Very Unusual Request from the Newbie

Hello All,

I know this website is intended for people who want to learn how to Lucid Dream, but I have a slightly different problem and was hoping for some expert advice. I have suffered from insomnia since I was young and have also been prone to lucid dreams since I was about 14. At first the dreams were not unpleasent. I was able to fly and displayed other abilities and when I wanted to wake up I always could.

When I was around 17 the dreams started becoming disturbing. I still knew I was dreaming and could control myself in the dream but I began to start sensing a danger all the time and wanted to wake up, but couldn’t. Many nights I would be stuck inside the dream and screaming at myself to wake up. I’m 23 now and the dreams are less frequent however about 3 weeks ago I had the worst one yet and was litteraly too scared to go to sleep for a few days.

So my question is this: How can I stop lucid dreaming? Is there a way to control it and could it be connected to my insomnia?

Thanks so much for your time,
Angie

Stop lucid dreaming? I don’t think it’s being lucid that is the problem. It sounds like your emotion of fear that gets out of hand.

I’m sure you’re aware that the dream world is yours, and created by you. If you carry fears (or beliefs) with you into this perspective, than they can be manifested right before your eyes. This is the potential of our dreams at work. It’s a great thing. :content:

Your most important and first step is to realize that dreams are a safe place. You shouldn’t ask the question “How can I stop lucid dreaming” because you are not addressing the fear, you are instead running away from it.
To give an analogy; If you had a fear of speaking in a classroom, would you ask “How can I stop going into the classroom?”

It’s essential for you to learn that it’s your opinions, fears, and beliefs that shape your dream world. You must try hard to realize that when you rest your head for sleep that you might witness unpleasant things, but you have the power to confront them and demand their meaning(purpose.) Fearing it will only make it happen twice as much.

Remember, dreams are a safe place for your imagination to run free. :smile:

Hi DreamAddict, thank you for responding to my post. I understand, and it’s very easy to tell myself logically when I’m awake that dreams can’t hurt me and that I have control, but once I start to LD all that goes out the window. Maybe if I described the most recent one, you could give me some advice.

I was laying in my bed in my apartment, it was morning so the sun had already come up. I heard my door begin to open and I looked over to my right. The door opened and closed five times, independently. At this point I knew it was a dream. I called out to my mother, thinking (actually hoping) that perhaps it was her. As I looked toward my left there was a creature standing at the foot of my bed. It did not have a traditional body as it seemed to be composed of pure energy. I interpreted this as a demon of some kind, despite the fact that it was made of white energy and not gray/black (I’ve read that when people think they’ve come in contact with evil spirits or demons the creatures are usually dark in color). Even with the knowledge that I was dreaming all I could do was gasp “no, no” and try to wake up. Which, thankfully I did, after only a few minutes and had to catch my breath. My heart was also beating a mile-per-minute.

This wasn’t something I was just afraid of, this was my worst fear and I’d never experienced anything like it before, even in LD. I don’t know how most people react when they are confronted with their worst fear but I did not cope well at all.

So, what can I do? Let myself fall into LD again and try to confront whatever is there? So far the nights when I LD have been less frequent, however, if I am not careful and I go to sleep when my mind is too active or if I’m under stress, I’ll have one. Even when it doesn’t evoke fear I’m always uncomfortable in LD, things just don’t seem right and I find it disturbing. Inevitably I always end up trying to force myself awake for no reason, even when I tell myself repeatedly that there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Thanks again for the reply. Hope someone can help me,
Angie

Hey there!

Before I post, I want to make clear, that I could be totally wrong about everything I am about to say!

I’m not new to lucid dreaming, but I am new to being able to understand it. And it sounds to me like you’re aren’t fully lucid in your dreams. I think becoming lucid is more than just realizing that you’re dreaming. But also realizing that you can control what happens in your dream, what you do, how you react, etc… and then taking control of it (your dream)

Maybe instead of trying to avoid LD’s you should become more active in having them, (even without the nightmares - like being able to recognize regular dreams) and learning to recognize your DS’s, so that when you do have your nightmare, you will be used to taking control, and therefore be able to change it. (am I making sense?)

Anyone?

Hi Angie
I don´t know a way to avoid lucidity.However, I´ll try to give some suggestions how I´d deal with it:

IMHO it is important for you to plan exactly what you are going to do, so that you got something to give you hold when you panic and don´t have to think about possible reactions.
First you got to fight your fears, and when you get more confident you can confront the “thing”.For fighting fears I´d use “running away” techniques, so you can end the dream if it gets too much.

