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Dragonicblood had an interesting forum questioning if people could control their sleep. So I decided to go ahead and post the ways one could do this. I got all the information from this site: http://www.dreamviews.com/



Definition

There is nothing inherently difficult to understand about the concept of lucid dreaming: as stated in the introduction, lucid dreaming is simply dreaming while being aware you are dreaming. You can think of lucid dreaming as being conscious while dreaming. If, by chance, during a dream it suddenly dawns on you that you are dreaming, then you have experienced a lucid dream, regardless of whether you have been able to attain control of your dream. Lucid dreaming is usually induced by some sort of cue—something that indicates to the person that what he or she is experiencing is a dream, and not reality. Cues, however, are not necessary for becoming lucid: sometimes people spontaneously become lucid without noticing anything strange or typical of dreams. Lucid dreaming is a very simple concept but for most it will take patience and determination to achieve.

Many people seem ignorant of the distinction between having a lucid dream, and controlling a dream. Being able to freely control one’s dream does not directly follow becoming lucid: one can have a lucid dream without any control whatsoever. Controlling your dream is simply proceeding to the next level, by attempting to exert your will upon your surroundings.

How do I start?

The main prerequisite for having lucid dreams is above average dream recall. Although it may at first not seem like it, developing dream recall is fairly easy. For the most part it takes only practice and motivation. These two necessities to developing dream recall are rather self-explanatory: if you want to get better at a skill you must practice; if you’re not motivated, you won’t practice. Diving right in and attempting to have lucid dreams without having the ability to recall your dreams is senseless because you’ll likely not remember your lucid dreams upon waking. Also, learning dream recall will aid in both your attempts to induce lucidity and to control your dreams because you will have developed the diligence and patience necessary to do so. Once you have improved your dream recall to a couple dreams per night you can move on to attempting to induce lucid dreaming. Again, practice and motivation will become key components to your success at lucid dreaming.

That's just a bit from the site. If you're interested in more just visit it. But I've been trying and I'm barely able to do it, if anyone else has been able to please post your experience here.

some facts from wikipedia.com

Even though it has only come to the attention of the general public in the last few decades, lucid dreaming is not a modern discovery.

In the Old Testament in the Song of Solomon 5:2, there is some debate as to whether lucid dreaming is mentioned. The New Living Translation of this verse reads as follows: "One night as I was sleeping, my heart awakened in a dream. I heard the voice of my lover. He was knocking at my bedroom door...". Other translations are less clear. The Revised Standard Version of the same passage states only that "I slept, but my heart was awake ...".

It is in the fifth century that we have one of the earliest written examples of a lucid dream — in a letter written by St. Augustine of Hippo in 415 A.D. And even as early as the eighth century, the Tibetan Buddhists were practising a form of yoga supposed to maintain full waking consciousness while in the dream state.

An early recorded lucid dreamer was the philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). Browne was fascinated by the world of dreams and stated of his own ability to lucid dream in his Religio Medici: "... yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof;" (R.M. Part 2:11).

Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys was probably the first person to argue that it is possible for anyone to learn to dream consciously. In 1867, he published his book Dreams and how to Guide Them, in which he documented more than twenty years of his own research into dreams.

The term "lucid dreaming" was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in his 1913 book A Study of Dreams (originally published in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 26, 1913) [6]. This book was highly anecdotal and not embraced by the scientific community. The term itself is considered by some to be a misnomer because it means much more than just "clear or vivid" dreaming [7]. A better term might have been "conscious dreaming".

The Senoi hunter-gatherers of Malaysia have been reported to make use of lucid dreaming extensively to ensure mental health.

And my personal favorite:

The enthusiastic endorsement of lucid dreaming during the 1970s by New Age proponents such as Carlos Castaneda did little to enhance its scientific credibility.

Two extremely interesting points to lucid dreaming . . . I highly recommend the keeping of a dream journal to follow what is dreamed each night.....but how many of us dream and know we are dreaming, and still feel like a spectator in our own dream?

