Ask HN: Can you control your dreams?
I've read about lucid dreams, and several ways to achieve this state. However I wanted to know if any of you guys was able to fully control your dreams, every night.
Can you just go to sleep and then choose what you want to dream this night?
2 comments
[ 1.4 ms ] story [ 27.7 ms ] threadIt took a few months of practice to be able to do it on demand. For me that meant keeping a dream journal by my bed and diligently writing in it every time I woke up.
The trick I used to transfer control of the dream to my conscious mind was to "touch my nose"; I had to keep reminding myself while conscious to do so.
I eventually stopped doing it because oddly enough I started feeling not as rested as I would have liked after active dreaming.
It was not so much the case that I could choose what I would dream, though I suppose that might be possible. It was more like I would be in a dream setting determined by my subconscious mind and then I would take control and do whatever I wanted-- fly, use magic, take the story in a new direction, whatever. But it was always clear that I was dreaming.
Usually that resulted in me waking up very shortly after becoming aware.
A handful of times I was able to hang on to the dream for a while and do what I wanted, more-or-less.
I should spent more time with it, but I haven't done it in a few years now.