Can lucid dreaming be dangerous + how do you do it?

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I don't particularly reccomend it. I know it sounds pretty cool but its not like Insidious or something, you just have normal dreams but you can control whats going on consciously (my experience anyways). But I find it to be highly addictive to the point where I'd rather dream then get up everyday, which sounds really sad, and it is. So sure try it and give it ago but do not make it a habit!

Reply 21

username2659199

Original post by childofthesun

In cases of sleep paralysis, how come most people always report seeing a demon like creature near them/sitting on their chest? :s

Yea, even the Wikipedia page on sleep paralysis has a painting of a demon sitting on a woman's chest

Reply 22

Roadman123

I use to lucid dream a lot but, If you watch a lot of horrors like me your ****ed.
There are two ways the long way where you use your memory to remember dreams(If you do this regardless of being lucid you will feel like your dreaming a lot more than before) or the short way.....
So imagine the scariest thing in the world you could ever imagine, Now imagine it talikng to you, and attempting to kill you.
It just a Hallucination of course but to do the short way you have to be able to take the risk of sleep paralysis but at least 80% of the time you will be lucid.
Lucid dreaming is just one step though after conquering your fear of lucid dreaming you can learn a lot more **** such as Astral projection(I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!) where you force your self into sleep paralysis so you can leave your body and it last much longer.
Look for the videos on how to lucid dream for the short way they tell you normally to fall asleep then stay awake for like 10-30 mins then do some s*** before you go back to sleep then bang.

Reply 23

DamnDaniel2

I used to have lucid dreams every night when I was about 4 until the age of 7-8. Sometimes I would wake up and then I would close my eyes and suddenly I'm asleep and back to the dream, and then would open my eyes again after 5 seconds then close it and fall asleep straight away but if I kept doing it then I would wake up and not get back to the dream. I don't know if that makes sense but yh I was a weird child.

Lucid dreaming is the best tbh. Did all the things a typical child would want to do and would control it! I wish I had that ability at this age :frown:

Heard sleep paralysis is a terrible experience. My friend allegedly had one and someone was whispering in her ear 'Don't look back' and pressing onto her chest while something was sitting on her at the end of the bed. She described it as a bald, pale, black eyed thing but yh definitely wouldn't want to go through that!

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Reply 24

longshot100

Original post by Proximo

So I have heard about lucid dreaming recently. It is basically where you are aware you are dreaming whilst in a dream and you can control your dream, but you're still technically in REM phase and asleep.

I've always wanted to do it, who wouldn't want to control their own dream, but I've tried all sort of methods and it doesn't work. Has anyone else experienced a lucid dream before and do you have any advice on how to get into one?

Also I've heard that lucid dreaming can result in sleep paralysis, when you wake up but you cannot move any muscles for a few minutes and you experience severe and from what I've read, horrific, hallucinations. Is this common with lucid dreaming or is it nothing to worry about?

I do remember having one lucid dream by accident, although I woke up as soon as I realised I was dreaming, probably out of excitement.

I just kept telling myself I'd lucid dream and I sort of achieved it, although it wasn't a proper one, I was aware I was in a dream.

Because I never went full on I can't comment on the side effects, but it doesn't cause anything longterm AFAIK

Reply 25

samkajj

Original post by childofthesun

In cases of sleep paralysis, how come most people always report seeing a demon like creature near them/sitting on their chest? :s

there was a thread on sleep paralysis a while back and i noticed this too, but when it happened to me i had some weird hallucinations but i didn't see any "demons " if you will

Reply 26

HelpusPleasus

Original post by Proximo

I've found so far that I can do it if I drift in and out of sleep. For instance I'll wake up go to the toilet but not be completely awake (ie no deeper thoughts say of Physics). I'll try not to open my eyes too much and then when I get back into bed, I'll enter it because I've realised that I've just been awake and that now I must be dreaming.
That method uses the fact of a delay in (deeper) wakefulness and then sleep.

Just a few days ago I couldn't sleep so sat awake for an hour or two, fell back to sleep and what do you know, I realise I'm in a dream. Coincidentally whilst talking to someone. Normally that's how I realise because when talking to someone you'd obviously need to use your conscious to answer their questions. This one was a police lady and her dog, questioning me on something and then I said I didn't know and then I realised and told her that I was in a dream. She said "Oh right then" and her walkie talkie went off and she left. Another time the dream was set in school and my teacher asked something and then I realised.

I can't fully control my dreams but it's getting there. I've managed to dream text (as in book writing) and recall it something that is harder to do. What tends to happen is certain themes come up and in the dream I can think/decode where it has come from. The police on for instance was because I watched "24 hours in Police Custody".