Ah yes, Carlos C...... he had a most interesting way, didn't he?

just something i pulled off another site

There are typically several distinct periods during sleep when dreaming occurs. Most dreaming takes place during the four or five REM periods. If we relied on reports of dreamers to determine how many dreams per night a person has on average, the number would probably be smaller than 5. That is, I doubt if most people remember 5 to 7 dreams per night. A further difficulty in counting dreams is the fact that dreams are often so incoherent that a number of disconnected "themes" might be counted as one dream by one person, while another might count the same dream as ten or twenty distinct dreams. Since it is the "theme" rather than the exact dream that will be counted as a clairvoyant hit by those who believe in such things, I agree with Terence Hines that dreams ought to be counted by "themes" not by REM periods. I grant that the number of themes he arrives at is partly guesswork. In any case, he seems to have based his number on The Mind in Sleep: Psychology and Psychophysiobiology (Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1978) edited by A. Arkin, J. Antrobus and S. Ellman.

Hines writes: "In a single REM period, there are upwards of fifty dream 'themes'--snippets of more or less (often less) coherent 'story.' Thus, a normal individual will have at least two hundred fifty (five REM periods times fifty dream themes per period) dream themes per night." One might quibble about the exact number of dream themes on average a person has each night, but it is certainly much greater than the average number of REM periods.

Exactly....snippets of several different dreams coming to you when you wake and most fade away so quickly. I do know I've wakened up and going "WTF" to some of the parts I can remember. Lost my dream journal, need to start another one.

Just how strange for one nightmare to reoccur for years with very few changes.. as well as the one dream.

hmmmm as usual, great research, Seed.

I found interesting information and reserch at:

http://www.lucidity.com/NL53.ResearchPastFuture.html

Calrity of mind is the key to dream recall and active lucid dreaming...One must silence the internal voice and random thoughts...Once this is achieved, these activities are more successful...

Stress can certainly negatively affect one's ability to have a lucid dream - If I'm all stressed out there is no way I can use my energy subconsciously to control a dream..

When I wasn't so stressed out however, I even developed a little trick to find out if I was having a waking dream or not (different from lucid dreams I know); I would find myself lucid enough to turn towards a wall that had a lightswitch on it. If I switched it on and the lights stayed OFF then I knew I was in a waking dream and it was time to begin my fantasies. If I switched it on and the lights really DID come on, well I knew I was awake. Then the pinching and slapping came next.

I have lucid dreams quite a bit. A few of those times were when i was involved with a somewhat violent incubus (if anyone believes that, but I do). I knew i was dreaming as it was coming after me and in my head i could hear myself screaming at me to wake up. I have also been able to control my dreams....for example, which direction i may walk in or what to do/ what not to do in a certain situation....It just comes and goes. I dont use any techniques, it just happens naturally for me.

As for themes and reoccurring dreams....one particular dream I have had, has been the same for many many years....also, when i have a reoccurring dream that i may have forgotten about in the past....I realize while im sleeping that ive had that dream before. I really find all of it pretty strange....

Maybe that's my problem. I've been stressed out for the past week, just as I was beginning to do dream recalls. Before my mind fizzled out.

i have never been able to control my dreams, but i dont try. its a dream, i want to let my mind wander on its own...to see what kind of tweaked things i think about when im asleep. i enjoy being surprised with the new ideas i get from my dreams. and if im not even going to remember my lucid dream, why should i waste all my energy on it?

only control that i have over my dreams is the mental block that i have on them

the only thing i have over dreams is that i have them lol

Relax and clear your mind just before sleep...You will increase recall and control...Work from there....Don't take your stress from your waking world with you into your dreams...

wow very intresting, i will have to try that.

i would start with recall first. put paper and pen beside your bed, so when you wake up you can write your dreams down. when you dont really need paper and pen anymore, i found that i have much easier control over my dreams and now i dont really have to think or specially concentrated anymore. I just know i dream and can take over controll of it, which can be quiet funny sometimes ;)

I specially like that i sometimes, can just go on dreaming after i woke up and fell asleep again, like dreaming as serie lol

I've done most of the things mentioned here, but then I rarely sleep so I don't get much opportunity.

i was talking about this the other day witha friend of mine. he said he controls his dreams all the time. you have to stimulate the brain and make it aware so he said , pitcture rubbing your hands togeather and that stimulation will make your brain aware. he said he flies all the time in his dreams, i only flew once. but to fly all the time in your dreams would kick ass

I often fly in my dreams. I just have an awareness that somethings different, and I know that I can do it. Often I'm aware that I'm dreaming, but it gets more complicated than that. There's often a halfdream time, where I have the choice to go back into the dream or leave if I don't think I can handle it.