Some things to try for either waking up or changing scene withing the dream:
-Close your eyes
-Start spinning around yourself fast and imagine to be somewhere else
-Fixate your eyes on one point, and don´t look away
-If you can “cross eyes” (looking at your nose)
-If you are on a tower or plane, jump

Better don´t try to really run away, it never works.Instead, a really neat method is to turn around and run directly into your fear.If you can bring yourself to do it you´ll most probably wake up.Remember, nightmares usually end when the “thing” has hunted you down, and since it is a nightmare it´ll get you anyway, so why not putting an end to it quickly?
This is already pretty close to confrontation, since this way you´ll learn (not only rationally, but by experience) that it can only threaten you, but has nothing to do to you when it actually gets you.

When you got some success with those things, next steps would be:
active fighting - passive standing ground - talking

Well, first things first

I find nightmares quite interesting, since they are vivid forms of dreams, and I experienced many nightmares in my youth (more than most other kids).Also, you can imagine that for us who try almost everything for lucid dreams are fascinated by someone who asks for advice how to get rid of them :wink:
So, please give some feedback, I´d be interested how your dreams develop (if they aren´t too personal)

good luck
tapir

Angie, I believe your insomnia is connected. Long periods with lack of good sleep can result in intense nightmares and inability to wake from them. You need to address the insomnia problem and the rest will hopefully right itself. Staying awake to avoid the nightmares will just make them worse when you eventually go back to sleep.

If you know why you are having insomnia you may be able to treat that yourself. If not there may be a chemical imbalance somewhere which a trained professional could recognise and sort out. Don’t be afraid to seek help from the pros if your personal efforts fail.

Hey angie,

I have a problem with insomnia a little myself, especially as of late. I didn’t want to sleep because I never felt I needed it, there was always something I could do. Anyways, I noticed I was haveing very vivid and complex nightmares and my LDs were less lucid. I have since then gotten a perscription for Ambien, and I don’t take it unless it is really late at night and I still cant sleep, the reason is it makes me sleep so hard and so fast i ofen dont remember sleeping at all. I simply wake up and wonder how i got in bed. I dont know if this is a common thing with sleep aids, but I thought i would share that experience with you in case that helps.

Also, you should not want to avoid lucid dreams, actually it should be that you want to make all your dreams lucid. In a highly lucid dream, you could know that you are dreaming, and that whatever it is that is scaring you is not real, you could then turn it into something that doesn’t scare you. I have found that a good amount of people will say to confront your fears and understand them, but I know if you are truely afraid of something its very difficult. But, If you know you have control over it, you can make it appear as something pleasing, like a unicorn or something (Assuming you are in to unicorns, im not sexist but lotsa girls dig unicorns :wink: ) You could interact with what is causing the fear while it is in a form that simply does not cause your instinctive fear. You need to realise that their are different levels of lucidity and it sounds like you are at a very low state of lucidity. I think if you understood more on lucidity and realised that you have COMPLETE control over your dreams once you practice enough (theory) with being lucid then you will never have any reason to be afraid.

Sorry for such a long post, and please take this into consideration before you try and quit LDing.

Laberge mentions in ETWOLD that it might not be good to ‘attack’ and ‘destroy’ the dream attacker in your nightmare, because first of all it’s like destroying a part of yourself (a fear perhaps), and secondly there can be dream avengers which return to ‘avenge’ the dream attacker, making the problem worse.

So the best approach is to realise there is no fear, the ‘attacker’ cannot harm you once you realise that and he will probably transform into something harmless…

that is exactly what you should do… And remember… as long as you believe, you can change everything in the dream easily… but you need to believe or even better know that you can do it. Change that monster into something more pleasant. And btw… bad things happens probably because you expect bad things to happen… try to think more positive and expect pleasant things instead :smile: i know it is easier said than done, i have been where you are too and trust me, only way to overcome it is by facing it.

Good luck

I agree with mostly everything mentioned thus far. I just want to add that if these nightmares you are having are recurring or follow a common pattern, you might want to practice Dream Rehearsal. Basically this is just replaying your nightmare in your head, but you decide an alternate ending. Such as if being chased, you turn around to see that there is nothing harmful there, or maybe it is one of your friends or something asking you to go somewhere pleasant. Or if you have falling dreams, imagine yourself growing wings and flying off peacefully. I think confrontation is the best method of nightmare therapy, but that doesn’t imply killing the enemy while instead you can ally it and realize that it really is no harm.

If you become lucid in a nightmare, you should ask the suspicious DC “what do you want” or “who are you”. You’ll be suprised that their reply might be symbolic of something in your waking life that you might be afraid of or running from.

