Has anyone experienced a lucid dream before? A lucid dream is where the dreamer is fully aware that they are dreaming and has full control over their dreams. The dreams tend to be more vivid and life like as well. In some cases while having a nightmare you can stop it and ask your sub conscious the meaning of the dream. I've attempted to lucid dream before using binaural beats but I never do it properly or just take off my earbuds mid way because I can't fall asleep. Other ways you could get a lucid dream is by keeping a dream journal and before you wake up lie still and recall your dream. So with that said anyone ever had a lucid dream before?

I am sure I have but I cannot recall one. These dreams almost never happen to me but it would be cool to stop freddy kreuger from chasing after you until you stopped having that nightmare or if freddy kreuger is a usual dream for you

I heard about lucid dreaming and have tried all sorts of techniques to make it happen. Sadly, it hasn't. 

It sounds so fun and productive to be able to control dreams. I've tried thinking about what I would like to dream about or past dreams but they're uncontrollable. I have realized I'm in a dream before, but I never could do anything with that knowledge except wake up.

Any tips? I've never heard of binaural beats, so I might check that out.

I've lucid dreamed twice in my life, and I REALLY wish that I can do it again. There have also been times where I have almost lucid dreamed, but I end up subconsciously saying "Don't wake up" and then I wake up (usually pissed because its like 5AM and I have only 2 or so more hours to sleep before I have to get ready for school).

There is a way to master the art of lucid dreaming, but it takes a long time and I've never been attentive enough to master it.

I've lucid dreamed twice in my life, and I REALLY wish that I can do it again. There have also been times where I have almost lucid dreamed, but I end up subconsciously saying "Don't wake up" and then I wake up (usually pissed because its like 5AM and I have only 2 or so more hours to sleep before I have to get ready for school).

There is a way to master the art of lucid dreaming, but it takes a long time and I've never been attentive enough to master it.

Yes, I intentionally had 1 and 2 others have followed. By intentionally I mean that I learned what they were and set out to have the first one. After I had my first it seemed as though the other 2 happened without effort. I'll share my story about the first because it was the most thrilling.

I learned about lucid dreaming in a college psychology course. For the next 2 weeks, I kept a dream journal. Immediately after I woke up after having a dream, I would turn on the light on my nightstand and write down everything that I could remember about it. As the days went on I was recalling more and more details. The dream journal seemed to make me more alert to what was happening in my unconscious mind.

Also, I would look at my wrist watch 20-30 times a day. The intent of doing this was that at some point while dreaming, I would look at my wrist watch out of habit but the watch would be somehow different because it wouldn't be real. At that point I was supposed to realize that I was dreaming and take control of the dream.

I don't remember anything about the dream that started me off but I remember everything from the time that I looked at my wrist watch. The watch had no numbers or hands on the face. I then thought to myself "I'm dreaming!" Then I thought, "I can do anything that I want." At the time, I didn't have a car but was missing driving real bad. So, I thought "I want to drive a car." Immediately I was in the drivers seat of a car on a dirt road at night. I pushed the speedometer to the limit - something like 150 MPH. Then I thought, "If this is a dream, I can't be hurt if I wreck this car" I turned the wheel toward a quickly approaching tree and slammed into it head on.

When I hit the tree, everything went into slow motion as I went through the windshield. I saw the glass shatter in front of my eyes and the front end crumple under the immovable tree trunk. At that moment, I sat straight up in bed with eyes wide open. My heart was probably beating at nearly 130 beats per minute and I was covered in sweat. What a rush!

megamanmaniac : Ah the same thing happens to me. I can keep in it for about a few seconds then it fades away. Your subconscious is a real @$$. I've heard of the long method called wilder methods or something but it's way too lenghthy and difficult. It even involves taking some vitamins. I think I'll have more luck with binaural beats.

It has happened to me twice. The first time i realized it too late and i only enjoyed it for about three minutes. The second time, i knew it immediatly, so it was awesome. I've tried to get it to happen again. So far, no sucess.

I remember i was going to have an lucid dream when in my dream i was walking down a road from a city and then i realised it was a dream i woke up, it was like 10:00 A.M and luckily Saturday.

I have never had a lucid dream, but I know a way that supposedly works. You are supposed to lay perfectly still with your eyes closed and don't move. If you itch or something, still don't move. Apparently that will help you lucid dream. I have heard that lucid dreams can be dangerous. I have read things that say that your brain believes it is real, so if something scary happens, there is a risk of having a (real) heart attack or something like that.

tgags123, I don't think that they're dangerous, but they can deprive you of proper sleep. If you lucid dream many times a night, you spend less time in REM, so you're less rested. Obviously, they could get addictive and I've read that they make it harder to separate dream from reality. (Some people even get addicted). 

I think that if my dreams were more shallow, I would have better success at lucid dreaming. I only sleep a few hours a night, so I fall deeply asleep and have an hour of dreams before waking up. Those dreams feel so uncontrolled and thoughtless that it would seem incredibly hard to make them lucid. 

Come to think of it, most of my dreams are just a computer screen, video game screen, or seeing others without having a body. From how you're supposed to realize that the dream is a dream, I think that puts a wrench in things.

tgags123 : There is a method like that, I think I mentioned it in a previous post but its near impossible to do. If you lay perfectly still for 15 minutes without moving a muscle then your body shuts down and basically you become aware that you're dreaming. But laying still for 15 minutes without even a small twitch or itching is basically impossible. People have done t but it probably takes A LOT of practice.

