Hi,
I’m a new member and I’m new to lucid dreaming. I became really interested in lucid dreaming after reading Carlos Castaneda’s books. A few years ago, when I was about 15 I’d sometimes have these dreams which were quite strange. I would start to fall asleep and it would be as though I was starting to have a nightmare but everything would be black -this seemed to really scare me. I could think to myself that I wanted to wake up but the task of doing so was very difficult. I would try to shout out for somebody to wake me up but as hard as I tried to shout no sound would come out. Sometimes I thought that if I lifted my hand and banged it against the bedroom wall then I would wake up. But my arm would feel like the heaviest thing ever and it was usually impossible for me to lift it up. I think that at least one time I woke up because I was banging my hand against the wall. Another time I managed to call out and be heard as my mum said she heard me saying “please wake me up”. I always thought that these experiences were down to me being half awake and half asleep.
Once I’d started reading the Carlos Castaneda books, I was really taken in by them. I wanted to learn how to ‘dream’ as Castaneda calls it. I have started to keep a dream journal but sometimes I forget to write in it! Anyway, mainly I wanted to find out if anybody knows whether these wierd experiences I had were a type of lucid dream and if anybody else has experienced them. Also, was the reason for me not being able to shout or lift my arm because it is that hard to gain control in your dreams?
Thankyou to anybody who has got the time to reply to me. I hope to hear from you soon. 
