Photographing Dreamscapes
Backstory
While in my youth, I became rather fascinated with the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, or rather dreaming in its entirety.
While absolute control and manipulation of my dreams was never attained, I had several lucid experiences that are arguably comparable to the sensations of reality, and had grown accustomed to my dreamworld and its dealings.
As I grew older, my interests broadened and my focus on the act of dreaming, including achieving lucidity, faded dramatically. While not actively "practicing" or pursuing lucid dreaming, the frequency of their occurrence similarly decreased, although I would naturally attain partial lucidity which is experienced on occasion by everyone.
Gradually, as I began feeding my head natural and artificial substances on a regular basis, I seemingly ceased dreaming, rather was unable to recall more than a hazy snippet fleeting from memory as the day progressed. It is said that going to bed under the influence, depending on the substance, can put one into a deeper level of sleep, during a shorter period of time after wafting off, in comparison to steps, allowing the sleeper to gradually pass through the stages of sleep eventually finding themselves in "REM sleep".
This past month I have had the first bouts of complete sobriety in some time. After enduring a little more than a week of restlessness, I noticed that the frequency of my dreaming had abundantly increased. I would wake up remembering significantly more details than I had allowed myself to become accustomed to. These dreams were not yet lucid, and my memories of them started as minute occurrences before coming as succinct scenes.
The first true memory of a dream that I was capable of retaining was rather hazy aside from the shortest snippet. Within this particular dream, I was running down a hill, the reason unbeknown to me, yet while in the act, my focus shifted. Now outside of myself (third person perspective), I saw my figure running down the hill with a beautiful background behind me. It was at this moment that I quickly took a snapshot of my figure from my out of body perspective. This concludes my memory of the happenings of the dream, yet I awoke remembering what it felt like to spring down that hill with a clear image of the snapshot that I took, still resonating with me today. I would like to add that this is the first memory that I have ever had containing the use of a camera while in a dream.
In light of said events, I have ultimately decided to reacquaint myself with the practice of lucid dreaming. As I have had past experience, I can tell that this process will return quicker in comparison to my initial learning.
As for the process of getting back into dreaming, I have two main paths that I have chosen to take.
With the most recent occurrence of being able recall the single dream frame that I had captured on a camera, I have chosen to utilize my camera as a reality check. I took a picture with my camera of the words (for lack of creativity) "LUCID?" in the real world. As I carry my camera with me on most occasions, I figure that there exists the possibility that I will find it strapped around my neck in more dreams to come. While in the dream I hope to utilize this object as I may recognize this first image, the absence of this picture being the primary image in the library, or the letters of the word changing on me, etc. (more some reference to remind me that I am dreaming)
I am particularly interested in the use of a camera while dreaming, as the image that I had originally taken remains so vivid, and I feel that this technique could potentially have a higher capability of producing favorable results.
So I plan to update this thread in the form of a dream journal, including the dreams that I feel hold significance to the process, or even just me personally.
If any have experiences with lucid dreaming or advice, feel free to share. As well, you are welcome to use this thread as a dream journal if you would like to join me in the process.
I am interested in hearing any peculiar dreams that have resonated with you if any are willing to share.
While in my youth, I became rather fascinated with the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, or rather dreaming in its entirety.
While absolute control and manipulation of my dreams was never attained, I had several lucid experiences that are arguably comparable to the sensations of reality, and had grown accustomed to my dreamworld and its dealings.
As I grew older, my interests broadened and my focus on the act of dreaming, including achieving lucidity, faded dramatically. While not actively "practicing" or pursuing lucid dreaming, the frequency of their occurrence similarly decreased, although I would naturally attain partial lucidity which is experienced on occasion by everyone.
Gradually, as I began feeding my head natural and artificial substances on a regular basis, I seemingly ceased dreaming, rather was unable to recall more than a hazy snippet fleeting from memory as the day progressed. It is said that going to bed under the influence, depending on the substance, can put one into a deeper level of sleep, during a shorter period of time after wafting off, in comparison to steps, allowing the sleeper to gradually pass through the stages of sleep eventually finding themselves in "REM sleep".
This past month I have had the first bouts of complete sobriety in some time. After enduring a little more than a week of restlessness, I noticed that the frequency of my dreaming had abundantly increased. I would wake up remembering significantly more details than I had allowed myself to become accustomed to. These dreams were not yet lucid, and my memories of them started as minute occurrences before coming as succinct scenes.
