Lucid Dreaming - (Six Incredibly Awesome Mind States You Can Experience)
June 11th, 2008
When I was a kid, I wanted to know how to fly, or to be a powerful wizard in a fantasy world. I wanted to fight evil sorcerers and rescue princesses and all that usual stuff. I can’t say any of these has come true in my real life. And I don’t think they will, either. I’d need a virtual reality machine for that.
A lot of us probably wish the scientists invented a virtual reality machine. Well, guess what…
You already have a virtual reality machine in your head. It’s called your brain. Or, more specifically, the part responsible for dreaming.
Sure, there’s one major problem with dreaming. You don’t control what you dream about. But imagine for a second you could. Imagine you could become fully aware of the fact that you’re dreaming, while you’re dreaming, and decide what you want to dream about next. Wouldn’t that be totally awesome?
It is totally awesome! And it’s called lucid dreaming, and you can do it!
Lucid dreaming
If you ever tried getting yourself to exercise or run regularly, you’ll know the first step is the hardest. It takes incredible amount of effort to put on your running shoes and step out the door. Once you’re out there, the running itself is trivial by comparison.
Similarly, lucid dreaming itself is as easy as riding a bike downhill. The tricky part is becoming aware of the fact that you’re dreaming.
Becoming lucid
If you want to become lucid, you’ll have to notice you’re dreaming. And to do that, you’ll need to notice inconsistencies around you. Stuff that makes you say “hey, this absolutely couldn’t happen in real life. This must be a dream!”.
How often during the day do you check if you’re dreaming? If you’re like most people, then never. And that means that you won’t check it while you’re dreaming either. Dreaming is, after all, just a rehash of your daily experiences.
The first and basic method for achieving lucid dreaming is called reality check. It involves checking whether or not you’re dreaming during the day. And doing it often.
1. Reality check
In movies, the traditional way of checking if you’re dreaming seems to be pinching yourself. Too bad it doesn’t work in real life (or rather, real dreams). You can imagine the pain quite vividly.
Then how do you check? After all you can imagine anything.
It turns out reading something in dreams is damn difficult. The letters tend to blend and jump around, and if you turn away and look back the text will usually change to something completely different. (I can also confirm that you can’t play chess in dreams. Quite a shame, since I was hoping to get some chess practice during dreams. Then again… I could imagine anything in the whole world… and I wanted to play chess??? Talk about unimaginative…)
Therefore a good way of doing your reality check is to carry around a special piece of paper for that. Write a text on both sides, something like “Reality check! Am I dreaming?” on one side, and on the other side “Hmmm… apparently not.”
Then, during the day, simply often check the piece of paper. Read one side, then flip over, read that side, then look away and look back. If the text is still the same, you’re probably awake. If the text has changed and now says “Soviet submarines cause cancer” or “gurbuz mbodut qgzup cthulhu!”, it’s pretty damn likely that you’re dreaming.
Reality check also makes you more sensitive to other inconsistencies around you. When I had my first lucid dream, I became aware of the fact that I’m dreaming precisely because there was an inconsistency. I was locking the door of my flat. I turned the key once. I turned it twice. I turned it a third time. Then I was like “Wait a second, my lock only turns twice.” And bam! I became aware of the fact that I’m dreaming!
2. Wake up and go back to sleep
Another technique that really worked great for me is waking up and getting back to sleep. It works as follows:
1. Set your alarm clock an hour earlier than usual
You could try different times too. Maybe an hour and a half earlier than usual would work better for you.2. Do something for 20 minutes
Go grab something to eat, or write a journal, or do anything else you’d like. Just avoid activities that could stop you from going back to sleep (like exercise).3. Go back to sleep
This method is supposed to make you about 20 times more likely to have a lucid dream afterwards. I have no idea how accurate that figure is, but from my experience it could be pretty damn close.
My first couple of lucid dreams always happened in this situation. Sometimes even not on purpose. Like one night, I woke up at about 4 am to go to the bathroom. I was awake for about 5 minutes, then went back to sleep. It was enough - I had a lucid dream afterwards.
What to do once you’re lucid
Ok, now you’re aware of the fact you’re dreaming, while you’re inside that dream. Go wild!
