Indeed, I’m new here, although my experience with lucid dreaming dates back to 13 years ago. At the time, I begun to be very interested in lucid dreams, and after joining a similar community I became a skilled oneironaut.
Changes in my life led me to set aside my interest in the dream world and to develop my Search in other directions. I am a regular practitioner of Yoga and meditation, a university researcher in Biological Sciences and an aspiring Medical Herbalist (or Medicine Man, if you prefer: I do!).
But during the last years, the Dreamworld call’s became stronger in me again. After many years of little dream recall, I had a series of very meaningful dreams, including several spontaneous lucid dreams, which rekindled my wish to devote myself to lucid dreaming. I begun a new dream diary, and (remembering how helpful it was for me to share my Search with other Dreamers) decided to join this community.
Ultimately, I see lucid dreaming as means of exploring the nature of Mind, and the forces that govern it.
Hello and welcome! I wanted to comment on that last part you said: the forces that govern it. When I had my first lucids, I was in awe and treated the world of my lucid dreams like a hidden temple inside my mind that I had just gotten access to. A place that I had to respect and learn how to “communicate” with in order to get the most out of. Recently I’ve started to think more about this attitude and I think it’s hindering my lucid dreaming progress.
So if you believe there is a “force” that governs the dream, you are surrendering your power to the dream. I read the lucid dream you posted in you DJ. In it, the dream was blurry or fading to darkness and you had to fight against that by using stabilization techniques. I’ll offer you another way to solve the issue: The dream can’t be blurry or dark. You are not using your eyes to see in the dream. Brain is creating something you understand as visuals, it’s all fake sensory inputs that you control. Does it feel like your eyes are full of water, making it hard to see in the dream? That can’t happen if you are not using eyes to see. Is it dark? No light is hitting your eyes anyway, you can see what you want. The only roadblock is the power you believe the dream has over you.
But all that said, I still struggle with this level of control too. I guess confidence will come with experience and I still lack both.
Hi Letaali, and many thanks for your reply and your advice. Perhaps this requires a little clarification as this is not exactly what I meant: I didn’t mean to say that I feel dreams have power over me, or that there are limits to what one can achieve in a LD. I agree with you that with experience it is possible to have complete control over a dream, and (especially when I was younger, and more immersed in lucid dreaming) I had a little taste of this.
Rather I was referring to the psychic forces that govern human patterns of thought and action, for example what Jung referred to as archetypes of the collective unconscious. I see dreams as means of exploring this world, which is normally hidden during our waking existence, pretty much in the same way as the stars are hidden by daylight. I am not particularly interested in achieving total control over a dream, but rather in finding ways of deepening its stability, duration and my awareness of dream-reality.
That said - thanks for sharing your experience with me, I think that your advice is precious. Perhaps I should be more assertive and trust in my ability to control the dream environment. I have read that saying “Clarity, now!” or similar sentences can be helpful in this regard.
“Clarity, now!” just sounds like you are asking the dream for something, which was the original problem. Reminding yourself that you are not really using eyes is a logical reason for the dream to be clear and full of light. I don’t think this takes away from any of the cool mystery of our unconscious worlds. It just helps you explore it, to get past the roadblocks you are setting for yourself without meaning to.
Interestingly, I found myself in a similar situation last night. I tried to remind myself that the dream was under my control, and to use my willpower to restore the dream environment, but that didn’t help much. When I tried to say “Clarity” I felt it was more like giving a command, asserting my will, than “begging” the dream for something. That seemed to help for a while.
Perhaps it might be better to continue this discussion over there?
Hello, I’m new here! I originally looked into lucid dreaming after having very bizarre dreams my whole life. I’m currently 23. I’m actually unsure If I am lucid dreaming as I don’t really control myself, but all 5 of my senses are in every single dream. I remember them very well and with many details almost every day.
I’m here to learn more, and hopefully find answers to some questions I have. :3
They could be vivid dreams.
The definition of a lucid dream is [size=150]being aware you are dreaming while in the dream[/size].
There are lots of topics for you to explore on the forum. Knowledge base or adventures may be the best places to start.
I’m really glad I joined this community! For a long time I’ve been frustrated. I simply can’t talk to other people about my dreams because whenever I try to describe what it’s like for me, they never understand. I get it, maybe I’m a bit atypical, but it seems to me that everyone is too closed minded about what dreams are like… family, acquaintances, even my close friends.
