Lucid Dreaming? Sort of? WTF?

So... weird-ass experience today.

I'm asleep. Having a pseudo-nightmare. Something about werewolves. Me and some neighbors end up chasing one on... some sort of vehicle. We corner it, we kill it, and we take it back as proof that... such a thing exists. So then the 'scene' changes, and I'm in a room of my house. Everything is calm, we won, we killed it... then the doorknob starts to rattle. So I grab it, and fight to keep it closed. I eventually loose this fight, so I stand next to the door way, back against the wall, with the nearest blunt object I could grab, ready to strike... and this is when it gets weird.

I realize this isn't real. I don't quite know how I know this, but I know it's not real. I open my eyes, while asleep, and I'm able to look around the room I'm really in. I can see I'm laying in bed. I try to move, but I can't. Then this pseudo-nightmare starts to bleed back in. I can hear growling now, from behind me, but I've still got my eyes open so I'm seeing reality while hearing the dream. So I try to roll over in bed, because I figure if I do that, I'll know it's not real and it will stop. But I simply can not move. I mean, I manage to get my one leg to jerk slightly, but that's it.

Then it hits me: I'm asleep. The pseudo-nightmare begins to fade as I realize this. After a few seconds, I'm 'awake' and can move, though I'm still quite lethargic.

Now I know about lucid dreaming from that Voyager episode, and so, in essence, that's what this mostly was; I took control. Yet at the same time, I was mentally asleep on one level, physically awake on another, yet stuck in between.

It was... disconcerting, to say the least.

Anyone else ever experienced something like this?

 

I've had something similar sort-of happen once, ever. I did suffer from episodes of sleep paralysis in he past (which I've mentioned on another thread) whereby my mind wakes up and I can hear everything outside, but the rest of the body (eyes, neck, limbs, and chest wall) is still paralysed, and leaving me unable to breathe or about 3 minutes... but this was very different.

Years ago I had this one vivid dream where I was literally trapped within my old secondary school and unable to escape. At this point I know it's a dream (and I usually find that once I realise something is a dream and nothing more, I'm able to end the dream swiftly and effectively) but for some reason I couldn't stop it. It kept on going, and I remember in the dream standing outside my old school, and the sky turning purple, as if something was steadfastly trying to keep me in the dream forever. I even tried my usual mental tricks to end the dream, but it just kept going. Eventually I did wake up, but I felt very unnerved afterwards.

 

The more lucid dreaming I do, the more I enjoy it. I usually do it best on days when I can enjoy uninterrupted sleep (weekends,etc.). Of course, there are some times when I am dreaming and, the knowledge that I am dreaming brings me down/inhibits me. Yet again, there are times where I know that I am dreaming and the fact that I can alter course at will is absolutely exhilarating. So, I consider lucid dreaming a genuine and healthy outlet for my mind.

 

It happens to me quite often. I think it's lucid dreaming? My experience is slightly different, though. I'll experience a situation in my dream where I predict its outcome (I do this regularly in RL), and my prediction comes true. If my prediction is implausible, it might just take the one time. Other times several predictions come true in a row.

At this point, something in my head clicks and says "The predictions are coming true because you're controlling the entire situation." Then I start predicting fun things which all consequently come true, and the dream usually ends up being pleasant.

 

This happens to me occasionally at random times; I've been trying for years to figure out how to induce them at will. The problem for me is that soon after I start to control the dream, I end up waking myself up....

 

Sleep paralysis happened to me some times when i was younger. Quite scaring at first, but once I realized what was happening i just stopped fighting it and it went off very quickly. I usually don't remember my dreams in the morning, but when I do it's usually lucid dreaming. I know that I'm dreaming, so I can change the direction of the dream or wake up if it becomes unpleasant (or simply if I lose interest in it).

It's a subtle thing. If you put too much effort in it, you'll wake up. Just start with small changes that would not scream to your (mind's) eye.
Or simply change the mood of the dream without modifying what's happening.

 

I've had this same experience - a dream that I am awake with my eyes open, and in the dream, my mind is trying to trick myself into being awake. I didn't consider this lucid, because I had no control over it. It was more self-referential or dream-aware.

 

Sounds like you had sleep paralysis.

When you're in REM sleep your body releases a hormone into your system to paralyze you, or else you'd "act out" your dream people who suffer from sleep walking have a "fault" in this process.

Sometimes people will wake up while in REM sleep, the body is still paralyzed and you can often still be in a "dream-like" state.

It can be very disconcerting and even has been attributed to many "alien abduction" claims.

 

Yes I have had this (lucid dreaming). About 2002 I think it was, I read all about it, and beginning a couple of nights later I began a series of lucid dreams. The first one I was too excited, and I woke up very soon after. Realizing that I could do absolutely anything I wanted in the dream, my mind was ablaze with ideas inspiring more ideas on being able to do this and that. So it became totally incoherent and I woke up.

The second time I was more disciplined, and was able to choose my dream location and gave myself the ability to fly [unoriginal -- everyone]. Also I found I was able to induce strong pleasure sensations at will (endorphins?), so that became the main attraction of lucid dreaming.

