Lucid nightmares are dreams that you know you are dreaming, but are confronted with a dream scene or imagery that is disturbing or feels unsafe. You may feel out-of-control, or you may be calmly witnessing some horrible scene that is not the product of your conscious intention. A lucid nightmare often has a “confrontational” feel.
Prerequisites for Lucid Nightmares:
1. You are self-aware and know “this is a dream.”
2. You are not consciously directing the disturbing imagery – rather, the imagery is self-generating, surprising, or confrontational.
3. The dream ends by you waking up immediately. Otherwise, the dream is not technically a nightmare.
Why are lucid nightmares still not understood?
These kinds of dreams are not discussed in the lucid dreaming literature due to a number of factors. First, many lucid dream researchers in the past de-emphasized these experiences as they were trying to legitimize lucid dreaming as a verifiable state of consciousness that is safe and fun.
Secondly, these experiences are disturbing, and there is a cultural assumption that lucid dreaming means you are in control. So if you”re not in control, by this logic, then you are revealing your inability to lucid dream “correctly.”
Thirdly, in Western culture, disturbing dreams and grotesque imagery in general are the Black Sheep of our cognitive landscape. In religious and spiritual forums, these experiences are devalued and not talked about. In psychological circles, scary imagery is regarded as evidence of a disturbed psyche, and something to be eradicated. In fact, there is a movement in cognitive psychiatry to eliminate dreams that are disturbing with a “dream-killing” pill. Your tax dollars, at work.
Well, that’s just hogwash. Nightmares are normal and healthy, and so are lucid nightmares. They are nothing to be ashamed of. When I first started lucid dreaming, I was plagued by these disturbing dreams and they have turned out to be great allies in my quest for self-knowledge. By working with these experiences, we are offered a chance at greater understanding, as well as an opportunity to develop courage, compassion and forgiveness.
The next article in this series discusses the Causes of Nightmares.
This is great. Thank you. I’ve experienced lucid nightmares for five or more years, largely as a result of being on an SNRI. Nonetheless, these experiences have been integral to my emotional, moral, and creative life. Through meditation practice, I’ve been able to apply mindfulness techniques to the lucid nightmare experience with largely therapeutic results. I am only beginning to read this series of posts, but I want to send word of appreciation in advance.
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve heard that SNRIs can affect dreams, but this is the fist time I’ve heard that they can promote lucid nightmares. wow. I’d love to hear more about your experience/lessons learned.
I just had a nightmare that I was trapped in my bed. There were flies swarming in in front of me. Usually there is an *unknown* central object when I have these dreams. In my dreams I usually announce to myself that is a confrontational entity. I was fully aware that I was dreaming. I tried rolling off the bed, burning myself, levitating…lol, nothing. Starting calling out to various religious deities. No effect. I woke up eventually when I was able to say help outloud *in my head anyway*. I suffer from depression. Now I take antidepressants. It happens less often.
Hey Gregory, sounds like a candidate for a sleep paralysis experience, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a nightmare too! The technique I recommend is to do whatever it takes to relax, including relaxing the fear. If you’re calling out to religious deities that you don’t really have faith in, then no wonder they didn’t help. In this case, rationally reminding yourself what is happening did the trick. Belief is fickle, and sometimes it’s surprising what comes out of our mouths and ultimately is helpful when confronting these bizarre experiences. I remember once I cried out “I trust in God!” which sounded hokey but actually relaxed me (I haven’t used “God” language like that since I was ten years old!).
My experience last night was pretty horrific but by no means my first of its type.
I’ve had many lucid dreams over the years, most frequently during my teenage years. These days it’s fairly rare maybe one a year. I don’t lucid dream intentionally and usually find myself in that state as a result of my mind being very much awake but my body being very tired.
Past experiences have been a mixture of good and bad. The best experiences have had me flying, creating incredible music that I’ve never heard in the external world before and many amazing feats. The nightmares are just off the scale however and make me realise how unscary the majority of horror movies really are in comparison.
Last night was an example of one of those. I don’t remember all of the details (fortunately) but a few things come back quite clearly such as the ‘beings’ in my room. Eery voices were calling my name in the background then next thing I’d hear it/them whispering in my ear. While I was absolutely conscious of being asleep in my bed and whereabouts in my bed I was, I was still unable to stop what was going on around me. On a number of occasions I tried to shout out or even scream but I don’t know if anything came out of my mouth. I live alone so I probably won’t find out unless the neighbours say something later!
I should point out that I have no mental illness nor was not under the influence of any drink or drugs of any type and am otherwise fine, and was just having some trouble getting to sleep that night – that’s all. All I can say really to define my experience and other similar ones I’ve had in the past is that it was like a personalised horror show designed to tap into my own specific sense of fear. It was the opposite of my positive experiences where I have had the opportunity of fulfilling my most desired fantasies.
I’d love to think I could control something like this better but the best I can do is to struggle mostly unsuccessfully to wake up by either shouting/screaming out loud (to wake either myself up or get attention to someone who can) or somehow get myself out of bed. I usually find there are only a limited number of chances within the sleep cycle to do this however.
I don’t know – maybe this isn’t even lucid dreaming proper. Maybe I’m just losing my mind 😉 Either way I’m hoping theres not going to be another for some time because having ghostlike voices beckoning you and ringing bells in your bedroom is not my idea of beauty sleep
Marcus – you’re not losing your mind – this sounds like a classic sleep paralysis scenerio! the voices, the sense of presence, the inability to scream, the sound of bells: these are all known symptoms of being lucid while coming out of the REM state to awakening while the body is still locked into muscle paralysis.
Gregory, Marcus, and Dungan – Last night, I had an experience startlingly similar to Marcus’s. It was the first time such a thing had happened to me, although I’ve had lucid dreams (unintentionally) for years. In any dream, I’m almost always aware that I’m dreaming, and although the degree of control I can exert over the dream itself varies, I’ve always been able to wake myself up if I didn’t like how things were going.
This time, though, I was unable to wake up at all without extreme action in the dream, flailing my arms and legs and shouting; and when I did wake up by doing this, could not seem to come fully awake, and was unable to do more than move my finger-tips and half-open my eyes. Each time, his semi-wakefullness lasted for only a second or two before I would be plunged back into the dream state.
Also, each time that I returned to sleep from this semi-awake state, I found myself in a new dream; and they became progressively difficult to distinguish from reality, yet somehow seemed more surreal. I gradually lost my intuitive awareness of being in a dream, but began to identify that I was dreaming by a numbed or deadened sensation in my limbs (mainly during my violent attempts to wake up). The feeling was similar to when a limb itself has fallen asleep, before the “pins and needles” feeling begins. Also, sounds (including my own voice) seemed muffled or far-off.
