[Mongoose]

I've never experienced lucid dreaming as far as I know, but I do tend to have really trippy normal dreams on a regular basis, which seem to have been exacerbated by the medication I'm on now.  The really weird thing with me and sleep, besides the fact I practically stay up the whole night and randomly pass out in the afternoon/early evening, is the fact that I can never remember the exact moment when I'm actually falling asleep.  I usually wind up rolling around in my bed for at least 20 minutes, and at some undefined point, I guess I finally conk out.

[achtung]

One thing that really freaks me out sometimes are microsleep episodes.

[Dragon]

Yeah, they're creepy. You're listening to somebody talking and suddenly realize that you didn't hear the last sentence (or several, it's hard to tell). This usually happens to me at the end of the school day when I'm tired and somewhat sleepy. If the classroom is warm and humid, it's practically guaranteed to happen. It's particularily annoying when I'm taking notes and I notice that my hand slipped, drawing an ugly scrawl halfway down the sentence.

[Mikes]

Yeah, they're creepy. You're listening to somebody talking and suddenly realize that you didn't hear the last sentence (or several, it's hard to tell). This usually happens to me at the end of the school day when I'm tired and somewhat sleepy. If the classroom is warm and humid, it's practically guaranteed to happen. It's particularily annoying when I'm taking notes and I notice that my hand slipped, drawing an ugly scrawl halfway down the sentence.

... followed by your teacher yelling: Good Morning Dragon!

[watsisname]

For those interested in lucid dreaming, this freely-available book is a fantastic read and had some strategies for how to start having them.  Basically it's just a skill like any other; start with learning to remember your dreams (keep a dream journal), then practice some 'reality checks' to see if you're dreaming or not.  Yeah, that sounds dumb, but if you never ask if you're dreaming when you're awake, it's not very likely that you'll do it when you're asleep, either.

My reality-check of choice is to pinch my nose closed while simultaneously trying to breathe through it.  If you can still breathe, you're dreaming.  (And it feels freaking freaky, too).

Nowadays I generally use the WILD technique to initiate lucid dreams -- it is very fast and effective once you get the hang of it, and as a bonus you get to experience (and remember) the hypnagogic state / dream transition in its full glory.

[Apollo]

Nowadays I generally use the WILD technique to initiate lucid dreams -- it is very fast and effective once you get the hang of it, and as a bonus you get to experience (and remember) the hypnagogic state / dream transition in its full glory.

Doesn't that carry a small risk of sleep paralysis?

[Dragon]

... followed by your teacher yelling: Good Morning Dragon!

You bet. Usually followed by "You really have to do something about your sleep". They're actually genuinely worried about my health when it keeps happening on almost daily basis. It's really frustrating when the lesson is actually interesting, but I just can't keep my eyes open.
The WILD technique seems interesting, but I'll have to stabilize my sleep cycle first. Right now, without any external modifiers, I fall asleep around 4:00 and wake up around 14:00. When I do have alarm set, it's so inconsistent that I sometimes don't even notice when I fall asleep in the middle of the day. Needless to say, this causes a lot of problems.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, they're creepy. You're listening to somebody talking and suddenly realize that you didn't hear the last sentence (or several, it's hard to tell). This usually happens to me at the end of the school day when I'm tired and somewhat sleepy. If the classroom is warm and humid, it's practically guaranteed to happen. It's particularily annoying when I'm taking notes and I notice that my hand slipped, drawing an ugly scrawl halfway down the sentence.

Oh maaan, this used to happen to me all the time in college.  It'd royally piss me off when I had to write the same word four different times, because I kept drifting off in the middle of it.

[watsisname]

Nowadays I generally use the WILD technique to initiate lucid dreams -- it is very fast and effective once you get the hang of it, and as a bonus you get to experience (and remember) the hypnagogic state / dream transition in its full glory.

Doesn't that carry a small risk of sleep paralysis?

It's a risk only if you find sleep paralysis frightening, and I'll admit it can certainly be very freaky.  However, it is not dangerous, and you go through it every time you sleep as a protective mechanism to prevent injury from whatever movements you're doing in the dreamstate.  Generally you're unaware of it taking hold (or is it that you just don't remember it?), but with WILD you have a good chance of being conscious during the process.

Basically if you ever wake up and can't move, it's a good bet that either you're not actually awake (sleep paralysis just kicked in too early and you were still conscious), or you woke up before it shut off.  In either case, it's only temporary.

[Mikes]

Basically if you ever wake up and can't move, it's a good bet that either you're not actually awake (sleep paralysis just kicked in too early and you were still conscious), or you woke up before it shut off.  In either case, it's only temporary.

Just make sure the shadow people don't eat you and you will be fine....  LOL.

(A number of "alien visitation" and "haunted house" stories have been connected with people waking up in sleep paralysis and dreaming/halucinating that someone else is in the room while they can not move hehe.)

