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Try Lucid Dreaming they said. It will be fun they said.

So Spring Break is now over and now all I have left is just that last push of a few painful months until I can finally enjoy some time away from school. The finish line is so close…but there’s just so much that’s going to be taking place in the next few months that the stress is really getting to me. What I will be doing in the future depends on the outcome of the few weeks to come. Anyways, with that being said, I haven’t been feeling too well lately.

I haven’t really been myself recently either, which I’m definitely kicking myself for (haven’t really said the smartest things in the last few days)…probably too much cough syrup haha. Yea, I’ll just go with that. Cough Syrup…yum. And I hate the notion of being drowsy all the time.

So I’ve been reading some articles on lucid dreaming and thought “Wow, maybe being able to control your dreams would be a pretty neat thing!” Now I really have no idea what lucid dreaming is and what it entails. I am absolutely not an expert with this kind of stuff and I probably should have just left it at that. I really should have left it at that. I really should have.

What I thought lucid dreaming would be like...

Anyways, I was feeling really tired after my classes and had the opportunity to take about an hour long nap. Being the foolish opportunist that I am, I decided that this would be a perfect chance to try to have a lucid dream of myself. Make myself the hero, you know that kind of thing. Now for this sort of thing I guess you’re supposed to lay on your back and relax until you ultimately fall asleep. The thing is I never really knew when I did fall asleep.

My room was dark to start with, nearly pitch black and I could hear all of the noises around me. The noises coming from the house. Water in the pipes. The wind blowing around my window. That kind of stuff. And since I was laying on my back I had a clear view of my door. Now if you haven’t caught on from previous posts, I don’t really enjoy the company of my roommates (but that’s another story…) Anyways I could faintly make out my door being opened very slowly and saw a shadowy figure, what I made out to be my roommate, walking towards my bed. I was about to get pissed really fast since he didn’t knock first of all, and I felt a prank coming on. The thing was all I could do was watch. And as the figure slowly came closer to my bed I noticed that he was holding something in his hand.

I could see him coming closer and I attempted to say something, anything to let him know that the gig was up. That I could see what he was up to. But no sound came from my voice. And I still couldn’t move. I began to panic as I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. All the while the figure kept coming closer to my bed, creeping ever so slowly. As it was right on top of me that’s when I broke awake in a cold sweat.

I took in a deep breath of air, since I must not have been breathing the whole time. My mouth had the faint taste of copper, of blood. My room was still dark. The door was closed, as I had left it. But what the fuck, I could’ve swore that my roommate was in my room…

I walked out into the hallway then went upstairs only to realize, to my horror, that nobody was home. Everything was dark. Everything was the same as it had been since I got home, so no one could’ve stopped by and left while I was ‘sleeping’.

I can’t exactly explain what happened. All I know is that I wasn’t dreaming and that I was still in my room. Everything was or felt real and talking about it now still terrifies me. Whatever was in my room was not my roommate. And I now wonder what it was that it was holding in it’s hand. I looked more into lucid dreaming and there’s another associated phenomena known as Sleep Paralysis. That’s the only conclusion that I can get as to what I was experiencing. I have never been more happy to have woken up from a dream before, but I still am not sure if I can breathe a sigh of relief yet. I have never had a dream that real, that horrifying, with the inability to move or do anything about it as it was about to happen. One thing’s for sure though…I won’t be messing with things that I’m not sure of. And I have to stop reading scary things before going to bed. Oh, and pardon my language…still shaken. But not stirred! (…and that was lame; once again the blame goes to the cough syrup)

Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:14 pm in Dreams, Life, Reflection   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

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46 Responses to “Try Lucid Dreaming they said. It will be fun they said.”

    
  1. MJ
    March 19, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    Good lord. This is why I don’t eff around with my subconscious…

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      March 19, 2012 at 10:03 pm

      It was definitely a horrible mistake. Glad I learned that lesson though. The mind can be a dark thing…if that’s what it even was.

      Reply
      • Alice
        February 18, 2014 at 4:56 pm

        This isn’t lucid dreaming. This is sleep paralysis which is commonly mistaken for lucid dreaming and often a side effect. Sleep paralysis is when your mind is half awake half asleep. You’re paralyze, can’t move, can’t talk and sometimes can’t breath. These always end in nightmares, I don’t know why. This has happened to me many times in these I’ve been strangled, burned, raped and attacked by fairies( don’t ask).
        I’m also a lucid dreamer. I have been sense I could remember it’s genetic, but could often be achieved through different skills. If you want to try again http://www.wikihow.com/Lucid-Dream is the best one I know.
        Lucid dream is fun and comes in handy when you are in a nightmare.
        Hope this clears things up to you and anyone who may read this.

