[Shaddim]

I was really surprised to find out how few people experience lucid and/or hyper-vivid dreams. For my entire adult life I've had them on a regular basis, usually a few times each week, and can usually induce them at will. I've also kept a dream journal since I was 14, some pretty wild shit in there.

How many here have similar experiences and how often?

[Big Mac]

Interesting. Perhaps you're on a higher spiritual level than the masses. Cool that you've kept a journal of them.

It depends in part on how you define lucid dreaming. If you just mean hyper-vivid, that's hard to differentiate from other memorable dreams. The Wikipedia article defines the term as a dream that is recognized by the dreamer as a dream, and in which the dream can be manipulated freely by the dreamer. That's the definition I'll use.

I have had them rarely, but they're memorable when they happen. For me I can induce one if I can catch myself while I'm going into a light dream state, in which I'm just past the border of being awake. If I can start dreaming at that point I'll realize it's a dream and I'll be able to direct it. Those instances have always been pleasant as far as I can recall, but they also don't last all that long before I wake myself. I can remember one in which I could fly.

[sek929]

I have them fairly regularly, that is, dreams that I realize I am dreaming during. Being able to fully control dreams happens infrequently, but when it does I've had some bizarre stuff happen. I also have hyper-vivid dreams frequently too, some of them throughout the years have been quite frightening.

[BlueSky]

Often, and I usually end up flying.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Perhaps once every few months I realize I am dreaming but I don't take advantage of it and it last seconds.

Once I year or so I can actually take control but again it only lasts a few seconds. Fun while it lasts though.

[Dex13]

you're about nine years late on waking life



sorry

[mduell]

Oblig xkcd:

[msuper69]

I once had a dream where I dreamt I was dreaming.

(Now the word dream sounds funny).

[ghporter]

Most of my extra-vivid, more lucid dreams come when I'm under a lot of stress; I think I'm trying to process the stressors while dreaming. I suck at that, by the way, so I just stay stressed unless I do something about it while awake.

[Laminar]

Weird, I was just reading about lucid dreaming last week. It's something that's happened every once in a while throughout growing up, and the article had tips for increasing instances of lucid dreams. I had another one this week.

[Doofy]

Lucid dreaming interferes with my solipsism.

[nonhuman]

Seeing as it seems likely that even when we're awake we're not actually consciously in control and only think we are, the idea of lucid dreaming seems a bit questionable.

[Thorzdad]

I used to have lucid dreams quite often when I was younger. Not so much, anymore.

[vcutag]

Very rarely have I had a dream in which I could direct what was happening. More frequently I'll have situations where I realize in the middle of the dream that I'm dreaming, and can wake myself up.

About half the time when that happens, I find myself waking up from the first dream into a situation where I think I'm in my bedroom (only things are slightly off,) but I realize I'm still dreaming and have to wake myself up again. One night I had three of these dreams inside one another (I think of it as a Russian matyroshka doll). When I did finally wake up for real at 3:30, I was freaked out enough to just stay up for the rest of the night.

I'm pretty sure my subconscious is out to get me.

[imitchellg5]

It's funny, I can induce lucid dreams at will. I didn't realize it was anything "weird" until taking psychology classes.

[olePigeon]

I occasionally have lucid dreams, but I also quite regularly having waking dreams, which are unsettling at first for anyone who doesn't have them on a regular basis like I do. After a while, you no longer feel any dread or paralysis, and your mind quickly discerns what is real and what isn't. Makes for some interesting nights.

I'm pretty damn sure that anyone who honestly believes they were abducted by aliens had a waking dream.

[DrTacoMD]

I've only ever had two. One was accidental -- the lucid part lasted for only a few seconds before I "forgot" I was dreaming. The other one was intentional (and of course I used it to fly), but also only lasted a few seconds before I woke myself up.

Thank god I've never had a waking dream; that would scare the shit out of me.

[vcutag]

Originally Posted by DrTacoMD 

Thank god I've never had a waking dream; that would scare the shit out of me.

What exactly is a waking dream? I've never been clear on that.

[design219]

I spent about a solid year trying to do this. It was suggested that I think about just trying to look at my hands before going to sleep. So one night, it finally worked. I raised my hand in my dream, looked at them and realized what was going on. So I immediately decided to jump and fly. It worked and I got sooo excited I woke up. That was about 4 years ago and I've not been able to do it again.

Dang.

[MrsLarry]

I often have dreams in the morning about waking up, getting dressed and ready for work... usually as i'm about to head out the door, the alarm goes off again. REALLY ANNOYING.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by vcutag 

What exactly is a waking dream? I've never been clear on that.

