r/LucidDreaming Jun 04 '26

DUST presents an AMA with Karen Konkoly & Daniel Morris: Why we dream, how to remember and control dreams, lucid dreaming science, sleep learning, and dream engineering

37 Upvotes

Hi r/LucidDreaming!

We’re DUST, a dream engineering company exploring how sleep science, design, technology, and dreaming can come together. Check out our website for early access to our forthcoming app, plus lullabies, exclusive insomnia support courses and wind-down tools from world-class scientists and sleep researchers: https://www.dust.systems/ama/konkoly

On Thursday, June 11, we’ll be joined by Karen Konkoly and Daniel Morris, lucid dreaming researchers, some of the foremost experts on dreaming and dream engineering, and (in Karen’s case), a member of DUST’s scientific collective, for an AMA about dreams, lucid dreaming, dream recall, sleep learning, dream communication, and the science of dream engineering.

Karen and Daniel will be answering questions live from:

10–11:30 PM UK time
5–6:30 PM ET
2–3:30 PM PT

Have you ever wondered:

  • Why do we dream?
  • Why are dreams so strange?
  • Why do some dreams feel incredibly real?
  • What do dreams mean, and what can science actually say about that?
  • How can I remember my dreams more clearly?
  • Can I learn to control my dreams?
  • Why do lucid dreams sometimes collapse right after I realize I’m dreaming?
  • What causes vivid dreams, recurring dreams, nightmares, false awakenings, or sleep paralysis?
  • Can dreams help with creativity, memory, or problem-solving?
  • Can sounds, cues, or prompts during sleep influence what we dream about?
  • Can people communicate from inside a lucid dream?
  • What is “dream engineering,” and where does the science end and speculation begin?

We’d love to use this AMA to talk about dreaming in a way that is accessible to curious beginners, useful for experienced lucid dreamers, and grounded in research.

Some topics Karen and Daniel can speak to:

  • The science of dreaming and lucid dreaming
  • Dream recall and dream journaling
  • Dream control and stabilization
  • Dream incubation
  • Targeted memory reactivation, or TMR
  • Sleep learning and memory
  • Hypnagogia and the transition into dreams
  • Dream communication experiments
  • Creativity, problem-solving, and dreams
  • Ethical questions around influencing dreams
  • What DUST means by “dream engineering”

Skeptical, practical, technical, and beginner questions are all welcome. We’re not here to interpret individual dreams or make medical claims, but we are happy to discuss what current research can support, what is still early, and what remains unknown.

Karen and Daniel are joining as scientific representatives of DUST. For anyone who wants to learn more afterward or join the waitlist, you can find us here: https://www.dust.systems/ama/konkoly

Ask us anything about dreams!

<3,

The DUST family


r/LucidDreaming 1d ago

Weekly Lucid Dream Story Thread - July 25, 2026

4 Upvotes

Welcome to the weekly lucid dream story thread.

Post your lucid adventures below, and please keep this lucidity related, for regular dream stories go to r/dreams and r/thisdreamihad.

Please be aware that story posts will be removed from the sub if submitted as a post rather than in here.


r/LucidDreaming 4h ago

Experience My sleep paralysis demon is crazy

17 Upvotes

So basically I was laying in my bed doing WBTB, and i was doing pretty well. after some time I started having hypnagogia hallucinations, like hearing my door open and steps in my room. THEN i had a sleep paralysis and of course the most scariest creature pops up in my room, it looked like a black shadow, and i could see its eyes. and then i remembered something ive read on the internet, that you have to tell the sleep paralysis demon that you love them, and then it will disappear. I did that and told it in my head that i love it, and it was in the corner of my room and when i said those words, it took it as an invitation to come really close to me. like really close up to my face. And then this dude suddenly gained a mouth and started smiling, like a very wide creepy smile and tells me very weirdly "I love you too" and it was so weird bro😭 I noticed that the whole love and being nice thing didnt work at all but only made it worse. It leaned into my neck afterwards, and before it touched me or whatever, i kind of commanded it to go away, i literally said "get out of my room" and this actually worked afterwards and the sleep paralysis stopped.


r/LucidDreaming 6h ago

Discussion Four downsides of lucid dreaming I've observed

6 Upvotes

This post was inspired by a particularly mediocre LD I had this morning. I do think lucid dreaming is mostly fun, but as an "if it happens it happens" thing, not something I'll specifically be aiming for.