      • onwindydays
        March 28, 2014 at 2:59 pm

        Thanks. For the clear up. If you made it to the last paragraph, it literally says “I looked more into lucid dreaming and there’s another associated phenomena known as Sleep Paralysis. That’s the only conclusion that I can get as to what I was experiencing.”

        I realized that right away it wasn’t lucid dreaming that I was experiencing after I woke up. I had pretty much all of the symptoms that you listed and it was an awful experience! I was taking a Psych class at the time and we had a section that dealt with Lucid Dreaming so I thought it might be interesting to see what it was about. Unless I have a really good reason, (which I probably won’t find), I probably won’t do it again!!

  2. aix
    March 19, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    You really should’ve let yourself stay clueless on lucid dreaming. Lol. Sometimes that happens to me and it really gets scary!

    Reply
  3. Wilhelmina Upton
    March 20, 2012 at 2:50 am

    Goodness, I myself haven’t had a dream like that in some time but I kinda know the feeling. Usually I’m being chased by someone who’s trying to kill me and all I can do is move in slow motion. I hate those dreams and I usually get them right before tough exams and stuff so I should be right on schedule by now. *yikes*

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      March 20, 2012 at 10:15 pm

      Haha, you’ll be fine. Just make sure not to sleep on your back. Ever. But I’ve had those dreams too and I feel like no matter how fast I run, its still not faster than whatever’s chasing me. Hopefully you’ll never have a dream like this. The scary thing was I couldn’t tell that it was a dream. I could’ve swore it happened…

      Reply
      • Wilhelmina Upton
        March 21, 2012 at 1:15 am

        It’s really bad when you can’t tell that it was a dream, so take care of you! And don’t fall asleep on your back again ;-)

  4. thacourtjester
    March 20, 2012 at 5:08 am

    Well, damn. I guess having normal dreams is way too mainstream for most people. That’s why I don’t like things, but I guess now you know what it feels like and know not to do it again, This is the kinda story you’d tell your grandkids…ok, not really. But, that’s still some hectic stuff, man…

    Reply
  5. pouringmyartout
    March 20, 2012 at 10:52 am

    This was very good. I now have to do some scary stories, just to keep up. There is something deliciously fun about a good, scary story.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      March 20, 2012 at 10:25 pm

      Oh man, I wish it were only a story! But I agree. There’s just something about a good scary story, not the ones that only have blood or gore, but the ones that terrify you days, even weeks later. That’s just one of my guilty pleasures I guess you could say haha.

      Reply
  6. alphabravoecho
    March 20, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    Ahh lucid dreaming. And sleep paralysis…I have experiences with both of these. I can tell you that lucid dreaming takes years to master. Sometimes in dreams you can’t move or speak but you feel awake. Damn you know when you know something for a fact and people might not believe you? It frustrates me. I will have to tell you sometime about what I know. But if your room mate ever starts acting weird and tries to kill you don’t hesitate…

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      March 20, 2012 at 10:30 pm

      I don’t know if it’s something that I would want to master now. It’s just a little something that I thought would be cool to try out. Big mistake, messing with things that I don’t know about. And I know the feeling man, it’s like I saw it with my own eyes but still no takers. Really frustrating.

      And yea, definitely. I’d love to hear it! Whenever you have the time of course.

      Haha! It seems like if I want to even breathe the first airs of spring I’m gonna have to act on instinct around here.

      Reply
      • alphabravoecho
        March 21, 2012 at 6:25 am

        I wouldn’t completely give up on lucid dreaming. Once you actually get it right it’s pretty great. What happens to me is I can’t move, speak, or open my eyes, and I just hear voices all around me, usually very close. Sometimes I even feel something touching me. It’s pretty freaky. I will tell you sometime about that kind of stuff. But don’t worry you’ll breathe the fresh air of spring!

