Is Lucid Dreaming A Sin?

Category: LD Articles

Is Lucid Dreaming A Sin?

Apr. 10 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 4 comments

I have a personal interest in lucid dreaming and so I do my own research and experiments. I like to share my findings and give my opinions and get into discussions about this topic. I recently ran across a question asking, “Is lucid dreaming a sin?”. My immediate reaction to this question was disappointment and frustration.

To me, this question is very annoying. There is no way to answer this question for everyone. The answer to this question is going to be different for each person as it depends on two things:

The definition of “sin”
Whether or not you believe in the definition of “sin” as it is known to you.

This could be further narrowed down to just, what you believe is a sin. The thing that is disturbing about the question being asked is that the asker obviously doesn’t know what the definition of a sin is in their life and is looking to someone else to find that answer.

First and foremost, I strongly urge anyone who has this question to find out within themselves the definition of what a sin is. And by this I mean, do not take the word of anyone or anything. Your whole life and the world you live in is defined based on your decision. If you choose to give that decision up to someone else, then you are at the whim of someone else’s world view.

I have a really hard time with this question because I know there are two types of people in the world. There are followers and non-followers. I know the typical opposite of follower is leader, but there are actually people who are not followers and not leaders at the same time.

If you are a follower, then it is as easy as taking the word of any source that you trust. If that be your religious leader, your parents, your teachers, this blog, some random book you found or who knows.

If you are a non-follower, it is very likely that this question would not even cross your mind. However, if it has, it is a matter of coming to a conclusion about what a sin is and if lucid dreaming fits within that definition, you have your answer.

Now, I will tell you what I think. In my opinion, from all I have gathered about what a sin is, lucid dreaming is NOT a sin.

You are more than welcome to disagree. There will be no hard feelings from me. I might be slightly disappointed in you, but you can’t please everyone.

I would absolutely love to hear what you have to say about it. Please let a comment about it.

Until next time, happy dreaming to you!

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Is Lucid Dreaming Real?

Apr. 09 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 1 comment

I see this question asked from time to time and it always kind of puzzles me. However, I can understand why someone would ask, “Is lucid dreaming real?”. To someone who has never experienced it and has heard someone describe it, it must seem pretty unbelievable.

From my own experience, I can tell you that, yes, lucid dreaming is absolutely real. You don’t have to take my word for it though. There are plenty of account and claims and descriptions of people doing it on the internet. There is, however; a bit of confusion and gray area regarding lucid dreaming.

Some people describe it as being more than what it is such as referring to it as astral projection. I have also seen where people have substituted the term “sleep paralysis” for lucid dreaming.

I think lucid dreaming is it’s own thing and that thing is the realization that you are dreaming. Scientific tests have shown that a dreaming brain and a lucid dreaming brain look very different. A lucid dreaming brain shows activity similar to a brain of a person who is awake. This to me shows that more of the conscious mind is aware and in control and since the body is actually in a state of paralysis.

This is where the fun happens because the dreamer, at this point, is in the dream world and fully capable of observing and/or controlling that world. With practice, it is an experience unlike any other.

Now, I also strongly believe that lucid dreaming is easily a starting point for a number of other states of mind or spirit. Much of this starts to become a matter of belief. Some people believe that people are already connected in some way to begin with and that lucid dreaming offers a conduit to exploring that connection. There are even some scientists who havce claimed to perform and document these activities.

I think you will find that this area of study will grow in the somewhat near future as people realize what humans can really do, but that is getting a bit out of range for this post.

Without a doubt, lucid dreaming is real and without going beyond that, it isn’t some magical type of event. It is quite a natural occurrence and I would suggest that anyone should try it. If you have worries or doubts, I encourage you to keep snooping around the internet and continue your research. It is an experience that is easily attainable and absolutely worth trying.

Best of luck to you. Please leave a comment if you have questions. Like us on Facebook! Join our mailing list to stay up to date with our findings as we continue our research and also get the special items we give to our members.

Happy dreaming!

Using Meditation To Induce Lucid Dreaming

Mar. 10 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming no comments

Meditation can be used as a type of lucid dreaming induction. To become better at lucid dreaming, it is necessary to focus the mind to some degree in order to be prepared prior to dreaming. Meditation is a very useful and effective way to prepare the mind. When you can focus your intentions, as meditation allows you to do, lucid dreaming is easier to induce.

You can see how this can be true by taking a quick look at the key ingredients to lucid dreaming as most of these require a level of mental focus.:

Documenting dreams in a journal
Repeating a mantra or phrase to signal the subconscious mind to later realize you are dreaming
Identifying or creating symbols to recognize the dream state.
Performing reality checks
Spinning or smiling to stay lucid and in control

Documenting your dreams is not really improved much by meditation except by any meditation that will help retain memory of the dreams.