Although each semi-arousal (and my eventual full-arousal) was brought about by violent and loud action on my part within the dream, it appears that little or none of this violence transferred to the waking world, since my cat was still resting calmly at my feet when I finally awoke fully. (She did look a little puzzled, so I may have made some slight sound.)
The thing that confuses me most about all of this is that everything I’ve found regarding sleep paralysis indicates the condition lasts only a few minutes (max. found was 7-8 minutes) and while the sufferer is awake, either just before or just after sleep. My experience though, seems to have lasted for about an hour (based on the clock when I last looked before falling asleep, and what time it was when I finally woke up). Also, I’m pretty sure I was asleep. At the time I was quite certain I was asleep, and even when I finally woke up it took a while before I was truly convinced that I was actually awake. Looking back now, I’m not 100% sure that I was asleep during all this, but it certainly didn’t seem like actual consciousness either. I’ve never had experience with any kind of paralysis; does the inability to move, speak, or open your eyes feel like sleep/dreaming even if you’re awake? Could this be Hallucenogenic Sleep Paralysis, and have really only lasted a few minutes, with the earlier majority of my sleep undisturbed?
Oh, and the dream/hallucination (whatever it was) was not always entirely frightening; mostly what was scary was just that I couldn’t move or open my eyes. Sometimes the images were frightening, like seeing a creepy dead/disfigured/possessed face when you close your eyes, and not being able to get rid of it, but that’s not actually threatening or anything. The only other one I remember was hearing my fiance’s footsteps (he does not live with me, and has a very distintive gait that I can recognize easily), and feeling the steps through the floor-boards as they came closer, and being very distressed that I could not open my eyes or speak to him. Again, though, not threatening. Weird.
the first time this ever happened was when i was sleeping on my grandmothers couch downstairs and i was dreaming that i was with some random girl and a guy at the mall when i thought to myself this girl is not human she is a demon..for the first time thats when i was aware that i was dreaming…but then i tried to wake myself up and i couldnt i probably tried everything..meanwhile while i was laying on the couch(my dreams take place where i am actually sleeping everythings the same only thing is im actually not awake)..anyways the demon was inside me and i could feel my heart pounding and my body move uncontrollably..i thought i was awake for all this til i woke up..my heart was still pounding!
second time i was sleeping downstairs in my room and i couldnt move again..something was holding me down..again i thought i was awake and this was actually happening until i woke up for real and was scared to fall back asleep..but i did fall back alseep and it kept happeneing..the second time i fell back asleep i came to the conclusion that when im having these excepriences..i am ACTUALLY not awake and it is just a dream..i have to take deep breaths and it feels like im really fighting to wake myself up and not be tricked into thinking i was awake again..i scream out help and i think im screaming out loud but im not..when i finally do awake…its when i say to myself relax this is just adream and slowly as im fighting the heaviniess of my body..i sit up then im awake but when i open my eyes im lying in the same position as whe i fell asleep.
third time this happened i was sleeping on the couch…while i was “awake” ( in my dream) i was looking out my window and saw two creepy white alien figures run across the street and into my yard..it was weird cause i could also see my body sleeping in the same position on the couch…anyways i left the window scared for my life and returned into my body then all of a sudden one of the creepy aliens were holding me rubbing there face against mine and told me it was okay..but they didnt talk it was like i could understand them without the words..still feeling heavy and thinking i was awake i finally snapped out of it…fell back asleep again and the other creepy alien came in the living room ..i know this time that i was not really really awake and grapped the alien by its head and smashed it on the living room table,and layed back on the couch..still feeling heavy unable to move my brother came out cause he “heard” me screaming ahh ahh ahh for 5 minutes but the next day i asked him if he had really came out and heard me screaming he said no..so i know i was dreaming this.
another time again sleeping on the couch i had this dream when (same place again where i fell asleep) that this spirit i couldnt see had me pinned down i was feeling so heavy..i got out of bed looked out the window and some pretty girl was in the living room with me watching tv..all of a sudden her face turned ugly and she started screaming..i knew i was dreaming so i went along with it instead of fighting it to wake up and started screaming with her..after i was back on the couch feeling the same feeling telling myself okay i am not going to live in these dreams forever i am going to wake up now..after saying it about 5 times i finally do wake up.
lastnight i had another one where the exact same feeling of being held down happened..for the first dream like usualy i thought i was actaully awake…then i slowly start to realize im dreaming..anyways during this dream my legs were being pulled off the couch into the air and i coudnt see who was pulling my legs..while my legs were being pulled in the air my back was still on the couch cause my chest was too heavy to actually lift me up, it was like i wasnt gunna let my whole body float in the air i was scared, then my brother came upto me and scratched my ankles then tried to choke me..i couldnt breath but took slower breaths instead and finally fought to wake up.
every time i lucid dream it scares the hell out of me, i cant seem to enjoy them but i really want to…i never know when it going to happen but it happens about once or twice every week..any suggestions?
Lisa, sorry I didn’t respond earlier – just got married and have not had a lot of time! thanks for sharing your story, it does sound like sleep paralysis mixed in with a healthy dose of false awakenings. check out: http://dreamstudies.org/2007/10/20/false-awakenings/
I have personally experienced sleep paralysis for long intervals too. when mixed with going back to sleep, it can be difficult/impossible to later tease apart what was dream and what was “reality.” and sometimes, REM intrusion can occur, so that you are seeing the room for real but also projecting the dream-like hallucinations into the scene. the veil between worlds is truly thin here, which is why it’s important to know how to center yourself and relax.
KMarissa, these nightmares sound like candidates for sleep paralysis too. your experience with the “visitors” are particularly haunting! check out this link for some more info about this aspect of sleep paralysis: http://dreamstudies.org/2008/11/25/sleep-paralysis-and-spirits/
Also, Kmarissa, email me and I will give some personal suggestions about reducing these experiences. In general, don’t fall asleep on your back if you can help it, try to routinize your sleeping schedule so you don’t go to bed exhausted, and cut out alcohol, especially in the evening.
YOU NEED ME!!! I don’t know if I can say that any simpler… basically every morning I recall 7-8 dreams very easily and I’ve been recording them since I was 5. I just went through Pamela Ball’s book 10,000 dreams interpreted and over the past year or so of getting the book have nearly highlighted every kind of dream listed.
At one point like 6yrs ago I got so good at Lucid dreaming that I had to force myself to stop because I thought I was affecting my subconscious’ commune to me; like I was messing up what my mind or divine spirit wanted me to know.
I’m not sure why but sometime I do see things happen before they happen or possible for me to know about them which I think goes hand in hand with why I became so good at dreaming.
I have not done anything with my dreams other than me being an artist, using them for painting ideas, or writing poems, short stories, song lyrics or therapy… I would love to lend my mind to help with dream interpretation….
