[shanlstrick]

Hi,
That's interesting, I have had one lucid dream that I can recall. I was totally aware I was on my couch asleep while I was dreaming I was driving my work van. It was fantastic, I had absolute control over everything, but that was many years ago.

Nowadays, almost every night when I go to bed I am fully aware of the moment I am about to fall asleep - the problem is, that at that precise moment it feels like my heart is stopping and that startles me back awake. This has been happening for years and makes it difficult to go to sleep.

Sometimes I am able to recognize what's going on and just let go, but most of the time it makes me jump back awake and sit up because I can no longer hear my hearbeat. As a nightly thing it can be maddening. I also see all the hypnagogic (is that the correct term?) imagery, dream spindles, etc. every night, I usually witness entire scenes playing out in front of my closed eyes - just before the heart stopping feeling happens. Though I no longer have sleep paralysis. I know there is a key in all of this to another level of awareness, but I seem to be perpetually stuck in the "heart just stopped - freak out" mode.

Anyone else have this?