For the repetition of a mantra or phrase, meditation can be very useful. If you are not familiar with this, the idea is to repeat to yourself a phrase such as, “When I dream tonight, I will become lucid and aware that I am dreaming”. There are many variations of this. I actually suggest adding to this a plan to purposefully perform a reality check. In this way, not only is the message in your mind, but a plan of action as well.

The strength of dream state symbols can be bolstered by meditating on the symbols before dreaming. Many of the symbols can be derived from the dream journal since dreams will tend to have a reoccurring symbol of sorts. Also with meditation, creation of symbols can be more effective. By focusing on your created symbol, it can more easily be injected into your dreams and therefore recognized easier.

Meditation can help with reality checks too. Reality checks are easy to perform. The hard part is remembering to do them. Higher levels of focus on remembering to do reality checks will naturally be helpful in this area. The same holds true for remembering to spin or smile to maintain calmness and control of your lucidity.

The main thing to all of it is the remembering. One of the most difficult things when dealing with the dreams is to remember to invoke any of these skills while dreaming. The mind is fuzzy in most cases. Meditation, when done correctly, can be used to hone the necessary focus for these task.

There are plenty of sources available to learn how to meditate as in all forms, the main goal is a profound focus. However, if you would like some assistance with meditation, there is a variety of audio files available at The Unexplainable Store that can get you there faster and easier. There are also free samples available so you see which type you like.

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Is Lucid Dreaming Dangerous?

Mar. 07 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 1 comment

The short answer is “No”, however, it also depends on your definition of “dangerous”.

Lucid dreaming is merely the realization that one is dreaming. That alone is not dangerous. People sometimes confuse lucid dreaming for other sleep activity such as astral projection or out of body experiences (OBE’s). Venturing beyond lucid dreaming may be considered as having more of a risk, but that is for another post. For this post, let us focus on lucid dreaming.

I have read of a behavior that can occur after one becomes better at lucid dreaming which might be considered dangerous. People, apparently, have been know to get a little obsessed or rather addicted to lucid dreaming. As a result, those people are noted to spend an unhealthy amount of time sleeping in order to dream lucidly. Being a lucid dreamer myself, I have a hard time judging people who sleep too much in order to have more lucid dreams because this type of dreaming is truly amazing. The power that the dreamer can have and the beauty found in the dream state is profound. However, too much of anything is not usually a good thing.

In case it isn’t obvious, sleeping too much means that you are missing real life. This is, of course, relative to each person’s life. In general, a person should live their life to the fullest. On a physical note, it is possible to cause real physical harm by sleeping too much. Less time moving around means muscle mass is reduced making for a weaker body. Your body also builds up toxins the longer you sleep. So, the moral here is, make the most out of the sleep that you have to have each night. Get better at lucid dreaming and enjoy your nightly slumber. There is nothing wrong with getting a full night’s rest, just don’t waste the time you could be living in the real world to do more of what you have to do every night anyway…. sleep.

There is no real way to guarantee to anyone that lucid dreaming won’t lead you to other things such as astral projection, but I will say that it is extremely unlikely that you will randomly have an out of body experience unless you had some desire to do so. It is difficult enough to experience such things out of purpose let alone by accident. Most of the things that can be done while sleeping appear to be largely based on the sleeper’s intention and desire. Simply put, if you only intend to dream lucidly, chances are very high that lucid dreaming is all you will do.

The only other thing that might make lucid dreaming seem dangerous is the excitement level that the dreamer may experience from time to time. A person who has heart trouble or some sort of a health condition that is affected by excitement or the adrenaline created in the body when excited may be at some level of risk. Just realizing you are dreaming can be an exhilarating experience. So, anyone concerned about this type of condition should be cautious and possibly consult a physician. The counter to this though is that, really any dream could cause this level of excitement… so, in my opinion, a lucid dream poses no more risk of excitement than a regular dream.

In 20 years of lucid dreaming, I have never had a problem nor experienced anything resulting from a lucid dream that I would come close to considering to be dangerous. I have only had benefits from lucid dreaming and at the very least, I have had pleasant nightmare-free dreams.

I hope you give it a try and discover the wonderful world that exists in your head. You can read more about lucid dreaming dangers by navigating from the main page.

The short answer is “No”, however, it also depends on your definition of “dangerous”.Lucid dreaming is merely the realization that one is dreaming. That alone is not dangerous. People sometimes confuse lucid dreaming for other sleep activity such as astral

projection or out of body experiences (OBE’s). Venturing beyond lucid dreaming may be considered as having more of a risk, but that is for another post. For this post, let us

focus on lucid dreaming.

