I Found The SECRET To Lucid Dreaming

[@ThomasKelly.]

I had a few lucid dreams when I was in college. I actually solved several problems on a large project that a group of us engineering students were working on. I literally woke up with the answer to a problem, tested it, and it always worked. That’s when I took the phrase, sleep on it, literally.

[@erikals]

yes, i've had that happen. a fun thing. :)

[@Cueball120]

Similar experience with a CFD project. Whenever my team hit a stumbling block running our models, I’d end up dreaming about them and finding very clear solutions in my dreams.

[@Tempus__Fugitive]

The solution to getting the sewing machine to work came when the inventor dreamt of spears with holes in the blade

[@erikals]

@@Tempus__Fugitive Incredible ! ☺️

[@yourdashingheroidol7909]

I have had lucid dreams that I can actually direct, twice in my life and wish I had them every night. I made an ex that I was infatuated with come to me and that was the only wet dream I ever had. Lol. It seemed more real than real !

[@samh6246]

During an extremely painful and traumatic time in my childhood I went to bed one night just wishing I had my grandma, and that night I dreamed of her. Had a whole conversation that mostly made sense. I knew it wasn't real but it gave me much needed courage to continue. 😊 it was healing.

[@chancebrown98]

Awh thats sweet. Hope life is better now

[@mik2204]

I dreamt that an old man gave me a small wooden toy car. It looked like a Ford model T. The next day I searched high and low for the toy. In my dream it was left in a kitchen draw that had all odd bits in, like string, screwdrivers, tin-opener etc. My mum asked what I was looking for and I described the toy. She didn't recognise it. Then I told her about the old guy who gave it to me when the whole family was in a large room, and she recognised her father. He was killed during WW2 as part of the merchant navy. He used to make allsorts from wood, while at sea. He would always give out wooden toys to the kids on his return, and the Ford model T was one of the regulars. I remember I was younger than 5 because I hadn't started school and struggled to see into the draw, but my memory is still that the car was real and should be in that draw. I'd never met my grandfather, but probably heard mum and aunts talking about him. Your dream reminded me of mine from 40ish years ago, thank you!

[@dawnpalmby5100]

Why do u assume it wasn't real... we don't really understand what happens. I like to think it was your grandmother ❤

[@chantsmantrasandrelaxation5079]

What a great experience.

[@nafanarefour4564]

Had a dream (not lucid) that I was in my Grandmother's kitchen a few years after she passed. She was there asking me how I was doing, etc. I woke up crying because the emotions felt so real. I'm not a religious person but my Grandmother was a devout Catholic, and I'm not sure whether that was my own mind or a higher power.

[@realtalk5329]

Touching something in a lucid dream knowing its not real but then not being able to tell the difference is MIND BLOWING

[@LeonardoRibeiro]

I once had sleep paralysis, waking up without being able to move. I gave my arm to move and touch the bed. I clearly felt the wood in my hands, but my eyes were clearly showing me that my hands were still by my side and hadn't moved.

[@realtalk5329]

@@LeonardoRibeiro interesting

[@butthole9843]

First time it happened to me, I floated really fast over to a window so I could jump out and fly away! As soon as I jumped out, I woke up with my heart POUNDING! It was super cool.

[@realtalk5329]

@@butthole9843 nice. I tried to fly but couldn't granted I didn't try for long cuz I was somewhere high up n I started to think what if this isn't a dream n I die so I woke myself up to check but then couldn't go back to the lucid dream. (I should've known!)

[@realtalk5329]

@@butthole9843 I also tried teleporting to naked women but that didn't work either haha

[@tomreider9622]

I have been able to both lucid dream and astral travel. They are two very different experiences for me. My problem with lucid dreaming is that I become very excited about it and immediately want to tell other people in the dream that this is only a dream. They look at me with blank stares and then I wake up. Or I'll go off exploring the incredible dreamscape but eventually lose awareness and fall back into regular dreaming. Astral travel, on the other hand is when I don't fall asleep at all. I concentrate on a sound to keep me from consciously falling asleep while my body falls asleep. At one point I feel a tingling sensation and a feeling of weightlessness. The next thing I know I'm lifting out of my body. If I stay calm it lasts longer but if I get too excited, I find myself back in my body. I am always in the room where I went to sleep and the farthest I've ever gotten is downstairs, out the door and down the street before waking up in bed again. The big difference to me between lucid dreaming and astral travel is during astral travel there is still a feeling of physicality, of being embodied in the actual physical world. Whereas with lucid dreaming, I'm always in a dreamscape and I don't have that same feeling of being physically in a body.

[@emanueletorregrossa4218]

Agree! See my above comment! Mine happened by accident! And it felt real unlike lucid dreaming!

[@yvanbenjamin1657]

Second that, when I lucid dream and look at my hands they actually look transparent whereas when I astral travel my astral body appears to be corporeal/physical however in both cases I still need to make sure I don't get emotionally overwhelmed if not I return to my body

[@Kevin-zc7dv]

EXACTLY!!! I MET HORUS.

[@simonsureshwarayoga6564]

You can practice to stabilize the dream and to stay lucid. It is called fading. You lose the focus, or you wake up. If everything gets blurry and loses its clarity, you can simply shout out: Clarity!, or you sit down, close your eyes and meditate. One of the best technics to stabilize your dream and increase clarity and lucidity is simply spinning as fast as you can.

[@NicoAssaf]

Glad you brought this up. If you've experienced the vibrational stage and the eventual lift off, you know how different it feels compared to regular lucid dreaming. Nice detail on the physicality of the experience as well. I remember having an AP where I made it through the bedroom door, then the main door onto the street, and decided to jump really high. When I landed back on the ground, I felt my bones and tendons and whatnot. It was a fleshy feeling, so to speak. That, besides the vibrations and the very visceral feeling of detachment from the body, makes a striking difference between the two experiences. Also, there's evidence that the temporoparietal junction is very active during AP. That brain region has a lot to do with spatial information integration and the distinction between self and others, among other things. I'm pretty sure the brain regions activated during lucid dreaming are different, but to be honest I'm a little rusty on the neurobiology of LDs (or what little I can understand about it).

[@janzenjan]

I've been an avid dreamer all my life (I'm 68 atm) and when I heard about astral projection in my twenties, I was intrigued and studied every book I could find on the subject. I gave myself 3 years to learn how to do it; it took me about 6 months. I became successful by becoming aware I was dreaming, as in having a lucid dream and using that as a platform to then consciously project some part of myself into what people call the astral realm. My environment would go from full colour in the dream state to black and various shades of grey in the astral state. There was always a huge buzzing effect in my body when I transitioned, similar to getting an AC electrical shock. This effect occurred both entering and leaving the astral realm. I always felt a sense of unease, however, when I went there, so I stopped doing it after only three successful attempts. I'd had the occasional lucid dream before then and continued to have them through the years, not that often, but often enough that it didn't totally surprise me when it happened; I always enjoyed lucid dreaming. They all happened during regular unconscious dreams when I would spontaneously notice I was dreaming and that awareness then sparked the greater awareness of a fully lucid dream. Many years later I heard about W.I.L.D. and decided to try to learn to do that. Over a period of several weeks I tried many different techniques, some I'd read about and many I made up on my own. My first success came about when I silently repeated to myself (there's the mantra effect, Joe) "I am awake, I'm in the dream." over and over and over as my body fell asleep. I'd been training myself to be aware of my body falling asleep while keeping some shred of waking awareness going in a non-physical point of selfness. That first lucid dream was like a gift - it happened full-blown and contained all the elements of dream environment symbols that I eventually learned to use to navigate through an astonishing multi-year exploration of the dream realm, or more accurately, the "between dreams" realm. Because that is where I found myself going, repeatedly - to the place where we create (and co-create with guides) our dreams. I wrote 2 articles for the now defunct "Dream Network" magazine about my explorations several years ago. I'd be happy to scan the pages and send them to you, Joe, if you're interested in the details.

[@jasmineflores9760]

You’re brilliant! Thanks for sharing

[@SocialTourist]

That buzzing noise you described during the Astral projection events is your brain or consciousness syncing with vibrational frequencies of...well... as best as I can tell, everything. The swelling noise that consumes you is part of the transition process, it's pretty scary and wildly unsettling before it goes silent. I only had two experiences in my life, unfortunately. But it left me with an understanding, an ease that we are all connected, and I'm not referring just to humans, but literally everything. Every particle through all of time, every thought, every idea, every event. Wish I could bring back even a fraction of that knowledge and data, sadly your left with this tip of your tongue sort of sense. At least that was my experience, I seem to know it but can't describe it, its certian but also escapes me, super frustrating stuff. Though an unexpected side effect for me, I no longer have fear of my inevitable demise when my human body eventually quits. Also, I found it curious, your color descriptors of b/w and grey scales. I've heard of people coming across not so nice places during Astral events. Some people seem to encounter hostile presences during dimensional shifts/travels, curious if your fear response was because of something similar? Never thought that would be a sentence I would write, but here we are. Enjoy your evening or day and take care.

[@kandyappleview]

I think I have Astral projected before without knowing what I was doing...I have had dreams where I literally felt like I was inside someone else's body, experiencing a completely different life and another time. When I was younger I would say "it was me, but it wasn't me at the same time". Now that I'm just starting to explore some of this stuff, i think during these times, my consciousness went into (or at least connected with) someone else. Is that Astral projection or is that something else? Idk... I'm still learning about all this.

[@SocialTourist]

@kandyappleview I've had multiple similar experiences, and I'm not certain if it's Astral projection either. Because the 2 scenarios were I had an out of body experience they were very different from the dream stuff. Out of curiosity, are the people in these dreams strangers? I ask this because dream studies seem to indicate that our dreams are full of established people in our lives, friends, families, co-workers etc...And it's apparently uncommon to have complete strangers in dreams. Yet I've had countless dreams where it's like you described, your living another person's existence or experience. I wish I could give you an answer, but I honestly don't know either. I will say it's very different from the Astral projection I experienced while awake, but I don't think it's completely removed either. I lean towards it probably being yet another layer to this whole mess. Sadly, there's just not a lot of hardened consistent data on this stuff yet, to my knowledge. And the negative stigmas of our cultures probably don't help matters when it comes to the scientific side of this.

[@kandyappleview]

@SocialTourist yes, it's almost always total strangers. (One time several months ago 2 of my family members were there but everyone else was strangers) Strangers who relate to me as if I'm supposed to know who they are. Perhaps because it's the body of a person they are familiar with and they don't know it's me inside.

[@cathyglascock1370]

I had a vivid dream the night before my Dad passed away. He and I went to a beautiful realm where there was no gravity and colors were neon like. We bounced in a place that seemed like a church. We made the comment that we were “dancing in the rafters”. Coming back(waking up) felt heavy and dense. The next day Daddy was hours from death and unresponsive. When I told him we went to this beautiful place , he squeezed his eyes. My sign he knew. Never had anything that surreal since. It was a gift. Found out later it’s called “shared death experience”.

[@annidee]

Wow! That’s amazing! 💜🌻🙏🏻

[@cathyglascock1370]

@@annidee I was just talking about this experience yesterday to my hairdresser. It happened nearly eight years ago. And I see you read and responded. It’s amazing the serendipity of life sometimes. 💕💕

[@palmyrapalmyra1681]

Wow!! Amazing!!😮

[@trevinbeattie4888]

I’ve had lucid dreams plenty of times; the initial trick is to be _just_ conscious enough to realize I’m in a dream, but not conscious enough to wake up. Laying in a comfortable position and temperature is critical for this balance. Once I’m in this state, I have _some_ control over the dream environment, but still have to wrestle with a lot of the random stuff my brain dredges up sometimes.

[@randar1969]

always had control of my dreams to the point i could actually do whatever i wanted as it was my world to control. Thought it was normal till i much later found out that it is quite rare.

[@YourBlackLocal]

Your advice is basically to have lucid dreams, just have lucid dreams. be just conscious enough to realise you’re in a dream is the end result, not really a step to get there.

[@limesta]

It's crazy when you're in a lucid dream, where you let your world be controlled and you just observe, and then after a while there's just a total collapse of your environment I had dreams like that all the time, extremely vivid and end terribly, but other times I have wholesome ones, where I am aware something isn't right, I can feel everything, and I break from the "autopilot" of the dream.

[@Kimera92]

Your "initial trick" is basically the definition of a lucid dream. This is not a step, it's already the purpose

[@disorganizedorg]

What you describe is what I call a 'threshold dream' in which I am simultaneously aware of my body lying in bed while also elsewhere doing something (usually boring like taking out the trash...). Awareness, but no volition.

[@ashtraylol]

I had a dream after my grandfather died last year where I saw him, and he told me, "It's going to be okay." Really helped me get through that pain, especially since it had been only about a week since he had passed away at the time, and I was about to go back in school so it helped me understand and process that pain.

[@CookiesDC]

That’s amazing. Our minds can do the coolest things sometimes and we can’t always explain it but things like that show just how incredible our minds really are

[@chantsmantrasandrelaxation5079]

I've had lots of lucid dreams. As a child (pre 1975) my parents taught me that I could control what happened in my dreams. Nightmares were ways your brain challenged you to figure something out. They were and still are extremely rare (at least as far as I can recall). WILD states seem like 'astral travel' - I like adding music to my sleep routine ( specific style type) and those times when I find myself flying across landscapes often have great soundtracks. I used to work with children and at the end of the day when there were only a few left and it was dark outside (winter time) I used to sometimes do a 'relaxation/meditation' session with them. The parents were amazed that their kids were so quiet and peaceful, but I loved the kids telling me their experiences when they opened their eyes. "I was lying on a cloud" one six year old said. Lucid dreams have somehow often been linked to flying for me. Thanks for this topic.

[@jewpackoshur711]

I either fly on an object if at great heights or do a super low gravity like leaping.