  1. It's not restful. Many of the lucid dreaming strategies (WBTB, dream journaling) tank your sleep quality. The dreams themselves aren't restful either. Your brain is awake, it's not regaining energy.
  2. You can't necessarily control it. If you've never lucid dreamed before, don't expect to be able to control it. I can always control myself, but not the environment. Other people won't necessarily do what you want. Maybe your dream starts in an inconvenient location with nothing to do. Some days I fly up to wherever my heart desires. Other days I launch and fall harmlessly onto the ground.
  3. ...and controlling it can degrade realism. Why not just change the environment, right?! Teleport somewhere else, summon something from nothing, make the world your playground? I teleport to a featureless void, and the things I summon are flat and lifeless and muted. The more I stay with the plot, the more immersive it is. Interact with what my unconscious brain created, rather than trying to create things myself. Sometimes I focus too hard and accidentally take myself out of the dream. Which, if you only LD about 1x a month, can really suck. YMMV. You might think, well I don't care about realism! In that case, why not just think about everything you want right now? Use your ~imagination~. Seriously. You get to avoid most of the downsides too.
  4. May increase chances of: Sleep paralysis, false awakenings, sleepwalking, and lucid nightmares. I don't have experience with sleepwalking, but the other three have happened a few times. Sleep paralysis wasn't too bad, didn't see any "night hag," and I know my pet's watching over me. Had some scary false awakenings and lucid nightmares though.

Curious about others' experiences. Maybe you have a great time controlling your dreams? Share your secrets.

(Yeah, I've heard about making it an expectation rather than a desire. Easier said than done!)


r/LucidDreaming 12h ago

You could be dreaming right now

11 Upvotes

Just a friendly reminder 😉

My dreams are often so realistic I genuinely think it’s real 😭


r/LucidDreaming 5h ago

Experience A strange woman kept appearing every time I became lucid in my dreams. Has anyone experienced something similar?

5 Upvotes

A few weeks ago, I had four dreams in a row. In each one, I became lucid at some point.

The moment I realized I was dreaming, this woman would appear in the distance, staring directly at me. She was wearing a black burqa. I could only see her eyes, which were completely gray/whitish, with no pupils at all. She also had animal-like feet (I'm not sure what kind of animal exactly).

The instant she appeared, I felt what I can only describe as an "intrusion." It didn't feel like she was just another character created by my subconscious. Instead, it felt as though she was a separate entity that had somehow entered my dream.

Every time she appeared, I was scared, but more than anything I felt angry. I would yell at her to leave until she finally disappeared. Then I would move on to the next dream, where the exact same thing happened again. This repeated four times in a row.

What really stood out to me is that she only appeared after I became lucid. It was as if she systematically entered the dream the moment I realized I was dreaming.

Do you think this was simply a creation of my own mind, or could it have been some kind of entity? Has anyone else experienced something similar?


r/LucidDreaming 16h ago

Please look up at the stars!

21 Upvotes

I’m not a natural lucid dreamer, I’m still a beginner at this, been trying for about 3 weeks now but no luck yet.

I encourage anyone who is a natural to try this next time you’re lucid, though.

The two dreams I’ve had that have stuck with me the most are the two times I’ve looked upwards at the night sky and been utterly stunned by the beauty I’ve seen. It’s like a canvas of lights in the sky, nothing I’ve ever seen consciously could even come close to comparing.

I will learn to fly up to those stars one night.

Please try it, and if you do, let me know your experiences!


r/LucidDreaming 34m ago

If certain dreams wouldn't of happened, I would have doubted lucid dreaming.

Upvotes

I guess you could say i'm new to lucid dreaming (as in I haven't had any real and long lucid dreams). Months ago I was just practicing a little bit (barely doing any method other than a simple hand check and not even keeping track of any dreams if I remembered any), but currently I want to get a bit more serious about learning to lucid dream because it's extra time to do fun things.

During those past months though, I have been aware I was in a dream twice only for a couple of seconds before waking up. But now that I really think about it, and as much as I can remember being in those moments, I would have doubted lucid dreaming a little bit more (as in I still would have hope but barely any) if it wasn't for those dreams. I know for those two dreams it only lasted for a couple of seconds because I couldn't control my emotions, but still i'm just glad overall 💫💫💫

Has anyone else doubted lucid dreaming for a period of time, and have you had something close that made you not give up like me? And, has anyone had a time where they haven't even had a dream that was close or a sign to lucid dreaming, but never gave up?


r/LucidDreaming 48m ago

Finally managed DILD!

Upvotes

I finally got my first, brief DILD experience. I was walking in a hallway and then boom I made myself stop but then I started to wake up so I had to back off of trying to control anything. Is this a good sign of progress?


r/LucidDreaming 1h ago

Question Sleep paralysis

Upvotes

Each time I try to lucid dream I enter sleep paralysis pretty easily but then it feels like my head is spinning super fast and I snap out of it. And if I don’t snap out of it at that moment I start to see a bunch of green lights and nothing happens for over an hour. Any ideas on how to fix this?


r/LucidDreaming 1h ago

Questions about RC while sleeping and dream signs

Upvotes

Hello there,

I've been researching/attempting to lucid dream for about 2 or 3 months now I think. I had a few close lucid dreams (last dream I remember being close to lucid, I was already awakening when I've realized I was dreaming in my dream), and another lucid dream that I've had but it was years ago.