I have read of a behavior that can occur after one becomes better at lucid dreaming which might be considered dangerous. People, apparently, have been know to get a little

obsessed or rather addicted to lucid dreaming. As a result, those people are noted to spend an unhealthy amount of time sleeping in order to dream lucidly. Being a lucid

dreamer myself, I have a hard time judging people who sleep too much in order to have more lucid dreams because this type of dreaming is truly amazing. The power that the

dreamer can have and the beauty found in the dream state is profound. However, too much of anything is not usually a good thing.

In case it isn’t obvious, sleeping too much means that you are missing real life. This is, of course, relative to each person’s life. In general, a person should live their

life to the fullest. On a physical note, it is possible to cause real physical harm by sleeping too much. Less time moving around means muscle mass is reduced making for a

weaker body. Your body also builds up toxins the longer you sleep. So, the moral here is, make the most out of the sleep that you have to have each night. Get better at lucid

dreaming and enjoy your nightly slumber. There is nothing wrong with getting a full night’s rest, just don’t waste the time you could be living in the real world to do more of

what you have to do every night anyway…. sleep.

There is no real way to guarantee to anyone that lucid dreaming won’t lead you to other things such as astral projection, but I will say that it is extremely unlikely that you

will randomly have an out of body experience unless you had some desire to do so. It is difficult enough to experience such things out of purpose let alone by accident. Most

of the things that can be done while sleeping appear to be largely based on the sleeper’s intention and desire. Simply put, if you only intend to dream lucidly, chances are

very high that lucid dreaming is all you will do.

The only other thing that might make lucid dreaming seem dangerous is the excitement level that the dreamer may experience from time to time. A person who has heart trouble or

some sort of a health condition that is affected by excitement or the adrenaline created in the body when excited may be at some level of risk. Just realizing you are dreaming

can be an exhilarating experience. So, anyone concerned about this type of condition should be cautious and possibly consult a physician. The counter to this though is that,

really any dream could cause this level of excitement… so, in my opinion, a lucid dream poses no more risk of excitement than a regular dream.

In 20 years of lucid dreaming, I have never had a problem nor experienced anything resulting from a lucid dream that I would come close to considering to be dangerous. I have

only had benefits from lucid dreaming and at the very least, I have had pleasant nightmare-free dreams.

I hope you give it a try and discover the wonderful world that exists in your head.

Is Lucid Dreaming Dangerous?

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Active vs. Passive Lucid Dreaming

Feb. 11 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming no comments

There are two main types of lucid dreaming. Active Lucid Dreaming is when the dreaming takes control of a dream and makes decisions that alters or guides the dream. Passive Lucid Dreaming is when the dreamer realizes they are dreaming, but continues to remain at the whim of the dream. In other words, the dream does not attempt to control the dream, but rather just witnesses the dream.

Some dreamers might perceive that they are dreaming but feel as though they cannot take control and are left only the ability to watch the dream. I have had plenty of lucid dreams where I switched back and forth from active to passive throughout the dream. This could be due to the content of the dream itself.

Dreams become somewhat fragile once the dreamer realizes they are dreaming. The smallest of thoughts can cause various aspects of the dream to change. You have direct influence of your dreams. When lucid dreaming, this influence becomes stronger, but depending on the mental state of the dreamer, this could be a good or a bad thing.

My better lucid dream experiences are when I am able to stay calm and my mind is void of fears and doubts. In these dreams, I find that I have amazing control over the dream world. In the more chaotic lucid dreams I have had, it is when I am disturbed by something from my waking life or not in a clear sate of mind that my dreams become easily distorted and I find it difficult to stay in the dream.

In any case, whether actively or passively lucid dreaming, all lucid dreams are wonderful to experience.

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“Wolf Poodles” by Anthony Hall

Feb. 11 dreaming, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming, Lucid Dreaming Stories 1 comment

While dreaming one night in early January 2011, I was having one of my usual moderately controlled dreams. At one point, I was walking through a very large rustic cabin-style house. The inside of the house seemed very large. Much larger than what you expect to see for a cabin-style house. There was furniture all over the place. It almost seemed like too much furniture. Each room had too many couches and chairs and tables to be appropriate.

As I was walking, I noticed a couple of chairs very faintly sliding across the floor; almost like what you might see on a cruise ship if the waves were a little bit more than the ship could be stable for. Then a couple more pieces of furniture started to move, but just a very little bit. I found myself wondering if the house was tilting to one side. The moment this thought came into my mind, the house literally started to tilt. I wasn’t too surprised since your dreams are very easily affected by what you think about. However, now I had to quickly deal with lots of furniture sliding across the floor. I found myself skillfully dodging and jumping to avoid being hit.