[watsisname]

I wish I could be visited by alien ghosts.  In my hypnagogia / sleep-paralysis I usually just get electrocuted and torn apart at the atomic level.  Which is still fun, don't get me wrong!  I promise! :V

[Apollo]

Nowadays I generally use the WILD technique to initiate lucid dreams -- it is very fast and effective once you get the hang of it, and as a bonus you get to experience (and remember) the hypnagogic state / dream transition in its full glory.

Doesn't that carry a small risk of sleep paralysis?

It's a risk only if you find sleep paralysis frightening, and I'll admit it can certainly be very freaky.  However, it is not dangerous, and you go through it every time you sleep as a protective mechanism to prevent injury from whatever movements you're doing in the dreamstate.  Generally you're unaware of it taking hold (or is it that you just don't remember it?), but with WILD you have a good chance of being conscious during the process.

Basically if you ever wake up and can't move, it's a good bet that either you're not actually awake (sleep paralysis just kicked in too early and you were still conscious), or you woke up before it shut off.  In either case, it's only temporary.

I know sleep paralysis isn't harmful, but from what I've read it sounds highly disturbing and if Wikipedia is to be believed it can be extremely painful.

[Mikes]

I know sleep paralysis isn't harmful, but from what I've read it sounds highly disturbing and if Wikipedia is to be believed it can be extremely painful.

Propably less disturbing than lucid dreaming a fullblown nightmare without realizing you are dreaming heh.

[watsisname]

Nowadays I generally use the WILD technique to initiate lucid dreams -- it is very fast and effective once you get the hang of it, and as a bonus you get to experience (and remember) the hypnagogic state / dream transition in its full glory.

Doesn't that carry a small risk of sleep paralysis?

It's a risk only if you find sleep paralysis frightening, and I'll admit it can certainly be very freaky.  However, it is not dangerous, and you go through it every time you sleep as a protective mechanism to prevent injury from whatever movements you're doing in the dreamstate.  Generally you're unaware of it taking hold (or is it that you just don't remember it?), but with WILD you have a good chance of being conscious during the process.

Basically if you ever wake up and can't move, it's a good bet that either you're not actually awake (sleep paralysis just kicked in too early and you were still conscious), or you woke up before it shut off.  In either case, it's only temporary.

I know sleep paralysis isn't harmful, but from what I've read it sounds highly disturbing and if Wikipedia is to be believed it can be extremely painful.

  The descriptions certainly sound like they'd be extremely painful (exploding head syndrome, oh god!), but it doesn't actually hurt.  It just feels very strange is all.

[Apollo]

  The descriptions certainly sound like they'd be extremely painful (exploding head syndrome, oh god!), but it doesn't actually hurt.  It just feels very strange is all.

Well, that makes it seem a lot more bearable. Still sounds really unpleasant, though.

EDIT: That reminds me, I heard that if you had a nightmare prior to sleep paralysis the monsters from your nightmare can appear as hallucinations. Anybody had that happen?

[yuezhi]

cool story bro(s)!

[Mikes]

EDIT: That reminds me, I heard that if you had a nightmare prior to sleep paralysis the monsters from your nightmare can appear as hallucinations. Anybody had that happen?

If you stare into perfect darkness long enough you will start to see things even if you are awake.
I'd imagine if you had a nightmare in your head and awoke in perfect darkness... 

Perfect darkness that is... without any of the usual background light bleed. Go into a room without windows and try it.

[Apollo]

I'm talking about detailed visual hallucinations, not a bunch of scary purple shapes.

[watsisname]

  The descriptions certainly sound like they'd be extremely painful (exploding head syndrome, oh god!), but it doesn't actually hurt.  It just feels very strange is all.

Well, that makes it seem a lot more bearable. Still sounds really unpleasant, though.

Depends on the person I guess.  For me the onset of sleep paralysis right before a dream takes hold during WILD is like a rite of passage, and I actually think it's a lot of fun.  Sometimes it's even euphoric, especially the first time I had it.  If it was very unpleasant I wouldn't keep doing it.    

I do have an affinity for dream exploration though, so I have to remember my mindset may be different from yours.  I also don't like to concern myself beforehand if an experience will be good or bad.  Allowing fear to get in the way will generally just guarantee an unpleasant outcome anyway.

EDIT: That reminds me, I heard that if you had a nightmare prior to sleep paralysis the monsters from your nightmare can appear as hallucinations. Anybody had that happen?

I don't recall every having sleep paralysis after a dream/nightmare, so I can't say from experience, though it seems intuitive that any hypnagogic hallucinations would carry over the same themes as what you just dreamdt.  Thoughts and emotions (both conscious and unconscious!) are strong indicators of the character of hallucinations, whether they be sleep induced or drug induced.

[Luis Dias]

That **** happens to me every single time I wake up some ten minutes before I should (almost every single day): it's probably because you are too damned tired.