False awakenings scare the crap outta me. What do you do?

**millsy** · 08-15-2010 09:19 PM

Hi, I'm new here, I have been lucid dreaming for many years, not out of choice mind you!

and i have horrible experiences with false awakening. When i realise i am asleep i freak out and it is so hard to wake up, it literally feels like i am dragging myself out of a grave. And sometimes it happens 3 or 4 times, thinking i have woken up only to find that i am in another dream. I have got a bit better relaxing over the years but it still freaks me out. Is there any tips to make it easier to wake up? and what happens if you don't fight it? i have this irrational fear that i'll never wake up again.

Thanks!

**Puffin** · 08-15-2010 09:26 PM

Hi Millsy, welcome to Dreamviews.

False awakenings scare me too sometimes, but you have to remember that you always wake up from dreams. There's no disorder that causes dreams to last forever. If you're in a false awakening and try to wake yourself up, there's a good chance you'll just end up in another one, and there's not much you can do. Trying to get out of a FA will only make you more fearful and nervous, which can end up turning the whole thing into a nightmare or an unpleasant dream.

But if you feel like you really have to get out, calm down first, and try covering your ears, closing your eyes, and falling backwards, expecting nothing to be behind you. It can be nerve-wracking, but it sometimes works.

If the room is dark and you're getting nervous, you can always go to the door, open it, and expect some other location to be on the other side, like you're walking out of a building and into a park or something.

Or, you can always try speaking to the dream and asking it to stop giving you false awakenings. It sounds stupid, but it can take a load off your mind, even if it doesn't really work.

**millsy** · 08-15-2010 09:32 PM

I'm glad there's no disorder where you can't wake up from a dream! That's terrifying! The other night i woke up inside a garage, and was calm enough to get out of the garage and walk into the house, and i had this brilliant idea that i thought would work, my girlfirend was in the kitchen and i asked her to go into the bedroom to see if i was a asleep in there and as soon as she did i woke up properly. I was quite proud of that.! So if i realise i am dreaming should i just relax and go with the dream?

**Puffin** · 08-15-2010 09:33 PM

Definitely. It sounds like you basically get free lucid dreams often (FA or not), so next time try and go with the dream! Stop what you're doing and really try to make yourself as aware as possible, and then go off and fly!

...Or something.

**MJMax** · 08-15-2010 09:34 PM

Ehh, when that happens to me, I usually just jump out my window and have a nice fly outside.

It's pretty relaxing.

**antu** · 08-17-2010 10:10 PM

I had a really intense experience with false awakenings. It happened so many times in one dream, I panicked and ran around trying to get dream characters to help me wake up. They couldn't because they were only dream characters. They would mumble, babble and behave erratically. Some of them were even see through. I thought I was dead and that I would never wake up again.

Well I did wake up. I don't know how, and this experience has never left me. It scared me away from lucidity for a while. But false awakenings aren't bad. They're just tricky. The mind wants you to dream. It will trick you away from lucidity and back into the uncontrolled dream state. Flase awakening is one of the most effective ways to do it. So it's not anything malicious.

My advice is, if you have a false awakening and realize you're dreaming, don't try to wake up. Just go flying or deep sea diving, have some sex, whatever you want to do while you're lucid. You'll eventually wake up for real. Maybe set an alarm every night so that you know the alarm will be what wakes you up for real and in the mean time you can just relax.