Your First Lucid Dream

Lucid Dreaming - First Experiences

So far you should have practiced all the lucid dream induction techniques. At this point you may or may not have had a lucid dream.

Some people take longer than others. Don’t worry if you haven’t, it will come in time.

This chapter is intended to give a guiding hand to those who have not had a lucid dream yet. Some causes of not having lucid dreams can be linked with a slight trepidation that is largely unfounded.

Some people have a fear of being awake in a dream. I cannot stress enough that lucid dreaming is perfectly safe. You cannot come to any harm.

Some people have one lucid dream and the feeling was so realistic that they forget that they cannot come to harm, wake up and fail to ever have another one. This section is concerned with allaying those fears and hopefully making you feel comfortable with the whole experience before you experience it for yourself.

The amazing thing about lucid dreaming is that because you are awake and rational within your dream, you can take thoughts, ideas, intentions, into your dream with you.

You will be able to remember what you have read here and use it within your dream. You may even think to yourself “Right, I’m lucid dreaming now. I have nothing to fear so I’m o.k.!” I remember once having a conversation with a peer about what I was going to do in my next lucid dream. When I became lucid, I stood there and remembered the conversation I’d had, and proceeded to do what we had discussed.

What to expect

When you have your first lucid dream, one of the first things you will notice is your awareness. By this I mean that you will be quite overwhelmed just how 'awake' you are although you know that you are still dreaming. This can lead to a sudden rush of excitement and exhilaration that will inevitable cause you to wake up.

Also a fear of the unknown can cause your dreams to end prematurely. People do not willingly go somewhere if they don’t know what to expect. To overcome this, I will take you through what you may encounter so that you can be more relaxed about it when it happens.

How will I know?

A lot of people ask me how they will know that they are lucid dreaming. This is easy to answer. The realization that you are awake and still within a dream is such an overwhelmingly exciting feeling; you will know exactly what is going on.

The first thing that you will notice is your dreamscape – your environment. On realizing that you are lucid, you surroundings will become really vivid and colourful and you will be able to look around you. It really is an awe inspiring experience.

Things will have much more detail. You may sense things such as sound, smell, warmth, cold. It never fails to impress me the amount of detail and realism the human mind can generate within a lucid dream. Sometimes this can cause such excitement that you wake up.

I will never forget when I first picked a handful of snow in a lucid dream. I could see every single tiny snowflake and as I moved the handful of snow, I could see the light bouncing off each snow flake as it separate into all its different colors. The power of the human mind is truly awesome.

The problem therefore, is not knowing that you are lucid dreaming, it is staying there when you realize.

I become lucid, but wake up!

One of the many things that I hear from people when they talk about their first lucid dream is that the experience is always a short lived one. The main reason for this is that they didn't know what to expect and the surprise/shock of the whole experience caused them to wake up. This is a very common problem.

This is the most common problem for beginners. You become lucid; get really excited at the prospect and then wake up from being too excited. You can overcome this problem but it takes a bit of practice.

By preparing yourself for your first lucid dream, you will be able to control how long you stay in the dream and have a much more fruitful experience.

The trick is to STAY CALM!

The obvious but most effective answer is to stay relaxed. This is easier said than done. As soon as you realize that you are lucid, you need to say to yourself "Stay Calm".

Also when you become lucid look around you, take in the experience but try and keep a calm rational frame of mind. Think to yourself “Hey, this is amazing. But I must stay calm and relaxed.” Take a deep (dream) breath and relax. Once you relax you will be able to stabilize the dream and have a more fruitful experience.

I am lucid but my dreamscape vanishes

Another problem you may encounter is that as you are happily enjoying your lucid dream but the dreamscape – your surroundings - start to disintegrate or fade away.

The detail/color/reality becomes slightly vague. Sometimes you will see everything start to turn gray or just simply go blurred. This is usually when the brain is preparing to wake up and your mind cannot hold the dream for you.

It can be a very frustrating experience!

There is a very powerful way to pull the dream back and carry on with it. This is called the spinning technique.

When you feel the dream beginning to fade, hold your arms out in front of you and spin around as fast as you can for a few moments. When you stop spinning you will either be in the same dreamscape but with more clarity or you will have transported to another entirely different dreamscape but with the similar clarity.

