Lucid dreaming is a process by which you can learn, through regular practice, to become an active participant in your dreams. Eventually developing the ability to know that you are dreaming while you are actually dreaming and then influencing or altering the direction or outcome of the dream.
Dreaming lucidly can help you work through emotional issues with people who have passed away, overcome issues of abuse, help relieve the affects of post-traumatic stress disorder, receive spiritual comfort or guidance, and even predict the future or alter the past.
Dreaming, it is believed, is a kind of housecleaning that occurs at night. It begins shortly after we fall asleep and, during this time, our minds review recent events. Picking and choosing as it moves through the plethora of data, it decides what we need to have accessible for quick reference and what should be stored in some off-site storage facility (located, no doubt, in some relatively unused portion of our physical brains.).
People dream between about five to seven dreams every night but usually only remember the last one dreamed they have before waking. Some spiritual disciplines, like shamanism, believe that dreams are a non-ordinary state of reality that parallel the waking state. Learning how to manipulate the dream or the events that occur in the dream is basically the same thing as learning to revise your reality.
Here are easy and steps to train yourself to become an active player in your dreams:
1. Record your regular dreams
For most, it’s practically impossible to recall a dream after they’ve moved from the bed and started their day. Get into the habit of writing down your dreams as soon as you wake up. Practice keeping a dream journal designed just for that purpose. I use a voice recorder that I keep next to my bed – it’s very helpful, especially right after I wake up. (Interestingly, there have been many times that I awake to find that I have recorded dreams I had during the night … and I didn’t even recall recording them at all. The dreams are always very interesting because they are so “raw” – recorded nearly while they were happening!)
2. Write your plans for the Lucid Dream
When you’re ready to actually start to try lucid dreaming, create a written plan. Begin it by writing something like, “When I become aware that I’m dreaming, I’ll tap my forehead.” This writ¬ten plan will become the foundation of your practice and a great guide for you as you progress. Read this plan out loud every night before you go to sleep and first thing when you wake up in the morning (after you’ve recorded your dreams, of course).
3. Become aware of not dreaming
During your waking hours, as you progress through the day, get used to thinking (or even saying out loud to yourself), “I am not dreaming.” Then, as you say it, get a sense of what being awake feels like (as opposed to how it feels to be dreaming.). Then, touch tap your forehead gently. “Check in” like this five to ten times a day.
4. Become aware of being in a dream
Same as the last step, only this time do it whenever you notice you’re dreaming. Say to yourself or out loud, “I am not dreaming” and tap your forehead. Take special notice of how different it all feels in the dream state.
5. Practice your plan for lucid dreaming
As you practice more and more, you’ll become better at and more aware of the frequency of your wakeful dreaming states.