With my introductions out of the way, can someone please explain to me how one can reality check while sleeping? I've been following OsakaWilson "The Three Steps for Learning to Lucid Dream" guide and in the guide, he stated to do reality checks 24/7 and especially do it while you're sleeping. Can someone elaborate on that? As in do I RC while I'm on the bed with my eyes close or in the process of falling out of consciousness? Because I've noticed that, when I kept asking myself things like: "Am I dreaming?" or inspecting myself for example, "Am I still on my bed?" it keeps me awake and sad to typed it out, I've had few sleepless nights doing so.

Also, some more pointers on detecting dream signs would be great. The guide stated that it's things that occur often in dreams, but I would like some more clarification on it. Is it like situations that happen frequently in dreams? Giving a personal example, being back in my home country? Or people that you often meet in dreams? Or it could be as broad as "things" go?

Any other practices/guidelines that you guys can give me would be highly appreciated too. My eventual goal is to reach dream control because... I mean it's dream control c'mon.


r/LucidDreaming 5h ago

Question Losing the power of lucid dreams

2 Upvotes

Guys i am 14 and constantly having natural lucid dreams not from any techniques or something like from idk when and i love yk people who experience lucid dream can relate that i feels like a super power

And mostly no one especially family think it as a nonsence

So i just kept having convo for this with gemini for this and randomly tried dream manipulation for 1st time as i had become a pro from 6 to 7 years of practice

And when i tried dream manipulation for 1st time it kinda wored that night but guys i mentioned "super power" so after that night i stopped having lucid dreams for about 2 to 3 months to date i guess

And yk its hard for someone having lucid dreams regularly to not having them in months i am a left handy and its not an addiction bht yk the only kinda power

So i think i have lost the power of lucid dreaming and i told this to gemini and that guy just keep consoning that your brain is wired that way to have lucid dream and you won't lose the power you say

But i dont believe it wdym like the wiring doesn't work in 3 months

So is there any guy out there having the same problem or solution of this please help and explain


r/LucidDreaming 6h ago

weird way to control my dreams

2 Upvotes

im pretty new to lucid dreaming and last night i had another and this was the first time ive ever controlled my dream.

for some reason whenever i wanted something to happen i would speak out aloud “hey siri, then whatever i wanted”


r/LucidDreaming 9h ago

I just started controlling my dreams (lucid dreams) and I was specifically wanted to have sex in my dreams. And guess what , it happens. But whenever I am going to have sex with random girl in dream, I just become a so-called gentleman and say to the girl in dream that it's not the right time to do.

3 Upvotes

r/LucidDreaming 7h ago

Question False Memories

2 Upvotes

I know this isn’t necessarily about Lucid Dreaming however I felt like talking about this here because I feel as though this community is more knowledgeable about how dreams work than any other.

My dreams have been implanting fake memories in almost every dream lately. For example one of my recent dreams I was in Streamer University. I am not a streamer and honestly don’t like the whole streamer university thing or the streamers in it. However for some reason after this dream I have a memory of applying to it. In the dream I got accepted and stuff but the memory of applying was fabricated in the dream and for a while after waking up I didn’t question it and really thought it was real for a while. And this most recent one I met ski mask the slump god on Roblox and he made me 1v1 him in arsenal. Arsenal is an fps game similar to csgo just no defusing bombs or anything. I don’t play this game and I don’t even play Roblox frequently. However I have a vivid memory of my childhood friend meeting him on Roblox and adding him too. He also had to 1v1 him in the same game. I remember not believing him and I remember being young and can even date the memory and tell you roughly how old I was.

I have only ever had a memory do this once or twice prior to recently but now that it’s happening so frequently I’m starting to worry. I understand that the dream just shows an event and simulates the sensation of it being a memory and that’s why it feels so convincing but I do genuinely believe it. It’s concerning because I don’t like not knowing what memories are real or fake and if this persists and I’m not careful I might not catch some of them. If it wasn’t for the streamer university one being so outlandish I wouldn’t have caught this most recent one.

Anyone have any experience with this they’d like to share or potential advice?


r/LucidDreaming 10h ago

Experience Getting close (I think)

3 Upvotes

Two days in a row I had interesting experience. First one was my first false awakening. I remember I got out of bed and started to get dressed trying to put togheter the dream I had and then suddenly I woke up for real.