I've had about 10 all together.

Unfortunately I don't dream anymore.

Although it's said that education is a life long experience, it isn't meant so literally ZR.

 

I've experienced that once or twice... One of the most unpleasant feelings I ever had, as I was trying to call out to let someone know I couldn't move. The best I managed was a whispery "uhhhhhhh"

I think I've had lucid dreaming a couple of times. Usually it involves me stupidly jumping down a flight of stairs, or off a building or whatever, or I'll be running and take a jump, then realise what's going on. I can will myself to fly, usually more like swimming in thin air.

I wake up realising how easy it is to fly, and cursing myself for not doing it all these years, but then the logic and the reason I came up with in the dream leaves me, and the secret of defying gravity is lost once again

 

I've done it once.

I was back working at Circuit City and I was talking with the home entertainment manager and he asked me to do something. For some reason, I realized it was a dream, I think it was because I was familiar with the store and the store in my dream looked very different. I told Pete, "I'm dreaming". He said, "You're dreaming, huh?" and I woke up. I wish I had hunted down the operations manager, Tyler and given him a bloody nose or something.

...in my dream of course.

 

That's my experience. I've never been able to purposefully go to sleep with the intention of controlling my dreams, it usually just happens that way.

 

To the OP, interesting psuedo-lucid dream. I've have had full blown lucid dreams at various points. Never a consistent thing. But, they're always interesting. You're in a virtual reality but it seems as real as your waking world. You expect dreams to be less real than reality but when you're fully aware in one and looking around, you realize things seem just as solid there as they do in the real world. Then, while you're walking around a dream world far from home, you realize your body is laying unconcious in your room, that's an interesting realization.

Mr Awe

 

I've had similar experiences but I didn't know what it was I guess . . . in some dreams I feel like I can't see, and my eyes feel like the won't open so I'm desperately trying to open my eyes so I can see what's happening in the dream
other times I try to call for help or alert someone to danger and all I manage is a wheeze

I guess next time I'll try and change things

 

I can't really control dreams that occur when I'm actually asleep. However, sometimes when I wake up but am not yet fully awake, I can choose to submerge my mind back into the dream for a while (effectively putting me back into a light sleep), and I usually have a bit more control over what's happening then.

The logic of the situation is lost when I get fully awake, unfortunately. Some of my dreams would make for good short stories, but I can never piece them together enough to get something worthwhile out later!

 

to the OP: get your thyroid levels checked pronto. I had many of these before I got mine checked. seems I have a severely underactive thyroid which has, at times, been known to manifest in this way.

 

I can only think of one lucid dream I had a couple years ago. I was being chased and was fairly freaked out by the ordeal. I finally ended up at the edge of a cliff with nowhere else to go and was trying to figure out what I was going to do since my pursuer was catching up to me. That's when it hit me that I was dreaming and I decided to jump and try to fly. I actually flew around for quite awhile before I ended up waking up. It was actually pretty cool!

 

Interesting... did the dream happen because you read something about it days before, or was it a totally independent phenomenon?

I think everyone can still dream (both in the philosophical, Dr. Martin Luther the King sense and in the neurophysiological and psychological definitions of course ) but they've just forgotten that they do. What I've often find is that I do recall having a number of wonderful dreams about which I wake up feeling good about the world or something, yet I cannot recall anything about the dream at all - no details, no images, no sounds... just intense feelings (and good ones at that). Maybe it is something to do with those levels of endogenous opioids or certain other neurotransmitters at that time.

On the other hand, I've thought more about the phenomenon of "recurring" dreams. Often I have a dream about a dream I had a few nights before, even though I don't recall having the original dream at all in the past, and have come to the conclusion that they are either a) dreams we have "forgotten" in the past (as I suggested above) and stored subconsciously, or b) consecutive dreams that return at several times during the same night. Either way, I think my mind's memory centre often gets stimulated during those times, through planting of "false" memories that are forgotten during the Awake state of mind, which are then recalled during REM sleep. I don't know.

In terms of "lucid" dreams, I've never felt in control of a dream once it begins. I've always seen it as some stuff that just happens, and I let the events run its course by itself.

I've always believed that dreams are created as a product of the sum of experiences and memories in one's life, usually recent, and mixed around following their own laws (the Laws of the Dream World are chaotic, varied, yet seem to make perfect sense at the time ). Yet on at least two occasions I've experienced a dream featuring something (the same thing) which I have never experienced before, ever. I'd rather not go into it in public, but curiouser minds can ask me about it later. Let's just say I wonder if it's an indication that some dreams can be prophetic after all...?

Thanks, Sigmund. Now I'll tell you all about my mother....

 

I've had sleep paralysis on a number of occasions - and very freaky it was, too. Very, very unpleasant. But that was a few years ago. Hopefully that's the end of it!

And as for lucid dreaming - I, too, have had the typical "flying" dream, and it was looped. In the dream I flew over the houses on a nearby street, then went back to the starting point and did it again. And I became more and more aware that I was dreaming as the loop continued until I was in a fully lucid state and could control it.

I've never been so annoyed to wake up in my life. An altogether amazing dreaming experience!