The floor suddenly seemed quite expansive. I never saw the floor grow in size, it just seemed to go on further than I could see. I was still dodging furniture and trying to find a way out without getting smashed. At this point, the house seemed to be rolling slowly over the ground. I saw an open window and made my best efforts toward it. I managed to dive through the window… “Ahhh, safe”, I thought to myself. At least for a moment I felt safe.

I then found myself a little bit panic stricken. I almost felt like I was going a little mad. I don’t recall anything causing these feelings, I just suddenly felt that way. Things were a bit more out of control than in my normal dreams. In a bit of a frenzy to try to get back to normal, I had a fleeting thought that I should just do something shocking or jolting in order to wake up from the dream. In what felt like just a few seconds, I made up my mind and began to run down the road which was in a quaint little neighborhood. I don’t remember seeing anyone around outside. I decided I was going to find a house with someone home and just start yelling at them and maybe even get into a fight so that it would cause me to wake up. This logic seemed a bit flawed after I awoke and had time to think about it, but in the dream it made perfect sense.

What happened next was the best part of the dream because up to this point, I was only partially aware I was dreaming. I was making active choices, but there was still part of me that was at the whim of the dream. Just as I made it to the front step of my unsuspecting victim, I suddenly stopped. I thought to myself that this is my chance to try “it”. The “it” that I was thinking of was a technique I had read about that can be used to help realize that you are dreaming. I said out loud in my dream, “look at your hands”, but something kept me from looking. Staring wide-eyed at the door of the house in front of me, I repeated that phrase over and over a few times trying to convince myself to look. I couldn’t and still don’t fully understand why I was having so much trouble looking at them. However, I managed to slowly peer down at my hands and take a look. As I slowly tilted my head down, I raised my hands up to my face. My hands did not look like my hands, but this was enough for me to realize that I was dreaming.

The feeling is exhilarating as always when I realize I am in a dream. In my excitement, I backed away from the door and started making my way down the street. I was doing some sort of celebratory dance as I was shouting, “woo hoo, I am dreaming”. My very next thought was to fly up into the sky because I love the feeling of flying in my dreams. I got about 30 feet off the ground and then stopped myself. As I was floating myself back to the ground I found myself wanting to still find people and act crazy, but this time it was not to wake up, it was to see what would happen now that I am fully aware that I am dreaming.

I didn’t make it very far up the street before I noticed a dark silhouette of a large dog heading in my direction. I couldn’t make out what type of dog it was, but it looked like a cross between a wolf and a poodle and maybe a little bit of greyhound. Normally if I saw this in my dreams, I would be frightened, however, in this case I felt cocky and brave and decided to approach the dog menacingly in an attempt to scare it away. It worked at first, the dog was turning away from me and appeared to tuck its tail. Then I made the mistake of thinking about the situation too much and suddenly the dog-like creature turned into two and turned back towards me. Unfortunately, my adrenaline got flowing and though I wasn’t scared and was aware it was only a dream, the dream faded away and I woke up.

I am a little upset that I let the dream fade away like that, but I was glowing from this dream for most of that day. There is just nothing like the rush of a lucid dream.

Lucid Dreaming Notes for “Wolf Poodles”

In this dream I used two main techniques:

“Reality Check” — One of the ways I have read about and have tried is to look at your hands when dreaming. This seems to work as a cue for realizing the dream as the act of trying to prove you are dreaming is an indicator that you are dreaming. Plus, your hands in a dream do not tend to look like your hands which is also a good indicator of the dream state.

“Smile Technique” — I came up with this technique, but others may be using this or something similar. Smiling releases “feel good” chemicals into the body. Among them are endorphins and serotonin. This technique is useful for remaining in the dream state as it helps to keep you calm and counter act fear and excitement.

Share Your Lucid Dream Stories With Us And The World

Feb. 11 dreaming, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming, Lucid Dreaming Stories 1 comment

Inducing Lucid Dreams is happy to share it’s writer’s lucid dreaming experiences and stories as well as the techniques used to induce those dreams. You can find these stories in our “Lucid Dreaming Stories” category.

We would also like to post the lucid dreaming stories of our readers. The only thing more entertaining than dreams is lucid dreams. By sharing these stories and how the lucid dreams were induced, it not only makes for an interesting read, but a learning tool as well.

If you would like to share your dream and have it posted on our blog, send an email to InducingLucidDreams@gmail.com with as much description of your lucid dream as you can. If possible, please also include any methods or tools used to help you become lucid in the dream.

NOTE: Please put “Lucid Dreaming Story” in the SUBJECT of the email.

We will review and post the stories as quickly as we can.

Thank you and happy lucid dreaming!

Share Your Lucid Dreaming Stories

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How To Lucid Dream Tonight

Jan. 31 dreaming, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 16 comments

Right off the bat, I have to tell you that lucid dreaming does take some practice before you get really good at it. However, it is possible for you to learn how to lucid dream tonight.