I eventually just learned to switch topics immediately or steer the discussion away but I still wished I had some way to be involved in it since I’m so interested in dreams. So here we go, here I am
hello Ondoira welcome to ld4all
Glad you found a place where you can talk about dreams.
Have you experienced lucid dreams yet? edit ahhhhhhhh just saw ‘just enough’
But actually that’s not quite why I’m here. It’s a bit more complicated than that and tbh since I’m new to the forum I’m not sure if it’s better to introduce it here or start a thread about it… it’s quite a big thing.
My name’s Troy, I’m 41 years old, and regret not learning about this sooner. During Christmas a relative brought up the topic of lucid dreaming, and I was instantly engaged! I felt “plagued with dreams”, having anywhere from 1-3 vivid dreams on an average night and waking up tired, but was delighted to hear it may be possible to control your dreams…perhaps I could learn to change my normal dreams of mowing my neighbor’s lawn to something a little more exciting! lol I didn’t know if I could trust my relative (and he was awful quiet about it after), but he did tell me about a good book to start with - “Exploring The World Of Lucid Dreaming” by Stephen LaBerge. Not getting any more help or discussion from him, I ordered the book and patiently waited for it to arrive.
While waiting for the book, I quickly Googled lucid dreaming to get a quick feel of it…was it a scam? What do I do? The words “Dream Journal” came up pretty quickly as a bit of a prerequisite, so I stopped there and got a journal. I recorded dreams I had for a week before the book arrived, and was already becoming more fascinated with dreaming. 2-3 of my dreams that week I believe are recurring (at least variations of them), and when I get a chance I would research what that means.
Then at last the book arrived…school is in session! Between a girlfriend and younger kids I didn’t get much time to read it, but did get about 30 pages in. Unfortunately I didn’t get “to the goods”, knowing what to do to become lucid, but I laid in bed and was determined to try. I ended up posting in the forum about my experience (sorry, don’t have the link which would be helpful if anyone cared…haha)…and after reading my book again last night I’m sure what I experienced was a WILD, somehow doing a self-taught version of the 2-body technique where I laid in bed and eventually transformed to my dream body (which was a rippling cape). Out of all the dreams I have (which in my opinion is a lot), that was by far the most exciting and exhilarating one yet! At the time I did not know about WILDs and thought I just dreamt I became lucid (and who knows, maybe I did), but it was so vivid and real and crazy. Then the next night I did the exact same thing again, but this time my dream body was just my normal body. I yelled “I did it, I’m dreaming and know it!”, but apparently that’s a rookie mistake and I felt like I was heading back to my waking life. Before I got kicked out of the dream world, I moved my eyes from left to right, left to right just to prove to myself that I could do it. Again, not 100% sure that means I’m lucid or just “willed myself to do it”, but after reading what a WILD is I’m sure that’s what I did for the 2nd night in a row following the book. Last night was night #3 but there was a snow-grader on our streets all night and it disturbed my process…so I’m sad about that but at least the pressure’s off to try getting a WILD every night…lol. I wish I wasn’t working at the moment; I’m so tired, that I’m pretty confident I could have a WILD right now if I wanted to. Maybe I can close the door? lol. In my profile I’ve stated that I’ve had 2 lucid dreams as a result, but as I learn more (I’m starting from ground zero here) and discover otherwise I will surely change it.
Anyway, I’m super psyched about dreams and lucidity and can’t wait to become proficient with it! Also can’t wait to be in a dream and then awake (rather than vice versa)…I suspect I will feel in great control at that point. Infinite stuff to learn but I’m hooked and loving it
A dream inside a dream…So close to lucidity, yet so far… is a link to your topic
I have been following it, so it was good to see that you had found your way to the introduction topic.
If you look in the FAQs and Tutorials, I think you will find these useful…
Hi all!
I’ve been lucid dreaming since I was 14 years old (I’m 26 now). I used to learn tips and tricks on lucid dreaming back in my early teens, but since I got older I was too busy with school, exams and university so I lost all of my skills. I’m finished studying now, and I feel like this is the right time to get back into lucid dreaming again!
I’m also a digital artist. My artwork is mostly inspired by my dream characters, dreamscapes and dream stories, so I would love to re-learn all of my lucid dreaming skills again (and learn even more skills) for inspiration for my art!
I’m super excited to start my journey again, especially here on LD4all! This site is wonderful and also gives me such happy nostalgia (I came across it when I was in my teens)!
hello Ondoira welcome to ld4all 
Hi! I’m new here too but despite that the forum has already turned out really friendly and welcoming. So have fun and hope you have a great time here! 