False awakening - the strangest experience

[Bluto]

I had a dream earlier (call it state 3). Then I experienced waking from it, although I now realise I hadn't. I had in fact dreamt I had woken from it (call it state 2). In state 2 I was talking to my sister about the bizarre dream I just had. State 2 felt clearer than state 3. State 2 felt the same as when one wakes up and realises their vivid dream was just a dream. But I was dreaming! In state 2 I had an intelligible conversation with my sister about the state 3 dream, and how bizarre it was. Then I went back to the state 3 dream, and it carried on where it left off. Then I came back to the state 2 dream and discussed my state 3 dream again, but with my best friend this time. Then I went back to the state 3 dream again. And the narrative carried on from where it had left off. I was consciously aware of this too, and thought it was bizarre how I could keep going back to state 3 and it carries on. Then I actually fully awoke (call it state 1).

Once I reached state 1 I was really confused, because I believed I'd just been talking to my sister, and my best friend. But I was lying in bed, and realised I had been for 8 hours. Then I realised that I'd had a dream within a dream. I dreamt I was dreaming, and also dreamt that I kept waking up from that dream.

It was one of the strangest dream experiences I ever had. My nested state 3 dream involved a very nice intimate, soft kiss with a woman too. Though she told me she'd had 40 men murdered and buried after kissing me! But now i'm digressing.

Has anybody else had experiences of nested dreams and false-awakenings? If so, do you mind sharing? I'm fascinated with dreaming. I'm wondering if when we die, that state 1 (this waking consciousness) itself is perceived as a dream. I wonder if when we pass to the spirit world we go back and say to our true friends "I just had the weirdest dream! It felt SO real!". I'm going to anticipate it, and call it state 0

[wstein]

I've had a few.

I am a very experienced lucid dreamer. One of the skills I developed is bringing information out of dreams into waking life.

One time I was in a lucid dream and wanted to remember a person's name when I woke up. I had a false awakening and immediately went to write down the name. But then I became lucid (again) and realized the it was a false awakening. So much for writing it down. I kept the name in mind and woke up again. Repeat, this was also a false awakening. The third awakening was back to waking life. I was able write down the name. Those false awakenings can be really annoying at times like this.

[Aurora_2024]

Yes. I've had this happen before. Now BARE WITH ME lol, I have almost no memory of dreams after they happen, idk why. I just remember oh snap I woke up... wait huh I'm not up?. I don't remember these moments to well, but I'm just reporting in to you that yes I have had these experiences before

I've had a lot of wake up feeling like this too, but my body would be paralyzed.

[JoeColo]

I had one way back in the 1980's. I woke up in somebody's back yard at night, where I'd been sleeping. Except that I wasn't awake, I discovered later when I eventually woke up in my bed, which I've forgotten now. Obviously, a dream within a dream. I forget what the inside dream was, but think I have it written down somewhere, but don't want to take a lot of time rummaging through my stuff to find it. "Waking up" in somebody's back yard at night was very memorable. It seemed so real!

JoeColo