Lucid Dreaming: Lucid Dreaming Exercises and Tips - A Guide to Lucid Dreaming

By Erin J. Wamsley

NIGHTLY INDUCTION

Most of us today think of our dreams as odd episodes, as foreign as some ceremonial dance in Tibet. This results in the cutting off of an extremely great and significant portion of the self. We are then no longer able to use much of the wisdom and power of the unconscious." - Rollo May

The following techniques are not long-term commitments, as some of the previously described activities were (see feature one). The following techniques are instead designed to be used just before you go to sleep, and the results of these techniques will immediately follow their use. You can use these at night before you go to bed, or before a nap. In fact, naps are often our most readily lucid sleeping times.

At night, however, the longer you have to sleep, the better. As described before, our dream periods repeat and increase in length throughout the night, and so the longer you sleep, the more "chances" you have at lucidity. Before trying these techniques, you must prepare your mind and body. The exercises you have already worked on have prepared you in the long term, but now you should relax yourself to prepare for the task immediately ahead of you.

RELAXATION

Relaxing before using these techniques clears your mind of distractions and allows you to focus on the task at hand. Simple meditation is a good way to relax before using an induction technique. This specific technique was introduced to me in a course at the "Institute for Attitudinal Studies," and I have found it to be quite effective:

Find a position in which you can comfortably remain. Observe your thought process. Simply let your thoughts arise and do not become involved in the content of your thoughts. Notice that you can know you have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts. They are simply a part of the whole. They represent your feelings, memories, anticipations, or speculations, and they call for your attention. As each thought passes, either you attend to it or you do not. While you cannot stop the thoughts themselves, you can prevent yourself from being snared by each one.

As each thought arises, picture it on a white cloud in the sky and watch the cloud pass overhead and out of sight as another thought comes into view on its cloud. Do not try to hold on to the clouds or retain the thought in your mind. Be aware that the thoughts are just objects of our observation, to be noticed and released. Keep noticing the thoughts and then let them go again and again. And, of course, once you are really comfortable and at home in pure awareness, then you can let go of the thought of watching your thoughts as well. Meditate for 5 to 10 minutes, or for a period that is comfortable for you.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming

Developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D., this is the technique that I personally have found most beneficial to my lucidity. It makes use of autosuggestion and visualization in a combination that can have amazing results even after the very first time that you use it.

1. Relax completely and get into a comfortable position in bed.

2. As practiced in the autosuggestion technique, repeat to yourself as you fall asleep:

"I will wake up after every dream period and I will remember my dream."

Believe that you will wake up after every dream you have. The very first time I used this technique, I did wake up immediately after each dream period.

3. When you wake up during the night, immediately rouse yourself and write down everything you can remember about your dream. Even if you can barely remember anything, write down how the dream made you feel, or how you felt when you woke up.

4. Lie down again, and as you drift back to sleep, imagine that you are back in the dream that you just had. This time, however, imagine that you saw a dreamsign in your dream and recognized it. Try to think of a dreamsign that fits with the dream and falls under your most successful dreamsign category. As you fall asleep, keep visualizing yourself in your dream, recognizing your dreamsign, and remembering that you are in a dream.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 every time that you awaken during the night, even if your dream was already lucid.

You may or may not experience the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. During dream sleep, our body shuts off our ability for movement, and we are temporarily paralyzed (in order that our bodies will not act out our dreams). Sometimes, we wake up, arising into the sleepy haze of stage one sleep, but our bodies are still paralyzed. A person experiencing sleep paralysis may feel that they are having "difficultly" in waking up. They are unable to move, and have trouble even in keeping their eyes open and focusing on the surroundings of their sleeping quarters. This paralysis is a frustrating state for most people who experience it, but it can be taken advantage of in two ways:

Since sleep paralysis is a state very close to dream sleep, we can slip into a dream in moments when paralyzed, simply by closing our eyes and relaxing. We are conscious in paralysis, and so can set our intention to know that we are dreaming and easily keep this intention through the short transition into our dream.