The first true memory of a dream that I was capable of retaining was rather hazy aside from the shortest snippet. Within this particular dream, I was running down a hill, the reason unbeknown to me, yet while in the act, my focus shifted. Now outside of myself (third person perspective), I saw my figure running down the hill with a beautiful background behind me. It was at this moment that I quickly took a snapshot of my figure from my out of body perspective. This concludes my memory of the happenings of the dream, yet I awoke remembering what it felt like to spring down that hill with a clear image of the snapshot that I took, still resonating with me today. I would like to add that this is the first memory that I have ever had containing the use of a camera while in a dream.
In light of said events, I have ultimately decided to reacquaint myself with the practice of lucid dreaming. As I have had past experience, I can tell that this process will return quicker in comparison to my initial learning.
As for the process of getting back into dreaming, I have two main paths that I have chosen to take.
With the most recent occurrence of being able recall the single dream frame that I had captured on a camera, I have chosen to utilize my camera as a reality check. I took a picture with my camera of the words (for lack of creativity) "LUCID?" in the real world. As I carry my camera with me on most occasions, I figure that there exists the possibility that I will find it strapped around my neck in more dreams to come. While in the dream I hope to utilize this object as I may recognize this first image, the absence of this picture being the primary image in the library, or the letters of the word changing on me, etc. (more some reference to remind me that I am dreaming)
I am particularly interested in the use of a camera while dreaming, as the image that I had originally taken remains so vivid, and I feel that this technique could potentially have a higher capability of producing favorable results.
So I plan to update this thread in the form of a dream journal, including the dreams that I feel hold significance to the process, or even just me personally.
If any have experiences with lucid dreaming or advice, feel free to share. As well, you are welcome to use this thread as a dream journal if you would like to join me in the process.
I am interested in hearing any peculiar dreams that have resonated with you if any are willing to share.
Comments
The fact that you have rediscovered lucid dreaming after laying off the recreational substances a bit is no coincidence. The chemical makeup of your brain has been altered by a diet of whatever the drug of choice is for you, and in an effort to compensate for it's loss your brain is releasing larger amounts of neurochemicals like serotonin and dopamine. The levels of serotonin in your brain peak in the few hours just before waking up and can influence the dream state significantly.
A favorite way of mine to induce a "malleable' dream state, not one that will definitely become lucid, but one that has the right "feel" is to wake up after about 6 hours sleep and then smoke some weed and rub one out. When I return to sleep, I can feel my body dissolving as the dream state takes over. The dreams I have after doing this are usually interesting and sometimes I achieve a lucid state. Sometimes I get epic dreams, usually inspired by postapocalyptic movies and games (ever dream in fallout3?), or the houses I lived in as a child. And when a monster is involved it is usually the monster from the movie Alien.
C/O
"sweet dreams"
Hey, fang it would be nice if you stop being an asshole.
Fuck outta my forum, asshole.
OP, good shit. I remember making a similar post somewhere else. I pretty much lucid dream about 3 times a week.
I have heard of techniques similar in the respect that one will attempt to re-enter a dream after naturally waking up in the middle of the night, or some even going as far as setting an alarm, to wake themselves up from this state, only to fall back asleep with the potential of becoming lucid.
I have had much success on those mornings when you wake up earlier than needed, reactively falling in and out of sleep until feeling adequately rested to get up. Between these early morning wakings, it is possible to re-enter and continue a previous dream, or simply have a higher likelihood of achieving lucidity as the body enters a state similar to that of a nap.
Marijuana tends to eradicate most of my dreams, rather makes my recollection of them hazier with regular use. Although I have notice that after taking a break from smoking for an undetermined amount of time, the first couple of dreams experienced after a day including smoking after the fact, are extremely vivid and rather abstract.
The most effective advice that I can offer is to work on dream recall before lucidity altogether. Focus on recognizing the moments in dreams when you consciously think out a decision/action/thought, or snippets of sensations that stick out, for instance smell, taste, or touch.
As you become accustomed to dealing with these situations, eventually the goal would be to slow down and to utilize your awareness as compared to passively watching the events of the dream unfold before you.
Does dreaming lucidly regularly have any effect on your energy level throughout the day?
Clearly this dream is not going to hold as much weight with others as it did with me, as it was mine to dream, yet what I find most interesting is that when I awoke to the real world, I was left with a continued sense of urgency concerning the contents of said dream.
There have been other occasions during which I have awoken with a single phrase, ideal, or feeling that I held onto during my waking life. Sometimes mere gibberish, others tracing the emotional process experienced whilst dreaming, or even presenting the main subject, what I am to take from the dream.
As well, I would like to mention that some of the most intriguing events have occurred when I simply decided to follow a character within the dream without a conscious direction of my own.
