Like Reality, or like a movie?

I know I’ve been having alot of posts, but I’m extremely interested in lucid dreaming and have been diligently trying everything. I know it will take time, and I’m willing… but still I have a question.

When I wake up in the morning after a regular dream it just feels like I watched a movie, and nothing more.

In a lucid dream, is it like reality for a short time, or just like a controlable dream?

Any comments would be nice.

lol i understand where you are comming from i use to have the same thing. Tell me are a lot of ur dreams 3ed person? because that would explain the movie feeling.

As for a lucid dream? look infront of you, tell me how you feel? does it feel real? well i would hope so, a lucid dream is almost like the real world, bar a gaint pick dog or somthing :smile:

cheers have fun ok

Richard

Yeah I know what you mean with this feeling that you just saw a movie. The moment you become lucid is like the moment you realize that you’re actually playing an actor in the movie instead of watching it all happen.
It’s quite wonderful: the one moment you’re passively going with the flow of the dream, as if you’re walking around with your eyes closed. The next moment, you’ve managed to open them and watch the glory of the dream world in which you are. It’s hard to describe what you feel, but the adrenalin rush is sometimes overwhelming.
Most LDs are véry realistic, even more realistic than in waking life. I’ve had LDs who were so incredibly detailed and coloured (100x as real as IRL) that the shock of seeing it woke me up immediately.

So are we dreaming right now?

haha

mystic is right…i’ve only gone lucid once, but when i did it was like taking off a blindfold…it’s much different when you’re lucid.

Who knows… Eastern philosophies tell us that we’re dreaming all the time, even by day. So while LDers try to take off their blindfold at night in their dreams, Tibetan Buddhists for instance try to take it off (and keep it off) all day long, by day and even in NREM sleep.

i p;ut up a post about weather we r dreaming or not, i think i upset a few ppl lol

it was called ok a good way to start

Richard

(Tibetan) Buddhists don’t think we are “dreaming” all the time, but instead they think that we live in a illusion, because we make it so. Maybe it’s the same thing as “dreaming”, but in deeper meaning.

btw. I tried lucid sleeping last night, it was kinda nice. I just hate myself for not being able to enter the REM-periods :smile: . I did it for 3 hours or something, then let my awareness fall asleep.

Yeah it’s not exactly the same as dreaming, more a shift in perception of how to look at reality. It’s more that they try to free themselves from the material and egocentric world we’ve created. When their perception has changed, rocks will still be rocks but the way they look at them will become radically different.

How do you practice lucid sleeping? I never succeed in staying conscious for a long time.

At first, I relax my whole body. Then at somepoint my brains start to sleep, but I keep my consciousness active. I feel this strange sensation in my body when my brains start to sleep. Anyway, while sleeping, I just observe the images of my mind and the different stages of sleeping, to keep my awareness up. That’s how you don’t get so sleepy.

Woah, you can LS? I thought it was only like, monks and stuff who could do that :eek:

The reason why I don’t succeed in LS is that I can’t keep my consciousness active, no matter how hard I try. I try to focus on hypnagogic imagery, but as soon as I see the first images, my consciousness fades and I’m asleep (most of the time I fall asleep as soon as my body starts to paralyze). Does it depend on practice, or are there some handy tricks you need to know in order to make progress? Tibetan sleep yoga has various exercises, but they are too difficult for me (for now :smile: ). It’s all about visualizing lotusflowers, balls of light and Tibetan syllables.

Well, I’ve practiced zazen, seated meditation, for 8-9 months now, it might have something to do with it. Zazen is all about concentration, and while lucid sleeping, you have to concentrate to keep your awareness up.

mystic, try to “feel” the environement, that will help keeping your awareness up. You can try just observing the mind, but don’t get too attached to the images, it can take you away from your concentration.

Hm thx for the tip. I’ll work on this during the holidays. Hopefully I can get some results :smile: Thx.