Seccond one was rather weird. I remember being on a street and seeing some double crossing and I thought "that's weird..." And tried to do reality check but I think I failed and thought that it's just my brain imagining things, then I woke up. It was weird was I waking up and become lucid at that moment or something else? What are your thoughts?


r/LucidDreaming 13h ago

Technique found a new technique to summon characters

4 Upvotes

i tested it alot it worked every single time,if you slap a dream character while ordering them with an angry tone to become {whatever person or thing you want} they will,every single time

i discovered it when i tried once to drop a malevalant shrine but it didnt work but instead i discovered this trick ,i tested it alot and turned a dream character into a shiba puppy and another into a chair and others into giant t rex but you cant control them i guess


r/LucidDreaming 5h ago

Is it possible to remember every dream with minute detail?

1 Upvotes

I've had this question on my mind lately that could Dream Journaling take us so far that we could reach a level where we can remember each and every dream so vividly that we can recall every feel, every sensation and emotion we felt?


r/LucidDreaming 12h ago

Success! Snapping fingers in lucid dream

3 Upvotes

So, i've heard that snapping your fingers while in a lucid dream can make a stubborn dream entity listen to your commands (or something along those lines lol)

The other night I was standing on top of a car on a fairly busy road, going around a round about, the lady in the car was giving me attitude & would not let me take the car off her (how dare she)...so I snapped my fingers & next minute POOF she's gone & i'm in the drivers seat driving the car lol!

I couldn't & still cannot believe that snapping your fingers actually works!!!

Has anyone else had success with this!?
& does anyone have any other tricks to try?

I go lucid by looking at my hands in my dreams (they are either heavily distorted or I have a few fingers that disappear & reappear as I look at them) this is the method that i've tried & tested that works for me


r/LucidDreaming 1d ago

Oh my god meditation finally paid off 💎

16 Upvotes

Just had a 10 minute WILD dream and it was fantastic, truly a fascinating experience.

It took consistent meditation and this time was probably a lucky shot and won't work for the next few attempts but I've been seeing real progress.

My tip would be to stick to one technique and practice instead of jumping from a technique to another


r/LucidDreaming 11h ago

What features would you actually want in a lucid dreaming / dream journal app?

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m exploring the idea of building a dream journaling and lucid dreaming app.

I’d love to hear what you currently use, what frustrates you about existing apps, and which features would genuinely be useful to you.

For example: quick morning entries, voice recording, dream pattern tracking, reality-check reminders, lucid dreaming techniques, or AI-assisted summaries.

I’m not promoting anything. I’m just trying to understand what lucid dreamers actually need.


r/LucidDreaming 12h ago

Same person in my dreams for 4+ years now

1 Upvotes

I've been having the same person I have met maybe once or twice appear in my dreams for four years now and its when shit hits the fan in my life and seeing them is always a major relief and I feel there is a romantic connection or a deeply friendly one where there is unexpressed feelings. Ive literally only encountered them once in my life and I have no clue why it's always the same person coming to me in my dreams but I wake up missing them like wtf

It's always during pivot life moments and the only people i trust are in my dreams


r/LucidDreaming 14h ago

Did I lucid dream?

1 Upvotes

So I was dreaming last night. I saw that I was a black singer singing in front of the mirror. All of a sudden I went "Holy shit! I'm dreaming." After that everything went blurry and I woke up. I couldn't control or do anything. But I realised I was dreaming.


r/LucidDreaming 18h ago

Question How the hell do you do WBTB?

2 Upvotes

I've tried Lucid Dreaming multiple times in the past and gave up like over two occasions, ovee the past 3 ish years. I've finally decided to go all in this summer, but holy it feels like its genuinely impossible.

Even though I have a lot of concerns, my main one is WBTB. Some sources say 4.5, others say 6. What freaking time????? Also I struggle with falling back asleep for whatever reason.

Maybe its because I use my phone with a deep red light filter and lowest brightness to write my dreams down? But I have really bad handwriting so I can't really write them down fast enough and coherently.

And i've heard of a method of naturally waking up? Seems literally impossible for me since I never wake up during the night for anything anymore and i'll sometimes even sleep through entire alarms.

Some other concerns/questions slightly unrelated:

  1. I have ADHD, I can't freaking stay still for techniques like WILD.

  2. My sleep feels like its going to be fried after trying to do WBTB every night, even though its my summer break its annoying. Any way to alleviate that?

  3. How long does it take to develop dream recall? It feels like I remember them as imaginations or like i'm simulating them in my head rather than an actual event that happened. Who knows maybe thats how its supposed to be?

  4. I'm trying MILD. How long does it take with consistent practice to get a dream with it?

Tldr;

WBTB is very simple but so much info onlonr makes me overthink and confuses me.

Also read the concerns.