“Freely Control Your Dreams” “Lucid Dreaming” Anyone have questions? I’ll teach you how to do it.

Lucid dreaming is a type of dream where you’re aware that you’re dreaming while still in the dream. People who experience lucid dreams often report being able to control and change dream situations as they wish.

Ask me anything

• [2]Can you really see any dream you want?

Yes, you can

• [11]If you train a bit more, you can achieve astral projection

You mean like creating a state where it feels like astral projection in the dream?

• [12]How do you do it?

On an anonymous internet forum, the discussion about lucid dreaming is heating up. In Japan, there’s a forum culture called “2channel” or “5channel,” and this exchange seems to be taking place in such a forum.

I can’t do it 100% of the time, but when you close your eyes and are about to fall asleep, at the moment when you feel yourself drifting off, imagine the dream you want to see in your mind. That way you can fully enter the dream. You’ll know when you’ve entered the dream because it feels like a strange sensation

• [13]I have lucid dreams sometimes, but is there really that much to do in them? I hear stories about finding good ideas for work, but why would I want to work even in my dreams? And with sports, you’re not burning calories or building muscle since you’re sleeping. In the end, I usually just fly around or create girls to play with. Lately I’ve started to think that normal dreams with unpredictable developments are more interesting
• [18]I usually end up with sleep paralysis. Are there any tips to avoid that?

“Sleep paralysis” is a traditional Japanese expression for sleep paralysis, referring to a phenomenon where one cannot move their body. It’s highly related to lucid dreaming, and many Japanese people have experienced it.

• [21]Actually, lucid dreaming is close to the separation of body and mind, so it can lead to astral projection. I can’t do it myself though. They say training yourself to write down what you dreamt in a notebook or something every day is good, so maybe keep a notebook and pen by your pillow?
• [22]I could do it in the past, but not anymore. Do I need to tire my body out?
• [23]I’ve recently started to realize in dreams that I’m dreaming or think that I don’t want to wake up yet, but how can you act freely?

I’ve experienced sleep paralysis too. It ultimately comes down to whether you can maintain consciousness during REM sleep. If you enter a dream then, it becomes a lucid dream, and if you open your eyes, you get sleep paralysis where only your body can’t move, and since it’s half-dream, you see and hear hallucinations. I’ve had it three times

You should be able to do it if you try a few times

• [30]I could easily do it when I was tired too. But I heard that if you tell dream characters “this is a dream,” they’ll stop moving and just stare at you, so I’m hesitant to say it

Participants exchange experiences about “lucid dreaming.” The urban legend-like story that dream characters stop responding when told “this is a dream” is a type of ghost story commonly told in Japanese internet culture.

Hmm… it’s true that memories of lucid dreams tend to fade, so taking notes might be a good idea

• [32]There’s also the pattern of transitioning from sleep paralysis. I can’t intentionally induce sleep paralysis, but when it happens, I realize, “Ah, this is the beginning of a lucid dream.” After that, I imagine a girl and she appears, so we play around, or I try flying

I can do it even without tiring my body out. However, it’s definitely easier when you’re extremely sleepy

When the dream world isn’t clearly defined yet, you can make it happen by imagining in your mind. I have to be careful because I sometimes accidentally imagine ghosts and end up with sleep paralysis or seeing hallucinations

If you think they’ll stop when you say it, they’ll stop, and if you think they won’t stop, they won’t stop. That’s the nature of lucid dreams

Yeah, and if you imagine something scary at that time, it becomes a terrible nightmare, and if you try to force your eyes open, you might see hallucinations. That’s pretty scary

• [53]That was popular on VIP a while back, something about Nagura. The dream notebook really worked

“VIP” is one of the popular boards on 2channel, and “Nagura” refers to an urban legend about dreams that was popular at the time. A “dream notebook” is a notebook for recording dream content, known as a training method for lucid dreaming.

• [54]If you panic and get scared, it doesn’t stop. You start hearing weird laughter or your wife sleeping next to you turns into a monster. The key is to stay calm and think, “This is a dream, so I’ll do something fun” and switch your mindset

What effect does the dream notebook have?

