30 Day Challenge: How To Lucid Dream

Who moved the bathroom light switch? I tried to turn on the light after I got out of bed to use the bathroom. How odd? It was now in the hallway!

What happened?

Turns out I was dreaming! In that moment I realized I was dreaming. Instead of waking up though I stayed asleep. I spent the rest of my sleep awake in my dreams.

This state of dreaming while awake is often called Lucid Dreaming. This is a skill you can learn. While I don’t lucid dream every night I am interested in developing the ability to do it much more often.

There is so much potential for growth I am putting together a 30 day challenge for myself. My goal is to become much more proficient at being able to wake up in my dreams. If you want to join me let me know. I will keep updating this blog along the way.

Why Lucid Dream?

You have probably noticed your dreams usually have a lot of symbolism. Some of the symbols can look pretty random. If they have anything to do with your life the connection isn’t always obvious. Then there are dreams which are so obvious you can’t mistake the connection with your waking life.

Imagine what it would be like if you could be conscious just like you are now only in that world of symbolism. What would you ask the giant lady bug your cowboy hat wearing dog is riding? Who would you summon? What questions or places would you explore?

Last night, I decided among other things that I wanted to rise out of my body and see myself sleeping. It worked and was an odd feeling. I felt a bit like I was leaving my body only everything happened in my dream. Kind of like there was an overlap in my levels of reality.

I also love flying in my dreams. When I am lucid and fly I will hover and soar losing myself in the feeling of free, uninhibited flight.

Lucid dreams are where you get to create the Universe according to your desires. You can do anything, be anything, share the stage with anyone. The only limits are the ones you place on yourself.

Preparing for Lucid Dreaming

If you want to lucid dream you will probably need to do some prep work. Like most things related to our minds and spirits self-awareness is a big piece of the puzzle. For lucid dreaming being aware of your dreams while you are having them is important.

There a couple of daily routines you can do which will help you with dream awareness. One of them is keeping a dream journal. Whenever you wake up write down any dreams you remember. I haven’t been very good at this lately. Getting back to my dream journal is on my new habits to develop list.

The other thing to do is get in the habit of checking to see if you are dreaming. I do this a lot while I am awake. In my case this might be getting out of hand. I sometime feel like I am dreaming when I go pee when I am awake. Seriously, this is so odd. I will actually have this realization I am awake. For whatever reason it is a bit jolting.

Waking Up in Your Dream

With your developing awareness around your dreaming activity you may start to spontaneously wake up in your dreams. Don’t worry though if you aren’t yet. Lucid dreaming can take some time to get down.

More often than not I will start lucid dreaming after I’ve just gotten back to sleep. I suspect stirring awake a little then falling back to sleep helps with noticing when you are dreaming. If you can catch yourself as you are drifting off you have a better chance of noticing you are dreaming.

Some what like checking to see if you are dreaming when you are awake I will do the opposite. If I suspect I am dreaming I will do something to verify I am in a dream. Like this morning when i tried to turn on the bathroom light. The light switch not being i the right place told me my reality had changed. I knew I was dreaming at that point. Afterwards I tried rising out of my sleeping body to make sure.

This might sound strange but hey strange is what I do. I am a little careful about the tests I do. Don’t jump off a cliff thinking you are dreaming only to find out you are in fact awake in your physical body. At least for a few more seconds.

Standing on the edge of a very high cliff I was looking over a river valley and there was a cloud floating by. In that moment I became lucid. The logical thing to do of course was to let myself fall backward off the cliff! Sure dissolving into the cloud was pretty cool. If I had been awake in my physical body I doubt things would have turned out so well.

Staying in Control of Your Dream

Once you are awake in your dream you are going to want to do something. Observing is fine too. There is lots to see. When I first started lucid dreaming frequently I would work out some personal traumas. Intense stuff for sure. Pretty helpful though to be able to work through while dreaming.

In those early days I wasn’t really making deliberate choices while lucid. They were more like things which needed to be dealt with so that’s what happened.

Now I have more freedom to choose the course of my dreams. For me, I am most effective when I allow my intention to come to me in some manner. If I attempt to force or push my agenda in my dreams often the lucidity just ends. Or if the scene appears to have reached a resolution point then everything stops. I might wake up or just stop remembering my dream.

In order to keep your dreaming going you can try this technique. Ask yourself a question along these lines. “Let’s see what this is telling me?”

What happened last night was every time I reached the end of a scene I would get this screen like visual. I started looking at the screen which had some random sparks or lines and ask the question. Each time I asked the dream would continue! My curiosity was what kept the dream going. Once the dream was underway I could resume my choices as an awake dreamer.

Waking Up

Once you wake up from your lucid dream make sure to write down what you experienced. Explore your feelings about your dream. I find it helps to not force a meaning. Having been awake in your dream and now awake again you may have a new kind of insight. Make room for it. Allow any fresh insights to emerge.

Summary

Here is a short summary of the techniques mentioned above:

• Journal - Raise your dream awareness by recording your dreams whenever you wake up.
• Awareness of Your Dream State - Develop the habit of noticing when you are dreaming by noticing when you are not.
• Dream Awareness While Dreaming - Testing for dreaming while dreaming develops from the dream checks while awake. Don’t do anything harmful to yourself or others when testing!
• Lucid Intention - Intend to be lucid in your dream while falling asleep. A great time for setting your intention is when you just woke up in the middle of the night or early morning and are going back to sleep.
• Be Curious - Keep your lucid dream going by being curious. Ask your dream what it is telling you especially if you feel the dream energy fading.

I am putting together a 30 day lucid dream experience. The goal is to lucid dream more frequently and reliably. If you are interested stay tuned!

How about you? Do you lucid dream? What tips would you like to share?