Something really weird happened to me a couple of nights ago. Keep in mind though, I’ve been having seriously sucky dream recall lately, so I don’t know if I was actually lucid dreaming, or dreaming I was lucid dreaming … did that make sense?
Anyway, I was dreaming, and I remember knowing it was a dream. Lately I’ve been doubting myself in whether I really do have lucid dreams or I just kind of convince myself I do … so I decided that next time I did have a lucid dream, I would wake myself up, so I could know once and for all (sounds weird, I know). When I realized I was dreaming, I didn’t want to wake up, but I decided I had to go through with my plan.
All the information about LDing I’ve ever read has stated that if you feel scared or want to wake yourself up, then you’ll wake up, period. But this dream was different, scary even. I remember thinking this is exactly like off WL where the guy can’t seem to wake up, and he began to think he was dead. Then the thought occurred to me “Omg, what if I’m dead?!” and I started freaking out. I don’t think I even ever woke up, I think that dream just faded into a new one and I forgot about it …
So has this ever happened to anyone else? And if it’s not that common, what do you think could be the cause of it?
Hmm, this once happened to me when I was a child.
I dreamt something scary and hid under a table I think. Then I realised it was a dream, and tried to wake up. It didn’t work and I panicked. Then I had another, more pleasant, dream.
After that I woke up.
As a child I remember that sometimes I wanted to wake up from some nightmares, and so did I. But I had false awakenings actually and the monster was reappearing a few minutes later, as if chasing me from a dream to others.
Well, I say “” but at that time, it wasn’t very “”… it was rather “:(((”.
I’ve never had trouble waking up…
Closing your eyes (and don’t focus on any of your other senses) usually does the trick. if that fails, try doing something stupidly random and violent (run head first into a wall).
Though, I wake myself up differently. I sort of force my RL eyelids open - feels really weird, cos for a couple fo secodns In have to sets of eyelids…
On another note: Those dreams sound lucid to me. If you know you’re dreaming - then you’re lucid.
Not nececcarily, as you have experienced. Some people are better at waking up fast then others, and it also depends on the stage of sleep you are in. The deeper, the harder to wake up. Add to this that it might also vary randomly from nigh to night, and you see that “then you’ll wake up, period” isn’t really that much “period” after al.
I used to have nightmares quite often when I was younger, and I had a pretty good technique. When I did realize I was dreaming and I wanted to wake up, I would close my eyes. Stay very calm, and feel one of your arms. At the same time, try to feel the warmth of your arm in RL. Try to align the way you feel your body in the dream with the way you feel your body in RL. Then, try to move your arm, thinking about your dream arm and your RL arm at the same time. Align the feelings, and in one smooth motion lift them both and give all of your willpower into moving your RL arm and waking up. It will be very hard, but your arm should very slowly move a few inches into the air and you’ll wake up.
Dude! Maybe that’s why I wake up so soon! The moment I realize I’m dreaming I do something totally random because I never set an objective before I fall asleep. So I’ll run out a window and dive into the ground or something. Next time I’m just gonna take it easy.
If I want to wake up, I just close my eyes very hard, and open them again. It works all the time. Sometimes, I wake up in SP and have to wait for a few seconds before it is possible to get up.
What you described is the only thing so far similair to my method of waking up from dreams. When I was little and had nightmares I would shut my eyes as hard as I possibly could, and kinda telekenetically wake my real worldly body up. It was really wierd but I am certain I did most of it with my mind…
but when it failed and the nightmares persisted it would exponentially more frightening.
I may understand what you mean : as if the nightmare knew that you wanted to escape, so it would do everything possible to retain you, or to frighten you once for all before you leave from it.
I remember closing my eyes as well. “At 3 I’ll wake up. 1…2…3 !”. But as I said, sometimes it resulted in FA’s.
Though I usually don’t stay lucid after that