There are a number of different techniques that can be used to reach the lucid dreaming state and you should explore them and find what works best for you. This blog is fairly new, but you may find some ideas to use from here. There are also a good number of decent resources on the internet to check out as well just by searching on the topic of lucid dreaming. People have also found it useful to train their brains using binaural and monaural beats. You can get free audio samples by joining our free newsletter if you would like to hear what they sound like.

Even with brainwave entrainment, it can take some time before you get the hang of lucid dreaming. There is a good chance that your first time will be brief. When I was first learning how to lucid dream, it was often that the realization that I was dreaming would excite me enough to wake me up. It is important to try to stay as calm and as even keel as possible.

One of the easiest ways that I have found to realize I am dreaming is to look at my hands in my dream. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but it is actually pretty difficult. There seems to be two main effects of looking at your hands that causes one to realize they are dreaming. The act of looking at your hands alone seems to trigger the realization itself. Plus, in your dreams, your hands don’t look like your hands, and that seems to be just jolting enough to assist the realization process.

It helps to prepare yourself and your mind for purposefully taking an action such as looking at your hands. You can choose to perform a different action in your dreams rather than looking at your hands. I suggest looking at your hands since I know this works very well and have read that it works well for others too.

To prepare yourself, start making a mental note that you are going to look at your hands while dreaming. Literally tell this to yourself as often as you can before you go to sleep. The earlier you start this in your day, the better. If you repeat this enough to yourself, it will act as sort of a reminder while in your dream. It is strange, but while in a dream, it doesn’t quite seem to occur to you until after you have woken up that you were even in a dream. Even when there are very strange things going on in your dream, it always seems perfectly normal.

When you are ready to go to sleep, keep reminding yourself of your plan of action. You can literally just spend your pre-sleep time thinking of this plan to look at your hands in your dream. Try to take nice long breaths; slowly inhaling and exhaling. It doesn’t have to be super deep breaths, but long relaxing breaths work the best, I have found. If possible, you want to fall asleep gradually. This gives you a better opportunity to maintain some of your consciousness while part of your brain is in the sleep and dream stages.

Something you may notice as you are falling asleep are images on the back of your eyelids. First these will appear as lighted abstract shapes. You may see these changing shapes start to take form and turn into recognizable scenes or objects. These are known as hypnogogic images or hypnogogic hallucinations. This is part of a technique called WILD. Try not to control these. Just let them do what they are going to do. Your mind will start to fill in the blanks on it’s own. Just try to roll with it. If you catch this moment just right, you may be able to jump right into a lucid dream, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t make it. This takes some getting used to. You still have plenty of opportunity while dreaming to experience lucidity.

The big trick, once you realize you are dreaming, is to stay in the dream. For me personally, I use something I have dubbed, the smile technique. The reason behind smiling is that it helps to keep you calm and present in the dream. Smiling releases endorphins and serotonin into your system. These are the natural “feel good” chemicals in your body. Try smiling right now and you should be able to feel the effect. I have found this to be very useful in the dream state.

There is a fine line between excited and scared that you want to stay in. With practice, you will be able to let your emotions go a little bit more as you learn to remain in control of your dreams.

If you can manage to stay calm and realize you are dreaming, you will find yourself in one of the best and wildest environments you could ever hope to imagine. The limits are really up to you.

* Consider grabbing your copy of the Beginner’s Guide To Lucid Dreaming Techniques for more details how how to lucid dream.

To summarize how to lucid dream tonight:

Prepare your mind by repeating to yourself your plan of action. (Looking at your hands in your dream)
Try to gradually fall asleep by breathing slowly and somewhat deeply.
Take note of hypnogogic images as you are falling asleep. (Possible lucid dreaming point)
With good preparation and a little luck, you will remember to perform your planned action while dreaming. (Looking at your hands)
Once you have realized you are dreaming, remember to stay calm. Try smiling; it really works.
Enjoy the bliss that is lucid dreaming.

If you don’t get to lucid dream on your first try, don’t give up. Keep trying because it is well worth the experience and well worth the benefits that come with learning to lucid dream. You can continue to work on the techniques I pointed out above or look into other ways to learn how to lucid dream. If you are interested in audio assistance, check out the audio samples for free by joining our newsletter and also check out the Unexplainable Store for all kinds of brainwave entrainment audio types.

How To Lucid Dream Tonight

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Lucid Dreaming Technique Confirmed: Look At Your Hands!

Jan. 10 dreaming, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming no comments

One the lucid dreaming techniques I have come across suggests that you should look at your hands while in your dream in order to help you realize you are dreaming. Sounds easy right? It’s not very easy at all. However, if you can manage to, it is very much worth doing.