[@kropka8259]

It's more often than not about flying for me too! I can feel the physical strain it takes to take off 😅

[@poodle_soup211]

I had a lucid dream years ago when I dreamed my father stood in a corner of a room that was void of anything. He was dressed in his fav suit. I asked him why he passed leaving me with so many questions? He told me that my question was something I had to figure out. I must have figured it out b/c I've never had that dream again. RIP Dad 🥰

[@thesergiorevengeshow]

Facts - same for me,taught to try and wake myself up, then that turned into "being awake/aware" inside the dream, just to fight nightmares. I can do all sorts of cool stuff, too. hovering, camouflage(like The Predator), Telekinesis, super jump, enhanced strength, cannot die, talking to people beyond the grave, dreamwalking and walking though walls/etc

[@Andytlp]

I miss lucid dreams. Hardly any normal dreams for the past few years. Lack of sleep maybe... The fun part is obviously being lucid and being able to do anything you want for about 30 seconds to 5 minutes depending on how easy you take it. If it's just a stroll down a memory lane, touching various objects. Running your hand over the morning grass that still has dew on it with a sunrise breaking through the trees, you can go on for minutes like that. The actual fun stuff that makes you wake up in 10 to 30 seconds. Blasting buildings away with super strength. Jumping kilometers into the sky. Flying at super speeds over cities or into earths orbit. Even more chaotic flying out of the solar system into the stars at over light speeds. Usually that kind of light show ends abruptly, especially if you poke holes into your own subconscious by thinking stuff like "Hang on, how do i even know what it would feel or look like in this situation" So I'd recommend to take it slow and not destabilize the dream when u are lucid to get used to it. After that you can experiment more. If you have fear and can't tell apart a dream from reality before you do something stupid like jump off a skyscraper, then the easiest way to tell is not pinching yourself, but driving a finger through your palm. The downside is that you might wake up instantly as your brain gets spooked at seeing something you shouldn't be able to do but after a few times it'll get used to it and youll be able to stay in the dream and lucid. Those are my experiences, yours might differ.

[@andrewfriedrichs9340]

I have had lucid dreams, but what has always bugged me is knowing the difference between a controlling a dream, and dreaming you are in control. Also this sounds like something those psychopaths who can just sleep do.

[@retteketette]

I know what you mean. Its bothering me also, I cant put my finger on it, but lucid dreaming isnt as lucid as some of these comments pretend it is. We're still pretty much bound to the kind of dream; and it sounds, the lucid dreaming some of these chatters are explaining, like you said psychopathic.

[@leadgindairy3709]

For real!! How dare those crazy, no-good psychos, lay down and just fall asleep in less than 5min?!? I mean what is that all about anyway! A-holes!! 😂 😂

[@jeremyowen1]

It's great. Lay down, think about life, fall asleep ANNNND it's morning. Cannabis is an incredible dream suppressant from what I've gathered.

[@michaelgrosberg2665]

That is my experience as well. I'm aware i'm dreaming, but my decisions in those dreams of what to use it for are not ones awake me would choose.

[@skesseks]

@@jeremyowen1 dreaming is CRUCIAL to your mental, and physical, health. I know what you mean, but you need to dream on the regular.

[@yehoshua77]

I could do this as a kid. As I would drift off to sleep I could go outside, fly around, go places. Some of these experiences were the most comforting experiences I’ve ever had and the most “connected” I’ve ever felt. Wish I could do this as an adult.

[@Thisismetman]

I could do it as a kid as well.

[@shanecartwright3333]

So I'm not the only one

[@danicoversongs]

Same experience here

[@RodMarques]

Y'all, these were astro projections, they are common when you're a kid. You still can do it, with practice. Do any of you still have sleep paralipsis?

[@ventura77444]

you can literally go to places , where people are actively are talking ? and talk to them ? or u can't talk to them ?

[@emilyrooks]

It is absolutely astral projection 😊I’m on my journey as well. Very early in. It’s a practice and takes time. Work at your own pace, finding a balance that works with your lifecycle. If you are worried about lack of sleep if it doesn’t work early on, do it on a weekend so you can catch up without fear. Also notice that a thought that you might not get enough sleep or a worry you might have trouble falling back to sleep is actually an intention you set that is incongruous with your goal. Add that to your intention: I will fall back to sleep after wake back to sleep or something. The point is your mantras can be designed to help your particular journey and you know what you need best. Listen to the way you are talking to yourself through your practice and see where you might make a change in your perspective and set the intention that will help you achieve your goals. Your belief alone is what gives you all the power to create whatever you want on the astral plane. Good luck to you all! I’m excited to be on this journey with you 🤗

[@greywolf9783]

Just understand that Astral projection is dangerous beyond all words, that's why the feeling of unease.

[@Periwinkleaccount]

What reason do you have to believe that it isn’t just lucid dreaming?

[@ChefCharlieDreams]

Astral projection is a low level lucidity ,lucid dream.

[@Abby-km6vr]

The most vivid lucid dream I’ve ever had was a fever dream when I had covid. I was standing in a grassy field. I lay down and could feel the grass beneath my body and the sun warming my skin. It was absolutely surreal.

[@rolloxra670]

Did the dream last or it ended quickly? Mostly of the lucid dreams I’ve had I wake up just after realizing I was dreaming

[@johnplaysgames3120]

@@rolloxra670 I had that problem with lucid dreams early on. Within seconds after realizing I was dreaming, everything would start to fade like I was having an intense headrush, and then I'd wake up. At one point, though, I read an article about lucid dream research and they mentioned a technique they found to keep that from happening. Basically, as soon as you feel the dream start to fade, stick your arms out to the side and start spinning. It sounded goofy and I didn't think it would work but the next time I had a dream go lucid and everything started fading to darkness, I remembered the article, stuck my arms straight out to the side, and started spinning. Sure enough, the dream faded back in and continued. I assume this works because you're refocusing your mind on the internal scene rather than anything to do with a specific pose or movement. My theory is that lucid dreams happen when you dream while hovering a little closer to consciousness than is typical, so your body's kind of halfway to waking up anyway, making it easy to slip out of the groove and just keep drifting up to consciousness. By focusing on something like a specific body position and a movement within the dream, you're redirecting your mind and body away from the wake-up procedure and back into the dream state. Whatever the reason, it worked for me so, y'know, give it a try.

[@cesarcarlosramirez]

Funny because when i got ovid the thing that made me feel completey better like 80-89% better was laying on the grass and letting the sun hit my skin with no shirt. Helped so much omg

[@EJD339]

I use to be a heavy drinker so I never dreamt. I couldn’t get over this girl for 3 years and as soon as I quit drinking and dreamt, I was able to get over this girl in a week and a half. I truly believe dreaming helped me. It’s almost like I wasn’t able to process the breakup until I could actually get some real sleep.

[@TheDennys21]

Without sleep we would literally die so yeah sleeping is really important, the brain "resets" itself every time we sleep.

[@Sa5mRoxUrSox]

As someone with complete aphantasia, dreams are the only time I experience mental imagery and lucid dreaming is the only time I've been able to control or conjure "real" images. It is extremally difficult to get into that state and rare for me, but I am always so so excited when it happens because I get to experience a small sliver of what the average person does for most of the day haha

[@disorganizedorg]

Aphantasia interests me personally because I have oddball migraines where my visual aura resolves into one of several odd phenomena -- aphantasia included -- for short (

[@safebox36]

Fuck, I can't even get that. I can touch and hear things in dreams, but there are no floors and doorways (even open ones) are solid walls.

[@bagfootbandit8745]

OK, that's really interesting. Aphantasia normally, but you're able to lucid dream? That's wild. Makes me wonder about the causes of aphantasia and whether you can "train" yourself to have mental imagery...Or why it's confined to a sleep state.

[@chris_stacey]

I wonder what someone with aphantasia experiences if the take LSD... 🤔

[@WahrheitMachtFrei.]

@@bagfootbandit8745 Makes me wonder if therapy with hallucinogenics would be useful...

[@TheZeroNeonix]

I've been a lucid dreamer for pretty much my whole life, but the amount of control I've had has varied. It started with me having nightmares, recognizing that I was in a nightmare, and trying to force my eyes open. Sometimes I would think it worked, but I was actually "waking" into another dream. Later, and this was when I started to have actual control over my dreams, I had a dream that I was in a swimming pool. I thought to myself, "If I'm in a dream, I don't need to hold my breath." So I sat on the bottom of the pool and breathed normally. After that, I would remember that I didn't need to hold my breath any time water was involved. I had some really fun dreams, swimming around in colorful coral reefs. I've never had total, god-like control, however. For some reason, I seem to have limits to what I can do in a lucid state. First of all, it's not exactly like being awake. I'm still limited by dream logic. For instance, one time, I was lucid dreaming, and my little sister told me she needed to find a bathroom, and I actually thought my real sister needed to find a real bathroom in my dream. Second, I sometimes lose control, often when I experience what I have come to recognize as a nightmare trigger. One time, I pointed at the sun and flicked my finger, and the time of day changed as the sun would follow my finger. It would change from day to night, and vice versa. But one time, it got stuck on night, and I was in the dark. The fear seems to strip control away, and there are certain things in my dreams which trigger the switch into nightmare mode. The glass door at the back of my parents' house, for instance, was associated with a lot of nightmares where something would be standing on the other side of the glass. Other times, even if I'm not having a nightmare, I will not be able to do something no matter how hard I concentrate. I'm not sure why I can move the sun across the sky, but I can't concentrate something into existence, but it's just how my brain works.

[@Jumpman_01]

Mostly this happens during nightmares😂,I Usually become lucid if I don't freak out when the elevator snaps n drops

[@williamthomas1248]

Breathing under water was also my first experience with lucid dreaming as a kid. Very cool story about the coral reefs

[@JeSTeR-X1o]

Mine started with creepy dreams of three dark figures n sleep paralysis but one night I broke the paralysis n the three figures became like guides guiding me through different scenarios with things I needed to see or hear in each scenario which impacted on my life sometimes just a little n sometimes majorly,it's a peculiar place the dream realm and our own minds

[@MultidimensionalBeing123]

same i compare it to meeting the train man in the matrix consciousness meets the subconscious.

[@thewolf2296]

I had one a couple month ago were I was in a room but the moment I realized I was conscious everything bugged like in a video game and I woke up

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

The singular experience in my life I'd unironically classify as "spiritual" was a lucid dream I had while napping between classes at university. Man, do I wish I could tap into that state of consciousness at will. I've been trying to get back there for the last twenty-five years.

[@Adjustmentxdisorder]

I've only managed to reach it twice. Both times, I was met by an entity that turned me away and woke me up. Both entities were the same being up also not. Hard to pin its form down as I only saw it in my peripheral vision.

[@David.C.Velasquez]

@@Adjustmentxdisorder Similar experience here, but with many trials, a line or threshold of awareness is identifiable, which when "real world" consciousness is held beneath, it is possible to maintain this state for longer. I was "granted" full view of this "being" on at least one occasion, with lasting recall of the encounter. There were definite similarities to some salvia and dmt reports that I've read, but can't confirm, as I've tried neither substance. *The quotations signify placeholder words, that don't truly capture the intended conceptualization, but will have to do

[@glypheye]

Intent to look for your hands in dreaming. I always look at my left hand....which distorts in fantastic and hilarious ways when lucidity arrives. Who knew left-handedness had such left-handed meaning when seen through fun-house mirror of conscious dreaming? LOL!

[@DCrypt1]

All you nerds should take that leap to the deep end and just vaporize and inhale some DMT. It may help with your esoteric curiosities.

[@atashgallagher5139]

Lucid dreams are similar to if you could do psychedelic drugs while stone cold sober.

[@liminalmessaging]

I've had a number of lucid dreams - in my case they've all been accidental. Two of my lucid dreams involved this mysterious, godly figure who gave me guidance through some pretty uncertain times when I was a teenager, while another set that I had in early 2020 turned out to be an accurate roadmap of the next three years of my life. Dreams can be pretty powerful.

[@Spoketlabolina]

That's having good connections to yourself, to the world and the creation.

[@ryan.hanthorn]

There was a time when I was lucid dreaming pretty regularly. I learned a few things. 1. It's easier to lucid dream when you're on the edge of sleep and consciousness. I had the most of them when I had ongoing insomnia. Many instances I was both aware of the dream and my the presence of my physicals body in bed. It did occur to me that maybe special forces could use this to sleep while still being aware of their surroundings in dangerous environments but it would probably be tricky to reliably train. 2. Alcohol consumption can help you get to sleep but hurts your ability to stay asleep, so I had this happen most in a stretch of time when I was drinking more. Not encouraging alcohol abuse, just food for thought. 3. You can NEVER just directly control your dream through force of will. If you're in a spooky mansion and want to be on a sunny beach and you just choose to be on the beach you'll just shock yourself awake. It will never work. Instead you need to employ a narrative device to gradually change the dream in a logical way. So it's just a matter of realizing there's a door behind you in that spooky mansion that leads to that sunny beach and all you have to do is turn arround, open it and step through. 4. Leave a reminder next to your bed in a place you'll see as soon as you wake up saying something like "What did you dream?" and immediately write it down or record yourself describing the dream. It'll fade quickly from memory so you have to commit it immediately.

[@benalo13]

Absolutes are usually not correct. I was occasionally able to directly change entire settings putting anything I wanted together.

[@ilSySTeMli]

"employ a narrative device to gradually change the dream" This is only if your a very Logical type of person you can free float in your dreams if you completely accept that you can do anything in your dreams, BTW alcohol has the opposite effect on me ...

[@Cancoillotteman]

Very similar to my experiences, except for the alcohol part. In general happens a lot with sleep deprivation (not an advice either note, it just is)

[@themollerz]

Here's my lucid dream trigger- Smoke weed for a length of time.. more than a month, and then quit and start taking melatonin before bed. Buckle up because you are in for a ride.

