Learning how to Lucid Dream

I've been studying lucid dreaming off and on for years. It's pretty fascinating. I've always had vivid dreams, usually able to remember them, and the occasional lucid dreams, which are absolutely exhilerating. In fact, usually I prefer my dreams to real life, even the bad dreams--they're FAR more fascinating and magical. One of the best sites I've found is here: http://www.ld4all.com There's lots of info there about how to lucid dream. Most sources I've seen suggest starting by keeping a dream diary and telling yourself that you'll have a lucid dream right before falling asleep.

One problem with lucid dreaming is that once you realize you're dreaming you may start to wake up (this usually happens with me). A way to stay in the dream state that really works for me is to spin around in the dream, works everytime. ( but you have to be careful with this so that you don't forget you're dreaming).

Mmmmm, cheese!

When I have a problem at work - a conflict or even some code in software I am writing, I will dream about it and replay different scenarios. Especially when I am writing a program, I come up with the solution in the dream - I don't see the code, I just seem to know how to do it the next day.

Unfortunately, not the same luck when dreaming about the lottery!

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I find that I cannot sleep with my RWS deck under my pillow! I toss and turn all night and have weird dreams I cannot control. Nothing with any of the others, just the RWS deck.

Did somebody say you could look at your hands and take over your dream? I think I did just that --or did I just dream it?

I think thats whats part of doing a Reality Check, ie. you try to do something in your dream which you could not normally do to prove that you are dreaming such as putting your finger through the palm of your other hand.

I have to say that I have not found this really helpful, if I am aware enough of the dream to do a reality check then I am already lucid.

A lot of people have mentioned the spinning round to stay asleep though.

I had my first lucid dream/astral experience in my early teenage years, using a fairly simple method. Basically, I set my alarm for around 5am-6am -- we dream most during the latter stages of sleep. Awake, I got out of bed and wandered around for a while in order to bring my mind to full consciousness. I then returned to bed, and lay down. In my mind, I recited the phrase: 'when I am next dreaming, I will remember I am dreaming'. Over and over. Occasionally, I would visualise myself becoming conscious in a dream. And then repeat the phrase again, and again. Effectively, what happened was that my body fell asleep but my mind remained awake. And at that point onwards, I felt an amazing rushing sensation, almost like I was spiraling forth from my body. I can remember a very loud sound accompanied the whole experience.

Anyway, good luck with it.

I think I've been able to Lucid Dream since the age of 5-6, I remember developing a way of getting OUT of dreams (rather than staying) if a dream ever got to the stage where I could control myself. I suppose its just my mental state, I get horrible dreams, nightmares often, and as an added unwanted bonus I actualy feel whats happening sometimes. If someone takes a swing at my head, I feel it, if I fall down a cliff, I feel it (that one wasnt very nice), if I end up being sliced by a sword, I'll feel it.

The way I had of getting out of the dreams was to close my eyes really tight, and then open. This actualy worked for a good number of years, but when I got to about 12-13; I used it so much that I thought I was doing it, when actualy I wasn't having a Lucid Dream, or controling my own actions and I just thought I was. I'd "wake" up, when really its just a new part of the dream, and it'll take me a minute or two maybe to realise this.

To me now, not feeling my dreams or not realising I'm in a dream, has become rarer than the opposite, and I have absolutely no idea why. I think the pain thing has forced myself to be able to take control more, if I ever get one of those dreams, I'll try to take over, I usualy even warn the people next to me that its a dream and something bad is going to happen, and I'll try to run away or deal with it.

Because of this, I've sort of developed an idea that what we do in our dreams is real, that maybe somewhere in another universe like ours or something these things are really in effect. Maybe I have a big imagination, but when I've been with someone for what feels like 6 months in a dream, when they die, it hits me pretty hard, and I actualy spent most of the morning after crying because it seemed so real, and it really felt like I loved this woman I was with in a nights dream.

Anyway, I don't usualy talk about myself for that long, lol. Do anyone else feel that way ? that dreams (or lucid dreams in paticular) have some significant meaning, or maybe even be real ?

Absolutely, I believe that lucid and vivid dreams carry a message if nothing else. Many cultures around the world believe that dreaming is a gateway to another sphere of existance.

Leleii said:

Tell me about the Dreamgates book when it arrives. The Tibetian
book is very spiritual and deep, yet it describes lucid dreaming in a clear cut
matter. It has lots of spiritual exercises and meditations and it gets into
how lucid dreaming can help you in real life. It has complicated exercises and
simple ones. It even tells you in what position to sleep so that you can have
a lucid dream and what to meditate on whle you fall alsleep.
Anyway, when you get the Dreamgate's book, tell me how that differs from
the Tibetian book. It should be interesting.
Leleii

Click to expand...

Hi Leleii - the Tibetan book is very deep as you say but also very readable too and give a good insight into a well tried and tested dream practice.

The Dreamgates book is a confidently written book with far less reliance on set faiths or spiritual paths. I am only a 1/4 of the way through so far but it is proving to be very interesting reading with the authors and his students own experiences, discourses on dream theories and excersises to help people learn to remember dreams, lucid dream, use dreams for healing, spiritual growth and astral travel.

Highly impressed with both books - thanks for the initial heads-up on the Tibetan book.

How is a lucid dream different from a vision ?

I'm just curious.

Personally I would say that they are entirely different. To me, a vision is a waking image either with eyes open or shut where one receives an image/message which is clearly not from ones own imagination.

A lucid dream is a dream whilst sleeping where the dreamer knows and understands that they are dreaming and can therefore do things which they cannot do in waking life ie. 'decide' to fly or walk through a wall etc. Its not so much doing things which are impossible in waking life as knowing that you can and deciding to do them - thats what lucid dreaming is to me.