ROBERT WAGGONER

LUCID DREAMING: GATEWAY TO THE INNER SELF

Hi Lucid Dreamers,

Occasionally lucid dreamers send me questions at my book's website www.LucidAdvice.com

Here's a recent one with my response.  How would you have responded?

Good day. I've been practicing lucid dreaming since 2010 and among all the experiences I've had, one stood out. From time to time I would simply realize I'm dreaming. Other times I undergo what some people call the vibrational stage. This is when a ringing or bubbling sound in my ear becomes louder and louder accompanied by my body feeling a tingling sensation all over.

The experience that stood out was the feeling of being stretched from the head and feet or being dragged around either from the head or from the feet. I've had semi-conscious dreams when I would be dragged around the floor while sitting or be dragged off the bed. I've concluded that the dreams of being dragged around in the dream and the stretching/dragging sensation during the vibrational stage are related.

One time I finally called out this dragging force out. It appeared as a phallic shadow. When I asked what it was it began vocalizing which shook the room we were in.

It was weird...

- Slide

My response:

Hi Slide,

Great to hear about your practice of lucid dreams. But I have a bit of news to share: these vibrational stage events sound like a very common feature of OBEs, as does your experience of being stretched, dragged, etc.

In my book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, I devote half a chapter to the phenomenological differences between a 'lucid dream' and the OBE.  Stephen LaBerge did some early research and found that about half of lucid dreamers surveyed, also had experience with OBEs (so your experience seems fairly common for lucid dreamers -- but it is important to see the difference between these two unique states).

These two states of lucid dreaming and OBEs have similarities -- just as a house cat and a mountain lion have honest similarities -- but they are distinct enough to merit separate classification. So if you have a chance, check my book out of a library, and read about the distinctions between these two states. Lucid wishes!

- Robert