Either way, you have stabilized the dream and prevented yourself from waking up. Enjoy!

One thing to avoid is staring at something stationary for too long.

Sometimes you can become so fascinated with something like a flower for example that you cannot help but stare at its intricate petals or the detail of it.

Staring at something for so long can cause your dream to fade. It seems that some sort of motion helps maintain the dream. Do not be afraid to look at things, just not for too long.

TOP TIP - Try to avoid staring at anything for too long. This can cause you to wake up as well. By all means look at things but just not for too long. Try not to stare at something for more than about 10-15 seconds.

Sometimes when I am lucid dreaming, I can feel the amount of lucidity beginning to go. I feel myself dozing back into a non-lucid state. There is another great way to get around this little problem.

Hanging onto your dream

The simplicity of this technique belies its effectiveness.

When you find yourself in a lucid dream, after maybe 5 minutes or so you may feel like you are losing a grip on your 'reality' i.e. your dreamscape. If you want to carry on with your dream you need to convince your brain to stay in the dream.

The way that you do this is to tell it! That's right. At the top of your (dream) voice just simply shout "I want more clarity" or "Give me more clarity". Be very assertive bordering on the aggressive. Think 'I am not going to stand for this! I want more clarity'.

As odd as it may seem to be shouting at yourself, it works! You should start to find the clarity coming back and a feeling of solidity about the dream. I have used this technique to maintain a detailed dream for 30 minutes without a problem. Every time it started to fade I just re-asserted that I wanted more clarity in the dream and hey presto!

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Comments (18)

Last night I remembered having a lucid dream, but I didn't remember anything about it. I remembered the feeling of suddenly realizing I was dreaming, but then I can't remember anything else from the dream. is this normal?

I have been having better dream recollection. Does this mean I may be closer to having my first lucid dream?

OK about last week i had a dream. I didnt know i was dreaming for about 30min (dream time). I had full controll and everything felt weird then i realized i was dreaming. I was excited but i thought to my self, "This kool but Im being chased so i cant stop yet" so i started to use being lucid to my advantage. But about 5min (dream time) later, I forgot i was dreaming but still had controll... so is that concidered a lucid dream? lol (By the way, when i forgot i was dreaming, it didnt start fading... i just forgot instantly =-P)

sounds fun. i'll try it.

Lucid Dreams are so fun, lasty night I had two, the first one wasnt that fun or anything but the second was. I did so many things that just popped into my mind. I hadn't thought about lucid dreaming happening that night but it did and I had a blast. In the first 3 seconds I though to myself (in dream) this is a dream and I had control. I was amazed, so I practiced in my dream in a giant Colosseum of what I could do then I went out and screwed around XD

I once had a dream where I dreamt I was lucid, but i wasn't actually lucid, if that makes sense. I had no control, but I knew i was in a dream, but was dreaming I knew i was dreaming.

Eh...I confused myself now.

I will tell about my latest extreamly clear LD. I have had a few after this, but none were as powerfull as this one. Alright, I went to sleep and i started to see me driveway appear, It fades into view and its dark outside, theres fires burning in the distance, and theres a UPS like truck infront of me and my driveway. The door opens and inside are 2 bodies, both partialy decayed and suspended in water, even with the door open, The water did not spill out but was held back by some invisible wall. I reach out to touch it and I am suddenly yanked into the air above my trees aginst my will, (VERY SCARY to have this happen) I was about 250Ft into the air and suddenly am rused over the school that I live next to and hover there, I see scared, frightened kids looking up at me in the fields, I was Lucid and had control over everything exept my random creapy flight patterns, I am then rused back towed my house, there are green bits of what look like flesh in the air, very tiny, and I here a crash and people screaming in the distance and look at the distant, frightning fires in the distance. While being flung though the air, I see a semitruch screeching out of control down the street, being chased by the living dead, and i fly right under it, crash through my tree, land quite (dream painfully) onto my lawn, even being a dream I am to tired to get up and I see 4 zombies, 3 male 1 femal run over to me, and stare down onto me then I hear a bloodcurdling moan and they swing a piece of debree at my face, then i fade away, dissapearing into my mind. I wake up, its 1:47 in the morning, its dark out and i hear dogs barking faintly, While this dream is terrifying, It was the strongest LD I have ever had in my life.

