Lucid dreaming is when a part of your sleeping consciousness alerts to the fact that you’re inside of a dream. You realize that you may even be able to dictate what happens next within it. It can be an exhilarating and colorful experience and even help you better understand what your unconscious mind is trying to sort out or convey to you. In this way, dreams can be used for personal growth.
Roughly 25% of the population consistently lucid dreams, despite over 55% having had such a dream experience once before. Researchers have found dreamers can even signal to observers, via certain pre-agreed-upon eye movements, when they’re inside a lucid dream.
Also, these studies point to lucid dreams causing better waking physical performance, such as for athletes, when doing the activity in a lucid dream. Dreams, therefore, can be a great tool for visualizing goals and life dreams. Let’s explore a beginner’s overview of lucid dreaming and how we can learn to do it.
(Personal sidebar: How neat would it be to literally dream the life you want to live while asleep and have it positively effect your waking reality (not to mention roaming a totally fantastical and adventurous dream world where the laws of physics don’t apply?)
History of Lucid Dreaming
Throughout history, cultures have experienced lucid dreaming. From the Aboriginals’ Dreamtime belief system in Australia to Tibetan Dream Yoga, to ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and Toltec dream shamanism of the likes of Carlos Castaneda known as Total Awareness, lucid dreaming has been a human fascination for centuries- apparently all the way back to the paleolithic era!
In the early 20th century, a Dutch psychiatrist named Fredrik Van Eaden, came up with calling it lucid dreaming. He observed that dreamers in this state are refreshingly alert and aware of waking life connections, but also experience their quality of sleep while in lucidity as restful and complete. Then in the 1970s, Alan Worsley and Stephen LaBerge pioneered laboratory studies proving the phenomenon scientifically. Lucid dreaming continues to be a fascinating area of study today.
How To Lucid Dream for Beginners
There are several methods to increase the likelihood of lucid dreams for beginners. Like everything else humans become excellent at, becoming a lucid dreamer takes practices, intention, and repetition. Here are several ways you can start to lucid dream:
Exploring the MILD and WILD Approaches:
Embarking on a journey into the realm of lucid dreaming opens up a world where you can explore the incredible power of your imagination. You can traverse fantastical landscapes, and even control the course of your dreams with practice.
Two popular techniques that can help with dream lucidity are MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams) and WILD (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreams).
The MILD Technique:
MILD stands for Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams. It was developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, and incorporates the principle of cultivating intention to gain awareness within dreams. MILD works by utilizing the links between memory and dreams with mnemonic techniques. Mnemonic means using associations of words, symbols, or ideas with the goal of remembering something, such as making a definition into a rhyme. You probably learned tricks like it in high school.
Steps to do MILD:
- Recall: Before drifting off to sleep, reflect upon your dreams from the previous night. Visualize the dream in as much detail as possible, bringing in its sights, sounds, and sensations.
- Affirmation: While maintaining this imagery, repeat a simple phrase or affirmation, such as “Tonight, I will realize I’m dreaming” or “I am aware within my dreams.” Focus on the intention behind the words, deeply connecting to this intention while drifting off.
- Mental Rehearsal: As you doze off, continue visualizing the dream scenario. Imagine yourself becoming aware within it, recognizing dream signs or triggers, such as seeing a STOP sign or doorway, and responding with lucid awareness. The more you do this, the more you reinforce the connection between dreaming lucidly and intention to do so.
- Reality Checks: Throughout the day, perform reality checks to establish a habit of questioning reality, such as asking yourself, “Am I dreaming?”. Pretend you’re in a dream while awake and look for repeating symbols in your day, such as seeing a cup of water or looking at your hands. This habit of questioning can overflow into your dream state, increasing the likelihood of realizing you are dreaming.
Some practitioners say to interrupt yours sleep by getting out of bed 5 hours into your rest or as soon as you wake from a dream. Then, do something that requires your full attention for 15 minutes, such as making a list or reading. This attempts to attach a conscious attention in the midst of a sleep cycle. Then, when you return to bed, intend on remembering your dreams and to realize you’re dreaming in it.
The WILD Technique:
WILD means Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreams. Unlike MILD, it focuses on maintaining consciousness during the transition from wakefulness to the dream state. This allows you to transition into a dream with uninterrupted awareness. WILD demands more patience and practice but it offers a more direct route to lucid dreaming. Here’s the steps to enact the WILD technique:
- Relaxation: Lay down and relax your body by using progressive muscle relaxation techniques or deep breathing exercises.
- Hypnagogia: As you begin to fade off to sleep, pay attention to the transitional state known as hypnagogia. This state is characterized by fleeting sensory experiences, such as visual images, sounds, or bodily sensations. Try to remain aware and observant during this phase.
