Lucid dream experiences

I am interested in hearing about dreams people have had where they knew they were dreaming and were able to control the dream to some degree.

I have had a number of dreams where for a brief second I knew I was dreaming but I drifted back into normal dreaming before I could gain control. These usually ended in flying dreams. A few months ago, however, I dreamt I was in an old house that I hadn't been in before and I was walking up some steps into an attic room. Near the top of the steps I suddenly realised that I was dreaming. I continued into the room and saw a tall mirror standing on a chair and I became curious about whether you can see your reflection in a dream. I looked and I did see my reflection but it was different. I looked like I had a mask on with no features. I walked away from the mirror towards a window and that is the last thing I could remember.

I've had many dozens of lucid dreams which cover a wide range of topics and which could evoke many conversations on lots of topics...

I'll just mention one for now-

I was alone on a beach on a warm summer day. I realized I was dreaming and did the standard stuff that lucid dreamers do to solidify themselves in the state. 

I said out loud that I was dreaming,and I focused on some objects in the dream to ground myself in it.

I stood and felt the warm sand with my feet. I watched the small waves wash up on the beach. I felt and smelled the ocean breeze. I watched a sailboat and its occupants a few  hundred yards offshore plying its way through the ocean swell. I watched the clouds overhead moving with the wind.

I stated out loud how amazing it was to know that I was in this completely real world scene while knowing that I was actually asleep in my bed in 2012. 

I picked up a hand full of sand and inspected it. Each grain was a jewel. Each was a different color and shape. They were also iridescent.

I wondered if those people on the sailboat had thoughts, desires, dreams, plans. Were they actually enjoying the sunny day?

I wondered if there were actually unseen fish swimming in that ocean? Was my creation, this dream, this world, that complete? 

I realized at that moment that a full and complete life experience had no need whatsoever of anything material. I realized that this moment I was having was indistinguishable from the life I would awake to in the "material world". This of course excepting certain things like a more compliant set of rules of physics,and a few other things like there being a broader set of colors in this world, and thing like those magnificent grains of sand. : )

It is impossible for me to overstate the magnitude of my transformation that resulted from standing, completely awake and alert, and witnessing a world that I knew is being created while I was experiencing it. I will never be the same after having an experience like this. And I have one of these every week or so.

I occasionally have lucid dreams, but it's quite a long time since I've had one, and I don't think I have them as often as I used to.

Does anyone know whether the incidence of lucid dreams decreases with age?

I occasionally have lucid dreams, but it's quite a long time since I've had one, and I don't think I have them as often as I used to.

Does anyone know whether the incidence of lucid dreams decreases with age?

My experience is that they only increase with intention and practice.

I've had many dozens of lucid dreams which cover a wide range of topics and which could evoke many conversations on lots of topics...

I'll just mention one for now-

I was alone on a beach on a warm summer day. I realized I was dreaming and did the standard stuff that lucid dreamers do to solidify themselves in the state. 

I said out loud that I was dreaming,and I focused on some objects in the dream to ground myself in it.

I stood and felt the warm sand with my feet. I watched the small waves wash up on the beach. I felt and smelled the ocean breeze. I watched a sailboat and its occupants a few  hundred yards offshore plying its way through the ocean swell. I watched the clouds overhead moving with the wind.

I stated out loud how amazing it was to know that I was in this completely real world scene while knowing that I was actually asleep in my bed in 2012. 

I picked up a hand full of sand and inspected it. Each grain was a jewel. Each was a different color and shape. They were also iridescent.

I wondered if those people on the sailboat had thoughts, desires, dreams, plans. Were they actually enjoying the sunny day?

I wondered if there were actually unseen fish swimming in that ocean? Was my creation, this dream, this world, that complete? 

I realized at that moment that a full and complete life experience had no need whatsoever of anything material. I realized that this moment I was having was indistinguishable from the life I would awake to in the "material world". This of course excepting certain things like a more compliant set of rules of physics,and a few other things like there being a broader set of colors in this world, and thing like those magnificent grains of sand. : )

It is impossible for me to overstate the magnitude of my transformation that resulted from standing, completely awake and alert, and witnessing a world that I knew is being created while I was experiencing it. I will never be the same after having an experience like this. And I have one of these every week or so.

Hi jkmac,

That's a fantastic description of your personal experience, thanks for that! I've had similar experiences in dreams where it was so real, more real than waking life that I seriously woke up and wondered what the hell was going on.

It does make me ponder if the truth of the matter (no pun intended!) is that the brain is an incredible generator of consciousness in the standard materialistic terms that allows dreams to be so 'real', or that consciousness is fundamental. I sometimes feel like hints are given at various points in my life, just when I need them, weighted towards consciousness as primary. Tom Campbell talks about this problem, that the evidence is always going to not ever be enough because it would destabilise the overall life system if people en masse realised that there was more to life for definite.

