Lucid dreaming is when you are in a dream and have conscious awareness you are dreaming. This means you have the potential to change that dream to your own will.
You can bend and break all laws of physics and social mores. It could be like the most imaginative and immersive video game of your life.
Want to fly? Sure!
Date your celebrity crush? Go for it!
Leap between mountain tops? Why not!
Be a knight and go on a quest to find the Holy Grail? Yes sir!
Talk with your personal hero and ask for advice? Or talk to a deceased relative? With your dreams, it’s possible!
Tea time with Shakespeare, a princess, a robot, and a grizzly in a tux? I kind of want this to happen!
To learn this ability, I read three titles recently:
Art of Lucid Dreaming by Clare Johnson, PhD
Learn to Lucid Dream by Kristen LaMarca, PhD
Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming by Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel, and Thomas Peisel
The advice in Art of Lucid Dreaming was confusing, sometimes conflicting advice, and soaked in New Age woo. Learn to Lucid Dream was better, but a bit dry. Of the three, Field Guide had the right mixture of scientific rigor with “magical”, but not overly spiritual, elements. The pencil illustrations throughout were a nice touch too.
Getting into a lucid state is easier said than done for most people.
You have to regularly practice these three key skills:
Reality Checks and Affirmations
Many times through the day you need to ask yourself “Am I dreaming”? Look around. Do you see anything odd or out of place? Look at some text or a clock and make a mental note of it. Look away and then look back. Did it change unusually? Do that one more time. Text and time rarely stay the same within a dream. The goal is to eventually do a reality check within a dream and confirm you actually are dreaming. “Hey, that clock jumped seven hours!”
It might feel dumb to do this when you are obviously awake, but what you’re really doing is getting yourself habituated to test your state so you remember to do it in an actual dream.
You also want to frequently affirm “I have lucid dreams and remember them” or something like that so it sinks into your subconscious. Do this at every reality check and before going to sleep.
Dream Journaling and Dream Signs
Dream recall is a must and can be challenging. It definitely is for me! As soon as my alarm goes off, everything—no matter how real it felt—lifts instantly like a dissolving fog in bright sunlight.
The best way to overcome this is to start keeping a pen and notebook by your bed and record anything—literally anything—you can recall from your dreams, even if it’s just a vague emotion.
Overtime, you will begin to spot patterns and noticeable things called dream signs. That weird shaped owl keeps appearing? Or you keep dreaming of your childhood home. You can use those as anchors to remember, “Hey, this might be a dream!”.
Visualization and Meditation
Try to remember your dreams and re-script them. How would you imagine them going differently if you went lucid? What would you do? Doing this mental practice primes the brain to have more flexibility. It’s best to combine this with reality checks and to practice before going to bed.
Like wise, having a mindfulness practice can build awareness in your waking life, which spills over into your dreaming life too. One app recommended by LaMarca, in Learn to Lucid Dream, is “Mindfulness Coach”. It’s a free app made by the US Government (surprisingly). I’ve used it the past couple weeks and like it a lot.
The books mentioned other similar themes and topics. I’m not going to deep dive on those, but here’s a high-level:
Nightmares shouldn’t be fight-and-flight. They are your own subconscious trying to reach you. Stop and talk with them. Ask questions about what they mean or how you can help. Watch how the dark figures transform and change.
Staying stable in lucid dreams is challenging. Common tactics include physically spinning around, rubbing your hands, or verbalizing “Stabilize!”.
What you do in these dreams is up to you. You might go with the flow, or you might try to change space, time, and place. It’s up to you, but have an openness that you’re willing to talk, interact, and learn from anything that comes up. There are different degrees of characters you will meet. Some you may know from your life. Others are made up, and they can range from borderline zombies to mystical gurus. The key is to have respectfulness and curiosity in all interactions.
Have some goals in mind. Write down a short list of things you want to achieve in this state. Make it a part of your affirmations and visualizations so you can remember them in your dream.
I haven’t had a lucid dream yet, but my dream recall has significantly improved. It may be only a matter of time at this point.
Lucid dreaming might seem like a gimmicky trick, but on the other hand, it could be a wonderful psychological tool to explore, experience, and find out things beyond your usual conscious grasp.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
William Shakespeare
From The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1
So, do you lucid dream? Has it impacted you? Do you have any tips to share? Tell us in the comments, or send me a message directly.