I know tricks while dreaming to get into lucid dream states, when I do for some reason the first thing I like to do is fly or float, I don’t know why, but it’s really fun… then usually followed by OMG, sweet, I’ll tell myself not to wake up and I can do anything I want… Believe this, sometime now I find it hard to accept reality because I really believe sometimes it’s a dream, like I really wonder if I dreamed myself into consciousness as a babe.
I have my own art style dedicated to this unconscious state of mind that I call my Metaphysical Island of Perpetual Naked Truth… or “Nothing Art” for short…. http://patrickjoseph.deviantart.com/gallery/#Nothing-Art
Anyways, I hope it’s not too late and hopefully if you can’t maybe you know someone that can use me for dream studies… Basically if I were to sit down and start writing dreams I’ve had I could keep going and going, etc. I’ve got a great memory. Just now I remembered a dream on Dec 24th of 2004 dancing at a carnival with a blue eyed blond hair girl in a white dress…. Anyways, you want a lucid dreamer, I’m yours, please contact me.
Patrick
you’re right Patrick, you’re my man. definitely fill out the dream survey if you have the time: i could use more juicy lucid dream reports.
http://dreamstudies.org/10-minute-dream-survey/
I’ll put you on the short list for lucid dreamers to contact for future research. also – thanks for the art link – I love the your black and white abstract designs, very dreamy! I want to feature more dream-inspired art so I’ll contact you about that too.
I have been having lucid nightmares for a good 4-5 years now, they seem to happen once or twice every week. I usually have only partial control over whats going on, if I exert too much mental pressure I cause myself to wake up. What really eats at me, however, are the awful things that I sometimes do during these states. It’s almost as if I’m in control, but it’s not me behind the wheel. Like it’s maybe another personality that has been shunted into my subconscious or something, only able to take control when my normal personality is dormant. Anyways, I will recount a dream that I had May 30th of last year.
My father and I were at this summer camp, it was situated on these little islands bordered by a sea of some kind. The main lodging area of the camp was a very large tree, with bunks stacked inside of it in an X shape. You had to reach in order to grab something to pull yourself up, very precarious. So we get up the the fourth “floor” of this place, the fourth bunk stacked on other bunks. A counselor makes his way up to
us and apologizes for the climb. The only source of light were these three candles which were stacked next to a few empty and half empty cans of beer and liquor. Before the candles are lit I throw some of these old cans into my pack to be thrown out. The counselor lights the candles and we complete our check in.
We get done with our check in and head down to the main grounds, mostly just a rocky outcropping with stepping stones and little wooden bridges in between shallow areas of water. The counselors told us not to use the bridges because they were not safe. Dad went ahead and used them anyways because he was sure he could “put one foot in front of the other”. I used the stepping stones. The counselors said to not enter the water at any time. There were things in the water that would eat human flesh, anemones and slugs and lobsters. I “awake” from this part of the dream.
I “wake up”, to a room of almost complete darkness, my room in
the basement of my Dads house. My cellphone would go off on vibrate in my pocket, but I wasn’t wearing jeans, and I had shut it off before I went to bed, so this puzzled me. Sometimes I would hear someone walking around upstairs. For some reason I feared whoever it was, I did not want that person coming downstairs. I kept having these thoughts that if my feet slipped over the edge of the bed, then the devil would grab hold of them and drag me to hell. My state eventually became so manic that I curled into a ball and wished that there was someone to talk to, anyone could save me, wake me up and tell me that it all wasn’t real. But I was alone. I tried calling out to my brother, but the words would not escape my mouth. Whispers, only whispers were allowed no matter how loud I would yell them in my head.
We are heading up the bunks again to set up our sleeping stuff, Dad gives me a lift so I could reach the bunk easier. We get situated and the counselor comes up to greet us. He says hi, and lights the three candles. My hand slips and knocks one of the candles into some spilt liquor. It
ignites and our counselor’s shirt catches fire. I try everything I can to put it out, but to no avail. He’s screaming, I’m in a panic, suddenly I’m on the outside of the tree, and the bark starts to turn a shade of black. A face forms out of the knots and grains, into a twisted maw. “What have you done…”, it’s crying in pain, I’m crying as well. “I didn’t mean to, my hand slipped. It wasn’t my fault I tried to help.” A poisen gas spews from it’s mouth now, the sea around me is boiling, and the clouds look down upon me, their anger building them into a thunderous rage. I awaken.
My phone is vibrating against my leg again, I still hear someone walking around upstairs…
I find myself on the rocky outcropping of our camp again. There is someone chasing me now, a black lurk, his outline is clear to me though. I step across the stones, the stones are now grave markers, with peoples names written on them. I know these people from sometime in the past, and yet I’ve never seen their name before. I miss them, but they’re dead, and I know I had something to do with it. I am not aware of the man chasing me anymore, the only thing that I can think of is the pure joy to be dancing across their gravestones. I try to see how many stones I can jump across without falling into
the water. I grow more and more reckless with my jumps, making wild impossible distances and laughing at my own skill. This stops when I reach the end, a small outcropping bordered on three sides by the now seething tides. The near-invisible man was still after me it seems; I am afraid of him, afraid of what he would do to me. I wish that I could just fly away from him, the wind is swirling around me. I pull on a blue chord hanging from the sky, it’s a kite. I get a firm grip on it, but the line goes slack. I pull again, and once again it goes slack on me, he is almost upon me and I have lost all hope. I am cast into the sea, to be eaten alive by the slimy things that live there.
I awake to my room again, it’s quiet and dark, my cellphone vibrates against my leg once more, who is calling me! I find that I can’t even move my arms now, I am paralyzed. There is a great weight on my chest. My phone starts to vibrate constantly now. But my phone is dead, how can it be vibrating? I want to throw up. I fall back to sleep.
I had “awaken” again and start speaking to Dad about the nightmares I was having involving the two of us. We were at a summer camp, and we had just made it to the top of our bunk. The counselor interrupts our my conversation and asks us to sign in. I start to realize what is happening now. I pull a match from my pocket, and a bolt of recollection hits me; this has happened before, what are you doing! My hand moves on its own, “I don’t want to set you on fire”, I say aloud as a violent scream goes off in my head like an aneurysm. A scream of high pitched terror, a hole opens in my chest, my soul is screaming in agony as well. My eyes dilate so fast I can feel them. I light the candle and the counselor busts into flames almost immediately, falling, flaming, breaking, screaming on his way down. I knew it would happen, I knew that he would catch fire. I KNEW he was going to catch fire and die, it was an overriding compulsion, something that I was fully aware of, fully aware of the consequences of, and yet I still did it.
Sorry for the novel, but can someone shed some light on what this means? I keep a dream journal, and I have about a dozen or so that disturb me to this kind of level; where I wake up the next morning and wonder if I’m going to hell for things that I’ve done in while dreaming.