To quote from DreamViews, a website about lucid dreaming:
To fully experience lucid dreaming, you have to remember that you are not governed by any laws in your dreams: you have complete freedom. Instead of walking to school or work, you can fly. While in mid-flight you may spontaneously decide you’d rather explore the elusive depths of the ocean without a breathing apparatus, or travel at incomprehensible speeds and explore the endless heavens around us without a ship. Or perhaps you’ll remember a book or a movie that captured your soul—perhaps you’ll become the main character of that book or movie and live for a short while in that story. Or maybe you’d just like to live your own life, with the added bonus of not being restricted by any consequences of your actions. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to tell off your boss, or push your car to its maximum speed (and beyond) on an open stretch of highway. Regardless, it will likely take a while for you to fully appreciate the idea that you can do whatever you imagine—you’ll likely think things are not possible during your first few lucid dreams, and be unable to do them.
One of my personal favorites is flying. I definitely recommend you to give it a try.
Things to watch out for
Don’t worry. Lucid dreaming is perfectly safe. The only things you need to “watch out for” is things that could prevent you from having lucid dreams.
1. Becoming too excited
This isn’t from my own experience. But I heard that some people, when they first became lucid, were like “Yeey! Yippee! Woohoo! I’m having my first lucid dream!” - and woke up from the excitement.
So, when you first have a lucid dream, try to stay calm. Of course you’ll be terribly excited. Just try to enjoy a calm exhilaration, without jumping around going “Weeeee!”.
2. False awakening
This one was huge for me. I think that most of my lucid dreams ended in a false awakening. Definitely more than half of them.
The thing with lucid dreams is that they’re extremely vivid. And I mean extremely. You can’t easily tell a difference between lucid dreams and real life (that’s why reality check is so tricky).
Often, you’ll have a lucid dream… and then you’ll dream that you wake up (false awakening). You’ll lose your lucid dream. And if you don’t realize you’re still dreaming, you’ll go back to normal dreamless sleep.
Let me repeat - this experience will be extremely life-like. I fell for it the first couple of times, and even later, when I was well aware of it, it still often got me.
So here’s what to do. When you wake up from a lucid dream, do a very, very thorough reality check. The chances are, you’re still dreaming. Best keep some text to read by your bed at night, so you can immediately do a reality check when you wake up.
One time, I had a lucid dream. Then I had a false awakening. But I spotted it (there was some inconsistency, can’t remember what), so I enjoyed another lucid dream. Then I woke up. At least that’s what I thought. Actually, it was another false awakening, but I didn’t realize it this time. Shame, I wonder how many false awakenings I could string in a row 
Odds and Ends about lucid dreaming
If you want to find out more, check out this website about lucid dreaming. You will find more detailed explanations, more reasons to try lucid dreaming, more techniques, more personal stories, and other stuff related to lucid dreaming. (You’ll also finally get to find out what that bloody word lucid means )
And one more thing…
If you had any personal experiences with lucid dreaming, or are going to give it a try after reading this article, please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail. I’d really like to know.
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On my last post a reader suggested I make summaries. I’m giving it a try. Following twitter’s example, I’ll make it 140 characters or less.
Summary: Lucid dreaming means consciously being able to control your dreams as you’re dreaming. You can then enjoy the unlimited dream world.
Stay tuned for the second of six incredibly awesome mind states you can experience. We’ll explore a state very similar to sleep - relaxation. But a kind of relaxation you’ve likely never done before.
June 11th, 2008 at 17:39
I hate the thought of the false awakenings that seem to inevitably accompany lucid dreaming and I can’t help wondering if it’s worth it. I’m not sure it would be, for me. I have pretty good dreams anyway, without being lucid.
June 11th, 2008 at 21:36
Many years ago I heard about lucid dreams but after many attepmts I never had one (that I remembered, at least…) and all but forgot about them, until recently.
Last Wednesday I got out of bed and wandered downstairs wondering why there were men sleeping in the bathroom and unable to find the kitchen. All of a sudden I realised it was a dream - everything became ultra vivid and I got very excited. I took a moment to think about what I wanted to do - fly, obviously! - and jumped out of the window shouting “I’M DREAMING! I’M DREAMING!” like a lunatic…
Then I woke up
After that I had a normal dream where I was talking to someone about my lucid dream, which is usually about as close as I ever get.
Hopefully seeing this blog post exactly 1 week after my first lucid dream as an adult will sink well into my subconscious.
(I used to have lucid dreams a lot as a child, but unfortunately it’s not something that’s nurtured in children in todays world so I forgot all about them until I was well into adulthood.)
June 16th, 2008 at 21:00
I have this friend who is a freshman on psychology. I once randomly opened your blog and found something I thought he’d find interesting so I mailed it to him. But, before clicking the little [x] button I read the first paragraph. Then, I read the second. Then I read the third. Then, I read the whole post. And the one before. And the one before that one. That easily, I became addicted to your paragraphs.