  7. illdot
    March 24, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    Omg… That’s scary! I have sleep paralysis a lot, when very stressed mainly or when there’s something i should do but am unable to start. It is awful but still happens quite often. The closest to lucid dream I get is to end a nightmare when it get’s too horrible. But I can not control any good dream – and usually there’s no reason for that. They are good enough the way they are. Two weeks ago I was awake 34 hours and after that went to bed and took a sleeping pill, and got the most weird and beautiful hallucinations ever! Bright colors, animals, trees and bushes all over my sleeping room, bunnys jumping all over, red 3D maps coming closer and I tried to touch them and saw my hand go right through, the voices came once again back very strong but not negative, and I even had a very seldom touch hallucinations. Like, I felt something touched my shoulder when I laid in my bed. I don’t need LSD!! :D

    Reply
  8. dontthinktheworst
    March 26, 2012 at 9:10 am

    I have had positive lucid dreams before after using techniques described by Stephen La Farge (might have to check spelling). I was able to become lucid whilst in the dream state and was able to control it for maybe 5 minutes before waking. I have read that you can have terrible nightmares when lucid dreaming which is due to not fully being able to control (or realise you can control) the dream itself.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      March 26, 2012 at 2:52 pm

      Haha, I don’t really want to mess with that again! Although I might check out this Stephen guy, just to see what he has to say. Yea, I must say…it was absolutely horrifying. It just felt way too real. That’s pretty cool though, that you can actually control your dreams, er I guess some people can :)

      Reply
  9. Tanya M
    April 20, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    Sometime last year, for about a month or two, I couldn’t sleep very well. I might have been reading books that disturbed me on some level at the time (I always find that my dreams reflect what I’m reading or watching, unless it’s exam stress), but I’d wake up in the middle of the night, after just having had a nightmare, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. After two weeks of bleary-eyed mornings and general unresponsiveness, a friend asked me if I’d ever tried lucid dreaming. She sent me a link, I tried, nothing happened, I woke up in the middle of the night again.
    Finally, another fried asked me to knock back a little whisky before going to bed, just enough to ensure I slept all through the night. Worked like a charm. ;)

    Reply
  10. Tanya M
    April 20, 2012 at 9:56 pm

    Sometime last year, for about a month or two, I couldn’t sleep very well. It must have been something I was reading that disturbed me on some level (I always find that my dreams reflect what I’m reading or watching, unless it’s exam stress). I’d wake up in the middle of the night, after a nightmare, and wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. After a string of bleary-eyed mornings and general unresponsiveness, a friend asked me to try lucid dreaming and sent me a link. I tried, nothing happened, I woke up, couldn’t sleep.
    Finally, another friend asked me to knock back a little whisky before going to bed, just enough to ensure I slept all through the night. Worked like a charm. ;)
    After reading this, though, I have to say I’m not exactly tempted to try again in the future.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      April 21, 2012 at 9:06 pm

      Oh wow, for about a month or two? That sounds like it was rough. Right, exams have that same effect on me too. Just stress in general. Plus, I’m a lightweight when it comes to horror movies. Hmm, some whiskey eh? The one time I drank whiskey, I kind of overdid it…and woke up mid-day the next day. It was really stupid actually. But that’s another story haha!
      Oh man, but lucid dreaming turned into a horrific nightmare real fast. Then I realized that I don’t really care if I can control the outcomes of dreams or not, sleep is the most important thing! :P

      Reply
      • Tanya M
        April 22, 2012 at 11:02 am

        Absolutely. You never realise how integral sleep is to keep you going unless you’ve lost some of it.
        And.. I’d like to hear that whiskey story someday. :P

      • onwindydays
        April 22, 2012 at 2:51 pm

        Definitely. I didn’t sleep at all the night before. And slept through my alarm for an hour before realizing that it went off :( And as for that whiskey story, I will definitely share that someday!

  11. Ayasonice
    May 17, 2012 at 9:34 pm

    scary stuff… now I’m afraid to turn the lights out! :S

    Reply
  12. Wilhelmina Upton
    July 19, 2012 at 2:41 am

    Last week I took a nap on the sofa (lying on my back) and it was the worst experience ever. I’m not sure if I was half lucid or actually dreaming but in my head I tried to wake up but it didn’t work, I just couldn’t. Also I was completely immobilized! I was so happy when I finally woke up again. Anyhow, why am I telling you this, because I remembered your terrible experience with lucid dreaming and it reminded me of this.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      July 20, 2012 at 12:13 am

      It’s the worst, isn’t it!? I just thought sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming was something that people exaggerated. But going through it firsthand, it’s terrifying. Just being so helpless and everything. I never sleep on my back usually, and after that happened I probably never will!