Goggy, thanks for sharing this series of dreams. Repetitive lucid nightmares like this are a big clue to something that needs attention. I don’t want to interpret your dream because I don’t know anything about you or your life, but it seems to me that the action centers around the ceremony of lighting the candle with alcohol causing a problem each time. Rather than interpret the dream, it may be better given your lucidity to try to re-enter the dream again. What would you like to happen during this check-in? How does dad figure in? What needs are unmet? Are you ready to take over the role of lighting the candle safely? Imagine this as you go back to sleep and I also recommend a centering practice (prayer, meditation, whatever word for you) as well to help you recover your balance. Let me know how it goes, and feel free to contact me directly through my about page to continue a dialogue…
I would haft to say I had many Dreams where I was aware I was Dreaming.
But I had one experience I can’t explain. All my dream was about was I came out of darkness found myself walking down a hall.
I shortly found myself at a T in hallway. I was wondering where people were at. The hall way I was where it was T at had orange lockers. I was thinking this made no sense to me… Where Was I at.. I remember I said,”Hello?”. I thought to myself “Is this a dream?” I walked Up to a Locker and grabbed a lock on it. I heard someone say, “That is not your Locker, You don’t belong here.”. Then all the sudden I seen a white hand.. then body come out from the lockers and pushed me back. Then I felt myself being dragged backwards…like a vacuum,,, I was pulled back down the hallway to the dark. Soon as I hit the darkness I felt myself falling. felt like I was falling through layers then clouds then super fast I seen myself in bed and felt my body slam down Like I went past my body and was pulled back to it. I sat straight up instantly awake heart racing.
One Time I knew I was dreaming I woke up was in total dark. Like I just had eyes closed thinking. I was even thinking..Hey I am in a Dream. I didn’t say,”Cool” or anything like that. Shortly after I felt something trying to take over my body like it was trying to force me out of it. I was trying to call out Jesus But I felt it was keeping me from doing it.. I could see the word visually but the most I was able to do is J….J..J….J.. I did that about dozen times Then Je..je.. Then sudden I sat up screaming Jesus…
Around that same time I had a dream where I found myself walking into a house having a party. I saw all kinds of people talking in small groups. Not a Packed Party. Till I found myself in the Living room more people there. They started dancing with music.. I knew I was dreaming…..something didn’t seem right to me. I looked around the room and them I seen something move (dark cloudy mass) move to the top corner of the room near a small arched 3-4 foot wide archway. Next thing I knew I felt myself drifting up to the ceiling. Then I was on the ceiling upside down like spiderman where I was crouched on ceiling looking at this mass. I was calling me towards it. I knew that was not right I was thinking (being on the ceiling). Whatever it was I rebuked it in my dream. then I woke up.
That was not the only times where I rebuked and even casted out demons from people in dreams. I had several dreams all similar. Where I was able to see people spirit inside them.
Like twisted pillars of light whisping upwards. Then when I see a person possessed. They would have a entity drifting around them as it passing through them. Looking at the persons face it is all distorted like the screaming man painting by Edvard Munch. Their eyes big dark sockets as they walk around like zombies. Face and body distorted like by layer of clear jello over it .
Thing that scared me the most while I am doing this it happens inside a black and grey mansion inside.(inside black and grey). But the spirits of the people I see are in color. When I start to rebuke whatever is on them. Swirling Rainbow colors happen as whatever the entities are struggle to stay… One time I was doing this in a Dream I seen a Mirror on the wall. So I went to look. I Looking at my face.. weird I went to feel my face and my face distorted and went demonic and something tried to come out of the mirror at me. I rebuked it in the name of Jesus 3-4 times… That time I didn’t wake up I went away from mirror seeing other people walking by me. I was looking for more people to cast out demons/spirits from.
That is that basically.. about 25% of my dreams I am aware I am dreaming.
Most of my dreams are repeat dreams I had as child I keep adding familiar faces into them. I know many times when Bad things in them are going to happen… When It does I most time try to fly away. Only find myself up in sky clouds then flying fast around the earth then I wake up. I used to have problem in my dreams where I go to run and it is like I running in slow motion stuck in mud. But I find myself more in control now.
-Jason T.
thanks for sharing these dreams Jason. I think you might enjoy the same post I recommended for KMarissa in the comments above – about sleep paralysis and spirits. this special kind of nightmare involves weird body feelings, feeling held down and also finding it impossible to move or talk. they also seem to hone in on our greatest supernatural fears and can involve very realistic experiences/lucid dreams! Saying Jesus’s name as you did sounds like it was an effective talisman.
i just began having lucid dreams about a month ago. I have one now almost every night. Nothing has ever scared me more. Each time i become aware of what is happening. The only thing I am ever able to do is walk. I always end up trying to force myself awake in the dream. Sometimes I do this over and over again until i am successful. The last lucid dream I had someone was shoving their hand into my stomach. I couldn’t feel any pain, but still I was horrified. I awoke soon after to find I had only been asleep for 30 min. I wish I could never have a lucid dream again.The first time it happened I thought I was dying. I finally woke up and couldn’t move my body.
I think I was just in this sleep paralized mode and i can’t seem to fall back to sleep I had a vivid image of a man and he said a name I was familar with and I knew I was dreaming next thing I know there was a extremly loud scream of another name I forget what it was but it drowned out everything and all I could do was try to fight it to awake myself finally after about 10 seconds of heartpounding screams I awoke by moving my arms and legs never had this happen before and it was extremly terrifying
that sounds like hynagogic dreams (also know as hypnagogic hallucinations) which sometimes accompany sleep paralysis. next time, don’t fight it but go with it. wiggle your toe or finger – sometimes that breaks the paralysis. focus on your breathing too – this will keep the fear down. SP is very scary but when you realize what is happening and that it is natural, you can quickly turn the experience around and end it if need be.
I am trying to find some information on what type of nightmare my daughter experiences; I thought that it might be a lucid nightmare, but after I read the description to her, she said she did not think so.
She has nightmares in which she is fully aware that she is dreaming. In the nightmare (which is always different, but always has the same components), she is unable to move or make any sound, but there is someone or something dragging her around. These are unnerving and she wakes up totally freaked out, but she said she would not classify the nightmare as confrontational.
Some background…my daughter is 21 years old and is on several medications but these nightmares did not start after the starting of a new medicine; while most of her medicines she takes on a routine (daily and/or nightly basis), she only gets these nightmares occasionally.
I am just trying to find some information on what type of nightmares these are so we can discuss them with her doctor; she did have a recent sleep study (in which she was again diagnosed with a fragmented sleep disorder with severe alpha wave intrusion…for which no doctor has found a way for her to get a ‘good’ night’s sleep), but she did not experience one of these nightmares during the study, so we have no data on what might be going on while she has one of these nightmares.
Thank you for any insight you might have.
