Controlling a dream, is it possible? and how?

Ok so the other day i was having a dream and for some strange reason I suddenly realised it was a dream and was able to control myself in the dream for a little while. Trouble is once I realised this i got so excited that it woke me up.

I have heard of lucid dreaming and wondered if this is what i experienced?

My next question is has anyone else experienced this and have you/they worked out how to do this on a regular basis?

The experience was mind blowing and i would love to do it again. I am a terrible sleeper and have big problems getting to sleep but I think if I could do this at will maybe i could have better sleep as it would be something to look forward too rather than a worry.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and replys

Peace

reply to post by tempest501


I have had similar experiences over the last couple of weeks. One where I racked up a huge debt and lost my companiy lap top. I was panicing for a while and suddenly realised I was dreaming. Although I stayed in the dream for a while I woke up without actually finishing it.

Last night I dreamt I was vacationing and remember thinking it would be great if my friend, who I had not seen for a couple of years, was there. I then walked into a bar and he was sat there waiting for me, with a pitcher of beer. Weird.

Yes, it is lucid dreaming. There is tons of info on it, both here and on the internet as a whole.

I've been lucid dreaming about every night for 14 years. It's absolutely fantastic and I believe it is a "lost function".

Welcome to the fun and watch the movie "waking life".

Are you dreaming?

reply to post by METACOMET


Wow every night for 14 years, how do you achieve this?

I am really eager to figure this out as so fed up with how awful my sleep habits are, am really hoping this will help if I can do it.

I have been trying to think before I sleep about it but doesnt seem to work.

reply to post by tempest501


I recently retired. I have had a few "work" dreams since then. I notice on a couple occasions realizing "I was dreaming" and told the person(s) in the dream "I didn't have too, 'cause I am retired" and walked away. It seemed to me to be a conscious decision within the dream, but I won't say that for certain.

Yes, it is very possible to control your dreams, but it is difficult to master. I've had many lucid dreams (where I realized I was dreaming and kept at it), but only one so far which I attempted to control. It was quite amazing.

I was walking down a lonely street when something suggested to me that I am dreaming. I can't remember exactly what it was, but when I saw it I knew it didn't make sense, which got me thinking that I must be inside of a dream. I became fully aware of this fact and couldn't believe it. I decided that I would try to make something happen. I wanted to practice 'conjuring' things, so I imagined a large, empty building. The building appeared across the street. I walked to it. I challenged myself. I said to myself that when I turn the knob and open the door, I would find myself elsewhere. I opened the door, but I ended up inside the building, inside of an empty room. I went to the next door, again trying to make something happen. When I opened the door, I found myself inside another room, but this time the room was full of people I didn't know. I tried to use my willpower to morph their faces into someone else. As I concentrated on this, their faces began twisting. Unfortunately I didn't feel strong enough to complete the morphing. After a few tries and near success, I gave up and moved on to opening another door. The building served me as a training ground. I opened three or four more doors before I finally found myself elsewhere. The last door I tried opened up to another building, but this one was new, modern, and busy with people walking back and forth. People in business attire were walking to and from work. I saw an elevator across the hallway and knew I should get into it. The door opened. I realized that the inside of the elevator was shaped like a pyramid, and there was barely any room to stand. It was just enough for one person. I hurriedly closed the door, because I didn't want anyone else to join me inside. As the elevator started moving, I was staring up to it's pointed ceiling. It was moving faster and faster. I was afraid that it might crash trough the top of the building. The higher up I traveled, the brighter it got. The light was getting stronger and stronger. I wanted so badly to remain asleep to find out where the hell this elevator was taking me, but I woke up just as I was about to reach my goal. To this day I have no clue what awaited me at the very top, but in the dream I had a feeling it was going to be quite the revelation.