      Reply
      • Wilhelmina Upton
        July 20, 2012 at 1:55 am

        It is really terrifying and disturbing. And I’m not very keen on reliving it again so no sleeping on my back which isn’t my default sleeping position either.

  13. WordsFallFromMyEyes
    April 2, 2013 at 5:16 am

    Whoa, don’t like!!

    My son got all wrapped up about lucid dreaming recently and tried it. I don’t think he’s had any experiences, but I think he’s over it now.

    Wow.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      April 2, 2013 at 1:09 pm

      Whew, that’s good. It really takes you into a different state of mind. A bit scary for sure, not having control of anything, and death being right around the corner. Not knowing if you’re in a dream, or a dream inside of a dream. Every time I wake up from something like that, it makes me appreciate how beautiful life can be. I know that it sounds kind of stupid, since I’m not in any real danger of harming myself, but it does make you appreciate the little things.

      Reply
  14. Evan
    July 2, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    That’s not a dream, what you saw was sleep paralysis. it makes you hallucinate and you can’t move

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      September 7, 2013 at 4:37 pm

      I totally agree with you here. After looking up some more about lucid dreaming, the only conclusion about what just happened was that this was sleep paralysis. I haven’t had any more accounts lately and I’m really grateful. It’s definitely something that I would not want to go through again.

      Reply
  15. DRJ
    September 6, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    I have had an experience like this before but a bit different; (I’ve always hated the feeling of being watched even though I feel it all the time.) I went to sleep one night and a few hours later had found myself floating above my bed (and yes of course I fell asleep on my back lol) I felt as if I was being watched and then found a dark masked figure by my bed… Just watching me. I didn’t sense there was any danger and I felt myself say something to him I don’t know what but as soon as I said it I came crashing down to my bed again and fell unconscious (or asleep) I woke up next morning feeling strange. Since that experience I had felt the sensation of being watched stronger than before.

    Reply
    • onwindydays
      September 7, 2013 at 4:47 pm

      I agree, that’s the worst feeling. Thinking that somebody is watching you. Although it doesn’t happen often, there are some instances where that feeling can get really strong. There must be something about sleeping on your back, because it seems that’s when all the creepy things happen. And what’s really weird is that although during the dream it might not seem too frightening, after you wake up and think about what just happened that’s when it starts to get under my skin. Even though I know that it’s not real..just thinking about how eerie the whole situation makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

      Anyways, to answer your second comment, to be honest I can’t really describe what it looked like. I mean it was in my room (at a different house at the time) and my door was open a few inches since I could see the light from the hallway. The only thing that I can remember was just somebody standing a few feet away from my bed. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary considering that I thought it was just my roommate. The only thing that really made me nervous was what I thought was a knife in it’s hand. That’s when I woke up. I’ve only had this happen once more a few months after this but other than that, it’s never happened again. So far..

      Reply
  16. DRJ
    September 6, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    With your experience, what did the figure have in his hand/what did it look like?

    Reply
  17. DRJ
    September 20, 2013 at 4:53 am

    Yeah something about sleeping on ur back huh? Hell have we learned a lesson. I’d say lol but then again, it’s not that funny.

    Reply
  18. xthesavior
    December 5, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    This is actually kind of common with lucid dreaming. This is what can sometimes happen when you are on the verge of going into a lucid dream through the WILD process. It is what some how described as being an out of body experience, but almost always when this happens it is reported that they have become immobile and induced in a sleep paralysis. At the same time this happens people have seen images like you reported, shadowy figures approach the side of your bed that the mind manifests and introduces to you in a way that you can reason with, for example you thought at first it was your room mate. The thing is, is that if you are familiar and realize that this is happening you can ignore it and this process can actually be a pleasant experience.

    Reply
  19. KingAmbii
    June 22, 2014 at 4:20 am

    please contact me emai -> ambiialb@gmail.com

    Reply
  20. Kyle
    December 22, 2016 at 7:47 am

    Dude, I know your trouble all too well. I was screwed up for awhile with regular cases of SP after doing Lucid Dreaming. I stopped doing lucid dreaming and it still was happening. It happened so much that I eventually learned how to wake myself up after getting them. Yeah, it was pretty bad. I was afraid to just go to bed. Over time it decreased fortunately and now pretty much no longer happens. Also, you are not alone. I don’t sleep on my back anymore.

    Reply

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