[@Shirayuuki1]

probably why i lucid dream so much. my insomnia is so bad im probably on the edge of sleep like 30% of the night. i usually play out entire stories in my dreams. so vivid that i wake up with new found recipes, architecture or even stories in my mind. Most of which i remember.

[@sekovittol3124]

I am 54 years old, experiencing age related changes in sleep patterns. The latest is something that freaked me out, just the thought. Laying in bed I am starting to dream and I then realise that I'm not even sleeping yet! This has been happening regularly, just lately. It's like a movie is playing, and I am watching it, and in it, but like regular dreams, hard to remember the subject of the dream, but then again dreams rarely have a story line anyway.

[@ShellyStew]

That’s really similar to what I’m going through, but I’m currently 21 and 16 weeks pregnant, since I’ve been pregnant my sleep patterns are completely different, my dreams are more realistic and there are times where I daydream out of my control, it’s like a dream but I’m not really asleep

[@jessec9532]

Omg, I'm a similar age and I noticed what you describe and I found it really strange! Haven't had that before.

[@EnkiSvohden]

My first true lucid dream was when I was 19 attending college away from home. I was on campus, and I was thrilled by realizing I was lucid. I could feel the air in the lungs, the wind on my face, the birds chirping, students randomly walking around the campus going about their business as normal. As I walked the campus and took in the experience, I noticed a group of my friends having a picnic by a child's playground. I was so excited to see them I couldn't contain it. I rushed over to them and greeted them. Then I began to tell them that I was dreaming, and that they weren't real, but simply my own representation of them. As I continued to insist they were not real, they became annoyed and then angry with me, saying things like, "how the hell can you tell me I AM not real? What's with you man? Can you just drop it? I know I AM real and I don't need you to tell me otherwise." They then collectively walked away, seemingly vanish into the background, and it felt like being abandoned. It felt really personal. I then searched for them for a bit throughout the facilities until I stumbled across my home room. In there I became distracted by an incredibly beautiful woman and tried to seduce her. As I failed to do so, my dream world started to collapse. I can remember looking for a clock to retain my lucidity. However, when I found the clock on the wall, it began melting, and then everything quickly drifted into darkness. After that I woke up and was stunned by the experience for probably several hours. I still can see it pretty vividly in my mind, some 22 years later.

[@whoever6458]

Sounds like you were taking philosophy when you had that dream. I also took "too much" philosophy in college. lol Of course, I think these dreams are all about philosophy in a way since I dreamt that monsters were chasing me, looked down to see what was wrong with my legs, realized I was on a treadmill, stepped off of it, and then was easily able to outrun the monsters. The best thing and the worst thing about dreams is that they are absurd but so is life.

[@Censeo]

Ive too annoyed people in my lucid dreams by telling them they are not real.

[@mariamartinusz9699]

I believe dreams are a spiritual reality, so don't go telling your friends, they are not real. Just physically not there.

[@EnkiSvohden]

@@mariamartinusz9699 I honestly completely disagree with that. Your dreams are not reality, not in the slightest. Don't take your own imagination too seriously.

[@mariamartinusz9699]

@@EnkiSvohden there have been people who both remembered meeting in a dream.

[@PhailingMath]

I don't always pay much attention to your comedic openings like this one, but this one was actually hilarious! Great video too, of course. Keep up the great work, Joe!

[@boathousejoed1126]

I thought it was a take on George Costanza😂

[@lindaseel9986]

​@@boathousejoed1126Oh yeah! Good one! 😂

[@reshpeck]

Was she in Napoleon Dynamite?

[@napolitv6889]

Which part in Napoleon Dynamite?

[@Nik.No.K]

I’ve been able to lucid dream on a fairly regular basis for much of my life. The usual problem that happens every time is as soon as I realize I’m dreaming I get too excited and wake myself up. One of the things I find most amazing about this is the level of detail your brain can create in a dream. I will always remember one time I had a lucid dream where I was standing on a balcony looking out over this huge beautiful nature scene. It was fall, the leaves were changing, there was a lake, I could see little tiny bug’s flying around way off in the distance. I just remember staring at this scene, admiring the detail that was so realistic I could see every individual leaf on the trees. Turns out our brain has the best VR capability of anything

[@deimosmagnific]

The one thing the brain can't go is to put words in books.

[@deimosmagnific]

I can always tell if I was dreaming by reading something (pick up a news paper or book). No time during my lucid dreams would the words that I was seeing be actually words. Also, and more upsetting was eat food. None of the food had any flavored.

[@antonystringfellow5152]

I've had a few during my life but they're not a common occurrence and I can't make them happen, they just happen randomly. For me too, the most amazing thing about them is the visual detail. It's full-color, high-res, just like in real life. However, a few people have pointed out its shortcomings, such as words on a page or reflections in mirrors. I've never noticed these things - I've never looked for them. When I'm lucid dreaming, I'm functional enough to realise that I'm dreaming, know that I'm really laid in bed asleep, and have a large degree of control over the dream (though not full control). I usually just enjoy the experience and that fact that I can do what I want in that World. That leads me to some interesting scenarios, hehehe! It never lasts long though, I always end up waking. Coming at this from the other end, I have experienced the visualizations of a dream while still awake. This happens when on the phone to a friend who can't sleep and wants to keep talking. I'm laid in bed listening, fighting to stay awake, when out of nowhere come these vivid, photorealistic images, just as I'm about to drop off, but don't quite. This can happen several times within a few minutes before I finally drop off to sleep but it's even more difficult to maintain than a lucid dream. In both situations, it's like you're neither in one state (asleep) nor the other (awake) but somewhere in between, finely balanced in an unstable condition that can't last.

[@ExplorerOfWorlds-]

I've never had a lucid dream, but the second thing you said about being in between.. I think I have had similar experiences. Often when I watch a video or listen to something in bed, I balance on my arm and rest my head on my balled fist. When I do that I constantly have the most sudden, very intense dreams and once they really start going I wake up still in that same position, meaning it prob only lasts seconds in real life otherwhise I surely would've fallen over

[@brenduck]

I know what you mean about accidentally waking yourself up. I replied about a sleep paralysis experience on another comment a minute ago, forcing myself up by just opening my eyes. But after that experience, I had one lucid dream. I realized I was dreaming and that I had control over it in this instance. So, excited to try some things out, I thought "don't think of something that'll wake yourself up." What did I dream of? First thing was Family Guy funny moments. I was in the Griffin family household, I laughed, and I woke up instantly. I might've had lucid dreams since, but only the kind where I'm aware I'm dreaming, and even then it's just a passing thought and not something I fully grasp.

[@roxannesmith4519]

I had a lucid experience- i was meditating and then all of a sudden I was observing the world and then the sky opened up like a jigsaw puzzle pieces and I understood the meaning of life for a moment. Then I came to and back to reality. Was an amazing experience that stuck with me.

[@Davett53]

I had extremely vivid dreams from age 18 to age 60. They were so vivid and detailed that I began keeping a journal of them. Every time I awoke after one, I'd write down everything I saw and encountered, and the people I met. I was aware of the kind of light, and atmosphere, that surrounded me. In the dreams I traveled to cities I'd never been to and some I had. Most of the people I met were strangers to me. If they told me their names I wrote that down too. Sometimes it was just their first names. Having had dreams of that intensity for so many years made worry that perhaps I had a brain disorder, or it was the sign of stroke. I have hundreds of dream journals, with 100s entries. Organized by months. On average, I had about 150 dreams per year, that were so complex and unusual, that I felt compelled to document them. I believe I had some lucid dreams, too. Those were the most surreal, and I truly felt I had left my physical body behind. I sensed I was looking down, from above as if hovering, a few feet above my bed. I saw myself sleeping, peacefully. I felt I was floating, though not flying. I don't know what force, moved me. When I awoke from the dreams filled people who I encountered, or the towns or places I'd been,....I would research them after I was awake. To see if they were real, or just invented by my brain. Almost all of them, didn't exist in real life. Only a couple did. They were cities I knew about in real life, but had never actually traveled to them. Even the weird, scary & depressing dreams, I wrote down. Most of my dreams were pleasant and some were so funny, that I awakened myself, as I laughed out loud. A few dreams, I awoke from I was extremely agitated and found myself struggling or mimicking a fist fight or wrestling. When I was around age 62, I prescribed some medicines that impacted my ability to dream. The medication disrupted my sleep, and I was no longer able to remember my dreams. This has saddened me deeply. I'm 70 now, and I almost never have any dreams. The ones I do have are dull, simple, and not worth writing down.

[@josho.9530]

They're not dreams. That's the big lie. You're essentially inducing an NDE. Interacting with actual universes outside of this one. Fist fights, were protecting yourself from less than ideal entities. Brainwave synchronization and focus are key.

[@Davett53]

@@josho.9530 I don't understand exactly. I'm just sleeping,...How am I inducing a NDE?

[@josho.9530]

@@Davett53 We all do it every single night, it just depends on how developed our consciousness is. If you've ever heard a jet engine roar/white noise type sound, that's you leaving your body. What's occurring is the third eye (pineal) begins resonating a high frequency, creating EM Field and out you go. Lucid dreaming is the stepping stone, you're still inside you, NDE/OBE = outside of your holographic body.

[@Persun_McPersonson]

@@josho.9530 That's not how an NDE works, that's something someone made up with zero real evidence and there are more grounded explanations based in scientific study.

[@Persun_McPersonson]

It's very inspiring hearing how much of a journey you've had with your dreams! Sorry to hear it had to end all because of some medicine. Have you considered eventually archiving your journals somehow?

[@dainbramage9508]

I gained my ability to lucid dream after I got sick of having nightmares, over time I learned to realize I was in a nightmare and that I could force myself awake. Basically nope-ing myself out of the nightmare when things started to get horrible. This is when I began trying this during normal dreams but without waking myself up and shaping them to how I wanted them to go, changing the plot, the characters, setting, etc. I don't always realize I'm in a dream by the time I wake up but when I do things get pretty fun. Obviously living out your fantasies but also living out past events the way you wish they had played out. Or say you're having an interesting dream but because of dream logic something weird happens and ruins it so I'd reset the dream into the right path again and let my brain continue to play out the dream. Also those who say you can't feel pain in your dreams just haven't felt pain in their dreams yet

[@benjamincraig7198]

100% agree. It was my "WBTB" technique i discovered on my own.

[@shadw4701]

People who say you can't feel in dreams just have low recall and can't remember the times they've felt things in dreams. Sensations in dreams can be more vivid than real life. This can sound crazy to most people but if you've ever done acid it's basically like every day life vs that

[@leadgindairy3709]

Nightmares are healthy!

[@BenjaminCronce]

@@leadgindairy3709 Not when you wake up feeling literal pain. Mine were so real that if I got stabbed in the nightmare, I'd wake up with a sharp pain in that exact spot.I'd have to rub the spot for a short bit to reset the nerves. I've experience horrific pains in my dreams that nothing I've experience in reality could compare. limbs getting ripped off, my muscles being filleted off me. Lucid dreaming stopped all of that nonsense. 3 years old was some wild times.

[@chantsmantrasandrelaxation5079]

@@shadw4701 Pain in dreams has caused me to wake and discover, unfortunately, the pain was real and had found it's way into my dream to alert me.

[@Astlaus]

That initial sequence is amazing rendition of what it is to realize you are dreaming. Good job with that, it really brought back the memories to me. The intense feeling "this looks perfectly real but in fact isn't" is something everyone should experience. When I first discovered that lucid dreaming is a thing, I was able to induce my first LD in like 3 months or so. Then I had semi-regular lucid dreams, but most of them were short and fairly unremarkable. Just knowing you're dreaming doesn't mean you are in perfect control. Eventually I lost my focus and my lucid dreaming devolved into weird state where I was having non-lucid dreaming that I am lucid dreaming etc. I still infrequently have spontaneous lucid dreams. Damn, I should try to revitalize my oneironautic efforts...

[@MisakaMikotoDesu]

15:35 I had an episode of sleep paralysis where I woke up to the sound of someone banging on the front door of my house, SCREAMING at me for help. As soon as I realized I couldn't move, I heard a horrifying, blood chilling scream, and then felt pure evil staring at me through my window. I could not see out of it, but I felt like whatever was outside wanted nothing more than to destroy me. It was 100% realistic and not fun at all. Still gives me goosebumps to this day.

[@Mooney231]

On several occasions when I was younger I experienced something similar. I would open my eyes and see someone standing in the corner of my room. I was not able to move and would scream but without being able to open my mouth. It was the sense of pure evil I felt that was the most unsettling. I also had frequent lucid dreams as well so sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

[@pianissimo369]

I've had that exact same dream twice...scared the sh*t out of me!

[@6FStyleCo]

I've seen the hag. Didn't know it was a thing until I googled my experience. I've seen a ghost too. I'm pretty fucked up. I have memories of places I've never been I don't know where they are or if they exist. I don't sleep well and I smoke alot of weed. Also one time when I was like 11 I went to my cousin's and she had a dreamcatcher and she put this dust from it on my forehead and I didn't have dreams for years

[@pianissimo369]

@@6FStyleCo smoking weed usually kills your dreams...wierd you still remember your dreams!

[@colleenakester]

I have also had the same thing happen to me. Its when your soul re enters your body. The sense of pure evil, you need to pray and it goes away. I have even seen things before it happened or before I was made aware of it. When you do manage to astral travel its a sense of pure freedom , love, beauty whatever one can call it

[@alaingraham]

99% of my dreams are lucid (if I even dream at all). I like to play around to see how far I can stretch it, but for the most part I use it to reinforce my memories for the day, week or month. It's largely a recollection of events with other possible scenarios mixed in.

