Anecdote: I had my first “lucid dream” spontaneously after reading that it was a thing that is possible. No time investment or effort. (“Lucid” as defined by: I knew I was dreaming, I was able to “break character” , I had partial control over the visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations I experienced, and had ability to wake up at anytime)
I really can’t say it’s useful or beneficial in any way, other than being fun and interesting. The more lucid I get, the harder it is to stay asleep, so I can’t really utilize the time for anything other than amusement. (and if this wakefulness effect can be prevented, katydee, I’d like to know)
I really can’t say it’s useful or beneficial in any way, other than being fun and interesting. The more lucid I get, the harder it is to stay asleep, so I can’t really utilize the time for anything other than amusement. (and if this wakefulness effect can be prevented, katydee, I’d like to know)
There are techniques for doing this—the most basic one is to spin around in circles (not joking). This works well enough for me that I haven’t looked deeply into the matter.
...actually come to think of it, sometimes when I can’t fall asleep, I coax myself to sleep by visualizing rotating objects. Maybe imagining your entire hallucination rotating somehow shifts your attention away from reality and back into whatever you’re visually hallucinating?
Did this instant learning experience include skills to consistently get lucid? Probably not.
I think so. I did it several times afterwards. It was a spontaneous thing which I did mid-dream though—I didn’t go to bed with the intention of doing it. I don’t do it consistently because it really isn’t nearly as interesting as it sounds after the first several times, and you miss out on the usual contents of your dream.
It’s been a while, perhaps I’ll try again the next time I find myself in a dream, just to see if I can still do it.
I usually have very little agency in my dreams
I don’t think that should natter, I have 3rd person dreams frequently too. I think the actual contents of the dream is irrelevant...as long as you’re in a state that you can have coherent thoughts, such as “oh, I’m dreaming now”.
From what I can tell, it’s entirely down to 1) noticing that you are dreaming and 2) resisting the impulse to wake up upon this realization. At this point, you’ll probably perceive having semi-control over what you’re hallucinating about, but if not at least you’ll have the interesting experience of knowing you are dreaming while dreaming.
(and I think katydee is saying that “notice dreaming” generalizes to “notice confusion, and don’t just play along when things are weird in real life”)
Anecdote: I had my first “lucid dream” spontaneously after reading that it was a thing that is possible. No time investment or effort. (“Lucid” as defined by: I knew I was dreaming, I was able to “break character” , I had partial control over the visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations I experienced, and had ability to wake up at anytime)
I really can’t say it’s useful or beneficial in any way, other than being fun and interesting. The more lucid I get, the harder it is to stay asleep, so I can’t really utilize the time for anything other than amusement. (and if this wakefulness effect can be prevented, katydee, I’d like to know)
There are techniques for doing this—the most basic one is to spin around in circles (not joking). This works well enough for me that I haven’t looked deeply into the matter.
Eh? Like, spin around in your dream?
That sounds ridiculous, but I’ll try it!
...actually come to think of it, sometimes when I can’t fall asleep, I coax myself to sleep by visualizing rotating objects. Maybe imagining your entire hallucination rotating somehow shifts your attention away from reality and back into whatever you’re visually hallucinating?
Did this instant learning experience include skills to consistently get lucid? Probably not.
I would probably be a hopeless case, because I usually have very little agency in my dreams in the first place.
I think so. I did it several times afterwards. It was a spontaneous thing which I did mid-dream though—I didn’t go to bed with the intention of doing it. I don’t do it consistently because it really isn’t nearly as interesting as it sounds after the first several times, and you miss out on the usual contents of your dream.
It’s been a while, perhaps I’ll try again the next time I find myself in a dream, just to see if I can still do it.
I don’t think that should natter, I have 3rd person dreams frequently too. I think the actual contents of the dream is irrelevant...as long as you’re in a state that you can have coherent thoughts, such as “oh, I’m dreaming now”.
From what I can tell, it’s entirely down to 1) noticing that you are dreaming and 2) resisting the impulse to wake up upon this realization. At this point, you’ll probably perceive having semi-control over what you’re hallucinating about, but if not at least you’ll have the interesting experience of knowing you are dreaming while dreaming.
(and I think katydee is saying that “notice dreaming” generalizes to “notice confusion, and don’t just play along when things are weird in real life”)