In another instance I remember falling asleep and finding myself in a white tiled room that looked like an old hospital. I remember looking at my hands and thinking how incredibly real they looked and felt. I was completely aware of the fact that I was asleep, so when I saw my hands this way, I was astounded at how real they seemed. There seemed almost no difference between our reality and that reality. I noticed there were people walking back and forth in front of me. I tried to stop a couple of them and kept asking "Where am I? Can you please tell me where I am???" but none of them responded to me. I wanted to know where I was, because in my dream I was aware that I was "dreaming". Once I would wake up I wanted to check to see if this place really exists in our reality, which would give me some kind of proof that I really was somewhere else entirely. I don't remember anymore whether they knew I was there. I believe a man stopped to look at me, but he wasn't willing to tell me where I was. I woke up soon after. It was incredible.

In another incident I dreamed I was visiting my parents and family. I suddenly realized in my dream that I was dreaming, and realized that all these people, my family, were dream products. When I say "Dream products", I can't say they felt mechanical or fake. They seemed real enough, but I didn't really know what to think of them or how they would react if I told them this was only a dream. I decided not to spoil the gathering and simply went with it. I interacted with my relatives, had a good time, and later woke up.

I have tried repeating this a few times, though unsuccessfully. This becomes possible only when I am able to fall asleep relaxed, and in a very quiet environment with absolutely no distractions. It's something I lack these days. It's an amazing experience. I wish I could do it at will, but it would take more practice and a more calm environment.

reply to post by tempest501



Do some research dude...on your own.

www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com...


Or you're gonna get watered down advice, as seen above... ^

reply to post by tempest501


Yes I just had a dream about vampires. I was living in a time where there were a lot of vampires. I remember when I would realize someone was a vampire actually thinking of what I should do. Many times I would run making decsions on where to turn etc. It was much a like a video game only I had a lot more control. It was weird but very fun; like a choose your own adventure but live.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


Wow that sounds amazing, strange things is when I had my experience it was my hands that triggered it off as well. My dream didnt really have time to get exciting as i woke up with excitement lol

The first think I think you should do is get familiar with your hypnagogic state.

en.wikipedia.org...

This is the state right before the dream starts.
This is the state where you are right between a dream and awake.
This is when you start to think random thoughts, think you hear music or voices, hear staticy sounds, whishes, or pops.

What you need to do is allow your brain to just start firing off these random thoughts while a part of your consciousness stays awake. You should start thinking random stuff and eventually you might start seeing a lot of pulsing colors or something.
If you start to think you are falling asleep and it feels nice and you just want to roll over into another position, then try not to move. You should sort of feel like a rocking or spinning sensation. The blackness behind your eyelids should start to have more colors and shapes spinning around.

It is kind of hard to explain it unless you have done it, but it is all about relaxing and observing what is happening and allowing it to happen while not struggling too hard to make it all happen. Your body already knows how to fall asleep and you just sort of have to allow it to do its thing while also trying to stay conscious.

It is hard to explain but there is a sort of feeling you get in your eyes and in your temples or something. There is just a feeling you get as you go from different brain wave states.

I have found that as I am going into a dream state, I sort of start to tune out noises around me. I can hear my own heart beating and my breathing and it starts to sound louder and louder. While the noises of the street outside and the noises of the air conditioner or any other sounds seem to just fade away. It isn't that the sound is gone, but it is like part of my mind is tuning them out.

Sometimes I just lay and meditate. I am not really trying to sleep or stay awake. It is a sort of in between state. I think it helps if you can meditate and learn how your body feels as it relaxes. I can relax and actually feel my heart beating and feel the blood pulsing in my veins. It start to feel like one arm is heavier than the other or one leg is just a little bit heavier than the other. Then the other leg.

Then I can sort of just feel my blood circulation and my heart beating.

I have gotten to a point a few times where for a few seconds I feel very relaxed and as if I am not really thinking much of anything, but just letting my body live and breathe, but my thoughts are very few. It only lasts a moment though, once I realize I did it.

Relaxation is the key to going into a dream though. When you start to feel relaxed, the colors or sounds start, just relax into it but at the same time, try to stay aware of what is happening. You should start to see the dream forming around you. I find it helps me to think of a place I have actually been to, instead of places I have only seen pictures of. I can dream about some places but they don't seem as real as dreaming about places familiar to me.

