I have just recently found this board, but I have been experimenting with dreams for about 6 years and counting. I keep dream journals and my dream recall is very high (about 3-4 dreams each night). I practice RC during the day, use an old NovaDreamer and am experimenting with self-hypnosis tapes. And even with all this, I cannot lucid dream. Please help.
The strange part is that I have had many lucid dreams in my life (at least 50 that I remember) many of them right after I became interested in dream research. I have become very comfortable in my dream powers so that now I can fly (fast like neo in the matrix), change locations/people, create situations, etc. That is not the problem. The problem is that I am never fully lucid. That is to say that I act as if I was lucid (ie: I think “this is a dream, so I can fly” and then I do fly, but without actually becoming lucid). It never feels like Im actually there (like it used to) only a distant memory. Has anyone had similar experience? Can anyone help? Thanks.
I am not sure I fully comprehend what your problem is. Is it that you don’t have enough lucid dreams? That you loose lucidity? Perhaps you just don’t practice enough?
It sounds to me like the original buzz of being lucid has now worn off. May be it’s time to experiment more in your dreams … if you are doing the same old lucid stuff all the time?
As milod said, it sounds like you are becoming lucid (if you can announce to yourself that you’re dreaming, and then fly at will). So, is the problem just that you don’t feel like you’re in direct control of the dream? Perhaps you’ve been having a lot of low-level LDs recently, and you never seem to reach the point where everything is clear and you’re fully aware of your condition. It’s hard to tell from the way you describe it, but in any case, I’d recommend concentrating more on enhancing your level of lucidity before you run off to have some fun. Perform a few reality checks, or just pay attention to your surroundings for a while. Things will gradually become clearer the longer you focus on them. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
Hi Cybereality!
I agree with Atheist. You should try to increase your lucidity level as soon as you begin a lucid dream. Some possibilities are: shouting “More lucidity!” or something like that; performing mental tasks, like arithmetics; building a “bridge” between your dream memories and waking memories, for instance by planing IRL an objective to complete in your dreams.
Good luck! Please tell us your results!
Perhaps he merely means that somewhere in the back of his head, he knows that it is a dream and acts like it (flying, super powers etc), but never fully or really realises that it’s a dream after all. This is called pre-lucid dreams and can be very fun but ofcourse LD’s are even better . Im not sure what the “cure” should be, perhaps try what others suggested here. Otherwise you could try to use the pre-lucidity as a trigger to become really lucid. One way would be with MILD/autosuggestion, tell yourself before sleep that whenever you get these super powers or when you can fly, that you realise you are in a dream. Good luck and may you have many LD’s soon!
It is possible to think to yourself, ‘this is a dream’ withouth actually knowing it. Usually it’s just a passing thought that you don’t really think about.
Yes, but that does not sound like it is the case with cybereality . We will have to wait to see if he posts more about his experience for us to understand what the problem is. Then we can give better advise.
Thanks for the help. To clarify, what I am experiencing is similar to a pre-lucid dream I guess. The issue is lack of consciousness, not control. When it happens it is sort of like watching a movie about a character that knows he is in a movie. What I mean to say is that it feels like a regular dream, only I am acting like I was lucid. The experience is not the same.
I think I am just a little out of practice. I was pretty fluent with my LD techniques a few years ago, but recentIy I haven’t been able to get consistent results. I would say I have a lucid dream about once a month, but they haven’t been as rich. I guess I’ll try to shout & spin or do some of those other techniques next time and see what happens. Thanks.