Tracy
Hi Tracy, it sounds like your daughter is suffering from sleep paralysis. this is usually not a problem, but everyonce in a while it can indicate a more serious sleeping ailment like sleep apnea. here is an article I wrote about it: http://dreamcrisp.blogspot.com/2006/03/succubus-bearing-down.html
another excellent resource is: http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-paralysis
Sleep paralysis is most common with young adults, and there is some indication that ADHD medication can aggravate it. sometimes just switching up the meds’ regiment is enough to stop the experiences.
I fell asleep then all of a sudden I was paralyzed from my head to my toes I could see myself trying to move my arms but couldn’t get myself to move I was screaming for help but couldn’t get no sound to come out of my mouth I thought I was dying, then all of a sudden I had awake as if something just let me go…Do you think this is called sleep paralysis? I’ve never heard of this until I started researching. And I am a strong believer in Christ..
Sissy, yes, that experience has all the calling cards of sleep paralysis. next time, try to remind yourself that “this is Sleep paralysis” and relax into the experience if possible. Also, calling on your faith is an excellent way to relax into this natural but bizarre state of consciousness.
I’ve had vivid dreams lately that I remember when I wake up, and two nightmares that I don’t. I wake up feeling terrified but can’t remember details, just barely an image of some being. More of a shadow like figure. Last night’s was the worst. I thought I was awake and was trying to remember but when I tried to lift the covers I was being held down. It was like someone had a finger on each of my elbows and my wrists.
When I finally broke free I was trying to scream but could not and thats when I actually woke up. It seemed so real, like someone was standing right beside my bed. I looked around, but ofcourse no one was there. At first it seemed like a movie and then it was real. I can sort of picture a lady figure and something to do with my cell phone, maybe. I am not scared of these sort of things but last night I did not want to fall back asleep. My tv was on PBS. It was a show about finding 8000 year old skeletons in Florida, I think. Not sure if its related.
I have a reoccurring dream whereI’ll be laying in bed. I believe I am awake however I’m not. I can see everything in my room as though I’m awake and just laying around, then all the sudden I’ll get a strange buzzing sound in my ears which rapidly gets louder, my heart rate increases dramatically and I experience an extreme sense of fear. I then get a feeling that I’m transforming into a ball of energy( this is the best I can describe it), I then get sucked down into my mattress to which I ” wake up”, but I’m not actually awake. This will happen about 4 or 5 times before I actually wake up.
I have now been having these dreams for well over 12 months, however I find myself trying to push my self beyond just ” falling through the mattress” and trying to find out what happens. Lately I’ve been able to lucid dream and if don’t like the scenario I’m in I’ll turn into this ball of energy and switch scenarios. Even though its extremely scary and mentally demanding. My father and sister experience similar dreams but by no means as intense .
Hi.I remember waking from ny first lucid nightmare(about 20 years ago)and I was shouting for a friend.I managed to get out the last sylable of his name …vid.I am now 46 yrs old and have hunrdeds of them each one of varying intensities. when I was in bed and drifting off to sleep I could often sense myself going into this state of semi-conciousness and would often stop myself(falling asleep)numerous times before eventually giving in to tiredness.
My experiences usually happened soon after falling asleep.I Must have my eyes open becase I can see what is around and of course my sense of fear is heightened.One memorable L.D was in a hotel that I was staying at.It was a very small room and my bed was facing the door which opened onto the corridor.On the door was a window.In my dream there was a silhoutte of a man with an axe at the window.It seemed like forever that I was paryalized as this image moved back and forward in front of the window,axe swinging,and then he was at my bed….
Another unusual factor of the dreams was that they quite often would be accompanied by a deafening noise,like white noise magnified a hundred times.This could manifest itself in the L.D in a number of ways.I might hear my name called and then again by another person until there were so many voices screaming it was unbearable.This Loud noise was generally the end of that particular L.D and I would wake with head thumping and heart racing!
someone explained to me that what I was having were Lucid Dreams and that if I was not sure whether I was awake or asleep then I shoud turn the light on.
It worked! If I am dreaming it stays dark.Unfortunatley it did not make the L.D any more pleasurable.
I have tried to take control of my L.D but without success.It is like being tossed around on a boat in the ocean.
Now for the scariest part of all.I have had (regretfully)a number of partners over that time.one parlicular lady was able to discern when I was having a L.D and would bring me out of out.The first time it happened she was very afraid.Her words were “I felt an evil entering into the bedroom”
In my paralyzed state there is one part of my body I can control and breathe eratically as a sign to my partner I am in distress.Unfortunately itusually falls on sleeping ears.
Dreams are more than our imaginations.These creatures that torment us in our most vunerable state aren’t our fears they are our reality.
I have peace in my life now and the Lucid dreams are far and few between.
I’m off to bed God Bless
dear Dan, Jason, and Geoff, all of these accounts sound like sleep paralysis to me. they are quite scary because it feels REAL, not like a dream. Dan’s method of turning into a ball of energy is an awesome example of how to “transform” the fear into lucid consciousness. cool example!
and Geoff, this statement of yours is striking, “Dreams are more than our imaginations.These creatures that torment us in our most vunerable state aren’t our fears they are our reality.” I totally agree! the visitations are more than the sum of our fears… but fear is the gate to these realms. the creatures are our reality because they serve up our own personal mythologies, our worst nightmares — but also there is a portal for a healing vision.
I have lucid nightmares, even when I took a nap. For the longest time I have been scared to go to sleep; Only because my lucid dreams terrify me. In most of my dreams I was yelling, crying, and screaming to tell myself to wake up, I was always so desprate to end it..
I had 2 dreams like this; seeing my room in a out of body experience view. My room was dark, everything looked exactly the same. It was as if i we’re sleep walking in my dream. I got up from my bed (in my dream) and I lost ability to lift up my head. My body was heavy and I lost my balance, and my arms were slowly becoming paralyzed. Half way to the hallway door, I held my self up onto a chair. In my mind I didn’t want this experience, I told myself I didn’t like this situation, I panic and I immediately headed to turn my light switch and my door, so I could wake up. I struggled but as soon as I was reaching for the light switch I woke up.
Alot of my nightmares feel as if there were “spiritual” entities.. something bad doing this to me.. It’s strange, and I don’t know how to stop them.
Hi! I have always been a vivid and lucid dreamer. I have had many lucid nightmares before but recently I went on an SNRI (Cymbalta) and the dreams have become even more intense. I am having many more out of body experiences. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if I am dreaming, or awake and hallucinating. I’ve been getting up several times a night, pacing around the house while drifting in and out of dreaming.
