First if all, i wanna make it clear that LD-s are [u][i]NOT[/u][/i] dangerous. It’s exactly the same as saying normal dreams (ND) would be dangerous. When lucid in your dreams, you are aware of the fact that your current surroundings are just a dream in your mind. Nothing, absolutely nothing can harm you, you are the one to control your dreams. You are the commander in your dreams, the “Head Leading General” of all “Head Leading Generals”.
Beware though, as if you are having a nightmare, your fear feeds the evil. Know that you’re dremaing and nothing can harm you, then confront the nightmare.
Aye I know… it’s just when I think of scary stuff or have nighmares it’s often the same thing :
I walk into a pitch black room and stay there for a while… Then I decide to turn the lights on… and when I do so, there is this person, with a twisted face, with a horrible stare just standing in the middle of the room… then I wake up…
I know that lucid dreams aren’t dangerous… It’s just the tought of this dream, and the old hag n’ stuff… brrr
Every beginner may have his own reason to be scared of LD’ing. That’s why I think it could be interesting to collect the different reasons in a “Too scared to LD” topic. So I’ll merge your topic into it.
Your fear is irrationnal as you suppose LD’ing is paranormal. It isn’t. It’s just dream plus consciousness. I suppose that when you’ll realize that, your fears will disappear.
About old hag: I said few posts above that very few people have old hag hallucinations. Either you have the sleep paralysis trouble, and you see old hag without even lucid dreaming ; or you don’t have the sleep paralysis trouble, and you’re likely to never have such strong hallucinations.
And about nightmares, you have to realize that nightmares are normal dreams. In a lucid dream, you have more chances to turn a nightmare into a pleasant dream. So that lucid dreaming is less frightening that normal dreams!
I don’t care anymore… I want to become lucid… I’m reading the “While” part of the site… And all the things he says just makes me want to have a lucid dream…
It didn’t happen to everybody though. I would like to have such funny stuff, but I just had it once. I was repeating a sentence during WILD when I heard it like it was said by a girl in my room.
if you can use logic, think about what a lucid dream is. I mean, in a lucid dream, you control it. If a demon or something appears, mame it! lol! but really just materialize a shotgun or something
Actually when you encounter a demon you want to embrace it and ask it why it wants to scare you. Eventually it will disappear, become friendly, help you in your dreams or turn into a hot woman etc. Don’t kill it. In fact as a serious lucid dreamer you should never kill someone but act responsible for your own actions. This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. If you want action, you can summon whatever action scenario you’d like and it will quite probably be much more fun than just playing God. Being God is boring after a while, you know. The others have no chance.
If you can stay calm in a LD you can just get rid of anything that scares you.
I used to hide anytime I had a nightmare and close my eyes until I woke up but now that I know about LDing I can just:
A) Kill whatever is scaring you
B) Confront it and talk to it.
C) Just leave and believe you won’t be followed
Yeah I feel for ya scared people, I’m exactly the same way. After reading about the Old Hag for the first time, I’ve NEVER been able to get it out of my head. Everyone keeps saying “conquer your fears” and “realize they’re not real”, and I know that as long as you don’t fear those things, they have nothing to “feed on”, but I just can’t help feeling scared lol. They say “if you have demons in your mind, you will see demons” but what if you just can’t get rid of the demons?? I think of squirrels on a field, they turn into demons, I think of fish in a tank, they turn to demons, I think of fairies with golden locks, they turn into demons… lol.
Only 2 ways to solve this problem, in my opinion anyway. 1) Don’t do WILD, and 2) Just don’t care.
I’ve found the second one works the best. So what if you get scared? It won’t kill you, eventually you’ll get over it.
maybe we shouldnt talk about the “old hag” with people if they dont know what it is already…this might just make them get scared of WILD for no reason.
My advice is just to do WILD anyway. You will soon start to expect the weirdness, and often times it’s not even scary.
I have to admit it’s quite exciting, not only because you can launch yourself into a lucid dream, but because you can experience some funky weird stuff.
I agree with bzteam. It’s not true that if you expect LD’ing to be scary, it will automatically turn into a nightmare. Most of the time, it’s very cool, even if you’re not very reassured.
But I think some people like horror movies and they like to be frightened…
Hmm I got this idea; you could listen to music while trying to have a WILD. I tried it yesterday, I put some really calm, relaxing music that I knew was going to keep my mind away from scary thoughts. Then of course I couldn’t fall asleep lol, I gave up after 2 hours, but just the fact that I didn’t get scared and cancelled the WILD is a good sign for me.
I think I’ll try it again tonight. Yesterday I really felt like there was nothing to be scared of, and I even enjoyed it!
i am, but to a lesser degree. LD i find actually more fun then scary, and you can get scared in a lucid dream for no reason. my first proper one scared me halfway through, but i stove it off and turned it comical. search my posts for more info.
I definitely agree Basilus! Some of my favourite dreams have been scary dreams, as they’ve been quite movie-like and cinematic. I also find that scary dreams have more emotional flavour and action. Maybe I’m one of a twisted minority
I’m safe from old hag or at least from the scary effects
i’ve had it a few times before without even knowing about LD’s and all that. Here’s what I do now.
Leave the TV on in your room at night, or on put a dvd of seinfeld or any other non-scary TV show and let the episodes run all night, on low volume it consumes electricity but I always fall asleep to TV-shows anyway. If you get an old hag, the TV is sure to distract your attention, especially if you also leave a dim light on and get a cat to sleep on you and purr. Try it.
80% of what makes OH bad is because it’s dark and you’re alone in the room. The TV always makes fear of the dark or loneliness be less powerfull. When I’m alone at night, having the tv on is always a fear nullifier.
It shouldn’t be like this.
I’m an old hand, I’ve had literally hundreds of lucid dreams, and been through what some would call “old hag” countless times.
Any disturbing state like this is a dream manifestation - do a reality check, (pinch your nose shut and see if you can breathe) it will prove you’re dreaming. Sleep paralysis is a dream state - prove it to yourself.
I just can’t wait for my first LD…
I was repeating a sentence during WILD when I heard it like it was said by a girl in my room.