A possibly even better way to exploit sleep paralysis is the "two bodies" technique. During paralysis, our senses are somewhat distorted in a halfway state between dreaming and waking. We are seeing our actual surroundings, but may feel and hear things from the dream world. It is therefore easy to make a transition into a lucid dream without even seeming to close our eyes. This is perhaps the most dramatic technique you will read about in this workbook, because it is apparently similar to the concept of "astral projection." In this technique, however, we only dream that we are leaving our bodies.

Once in a state of sleep paralysis, avoid feeling trapped or frightened. Relax, but do not close your eyes. Imagine that you have two bodies, a physical body and a dream body. Your dream body is light, free, and ghostlike, while your physical body is cumbersome, heavy, and awkward. Your dream body is currently trapped inside your physical body, but only because you have not realized that you can free it. Don't try to move your physical body; instead, concentrate on "floating" your dream self out of the cumbersome physical body. Believe that you can do it and that it is very easy. If you succeed in this effort, you will slip into a dream that you have left your paralyzed body on your bed, and be fully aware that you are dreaming. Be careful not to be fooled; it may seem very realistic in your dream, but you have not actually left your body. Remember to remember that it is "just a dream."

WITHIN YOUR DREAMS

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

- Albert Einstein

OK, you're in a lucid dream. Now what?

Well, do anything you want. Explore. Learn. You can question and converse with your dream characters, knowing that they are a creation of your own subconscious. You can do things you've always wanted to do. Jump off Mount Everest. Have sex with Marilyn Monroe. Find out about yourself, from yourself. No book can tell you what do.

Before you get to this point of complete freedom, however, you may need help with maintaining a state of lucidity once you have been able to achieve it. Many people are able to achieve moments where they say in a dream "Hey, I'm dreaming!" but are unable to keep this realization for more than a short time, eventually falling back into the assumption that their surroundings are "real." Others habitually wake up right after the moment that they achieve lucidity. Several techniques have been developed and used by thousands, specifically for the purpose of maintaining moments of lucidity. Read these ideas, and keep them in mind as you go to sleep. For these to be of any help, you must remember to try them at that crucial moment when you say to yourself, "This is a dream!"

CROSSING THE BRIDGE

You might have moments in your recorded dreams where you can see that you almost became lucid. Perhaps you recognized a dreamsign but were unable to make the leap from this recognition to lucidity. The statement, "I am dreaming" is a monumental and unusual thing to say when you believe that you are experiencing reality. It is therefore often difficult to convince ourselves that we are, in fact, in a dream.

However, hard evidence is easy to find. When you are in doubt as to whether or not you are dreaming, look at your watch. Notice and remember the time. Look away and then look back at your watch again. If you are dreaming, the time will have changed significantly, or have been unrealistic in the first place. There are no constants in the dream world as there are in waking life, so if your watch has advanced 10 hours in a moment's glance, you will have undeniable evidence that you are dreaming.

Another reliable test is to read a passage from a book. Choose one paragraph from any book you can pick up, look away from it, and then read it again. If you are dreaming, the content of this passage will have changed completely. Again, this test takes advantage of the inconstant nature of a dream and is undeniable proof of a dreamer's state.

FOCUSING ON DETAIL AND SENSATION

Sometimes you may feel that your dream is beginning to fade away. Your surroundings may seem fuzzy, or your sensations unclear. You may even get the feeling that you are about to wake up. In this case, focusing on detail around you can help you to bring your dream back into focus. Look at something that would have intricacies in real life, such as a piece of wood. Get a close view of the grains and interlocking detailed parts of this object. Once you then look back at your surroundings, they too will appear more clearly. Besides vision, you can also focus on the details of other senses. Notice the sounds around you (birds, motors, wind, the hum of a television set in the next room) or the feelings you are experiencing (the pressure on your feet from walking, the feel of water on your skin, the taste or smell of something). Seeing these details of small parts of your dream will help bring the entire picture back into focus.

CLOSING YOUR EYES

If you feel that your dream is going nowhere, that you are losing it, or if you want to transfer dreams for any other reason, try closing your eyes. Often, if we close our eyes or go to sleep within a dream, it brings about a change of scene and plot.

