Dreaming and lucid dreaming

[Danga]

Hi, everybody! I'm new here.
I really enjoyed reading Hyperspace Fool and I'm sorry he disappeared somewhere, I'd like to talk to him a lot (he was an interesting person).
It was because of him that I came to the practice of conscious dreaming, and almost immediately faced a problem and I ask for your help as people who have been through a lot!
I will say right away that my experience with hallucinogens and psychotropics is zero.... I have plans to try ayahuasca, but it will happen not soon (by the way, I would like to know where is the best place for me to get such experience).
My problem is that I don't see dreams, but I feel them. The only way I can explain this state is to close your eyes. You don't see anything, yet you are aware of what is happening. That's what my dreams look like.

My English is bad, so I use a translator, if you need to clarify some point - write!
Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[ShadedSelf]

Has it always been that way? Can dreams feel meaningful to you?
Not sure if this is a problem, could just be the way you are.

It reminds me of this, though people with aphantasia can still have visual dreams as far as I understand.

 

[Danga]

Has it always been that way? Can dreams feel meaningful to you?
Not sure if this is a problem, could just be the way you are.

It reminds me of this, though people with aphantasia can still have visual dreams as far as I understand.

Hi ShadedSelf!
Thanks for showing interest in my problem.
As far as I can remember this has always been the case. I'm not sure what you mean by “meaningful”?
There were a couple of dreams that were really vivid:
1) a dream with a minotaur and a maze (which I think everyone had in general) as a kid - my first and only scary dream that made me jump up.
2) was not so long ago, in it there was a girl I liked and I was on a date with her, and apparently because I couldn't even believe it in my dream, a lucid dream was formed and in it I was with my eyes open and could see everything clearly.

I don't know about aphantasia.... I can imagine images in my mind. Anyway, thanks for the tip, I will look into it more!

 

[NeitherHere]

Hi, everybody! I'm new here.
I really enjoyed reading Hyperspace Fool and I'm sorry he disappeared somewhere, I'd like to talk to him a lot (he was an interesting person).
It was because of him that I came to the practice of conscious dreaming, and almost immediately faced a problem and I ask for your help as people who have been through a lot!
I will say right away that my experience with hallucinogens and psychotropics is zero.... I have plans to try ayahuasca, but it will happen not soon (by the way, I would like to know where is the best place for me to get such experience).
My problem is that I don't see dreams, but I feel them. The only way I can explain this state is to close your eyes. You don't see anything, yet you are aware of what is happening. That's what my dreams look like.

My English is bad, so I use a translator, if you need to clarify some point - write!
Thank you in advance for any advice!

There are a few things to consider.

Your circadian rhythm, are you getting appropriate amounts of sleep at appropriate times of the day? This is ideally 8 hours between 10pm-6 am or one hour in either direction preferably 9-5if any deviation.

Are you consuming cannabis, alcohol, antipsychotics, or any cns depressants like benzodiazapines or opiates? These can all stifle dreams.

Make sure you are hydrated, and nourished at least 2 hours before sleep.

I feel like excess sugar also plays a negative roll.

Other considerations to think about, you may not actually be reaching REM sleep where the magic happens. This can be caused by any number if disturbances such as your bed not being right for you (to hard/soft, hot, cold). Any noises keeping you from falling into a meditative lull, and even stress.

Things you can do to help reach lucidity during sleep.

Make sure your sleep hygiene is good.

I like to shower before bed, make sure i'm not hungry or thirsty, eat a square of dark chocolate 85% cocoa, a good stretch to get the major muscle groups to relax,soft and comfortable blankets, personally I prefer a firm bed because i have a bad back. Any pain or discomfort can keep you from reaching rem. Any and all distractions or potential distractions need to be addressed.


You also want to make sure you are legitimately tired, borderline exhausted before bed. This is almost a surefire way for me to lucid dream because i fall into a trance almost as soon as i commit to sleeping.

Things that can really help with minimal effort. Lay in bed 20-30 minutes before sleeping and think about where youd like to go with this dream or even thinking about your day. What are you going to do in this dream or tomorrow when you wake up? You want your body resting but your mind moving if that makes sense. You should be yawning but alert.

Some smart watches have sleep trackers that track body movement and changes in pulse to track sleep patterns or behaviours. This might help you see what's going on. From what i recall rem sleep is usually 3-4 hours into the sleep cycle.


In short, you want to stack the deck in your favor figuratively speaking. The more you do to ensure that you're getting a legitimate good night sleep is going to help including putting your phone on "do not disturb" because it can be really jarring to be ripped out of a dream by a late night "wrong number" call.

I know my reply is all over the place but hopefully something in this reply is useful.

Best of luck friend

 

[NeitherHere]

To add, writing down a report if your dreams as soon as you wake up or even just thinking the dream out when you wake up will help with recall. If you fall asleep and realize "im asleep" then try and test the waters. Don't do anything dramatic but try and delaminate from the natural dream path in someway. If everyone's walking to a car in your dream then make sure you're the last one to the vehicle and do something overt like ask them to open the trunk. Lucid dreaming is much easier when you're aware that you are in a dream and make moves to dictate the direction it goes.