Last night I had a series of lucid nightmares. They all had a similar theme: someone was trying to kill either me or someone else. I had an amazing feeling of bodily calm and organization even though my mind was stressed out and wanted the nightmare to end. In three of the dreams (I “woke up” and got out of bed in between each) I was instrumental in stopping the killer and apprehending them. I felt so empowered and scared at the same time. Even though I was able to stop the killers in my dreams I still woke up suddenly in a total, almost panicked, state. When I was awake my heart was racing and it felt like my body was trying to catch up with my racing mind. Very intense and it sucked. I’m not really looking forward to going to bed tonight. I’m crossing my fingers for great dreams!
I’m really interested in leaning more about my “crazy dreams” as I call them!
Hi! I’ve always strongly believed that dreams try to tell you something. So i only got 3 hours of sleep last night, woke up with my 1 1/2 yr old daughter, put us both in her room and just layed on her floor while she played, i ended up falling asleep and having a horrible dream. In my dream i found her playing with a bunch of needles, then she just screamed and i realized she had them everywhere in her legs, me and her dad sat there and pulled them out, once they were all out, her legs were black and blue…then i woke up. I dont know what this means or why i would dream something so horrible? Can anyone relate or help out with this??
Hi Amanda, maybe it’s time to baby-proof the house a bit more? If you have a 1 1/2 year old, she’s got to be getting into more trouble than before, and this dream could be an expression of that. I also feel a “medical” hit in this dream, something in the diabetes area. If it were my dream, I would be careful about diet concerns with my baby and watch for how her energy levels fluctuate.
But listen: I hardly ever do dream interpretation in comments anymore. If you’re interested in more of this kind of thing, check out the Dream Tribe, a site where we work dreams privately and securely.
i can remember having a lucid nightmare i knew that it was a nightmare and i could even wake up but i didn’t want to i felt like i had to continue to see whats going to happen and well after all it was a nightmare and the monster got me …cuz i was stupid enough to continue…damn curiosity
I don’t have lucid nightmares often but when I do the come in clumps, are absolutely terrifying and are always brand new additions to my dream files. Usually I re-enter past dreams or fall asleep tailoring my own. Sounds weird but sometimes during the day,,randomly, I will recall parts of dreams which I remember bur haven’t dreamed in years …along with a plethora of other wacky stuff ha but I’m never able to wake myself consistently at will; However, I can manage to make myself an observer.
I actually had to throw out my pillow after the last lucid nightmare I had.
I found myself in our grocery store, which was completely rearranged, and walking. As I walked past the beer section I stopped and opened the door….instead of being in the grocery store I was now in a small pitch black room with another person, a boy. Instantly I was aware I was dreaming. Standing in darkness there was a flash of light in the center of the room. The boy was on one side of the room and I on the other. The light became brighter and began to swirl, as if opening. Gradually the light became a cluster of vivid glittering gold flecks which swirled and spiraled up out of the floor creating the image of a skeleton. Immobilized with fear the only thing I could do was cling to the edge of the darkness and try to become invisible. The boy was terrified and ended up in my corner clung to the wall right next to me. I watched in horror as the glittering, golden skeleton lurched in our direction and grabbed the boy by the ankle,dragging him back down into the swirling portal. I felt like I had narrowly escaped and the sense of evil was overwhelming. The moment the boy was gone and the room returned to complete darkness I woke up. I felt like I had witness the death and loss of someones soul–I haven’t allowed myself to observe another dream since.
Did you publish a book based on your findings and research here? What about lucid nightmares? I have nightmares that are lucid but I cannot wake up no matter what I do. They are false ‘wake-ups’ into more nightmares where sometimes I have some control and sometimes very little and the nightmare characters seem to not want to change into something more friendly when I ask them but usually turn demonic.
Hi Sara,
I’ve published a book about sleep paralysis nightmares, but not about classic lucid dreaming nightmares. However, you may want to also see my post on false awakenings:
http://dreamstudies.org/2010/05/04/how-to-stop-false-awakening-dreams/
as well as listen to my presentation on lucid nightmares:
http://dreamstudies.org/2009/09/28/lucid-nightmare-podcast/
Bottom line: we can’t force dream characters to change. the change often has to come from within first, a change of attitude, which is easier said than done! but it’s possible over time, and will lead to more productive dreaming.
This is my dream last night: I was in my high school and middle school combined and was following an old boyfriend I had recently sent a letter to. I became distracted by an unusual set of stairs that I had never taken before…..this is when I became lucid, (As you may know most lucid dreamers have certain trigger objects that wake them up, mine is often doors, and stairwells. Though on occasion it has been a car or form of transportation)
I became instantly aware that I was in the demon realm after following the stairwell to the top. I look around to see if anyone (demons) I know is around. The coast is clear so far and I observe what is going on. I am in a gigantic building that is a city within itself surrounded by massive dark angry clouds. People are walking around listlessly, they look so lost and confused and saddened by it. They all have a piece of paper in their hands. Suddenly I am pulled aside by someone. An old woman in a cloak pulls me aside very quickly (think of a witch/croan type) She pulls out a jar and wipes a gel like liquid under both of my eyes and tells me that I will be needing this for the journey, She then hands me a piece of paper. It is blank. Then she disappears. I am confused. Because I have dealt with the demons hundreds of times before and have become very acquainted with them I am wondering who will show up to greet me. I watch and wait and demons do appear and they don’t notice me. Over the loud speaker there is an announcement that “she is now amongst us…and stuff about keeping an eye out for me and to find me. I can’t believe they can’t see me this time. They can’t do anything. This is amazing. Whatever that woman (angel/protector/light) put under my eyes made me invisible to them.
So I went up to the other people that I was blending in with and asked them about their piece of paper. What is it for? She says it is what she can not remember. I look at it and I read it….I can actually read in the dream. Your name is Mary. You have been in a coma for two months. Your husband misses you. And she vanishes. The other people who were wandering around wondering what was on their “unreadable paper” started coming up to me. Read mine! Read mine! So I did. I started reading there’s one by one and they would disappear. Everyone was so joyful. They were remembering what they had forgotten and thus being released from the bondage of a comma or something like that.
So of course there are demons out everywhere asking everyone to hold up there piece of paper and who is making the people disappear from their realm? I hold up my piece of paper looking a demon right in the eye, a demon who is looking for me and he sees the paper and moves on. Wow!!!!
