i’m sure this has been discussed before, but i’m new here and i’d like to hear what everyone has to say about it.
it usually happens in nightmares, for me anyway. usually when i am trying to get away from something scary. and it’s sometimes accompanied by the feeling of being tickled. but it’s unpleasant and not fun, and i can’t get away from it. once in a while i will wake up from it and i am actually ticking myself. it’s the creepiest sensation. i wake up and look down and my hand is going nuts…ew
anyway, it doesn’t happen as much as it used to when i was little.
sometimes the slow-motion feeling is also accompanied by a cramping feeling. like my muscles cramp up and it’s kind of painful.
so my question is, have any of you had similar experiences?
any thoughts as to why slow-mo is so common in dreams?
In my experience it is not COMMON in my dreams… it has actually only happened once in an LD… although I often experience a very sedated feeling where it feels like I am in slow motion, but more like I am drugged.
Does the cramping etc happen while you are dreaming… I mean in your dream body or after you wake up?
i once dreamed i was hunted by a man-eating-teddy bear. I was running in slow-motion and almost couldnt move. Also i spoke in slow-motion. Well i eventually got eaten by that big teddy bear, and then i woke up… i was around 7 years old i think.
I have sometimes episodes of itchiness/tickling within the dream and while trying out trance
there are a number of possible reasons, one which I accept has to do with energy flows
it is useful while in trance since it really wakes up your mind
I have only had the slow-motion effect once. And that time everyone else but me was slowed down. And I saw someone from the future! , quite strange dream.
During about 6 of the 8 recurring childhood nightmares I’ve ever had, the slow motion effect caused the typical nightmare feeling. I was always so freakin afraid that it would happen again. Ofcourse, the very act of thinking about this made it happening
I’m not sure why this happened everytime… Perhaps a mental blockage?
isn’t it so crazy that almost everyone has had that feeling in a dream before?? and it’s usually always associated with fear…
the brain is so fascinating! i was reading the sticky topic on going WILD last night and i was thinking “i can’t believe that just by doing certain exercises, you can get your body to vibrate and convulse and hear sounds…” just being in a different state of mind is so exciting.
i was trying it out last night but as i got closer to unconciousness, i kept forgetting my goal and changing positions and not paying attention. it was kind of funny.
Sometimes i’ll get in a fight with someone in a dream and I’ll try to punch them, but my punches are in slow motion, so they dodge them with ease. One of these days i’m going to find some tough looking guy on the street in a LD and kick his ass.
Ive had the slo motion thing happen too, like if im in a very dangerous situation, about to get hurt or something…and i see it and try to dodge out of the way but cant move fast enough, lol i usually die (if not wake up )
Sarah:
“the brain is so fascinating!”
I wholeheartedly agree. I doubt that we as a species will ever come to fully understand it. Funny, cuz im pretty sure our subconscious’ understands us a lot more than us, it. Frustrating, at times, because my own is thus always one step ahead of me.
“…unconciousness, i kept forgetting my goal and changing positions and not paying attention. it was kind of funny.”
Its cool when as you improve your awareness memory (awareness being separate from conscious and unconscious), you can remember stuff that you unconsciously do, learn a lot that way. Helps us to better understand and thus condition/change ourselves.
brian:
i forgot about that, but me too! every time i try to punch someone i can’t do it! it’s so frusterating. i’d really love to just kick someone’s a$$ for once. it’d be so satisfying. haha.
sentient:
i couldn’t agree more. wouldn’t it be scary to actually uncover what’s really going on in our subconscious mind? as curious as i am, i’m not sure i want to know what’s back there… ?
2 weeks ago I had a slow motion dream too where I jumped in the air in slow motion, that was quite cool.
RockMyAllStars, why don’t you try to use slow-motion as a lucidity-trigger ?
“F… I’am in slomo again. I hate this. Wait … there was something to remember … yes ! I must be in a dream ! I am lucid ! Cool ! I can do what I want now.”
Ive had dreams where I’ve been trying to get away from something, and can only move in slow motion, it wasnt really nightmares though…
But its whenever Im trying to escape, or get away, that I move in slow motion, but everything else stays the same…
And like other people have said, if Im trying to fight in a dream, then the slow-motion effect happens again…
scoo:
that’s such a good idea! i wish it were that easy, though. but i always just think everything is normal…gah. i can never ‘wake up’ in my dreams because i never realize i’m dreaming…a common thing, i know. i just forget what i’m supposed to be focusing on really easily. i’ve only really realized i was dreaming once, and it hasn’t happened since. hmm…maybe if i just think about slo-mo all the time, then next time it happens i will go lucid. ::plans it out::
The reason time slows down when something scary or anxiety-provoking happens in dream is because the amygdala (“fear” part of brain) releases adrenaline when it senses danger. The purpose of adrenaline is to slow down your perception of time to allow you to handle yourself in a not-so-safe situation.
Take for example that you’re driving and someone pulls out in front of you at the last second. Those 2-3 seconds are the longest of your life, though you responded MUCH faster than you would have if there was no danger and adrenaline was not released. Vice versa, the old saying “time flies when you’re having fun” is due to an absolute lack of adrenaline and instead is from a surge of seratonin. Dopamine is the natural neurotransmitter that is replaced by either adrenaline or seratonin in abnormal situations.
What adrenaline does in the brain is slow down the “tic” of your natural clock of the brain, specifically the speed at which neurological pulses travel between the basal ganglia and the right parietal cortex. This runs subconsciously but is directly affected by outside forces.
So, long story short, your dream goes slower because your mind thinks that the danger is real and so your natural defense mechanisms kick in.
I usually get the slow motion effect when WILD works, and I try to get out of bed. I usually find it hard to move with ease, and my motion is really slow. But if I don’t wake up the effect goes away, and the dream becomes more stable.
I have read somewhere, I can’t remember where, that the feeling of being half-paralyzed in a dream is related to SP. Part of the brain supposedly knows we are actually unable to move. I don’t know where this comes from, though.
I get the slow-motion feeling when I am running to catch a bus, or when I am fighting! It it almost like moving under water, and all the motions are powerless.
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