I see dreams every night....

I can never make sense of my dreams they all kind of merge into one after a while. i can remember trying to pump gas into a saly army van out of the window though, that was wierd.

i keep a journal of all my dreams...and then have them interpreted...turned out..the dreams i have are premontions...but anywho....dreams have meaning...you just have to know what it is

I would like to suggest a book by Craig Hamilton-Parker ( a medium who lives in England) titled, "Remembering & Understanding Your Dreams". This book is very informative and was instrumental in teaching me how to achieve the lucid dream state for total recall.

Keeping a dream diary or journal is essential and of course determination and perseverance on your part.

He explains different techniques and experiments to help you achieve your goal, whether it be remembering your dreams, working with your dreams, lucid dreaming for total recall, recalling past lives or remembering the future.

I highly recommend this book!

Everyone should keep journals. Keep them for life, dreams, poetry or stories, workouts, ect. Life and the mind are precious things and should be documented. Reflection can help you remember who you are or take you away from where you don't want to be.

Its kind of interesting. Most people say they fly in their dreams. I never had that ambition. I always dive and swim under water in my dreams, if i dream of water that is lol

yes it is very interesting my love

I've been able to do this ONCE.

It was basically like being awake while you sleep and dream. I remembered having over half a dozen dreams. I remembered a lot of detail about them.

I didn't get to control them though. Basically anything I was AFRAID to happen would happened. I knew I was dreaming, I knew what I wanted to do, but I guess my fears came out and took over. Everything seemed a lot more terrifying than when I usually dream. I kept waking up in panic. I wanted to call someone because, halfway through the night, I did not want to dream anymore.

It was fairly easy to wake up each time, but it was very hard to stay awake. It made me feel like even though I was concious, my body was still asleep and even opening my eyes couldn't change my body's cycle.

I haven't been able to achieve this since that night. Even though it was a pretty bad experience, I still want to try again.

The only technique I used was some chanting and small visualization. I kept telling myself "you'll be awake, you'll remember everything" and visioning myself sitting in front of two large white doors.

strange. I guess I never knew that's what it's called. I'm almost always aware of the fact that it's a dream when I'm sleeping. I didn't know there was anything special about that.

I've been aware of dreams many times, but that wasn't lucid dreaming. When you experience it, you'll recognize that it's not normal.

I achieved Lucid Dreaming about 4 times in my life.

It is mind blowing, so awesome to control everything. No Fear !

I've made no effort ever to control my dreams as often I don't want to remember them.

Darkest Desires , Kat, etc., are absolutely on-point. The first step, and the key, is to start a dream journal. This helps with the “above average dream recall” mentioned in the article. Flying in dreams seems to be a nice precursor to lucidity. Those who have many flying dreams tend to adapt to lucidity more easily.

Ruthvenmoon-- That happens to me all the time. I call it “pre-lucid control.” You should use that as a stepping-stone to becoming fully lucid. The next time one of your fears comes true, remember to ask yourself if you’re dreaming. In fact, do it any time you’re afraid, regardless.

Interesting... very interesting... I don't dream to much though... and when i do... it's only predicting bad things.

Forced Lucid Dreaming "may" happen if you take some Melatonin. Lucid Dreaming is a side effect to this over the counter sleep aid. Just be prepare for a nasty headache then you get up. I been doing this type of dreaming for many many years. I have use Lucid Dreaming for my studies in Causation and other self learning. Works great. One does not really reach the Higher planes doing this becuase the mind is too busy but, thems the brakes. There is a caution because you may not remember what is real or dream. This is what happen to Peter in the boat. He could have sworn he saw JC and the walking on water thing until he did his sleep walk, and woke up in the water! Of course JC was no where to be found and Peter had to explain what he thought happened. And we all know what later happened. Lucid Dreaming seems very very real - use it as a tool for your Higher learning. ~ nuf said.

thanx for the info, let me check it out, and ill come back and tell you what i think, but i wonder if you can really do that...