I learned how to lucid dream a long time ago, but I never really pushed it to the limits. I have had countless dreams where I was in complete control. On the average though, I only maintain a moderate amount of control. I recently decided to try to start pushing my limits again to see what I could accomplish in my dreams. I have been reading up on what some other lucid dreamers have been doing and I am fairly excited about it. I will probably get into those things more as I make my attempts in the near future.

While dreaming a few nights ago, I was having one of my usual moderately controlled dreams. At one point, I was walking through a very large rustic cabin-style house. There was furniture all over the place. It almost seemed like too much furniture. As I was walking, I noticed a couple of chairs very faintly sliding across the floor. Then a couple more pieces of furniture started to move… but just a very little bit. I found myself wondering if the house was tilting to one side. The moment this thought came into my mind, the house literally started to tilt. I wasn’t too surprised since your dreams are very easily affected by what you think about. However, now I had to quickly deal with lots of furniture sliding across the floor.

The floor suddenly seemed quite expansive. I was dodging furniture and trying to find a way out without getting smashed. At this point, the house seemed to be rolling. I eyed an open window and made my best efforts toward it. Ahhh, safe. At least for a moment. I then found myself a little bit panic stricken. I almost felt like I was going a little mad. Things were a bit more out of control than in my normal dreams. In a bit of a frenzy to try to get back to normal, I had a fleeting thought that I should just do something jolting in order to wake up from the dream. I then made up my mind and began to run down the road which was in a quaint little neighborhood. I decided I was going to find a house with someone home and just start yelling at them and maybe even get into a fight so that it would cause me to wake up. As I am writing this, the logic seems a bit flawed, but in the dream it made perfect sense.

Just as I made it to the front step of my unsuspecting victim, I suddenly stopped. I thought to myself that this is my chance to try “it”. I said out loud in my dream, “look at your hands”, but something kept me from looking. I repeated that phrase over and over a few times trying to convince myself to look. I couldn’t and still don’t fully understand why I was having so much trouble looking at them. However, I managed to look. I slowly looked down as I raised my hands up to my face. My hands did not look like my hands, but this was enough for me to realize that I was dreaming.

I plan to test this out quite a few more times as I can’t tell if it is that looking at my hands clued me in that I was dreaming or if it was the realization of looking at my hands that did it, but either way, it worked. I was instantly filled with joy and empowerment. I was so over joyed that I caused myself to wake up, but not before having a little bit of fun. I decided to fly around just a little bit and then realized that I felt I was on some sort of mission. I came back down to the ground and assumed an old familiar disposition. Now that I knew I was in control, I got real cocky and decided to confront anything in my path. In doing this I forgot to take advantage of some other lucid dreaming techniques used to stay in the dream. The last thing I remember was seeing this sort of half poodle half wolf creature walking around. It was huge but I approached it fearlessly. I almost dared it to come at me. This was a mistake as right then as it was running away from me, it stopped turned around and turned into two freaky dark half poodle half wolf creature thingies. As if on cue, they started their attack. Not backing down I met them clashing almost like the end of a Rocky movie when the two boxers were shown in a freeze frame as each of their punches met the other’s face.

The moral of the story is that this technique seems to work as suggested by a number of other lucid dreaming related websites.

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Smile To Keep Lucid Dreaming

Aug. 24 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 9 comments

One of the problems that people face while lucid dreaming is being able to stay in the dream once they have realized they are dreaming. Many times the dream fades away or vanishes instantly once the dreamer notices that they “are not in Kansas anymore”. Sometimes, even after managing to stay in the dream once the dreamer has noticed they are dreaming, the dream can start to slip away. It is almost like, the more one is aware of the dream, the more faded it becomes.

One thing that has been useful to me is to smile once I have noticed I am dreaming. Usually I smile in a slightly sinister way, but still, it is a smile. A smile is surprisingly powerful in a dream as well as while awake. Usually, a persons finds themselves smiling as a reaction to something. Like when someone sees a friend that haven’t seen in a while or when someone is given a gift. So, some chemical reaction in the brain causes your muscles to react in a way to produces a smile. A couple of those key chemicals are endorphins and serotonin. These are “feel good” chemicals.

The really great thing about those “feel good” chemicals is that you don’t have to have something cause you to smile in order to release those chemicals into your body. Simply smiling for no reason can do it. If you haven’t already tried it, give it a try right now. You can literally feel the changes happen when you smile.

So, you might be able to see why smiling while lucid dreaming can allow you to stay in the dream longer. If you are feeling any fears or excitement (which put adrenaline in your body) and if you can remember to do it, just smile. Staying cool, calm and relaxed in your dream puts a lot more control in your hands… even if they are just your dream hands.