- Visualization: While in the hypnagogic state, visualize your desired dream scenario or witness the images that start to arise. Try to just go along with it’s flow and stay relaxed and not grasping at the images. Engaging your senses in the dream imagery will help allow it to unfold naturally.
- Seamless Transition: As the dream imagery becomes more vivid, focus on maintaining your awareness as you seamlessly transition into the dream state. By successfully bridging wakefulness and the dream world, you can enter dreams while fully conscious.
These two methods are not easy to do. It takes dedication and practice to get good at lucid dreaming. But by using your intention and the WILD and MILD roadmaps, you increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming.
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Dream Journaling and Dream Reflection
Keeping a dream journal is a great habit for personal development work as well as for helping to induce lucid dreaming. The habit of building your dream recall with journaling will strengthen the memory link to dreams in general and for being conscious of the dream state.
Keep a journal or notebook by your bedside with pen or pencil ready to go. As soon as you wake, scribble down dream plots and symbols. It doesn’t have to be totally coherent. Just get the basic facts and details. Try to snatch as much of the plot as you can and anything that particularly stood out, like strong emotions and images.
A better way may be to use your phone to record the dream in a verbal note (if you can do this without waking a partner or if you sleep alone). This way, you can quickly get the information out without having to see in the dark or write. Then, in the morning, you can transcribe it and reflect on the dream over coffee. Your dream journal will help you tune into the sleep state and can increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming.
Meditation for Lucid Dreaming
Meditation is a great way to help you learn how to lucid dream. Because meditation is the practice of observation and allowing consciousness to arise naturally, over time and with intention, you’ll be able to link this state to your dreaming mind.
As in the WILD approach mentioned above, meditation will help you transition into the hypnogogic dream state as the witnessing muscle, so-to-speak, will be strengthen if you practice meditation a lot. Spend 10-15 minutes once or twice a day sitting still and simply observing your breathing and physical sensations. When your mind drifts, gently bring it back to awareness. That’s basically it for a basic meditation practice!
Benefits and Harms of Lucid Dreaming
In exploring lucid dreaming, it is essential to be aware of the potential benefits and harms associated with this cool phenomenon. Lucid dreaming offers a remarkable opportunity to experience a heightened sense of self-awareness within dreams. Additionally, it can tap into potential therapeutic values, such as helping heal a tendency towards nightmares.
However, as with any powerful tool, lucid dreaming has potential risks. Let’s go through some benefits and potential harms of it.
Benefits of Lucid Dreaming:
Lucid dreaming can offer a range of benefits. One is its potential to alleviate nightmares, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By becoming aware within a dream, it’s possible to gain control over dream content, thus enabling you to confront and transform nightmares into better dream stories.
Moreover, lucid dreaming has been linked to improved motor skills, making it a unique approach for athletes, performers, and goal-oriented people wanting to better their skills and habits. Through practicing physical movements in the dream state, your amazing mind increases muscle memory and enhancement of performance in waking life.
Potential Harms of Lucid Dreaming:
One risk of dream lucidity is the possibility of interrupted sleep. The excitement and engagement of lucid dreaming can sometimes lead to disrupted sleep patterns. You may experience fragmentated or insufficient rest, especially if getting up each night to record dreams or practicing MILD or WILD techniques. This can have a negative impact on overall well-being because lack of sleep can lead to issues like daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and even depression.
Additionally, some individuals may experience sleep paralysis or episodes of “derealization” during or after lucid dreams. Sleep paralysis involves a temporary inability to move or speak upon waking up or falling asleep, often accompanied by a sense of pressure or an ominous presence.
(Personal sidebar: After I gave birth to my second child, I experienced sleep paralysis and indeed, it was scary. I couldn’t move but was conscious and when I tried to speak it was like I was being suffocated! I saw a black cloud hovering above me. It only lasted a few minutes but scared me enough to cry. I associated it with my body releasing the medication I received during and after birth but who knows!)
Derealization, on the other hand, refers to a feeling of detachment from one’s surroundings, creating a distorted sense of reality, as though in a dream state while awake. While these phenomena are for the most part temporary and harmless, they can be distressing. Thus, this underscores the need for a proper understanding when doing lucid dreaming techniques.
With a balance of knowledge, practice, and self-care, lucid dreaming can offer a fascinating and compelling journey into the depths of your subconscious mind. It can open doors to personal growth, exploration, and self-discovery. Go on a grab a dream journal and try it for yourself! Share your progress or experiences in the comments- I’d love to hear them!
Personal note:
Have you ever dreamed lucidly? The lucid dreams I’ve had are always an exciting event in which I remember the dream clearly upon waking. In a recent one, a man wanted to throw alcohol all over me and then light it on fire. I was terrified. I realized I was dreaming on some level and suddenly wore a cloak that lit up with fire like Katniss in the Hunger Games instead of burning to death. Seems like I prevented a coming nightmare!
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