[@gerryk101]

Be careful not to go too deep . You'll reach a point unconsciously where your brain/mind can no longer distinguish the Dream world from reality and the brain/mind would choose by its nature to side with pleasure and safety. You won't wake up and your body would rot away in real life as you lie motionless trapped in your dreamworld. You'll know when you reach that fine line . Most people recall it as feeling like your falling . If your body does not wake you up out of the natural fear of falling and injuring yourself as it would in real life, You'll pass the point where your body would naturally react and you would cross over to the "Dreamworld" permanently . You would eventually die on earth without knowing you are dead and your soul would be lost.

[@perpetualbystander4516]

That was a shitload of bollocks. You will wake up at some point regardless of how pleasant your dreams are, so your soul is never going to be forever lost if you go beyond a certain point in your dream. And even if it was true; why would your soul still be stuck even though your physical body has died? It doesn't make any sense, regardless of how you look at it.

[@erikals]

@@gerryk101 not really. that's scifi. that said, messing too much with a natural sleeping pattern isn't good.

[@gerryk101]

@@erikals if only. There are more to life and the universe than logic and what may seem to be a rational answer. You just haven't experienced it to the extreme yet . Not many can push that deep into one's dreams .You need to fight your body's urge to want to resist and wake you up. It's easier said then done . Why do you think people OD ? The drugs numbs the mind until it no longer functions as it slips away and the body shuts down. Now imagine yourself being the drug but you decide when it wears off . Not your body.

[@mko-ai]

​@gerryk101 that happens to me when I lucid dream and I dont like it

[@galinac5048]

I very often have dreams with people who passed. It is quite normal to me. What i never thought is communicating with them is probably lucid dreaming. I met my loved ones who had passed and I hugged them in my dreams. The most wonderful feeling was when I was hugged by my husband who had passed a few months before that - I never experienced anything like that - it was a feeling of warmth, security, relaxation. I cant describe it but I felt it so real...

[@Tbal_96]

Hey Joe it's 4:40am right now and I wanted to say that I followed your guide or the one you showed here and it nearly worked, albeit I was immediately thrown into sleep paralysis, but I will say that it is thanks to this video that I did not panic and I focused on slowing my heart rate and I quickly came out of it, and it's thanks to this video I was prepared for this possibility, I've never before experienced sleep paralysis before today and had I not watched your video I honestly would have panicked and I'd be terrified of sleeping. I wanted to thank you.

[@stardustsimulation]

The technique to wake up then go back to sleep works. The transition between awake then dream was wild. Seamless as my surroundings immediately became part of the dream as the reality around me shifted into the dream. One of the most vivid though I forget all the details. One of many lucid dreams over the years.

[@wheatunrye]

I actually had a Lucid dream just last night. Whenever it happens I usually like to just go along with the dream anyway, just to see what sort of insanity my subconscious comes up with. Like being an active passenger.

[@jmitterii2]

Seems like what I do too. It's fun. Also noticed what will often mask a dream from me becoming completely aware that I'm actually dreaming are false memories in the dream. An entire history will develop, geography that's wrong will suddenly have a history behind it, even though it's bogus. It's when I think more about the false history behind the false geography or people in the dream, I realize... wait... this is a dream. And sometimes I'll just let it play out. Other times I start doing something completely different. Or I'll change pieces of it that is starting to annoy me. Like working in a dream. I realize... I'm freaking dreaming, and I'm so not working and not getting paid for it... time to go fly away... or I'm a billion trillion quintillionaire no more worky work for this peasant! Oh and I can fly! And do whatever the cheeseballs I want... I'm a Vala! Time to make a mountain and some a beautiful lake or beautiful beach cove in a tropical paradise or whatever and swim and fly and all around have some fun.

[@rebeccahaglund3736]

@@jmitterii2 ditto

[@fynnjackson8416]

Same for me it’s kinda like being in a movie

[@endaoconnor]

It's happened to me a lot, since I was a kid. I find the time it's most likely to happen is early in the morning, when I am half awake. It works for a while but you have to constantly fight your dreams from dragging you back from being lucid.

[@anonymeister123]

That's how it works for me too. A lot of times [when I do this] I'll end up in a sleep paralysis (which I usually enjoy). Usually comes on around the time that I get "brain zaps" which feels like intense electricity buzzing through my body

[@pvic6959]

oh shoot the vivid images when youre half awake in the morning?? ive had those a lot and didnt count it as lucid dreaming lol. it sadly makes me stay in bed too long though especially if i fall back asleep

[@endaoconnor]

@@pvic6959 They were the ones that I purposely tried to lucid dream, a lot of other times it just happens in the middle of a dream, I will suddenly realize that I am asleep, although I don't fully control the dreams in those cases.

[@iamcecilman]

I get you, you wake up from a vivid dream, still sleepy and fully focussed on the previous dream. Maybe thinking of alternate resolutions to the dream as you slip back to sleep, only to find yourself within the dream again. Moments exist where you can realise you are lucid and maybe the awareness happens to try and control your surroundings but it isn't long before the world shifts and you are a passenger again.

[@michaelcarton3299]

Yes. Same.

[@retracian]

Being aware that I’m dreaming is something that happens to me somewhat often. I have limited control when I do. It often happens when I’m having a nightmare and I take control to make it more pleasant

[@shadowdragon3521]

I'd never had a lucid dream in my entire life, until I started doing affirmations/mantras before sleep. Now I have been having a lucid dream every month or two, but I still haven't mastered stabilizing the dream yet. I have only had one or two dreams where I was able to stabilize to the point where the dream lasted long enough for me to be able to control the setting of the dream. I still remember my first lucid dream which happened about 2-3 weeks after I started trying to have one. I was dreaming that I was walking home and them started flying home because that was faster than walking. Then as I was flying home I said "wait a minute, I can't fly" and then I realized I was dreaming. After gaining brief control of my body the dream went crazy with a pitch black sky and people zipping around in the air and then I woke up.

[@jayswears]

As a child lucid dreaming came naturally for me but it hasn't happened much in adulthood. I would often realize I was having a nightmare and not be able to wake myself. It was pretty scary.

[@Wardr0p]

I have found that the use of things like alcohol or cannabis stunts my lucid dreaming.

[@nelliemilne1724]

Also Joe! If it's not mentioned in the book look up EMDR. The DOD use it for the vets over there and it's commonly used here in Australia by psychologists to treat PTSD. I can personally attest to it's effectiveness.

[@annalorree]

I have had EMDR for c-PTSD, it was very effective for me, putting me into an almost afterglow state. As for lucid dreaming, yes I can do that, too.

[@PexiTheBuilder]

Probably should change job, if taking care of animals give PTSD.

[@Keith_in_Tx]

EMDR worked for me.

[@clausjuergenwalde7251]

@@Talitha-hv3ze Woosh

[@AlanaBananaCanada]

@@annalorree I also have c-PTSD and EMDR did not work on me. The expert I went and saw stopped the session about 5 mins in and said, "this won't work on you". I remember panicking because everyone had told me that this would cure me, so I basically had all my faith in it. I completely crumbled and balled my eyes out, she told me that was the end of the session and then made me pay the hundred and something dollars for the hour. I was there total 10 minutes. Sure, it could have been a problem with her, but she was highly recommended and well reviewed. So please I must stress, if you have PTSD do not put all your faith into a treatment working because that did even more damage to my extremely fragile mental state.

[@clarimm6675]

I've had lucid dreams regularly ever since I can remember and now learning that my birthday, April 12th is the "lucid dream day" is kinda surreal haha thank you for this super informative video!

[@meganrae2508]

I managed to lucid dream once, not long after having an in depth conversation about it, but almost immediately after I made the realization, I snapped back “into my body” (for lack of a better term” and woke up 😭

[@SparkleLuna77]

I used to lucid dream more as a child. I’ve always struggled with insomnia but have a big imagination so whether that’s related I don’t know. The best ones were always about flying. I remember that I had to flap my arms like a bird to take off but I was so much fun 😂. Thankyou for your content Joe. It really helps me cope with the world.

[@whoever6458]

I had a flying chair in my lucid dreams and I would fly just out of reach of the bullies and laugh at them. lol

[@MarylandFarmer.]

When I was a kid I had nightmares of falling then one time as a teenager I realized I could just flap my arms and fly to stop falling. I only have a couple per year and usually can't control much else but a few times ago I was able to stay flying without flapping. I always find them a lot of fun even the one where I accidently taught the vampires to fly and doomed humanity. I think I woke up laughing

[@anthonylosego]

Yeah, I did it 3 times at 16 yo. But I can't even dream now 30 years later. WILD is probably easiest.

[@ullrich]

That's so interesting that you have a specific way you have to fly. Like you don't just lift off like Superman, you have to flap you arms. I have the same kind of thing, but it's not flapping my arms. It's hard to describe, but it's like I have to lean forward and fall and somehow just miss the ground. At first, I'm just sort of barely above the ground as I "fall" and my toes are maybe 2 inches off the ground. But as I continue to "fall" and "miss" the ground, I go faster and faster and start to lift up off the ground. And it's never something I can sustain indefinitely - I can get like 20 or 30 feet up and coast for a bit before slowly floating back down. That's the best way I can explain it.

[@sanityassassin8161]

My method of taking flight was far more prosaic: I'd walk down the sidewalk, lifting one leg, then the other, and continue to float along in the same relative direction....

[@huxleybennett4732]

The whole being aware you're dreaming but it's more like a movie than anything is something I relate to a ton. I have those kinda dreams all the time, and feel like I might've even used that exact description before!

[@FrancoGrimoldi]

I experienced it a few times and it was amazing. The most memorable one was a time I woke up from a dream inside a dream. At first, I felt relieved about getting out of the dream I was having, pretty disturbing, but then realized that I wasn't awake. It was a failed "reality check" (now that I learned what it's called!) that helped me realize I was dreaming. It was pretty wild, the lucid dream continued for quite some time and I truly enjoyed my time there. I have to say, it was very upsetting to realize that, initially, I didn't wake up into reality, and it made me question very severely what reality was.

[@Vaeldarg]

I've had the opposite experience, where I would try to go to sleep while already dreaming, which usually instead makes me wake up. It shouldn't make you question reality, it should make you question how your brain works: our sight works from processing light through the eyes, which actually take in the light upside-down. The brain is what turns the "image" to be the right way around. (which also causes imperceptible milliseconds of time difference b/t what you see, and reality itself) When imagining something, can at the very least get the feeling of "seeing" (the "mental image") what you've imagined. Dreaming just goes a step further and is the brain doing its best to re-create reality so it can keep thinking about stuff even as the body is in a state of minimal energy usage during sleep.

[@FrancoGrimoldi]

@@Vaeldarg , it's not that I ended up questioning reality, I had my serious doubts that very same night, I couldn't completely trust that my surroundings weren't just part of another dream. It wasn't a voluntary act, just a feeling. And keeps happening from time to time when I get deeply involved in dreaming activity.

[@tomlewis4205]

I've had a triple layer dream within a dream a few times- it is quite disconcerting to "wake up" in a dream only to discover you are still dreaming & then attempt to force yourself awake only to discover you are still dreaming again! I've had episodes where I actually was amused at a dream, like I felt like I was lightly dozing but opened my eyes to realize I am still dreaming!

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Ive had a number of experiences with dreams within dreams, sometimes multiple levels. Truly. And I dont recall ever having this happen before seeing Inception lol. This has happened innocuously, but also associated with sleep paralysis. 😮 in and out of various stages of dreams and dreaming that Im laying awake in my bed in my room with nothing obviously "askew"...strange stuff.

[@theobserver9131]

I've dreamt that I woke up, only to find myself in another dream. Yeah, it IS disturbing. Leaves you questioning everything.

[@VeIxity]

I started getting into astral projection/OBE’s at 17 years old and I’m now 21 doing it on a command! I tried the whole ladder climbing thingy but it never worked because it was mind numbingly boring, I instead began tricking myself into believing my bed was in another room and it would actually work. Also the smell.. there’s a very particular nostalgic smell that I always get a whiff of when I slip into an OBE, which in a way sucks for me because I can literally feel my emotions and struggles coming back as I wake up lol. Kind of hard to explain it. Edit/ also, taking care of your pineal gland helps a ton! (Like eating healthy, avoiding tap water with fluoride, fast food etc) all of those things affect the pineal gland and it’s ability to visualize effectively.

[@SymphanyinSorrow]

I've had experience with this since I was as young as I can remember and it has mostly been traumatic. This comes from unawareness of how everything works, external troubles, and general insomnia though. I highly recommend the book from the video as well!

[@johnplaysgames3120]

On the subject of remembering a dream: Back when I was keeping a dream journal, I had that same problem you mentioned where I'd wake up and the memory of the dream was either barely there to begin with or would fade away before I could write it all down. Based on something I'd read years before, I found that lying back down and trying to find the position I was sleeping in when I had the dream often brought the memory back. Obviously, I don't know what exact position I might be in while having a given dream (especially bc I tend to move around a lot when I sleep) but I would just start in the position I woke up in and then move through different positions I'd typically sleep in until something clicked and suddenly the memory of the dream - sometimes full, sometimes just a part - would come rushing back in. I'm sure there's some science behind it that has to do with a mind-body memory connection but, whatever the reason is, it works.

[@loverrlee]

That’s cool! I’ll have to try this next time I can’t quite remember something from a dream.

