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My Lucid Dreaming Experience(s)

by Dixon Wragg
(Santa Rosa, California)

I've dreamed lucidly a few times in my life, though not nearly as often as I'd like. As a child, I had recurring nightmares about being pursued by scary gorillas. I could fly, but without much control; I was floating slowly like a soap bubble. So I'd be trying to float higher to evade these gorillas, who'd be reaching for me. Very scary! Just before being grabbed, I'd wake myself up to evade these gorillas. So I was becoming aware that I was dreaming, though still unaware that I could try to control the dream other than just waking myself up.


In more recent years, I've had a very few lucid dreams. When I've tried to control them, they resist my control, and the effort to exert control wakes me up. And if I don't try to control them, I just slip back into non-lucid dreaming pretty soon.

Years ago, Skeptical Inquirer magazine had an article about lucid dreaming which included suggestions for inducing lucid dreams. I tried the hand scrutiny method with some success.

My most striking experience with lucid dreaming was this one: In the late 80s I attended a discussion group in Sebastopol, California which featured a presentation on lucid dreaming by one Catherine Contento (not sure I spelled her name right), who was a subject in some of Dr. Stephen LaBerge's lucid dream studies. The next night I had a dream in which I was walking down a suburban sidewalk on a sunny day when suddenly the name "Catherine Contento" flashed through my mind, and this caused me to become lucid. I felt sort of ecstatic, and there was a sort of "invisible sun" in the sky which was drawing me up toward it by my heart! Yes, I was floating up into the sky chest first, feeling ecstatic as I approached this "invisible sun"! Great dream! I recommend lucid dreaming.

Comments for My Lucid Dreaming Experience(s)

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Jun 18, 2014
Scared NEW
by: Anonymous

I have had many experience's with whatever you would like to call this.... I have experienced this to many times to remember... The feeling of being held down while sleeping , not being able to scream for help, a scary presence around me.. I have saw shadows lurking about my room, at the foot of my bed, on my bed and it's scary.. I have heard light music when this happens and sometimes before it happens... Sometimes I do not know if this is real.. It feels real and I just want to run out of my house when this happens... I have two homes and it happens at both.. What is this? Crazy? Or is it real symptoms of a deeper lying problem that I am unaware of? What to do? Lost

Jun 20, 2014
Hey, "Anonymous", don't worry! NEW
by: Dixon Wragg

To "Anonymous", who left the previous comment:
Don't worry, the experience you describe, while scary, is harmless. Nowadays it's called sleep paralysis with hypnagogic hallucinations. Wikipedia says:
"Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which people, either when falling asleep or wakening, temporarily experience an inability to move. It is a transition state between wakefulness and rest characterized by complete muscle atonia (muscle weakness). It can occur at sleep onset or upon awakening, and it is often associated with terrifying visions, such as an intruder in the room, to which one is unable to react due to paralysis." More at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Also, I'd recommend the fascinating book "The Terror That Comes in the Night:An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions" by David J. Hufford.

Bottom line: Don't worry; your weird experience is normal and harmless. Try to enjoy it next time.

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