#shit this is kinda embarrassing ejjaksudthe

[huggingtentacles]

Alright!! So. Lucid dreaming. I've been introduced to the concept a few years ago. For those who don't know, lucid dreaming is when you become aware of the fact that you're dreaming, but you don't wake up. It's a pretty neat brain trick which allows you to control your dreams. It's pretty fun. This thing is less of a skill, and more of a habit to me. People do a bunch of different methods to start lucid dreaming (but some are just luckier than others with the way their brain works).

This is not an exact science, I'm just telling you how I do this. There are some conditions for this, some you can control, some you don't.

First and foremost, you need to be less stressed throughout the day. I know it's kinda outside of our control most of the time, but if you happen to he less anxious during a certain day, you can try lucid dreaming. The reason why you need to be less stressed is because of the brain lag that happens when you're falling asleep while being aware of it. Your brain kinda gives you a little shock and snaps you back. This happens because of stress.

Note that when I say stress, I mean not only fear or anxiety. I mean all kinds of stress, even if it's happy stress. If your life is particularly exciting, lucid dreaming is pretty difficult. You need a calm day. Being fed and hydrated also helps.

Another thing is that your sleep schedule has to be relatively consistent. The amount of sleep and when you're going to sleep doesn't matter, what matters is that you're doing it roughly at the same time every day.

I wanna repeat that it's what I figured out myself, and other people on the internet can give you better guides. I am not sure if it's efficient, correct or even healthy. Do this at your own discretion.

Alright, now the method. What you wanna do is wake up during a certain stage of your sleep, for me it comes roughly 1.5-2 hours before waking up. You set an early alarm and go to sleep.

When the alarm goes off, you will be in this half-sleeping state. The one where your bed feels like the best place in the world and you wanna fall back to sleep again. What you wanna do is, in this state, you get out of bed and do something. Go to the bathroom, drink some water, but nothing too difficult or exciting, you don't wanna wake up completely. You need to maintain this half-sleeping state, but also wake up your mind a little bit so you don't just fall back to normal sleep again.

After that (don't spend more than 1-2 minutes doing what you're doing, also being warm helps) you go back to bed. Now you're conscious, but not fully awake. Now you close your eyes and relax your body. Your face it probably tense, your eyebrows, your tongue, your jaw. Then your shoulders. Relax everything, but stay aware. You will feel like your body goes back to sleep without your brain. I want to add that your body can try to snap you awake during this stage, even if you're meeting the conditions. You may feel a little shock or feel like you're falling for a second. It's fine for a first time, you can just try again. Just don't move or tense up your muscles. If you snap awake, take a deep breath and proceed. You're not really *doing* anything, you're just waiting for your body to fall asleep with your consciousness intact. This feeling is specific and unmissable, and when it starts, you start imagining things. Don't imagine nothing too crazy, just some kind of environment.

If it's outside, imagine the grass/pavement you're touching, the sounds you're hearing. If it's a room, try to imagine what being in this room feels like. This place is kinda your hub area, if you imagine the same place every time, it forms a habit. I'll explain what works for me, it's kind of embarrassing but whatever.

I imagine an empty room, with a bed and me on it. I imagine the blanket, the pillow, but what really grounds me in the dream is imagining someone else in the bed with me. Please hear me out it's not weird stfu. I imagine hugging a person. It doesn't have to be anyone specific, I usually don't even give them a face, I just imagine the sensations related to hugging someone. Their warmth, the texture and feel of their skin, their heartbeat, the smell. I do it because it works and not for any other reason!!!

After that I'm already lucid dreaming. The place feels really fuckin real and really weird at the same time. I get out of my dream bed and walk around a little. It's important to not let the lucidity slip, but also not to startle yourself into waking up. Let your movements be fluid and calm. Btw since you're in a dream, the gravity works as much as you need it to be. Float around a little bit if you want. Get comfortable is what I'm saying.

After you feel completely submerged into the dream, you can get out of your "hub" area and do whatever. Your dreams are up to you now. You have a couple hours like this, but honestly the concept of time doesn't really work there, your brain doesn't register it.

There are a couple "hub" areas and things people focus on to ground themselves into their dream. Some people imagine a tunnel, some imagine themselves underwater (you don't need air in a dream) some imagine a room they're familiar with, fictional or otherwise.

So yeah that's it that's my experience with lucid dreaming. I'm probably doing it wrong but it works.

#lucid dreaming #huggingtentacles lore #huggingtentacles is going insane again #i am totally not spending all of my time in the dream touching women what are you talking about #shit this is kinda embarrassing ejjaksudthe #idc press post