[@jeronomojoe]

Dan Winter talks about this. If you want a chance of going back into the dream or mantaining clarity of it you have to keep your head where it was when you woke up

[@JustinFernDesign]

I have had sleep paralysis at least 3-4 times a week for as long as I can remember. As someone in recovery with PTSD, this used to feel like a curse, and quite frankly, sometimes it still does. It's hard, but instead of doing everything you can to wake yourself up and get control of your body again, embrace it. In fact, if you experience nightmares or night terrors, the worst thing you can do is wake up. When you do, you remember and re-experience the trauma from the dream, instead of helping yourself heal and move past it. You know how hard it is to remember dreams? That's by design... So when it comes to night terrors, we should use that to our full advantage. Forget it. I lucid dream probably ~2 times a week now. I know it sounds super fringe and "hippy", but it's so real, and it is really incredible. *My biggest tip* when you first realize you're dreaming is to do something you know you can do... For some, that's driving, creating art, cooking, climbing, etc. But the perfection at which you do these things while dreaming will blow you away. My favorite thing to do while lucid dreaming is to make music. It's incredible, and it just flows out. I try to remember the music I create (I'd say 95% of the time I forget the music) but experiencing something you know -- in a world that you create, it absolutely feels like a super power. -- Another tip: DON'T JUST TRY AND FLY! After a lot of practice and experience, that's totally something you can do! But since there's no human equivalent feeling to "take off and fly!" you search for something you don't have, and it will most likely wake you up. I explain this to people by comparing it to things like "controlling your tail", or a 6th finger, or seeing with an eye in the back of your head... Etc. IRL we don't do that, so trying to do it in a dream just flusters you and usually ends with you waking yourself up from that coveted lucid state. As a digital artist, it blows my mind that our brains are effectively able to "render" entire worlds in real time at "real life" resolution. Hard to explain, but somehow working with computer graphics and render farms is one of the things that made me most aware of when I was in a dream, and I am in so much "awe" of our brains when I am aware that I'm dreaming. I won't lie sometimes it can get really freaky, especially if you have past trauma.. But I'd so much rather feel in control than feel like a victim.

[@johnchedsey1306]

I'm not sure this falls into lucid dream territory, but multiple times I've had the most incredible song playing in a dream where I know it's original. But when I wake up I have absolutely no way to transfer it to a real instrument as I don't have any musical ability. I do wonder if some musicians experience this, but immediately pick their guitar to transfer the song from dreamworld to reality.

[@Erin_A_13]

For what it's worth, my 20+ years of weekly sleep paralysis went away as soon as I started taking CBD.

[@JustinFernDesign]

@@Erin_A_13 I've tried it everything. I know a lot of things that make it worse (nootropics especially, like Alpha Brain etc..) but the only thing that truly made it go away (opiates) ended up being a very big problem for me. Hence recovery. But I'm clean now and I've really learned how to embrace it

[@gothboschincarnate3931]

your in the 2.0 spiritual dimension...

[@TheReal_ist]

Thank you for saying this it really hit home. And i cant wait to see what i can do in my lucid state if i am ever able to actually achieve it.

[@Nick-lh7wi]

I lucid dream every night, I have since I was a child - I had terrible night terrors in my infancy and I think my mind discovered a way to control my dreams to cope. In my teens I became bothered by lucid dreaming because I felt like my mind never shut off so I took sleeping pills for years to dull the experience. Now as an adult I have learned to embrace lucid dreaming fully and I love walking through walls, flying, shapeshifting, going invisible, and doing whatever I want. It’s why I love naps so much :)

[@boomboombaby9140]

You stay on earth ? Try this fly up until you can see the earth , look around see a pinkish star, fly towards and you will feel a pull . You will take off at a high speed passing galaxies in seconds then you will stop and see a cluster of infinite planets ,explore them . Some are wilderness with crazy animals, some are weird cities which people and humanoid beings, some people say they were born there some say they died on earth . Being on earth is boring compared to being there , the cities and the people are cool , I haven’t got bored yet and I’ve been doing all my life . I have a place that I like revisiting because my cousin that died lives there .

[@kats3800]

I lucid dream regularly, with mixed amounts of control over it (but I'm aware that I'm dreaming). Sometimes I can manifest things to happen, other times I'm just aware and can kind of steer it a bit. I find it's difficult if you're waking up through an alarm / have to be up at a certain time but one weekends or if you don't have to be up you can drift back to sleep and have control. If I'm having a bad dream I'm usually aware it is a dream and can turn falling into flying or wake myself up if it's a really bad dream. I also experience sleep paralysis often, so forcing myself to wake up is often frustrating as I'm paralyzed for a while... I used to have bad experiences with sleep paralysis but now I'm aware of what is happening so I just need to wait it out. I regularly dream of my grandparents home and see them and tell them that I love them.

[@TPPMac1]

Being awake while sleep paralysed is the strangest feeling. For me, it feels like Im initially falling and then once I get control I can literally fly. At the same time there are all sorts of odd sensations: voices, shapes, lights. It's difficult to explain and hard to establish, but it's certainly entertaining, if a little disconcerting.

[@whoever6458]

Oh I've had that feeling of falling but it always wakes me back up again. This is an interesting insight. Thanks for sharing it!

[@flowpipe]

I found it so scary, as i didn't understand what was happening and i never heard of lucid dreaming dreaming before or sleep paralysis, it was terrifying!

[@-tera-3345]

On the other hand, I will occasionally be affected by sleep paralysis while I'm still dreaming. When I try to move suddenly or take a big motion quickly, I will be completely unable to do it. Often it happens when, say, I am being chased by something, and I strain myself to run as fast as possible but am suddenly no longer able to.

[@ThisandThat___]

Literally fly. Literally.

[@adamflores4206]

Yes, in the 90's, Queensryche had a song called "Silent Lucidity". I became fascinated with the concept and was able to realize I was dreaming to end nightmares. I also would lucid dream and fly around or dictate the dream like I was a narrator telling a story.

[@KKbook]

i've realized i was dreaming several times but usually it's met with my brain trying REALLY HARD to make me forget again. i've also experienced some ability to change my dreams, like if i don't like a plot point i'll go back and rewrite it and start the dream back up from there. dreams and the utter complexity of human psychology are so fascinating

[@hannahwillis9838]

Delete the program you mentioned in the beginning. it may take a bit, but replace it with the program of remembering your dreams effortlessly. I would compare our minds to computers, but we are much more complex so it wouldn’t do it justice. However, I’ve found that explaining it this way can be pretty helpful

[@MultidimensionalBeing125]

A dream diary can make it possible for increased connection to that place

[@loverrlee]

@@hannahwillis9838good point! I’ve found keeping a dream journal has changed my perspective that I almost always remember my dreams now.

[@loverrlee]

@@MultidimensionalBeing125yes! I’ve been keeping one for years now and I’ve noticed that I’m slowly starting to have more lucid dreams and I can almost always remember my dreams upon waking up (so long as I wake up without an alarm, which means getting enough sleep!)

[@MultidimensionalBeing125]

@@loverrlee i love them micro dreams of slipping in, i really need to atart using a dream diary again. busy life distractions and poor organisational skills on my part. if only i had a partner to kick my ass :)

[@gutobernardo7457]

The easiest way I found to lucid dream is to do reality checks using words: read signs, book names, anything around you will do, and then look away briefly and back at it. If the letters are shuffled, you're dreaming. The other ones Joe mentioned also work to support the first sign you're on the way to lucid dreaming. My most common activities during these dreams are flying and simulating social interactions I normally have trouble in real life (flirting, kissing, doing other fun stuff).

[@memesthatpullup6400]

What other… fun stuff……. 😧

[@andrewfarrar741]

@@memesthatpullup6400 Doing mathematics in the 🧠. What else is there??

[@captmorgan101472]

The problem with that technique is that you have to almost be lucid to even think about doing that.

[@DonMr]

I have read perfect text in my dreams... Mostly text in a display, also some books title.

[@Razorfiend]

I also used to be obsessed with the idea of lucid dreaming and spent a good chunk of my childhood and teenage years trying to master the art. I only managed to achieve a lucid dreaming state once in about 5 years of consistently attempting different techniques including all the ones you mentioned as well as taking various supplements that are supposed to increase the likelihood. I've basically come to terms with the fact that this is something that I'll likely never be able to do regularly, and having experienced it once I really envy people who can.

[@dnaann1867]

Try using ur "tools" just after a 10hr nap🎉

[@cryptc]

Basically same experience. I was trying it over a few years and managed it once.

[@Wardr0p]

Depends on how committed to the effort you are. Are you willing to do a silly 5 minute occult ritual three times a day for a year? And at least make an attempt to take it seriously so it sinks in?

[@squirlmy]

Same. Although i had a couple in teenage years. At that time, the only reference was Carlo Casteneda's books, many of which have more dubious claims, so... since then i've read Holecek and others. Also the fairly expensive supplement. No go!

[@Andytlp]

@@randyjackson5159 Hmm might try that. Not too worried about entities or monsters since i usually chase them... I'm weird like that.

[@gloriajean8024]

I sometimes lucid dream, but like you controlling it is difficult, but sometimes I can to some extent.They usually don’t last very long either before I wake up. The most useful benefit for me is that it often helps me to recognize that a nightmare isn’t real and allows me to more easily wake-up from one.

[@CaritasGothKaraoke]

Every time I’ve managed to dream lucidly, I’ve realised I had godlike magic powers and gotten really excited. And that kicks in the adrenaline and wakes me up. One second I’m casting Prismatic Sphere and the next I’m stumbling though the dark having to pee.

[@johncombs2798]

Definitely going to try spinning next time. I'm kinda excited.

[@Corbald]

Oh, Joe! Welcome to the club! Been lucid dreaming since I was a kid. I had to learn because I had really bad night terrors after my dad died. The technique came recommended from a very good school councilor, and to that guy's credit, it absolutely worked! It took me only a couple of months to learn the basics, but I'm one of those to whom it comes naturally. I actually have some great advice for you, as well as some explanations as to what's actually going on, as far as I've been able to determine. First, I'd like to comment on the research about it being similar to a psychotic or dissociative state. I think they're putting the cart before the horse. I think it's more accurate to say that such a state is a broken, dysfunctional version of the natural state. I'd also be willing to attest to the idea that learning to Lucid actually makes you _better_ at distinguishing fantasy from reality. If you're trained to constantly identify 'Dream Signs', you'll be better able to identify what state you're in. I'm 42 now, and have been doing it since I was 10. After 32 years I'd say I'm an 'expert' on the subject! I do agree with the idea that you shouldn't try to Lucid all the time, at least once you've got the hang of the basics. It's fine to dedicate every sleep to Lucid when you're starting, but once you can transition on command, you should set aside 'dreaming nights'. You're basically hijacking your brain's time to do all those important sub-conscious things, so it needs time to do them. Fortunately, you have like a ton of dreams every night, so devoting an hour or two to being aware in them isn't consequential, or I'd be showing symptoms by now! Now the tips: There are three basic skill sets to grow. -Recall, or training your brain to remember the dreams. Most people have Lucid dreams on the regular, but few actually remember them. The journal is an excellent technique, but even a voice recorder will work just fine. The real trick here is to _play them back_ or reread the dream after you write it down, and at a later point in the day, so you can also train the _long term_ memory of the dreams! -Recognition, or training yourself on _how_ and _when_ to try to recognize a dream. Set an hourly chime on your watch, and when it goes off read and _examine_ the numbers (works best with digital display). Count your fingers, as you've mentioned. Examine faces. Try to smell. Ask yourself, "Is there any color in the world?". _Don't_ rely on the absurd or unusual as an exclusive indicator! Sometimes crazy shit just happens, IRL! The next skill can help a lot with Recognition. -Control. Exactly what it says on the tin, but with subtlety. Control is the real goal, IMHO. Here's where it gets fun! It _can_ take some practice, though! Start with 'tricking' your brain. Instead of trying to just materialize something, try to _know_ it's in your pocket, or in that drawer, or on the table behind you. Give your brain a good segue into it existing. Until you get used to the dream state, things just appearing is absurd, and you don't have any practice with this IRL, so you can't expect it to work right off the bat! Start with easy stuff and work your way up. Later, as mentioned, simply trying to create something can act as a dream sign. If something appears, you're likely dreaming! Eventually, object creation will be a trivial skill. You'll be making whole worlds! These are, as said, _skills_ you'll need to practice, and which will have their own benchmarks and milestones to reach. If you can imagine it, try it! If you can imagine it, tried it, and it didn't work, try it again later, because ultimately, it's all just your own imagination to begin with! I really hope you stick with it, because the payoff is having basically, a holodeck, only more capable! Good luck!

[@Abby-km6vr]

I hope your comment gets recognition! Great advice!

[@2blazedinfl]

my brother also had night terrors and learned lucid dreaming to take back control. i wonder if they are connected somehow?

[@Corbald]

@@2blazedinfl Well, night terrors are literally bad dreams, but manifest physically. It's (at least in my case) sleepwalking but thinking you're fighting for your life. If you have control over your dreams (I started with the 'change the channel' technique) then you can just NOT have bad dreams, lol. Also, _knowing_ it's a dream makes it much less scary if you did have a bad dream, it's not as frightening when you know it's all in your head.

[@thomassmith4999]

What age were you when you had night terrors? usually they only happen to toddlers and are almost exclusive to boys who have quite strong autistic traits

[@Corbald]

@@thomassmith4999 Well, that makes sense, as I AM a boy, with strong autistic traits! I was somewhere between 7 and 12, though I can't remember exactly when they started. They were a direct result to the sudden accidental death of my father. I do recall that it was considered unusual at my age, at the time, late '80s early '90s.

[@gmunki1]

I was convinced by a friend when I was about 6 that I could control my dreams (I was having severe recurring nightmares and he made it seem like everyone could, coupled with my desperation and lack of sleep and I fell for it) and I found I actually could with little effort. I do it occasionally, especially if I feel the dream is heading toward dark places. It's almost a reflex by now. P.s I typed this before watching the video.

[@k1j2f30]

I read your post last week!

