Lucid Dreaming & Nightmares
 

Disturbing dreams are part of recovery for a lot of us. Over my relapsed winter I learned to lucid dream. Lucid dreams are dreams where you become aware that you are dreaming. Learning to lucid dream has been used to help with nightmares in normal folk so thought it might help my chemically altered brain. So far it has been a great help by letting me detach from disturbing dreams and get some rest. If you are interested, I learned this technique at Lucidipedia.

All I have really heard about "Lucid dreaming" is that it is VERY common during detox. I had very "vivid" dreams. Some of them were very scary but they did go away after a couple of months.

I think your definition might differ a bit from mine.

Hi Liz, Thanks for noticing my lonely thread ;) Yes we are talking about different things. Lucid dreaming is being aware you are dreaming while you are dreaming. It happens naturally infrequently, but you can train yourself to become lucid. It is mostly a recreation, but it can has been used to diffuse the emotion from nightmares. It takes about four weeks to learn to do it frequently. Lucidipedia has a lot of information on it.

Hmmmm...I had a really strange dream last night, but I have never tried lucid dreaming. For me the benefits of dreaming are that we can't control it, since that way I have some idea about what is perhaps percolating beneath the surface.

Control in a lucid dream is like herding cats, it is not a fruitful endeavor. I can intensify the dream and make it much more vivid. I have partial control over what I do some of the time; sometimes I can fly, or ask a dream character a question. I have no control over the dream characters, the thread, or the environment. (Not being able to have normal control of the environment is used as a dream sign by some dreamers, for example, flipping a light switch that does not dim or brighten a room.)

Most of the dreamers I know at Lucidipedia do it simply for recreation with their goal being the three F’s (Flying, Fighting and…uhm… err… Fornicating). I like to think of it as tool for exploring the sub-conscious. It is interesting to realize you are dreaming and be able to ask the three headed demon chasing you why he is being such a jerk. The answer can be surprising. If he still seeks to do me harm, I can tell him he is a dream character and surface from sleep.

It is also an exploration of consciousness. The thing it is like to be something. If I ask you if you are self-aware, your will likely answer yes. Now if I ask you if your current state of self awareness is the same as is it was before I asked, what would your answer be? Similarly, your awareness of self ebbs and flows in a lucid dream. I find that bit fascinating.

The book I am currently reading encourages us to practice lucid dreaming, so I will check out that link tomorrow.

Lovely, just woke up after a dream about vampires, wtf???? There was no lucid dreaming there, I really believed they were chasing us and were going to kill us. If LD can help me with dreams like that I would be so hapoy!!!

I don't understand how we can control our dreams since we are unconscious when we sleep..

LaFemme, too much True Blood? or the Gates?

when i first started to remember my dreams they had a pattern...fall asleep immediately, go right into a violent nightmare, wake up, takes 2 hours to get back to sleep..

i once posted about a wierd dream where I was sitting in an ampitheater...next to Clay Aiken who had 3 large dill pickles in a beige knapsack.

Lol, fandy, I'm not going to go near the Clay Aiken dream:-)

Don't have a tv and have never watched True Blood. Nor am I a twighlight fan.

This was the first nightmare I've had that I remember since gettin sober.

I ront think we are unconcious when draming rather a different form of conciousness.

There is a pretty good film that explores consciousness and dreaming, with some discussion of lucid dreaming called Waking Life. The link is the complete movie, it is not super high resolution, but the movie is rotoscoped so it does not really detract from watching it.

That is a good movie :)

I've been having the same nightmares for years.....some of them stopped when I quit drinking, but some still haunt me. This one where im on the roof of this building with all my friends, then all of a sudden my friend jumps off and kills herself. Another where im being attacked and am trying to throw punches but they have no power once they connect, if they do....another where im in a plane and the roof comes off and engine stops and it spirals out of control but I always wake up before it crashes!

The dreams dont actually bother me any more, meds make me rather apathetic about them, I would like to sleep a whole night through every now and then though!!!

I'm glad you liked it Ainslie, I thought is was and interesting way to present ideas that normally would never make into film. Linklater seems to have a knack for getting unusual movies made.

As far as insomnia goes, I just don't battle it anymore. I wake up around 3 or 4, and putz around doing yoga, or meditation, or whatever strikes my fancy. I can usually catch another hour of sleep after that, although it is a very rich dream filled sleep that does not provide much rest. Lucid dreaming has allowed me to detach enough to enjoy the bizarre ones. As far as rest goes, I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Lucidipedia has a super explanation and tutorial of Lucid dreaming. It takes about four weeks to learn. My interest in it waxes and wanes. I think it is very valuable for people like me with disturbing dreams. It is an escape hatch. Dreams that are nightmarish or specific dream characters trigger the realization that I am dreaming. I can either wake up or let it run.

I think I am cursed because I lucid dream naturally... Have ever since I was kid. It's not every time, but most times I know I'm dreaming and have a great amount of control in the dream. I also suffer from nightmares almost every night, so it's kind of like living in a horror movie every time I go to sleep! no fun lol
Detoxing made the dreams soooo much worse too!