Trying to control your dreams

[ticklishdanny]

Have any of you heard of something called "lucid dreaming"? I first read about this in Richard Feynman's autobiography "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!". I'm a bit reluctant to try it because I don't want to go into sleep paralysis but it would be pretty neat to be able to control what you dream. Do we have any lucid dreamers on the forum?

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[Bothersome]

I've heard of it, and though it's not something I've ever been able to do willingly, I have become self-aware in my dreams before, though it didn't last long.

Overall, it doesn't surprise me. Our brain is capable of a hell of a lot more than just making our dreams into whatever we want.

 

[jhop220]

I learned a trick in college from one of my profs...I didn't believe it at first but after a couple tries it worked.

When you feel like you are in a dream...find your hands. Look at them within the dream and you'll be able to control it.

 

[Bohemianne]

Something similar happened to me. I rarely have nightmares for decades, but I had a worst one. It's when I was dreaming that I couldn't remember how to breathe. Out of nowhere I heard my voice commanding me repeatedly: "You're having a nightmare, wake up, you forgot how to breathe!"

 

[WorkInProgress]

I've never been able to control my dreams, other than that, if there's something going on in my life that I really don't want to deal with further in my dreams, I'll occasionally do an invocation, "No dreams about..." That has tended to work.

The funny thing is, oftentimes in a dream, I know I'm dreaming, but I don't fully comprehend that the people I'm seeing and talking to in the dream aren't really there to hear what I'm saying. I recently dreamed that it was summer already and I was at the annual nudist get-together I go to. I was telling somebody, "I'm not really here. It's just that, six months ago (meaning the present), I had this dream..."

 

[sojourner]

i was able to control one dream that comes to mind. i've read, that one of the tricks to controlling your dreams is to try and pick out things that just dont seem right. for instance in my dream, i was at my house and for some odd reason, i noticed that my kitchen and my backyard just didnt seem right....something was odd about it. i suddenly became consciously aware that i was dreaming and i actually started panicking about how to get out of the dream for some reason (even though nothing bad was happening). i would love to try that again....minus the freaking out bit!

 

[Bugman]

Most dreams I remember are bizarre and, frankly, often disturbing. Now and then I sense it is just a dream, and can sometimes escape by willing myself to a deeper level of sleep. At least that's what I think is happening. Not really sure about that.

 

[2ltamerica]

I've tried with no success. Once when I was little I realized I was dreaming, but when I tried to jump really high my head got stuck in the ceiling. -_-