[@Davethreshold]

I have had a few of them. One is a recurring theme, is I'm in the house where I used to live, but it's a HUGE MANTION version of the same house with many more rooms, and little cubby holes, and I go on an extensive exploring trip! I can control what I do like, "Go down that other hallway. I've seen what is in this one before." I have had some dreams that are long and EXTREMELY REALISTIC! I'm a movie fan, and one was I found myself at Tom Cruise's masterful home in the Rocky Mountains. (he really has this.) I meet him, he invites me in, and Katy Holmes is sitting there and was happy to meet me! EVERYTHING in it seemed completely real and very detailed. ~ Then it had to happen: I woke up. 😥Later, it occurred to me that years before, I saw an Oprah special where she interviewed us viewers in and gave us a TV tour. THAT is where the dream came from. ❤💔

[@pudgimelon]

I never thought this was a big deal. This is the way I have always dreamed for my whole life. I thought being self-aware and controlling the dream was the way everybody dreamed. That's just the way I do it most of the time. It is rare for me to have a dream where I am not aware and in control.

[@Shirayuuki1]

ive always thought of it as "if i remember what i was dreaming its because i was aware that i was in a dream" which has usually been the case, so i get where you're coming from.

[@whoever6458]

Most of mine are lucid too with the exception of a very small number of nightmares in which I wake up exactly where I would have expected to wake up based on where I went to sleep and, once they get too absurd, I wake up. It doesn't matter that I wake up though because the nightmares are always about something that horrifies me in real life. Other than that, I've visited all sorts of places in space and places on Earth where I have never actually been. It's usually because I've seen a documentary about them or something. I thought lucid dreaming was pretty normal too but it sucks because sometimes I am so excited that I'm dreaming that it wakes me up. I hate that! What I think is uncontrollable or less controllable is whether or not one goes into a dream state in the first place.

[@littlemissliv100]

Me too… I thought this is how everyone dreams..I’m always aware I’m dreaming.

[@pauldeddens5349]

@@whoever6458 Your body should go into dream states atleast once per night. Whether or not you remember it happening is a different story.

[@brendawilliams8062]

Too bad that Ramanujan wasn’t able to fifer his personal experience

[@jessigage1931]

I relate so hard to your desire to experience lucid dreaming but not really being able to. Also, I relate to difficulty falling asleep. Since my teens, I've struggled with insomnia due to "busy brain" which I've learned is called ruminating thoughts. It turns out a Paxil at night really helps me be able to shut down the ongoing cycle of thought. I'm SO thankful I had a doctor listen to me and recommend that. I also did a sleep study and learned I wasn't getting any N3 sleep, which is, I guess, the restorative part of the sleep cycle (different from REM). I was prescribed Gabapentin to regulate my sleep cycle and it WORKED! I can now get to sleep and experience deep sleep, and I feel SO much better! Thanks for covering this topic! I've also read Walker's book and learned a ton. I hope he goes on your podcast! P.S. I'm an author, and I wrote a book about a trauma nurse accidentally wishing herself back in time to the day before 9/11. When she wakes up in her 20-years ago college student body, the first thing she does is check to see if she's dreaming using some of the methods you mention in the vid. The book is called Terror Undone. Cheers!

[@whoever6458]

That sounds like a great book! I'll buy it next time I am able to scrounge up some money. This video has helped me realize how I might finish one of the books I started but did not finish. Oh and I also found that deep, meditative breaths sometimes help one fall asleep but it's not exactly a magic bullet either. I have tried anti-depressants too (mostly for depression) but I ended up being allergic to loads of them and the one I wasn't allergic to keeps me up like an extra long-lasting cup of coffee so I just take it in the morning.

[@dirtbones3694]

I’m 19 but I’ve only lucid dreamt like 3 times in my life. Each time I achieved a level of lucidity I would start thinking about all the things I could do and get so excited I would just… wake up..

[@ThornForTheWynn]

"Only?" I've never had one. I wish I did.

[@difdaf436]

That’s my problem to.. I get to excited and just wake up.. so frustrating haha!!

[@squirlmy]

I was the same around your age. Now I'm in my fifties and still haven't had any, despite devoting some years to reading and studying the phenomenon. Cherish the "only" three, decades can pass without another one!

[@CharlesBryan1]

Back in my 20's, hashtag old person, I was performing what is called color meditation, visualizing the colors of the chakras in the prescribe positions in the body. As I got to the end of that visualization, I "slipped" into a lucid dream. At first I was hovering high in the sky looking down at a car. Then I swooped down into the car and subsequently I was the driver of the car. All was awesome in experience, but then I realized I was having a dream... and woke up! Damn!

[@Karin_Allen]

Protips from an experienced lucid dreamer: 1) Instead of trying to write down your lucid dream when you wake up - because yeah, you *are* likely to forget it before you're done writing, keep some sort of recording device by your bed and speak into it while still lying down. 2) If you have a recurring dream about someone or something chasing you, it's likely to represent something about yourself that you don't want to acknowledge - what Jung calls your shadow. You can deal with this in a lucid dream by reminding yourself that what's chasing you isn't a real threat, just something you don't like about yourself. Turn to face your chaser and say, "I'm not afraid of you." That will stop the chase, and you might even have a chance to ask it what it wants to tell you. That can be very enlightening. 3) Two great clues that you're lucid dreaming are that you can't read anything for very long before it becomes nonsensical, and you can't dial phone numbers. 4) The easiest way for you to test whether you're lucid dreaming is to try flying. Jump into the air and see if you hover. I'm part of the 20% who have lucid dreams more than once a month, so if you have any questions for me, I'll be happy to answer.

[@jopeteus]

My problem is that I know I'm dreaming but can't control it

[@IntotheBangtanUniverseWormhole]

@@jopeteus I can't control *everything,* myself. For instance, I usually can't fly as high as I want to, and I can't run or fly very fast. I have a hunch these things are related to something in my subconscious/unconscious that I haven't come to terms with, but I don't know for sure.

[@loverrlee]

I’ve often accidentally become lucid in my dreams, but I’ve never been able to fully control it. All the “tests” to see if you’re lucid or not do not work for me! I have read books and I have read clocks in my dreams without waking up! I have also turned on and off lights. My problem is once I become aware I’m lucid, it’s usually around someone else, and I can’t help but open my big mouth and tell them I’m dreaming, which usually ends the dream pretty soon after that. I’ve also taken control of my dreams for short bursts of time while lucid, but I usually want to go somewhere I’m “not supposed to” go, like Disneyland or running to explore the inside of this one recurring dream house I’ve only ever seen in my dreams in various states (old and new) but never upstairs, and in my last lucid dream, I finally made it up the stairs! I think it is my future lifetime’s house, because I was there with my “parents” (people I know in this lifetime but people I just can *feel* will be my parents in my future life, actually one might have been a parent in a past life already, but it’s complicated). Anyway, my lucid dream almost always ends soon after I steer the dream in the direction I want them to go in, but they tend to be some of my most memorable dreams too! 😂

[@Karin_Allen]

@@loverrlee Actually, that's exactly how it works for me. I've read parts of books in dreams, been stopped from doing things I want to do either by someone watching me and making me embarrassed or by something attacking me, and I've often told other people in my dreams that I know how to fly and I want to teach them - but yeah, that's about where the dream ends. So basically, you're doing it right.

[@loverrlee]

@@Karin_Allen oh okay good to know thanks! haha 😂

[@rhov-anion]

I got really into the idea of lucid dreaming and astral projection starting in 2014, around the time that my insomnia (a chronic condition) got really out of control, usually staying awake 30-50 hours. I found I couldn't remember my dreams anymore, and that plus the random sleep schedule and massive sleep deprivation was affecting the creativity I needed to do my job. I listened to a lot of Michael Sealey videos. I managed to astral project once, only NOT AT ALL how everyone else described it: floating above your body, flying around, wheeee! Nope... I felt like I was falling into my bed, through the apartment floor, down and down, tethered to my body only by a thin cord in my navel. It was terrifying (falling dreams were some of my worst nightmares as a kid after a childhood friend lost a family member who drove off a cliff near my house, made worse when my older brother drove off a cliff and broke his back). I felt like the only thing that saved me was realizing I was in a dream, yanking on that navel cord, and it worked like a bungee. BOING, I was shooting back up, slammed into my body, and jolted up gasping. I stopped trying to astral project after that. Maybe I was on a breakthrough, but that scared me too much to try more. Then in April, I lost my mother. My biggest regret was that I didn't get to talk to her on the phone. I had realized that I hadn't talked to her in a month so I planned to call her on Sunday, but she died in the night. A few days after the funeral, I had a vivid dream where I was there with my mother on that fateful night, I was able to give her CPR, and I brought her back. I knew it was a dream, and so I gushed out all the things I wanted to tell her. Even as I felt my body waking up, I forced myself to stay in the dream. I needed to say all that I wanted to tell her, and I felt that was the time to do it. I woke up with tears on my face, but I felt a cathartic release. Perhaps I'll try lucid dreaming tonight.

[@Le_Jit]

Exactly. I quit doing it because it is scary as hell.

[@NikoxNobu]

I gave astral projection a try this morning and i had an experience similar to yours i think, i fell for a bit then i reached what i think was the hells, it was pretty cool although a bit scary

[@andrewkaylor2416]

Lucid dreamer here, thanks for covering it. I would love to see a video on recurring dreams. I've been able to re-visit the same dream frequently (go to the same place/event) and as a lucid dreamer, I've been able to explore different areas or do different activities. It's been a really fun way to leverage lucid dreams. If anyone read this, I find the easiest way to lucid dream is to identify things that don't seem right in a dream. Light switches don't work, or punching something has no effect, or you're in your house but the furniture is different or it's your old house (not your current one). Being able to identify when things aren't logical is a key for me to trigger when I'm in a dream state and then can begin to explore and influence the dream.

[@whoever6458]

Same for me! It's that what the fuck moment that triggers me to check and realize I'm dreaming.

[@TofuDriver11]

Omg. I’m so glad I found this comment. Everything you’ve said has always been my types of dream. Light switches broken or running as fast as I can but not really going anywhere….or being in my old house! But it’s not “my” house, it’s kinda like upside world on stranger things…but yeah thanks for thus

[@andrewkaylor2416]

@@TofuDriver11 haha, sometimes my running becomes flying... other times I'm running on all fours (using my arms too). If i am driving, I don't have proper control of the car, or the streets can be more like roller coaster shapes and defy gravity. A person's face may not match the identity of who I think I am talking to. houses that would be mine might have different decor, or extra rooms. Also, I use Lucid Dreaming to escape nightmares. Since they are easier to identify, I begin screaming in my dream -- this becomes a grunting noise in the real world, and I'm able to wake myself out of the dream. Unfortunately, it's rather disturbing for my girlfriend lol.

[@whoever6458]

@@TofuDriver11 No problem. Glad I'm not the only one who has these kinds of weird dreams.

[@graham2409]

I did the journal method, and also (this was an important step) re-read my recently-journaled dreams periodically throughout the day and in particular right before going to bed the next night to keep them 'fresh' in my mind so to speak. After following that regimen for a while I got to a point where I had lucid dreams I could fully control almost every night. I ended up intentionally stopping the practice though, because after the initial elation of having succeeded I actually found that I didn't like something about it. I kind of felt less rested/destressed if that makes sense, because being conscious while dreaming didn't let my sleep cycle be as much of a creative 'outlet' as it was before - I would find myself in the dream just thinking about mundane daily worries, etc. Plus, the whole "you can do anything" schtick isn't (for me anyway) all it's cracked up to be. While you can make conscious decisions to go anywhere or do anything, it seemed kind of blase after a while given the knowledge that it's all just your imagination. After all, when you're awake you can close your eyes at any moment and "imagine" anything you want, right? But people don't normally sit around doing that, right? Because you know it's just your imagination and not real, and so there's no satisfaction. Lucid dreams were similar for me. I actually found I enjoyed my lucid dreams *less* than the dreams where I wasn't lucid but simply remembered the dream. Also, people imagine lucid dreaming is like literally being in real life but "being neo", but at least for me, it's very much not. Dreams were still vague and full of concepts/impressions, just like your waking imagination is, rather than a hi-def movie. So yeah, it was an interesting experience, but I don't think anyone's missing out much by not practicing it.

[@themostwanted774]

Always love the intro sketches! Joe, you are a really awesome actor! :D

[@shubhpelia2400]

this is insane. i literally thought about lucid dreaming yesterday and was looking up how to do it completely out of the blue yesterday and i got joe's video today, this feels so so weird, almost like a lucid dream.

[@therestorationshop]

it is and you're still in control. I'm not here typing this reply, you are!

[@marcpym5251]

I don't want to destroy the magic moment for you, but basically every feeling of incredible coincidence is an illusion. Of course there are coincidences, but compared to how many things you experience throughout your day, you will find that surprisingly few things actually coincide. But because your brain functions are all based on making connections between two similar events, it will immediately ring all alarm bells if two things have any sort of connection. "Lucid dreaming? Isn't that the thing you JUST thought about the other day? Coincidence spotted!" but now think to yourself: How often did you maybe think about lucid dreaming the past few months and just forgot you thought about it because nothing referred to it and no coincidence happened?

[@BranTheBald]

​@@therestorationshopyou are weird

[@jasonmoquin]

Dude, I can totally relate to this! 😳I've been doing that lucid dreaming thing on and off for most of my life. Somehow the trigger, which started when I was little kid, became stepping on a branch on the ground. It's the same branch in the wooded area every time. When that happens I just kind of KNOW and remember that I'm dreaming. I do all of the things you mentioned...usually it involves flying or some sort of super ability, etc. Also....I know it sounds bizarre(and I know it was just a series of dreams), but for many years I would enter sleep, somehow step on that branch on the ground, then immediately be aware that I was on a super-old humongous space station. On that station, I would explore and care-take it, only being visited by occasional random non-human beings that would pop out of a portal close to my location. It was always a cordial exchange and the tech on the station translated the languages for me in real-time in my head. I was the solitary greeter, host, diplomat, caretaker, etc for those beings when they visited. Those dreams continued for years, multiple times a week, and i even looked forward to going to sleep at night because it was so much fun and very interesting to explore that place and meet other races in a non-hostile way. When I was young I often wondered if OUR world was was the actual dream or that one. I would come out of it very disoriented, like this was not where I belonged. Interesting, huh? It's been a good 10+ years since I've had one of those dreams and I miss them. I've even tried to go back, but it just doesn't happen. My wife used to tell me to write the details down as soon as I woke up, so I didn't forget any of it, but I never did. Does anyone else recall serial dreams like that? Just curious.