I need to work on staying calm during my lucid dreams, as I tend to get caught up in the moment with excitement and then I ruin it after a little while. I'm quite good at recognizing that I'm dreaming though - I use things in the dream to trigger lucidity. I often think that "If I'm considering trying this reality-check then I must actually be dreaming, as I'd think about it differently IRL" and I never actually get around to checking reality, which is pretty funny.
I really should get down with the dream journals again though, and I might use this thread as a means of documenting my dreams. I remember them all pretty well anyway, so I might just write down a few keywords and a basic storyline rather than going into detail as my previous dream journals have gone on for many pages in length.
Overall, I think Lucid Dreaming is fucking win.
It seems as though, simply thinking about lucid dreaming, or just dreaming in general, has the tendency to cause the topic of dreaming to come up in dreams more, serving as a means to recognize.
In other words...
I can agree with you here, dream journals can be tedious and seems rather arduous upon waking, although I don't think either of us can deny their effectiveness.
When I was in the habit of writing in a dream journal regularly, the number of pages with details expanded continuously and I became rather discouraged. I think that writing abbreviated summaries, outlining main points and concepts is a practical idea.
Thanks for your insight, feel free to utilize this thread as needed, I think that it could better display to others the process of recognizing the subconscious. :thumbsup:
Previously I have used a voice recorder and wrote it all up later. The problem I found with this method is that I was so tired in the morning that I often fell asleep when talking into the recorder, and other times I just mumbled some incoherent nonsense which didn't help me later on.
The dream began with me laying in exactly the same place as I was IRL - in my girlfriend's bed, next to her with the bedroom door open. It was so real that I didn't even know I was dreaming until I woke up later. After laying there in my dream for a while, I started hearing shit coming from downstairs. It sounded like someone was in the house, walking around downstairs... I opened my eyes in the dream, and looked over to the open door. I could just make out the staircase in the darkness. The sound had appeared to have stopped, until it suddenly came out of nowhere, loud as fuck, running up the stairs. I heard it so clearly - the sound of footsteps giving it legs up the staircase, but there was no one there. I didn't see anyone running at all, and the last thing I remember feeling was a horrible presence standing right over the bed. It was cold, and unwelcome.
The thing which fucked me up the most was the fact that it could have ACTUALLY been happening in real life, because I really couldn't tell the difference. The fact that I thought I woke up could have actually been me coming to my senses again, after actually experiencing this for real. Who knows.
Anyway, I soon fell asleep again and into a completely different dream this time. Me and the girlfriend were at my house waiting for a bus to come. The bus which usually passes by my house is a single-decker piece of crap. The bus which arrived in the dream however, was a double-decker and the driver was actually sitting on the top deck somehow still managing to drive the bus. I'm so annoyed that I didn't pick up on this obvious flaw to reality :facepalm:
One of the dreams involved me living inside a huge mansion or something, and there was something about pissing in a cup... But I can't remember it at all. Hopefully it will come back to me in a minute.
In the next dream, I was down the street from my house watching some live music. There was a stage set up, but there was only a drummer playing to a mix-tape. I think he was playing until a whole band showed up, but they never made an appearence. I remember loving the music, and I went over to the drummer only to find out it was fucking Joey Jordison (the drummer from Slipknot). We got talking while he was playing his drums, although I don't remember exactly what we were saying. A few of my friends were there, and one of my buddies seemed as though he was in charge of the whole thing. He shouted out to the crowd which had assembled in the street, saying that he was "very sorry for the delay and the music will be on soon. For now, please come closer to my six o'clock!". I found this hilarious for some unknown reason, but the crowd got nice and close.
A girl I know was there. She started flirting with me, but I have a girlfriend so when she tried something, I somehow managed to throw her over my shoulder and slam her onto the floor! Shit was awesome, and I remember thinking that I was in an Assassins Creed game. After a little while of talking to some other friends, I woke up.
That sounds rather unsettling. I have heard of situations similar to yours concerning sleep paralysis. There exists a potential tendency to wake up partially, from one dream to fall into another, although as you are only awake to a certain degree your body is still undergoing sleep paralysis, which can lead to rather anxious experiences.
I have heard the sensation referred to as an "Old Hag" dream.
I have had similar experiences in which I "woken up" in my room, still feeling the effects of immobility, feeling a pressure overpowering my body. At the same time, I felt as though an evil presence was coming closer to me, finally stopping at my bedside. I was younger on these occasions and rather religious at the time, so I naturally attributed such occurrences as demons. Could have saved myself a lot of mental stability if I had been aware of such a phenomenon as sleep paralysis.
I agree, it is rather frustrating to not realize what seems as such a blatantly obvious abnormality (when out of the situation), although we can only take note of such occurrences and learn to recognize them in the future.
Haha good stuff.