Expert: Russell - 9/1/2009

Question
I had a dream someone held a gun to the back of my head and I felt it very strongly. They pulled the trigger and then I felt this hot flash go out though my body (I'm 29 so it's not those kind of hot flashes)at the same time I started running in darkness and when I stopped I could see myself (in my dream) like through other eyes. After getting shot I realized I was dreaming but because it felt so real I couldn't move because I thought I was dying so I didn't want to lose blood. I think this is a lucid dream but if not sorry for wasting you time. Thank you for your help.

Answer
From your complete description, it sounds like a lucid dream. After you were shot, you realized you were dreaming, so something triggered in your brain, and you were able to realize you were dreaming. Many lucid dreams like that seem real, so that's why you should use reality test to determine that you are dreaming. Just do a simple test to determine that you are in a dream, once you do that, then you will be able to do anything you want in the dream, without the fear of it being so real. You can also try a technique called spinning. This works by spinning your body round and round, this will sometimes change the whole dream scenery and you will enter a different dream world. Spinning is also used to prolong a lucid dream if you don't want it to end.