• [59]I’ve experienced it, and it was really amazing

I’ve heard women screaming or had tall women coming through the door. I wonder if what appears is what you’re afraid of

The “tall woman” that appears in Japanese sleep paralysis and ghost stories is a typical element of horror tales. By sharing such frightening experiences on the forum, participants create a sense of solidarity.

• [65]These days, I sometimes get tired of thinking about what to do, so when I become lucid in a dream, I just go to sleep within the dream
• [68]That’s probably how it works. Things you haven’t specifically imagined keep happening, so your subconscious fears take form
• [71]It was recommended as an introductory training for lucid dreaming back then. Gradually shifting from watching a movie to entering the movie. Flying dreams became super realistic

Hallucinations are quite scary even when you know they’re not real, and there are risks. I wonder if the mechanism is the same as regular nightmares or if it’s something different

• [76]If you have any recommended things to do in lucid dreams besides flying and using Kamehameha or Avan Strash, please let me know

“Kamehameha” and “Avan Strash” are special techniques from the popular Japanese anime “Dragon Ball.” Using anime techniques in lucid dreams has become a kind of status symbol among Japanese internet users.

That’s amazing. But it could be dangerous if it turns into a nightmare

• [82]It’s different from regular nightmares, isn’t it? With normal bad dreams, you somehow wake up, but with scary dreams in a failed lucid dream state, you want to wake up but can’t. When you think you’ve woken up but you’re still in the dream, it starts to loop, and that’s dangerous. When you actually wake up, you feel anxious and your body feels really heavy

I’m too scared to try, but it might be fun to deliberately create a nightmare and then blast the scary things with a Kamehameha

• [85]I can sometimes have them and sometimes not, but please teach me how to have them consistently. By the way, I gave up on the dream diary because it was too embarrassing

Yeah, probably because your body is asleep but your brain is partially awake. Seeing hallucinations in your actual room is really not good

• [94]Once Godzilla appeared in my dream and it was really scary, but I realized it couldn’t happen in reality so it must be a dream, and I defeated it with Final Flash. I’m not sure why I chose Vegeta, but that’s what happened

“Final Flash” is a technique used by the character “Vegeta” from Dragon Ball. Among Japanese people, experiences of using anime techniques in lucid dreams are not uncommon. “Godzilla” is also a representative Japanese monster.

Consistency is difficult, but recognizing REM sleep is important. It’s surprisingly hard to notice when you enter REM sleep, but you’ll get better at noticing with practice

• [104]When I become aware of REM sleep, I always end up with sleep paralysis outside my body…
• [109]Not only becoming Vegeta, but being able to summon Godzilla is impressive
• [111]It’s good to make a habit of checking whether you’re in a dream or reality in daily life. Specifically, in reality, there’s a process or time progression of how you got to where you are. For example, you wake up in the morning, eat, change clothes, commute, and arrive at work. But in dreams, you’re somewhere doing something without context, so if you get in the habit of thinking “Why am I here and what am I doing?” a little bit, it becomes easier to realize “Oh, this is a dream” when you’re dreaming

I didn’t summon him, he just appeared on his own

• [115]I’ve been caught in a dream loop about toilets 3 or 4 times. I was in despair thinking “I’ve definitely wet myself when I wake up…” but somehow I was safe

“Toilet dreams” are a common dream among Japanese people, characterized by anxiety that they might actually urinate. This experience is something many participants can relate to.

• [117]I’ll try that practice. I want to have lucid dreams every day

The way I see it, if you think “Can’t I move right now?” and try to move your body or open your eyes, that’s when sleep paralysis happens

• [121]This method is recommended. But honestly, you’ll get bored of it eventually
• [125]But sleep paralysis is still very scary. Being unable to move in that dark space, it’s hard to stay calm
• [132]It’s not a lucid dream, but dreams where you soil yourself are scary. For some reason, you do it nonchalantly

The discussion shifts to dreams about excretion, and the thread gradually comes to an end. In Japanese internet culture, it’s not uncommon to candidly share such vivid experiences. Through the mysterious phenomenon of lucid dreaming, the participants shared their experiences with each other.