I’ve got to say, you are by far the most interesting person I’ve read on the world wide web and will continue to read. Please, PLEASE, keep up the awesome work (word good just didn’t fit ^_^).
Now, as for the lucidity; I’ve been aching to try this. It sounds way too good to be true but I’ll give it a try starting today. When the first dream “hits me” (or should I say “I hit it”) I’ll write an awfully long comment about it (and maybe write it down somewhere on this huge net).
Thanks, Cheerios.
Armin.
June 21st, 2008 at 12:51
I’ve tried a number of times to experience a fabled “Lucid Dream”, but have never succeeded while actually trying. There have been quite a few cases where I’ve realized I was in a dream and broke away from the original plot when this wasn’t my intention when going to sleep, but they have usually been unpleasant…
In most of the dreams I’ve had where I realize that I’m dreaming, I usually have problems with the gravity. I suddenly can no longer stand while crossing the road, or I fall out of the sky and hit the ground. Other bad things have happened, e.g. fire, paranoia, speaking gibberish. My lucid dreams generally end in some state of panic.
Also, I noticed that my judgment is significantly impaired during dreams, so even when I do have them, I can’t think of what to do. I tend just to see the flaws in reality, become paranoid and stop dreaming.
I plan to keep trying to have lucid dreams though. After all, even nightmares have entertainment value
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00
[...] Hell, yeah! That’s nuts enough for me to try! Plus, it apparently improves concentration, has great benefits for your health and makes you happier. But let’s face it, that’s not why I would do it :). I just enjoy the really weird stuff that’s beyond anything ordinary people would ever imagine, let alone experience. (Dare to join me? Try lucid dreaming.) [...]
August 8th, 2008 at 0:20
I lucid dream frequently, it’s easy for me. I often find that I awaken a lot during these, only to fall back to sleep into the same dream. I am not sure if it is a false awakening or not; usually if it’s a good dream I want to go back to it, so I will lie very still and keep my eyes closed to do so. But if it’s a bad dream I will follow through with the “false” awakening and get up: open my eyes, go to the bathroom, whatever. Anything to assure I won’t fall asleep to the same bad dream.
Also: I can always fly in every dream, lucid or not, so I never have falling dreams. And I can always breathe underwater in every dream, so I never have drowning dreams. But it shouldn’t be proclaimed as some awesome experience - even while knowing I’m dreaming I can’t do EVERYTHING. Flying is hard most of the time and so is telekinesis (one I enjoy). Once you’re aware you’re dreaming, it’s not like you can be Mr. Superhero all of a sudden. And if I go to sleep visualizing a certain person I want to dream about, sometimes they appear only to hate me and want nothing to do with me.
Another less cool part about lucid dreaming is: once I realize I’m dreaming, I can’t think of anything to do, so I sort of wander around doing nothing until I awaken (falsely or not).
Anyway, my thoughts.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:04
I am very interested in this. I normally have a very difficult time sleeping but when I do lucid dream it is about something very strange like vampires and giant turtles attacking my town (one of which I have never even seen) and us hiding in some really cool giant bathroom with beds and things of that sort inside a giant swimming pool hall or something. It always seems rather out of control even if I know I am dreaming.
August 12th, 2008 at 17:11
Yeah, it’s always amazed me that I could wake up early, do something for 10 minutes (such as going to the bathroom, getting a quick bite to eat) and then plop down into bed still a half-awake zombie and nearly instantly have a dream that I remember. And I know it’s pretty instant because I wake up 20 or 30 minutes later.
So, in other words, your technique does work. I’ve been doing it a long time.
The downside, though, is that you wake up easily. I’d have sex dreams and other lucid dreams that I really enjoyed and then poof, it’s over.
August 13th, 2008 at 22:09
I just noticed, if one could get “used” to lucid dreaming, what if they were able to start reading and such. What if that even caused to completely destroy the ability to tell whether you’re awake or not.. This could cause insanity.
(I can’t wait to try it.)
August 17th, 2008 at 2:24
In my own experience, smoking marijuana before going to sleep can help to induce lucid dreaming, Sativa strains in particular.
If I had to guess, I would imagine the relaxed state helps your mind keep control over your body and prevent you from jerking awake upon realizing that you’re dreaming. Additionally, a strong dose of grass can be mildly hallucinogenic.
August 17th, 2008 at 7:23
I have lucid dreams pretty frequently and they’re amazing! However, sometimes I have limited lucidity (is that a word?) and once I realize I can have magic powers, they won’t work for me, or I suddenly will only be able to look at people’s feet. And flying is great, but in my dreams, I either have to pump my legs to fly and get higher, or I’ll fly too high and when I need to land I’ll have a long, agonizing fall to the ground but usually not be hurt.