As to if it's dangerous. I wouldn't say so. The thing is with most people it's just like a brief flicker of excitement for them. I do Science subjects so to me, there's nothing to fear because how could it? Sleep Paralysis has different causes and isn't related to this as far as I am aware. Certainly nothing bad has happened since then.

The "bad things" are purely you. You see only, what you take with you. Kinda like the Cave of Evil in Star Wars Empire Strikes Back. The other posters here have like they said watched Horror movies and may be "disturbed" (nothing wrong with them just focusing on "demon like creatures". Myself I normally dream of Libraries, science, castles, trains, museums- things that I enjoy in Real Life. And again Nightmares happen to all of us but once you realise it's purely a dream then it's nothing to worry about. The dreams are literally us and we can explore that.
And although these Lucid dreams are fun, normal dreams are themselves fun providing your mind is akin to that stuff. I like Star Wars, so I dream of being in that world sometimes. Nothing conscious about it but I can still remember that.

The main advice is to recognise when you are in a dream. This for me has come to talking with someone in the dream and/or using technology. I always have a recurring dream where light switches don't work. It always freaks me out but I've slowly learnt to learn with it in the sense where the other dream people will notice it and then I'll say something like this normally happens in my dreams, and I'll realise then.

There's plenty of resources out there but good resources are few. The thing is it's entirely personal. It's like Maths, you can be shown and told how to do it but ultimately it's personal experience on how to do it. There was a guy who studied them and managed to slip in and out of dreams throughout the day.
If you want I can dig out some links I have. Maybe just reply here or PM me if TSR has that facility?

I personally wish such things like this were taught in schools because why shouldn't you explore what's there/available? It's the same as learning essentially.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 27

stochasticking

I've had sleep paralysis a couple times before and it's horrible.

Reply 28

TheTruthTeller

This seems cool I'm gonna try it :O

Reply 29

bluebookie

I'm not sure if this was sleep paralysis, but I remember an experience I had when I was 10.
At this time, I was sleeping in one of the third floor rooms of my old house and I don't know why it made it so much scarier. I couldn't move at all, and there was something creeping round the door, a shadow that kept on coming round the hinge at the slowest pace. The nightmare was happening in my room, and I don't know at what point I woke up, but when I did open my eyes, I was in the same location of the nightmare and looking/facing the direction of the door. I couldn't move an inch, couldn't cry, or shout or even twitch a finger. And it felt like the presence was still there, and worst of all, I actually remember it laughing- which means I was one crazy kid.I can't believe I'm remembering this so vividly, but apparently i am. I did snap out of it eventually and went to sleep, only to have a 'normal' nightmare and run to my mum's room.

All I know now is, I don't try to lucid dream or anything like that because I friggin hated that experience. Haven't had a dream in months now actually, and I intend to keep it that way.

(for the longest time, I thought I was being haunted, but I was over analysing like always)

Reply 30

ImagineCats

Original post by Proximo

Wow that's great! I actually forgot to mention I also used to keep dream journal, every time I woke up, I wrote down the time and what the dream was. It was part of a lucid dreaming guide lol. Eventually I gave up, too much effort, which is disappointing Ik.

i think I want to meet your mum, she sounds interesting lol

Something happened in her work when she was younger before having kids, so she rarely talks about those days anymore :frown:

My nan used read tea leaves and palms in the war but she died last year and I never finished learning- all online stuff is crap tbh

When I see a horror film she doesn't freak out or warn me or anything, so it shows those films are bs ahah :tongue:

Reply 31

tamil fever

Original post by Proximo

Yeah I have sometimes died in dreams but the wind thing is exactly what happens to me! I'm trying to run but there is some kind of force making me in a really curved kind of way like a magnet repelling another magnet

true.

Mine was a flood dream.And I was running so slowly,cause the "wind" was pushing me back.And all my friends were miles infront of me.I was thinking I'm gonna die but when the water did come,I didn't.It just went over me. :smile:

In my dreams I've met random people,who all die. :frown:

There's this girl I met and she said her name.And since then I've been seeing her name everywhere.It got me freaked first,now I'm just annoyed.And she said in the dream wait for 3 yrs,2 months and 1 day then u'll see.It was like an army dream,and then she got shot and somehow I escaped.I haven't had a dream since.

Reply 32

Doppelgengar

Sometimes it happens to me, sometimes it doesn't. I've often had dreams where I actually question whether or not I'm dreaming; many times I convince myself I'm not! I don't even know how to bring them on. I just...dream.
Never had sleep paralysis before though.

Reply 33

M14B

Don't play with your mind

Reply 34

Namita Gurung

Happened to me a few times but I need to kinda pep talk myself before I go to sleep that whatever happens next is just a dream. It's cool but doesn't really work all the time.

Thankfully I've never experienced sleep paralysis but my friend used to get it around 3 times a week.