RELEASING ANXIETY

Sometimes, tension and anxiety are brought about when we realize that we are dreaming. We struggle to keep the state of lucidity. If your dream starts to fade, relax instead of panicking. Do not struggle to hold on to a fading dream, but instead try to release your anxiety and "go with the flow." In this situation, tension is counterproductive, because it may simply jolt you awake.

SPINNING

"Spinning" is a technique that has been shown to be effective by the Lucidity Institute [Lynne Levitan, A Thousand and One Nights of Lucid Dreaming]. When you are in a dream, and that dream or your lucidity begins to fade, try spinning around. Feeling this unusual and realistic sensation of "spinning" our dream bodies helps us to bring clarity back to the dream.

AFTER YOUR DREAMS

"If we listen patiently to our dreams and the messages they contain . . . they will eventually lead us to health . . . how much better to take advice from the other half of yourself than from another person." - Dr. Ann Faraday

REMEMBERING

Letting yourself remember your dreams can be a function of the moment as well as of practice and training. When you wake up, lie in bed without moving for a few moments, trying to remember your dream. Sometimes, being in the position we were in during our dream can help to trigger a memory that we might not otherwise reach. Even if you have moved after awakening, try to lie back down and find the position that you awoke in.

Close your eyes. Try to remember what you were feeling and thinking at the moment that you woke up. What were you thinking about? What mood did you immediately awaken into? This information may also trigger a memory of your dream. Remember: the sooner you concentrate on remembering the details of your dreams, the more you will be able to find.

To help yourself remember details of a dream, you might want to visualize the remembered dream in your head. Closing your eyes and replaying the scenario in your mind may help you to see details and remember feelings that would otherwise be lost.

No matter how much you recall, however, your dream will be of little use if you do not record it. As you learned earlier, you should record your dreams as soon as possible, including every fragmented memory.

INTERPRETATION

In some books, you will find lists of dream symbols that supposedly tell you the exact meaning of your dreams. The truth is, however, that no one can interpret your dreams but you. No one else can tell you what your dream means. Each part of your dream means what it means to you,, and nothing else. There are no set rules for interpretation. There are no books or dictionaries that will show you the meaning of a dream. You must unlock the meaning of your own dreams.

There are many ways to help yourself do this. "Word association" can help you to find out what recurring dream symbols mean to you. You may want to devote a few pages in the back of your journal to interpretation. Read through your old dreams and find things or situations that repeat themselves.

For example, you might often dream about climbing stairs. Write down this word (or phrase) in your journal and look at it. Think about what it makes you think of and feel. Then write down everything that comes to your mind when thinking of this thing or situation. Some words that you write down just might surprise you. Reading over these lists can lead to a discovery of what these symbols mean to you.

If you are artistically inclined, you might want to draw a picture about this symbol. Don't just draw a recurring object, though. Be sure to include your feelings and things that, in your opinion, relate to this symbol. You could also cut out a picture of your symbol from a magazine or book. Pasting this into your journal might also help you in thinking about what it means to you.

Discussion is another activity that can help you in deciphering your dreams. While no one can dictate the meaning of your dreams to you, talking about them with friends or family can be helpful. Someone may suggest something to you that you hadn't thought of before. Having others share their dream experiences with you may also open your eyes to new possibilities. Maybe someone you know also has dreams about climbing stairs. What does it mean to them? We all learn from each other.

There are no rules or laws to your dreams. Explore. Have fun.

For more information:

The Lucidity Institute, Inc.

2555 Park Boulevard, Suite 2

Palo Alto, CA 94306-1919

www.lucidity.com

(415) 321-9969

1-800-GO-LUCID

Association For the Study of Dreams

P.O. Box 1600

Vienna, VA 22183

Phone: (703) 242-0062

Fax: (703) 242-8888

Recommended Books:

á  LaBerge, Stephen & Rheingold, Howard - Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming - Lucid Dreaming

á  Garfield, Patricia - Creative Dreaming

á  Moss, Robert - Conscious Dreaming

á  McPhee, Charles - Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams

More from Erin J. Wamsley at http://members.aol.com/Aarenka/lucidintro.html