If you start to see the dream fade around you, don't move. If you find yourself awake, don't open your eyes and don't move at all. Breathe some deep breaths and try to relax back into the dream. If you open your eyes or move around, then your body knows it has woken. But if you don't move, don't open your eyes, and don't think too much about it, then you can sort of trick your body. It won't realize that you fully woke up. Then you can get back into the dream sometimes.

Originally posted by tempest501
Ok so the other day i was having a dream and for some strange reason I suddenly realised it was a dream and was able to control myself in the dream for a little while. Trouble is once I realised this i got so excited that it woke me up.

I have heard of lucid dreaming and wondered if this is what i experienced?

My next question is has anyone else experienced this and have you/they worked out how to do this on a regular basis?

The experience was mind blowing and i would love to do it again. I am a terrible sleeper and have big problems getting to sleep but I think if I could do this at will maybe i could have better sleep as it would be something to look forward too rather than a worry.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and replys

Peace

Yes it is possible, perhaps this will help. Start with if you think your in a "bad place" or in this case having a "bad dream" Start with shaking your body and yelling and screaming, that might wake you up. Thats the the first step in learning directed dreaming. You are the first one in control of your mind. Once you "know" that, then you can take the next step. And then get back to me, and we'll talk.

you are correct. You were "lucid dreaming". Do a google search and you will find many books on how to learn to lucid dream and how to control the dream when you are in the lucid state. I have tried it but can't seem to get it to work for me. I also cannot be hypnotized and I think that both are connected somehow.

reply to post by tempest501


I just wrote a long post in detail but it got erased. Butter fingers on my part

In short, this is one of those things that is very simple in theory, but very difficult in practice. I began doing this when I was relatively young, which I believe was crucial for me. There are many barriers to being able to successfully lucid dream, IMO. But, like everything that is difficult and worthwhile, all it takes is practice and goal. I think anyone and everyone can do it if it's something they really want to do. Read up on it and find a technique that sounds like it will work for you.

Meditate before you go to bed. Meditate on relaxation of body parts, in succession, from your head to your toes. When you get to the top of your head you should be close to sleep and feel a tingling. I'm not exactly sure how this actually helps, but it does.

Now for the difficult parts. You need to be able to tell the difference between dream state and waking life. This is very difficult. You will require dream state indicators. I cannot help you with this as it will be different for every person. In my instance, I would flap my arms like a bird and fly. It just happened to be a recurring dream of mine since childhood. Flapping your wings and taking off like a bird is not possible in waking life, and I would realize this and it would open the door to a lucid dream state. However...

Not only is it difficult to realize you are, in fact, dreaming, but then you have the task of staying in the dream state with the knowledge that it is actually a dream. You are going to want to wake up, and most of the time you will. Realizing you are in a dream and being aware of that fact can actually be terrifying. Your mind will do everything it can to wake you up.

Once you achieve lucidity in a dream state, literally anything is possible. And the fun and learning begins. I can't stress this enough, so I'll say it again. Once you achieve lucidity in a dream state, literally anything is possible. Which is why this is so damn cool.

FYI, Stay away from the sites pedaling CD's and dream machines. This isn't some fairly tale esoterica; LD is a real function of our brains. You can do it. Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world.

Yes, it is possible. I do it all the time and it gets quite interesting at times. I really don't remember any dreams in which I cannot control the direction or even content of the dream to be honest, at least not since I was a kid.

If you are having a bad dream, you can wake yourself by holding your breath. In your dream, tell yourself you are going to hold your breath and then try to do that. You should really do it. Your body will realize it is not breathing normally, and you should wake up. It has worked for me. I usually just wake myself up rather than trying to change the dream itself if I don't like the dream.

The funniest dream I ever had was one where I was watching Television and watching Cnn or something. They were talking about something and I realized that I was dreaming. So I thought it would be funny to control the news. So I was making the news caster say something funny. Like I thought "Suddenly everybody's hair fell out." And the news caster was talking about something else and then she said "Suddenly everybody's hair fell out." And then her hair started falling out in huge clumps. That isn't funny and I don't really want our hair to all start falling out. I don't know why..but I thought it was so funny in my dream though. Then I made them talk about an Earthquake in L.A and how everything in this one place was destroyed but this one red sports car that didn't have a scratch on it. Then the sports car drove away and I made it show up in a Sonic commercial and a hot guy get out of the car and ask some random kind of homely looking girl for a date because she was feeling rejected.