I've been trying for some time now and last night I had a dream. I did not lucid dream, but I instead dreamt that I fell asleep in my English class and in THAT dream I had a lucid dream. Of course, when I woke up I realized I wasn't actually in control of that dream. My dream self was. :/

last nite I had a dream. it was not a false awaking, but was a dream, I was in a maze type land. I did not know were I was. out of habit, not out of question, I did a reality check. the noise pinch one you told me about. I could still breath, all the sudden 2 colorful triangles appeared in front of me, that went through me. then I remember seeing colorful hangings on the walls. I kept seeing people I did nit know. but I did not talk to them, I just went on my way. the next thing I thought, was to make the girl I like appear. so I imagined her their, then I turned around and she was there. I tried to talk to her, but she disapeared. I did it one more time, but she disapeared again. the next time I could not bring her back. I then wanted to go out side to fly. (out side) but I was still inside wen I turned around. I was inside a vary colorful room, with grass on the floor and blue paint on the walls. I then thought it was okay so I tried to fly. first I used the swimming method, then I used the superman pose. I went through the ceiling,(it was weird I could not see up, it was all gray, but if I looked down I could see the grass patch.) I then thought I would fly to space. I woke up, or did I. I went and told my family, I then woke up in real life thinking wow.

I think this was a LD. but it did not seem real. was it a LD?

somewhere I read it was possible for your sub consese to pick up on it, if some one likes you. that your concese mind will not notice. so is there a way to ask my sub concece mind if a girl likes me?

also I read it was possible to learn anything by flipping through a book Johny 5 (from short circuit 1) style. is this true. could I flip trough a ASL--English dic. and learn the language in my sleep that way. I would also like to learn aikido, Spanish, Japanese, chines, A+ cert, networking, C++, HTML. the possibility's are endless. do you think this is true?

also could you have a LD that lasts way longer then your dream. for instance live your entire life each nite. (80years with out sleeping)
do you think that is posible.

thank you all for your reply's.

last night was the fist time i tried and i remember thinking in my dream about all of the tips i learned that night and how it would be cool to have a LD i can't believe i actually thought about LD'ing in my dream and didn't LD

My advice would be to persevere. It comes easier to some people than others. Keep at it, read about LD'ing, talk about LD'ing and eventually some success will come your way. Once you have had your first LD, the rest will come much easier.

You really do need to keep up with your reality checks and try the WBTB method at least a couple of times per week. Eventually you will have a lucid dream!

I Have tryed everything for weeks Now,
And However Hard i Try to Convince my self,
It Just Wont work,
Helpp Pleasee :)

never lucid dreamed i want to try but i dont think ill be allowed to set an alarm etc. so what do i do...

Hehe yeah :) i am already planning what i'm going to do in my next one (lets hope it will be tonight), the one last night wasnt planned at all, i just did what came to mind :) but it was a great experience and i hope to have plenty more

@emko
Wow! It sounds like you had a reaaly fun lucid dream.

Try to envisage what you plan to do in your next lucid dream. Then when it happens, you will be well prepared for a great adventure.

Keep up the good work!

Wow i finally had my first lucid dream :) after only a few days of trying, i used the Wake-Induced Lucid Dreaming technique and just a few minutes (in my head) later i found myself in a very blurry dream, where the phrase i was repeating made me go into a lucid dream "i will have a lucid dream tonight" :D

At first i couldnt see much, it was like a peep hole opening up before my eyes and i could see more and more/

I remember riding a horde at 100miles/hour :D , i remember making my horse have wings, i remember playing with hundreds of cute puppies, and i remember riding a cheetah :D haha

unfortunately it ended when i brought my ex into the dream, to talk

The spinning did work on a few occasions :) but this time i instantly woke up without a chance to spin

i cant wait for the next one

Congratulations on having your first lucid dream. You've opened up a whole new world. I hope you have many more to come!

i went to wikipedia and got this info with a bit more detail and instruction, Anyway, im surprised at myself. I did it on my first try and it surprised me. i totally admit that the first time u do it, u got too excited to think and wake up. I mean im 11 years old and if i can do it so can anyone else. my friend bought the word lucid dreaming up to me.

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