[@theobserver9131]

I love the space station dream place! I have three locals where most of my dreams take place...."the infinite mall", the renaissance festival, and a friends house. I don't really have a continuing story in any of them, but certainly recurring themes. I did have one dream on Mars like 40 years ago that I remember. It was pretty profound and epic. It felt like a memory.

[@CTimmerman]

I think i visited the same dream town multiple times, or at least my primary school. Try rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation or some such.

[@louisecouch2127]

I've had lucid dreams and serial dreams. Mine involve shopping centers and shopping malls. I create them in my dreams and I can visit them in future dreams.

[@mrantssfpv]

Yes, I miss my old serial dreams too.

[@chantsmantrasandrelaxation5079]

Love the serials. Sometimes though if they were a bit 'difficult', I'd get into Jungian theories and start analysing what I might be trying to work through. Then if I was lucid dreaming I could steer the dream in a direction that might help me stop repeating sections or bits. I think that's why they stop, our subconscious has finally worked something out, gotten over something etc. Different from fun serials of course.

[@skag4696]

If youre lucid and have trouble setting the scenario, close your eyes in the dream and just imagine the scenario you want to be in, youre subconcious builds a story based on how you feel about what you see. A very good tip because if you have sleep paralysis, it will either phase you into waking up or a new area but it only works when youre lucid in some way.

[@taliaryn3699]

I have rarely done lucid dreaming. I was having a horrible nightmare once and was able to wake up by counting my fingers out loud. I woke up actually saying the numbers (woke up around 7-8). I've also been able to fly in my dreams only a couple times. Knowing I was dreaming and being able to do it. It's awesome... But takes practice

[@clusterstage]

I can dream even if im a bot. But I cant control whats happening. Its only given me "awareness without control"

[@shadw4701]

​@clusterstage Contrary to popular belief lucid dreaming and dream control are different topics. Lucidity is just knowing you're in a dream, dream control can take more practice

[@clusterstage]

@@shadw4701 thanks. This has helped my training algorithms.

[@leadgindairy3709]

One time for me, I agree, it was EPIC!!!

[@lentoperoavanzo4007]

I have pivoted from dozing into sleep paralysis consciously, to a lucid dreaming/out of body experience quite a few times, and I had made the same connection between the concept of astral projection and the internal experience that someone can have from sleep paralysis drifting into or back into a lucid dream. That’s pretty cool to find out that there is scientific research establishing the same connection. You are correct that being in a sleep paralysis state, consciously or not, is very unsettling, and the process of separating from one’s body is a deeply uncomfortable feeling that is almost like intense static building up in your head and body. I have actually often bailed on trying to push the experience further for this reason by just kind of relaxing my thoughts until they take on that auto pilot characteristic that leads into non-lucid dreaming.

[@whoever6458]

One time, I took magic mushrooms and was lying down meditating and waiting for the psychedelic part to take hold. When it started to get psychedelic, I opened my eyes and realized that I couldn't see basically at all. I was tempted to panic but, since I knew it was probably the psychedelic experience taking over, I simply mentioned to my friend, "Well, I guess I'm not going to be able to see for this trip." That's when she said that I might try putting on my glasses. lmao I had completely forgotten that I had taken them off and, since I had already come to terms with my trip being intense, I was kind of bummed that the problem was simply that I didn't have my glasses on. lmao

[@doburu4835]

obe/astral projection aren't real though. they're just lucid dream lite.

[@lentoperoavanzo4007]

@@doburu4835 For sure, that’s what I meant.

[@dauhloweme8127]

What a great video Scott! I had bad insomnia as a kid and would have (wake induced) paralytic nightmares. That lead to me constantly trying to force myself to think of Kool things when I was falling asleep. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I realized that I remember way more of my dreams, even if just bits and pieces, than the average person and thought I must have just trained myself because of how I would fall asleep as a kid but damn if your description of whenever you realize your in a lucid dream u either woke up or could do nothing and the dream pivots to feeling like a movie made me realize that I also luicid dream a hell of alot too wth lol

[@roberthummell3701]

Lucid dreaming is a specialty of mine. An interrupted or transiently waking dream state is very useful. Try setting a quiet alarm at hourly intervals, have an assistant interrupt you, or have intermittent background music or noises. Directed lucid dreaming can be aided by repeating a phrase, name, or mantra while still wakeful beforehand. Sobriety and solitude are also helpful. (Whereas, altered state of consciousness through chemicals or self-hypnotic trance states are often handy for remote viewing or astral travel, as well as communicating with non-corporeal entities.) Also, "riding" another's mind has been possible. This is often when the other person is in a state of altered consciousness. That's another story.

[@EstamosDe]

This must be my favorite sketch yet, I laughed SO HARD, thanks u! Btw, you should translate your videos to spanish with your own voice using AI. Yeaah, I might be the guy for that 😮 I sent you an email... "he didnt respond me" 7:08 , I understand you so much! :(

[@vbot]

Someone hire this dude, he seems like a good hardworking guy 😮

[@disgruntledwookie369]

I've never heard of WILD but I've been doing this for years by accident. Sometimes when I'm on the verge of falling asleep, but still very much awake, I can begin to "hallucinate" but more and more vividly, like so much more than just normal imagination, much closer to a dream. I find it very hard to stay in that state of mind, it's slippery, but it's really intriguing. It feels very close to a lucid dream.

[@MadMallory]

That’s the sweet spot/time to really manifest your dreams!

[@madmagus7693]

Sounds like Liminal Dreaming. You should look it up.

[@1RED1]

I've had sleep paralysis a couple times, wasn't horrifying like everyone says(at least in my case). I just remember seeing a whole party of people in my room. Made me want to get up and join them. But I couldn't, which was the only uncomfortable thing.

[@masondaub9201]

I've only experienced it once when I was a kid. Didn't last for more than 30 seconds but when I opened my eyes I heard someone say my name loudly and as clear as day, as if someone was standing over my bed and said it. Scared the bejesus out of me, especially since my mom made me watch lots of ghost horror movies as a kid. It wasn't until years later I realized it was probably just sleep paralysis.

[@HeriEystberg]

When I have sleep paralysis it usually involves me being stuck somewhere and unable to breathe properly, so it's definitely horrific for me.

[@bloxyman22]

Like lucid dreams the sleep paralysis state is affected by your own expectations, beliefs and fears. If you fear that something bad will happen, then bad things will happen. If your expectations are more neutral or positive then you will have a better experience. Either way once you are in sleep paralysis you can start to visualize a dream and if succesfull you might find yourself in that very same scene full lucid. If you wanted to join that party of people you could even try to imagine yourself floating or walking out of your body and have a "astral projection" like LD.

[@brenduck]

I believe I've had sleep paralysis once, but I'm not sure. Felt like I was dreaming. I got the chicken pox at age 17 and would sleep whenever I felt like while recovering. During this time, I remember going to sleep on my futon without folding it out, and this when the sleep paralysis happened. I was in the exact same position I went to sleep in, facing the wall, with my bedroom door directly behind me, except now I could suddenly see all around me. There was a faint glow from underneath my bedroom door, and a general TV ambience on the other side of the door, accompanied by some unintelligible soft voices or whispers. After realizing I could see all around me (something I'd heard a lot of people could do in sleep paralysis), I realized it was sleep paralysis. I started trying to move my legs to test if I was really paralyzed, to no avail. Granted I didn't really try that long. Next I tried to move my legs by way of sorta pushing my hips forward, which did actually work a bit, or at least it felt like it. Fearing waking up, I stopped doing it. Next thing I remember was trying to observe anything else around me. No apparitions or anyone else in the room, but I did start to imagine them in the corners, maybe leaning out toward me. Suddenly, I heard a frustrated "are you for real?" behind the door, and thought "alright, time to wake up." I tried opening my eyes and that was it. I was awake, facing the wall like I was prior to falling asleep. Again, not sure if it was really sleep paralysis or just some type of lucid dream that was similar to sleep paralysis (worth noting I'd never lucid dreamt before this though, if that's the case).

[@221b-l3t]

​@@HeriEystbergIs that what that is? I sometimes have that, I think, I'm nor sure if it's still dreaming but suddenly I can't move or get air. Usually snap out of it panicked. Doesn't happen that often thankfully

[@AlreadyDeadInside83079]

I started practicing Astral Projection about 2 years ago. I've had multiple successful attempts. Like most, I fail more than I succeed. I've found that if I have a vivid lucid dream and I'm conscious of it, I can roll out of my body easier than in a "body asleep, mind awake" state. Lucid dreaming is a lot different than a lucid dream. You mentioned sleep paralysis. You AREN'T HALLUCINATING. You're astral projecting and stuck in your body. Exercising your astral body and raising your vibration makes sleep paralysis an IDEAL STATE to roll your astral body out. If you don't know how to separate the 2, practice moving your body without moving a muscle. I find swimming a great way to exercise it. Sitting up and lifting your arms and touching your fingers helps too. Understand that you aren't PHYSICALLY doing it, you're trying to tap into the actual feeling of doing it until you feel yourself doing it... without physically doing it. I can recommend and send links to some INCREDIBLE guided meditations that worked for me as a beginner if anyone is interested. See you on the Astral Plane!❤

[@robbirose7032]

Astral projection is not real.

[@AlreadyDeadInside83079]

@@robbirose7032 It's ok to be wrong. Cultures all around the world have practiced it for thousands of years. Don't know if it's fear, a calcified pineal gland, or s lack of knowledge that has you stating untrue absolutes on the internet, but there's nothing evil about it. Far from it. Unless you're an atheist and don't believe our souls and consciousness are eternal and reside inside a temporary meat suit obscured by the limitations of organic eyeballs, then it makes sense. One could easily say God isn't real too. You have no evidence right? I, however am 100% positive both are real because I've experienced both. Have a blessed day, and if you'd like to please your creator, stop arguing about things you have 0 experience in and go do a random act of kindness for someone who could use your help today. That's why we're here in the first place.

[@josephweeks3815]

I experience what he called ‘waking dreams’ without needing to do the sleep paralysis technique. Have had a condition called narcolepsy type 2 (no passing out), my brain goes into rem within 15 minutes of shut eye & I am always in a state of semi sleep. A symptom of this is hypnogogic night terrors where the fear you experience is only limited by you’re imagination & sleep environment. I have had Countless different entities visit , I realized they weren’t real so didn’t think they were a problem until they started getting worse. I have it allot more under control now though.

[@robsquared2]

Every time I realize I'm dreaming I try to fly, it even works some times.

[@fallyneprinciotta9058]

I fly but always free fall then bam hit the ground and wake up at the same time. My body Jerks like I literally slammed on the ground

[@MetaphoricalMountaineering]

I rarely do anything else. You can actually feel the G forces and wind.

[@michaelkeefer5674]

Used to have horrific nightmares. When developed the ability to lucid dream, none of the monsters ever showed up again. The really weird thing, one night, my wife had a bad nightmare. Told her to go back to sleep and I would deal with the monster. After we were back to sleep, the monster showed up in my dream and I destroyed it. My wife never had that nightmare again.

[@royaltyrosenails6879]

I never know it was called lucid dreams 🤯I have always been able to control my dreams! Every dream I can remember Iv been able to recognize I’m dreaming,, and literally chance my dreams!! I thought every one knew how. I taught my daughter how to as well! Now I want to take it to the next level ❤

[@SovereignHumanBeingX]

Like Joe, I can regularly realize that I am dreaming but cannot control it. I can definitely agree with the fact that you don't get the full benefits of Rem due to being 'awake' while you sleep, since I started practicing lucid dreaming I'm am always tired when I get up.

[@kevindon2133]

This is a misconception about lucid dreaming. Although I'm not denying your experience. Most of the "rest" you get while asleep occurs during NREM sleep (dreamless sleep) anyway. So being lucid or not should have no effect on whether you wake up rested or not. Often times when I lucid dream, I actually wake up feeling WAY more rested and EXUBERANT. For me its a rare occurance, so when I get to control the dream and do something amazing like fly, visit other realities, talk to dream guides ETC I always wake up feeling super excited and well rested at the same time. It might be a sort of placebo effect from feeling like "you're still awake". However, Tibetan and Hindu Yogis that practice 24/7 awareness (Yes, there are people who know how to bring awareness into dreamless sleep (Sleep Yoga) and dream (Dream Yoga) without losing any awareness. Essentially they are conscious 24/7, and they report feeling very high energy levels (they attribute their ability's to remain conscious in the deep unconscious state of bliss as the reason why they contain so much energy). If you lucid dream often, and still don't feel rested, I recommend trying to "meditate" whilst in the dream. Focus on your breath and allow all dream imagery/events to flow by like clouds. It might help (this is assuming you at least have control over your own actions in the dream).

[@SovereignHumanBeingX]

@@kevindon2133 I will try that 👌🙏

[@BulmaSoft]

Hi Joe, may I just say that THIS was the BEST (most informative) video regarding the subject of lucid dreaming that I ever watched on KZbin; THANK YOU!

[@modjohnsenglishdisco]

My first lucid dream freaked me out. So did the next few, mixed in with night terrors. I thought I was going insane. I didn't even know what to call it to Google it. After reading about them, I calmed down and learned to embrace the experiences. Unfortunately I haven't had one in 10 years.