Originally posted by tempest501
reply to post by 2manyquestions

 

Wow that sounds amazing, strange things is when I had my experience it was my hands that triggered it off as well. My dream didnt really have time to get exciting as i woke up with excitement lol

The first time you have one of these it does get almost too exciting to stay asleep. Try to go to bed relaxed. Place your hands, legs and head in a most relaxed position. I usually try not to cross my arms or legs, so they lay beside me or at an angle away from my body. Make sure the room is absolutely quiet and dark. If you can't, maybe try using ear plugs and something covering your eyes. Personally this would annoy me enough not to be able to accomplish what I want, but it's possible that you might not be as bothered by it as I would be. Fall asleep at your own pace and see what happens. I wasn't thinking about lucid dreaming as I was falling asleep, so you may not need to try to concentrate on anything as you're letting yourself slip. Just relax, clear your mind and don't try too hard. It just might work! My most intense lucid dreaming experience happened while I was relaxed in a dark and very quiet room. Unfortunately my current residence doesn't allow for anything of the sort. There's always road noise (even if relatively subtle) or dog barking coming in through the window. not to mention the street lights. Good luck to you. Let us know if you succeed.

Have you ever heard of Astral Projecting? There are binaural beats to make lucid dreaming more often.

Originally posted by nonnez
Yes, it is possible. I do it all the time and it gets quite interesting at times. I really don't remember any dreams in which I cannot control the direction or even content of the dream to be honest, at least not since I was a kid.

OK, now you have my TOTAL attention. Are you saying if you are not having a lucid dream with at least some control over it's eddies and currents, you have NO memory of them? Don't freak, it may be very useful to explore this> Forgive me, tonight I am a broken record (for those who don't know the reference do a search for "Records, Music, LP's, Vinyl Records"), etc. When I say things like "I need more", I do... And I am quite fascinated.

Thanks

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your suggestions, I tried to achieve this lucid dreaming last night but didnt have any joy. I went to one of the sites suggested and read up on reality checks so will keep up with that to see if it helps.

The weird thing was though i had three dreams in one night!!!!! , i dont hardly ever dream ( or at least dont remember them). I can't believe I had three dreams I am lucky if i have one or two a week usually. Allthought i never got control of them in the last two I remember realising it was a dream though but i couldnt control myself it was like I was watching myself in a film if that makes sense.

I cant remember what the first one was now, but the second one was about my wife going missing for a week and then findinging her. Last one was weird, i was preaching to loads of people about God. Last one might not sound odd but I am not that religeous so is kinda weird as i dont really follow any religeon i just believe there has to be something.

I am going to buy a notebook today as it said on that website it also helps to write the dreams down.

So does any of this sound like I did ok for my first try? My hardest part is relaxing i think as i am very stressed at moment.

reply to post by tempest501


Hi Tempest,

I have been lucid dreaming for about the past 3 years. I dream every night, when i wake i remember them all. The strange thing is they are all different scenarios but feel the same! It started off sporadically, it would happen once or twice a week. It all started when i began questioning my existence and life in general. Basically as i began to see through everything, i began to lucid dream. The more i saw through things, the more it happened. I have now got to the stage where i can do the following, every night as i choose...

1. Control my dreams in all manners
2. Instantly recognise i am dreaming
3. (new ability) I can dream inside a dream
4. (new ability) I can ask people questions about my wakened life nd recieve answers
5. (new ability) I can read and see myself fron the 3rd person in a dream.

I cant really tell you how i do it, i just do it! What i can tell you though is that after every lucid dream, i remember them completely...somthing i struggled to do before i was lucid dreaming.

What i suggest you do is everynight as your going to sleep, repeat in your head that your going to lucid dream tonight, eventually you will train yourself to do it. If like me, it becomes exciting to go to sleep at night because of the ability to do and be what you want in a dream!

Good Luck!