Hi jkmac,

That's a fantastic description of your personal experience, thanks for that! I've had similar experiences in dreams where it was so real, more real than waking life that I seriously woke up and wondered what the hell was going on.

It does make me ponder if the truth of the matter (no pun intended!) is that the brain is an incredible generator of consciousness in the standard materialistic terms that allows dreams to be so 'real', or that consciousness is fundamental. I sometimes feel like hints are given at various points in my life, just when I need them, weighted towards consciousness as primary. Tom Campbell talks about this problem, that the evidence is always going to not ever be enough because it would destabilise the overall life system if people en masse realised that there was more to life for definite.

Diverdown-
It has become clear to me that this stuff is centered in consciousness and not the brain. You need to look at other facts to substantiate this though. I find it is best to look at multiple psi related phenomena to triangulate toward the truth. 

Look at Near Death Experiences, where the brain is essentially shut off, and you will find deep cognitive abilities remain in place. And look at the fact that in several documented cases of Hydranencephaly, people have been found to have normal cognitive skills but have essentially no brain in their head to support this. These cases confound science, but are completely predictable when using a consciousness based / non-physical centric view of our world.  

Here's a link to a video about lucid dreaming that you may find interesting. Apologies for the unfinished quality of it. It was not made for wide distribution. I created it as a working tool for developing an intro lecture in some psi topics.

Curious to see if you find it instructive.

Enjoy.

My experience is that they only increase with intention and practice.

I have to agree with this. I've gone through periods where I have lucid dreams, but for me it is a non-trivial amount of work to do so. For me it requires nightly dream recording (after each dream cycle), and intention setting combined with general concentration practice. Once I let those things go my lucid dreaming falls by the wayside. One will still pop up now and then. 

Also for me lucidity can be all over the map, from super-real unbelievable clarity to a fairly muddy awareness that I am dreaming while dreaming.

I realize for myself that the frequency of events like lucid dreaming or OBEs relate directly to the general state of what I could call my overall consciousness level. If I'm in a period of my life where I'm operating just above auto-pilot (like now) then these kind of events are very unlikely. But if I have an extended period where I'm applying concentration and meditation to living then they are much more likely. Why would one live one way rather than the other? Ease.

Hi jkmac,

That's a fantastic description of your personal experience, thanks for that! I've had similar experiences in dreams where it was so real, more real than waking life that I seriously woke up and wondered what the hell was going on.

It does make me ponder if the truth of the matter (no pun intended!) is that the brain is an incredible generator of consciousness in the standard materialistic terms that allows dreams to be so 'real', or that consciousness is fundamental. I sometimes feel like hints are given at various points in my life, just when I need them, weighted towards consciousness as primary. Tom Campbell talks about this problem, that the evidence is always going to not ever be enough because it would destabilise the overall life system if people en masse realised that there was more to life for definite.

Diverdown-
In case you want to do more "triangulation" here is the whole playlist including many other topics including NDE, Dreaming, OBEs, mediumship and the like. I like to think there are more than enough angles on the non-physical aspects of our world to help build a case for consciousness being fundamental.

Again- these are very rough around the edges but you might find some things here that get you thinking... : )

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...-jhIwHfvLP

I realize for myself that the frequency of events like lucid dreaming or OBEs relate directly to the general state of what I could call my overall consciousness level. If I'm in a period of my life where I'm operating just above auto-pilot (like now) then these kind of events are very unlikely. But if I have an extended period where I'm applying concentration and meditation to living then they are much more likely. Why would one live one way rather than the other? Ease.

Indeed chuck, I've found this to be true to my own personal experience too. Which in itself is quite the thing as it raises many questions. Mainstream science (apparently) really has no idea about these 'little' factors, or it does and brushes them off with irrelevancy or 'not real' or something similar. What is it within us that allows for these periods of 'up and down', like you mentioned chuck? Consciousness? Well then how to measure that? Which brings us back to all the various usual debates around the whole thing 

Indeed chuck, I've found this to be true to my own personal experience too. Which in itself is quite the thing as it raises many questions. Mainstream science (apparently) really has no idea about these 'little' factors, or it does and brushes them off with irrelevancy or 'not real' or something similar. What is it within us that allows for these periods of 'up and down', like you mentioned chuck? Consciousness? Well then how to measure that? Which brings us back to all the various usual debates around the whole thing 

It's really the core of yoga (as in the yoga sutras of Patanjali). I consider my own attempts at "raising my consciousness" to be fairly rudimentary. For anyone interested go back to the Skeptiko podcast with Don DeGracia and his many fine forum posts at that time. I see he's got a nice website at http://www.dondeg.com. He's got info on lucid dreaming there and of course offers his classic on the OBE for free there as well. Don remains probably the most generous and gracious of any of the past Skeptiko guests.