 

[🌺🔥🫧]

"I really enjoyed reading Hyperspace Fool"
^I'll have to check them out!! Thank you!


re:
"I will say right away that my experience with hallucinogens and psychotropics is zero.... I have plans to try ayahuasca, but it will happen not soon (by the way, I would like to know where is the best place for me to get such experience)."
^I would say that, you want to trust the shaman, or at least, someone there, like maybe a friend who's gone a few times and is familiar. That way you could trust in your friend, if you don't have time to meet the Shaman. Just my personal preference to emphasize trust. Culturally speaking, in the past, shamans were intimate parts of the community. psychedelics are not necessarily, either, a one-time-experience. You could also consider acquiring your own psychedelics plants, and having many smaller experiences with just you, and the universe.


re:
"My problem is that I don't see dreams, but I feel them. The only way I can explain this state is to close your eyes. You don't see anything, yet you are aware of what is happening. That's what my dreams look like."
^We are all very different when it comes to psychics things sometimes!!! I am no sure exactly what you mean, since my dreams can be intensely emotional and visual a the same time... I'm not sure what exactly you are tuning into or manifesting your upon with your focus.



I noticed the more, like.... 'aware' I slowly become, with my eastern spirituality x shamanic psychonuatics style, I have a higher tendency to sleep better, and I started having some really good dreams as well, and I don't have many nightmares ever, at the moment. I used to be super restless having up to several nightmares in a single night! I have not had that in a while. I had an ecstatic wet godlike dream the other day actually xD I remember it vividly (but Idont' reexperience it sadly when remember it xD) I definitely feel like the psychedelics give me a clarity which makes the dreaming more powerful, but then I also loose some of that clarity if I keep doing unhealthy life habits ~

@NeitherHere Your attention to how the daily lifestyle of habits affects sleep is great. I also share many of those observations... how you spend your day is connected to how you spend your sleep!

I think it's said that some advanced meditators (or minfulness-ers), don't loose consciousness during the transition into sleep, and throughout the duration of sleep. Sometimes they don't even need as much sleep as the rest of us who exhaust ourselves so fully during the day that we go comatose at night xD Who knows?

Fascinating topic, thank you

 

[1Starway7]

"I really enjoyed reading Hyperspace Fool"
^I'll have to check them out!! Thank you!


re:
"I will say right away that my experience with hallucinogens and psychotropics is zero.... I have plans to try ayahuasca, but it will happen not soon (by the way, I would like to know where is the best place for me to get such experience)."
^I would say that, you want to trust the shaman, or at least, someone there, like maybe a friend who's gone a few times and is familiar. That way you could trust in your friend, if you don't have time to meet the Shaman. Just my personal preference to emphasize trust. Culturally speaking, in the past, shamans were intimate parts of the community. psychedelics are not necessarily, either, a one-time-experience. You could also consider acquiring your own psychedelics plants, and having many smaller experiences with just you, and the universe.


re:
"My problem is that I don't see dreams, but I feel them. The only way I can explain this state is to close your eyes. You don't see anything, yet you are aware of what is happening. That's what my dreams look like."
^We are all very different when it comes to psychics things sometimes!!! I am no sure exactly what you mean, since my dreams can be intensely emotional and visual a the same time... I'm not sure what exactly you are tuning into or manifesting your upon with your focus.



I noticed the more, like.... 'aware' I slowly become, with my eastern spirituality x shamanic psychonuatics style, I have a higher tendency to sleep better, and I started having some really good dreams as well, and I don't have many nightmares ever, at the moment. I used to be super restless having up to several nightmares in a single night! I have not had that in a while. I had an ecstatic wet godlike dream the other day actually xD I remember it vividly (but Idont' reexperience it sadly when remember it xD) I definitely feel like the psychedelics give me a clarity which makes the dreaming more powerful, but then I also loose some of that clarity if I keep doing unhealthy life habits ~

@NeitherHere Your attention to how the daily lifestyle of habits affects sleep is great. I also share many of those observations... how you spend your day is connected to how you spend your sleep!

I think it's said that some advanced meditators (or minfulness-ers), don't loose consciousness during the transition into sleep, and throughout the duration of sleep. Sometimes they don't even need as much sleep as the rest of us who exhaust ourselves so fully during the day that we go comatose at night xD Who knows?

Fascinating topic, thank you

Ive dreamed and lucid dreamed for years...

DMT experiance is like dreaming while awake!

Only with dmt... ...[your just in for the ride],... you cant control the DMT experaince ... like you can in a lucid dream experiance

 

[Danga]

Большое спасибо всем за ваши ответы!

Со временем и более детальным изучением сновидений (Юнг, методики осознанных сновидений и многое другое) я пришел к выводу, что у меня очень плохо развиты навыки визуализации и проблема просто в моем образе мышления, короче говоря, сугубо индивидуальна.

Тем не менее, я очень благодарен за ваши советы и интерес!

Что касается каннабиса, то я могу с уверенностью сказать, что он действительно очень плохо влияет на память о сновидениях!