You are technically asleep, but the part of the brain that regulates sleep "malfunctions," and you're conscious while dreaming. So your eyes are open, you're aware of your surroundings, but you'll see weird things; almost like a hallucination. It's not necessarily that the object you see that is frightening, but because you're "sleeping" you have no motor control, you're essentially paralyzed while you see the object or objects in front of you. It's often accompanied by a sense of panic, falling, and/or dread.

The opposite of a waking dream is sleep walking, or somnambulism, where your motor functions are working, but you're only peripherally aware of your surroundings.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by MrsLarry 

I often have dreams in the morning about waking up, getting dressed and ready for work... usually as i'm about to head out the door, the alarm goes off again. REALLY ANNOYING.

My most common dream is being late for something important.

[olePigeon]

A recurring dream I've had through my entire life is being at school and forgetting that there's a huge test that I somehow forgot about, and my entire school year hangs on that test.

[Big Mac]

Yeah, I've had that kind of academic nightmare fairly commonly. Two common variations I've experienced are being worried that I forgot to drop a course I stopped taking and it would turn into an F, or dreaming that there were courses I never got around to taking for my degree that would prevent me from graduating. Those feel particularly real - I don't know I'm dreaming. Sometimes it takes me a few seconds to realize they were just dreams even after I've awoken.

[Laminar]

In junior high/early high school I used to have fairly regular dreams that I'd finally gotten an N64. Waking up day after day and realizing that it was a dream was, at the time, awful.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Sexual healing ones

[vcutag]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

You are technically asleep, but the part of the brain that regulates sleep "malfunctions," and you're conscious while dreaming. So your eyes are open, you're aware of your surroundings, but you'll see weird things; almost like a hallucination. It's not necessarily that the object you see that is frightening, but because you're "sleeping" you have no motor control, you're essentially paralyzed while you see the object or objects in front of you. It's often accompanied by a sense of panic, falling, and/or dread.

The opposite of a waking dream is sleep walking, or somnambulism, where your motor functions are working, but you're only peripherally aware of your surroundings.

Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I'd have to call the worst nightmare I've ever had a waking dream by that definition. Although "panic, falling and/or dread" doesn't begin to cover it.

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

You are technically asleep, but the part of the brain that regulates sleep "malfunctions," and you're conscious while dreaming. So your eyes are open, you're aware of your surroundings, but you'll see weird things; almost like a hallucination. It's not necessarily that the object you see that is frightening, but because you're "sleeping" you have no motor control, you're essentially paralyzed while you see the object or objects in front of you. It's often accompanied by a sense of panic, falling, and/or dread.

The opposite of a waking dream is sleep walking, or somnambulism, where your motor functions are working, but you're only peripherally aware of your surroundings.

This seems to be the phenomena: Sleep paralysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I’ve suffered from this at various times, for me it’s usually accompanied by a sense of deathly fear. I usually try to “fight” it by trying to roll back and forth, and eventually it goes away.

Another problem I have every couple months or so is I will wake up in the middle of night in a panic thinking I have accidentally fallen asleep at work or the train station. It takes about twenty seconds to realize that I am really at home in my bedroom.

[Salty]

I can't really remember having lucid dreams... then again I'm never that lucid I think I might have had one or two now or again but it tends to be as soon as I realize it's a dream I wake up.

Shortly after breaking my leg in grade 5 I started having a series of night terrors there were four of them, the first happened in the hospital and I started thrashing in the bed (in traction) throwing pillows at the nurses and screaming for my parents to give my comic book collection to my sister. Thing is I don't have a comic book collection and I never did.

The next involved some sort of weird moral conflict over whether to give an accessory to one character or another in Mario RPG... this caused me great moral distress and I hyperventilated.

The next was one of the funniest, though it was terrifying at the time, I believed I had to pick one of the "Captain Crunch Kids" (kinda like graphical ripoffs of parapa the rapper if you remember them) to die. It was like a life and death decision and which ever one I decided would die, either the white boy, the white girl, or the black guy... I think I picked the black guy... (Mostly cause he had a funny jaw and dreads)

The last one I had was when visiting family in edmonton, I dove onto the floor in the room my parents were staying in and started screaming that my cousins were trying to fire nuclear warheads at me.

Other than that, I've had some real gooders... as a kid I dreamed i killed a vampire with the golden girls (specifically Dorthy)

I had some very confusing sex dreams when I was a teenager... I once even had a dream a girl from class forced herself on me and gave me head... I couldn't look at her for days and felt super dirty.

I remember once, I had this dream about this guy I had totally fallen for (actually first guy) who lived in TN, and I dreamed he visited Winnipeg, and we were having a sleep over in the old basement I had as a kid, and the dream hit like the high point, we kissed, and I remember thinking, "I'm so glad this isn't a dream."

I also had a whole bunch of weird ones lately most of which I can't remember, though I did have a dream I terrorist bombed a Christian bookstore in a shopping mall

[Laminar]