EideticMemory : That is the downside of Lucid Dreaming. Because of the less time spent in REM you don't get as much rest. However there is a trick to distinguish what is real and what is not. Ven though it's not that big of an issue there have been some cases where people lose it because they do it non stop and forget whats real and not. What people do is they do some sort of action every now and then like checking a watch or maybe even looking up at the sky for 30 seconds or so. So when it becomes a habit you eventually do it in the dream and it would look different. This helps you lucid dream and distinguish reality from the dream world.

This is beginning to sound like Inception

I probably shouldn't be reading these sorts of things before bed, but, oh well. The thought of lucid dreaming gives me nightmares, probably due to the slim but existent risks of sleep paralysis. Those are no fun. I do not intent to become a lucid dreamer anytime soon...

I've had a lucid dream before. Twice at the most. It was weird, to say the least. It was a bizzare mix of everything being terrifyingly real, but I knew it wasn't real. Now I realize how dangerous that was.

I always have lucid dreams and I don't find it really fun, specially if you're forced to roam inside the room, thinking of how to "go back". The details are also too gloomy when compared to reality (although it basically just looks the same), so it always feels like I'm in a horror movie.

It usually starts like this:

1. I become aware that I'm having sleep paralysis.

2. I try moving my head since it's the only part of my body that I could move (by putting a lot of effort) during sleep paralysis.

3. Then I'd FEEL like I'm already awake, just to realize that I'm still "asleep" after noticing the difference in the environment when compared with the real ones. Sometimes the differences aren't that noticeable, but I'd feel heavy and my room would be too quiet when I'm supposed to be able to hear at least the air around. (How should I explain the sound of non-moving air, lol) That's a clear indication for me that I'm still in the dream.

4. Before and after realization, I'd be able to move around and go anywhere I please unless I try to shake my head frantically to wake myself up again. Once I do that, I'd be brought back to my bed and I'd be paralyzed again. After shaking, I'd feel like I'm awake again, just to realize that I'm STILL asleep. Once again, I'd be free to move around in my dream. But of course I don't go too far since I might not be able to go back, lol. And the cycle repeats itself until I start to panic and try shaking my head harder, that's when I usually truly wake up, then I'd feel all tired and thirsty. Not fun.

edit: I still remember all of my lucid dreams (if they're counted as lucid dreams) and my first one was when I was five. I didn't know about sleep paralysis at that time but I know that dream is the same as the kind of dreams I've described above. Horror feel, no air sounds, and other differences like paler color quality.

I didn't bother waking myself up and roamed around the house. I even tried going out but I thought mom would be mad at me if I go out at night, so I went back to bed instead. Then I wake up. I thought it was all real, that I really walked around the house and even turned on the tv, but I kept on feeling that there was something wrong in it. I was able to figure it out after having my second lucid.

If it's possible I'd definitely trade places with people who rarely have lucid dreams!

Had one once.  Started off in Japan.  Where I was watching Godzilla fight.  He won, and then started to chase me!   
So I stopped and looked at him.  Thought  "I wish he wasn't so big and scary".  What happened next, was he shrank and turned into an inflatable Godzilla!  
I walked over to him, and went to pick him up.  He gave a roar, then spat stuff at me, not his normal breath.  It hit me, and turned me into an inflatable dragon!  

Juliet : that has never happened to me while I have lucid dreamed. Did you train to lucid dream or does it just naturally happen?

megamanmaniac : It happens naturally, I didn't have any form of training either.

I've had a couple of lucid dreams in my day.  I used to try to have them because a friend of mine was into them and told me some techniques to use to have them and most of them have been mentioned in this thread, but I used my own technique (a variation of the dream journal, with another technique I didn't see mentioned) to achieve lucidity.  

I've never kept a journal and was interested in lucid dreaming so I basically just kept a memory "journal" of my dreams.  I would spend a few minutes each morning remembering my dreams and try to come back to them a couple of time a day.  Then I would fall asleep repeating over and over "I will have a lucid dream", I didn't always do the second part but it would usually lead to the best results.  

awesomeguy279 :

I've had them a couple times, though my brother was really "into" them. There have been some tips already, but here are some more.

1. Think about lucid dreaming a lot throughout the day and before going to bed. If you have the habit of thinking about it, then you will carry that habit into the dream world and increase your chances of "realizing" you are only dreaming.

2. Pick up a few habits to constantly "check" that you are not dreaming. Count your fingers and look at a digital clock (consciously checking that you are not dreaming), like your phone. Often you will have more that ten fingers and digital numbers will be senseless. If you constantly do this while you are awake, you will again carry that habit in your dream and when you do... you will realize you are in a dream.

3. Keep a dream journal and write in it frequently, it will train your brain to hold on to your dreams and help you remember your dreams the next day. The truth is, you forget most of your dreams within 10 min of waking up.

4. Once you ARE in a lucid dream, it can quickly start to crumble and you will gradually wake up. To prevent this, when you feel like you are loosing the dream, twirl in circles a few times and it will help you prolong it a little more.

5. Don't expect to be able to fly very well all of a sudden. Your brain is so well trained to live with gravity it becomes hard to let go easily. Practice a little every dream. Start by jumping very high or "swimming" in the air.

Those are the basics. There are also some nutritional tips if you want to that far. Vitamin B and fish oils supposedly help it.

Hope that helps.