Lucid Dreaming  FAQ’s Continued

Lucid dreaming can enhance your physical and emotional health, boost creativity, and help you develop spiritually.  Maybe that’s why so many of you have been asking me about it. In fact, I’ve received so many questions that I’m taking 3 posts to answer them. I began in the previous post, where I wrote about what lucid dreaming is and why you’ll want to practice it.

Today, I’ll offer tips on how to get lucid, starting with this important question:

Q. I’ve read about lucid dreaming, and it sounds complicated. Can you offer some tips I can use to get started?

A: There’s nothing complicated about lucid dreaming, and you don’t need supplements or substances to achieve lucidity. In fact, I bet you’ve already had at least a moment of dream lucidity. Remember when you had that nightmare where you were being chased through an abandoned building by a menacing pursuer? Just before he cornered you in a  cold, brick room you thought: “This is a dream! I can wake up!” And you did.

That was it, you got lucid. Knowing you’re dreaming while you are dreaming is the definition of dream lucidity.

The only problem is, instead of opening your eyes next time, stay in the dream. Decide on a superpower (the ability to fly through brick walls might help in this scenario) and use it. Or better yet, tell your pursuer you know you’re dreaming, and you’d like to know why he is antagonizing you.

But you don’t have to wait to get in a scary situation to have a lucid dream. You can get lucid on purpose, and use this hybrid state of consciousness in any way you choose. (See the previous post in this series for more on that.)

As for how to do it: You can find instructions on lucid dreaming that range from the esoteric to straightforward in a wide array of books and on the internet. (My favorite book to get you started is Robert Waggoner’s Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Soul.)

Because I practice and teach lucid dreaming as part of mindfulness, and as a way to explore consciousness, I teach a simple, natural approach:

• Practice dream recall! Otherwise, you may achieve lucidity in your dreams … but you won’t remember anything about it in the morning.
• Meditate. Even a few minutes of mindfulness meditation before bed will help. You can even meditate on the mattress as you’re falling asleep.
• Set the intention to have a lucid dream. As you are falling asleep. Repeat to yourself: “Tonight in my dreams I’ll be aware that I’m dreaming.” 
• Wake up. Most lucid dreams occur about six and a half hours after falling asleep (based on getting seven to eight hours sleep overall). To take advantage of this, you can set an alarm for an hour and a half before you need to wake and reset the intention to have a lucid dream. Or just reset your intention if you naturally wake during the night.
• Use gentle breath retention. In addition to resetting your intention to have a lucid dream, practice pranayama, or breathwork, when you wake in the middle of the night or within a couple of hours before you need to wake up: Inhale normally for a count of 4, then gently hold the breath for a count of 4, slowly release the breath to a count of 4, and hold empty for a count of 4. Do a few rounds of this 4-part breathing exercise as you fall back to sleep. (Learn more and see a video of “box-breathing” HERE.) Be gentle with yourself as you perform this exercise. If you feel even slightly uncomfortable return to normal breathing.
• Prepare while the sun is shining. Anytime something surprising or unusual happens during the day, ask yourself, “Am I awake or dreaming?” Pause and answer the question. Then, when something unusual happens in a dream, ask the same question. For example, when an animal speaks to you in a dream, or when you realize the uncle you’re sitting with passed away years ago … ask yourself, “Am I awake or dreaming?” Once you realize you’re dreaming … you’ve entered the lucid state.

This post is part of a 3-part series on the basics of Lucid Dreaming.

For more in this series on Lucid Dreaming Basics also see these posts: 

• So, You Have Questions About Lucid Dreaming. You’re Not Alone.

• What if I Can’t Become Lucid?

Don’t miss out. 

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Featured image by Peter Fischer, Pixabay

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