So then I decide to fly like I always do and love to do in lucid dreams. Big mistake. They shout “there she is!” and chase after me. I realize they can not see me unless I do something that I would typically do in a lucid dream like make matter dissipate so that I can fly out of the building, which is what I have done. I can see it from the outside now. This massive enormous building, no end in sight to the ground, perhaps there is no ground….only storm clouds shooting electricity everywhere. Now they can see me because none of the other people in the building are capable of doing what I am doing. I realize this and quickly decide to go back down to earth. A few random people next to grab me and act like I am just one of them. Where is she? they keep yelling? Fires are starting everywhere. Meanwhile more and more people are coming up to me wanting me to read them their stories….I latch on to the four people who I met when I landed and tell them to hold on to me and they will be able to fly to. That I can make them fly. The demons are angry…and I am on to them. I know they are fighting to keep these souls trapped. They want to find me and make me powerless but for this dream I was given the gift of invisibility for the sole purpose of saving these people. I fly straight into the blackest outreaches of the clouds to see where the limit was, where the end of this place is….and I am stuck by lightening. It course’s through me and energizes me and suddenly all the demons can see me very clearly but it doesn’t matter. I say a prayer to let the souls be able to read their own pages….and all of a sudden they can. They fly away in all directions free… and I realize these people weren’t just in comas, most of them were dead and had gotten trapped by their own self hatred for something that they had done in their previous life and they couldn’t remember it now…some had killed themselves and could not forgive themselves…and could not find the ones they loved or even killed themselves over….they were so lost. It was such an overwhelming feeling. They were free. The demons were extremely angry. I felt as if I had been used as a weapon against them…and perhaps that is what all these demon dreams had been leading to..I only wished all of the souls could be released. But the divine element in the dream was telling me that it was not there time yet but that I had marked them so that they would be able to wake up and remember and be free as the others had, they just needed more time. This is a demon dream that changes everything for me. Just as the last one did where they could nolonger control anything…I became like freaking neo….wtf lol
Hello. I recently found out there was a term of what my dreams are.
I usually control fully what I dream of, except for times when I get lucid nightmares.
It happened last year for over two months every night and recently has started happening again. The thing is, I am scared to fall asleep or go back to sleep and this is affecting my daily routine greatly.
Yesterday I was talking to my boyfriend, whom I havent seen for a while and he wished me goodnight by saying “dream of me”. So when falling asleep, I tried (as a mentioned I usually control what I dream and realize its a dream). The first thing I saw was a human-like figure leading me to my dream. It promised it would be what I wished for, but I knew it was lying and it was going to be a nightmare. Tried to fight it but could not and ended up having horrific experiences followed by 5 or 6 false awakenings (I get those every night) in each of which I had the false sense of security and something bad kept happening, which false awoke me again.. and again. Before I was fully awake I was still dreaming, laying in my bed, happy that it was over and there was a beautiful figure on the ceiling. It became demonic in seconds and I could actually hear my heart beat in my sleep.
This is one of the mild cases for me. Last year I was seeing all kinds of creatures and I could talk to them, but they were all demonic, I could read their thoughts and what they wanted to tell me. I have always been scared of them in my dreams so they pursue me. Sometimes I try to be good to them and when I stop running, they stop chasing me and are not as scary, but is very difficult to do.
The fact that I somewhat control the dreams makes me think that I might actually turn those nightmares into regular lucid dreams, but have no idea how.
Also, I am not on any medications except for some painkillers for my back, but they are pretty mild.
Please do let me know if there is any chance I could learn to fully control the nightmares, because it is driving me crazy.
Controllig the demons in my lucid nightmares is something I have just recently achieved. I wish I could say that it happens all the time, but it does not. Many times I wake up and realize that I was vividly dreaming and being controlled by them. If anything, if you can get them to fear you waking up in your dreams, it will not be so terrifying anymore. You have to realize what they are and what they want from you. The majoirty of them (the minions….community) exist and yet do not exist …they exist in another plane that is fed by human sin…hence why they promote it.
As for the superiors/generals/etc… they hate being named. Look them deep in the eye and you will find the name that will bind them to an extent where they can only do so much harm…they become limited….just as a name or definition limits us in some ways. It is the first cage you can cast upon them. But beware, naming them…angers them. Others will be sent to test you. Call them out for what they are. They hate light shown upon their shadows….because they are shadows.
Googles.
I tried it once… i was very still and breathing was fine but i was tired, but after a while i felt a weight on my chest, i opened my eyes and nothing was there, so i went to sleep i woke up, middle of the night with this red blur sitting on my chest whispering to go to sleep… i couldnt move or scream coz of sleep paralysis, but i didnt knwo it at the time, the whispering got louder and louder… i started hearing other voices and screams… never trying that again -.-
I have had many nightmares over the last few years but here was last nights.I’m not sure I qualify under Lucid.
(Dream) : I was in a house in what seemed to be a ghost town.There was someone with me but no clue who it was,(I spoke to them). I saw a long windy road filled with cars bumper to bumper coming down the hill into town.I walked out the front door and fear gripped me as demons/creatures started pouring from the wood work.Two dog bodied/ pig faces creatures attacked me.I killed both with my hands, but more came.I was against a building and grabbed a hanging cable.I climbed up out of reach and looked down at them..They had a woman’s face/head now and were shrieking..I awoke in a sweat and I just got up so I wouldn’t dream anymore.There was more too it,as usual.But as the day has progressed a lot has faded from memory.It seems just the highlights remain.
i am also usually unable to scream. in a few recent lucid nightmares i was also unable to move my body as much as i really wanted to which turned into panic. i often dream that i have woken up. i have even told familiar people inside a second dream about the first one.
Just had a lucid nightmare. Had one of them before. The thing about my lucid nightmares is that I can feel pain. I’m always fully aware that I’m dreaming trough out the whole scene. I will tell you about the dream I had half an hour ago.
I’m in at a festival were there are lots of people pulling and chasing me. I know that I’m dreaming and my friend Is laying right next to me in my bed. I can’t move and I can’t wake up so I’m screaming my friends name and telling her to wake me up. I know I’m laying in my bed with a friend and that I’m dreaming and that I’m stuck inside a dream. In the dream people is pulling my legs and arms so hard that it hurt. And a can really feel the pain. Also people is squeezing me. The dream goes on for about a little less then an hour. And when I finally wake up from the dream it feels like something pulls me up. Right now I can feel pain from were the people have been pulling me and squeezing me. Maybe I’ve been tensing my body so hard, and that’s why it hurts. But I really don’t know. I’ve never had a lucid dream but I’ve had lucid nightmares before, but never have I ever felt pain or never have one ever been this long. I just want some clarity
Hey, so I was in Portland in a hotel a few days ago. There were 5 people sharing 2 queen beds and everyone was absolutely exhausted except me so i fell asleep vaguely watching a dumb cartoon because tv is like my lullaby.
I ALWAYS remember my dreams, been keeping a journal for about a year and a half.
