Thread: Ways to suppress lucid dreaming?

Hi there,

I'm new to the forums and I've registered to ask a certain question. Maybe it was already asked before and if so - pardon me.

Is there any way to suppress lucid dreaming? I have been conducting experiments to induce lucid dreaming for several years. My only problem is that I'm having fully controllable lucid dreams, several times a week - sometimes even several days in a row.

When I wake up I'm feeling pretty exhausted like I just got home from a business trip. After three lucid dreams a night my brain reacts with serious headaches. I'm a writer and I can't bother wasting my time to rest with this stuff almost EVERY NIGHT.

Example: The other dream I got a little fed up with it all and wrecked the bar of a friend of mine (in a lucid dream of course ). Two nights later the lucid bar was completely intact again. The next night, it magically appeared to be destroyed the same fashion as before - then following discussion arose:

Him: Dude, this is quite real around here...
Me: CONTINUITY... it wasn't wrecked yesterday, was it?
Him: *laughs* after all it's not YOUR problem, eh?

Right now, I'm pretty much fed up with argueing with recently deceased people that they can't be real, or turning down offers any kind from some dumb constructs of my mind.

Any suggestions?

Strange that you find it tiring. I have plenty of stints where I lucid dream many nights of the week, sometimes numerous times a night, and I (usually) feel no less rested than when I have non-lucid dreams - unless the LD's are very intense.

I guess the best advice I could give you would be to stop trying to control your dreams. Stop trying to interact with them. Stop trying to have debates with dream characters about their state. Tune yourself out. Let the dreams just carry on, on their own, and eventually you should find yourself less and less attentive to them, which should strip you of your lucidity.

It's basically the same as tuning out a movie. If you refuse to pay attention to it, you will find that you've missed a great portion of it.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

I guess the best advice I could give you would be to stop trying to control your dreams. Stop trying to interact with them. Stop trying to have debates with dream characters about their state. Tune yourself out. Let the dreams just carry on, on their own, and eventually you should find yourself less and less attentive to them, which should strip you of your lucidity.

I've reached the state where I was exchanging conversations with those dreamt characters long ago and doing all the stuff like flying and creating stuff, letting me be taken back to places and all. It just gets annoying now since there's no kick anymore.

The first couple of times it may be nice to talk to your dead grandpa, being in Singapoore or having intercourse with your first girlfriend or co-worker. But I've reached the point where I know - even while lucid dreaming - that it's just not real. I could have 50 conversations with gramps but all I do get out of it is talking to myself and a thought up character who insists on being real, even after being logically confronted with the opposite.

It gets old and tiring since my job requires negotiating with people over things, just that these people are real. I don't need that at night and not with unreal people

Well, the way I see it, you're becoming the victim of an underactive imagination. Something not being "real" never stopped someone with an active imagination from enjoying it. It is a frame of mind that many people just plain lack.

I still believe that you can work to tune yourself out of lucidity. Maybe not at all times, but for lengths of time. But, if you are "cursed" with constant lucidity, I'd say you need to reload on interesting things to do while lucid. And by "interesting," I don't mean the mundane, obligatory lucid dream scenarios (flying, travelling to far off lands, breathing underwater, talking to dead people). I'm talking about teleporting to a distant planet of superhuman warlords and challenging them to an all-on-one battle; riding headfirst into traffic on a motorcycle like Trinity in Matrix: Reloaded (I did that once. Awesome. Heh). or other truely unique "you just can't get this kind of experience anywhere else" scenarios.

What's likely the problem is not that you have lucid dreams all the time. It seems more that you are finding yourself unable to make the best of them.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Well, the way I see it, you're becoming the victim of an underactive imagination. Something not being "real" never stopped someone with an active imagination from enjoying it. It is a frame of mind that many people just plain lack.

I still believe that you can work to tune yourself out of lucidity. Maybe not at all times, but for lengths of time. But, if you are "cursed" with constant lucidity, I'd say you need to reload on interesting things to do while lucid. And by "interesting," I don't mean the mundane, obligatory lucid dream scenarios (flying, travelling to far off lands, breathing underwater, talking to dead people). I'm talking about teleporting to a distant planet of superhuman warlords and challenging them to an all-on-one battle; riding headfirst into traffic on a motorcycle like Trinity in Matrix: Reloaded (I did that once. Awesome. Heh). or other truely unique "you just can't get this kind of experience anywhere else" scenarios.

What's likely the problem is not that you have lucid dreams all the time. It seems more that you are finding yourself unable to make the best of them.

Those are very wise words, thanks.

But all the fancy stuff isn't that much of my book since my lucid dreams tend to be VERY real and intense. And I've been noticing that the dream signs and the checks don't work at an increasing number of times. If you look at your hand and it looks perfectly normal and your watch doesn't change time even after the third time you've checked it... well, let's say you're not too keen on leaping from the Empire State Building after that

Stop dreaming.
The simple answer, just lose the dream. Don't even try, there is no need at this stage of lucidity.

If I can do this, then you can.

Don't be afraid.

heres a suggestion - next time u find yourself lucid in a dream, instead of wrecking your friends bar, teleport to a hammock strung between two trees on a beach in the carribean sea, and then make a margarita appear in your hand. then lie down in the hammock, and stare up in perfect silence at the stars. lets see if that gives you a headache.

Originally Posted by Metronome

heres a suggestion - next time u find yourself lucid in a dream, instead of wrecking your friends bar, teleport to a hammock strung between two trees on a beach in the carribean sea, and then make a margarita appear in your hand. then lie down in the hammock, and stare up in perfect silence at the stars. lets see if that gives you a headache.

lol. ²

Originally Posted by Metronome

heres a suggestion - next time u find yourself lucid in a dream, instead of wrecking your friends bar, teleport to a hammock strung between two trees on a beach in the carribean sea, and then make a margarita appear in your hand. then lie down in the hammock, and stare up in perfect silence at the stars. lets see if that gives you a headache.

Seems like the best suggestion of all

But just as in real life, this won't solve any problem, gets no business done.
After all, it might be worth trying