I am a WILD Lucid Dreamer

Aug. 08 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 5 comments

I didn’t realize until recently that I had been using the WILD technique for having lucid dreams. In case you don’t already know, WILD stands for Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming or Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming. There are a fair number of lucid dreaming techniques out there and they are all successful to some degree. I happen to deprive myself of sleep on a regular basis so I can’t really get into the timing of such techniques that have you sleep for 5 to 6 hours and then wake up for about an hour and then go back to sleep. I typically get between 3 and 5 hours each night, so I like the WILD method.

You basically have to fall asleep while remaining aware. In this way you sleep into the dream state aware that you are dreaming. I haven’t mastered this technique, but now that I know what it is and realize that I have been doing it all this time, I am sure to be honing my skill. There is another technique called MILD which is Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming or Mnemonic Initiated Lucid Dreaming. This is a method by which you give yourself reality checks so that you know you are dreaming. Some really great ideas I have read about are things like checking the time or looking at your hands. Apparently, when checking the time or looking at your hands while dreaming, the time or hands are distorted enough to allow you a chance to realize you are in a dream. I know I have done similar things to this. Especially looking in the mirror. This one never seems to fail. I can’t recall ever looking in the mirror and seeing a reflection that was clearly me.

So, if you are a person like me who gets little sleep, you might try mixing WILD and MILD to experience the joys of lucid dreaming. Luckily for the sleep deprived, lucid dreaming time is longer than awake time.

Does anyone else have some good techniques that work well for those who don’t get much sleep?

Inception is a Great Movie

Aug. 01 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming, movie 1 comment

I just saw “Inception” and was very much impressed with this movie. I had seen the previews on TV for it, but had not realized that it largely involved lucid dreaming. The wild thing is that I don’t recall them ever saying anything about lucid dreaming, but they described many things that occur while in a lucid dream.

—Synonyms
origin, source, root, conception

Warning: If you have not yet seen the movie and you don’t want to know too much about it before seeing it, come back and read this after you have seen the movie. I am not spilling too much, but I certainly don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone. You have been warned.

The story in the movie was gripping and touching. With all of the dream world action it was very difficult to look away from the screen. There is even a cute little bonus at the end of the movie.

I really liked the idea of a dream within a dream and they even went deeper to have a dream within a dream within a dream. The only think I didn’t like is the idea that time increased exponentially in each dream level. It is true that you do sense more time passing while in a dream, but I’m not so sure that you sense even more time passing while in a dream within a dream. I’m not even recalling a time that I have ever had a dream within a dream, so I don’t claim to be an expert on this particular part.

Don’t get to this movie late! The first part of the movie contains vital information that needs to be in your head in order for the movie to wrap up well. Worse case scenario, you can see it again, but it just won’t have the same impact. So, again I say, DON’T GET TO THE MOVIE LATE!

Also, make sure you have done all of your snack buying and bathroom-going. I promise, you don’t want to miss any moment of this movie. Pee in a cup if you have to. The audience will understand.

Leonardo Dicaprio comes through in fine form; just as always. I personally have a problem with Leonardo, but he has never failed me with his acting. He always manages to do that magical thing that good actors do where you forget who they are and see them as the character they portray.

The other main characters, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, and Ken Watanabe, played their roles beautifully. Even the supporting actors were brilliant. There were even some cameo-ish actors; Tom Berenger and the immortal Michael Caine.

While the movie works to twist your mind with the multiple levels of dream states and mysterious plot items, it is still fairly easy to follow and attention grabbing.

Go watch it! Go, now… GO!

Dream Killers

Jul. 31 dreaming, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 2 comments

There are two big things that I have found to be the most inhibitive of having control in a dream. Those two things are FEAR and DOUBT.

Have you ever had a dream where you were being chased and it felt like you were running in mud or you couldn’t quite reach safety regardless of how fast you ran or how close you were to it? It is your doubt of being able to escape or make it to safety that holds you back. Fear also plays into this. Fear causes hesitation and distress. It can interupt your thoughts keeping you frozen from any useful action. This is true while awake and dreaming, however, in dreams it is magnified.

The practice of lucid dreaming helps to overcome these dream killers. With enough practice, nightmares tend to not happen as often or at all in some cases. For me, I never have nightmares and even the bad dreams are hard to catagorize as “bad”. This holds true for dreaming in general; not just lucid dreaming. I find that when I am not intentionally lucid dreaming, I still tend to keep a certain level of control even when I am not guiding the dream.

This can be a very profoundly awesome experience, especially when you get pretty good at realizing you are in a dream.