Best way to do it is to confront your enemy, make conversation and friends, perhaps you can ask it why that stuff is haunting you and such. For you to do that you have to gain control of your dream. Just know you can do anything, including attacking your enemy or waking up (which focusing on your third eye has been said to help, I just close my eyes and “let go”. You can also try falling backward with your eyes closed. Don’t think about hitting the floor. It won’t happen. Er, but it’s really best if you have a nice talk with your inner demons.

I think this is probably the best thing to do. If this creature is part of your subconcious, when you ask it why it is “haunting” you, you may gain an important insight about yourself and why you have that fear

Well, I agree, but I don´t think it does any harm to attack.Of course the best solution is talking/making friends, but since this is difficult while you are in fear I suggested to try the fighting first, and talk in the next dream.
Btw, in the Senoi dream culture (who knew a lot about LDing) the normal way to deal with nightmare-things is to defeat them, and afterwards ask them to give some kind of present (poem, song or the like) as a “prize” for being defeated.

tapir

You can do both Angie…meet from love or fight a creature…
Also changing your surroundings could help…think tomas mentioned that.

But what i find way more important…why is your first thing fear…a creature of light…it would make me curious instead of fear…because its a dream…the only thing that could happen is an experience…real danger aint there. Also when your first choice is fear you for sure will colour any meeting with whatever creature to a rampage and a fearfull experience.
Suppose i see a marshmellow and the first thing is fear then even a marhsmellow looks like godzilla to me…fear is wearing the wrong pair of glasses anyway…it colours anything to something terrible.
Maybe the creature of light has good intentions…you dont know that at all.
The other point i find weird…even if you wouldnt lucid dream anymore you still would have normal dreams…and what if then soem creature would meet you…how you escape then? Fear or creatures wont just be in lds but also be in normal dreams waiting for you…

My idea…think of a strategy and try it out…if it dont work try another one.
But doing nothing and just crawl back in a corner will always leads to nothing and failure…its like you become a frozen personage…

the only danger you can feel in a ld is never danger but intentions from a creature that mirrors your fear…translates it to evil intentions…as long as your fear is there. Isnt it time after so many years you find out who that
creature is and what its intentions are, good or evil…how you cope with it…because your subconscious fears will find you also in normal dreams and then u have even less control…
And remember…maybe the creature aint evil at all…it comes as light…so it also could be good to help you…but because u fear it always will look evil to you. find out what its message is 4 you. try this…next time you see the creature of light reach out your hand and welcome it from love…its a dream nothing can happen…but then u will find out what its message is 4 you…from your subconsciousness. Because when this is made clear it will end and not before.

Good luck!..only one thing i hate and thats fear…it freezes ppl…it stops them to believe in themselves.

Jeff

Fear is an instinct and sometimes its not the creature but our own instinct we have to fight and beat :smile:

Jeff

If you confront the creature in your dream, remember to ask what gift it has to give you.

Sounds like a cool technique, I think I read it at ld4all.com

Everyone else gave great suggestions also. Best wishes…

I try to help(Even with my horrible english)

OK, you see horrible monster next to you, what is everything you have ever been afraid of. Of course you go crazy, and propably you will soon awake. But… Here comes my help: Ok, there is horrible monster or something. Now use your power. Change it bit by bit less scaring. Make it more human, so you can talk to it. Or something. If you can make it staying it clearly its old monsterious self, and still not scary, it propably will not tease you anymore in your dreams. With good luck, it will tell you something crazy when it answers why it is like he is, and why it teases you.

This technique is depending on one thing. That creature MUST stay near you in normal dreams pretty long time. Because that, it will change, after whatever it is doing, more human, and you will gain more and more power over it. This is if you don’t feed it with you’r fear. But if you don’t, you’r mind must create it more compatible to this world(And in this world creature like that can’t exist). If it won’t turn more human, thats very bad, because it will propably tease you later in your life, even if you get rid of it now. Or well… Point is, you must face those monsters with no fear, and it won’t tease you. Even if you beat it with no fear, it’s OK. But making it more human helps alot when reducing fear.

I thought I suffered insomnia, but my doctor tested me for allergies and found I was severely allergic to white flour. So if I had anything with white flour in it after about 4pm, I would be restless and I would have trouble sleeping.

As far as quitting lucid dreaming, its fairly simple. Kill a man in your dream. A buddy of mine claims that after he killed a tall bearded man in his dream he has been unable to lucid dream. But my friend is also REALLY insane… :clown:

…or maybe just kil yourself to get outa the dream :wink:
Just think about awake,but you cant have an FA

Well, I think that trying to fight it is definitely a bad idea. Just accept that it’s there, and speaking with it is definitely a good idea, if that’s possible. Don’t try and block it out, try and…I don’t know. But don’t block it out.