Lucid dream gone scary! :O

[R054]

So I did a WILD this morning and holy shit it got scary! It was going good at first, I had intentions to conjure up this guy I liked but failed-instead, this guy who sits right beside me in class appeared Then the dream changed and I was on my bed and I look to the right side and feel a stinging pain on my forearm and turns out there was some shadowed figure holding on to it and pricking me with a sewing needle but thankfully, I woke myself up before anything worse could have happened. how the heck can it go from an okay dream to that? and how do I get the right person to appear in my dream? also, do you have any other tips to a more successful lucid dream once you're in it?

[Matte87]

Sounds like you ended up in SP or a FA and had some pretty scary hallucinations Things like this happens, but don't fear that they will because that might make them more likely to happen. Shout out his/her name and expect them to answer you from behind a corner or something.

[Chewnie91]

Yea it was more than likely a hallucination during SP. I've dealt with that quite a few times and it can get pretty freaky. As far as the "making someone or something appear", dream control in my opinion is all about confidence. That, and if you haven't had many dreams you are not as "desensitized" as some of us are. During my first few lucids ever I had no luck with any control whatsoever lol. I believe this was part in term because I hadn't been exposed to dream content enough to the point where I truly knew and believed I could do anything I wanted. Once you have experienced a few lucids (like 20 or so) your dream control will increase as well because it will be a somewhat familiar situation (not necessarily the dream itself). And you NEED confidence. Absolutely need it. It is YOUR dream and YOU are the only one who controls it. You need to have that kind of mindset when exerting dream control

[OrionStyles]

Here's a perception that always helps me out. Ultimately, everything you dream really is just yourself. No need to fear (though chemical reactions in your body can make that hard upon waking) but you can be rational when examining the reasons why. Generally if you actually "feel" the shadowy presence, your left temporoparietal junction is active. So researching into that to gain understanding will probably alleviate yourself of any fear of it in the future. As for more specific control in lucid dreams, practice does make perfect, but if you want to front load what you want to dream about before you go to sleep there are a number of techniques on this board ready to be searched up. Personally I find "image streaming" to be the be all, end all of both prepping "themes" for my lucid/non-lucid dreams, and for examining dreams I do remember afterwards. If you want to go that route, look into Win Wenger's image streaming techniques at Project Renaissance. Also, I find WILDing makes me more susceptible to Hypnagogic + Hypnopompic hallucinations, but again, you get used to it with experience, and looking into the phenomenon really does make it less of a problem if you are feeling unsettled.

[OpheliaBlue]

Then the dream changed and I was on my bed and I look to the right side and feel a stinging pain on my forearm and turns out there was some shadowed figure holding on to it and pricking me with a sewing needle but thankfully, I woke myself up before anything worse could have happened. how the heck can it go from an okay dream to that? Haha I had to laugh at that. Similar thing happened to me, only mine was recurring. I kept dreaming about being in bed, and suddenly became lucid. And each time there would be something in the bed with me that wasn't my bf. Or it would start out as him, then change. Anyway, point is, he bit me alot and it would cause me to wake up. So I decided that the next time I dreamed about the little bastard, I would do my most reliable LD check (looking in a mirror) to strengthen the lucidity, then went back and confronted the creature. It finally worked, after having the dream maybe 5 or 6 times. He quit being mean to me, and I was able to have a longer, more satisfying LD. and how do I get the right person to appear in my dream? also, do you have any other tips to a more successful lucid dream once you're in it? I've actually had some luck with calling a person on the phone in the LD. It works so well sometimes, that the moment i pick up the phone, he's already on the line and I didn't even dial a number lol. Sometimes they appear after that, and sometimes it's just a phone call heh. I think it's worth trying it out though, never know. As far as staying lucid once you're in a dream that's going the way you want it, I do a few things (especially if I see or feel that the dream is about to fade): I look at my hands for a while and move them around a bit, there's the mirror trick which has been my most successful one, then there's even shouting out loud "More Lucidity Please" or "More Clarity". Let me know if any of that worked for you, or if you have any other questions.

[Robot_Butler]

This happens to me all the time. I just had a bad episode this past weekend. I was stuck in sleep paralysis in my bed, lying on my side. A middle aged man with a short white beard was kneeling next to my bed, with his hands on my body. He was positioned as if he was holding me down with both hands, but I could not feel his hands on me. When I looked at him, he turned his head and looked me right in the eyes. I closed my eyes, and repeatedly tried to re-enter the dream, but it is horribly distracting having a creepy old dude staring at you. I started to feel vulnerable and frightened. As if on cue, the old guy started punching me or stabbing me in the head and face. I had to wake myself up by wiggling my toes. I sat up in bed, but the apparition did not disappear. I continued to hallucinate the man's face against the wall for at least a minute after I woke. He eventually faded out like the Cheshire Cat. He faded translucent, then transparent, until I could only see his eyes. I went back to sleep, and had two more amazing lucid dreams. Don't let this get you down when it happens. It is a sign that you are primed for some REM dreams. Calm down, return to sleep, and you will be right back in a vivid dream within minutes.

[OpheliaBlue]

Just say NO to lucid bullying! Man I'm glad I'm not the only one. These posts remind me alot of those hag dreams. You know, either you're lucid but have sleep paralysis in your bed, or you're in a FA, and something's in the room touching you or hurting you. Lucid bullies have to be stopped! I did find that confronting one helped, but I guess you guys are screwed if you have SP on top of everything else.

[Arch]

To me it's quite easily put, if someone tells you NOT to think about a polar bear, what do you think about? If you have ANY doubt something will happen, then your mind will go crazy and do exactly what you don't want to think about. If you don't want stuff like that to be happening then I recommend you just keep going and if something crazy happens just explore it and stay calm, that way it doesn't get out of hand.

[DinoSawr]

Here's a thought: Maybe when some scary thought or being enters your dream, imagine it really being your friend pulling a prank on you. Maybe he or she pulls off their mask and reveals it was all a joke. Creepy old dude? Maybe he knows how to breakdance. I know personally that if a fear of something started to grow, I wouldn't be able to stop it by ignoring it, because I would keep thinking about it. Perhaps this way you can turn the creepy unknown into something positive and funny even.