Interview with an expert lucid dreamer

Magical Realist

Magical Realist

Valued Senior Member
I am not presently able to lucid dream although I've had some moments in my dreams when I suddenly realized I was dreaming. Once in a dream I was standing before a tennis court and decided to change it with my mental powers. Suddenly a gigantic rocket ship emerged from the ground underneath taking me totally by surprise! Apparently I need to learn how to control my dreaming better. Here is an interview with an experienced lucid dreamer that includes many fascinating details about the experience.

"It’s estimated that most people will have a lucid dream — one in which they are aware that they are asleep and might have some measure of control over their actions — at least once in their life. But there are those who claim to “get lucid” much more frequently. Studies have shown that lucid dreaming — reported anecdotally throughout history, but only scientifically documented in 1975 — can be successfully induced with a range of techniques from acoustic stimulation to herbal supplements. (There are even online resources like the Lucid Dreaming Fast Track, an at-home tutorial created by a woman who taught herself to lucid dream during adolescence so she could overcome her anxiety and low self-esteem.) Neuroscientist Susana Martinez-Conde, who has written about her dreams for Scientific American, says that they have been the most bizarre perceptual experiences of her life.

Recently, Science of Us spoke with 55-year-old Peter Maich of New Zealand about his experiences as an advanced, lifelong lucid dreamer..."

Cont'd here:

www.thecut.com

What It’s Like to Be an Expert Lucid Dreamer

The last time I saw a godlike figure in a dream I told him to get out of my way.
www.thecut.com www.thecut.com
 
I am lucid dreamer, not all the time. Problem I have is I become aware than I am asleep and my breathing is restricted which can lead to sleep paralysis which is unpleasant, especially when you are a child and do not understand what is going on.
 
If you can relax, realise your situation you can fly. Taking off from the ground is tricky and I have never been able to summersault. I think my brain realises what is involved with balance, ears and eyes so I cannot do it.
Just flying though?
One of my best experiences, over hills, country.
Beautiful.
I wish I could switch it on and off.
 
I've had several times that I realized I was dreaming, but then I woke up. One night fairly recently I realized I was dreaming and then I dreamed that I woke up. I realized that things still were not right and woke up for real. But it wasn't until I saw my wife next to me that I accepted that I was really awake.
 
last night I was an amateur comedian in what looked like a large school hall. All round the outside where people at tables and I was about to go on and do my act.
Issue one, I have never done this before and I was wondering why I was about to put myself in this situation.
Issue two, I had no material, just insults about my ex gf mother.

The scene kind of changed and I was in someones living room with about 5 people in there, I was still waiting to go on but the radio was loud playing "Hush" by Deep Purple.
I woke when they turned the music down. I think I became lucid towards the end.

Night before I feel off a balcony at least twice, I remember hitting the floor twice. The last time knocked the wind out of me. Apparently it is rare to hit the ground in a fall in a dream? I became lucid at the end, its not plain sailing lucid dreaming!
 
Pinball1970 said:
Night before I feel off a balcony at least twice, I remember hitting the floor twice. The last time knocked the wind out of me. Apparently it is rare to hit the ground in a fall in a dream? I became lucid at the end, its not plain sailing lucid dreaming!
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This happens in my dreams a lot. I'm falling, or I'm at the business end of a gun and get shot.
And my subconscious says "Nah, I don't like that outcome. Let's just redo it so I don't end up unalived."
 
DaveC426913 said:
This happens in my dreams a lot. I'm falling, or I'm at the business end of a gun and get shot.
And my subconscious says "Nah, I don't like that outcome. Let's just redo it so I don't end up unalived."
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Oh, and falling off a tall ladder is another common one. Not falling off so much as the ladder falls off the wall and I go with it. The anticipation of the impact is so excruciating that I end up floating off the ladder before it lands.
 
DaveC426913 said:
Oh, and falling off a tall ladder is another common one. Not falling off so much as the ladder falls off the wall and I go with it. The anticipation of the impact is so excruciating that I end up floating off the ladder before it lands.
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This was a two or three storey inside balcony, like inside a plush hotel. There was a swimming pool in the middle I think.
I tried to hit the ground with my body the same at time, spread the energy.
 
Pinball1970 said:
If you can relax, realise your situation you can fly. Taking off from the ground is tricky and I have never been able to summersault. I think my brain realises what is involved with balance, ears and eyes so I cannot do it.
Just flying though?
One of my best experiences, over hills, country.
Beautiful.
I wish I could switch it on and off.
Click to expand...
Same here. Had it a few times and had a similar experience with trying maneuvers or acrobatics. Ever go through a ceiling? An odd experience. One time my brain actually filled in some details so that I passed through an attic as I left the house. I could see batts of insulation and joists as I moved through them.