So, how can we reduce FEAR and DOUBT? You can shed yourself of fear and doubt, at least in the dream world, by simply telling yourself there is nothing to fear and that you are in control. Say this in some form that has real meaning to you before going to sleep. It is one of many mantras that can be performed in order to learn to dream lucidly. As you will likely discover in your search for the “how to” of lucid dreaming, the ultimate goal is to convince your mind that you want to be aware that you are dreaming and also that you can have control over your dreams.

As I have said in other posts, don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen the first time out. It may take many attempts and your success will vary based on your sleep habits. Just keep trying and you will be amazed at what you can do in your dreams. Your only limitation is your imagination.

Imagine flying at will or driving at super high speed. Imagine you are a secret agent. There are few boundaries in your mind. If you make it a point to reduce your fear and doubt within your dreams, you will be lucid dreaming in no time.

Dreams or visions

Jul. 27 dreaming, LD Articles 1 comment

It’s very easy for me to fall asleep. I can do it from being wide awake with only a few minutes of being still. I typically nod off quickly during the day, only to wake up after 20 – 30 seconds. I know that dreams normally only come during REM sleep. But during my 20-30 second naps, I am still seeing images that I would normally consider dreams.

Are those dreams?

Lucid dreaming as a launch pad for astral projection

Jul. 26 Astral Projection, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming 3 comments

I have been finding more and more in my research that lucid dreaming is a good place to start for astral projection. I found one website called http://www.lucidity.com which suggestions things to try once you have gotten to the point where you are realizing you are dreaming.

Such things like asking yourself or identities in the dream certain questions. The questions could be something related to something you want to know about the future or a current endeavor. Really it seems that it could be anything.

I have been wanting to get deeper into astral projection as I understand it to be the doorway to many other great things, but I had not thought that lucid dreaming could be a doorway to THAT doorway. I have been lucid dreaming for many many years now so it seems that this might be a better chance for me to break into astral projection rather than trying to cold start into it.

I will be sharing my experiments and experiences and hopefully others can share their advice and experience as well. And, of course, questions are more than welcome.

How I learned to lucid dream

Jul. 25 LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming no comments

I first started trying to practice lucid dreaming in my early teen years. It took many tries to get good at it and to start noticing the rewards that come from dreaming lucidly. The keys to successful lucid dreaming are control over fear and doubt. While dreaming, if there is the slightest bit of fear or doubt, it will taint your dream and I noticed that I would typically lose control of the dreams.

My best tip for anyone who wants to try lucid dreaming is to keep in mind that it may take many attempts. What worked for me was, before I went to sleep, I would note to myself that I was about to sleep and I would keep the intent in mind that I will try to realize that I was dreaming. Sometimes I would think about something specific I would try to do once I realized I was dreaming. This is, of course, much easier said than done.

The best and worst thing about dreams is that they are so amazingly real. Even the things that are obviously un-real still seem perfectly normal while you are sleeping. This is what makes it so hard to take that crucial moment to notice that you are dreaming. The reason you want to sort of prepare yourself before falling asleep is because, even though your conscious mind is being dazzled by the wonders inside of your dreams, you sub-conscious mind is aware that you wanted to try to realize that it is just a dream and you want to have control.

It will start slow. In the beginning, I got to the point where I realized that my dream was just a dream, but in noticing, I would very often wake up immediately. However, this is a step in the right direction. Once you have gotten this far, the hard part is over. Just keep doing the same thing and eventually, you will stay in the dream and your level of control will begin to become more and more powerful.

The true test of your control is when a nightmare occurs. During a nightmare, if you have been practicing lucid dreaming, you will start to be able to change the bad parts of the dream. For me, what happened often was that I would manage to change the dream enough to no longer be a bad dream, but this process would cause me to wake up. Again, this is a step in the right direction.

With more and more practice, you will become a dream master and you will never have to be afflicted by bad dreams again.

I hope this has been helpful. Leave a comment on your experience with this and any tips you might have for people just starting with lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreams are a doorway

Jul. 25 Astral Projection, LD Articles, Lucid Dreaming no comments

In some of my studies of metaphysics and explorations of the mind, I have heard mention that lucid dreams are a doorway to higher forms of consciousness and not just controlling your dreams. Things like astral projection and remote viewing are supposed to be more possible once you can get to a point where you can control your dreams. Astral Projection is also said to be a way to reach alternate realities.

I realize that might sound rather off base, but check out the books and videos by Doctor Thomas Campbell. He has a book called “My Big TOE” which discusses this kind of thing. According to his scientific findings, our experience in reality is much like a stream of data which we are processing. Supposedly we can switch to different streams of data, in other words, different realities. This stuff kind of spooks me out a bit, but, it is also pretty exciting if even a portion of it is true.

I have recently tried to get back into my journey towards astral projection. I look forward to sharing my experiences on this blog. I would love to hear about your experiences in astral projection if you have any.

Category: LD Articles