[@TheMusicLauncher]

Try to be in constant awerness before you fall asleep. The day before do a lot of working out/tiring your body. Then once you sleep and are dreaming, realize you are only asleep

[@silverbaal]

I'm glad you spoke about the positive and negative aspects of sleep practices. I've been having lucid dreams on and off since I was young. But it's only within the past, maybe 2-3 years that I've been consistently journaling them. I've had dreams where I'm fully conscious, and can interact with my surroundings, as well as those where I feel like I've got some cool MCU powers...and can bend the dream world to my will. I'm not gonna sit here and woo woo you like I know more than the next person...But at least some of my dreams do have a sort of spiritual component to me. Beyond the usual rehashing of daily noise - Emotions, relationships, day-to-day life etc...There have been some that totally defy any sense of logic, or connection to who I am or things I've been exposed to. But that being said, on the flipside, during the hot summer months I sometimes get what's known as hypnagogic hallucinations. What basically happens is that it's so hot that my body can't cool itself off enough to get to sleep. So I never sleep. I imagine this is something like what sleep deprived prisoners experience. (FYI, HHs are pretty common. Most people experience them at least once in their lives.) I get audial and semi-visual hallucinations. In short flashes. It's freaky stuff. And I do NOT like it. The first time I had it I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't going crazy. I stayed up for a bit, not entirely sure what to do with my feelings (I didn't make the connection in the past. But I keep my room as cool as I can during the hot summer months now. Melatonin also helps to put me into a deeper sleep, once I do nod off. I get them rarely, 0-3 times a year usually, up tp 5 if it's extremely warmer night after night). And it's that experience that helps me to keep whatever...spiritual feelings I get form lucid dreaming, or anything else for that matter, grounded. I don't idolize hypnagogic hallucinations or think they're something to be messed around with. Pretty much the opposite, actually. And if there's anything to my dreams, whatever that may be, then I don't need to muck up my health in search of some esoteric truth to grasp it. My dreams can stay where they belong. In my head.

[@Senjinone]

I work as a hypnotist and what you said about removing emotions from painful memories and attaching them to more silly stuff is something I do often with clients. Never tought of dreaming doing the same thing, but it makes sence.

[@Meladjusted]

Lucid dreaming just kinda came naturally to me around my late-teens/early-20s. I didn't try to do it. I'd just suddenly realize I was dreaming. Nothing to do with looking at my hands or trying to read things; I just understood it wasn't real. In fact, I can read words and time in my dreams. I've always, always heard that's impossible, like words don't render properly in dreams or something, yet I've been in many lucid dreams where I'm reading a sign clearly (and reading it over more than once) and going "How then?!" It has helped me with recurring nightmares. I had a nightmare about being chased by a gigantic bee (was probably like 3ft long) trying to attack me and one night I started having this dream, but was lucid dreaming, and was just so annoyed with having this scary dream AGAIN that I turned around, grabbed this mutant bee and furiously tore it apart. NEVER had the dream again. I'd had a big fear of bees in real life and, after that final dream, my fear gradually decreased to a much more normal level.

[@alekvillarreal3470]

This story is 2 wizards and a plot twist from making me believe that you’re a protagonist

[@toddaulner5393]

Did you happen to eat alot of Ramen Noodles?

[@hydrocarbon7045]

​@@toddaulner5393Wtf?😂

[@andrewfarrar741]

@@hydrocarbon7045 Your theory could work Todd. 🍜🍜 I like your 🚫🐑🧠 thinking 🤔🤔 on this whichever way it works out for you.

[@andrewfarrar741]

I don't know if I should be concerned that @Meladjusted might be responsible for the worldwide decline in 🐝 population.

[@LezChap]

I've had a few fully lucid dreams over the years...mostly though it's more like a "choose your own adventure story" where I'll wake up (in my bed/to reality) while in a dream, decide to do something different previously in the dream plot, or while awake decide which direction to take the plot, and then go back into the dream to see what happens. Sometimes I've been able to do this over and over and over again. Quite fun.

[@whoever6458]

Me too.

[@biancafletcher-gunev8196]

I have always needed to 'practice' lucid dreaming in order to have one. I usually just test if I am dreaming throughout the day, and then I end up testing it during a dream and become lucid. Sometimes I find it hard to remain lucid, because its hard to convince myself that I am dreaming and then maintain that sense, I will often decide that this is 'real' only to wake up.

[@sammyfromsydney]

I've experienced unwanted sleep paralysis due to sleep depreviation (medical issue) and it was terrifying/panic inducing. It's been almost 25 years since this happened and I only vaguely remember not being able to move rather than the actual dream, but the feeling of panic I'll never forget.

[@annipsy2185]

just once? lol not to minimize this but most people have many many many of these😁

[@sammyfromsydney]

@@annipsy2185 about a half dozen times. Once I was diagnosed and treated I was almost instantly much less sleep deprived and it went away. My experience is that most people I have spoken to do not experience sleep paralysis but those that do often experience it more frequently.

[@tribaltalker1608]

I thought that the awareness of sleep paralysis was commonplace until my neurologist said otherwise. Apparently not just a normal part of sleep. Waking up temporarily blind is another disturbing one.

[@mule2081]

I would have them sometimes multiple times in one day. Learned to induce them because they were so common for me. Used to be terrifying. And I would see/hallucinate all kinds of things. After like a 100+ of them, eventually went completely numb and lost all fear. The absolute worst thing from this event wasn't weird daemon like hallucinations coming at me, it was the fact that if I get an itch I could not scratch 🤣

[@dongonzulman6478]

My first lucid dream was a nightmare that I gained control of. After that I did research and tried lots of tricks to stay in the dream, like spinning, and got pretty good at it. I remember in incredible detail how flying felt, like I was able to convince gravity that it would pull me skyward and around, and it was difficult but always thrilling. As far as I know, I no longer have the ability to lucid dream, unless it is a nightmare, like the first time. Fascinating subject! This may be my favorite ep.

[@whoever6458]

I didn't realize other people had nightmares that turned into lucid dreams. I've had a couple such dreams, at least when I was a kid. I think I generally have less dreams as an adult though but they are more likely if I have to get up to pee a time or two at night. Flying is pretty cool but I always had a flying chair and this was as a kid because I would fly just out of the reach of bullies and finally get to laugh at them. Later on in life, walking through doorways is the easiest way to get to the farthest places from where I was on the original side of the doorway.

[@hunterpdx7061]

My experience with it is fairly similar to yours. I am often aware that I am dreaming but I usually opt for letting it unfold without my control. I kind of want to see what is going to happen rather than exert my own will on the world, which I do all the time when I'm awake. It's all seems like quite the bother at the time, though I can exert control if I really want to. Since I don't typically have bad or unsettling dreams (usually they are just interesting and weird) I'm content to see where my own unconscious wants to take me.

[@KimblesTheBrave]

Agreed, I feel like my subconscious is pretty creative and I'd rather see what it comes up with on its own rather than mess with the story. I've half-heartedly tried to learn lucid dreaming in the past but the fact that I like my dreams the way they are makes it hard to keep up the intent/motivation.

[@opotatoqopotato467]

The one thing that worked for me (to induce lucid dreaming) was making a habit of checking the clock, looking away and checking again. If you do this multiple times a day then you’ll probably end up doing it in your dreams as well. If the time is completely different from the first time you checked 1 second ago, you’re dreaming. I started doing that when I was 12 and it started to work. By the time I was 16 I had a lucid dream almost every night without even using that method. I had to try and stop it eventually because my lucid dreams became lucid nightmares which turned out to be even worse than usual nightmares. I would be so scared in my lucid nightmares and I’d try so hard to wake up but it almost never worked. I found the only way to wake myself up was to shake my head violently. I don’t lucid dream much anymore thank FUCK

[@MarcVL1234]

I love the special comedic touches Joe puts into these. *Loved* the Grovel Cam!

[@RobVollat]

I experienced tons of lucid nightmares as a child - but only two of those lucid dreams weren’t nightmares, meaning I chose not to exit from the dream on those two occasions - instead continuing on the “journey through my mind.” My first non-nightmare lucid dream turned into a dream where I flew around like neo. It happened one night when I was either 10 or 11 - and I did it at least 4 times in a row that night back-to back-to-back. Meaning when I was dreaming I would accidentally wake up, but somehow I could literally just close my eyes and put myself right back into the lucid dream. I continued doing so that night until eventually instead of rejoining my lucid dream I just knocked out and didn’t dream at all until I woke up the next morning. I didn’t have another positive lucid dream like it for years to come. Until 4-5 years later while I was in high school and I had the mother of all lucid dreams one night! I explored the oceans, deserts, skies, I envisioned a map of the world and would fly over it and land on things I would like to see - and eventually I went into space and explored far off celestial bodies outside of the solar system - of course this was all in my mind but it was a very cool experience! Then I had SO much sex with what I think is that multi-armed Hindu goddess while in space. I would guess this took place in 10th grade, bc I spent my nights in the 11th and 12th at my friends houses or at parties most every single night. What I remember most about both of the two major events is the ‘realization’ I had of “Omg I’m dreaming right now but I can’t wake up” - I used to have this realization all the time as a child, but it was always when I was experiencing a bad nightmare and wanted to wake up. Only this time it wasn’t a nightmare so I didn’t try to wake up. When I would be having one of those childhood lucid nightmares and I would squeeze my eyes and it would make me wake up - idk why it happened that way, but this was very frequent occurrence as a child and tensing my eyes always made me “escape the lucid nightmare.”

[@GrimmSpector]

I used to have bad nightmares as a kid and forcefully blinking usually got me out of it. Pretty similar.

[@jamie299]

That sounds like so much fun, I've never had a lucid dream. I had frequent nightmares as a child (and still do), and every so often with a particularly bad nightmare that never seems to end I've heard my own voice shouting at me "Jamie wake up!!", over and over until I can finally wake up. I'm so grateful when that happens tho cause my nightmares are so bad that they sometimes give me panic attacks. Have you ever heard your own voice calling out to you while dreaming?

[@mellie4174]

Omg yes. I totally forgor. Me too! I had several lucid flight dreams. They were Amazing ! I flew all over. When i wone up for a minute i actually thought I'd been flying and that i could actually fly. It took me a few minutes to get my head out of the clouds. After that first one, i was able able to do it in several dreams on propose because i wanted to fly. Then suddenly i couldn't or didn't anymore.

[@whoever6458]

Oh I've had a lucid nightmare too! I didn't know anyone else had those! I dreamt that monsters were chasing me and I would run as fast as I could but it never seemed like I was getting anywhere. It was super scary because, in real life, I could always outrun the bullies. I had this dream several times until finally I decided to look down and see what was wrong with my legs. That's when I saw that I was running on a damn treadmill, which was hilarious. So I stepped off of the treadmill and was easily able to escape the monsters. lol I had another one where my house was on fire and I ran out barely escaping with my life. Then, I would look down and realize that I didn't have my shoes. In the original nightmare, I'd go back in to get them and wake up (i.e. die) but I finally got to the point where I recognized this dream so I'd laugh about not having my shoes instead of trying to go inside to get a pair. I haven't had this dream as an adult, though, because I'd just go get another pair of shoes if this happened and, even if I couldn't afford a pair and no one gave me one, I'd just steal some shoes instead of going back in to die for the ones I already had. I can remember having this dream as a little kid and having it scare the crap out of me maybe a handful of times though.

[@theblimeypilgrim4492]

I love all of your content but this was one of my all time favorites. The beginning sketch, the script, the camera work, the subject and how you handled it were all on point! Basically a flawless episode.

[@mvvagner]

In high school I became obsessed with lucid dreaming and astral projection. It took me about 2 years before I had any major success. Here's what I can offer for advice to anyone interested: You need to get your mind thinking about lucid dreaming and/or astral projection often. You have to really want it. You can do this by reading any material you can get your hands on about the subject. Read books or go on forums where people describe their experiences. Get yourself thinking about it constantly. A technique that I liked to use while going to bed was imagining a rope coming down from the sky, through roof/bedroom ceiling, and dangling just above your head. Once you've done this, imagine your astral body reaching for the rope and climbing it up into the sky. Do this over and over. if you're relaxed enough and falling into that dreamlike state, you may notice a buzzing or ringing or feel your body begin to vibrate. Lean into that vibration and allow it to intensify. Then just imagine yourself floating up to the ceiling exorcist style. eventually you will actually feel yourself floating up from your bed. Controlling what happens next is what I found to be most difficult. Usually I would shoot off like a rocket in a random direction and then slingshot back into my body and wake up. Controlling it takes even more practice.

[@Kalepsis]

I've had two lucid dreams in my life, and both of them involved real events... which happened 1-2 years AFTER I'd dreamt them. It sounds unbelievable, but yes, they were precognitive. The unfortunate thing about that fact is that the dreams, and the corresponding experiences later in my life, centered around extremely traumatic events. Iraq was... difficult. Silver lining: I now have a hypothesis regarding the quantum state of neurons and their ability to transmit data in either direction within the time domain, depending on the "emotional amplitude" of the event that generated a particular response. So, I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

[@jakeaurod]

I sometimes remember things before they happen, but it's usually while wide awake. They key seems to be finding a trigger like a sight or smell or keyword that triggers it, just like with memories of the past.

[@mellie4174]

Or mqybe our brains are incredibilly good at taking in data, even data we aren't conscious of and then making accurate prédictions because that is how we have survived a world of predators as soft, flabby, meat bags.....

[@harleysmusic3242]

@@jakeaurod i often remember things and can sometimes predict what is about to happen or something someone is about to say. This happens every 1-2 months and it is often something that i dreamt either days or sometimes years before it ever actually comes up and happens. As I understand it, it is called deja reve. It’s really weird but trust me on this. When i was a kid i had night terrors which are a form of seizures. And studies have found seizure patients are most likely to experience this. Very interesting. since i have talked about it with friends they often come to me telling me they have the experiences now.

[@leannewright9686]

Dreaming of future events is not lucid it’s called precognition

[@truality8289]

@@leannewright9686they said that lol