Comments on: False Awakenings and Lucid Dreaming

By: Hayley

Hayley — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:15:05 +0000

WOW! i loved this article!
I had my first false awakening last night, happened a good 4-5 times each one going into another nightmarish situation (of wierd people telling me my fate and strange figures appearing) each one my partner was there to wake me up only to find i was still dreaming again - it was a terrifying experience! and when i did finally wake up properly my hero (partner) was asleep with his back to me and i was annoyed at him lol!
Ive been having bad dreams for years, ive had a stroke, eye cancer, been followed, attacked, lost my children etc then started realizing i was in a dream and now this happened - been looking all day for an answer to what i experienced.
Im glad i havent gone bonkers!!! and will now try to make my lucid dreaming more positive. Thankyou all! x

By: Kirsty

Kirsty — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:59:30 +0000

Hi.. Just wondering if you knew anything about lucid dreams where you actually have woken up yet think you're still dreaming because all your dreams are about daily life. Say, this article is about thinking you've woken up over and over while dreaming but what if you were to actually wake up and not realise for quite a time that it was not a dream? Trying to find info on this but googles not really helping.

By: Steven | The Emotion Machine

Steven | The Emotion Machine — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:08:13 +0000

I MAY have experience a false awakening when I was really young. I vaguely recall a dream where I woke up, got ready for school, and went to school, only to wake up later and find out I hadn't actually done any of that yet.

It was annoying, but at the same time pretty interesting.

By: Frogspirit

Frogspirit — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:35:44 +0000

To Desperate!!! I know quite a bit on this topic and have experienced all my life. Often to the point like you in is infringing on your waking life. You really have to be careful of your health and missing nights of sleep can make the situation worse.

Having sleep paralysis is a diagnosed sleeping disorder. I think there is a medication out there for it. I am by no means a doctor or anything or such, and if by suggesting to you medication and it upsets you then I humbly apologise. I have spoke with my doctor about the things I have gone through and they have suggested a specialist and I have never followed up on that due to financial reasons.

I do however know from my own history that sleeping pills can make this situation worse too. I was on Stillnox (Ambien in the US) for a period of time when I was having these experiences on a nightly basis and I believe that drug was contributing to the sleep disturbance and making them more vivid.

I don't know if you are religious or not, but if you are try saying a prayer or mantra. Now this is the hardest part, try saying it without fear and you will find your dream scape should change. this is because the dreams scape you are in is a mirror to your consciousness. Maybe there is a song that you can sing, that means something to you, that could give you courage to deal with these experiences.

Even calling or trying to find the light could help. I tend to try and fly away from the problem if there is a negative person in the dream, but flying can be scary as if you revert to your normal world thinking you will fall and usually wake up in a shock.

By: Frogspirit

Frogspirit — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:12:54 +0000

I have been an avid lucid dreamer for years. Some of my first experiences were amazing and put me in a high mood for days. I also suffer from sleep paralysis which are scary moments when you wake up in your body but you can't move. Sometimes this experience can be associated with entities or noises. It can become a terrifying struggle to wake up completely to get out of the state and even after waking you can slip back into it.

If you want to know if you are dreaming and your getting close to that moment where you get make the dream lucid a very good thing to do is examine your surroundings. In dreams doing something like picking up a book and trying to read it you will find is nearly impossible. yes you may see some words or even a sentence clearly but if you keep staring the words and letters move and change according to what you are thinking. Also a really easy way to become lucid is stare at your hands. You will see them at first but then they become wispy and ethereal.

I have had a lot of fun with these experiences and a lot of scary experiences. Once lucid saying a mantra or prayer can really change the environment. Even calling out to a dead loved one or a pet could put you in a place of communicating with them.

Really at the end of the day it is an amazing mirror of consciousness and shows that we can create our own realities.