Happens to me a lot - used to happen more than it does now...

First time it happened I was in a nightmare, I was in college, a lot of my friends were getting attacked, hurt, killed... suddenly I realized I was dreaming - willed a BFG into my hands - blew away those who were hurting my friends, and went back to sleep...

Other times I've been in a dream... gotten BORED with the dream - and "changed channels"...

Yep, that's it. Changing channels is one way to look at it. Once you get the hang of it, you can change the dream many times. Ever wonder what would happen if only if..? Now you can find out. Didn't like the outcome? Go back and change it. One way to see a possible future or change a past.

strange but also has happened to me

~i dont really want to control my dreams~ i just let my mind do what it wants in dream land~

i can manipulate the dreams of my vr wife Vampireslayer too.

I find that even on those rare days that I remember the bits and pieces of my dreams, that one has only seconds to consciously make an effort to remember them before your daily duties and worries quickly work their way into your still groggy brain and begin clearing the brush...taking with it your dreams and morning epiphanies.

I used to work very hard at creating the pre-sleep consciousness for remembering my dreams but I have long ago decided that my dreams were far too confusing to work out in any legitimate fashion. I now allow myself to look upon dreams as an elusive but warm fog that greets me in the morning and is quickly burned away by the sun.

I had 2 lucid dreams, both about sex with Johnny Depp.

i remember almost all of my dreams. but i'm one of those people who believes that your dreams mean something. (if anyone else believes this please give some input) but i had a dream a couple of weeks ago that littlerally turned my world upside down. (to let you in on the sit., my grand mother died the march that i was 15, my dad died that may.)
in my dream i was a little girl walking through familiar woods with my dad. we were holding hands having the usual daddy daughter conversation. we walked a ways and then i saw that about 100 yards ahead, the ground dropped off. i stooped and said "wait, daddy, i'm scared." he said, i't ok, honey, i want to make you like me." he boke off into a super speed run and being a little girl i was doing a superman flight behind him as he pulled me by my hand. from the point where he had started running to the edge of the cliff i aged from a little girl, to my current age (19). he did a super man leap off the edge and we went like 20 stories in the air. i could feel the air on my face, the force of him pulling my hand, everything. we came down at super sonic speed. he landed in a crouch on his feet. i landed flat on the front side of my body. my brother (15) came over to me and said "sis, are you ok?" i couldn't talk, i couldn't breathe, i couldn't move. my dad said "it's ok, son, she's gunna be like me." my brother lifted up my left shoulder and my head fell down to where i could see underneath myself. my chest was broken open and profusely pouring blood (kinda like when you pull the plug out of and oil pan in a car, only if stretched the whole length of my chest diagonally.). my face was cracked in the same manner. and my arm was broken and the bone had torn through the skin. my brother began to cry and said " dad, she's dying! do something!" my dad calmly replied, "it's ok, son, she's going to be like me." my brother laid me back on the ground and stroked my head lovingly. i somehow managed to whisper out the words "tell mom i love her." and then felt myself die. everything went black. when i awoke again, (ok pause for some more background info . . . when i was a baby, between the ages of 1 and four, there was a rocking chair that swiveled in my dad's living room, seeing as my parents were still maried then, my mom would hear it rocking and get scared. there WAS a ghost in my dads house. i've seen her! anywho, she would hear the chair rocking and very causiously walk down the hallway to see what was in the chair. it was always me. i had left my bed and gone into the living room and was sleeping and rocking in the chair.) ok so back to the dream when i awoke again (still in the dream) i was sitting in that rocking chair rocking back and forth. still broken but not bleeding, even though i had blood all over me, but i was a little girl again. my grandmother walked down the hallway and stopped when she got to the end. she looked at me and asked, "are you going to be alright?"

and then i woke up. and cried for atleast an hour. so if anyone has any thoughts on that please share.