Began Lucid Dreaming

I first want to say that I've never had anybody I could talk to about my experiences, at least with anybody who could relate, until I found this website. So please forgive me but the cork is off the bottle and I'm regurgitating everything that I've been keeping to myself most of my life. I'm trying to keep everything in chronological order as best as I can as I share these experiences. I would also like to add how grateful I am for forums like this.

I was in my mid thirties living in a rental cottage in San Diego. I was going through a huge transition in life and under a considerable amount of stress, I was also drinking more than I should and having trouble with insomnia. I would lay awake in bed all night unable to shut my mind off. What began to happen was, I would be awake when my body finally went to sleep. I would feel myself sinking down into my bed like I was in an elevator.

It was usually accompanied with everything appearing snowy and hazy, like an old tv without a signal. This was also accompanied with a loud whooshing sound as I descended. My first experiences always began like this. I would be sinking down with everything being real fuzzy, the whooshing sound had stopped and I would come to rest on my hands and knees. The fuzzy snowiness would clear up into a dirt floor, I would stand up and find myself in what appeared to be a basement with a dirt floor.

There was always a table and chair against one wall and a door. Everything had a greyish blue hue to it, until I opened the door and stepped out. I would then be outside and everything was more vivid and colourful than the waking world. Everything in such vivid detail, I would walk through the tall grass around the side yard and through a low picket fence gate. I would then emerge onto the side walk to find myself in a neighbourhood very similar to the one I was living in, with a lot of old craftsman style houses with nice porches but with out the apartment conversions.

I would walk down the street in amazement, as bizarre as my out of body experiences were, I had never experienced anything quite like this before. It was always from this point on where the experiences would differ. During my first one, I saw an old yellow and white Victorian house across the street so I headed for it. I was well aware I was in a dream and figured I could do what I want so I decided to go explore the house.

As I was crossing the street I noticed a man with two kids walking down the side walk in front of the house crossing my path, and as I approached the front porch I turned to see them walking on when the girl turned and met my gaze. I then opened the front door and entered the house.

I was amazed at the detail, beautiful wood work and built inns. I appeared to be in the living room and to my left was what appeared to be a family watching television. Only one of them turned to look at me briefly and then back to the tv as if my presence somehow didn't bother them. I continued on through another door that led to the kitchen, I walked through the kitchen and through another door into a room that appeared to be some kind of recreation room.

There was a ping pong table with a couch behind it, and on the wall opposite the couch was a tv. I sat down on the couch and began looking for the remote, I could not find it and then thought to myself, this is a dream, I should be able to just will the tv to turn on. Just then the door opened and in walked that little girl who was walking by outside with her father and brother. She didn't say anything but walked over to the couch and sat down. I then woke up and noticed that it was real windy outside, I got up out of bed and went over to the window and could see the leaves blowing outside.

I then woke up for real. This was my first lucid dream and I began having them pretty regularly since then. They would always start out the same way with me sinking down through my bed.