Maybe if I practice the “Am I dreaming?” thing more…
August 20th, 2008 at 0:01
I used to lucid dream a ton as a teenager. I had read a book on it and found it very interesting and start it. The book suggested first learning how to remember your dreams reliably. It said to do this to concentrate on wanting to remember them as you fall asleep. After that, to concentrate on dreaming about a certain thing. After that, to concentrate on controlling your dreams.
I’ve recall dreaming and wanting to figure out some particularly hard puzzle from real life and figuring it out in the dream. It almost always woke me up immediately if I did. (Usually had to do with a bug in some program I wrote, lol)
I’ve often wondered if lucid dreaming is not closely related to hypnotism….
August 23rd, 2008 at 21:03
The biggest problem with dream recall for me (I haven’t passed this hurdle yet) is that my normal dreams are often convoluted and completely nonsensical, like I’ll be able to transform into a painting at will (yes at I had a dream like that) and it seems totally normal in the dream, and all the events string together totally fine. Then I wake up and try to remember it, and the bits that I can remember never seem to make sense together, so I can’t remember the rest.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:13
I’m extremly interested in this topic! i’m going to college soon and thats when i’m going to start trying to master this technique. I’ve experienced it once before (Flying), and found it so satisfying!
i’ve got some questions about dreaming/sleeping methods-
like combining lucid dreaming and the Ubermans sleeping schedule .. How do i email you? . i cant find any address?
August 24th, 2008 at 10:34
@Starbeams:
Yeah, it’s not like I’m in full control when dreaming either. Completely random stuff sometimes happens in my dreams… that’s half the fun
@Niall:
I like your attitude. You remind me of… myself…
@Sorian:
I remember waking up one morning, suddenly realizing how to play a difficult piano passage I’ve been practicing. But that’s about the only time I remember finding a solution in my sleep. I’m sure there’s more potential there for me to explore.
@Alphabet:
Oh yeah, I’ve had plenty of crazy stuff in dreams. That’s more like the rule than the exception.
If you want to practice remembering your dreams, try writing a dream diary. It worked for me.
Just keep pen and paper next to your bed. Then, in the morning, the moment you wake up, just keep lying and remember any fragments of dreams you just had. Don’t go to the bathroom or anything, because that would break away all the fragments of dreams you barely remember.
After you remembered all you can about the dreams you had that night, write them down in the diary. You can write short bullet points or long prose, whichever you prefer.
This lets your mind know remembering dreams is important to you. In a few days, you will start to remember more dreams.
Enjoy!
@Jaime:
Yes, I deliberately hide my e-mail address so you can only see it under ultra-violet light…
Ok, maybe not. Just click the link called “about” at the top right anywhere on my blog. You’ll find my e-mail address there.
August 26th, 2008 at 0:06
I have tried to have a Lucid Dream for some time now, but I have yet to have one (at least, not in the normal sense). However, I have had a number of times where I have very strange dreams, and halfway through I notice that I shouldn’t be able to do what I am doing. Unfortunately, I have yet to actually notice that it is a dream and take control of it. More often then not, I simply accept it and continue on with the dream. For instance, one dream I had I was able to jump rather high, as if I controlled where the top of the arc is. I realized that I shouldn’t be able to do this… but instead of realizing that it was a dream, I just continued along the story line (if you will) that was already in progress, always cautious to land on something soft to break my fall when I jumped (like a tree.)
Several times after waking up from such a dream, I have realized that it was a dream and tried to reenter the dream, but usually this either results in me recounting my dream or failing to remember it at all.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:27
Thera,
You are the only other person that mentioned telekinesis. I do this too as well as flying.
Sensations? What do you feel and can you explain it? Flying to me is very like falling but you don’t. It’s like weightlessness. Telekinesis is different. It feels like physical concentration. Like slightly tensing the muscles around the… mind. I hope you see this and respond.
August 28th, 2008 at 22:02
@Victory:
Hey! Last time I had a lucid dream, I also tried telekinesis. Awesome! It’s my new favorite! I can’t wait until my next lucid dream to try it again
And thanks for describing the way you feel the different things (flying, telekinesis). It could be really interesting to compare how we all feel the different things.
When I want to fly, I need to move my arms up and down, like I’m a bird. It feels sort of like swimming. Then, once I get up in the sky, I can sometimes stop moving my arms and keep flying. After that it’s more like superman-style flying.
And telekinesis feels completely effortless to me. I just lift my hand and make stuff move, like Sylar in Heroes