. Here's how it works: Hold out your hand. Now count your fingers, one at a time. One, two, three, four, five. Five fingers.
Any time you don't get five, you're probably asleep. Obviously this assumes you have five fingers per hand in waking life :)
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#19While I've had a few "lucid" dreams in my life that I can remember, I'm skeptical of anyone who claims they can do this with some regularity. Don't forget, there's a comparable number of people who claim the ability to "astral travel".
When you wake up in the morning, how can you tell whether you were lucid dreaming or just dreaming that you were lucid dreaming? I don't mean that distinction as a joke; in one case you have conscious control over the dream while in the other case you don't have conscious control but dream that you do.
Re: Lucid dreaming: Rise of a nocturnal hobby
#20I'm convinced I could operate some kind of (very sensitive) input device while lucid dreaming. I can touch type well so I'm thinking of making "keyboard gloves" or something to communicate from the other side. Though I should have a look - I can probably already order them on Kickstarter.