Does lucid dreaming really work?

[LostInAnomie]

I've always wondered if you could really direct your dreams like they say you can through lucid dreaming. I have been conscious while dreaming before but I haven't ever been able to control the dream or change what is happening in any way.

Does anyone know if it works?

[CBHagman]

1. I've had lucid dreams...

...but I don't have any foolproof technique for controlling the outcome of dreams. However, it seems that the lucid dream itself does confer some power. With me, they don't tend to be those famous frustration dreams that Ann Faraday talks about (i.e., where you spend the whole dream trying to do something and are thwarted at every turn).

[Pugee]

2. I directed my dreams when I had lucid ones.

I havent done it for a few years, tho, (but it is great to know you are dreaming and control what happens!!) I had never heard of it, but just started doing it. Later, I learned what it was.

There has been some research done on lucid dreaming. A few years ago, they were teaching it in therapy to PTSD veterans. Since they often have nightmares, if they could lucid dream, they could control the outcome and become empowered by that. Anyway, if you google lucid dreams, there are sites that tell you more about it and how it is taught.

[hyphenate]

3. I've done it

In two different ways:

The first way is to begin a "fantasy" before you go to sleep. It helps get you to sleep, for one thing, because all the busyness goes away, and you can concentrate on something more pleasant.

The second way is early in the morning, when you're in REM sleep, and when you are beginning to slowly come up to consciousness. That's when I find I can influence whatever I'm dreaming about. There are a lot of levels of sleep and awakening that make it a sliding scale of such, not just black and white, bam, you're asleep or bam, you're awake.

You would need to practice a while in order to get it right, but it makes it fun.

[Jade Fox]

4. Oh, yeah!

I've had the experience, but I find it's difficult to hold on to the state of lucid dreaming.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

5. I've done it!

It was beautiful!

:woohoo:

[nuxvomica]

6. I used to lucid dream a lot when I was a kid

Not so much now. When I did, I found that trying to make something happen didn't work or had negative consequences or would cause me to wake up, but if I just believed something, it happened. I frequently tried to fly and that didn't work if I thought "I want to fly" but rather if I thought "I am lighter than air."
It's a strange experience and always, at least for me, difficult to maintain the balance between allowing myself to be in a dream and knowing I'm dreaming at the same time. It's easy to slip into either dreamfulness or wakefullness.

[jukes]

7. only

whilst on ketamine. y that can still take a bad turn on you sometimes, too.

[ghostsofgiants]

8. I've only had one, and it was brief, but I was able to control it.