If you are interested in this topic go and see the movie Inception.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:22:39 +0000

Ive been experiencing lucid dreaming for years and never found it scary. Last year though, new people moved in the apartment next door, they seemed a bit dodgy, so my fi and I were a bit wary of them. He used to leave for work 30 min before I had to get up in the mornings, so I would go back to sleep after he said goodbye (my lucid dreaming happens often at this time) I stated having nightmare- lucid dreaming-false awakenings . i would wake up, get out of bed, leave the bedroom to discover wed been robbed. At this point I would be terrified and 'wake up'. I would leave the room again to discover windows broken etc. I would have to tell myself it wasnt real beacuse 'we dont have sliding glass doors on that wall','we dont have carpet' etc. Once I got a fright or realised I was dreaming I would 'wake up' scared again. I 'woke up' about 10 times one morning and was exhausted by it. Was very freaky usually it would only be once or twice but always the same scenario that we were robbed. Once the neighbours moved out I never had the nightmare again!

By: cristina

cristina — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 06:27:31 +0000

Last night I just had a dream relating with false awakening. I realized I was dreaming, then I tried to move out of my body to induce what people say the OBE. (Of course, I don't know whether it was only a dream resemble OBE or it was really an OBE. It is beyond my scope to understand the truth of OBE). I felt a rush of liquid running faster in my brain as I tried to force myself out of my body. The process was uncomfortable and it was tired. The speed of the rush running faster and faster and I was thinking if that would hurt my brain. Then, I found myself losing the weight, float up and went outside the window... In the beginning I had awareness that I was in the dream, cause I can fly, but then lately, my dream seemed to want to fool me. My senses started to wake up. I feel I can touch, I feel the texture of the things I hold in my hand, I smell the flowers and even I can feel the weight when I hold the ipad. The more it resembles the reality of "here - waking life", the less I can distinguish the "two separate worlds". Then I talked to my friend telling him that everything happened here was too real, and then I lost my awareness, falling deeply in the dream...

What if our reality is just a series of illusions, continuous stories, solid dreams, that has trapped people since the beginning of human history...thats creepy and scary... > . <

By: reality shifter

reality shifter — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:40:08 +0000

Hi Alysson, I agree with what you wrote about not trying so hard to control your dreams. Over the years, I've gradually shifted from trying to control my dreams to instead just letting my dreaming mind control the dream while I observe and "go with the flow". I've found I learn much more that way. I recently posted a review of Robert Waggoner's new book "Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self", and in the book he does a great job of describing all the ways people can benefit from exploring their dreams that way instead of trying to control all the aspects of the dream.

By: Alysson

Alysson — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:51:18 +0000

I have been keeping a dream log for a few months now. there are only 8 or so entries but i found that my dreams are more easily remembered when i am in the habit of putting them down on paper. I think i prefer to let my dream go where ever it wants to go and kind of check out my subconscious that way rather than trying to control my dream. it is much less tiring too.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:54:06 +0000

I just experienced another false awakening. I have been having these since
I was in college, about twenty years. They only occur when I take a nap.
I fall asleep, but am not in a deep sleep, I can hear the household sounds. Sometimes I will have a normal dream. At some point I feel like I am awake.
My eyes are open, I can hear normal sounds. I sit up, but realize I never moved from my horizontal position. I then notice that certain things are not quite right. The room color may be off or I can't keep my eyes open for very long. I tend to panic. I can hear unusual sounds. Today I heard the hose running, it's not even hooked up. I heard someone in the house. Then there's someone next to me. I can feel hands, but I cannot see anyone. I am grasping someone but there is no one there. More panic. I try to call out. I find that the more I struggle and cry out, eventually I can come into reality and wake up completely.
Usually the false awakening begins within a normal setting but my anxiety builds as time after time I am unable to come to consciousness. You know that something is off, but it feels so real when you swing your legs out and sit up. I have even walked around, gone down the hall, ect. only to find that
I never moved a muscle.
My solution is not to take naps but some days I find it impossible. I wish
there was a simple exit strategy to use so that nap taking wasn't so wasteful.
I usually feel anxious and more tired after a false awakening marathon.