This time in my dream my friends and I left the hotel room to go to the bar downstairs, while at the bar I remember asking the bartender for a drink and him laughing evilly at me, his face was important. I walked away and was grabbed by another old man, this is where i began to take control of the dream, weakly at first, yelling help out loud so i could whisper it in my dream. But everyone just watched uncaringly and i yelled louder taking stronger hold. He let me down and whispered something in my ear. i gathered my friends and went to bed in our hotel room. we were sleeping when i had a false awakening, i was startled by the opening of the door and a strange man standing there staring at me, he began to move towards me mumbling things, his eyes were terrifing. I asked him what he was doing here and he kept mummbling. I tried to wake my friends but they wouldnt budge. I told him to go away, and more people walked in. Old women, young beautiful women, lil children, ugly men all flooded into the room, with terrifying eyes. The women mummbled sorrowful things, with crazed tears. the men smurked and were plain EVIL and the children seemed so innocent, yet like they had known nothing but evil things there whole lives, some had meth stains on there faces. The children were the scariest because they moved the quickest into my face. I pushed an old lady, and suddenly things became overwelming and I woke up for real, ran to the door and deadbolted the lock. i was screaming and sweating and crying and moved to the other bed, my best friend C held me tight. I drifted back into the dream unfortunately, but this time i was able to shake C awake. I remember asking her what are we gunna do about these people, we held hands ran to the door and noticed these crazies had taken over the hotel, the staff seemed like this was normal. We tried to find a phone to dial 911 but they were already outside the window, playing with these crazies. We tried to wake our other friends but they were groggy and unconscious. We asked what are you doing here, go away to the people. The bartender face appeared with his evil laugh and gave us the impression it was dire to find out why these people were here, but not really with words. An hispanic older lady began to tell me how she died but couldnt finish she was delirious. I looked in her eyes and said she looked like my mom. She looked back so evillily and said thats not good. I once again woke up and checked the door. When i had drifted back into the dream me and C began asking these people about there sorrows, especially the children, never the men. The bartender reappeared and said he would leave us alone. Then he threw us out the window, and I had a false awakening in my dream to the sound of the door creaking open. More people came back and haunted me. I couldnt handle this anymore and got the f up for real. C was sweating and crying and i woke her up to, she repeated the same dream back to me and even described the face of the bartender. But she only began dreaming it when she held me. We got out of that hotel sooo quick. shaking the whole ride home, we really felt like we had became lucid together in the dream, like we needed eachother to have enough courage to face these demons. Maybe something horrible had happened in that hotel…
So I have had a few of these lucid nightmares, every one is different. The one that scared me the most was I woke up in bed and I was being raped by a shadow. I fell asleep in the nightmare a few times and every time I woke up I would see the shadow on the wall raping me. Then I finally woke up suddenly, pretty much crying.
I have always been able to lucid dream. However in the past 6 months or so, all of my dreams have been lucid nightmares. About 4-5 times per week. Some re occur, and some are different. They are becoming increasingly disturbing. I try to wake myself up by screaming, or trying to move or something. My husband hears my scream and wakes me up, but he is getting really sick of it. I have tried to listen to the advice about letting the dream play out, and trying to learn from it, but it is so scary I can’t do it. My dreams involve my kids being hurt now too and I can’t take it any more. I don’t take any meds or have any health problems. I eat healthy and exercise, and I don’t suffer from insomnia- just lucid nightmares. They haunt me the next day too, I’m getting depressed and feel I’m totally loosing control over this. I just want it to stop. I don’t care if I never have another dream again.
Thanks so much for writing this. I’m so happy to know I’m not the only one this happened to. Last night, I realized very quickly that I was dreaming, and a nightmare followed. I tried to control what was going on around me, but my mind wouldn’t do it. I’ve been Lucid Dreaming for 5 years and never have I had such a traumatizing experience. My boyfriend told me the other day to start writing down my dreams, because whenever I’d share with him, I wouldn’t be able to finish the ending. So when I woke up immediately from this terrible dream, I wrote everything that I remembered down. I remember trying to wake myself up by screaming, but as I already knew, I couldn’t scream very loud because it was a dream. I heard a vivid knock on the wall behind me while I was screaming and sitting on my bed. I decided not to look, because the thought terrified me, and I knew my subconscious would cook something outrageous up that I wouldn’t want to see, so I just kept my eyes closed and kept screaming. That’s just one of the horrifying scenes in my dream. And I even remember saying to myself, GOSH, I really should’ve researched a good way of waking yourself up in a dream, and after I wrote my dream down, I looked it up. Haha. Well, thanks again! You’ve really calmed me down.
I’m having a rough time with sleep. I have been looking online for answers but they Are all just theories an what not. Iam a Christian woman an it’s hard to believe in some of the things I have witnessed but it’s really effecting my life. Since I was like seven I have been talking to figures before an after I wake up I got use to it an then it stopped after the age sixteen. I thought I grew out of it. But they have started up again. But this time it’s ten times worse, I go to bed an my body is at rest but my spirit an mind is totally awake. I can’t move or anything an I’m having the same visitations if dark figure that I had when I was a kid. Now I’m 24 years old so yes I have became skeptical on the whole paranormal thing but I feel fear an evil with figures that have red eyes an it’s the same figure every time I haven’t slept for over a month an my boyfriend who lives with me says he wakes up to me sitting at the edge of the bed talking to the wall. I don’t remember much when I wake up I just remember how freighten Iam when I lay down. Last night was so terrifying. I don’t remember why I was so scared but I couldn’t wake up it was like my spirit jumped out my body an slapping my face an screaming at myself to wake up. An then there was a figure with red eyes staring straight at me in my spirit. In my spirit I held my breath an then I woke up gasping for air. It felt like my chest was tight an I couldn’t go back to sleep. I’m too scared to sleep tonight . I sleep with all my lights on an my bible in my hand cause I thought it would help.
Hi Katie,
sorry to hear about your troubles. It sounds to me like you are exhibiting classic symptoms of sleep paralysis — it’s basically being aware of the body’s paralysis during dreaming sleep. Not to worry! It’s totally normal and not harmful, although, as you have discovered, can be very frightening. Read this article and download the free PDF to learn more about it. Like all dream experiences, your beliefs can affect what you experience. However, you can also use your faith to help calm you down — which is essential to being “released” from this sleep symptom. here’s the link:
http://dreamstudies.org/2010/01/22/sleep-paralysis-treatment-wake-up-cant-move/
Wow..this is a great website!! I always dreams but lucid dreaming only happens sometimes but years ago, I had the most terrible lucid nightmare. I was at my house and everything had turn grey and ashes and rotten as if everything was burned sometime ago. It was so detailed and when I inspect my house I could remember looking at the blackened nail in the wood. then I walk to the street and look up to the sky and seeing the clouds rolling over and over and the wind was very strong. I got kinda scared and screamed but weirdly the dream world and the real world alternately flashes in front of me until I passed out.
Since then, I dont have anymore bad dreams, or nightmares! but I have able to go into lucid dreaming much more often.
Lately, weirdly whenever I get to sleep and dream, its sort of half lucid, I am aware of my surrounding but it seems like I live in an alternate reality for example I am still working and living in the same place but with different people or situations.
But one thing for sure, I am happy because, I have no nightmares anymore!!!!