Had the hard landing a few times, but not all that hard...more like sudden return of pressure sensations from the mattress.

The unpreparedness dream is nearly universal from what I've heard - public speaking, test taking, public venue but not dressed, etc.
 
Possibly the weirdest dream experience is when consciousness returns but not all the parts of your brain awaken, so for example I've awakened and all the colors are way off (omigod, I'm in a.... lavender room!) or I have no idea who I am or what things are named, sort of a pre-verbal consciousness. You without language, I'd love to see that, my wife jokes.
 
TheVat said:
Possibly the weirdest dream experience is when consciousness returns but not all the parts of your brain awaken...
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I have been able to practice lapsing into a pre-stage of sleep without falling fully asleep.
I am aware that my brain has changed rhythms, but not so aware that it brings me back to full consciousness.
I can tell I am in an altered state because I am unable to retain any thought for longer than about 5 seconds. I forget what I was thinking a moment ago and if I try to recall it it eludes me - even if the thought was 'what was I just thinking about?' It just evaporates, like water in a hot pan. I can keep up this state quite some time.
 
Possibly the weirdest dream experience is when consciousness returns but not all the parts of your brain awaken, so for example I've awakened and all the colors are way off (omigod, I'm in a.... lavender room!)
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A few times in the past couple of weeks I wake up and look out my patio sliding door and everything is really yellow. It's usually as the sun is rising, and I am amazed by it. But when I go back to sleep and wake up later everything looks normal again. That the color vision part of brain isn't fully awake explains that.
 
Magical Realist said:
A few times in the past couple of weeks I wake up and look out my patio sliding door and everything is really yellow. It's usually as the sun is rising, and I am amazed by it. But when I go back to sleep and wake up later everything looks normal again. That the color vision part of brain isn't fully awake explains that.
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Better yet, what would explain it is that the sunrise is reddish orange just like the sunset.

I was just out this morning at 7AM, barely fifteen minutes after sunrise and the sun was a deep orange, making the sky yellow.
 
Ooh, the dream-interpreters could have a field day with you, Dave... all this falling, being shot... unresolved issues much? ;)

I've had the occasional lucid dream. But, like others, as soon as I fully realise it's a dream I tend to wake up. ;(
But usually I'm in a sort of semi-awareness of it being a dream; not enough to wake me up, and certainly not enough to take any control whatsoever. It's like i'm watching a movie - either 3rd or 1st person - and I know I'm just there for a ride!
The last time I had a lucid dream I managed to fly, but kept flying into things, so couldn't break entirely free from the "reality" of the rest of the situation. Usually, though, it's a short-lived moment... "ooh, I'm dreaming... which means I can try to do this... nooooo! Don't wake up!!!"
 
I have been having some horrific dreams lately. Not lucid. I went to a street market for some food and they slapped what looked like a rat on the hot plate with part of it missing. It then opened its eyes and started to lift its head.

I shouted "Its still phking alive!" and I tossed it on the floor. I begged them to put it out of its misery so this guy hit it on the head and missed, it started to scream, it sounded a long high pitched sustained note, horrible. I picked up a brick and started to smash its head but it still continued to scream. Luckily I woke then.

Horrible.

Blimey, was I some sort of Nazi concentration camp Dr in another life!?
 
gmilam said:
I've had several times that I realized I was dreaming, but then I woke up. One night fairly recently I realized I was dreaming and then I dreamed that I woke up. I realized that things still were not right and woke up for real. But it wasn't until I saw my wife next to me that I accepted that I was really awake.
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We discussed this in one of the psych class at Purdue. The consensus was that the transition from sleeping to awoke was seamless enough that one doesn't realize they're awake until they notice the "directing" we do with the transition. Noticing that I'm directing the attack* usually makes me admit I'm awake.


*John Ford famously stood on top of a bunker and tried to correct the attacking Japanese' direction of approach for a better light angle. (Battle of Midway, WWII.)
 
Gawdzilla Sama said:
... the transition from sleeping to awoke was seamless enough that one doesn't realize they're awake until they notice the "directing" we do with the transition. Noticing that I'm directing the attack* usually makes me admit I'm awake.
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This tracks for me.

When my dreams have a positive resolution I often realize that I've juuust crossed the theshold into awake and have been directing it consciously.
 
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