LUCID DREAMING

When you realise your actually deluding yourself in ordinary dreams, you will come to find they are not real waking conscious experiences, like your concious sleeping mind believes, but infact are dreamstates, when you can realise this within the dream, it then becomes real (2002 E.A.)

Lucid dreaming, also known as conscious dreaming, is a state of non-ordinary reality where a person has become acutely aware that he or she is actually asleep dreaming. The difference in the quality of realness when in the lucid dream state, compared to a normal dream is like watching a film then actually being in the film.

It is possible in this state to experience all of the senses with astonishing clarity. Intense pain and pleasure as well as the realness of taste, smell, sight and sound that the dreamer experiences can leave them unsure if what they are experiencing is actually happening in a physical reality. While in normal dreams, the conscious mind is usually convinced that it is experiencing an ordinary, waking-state of consciousness.

Becoming ‘lucid’ in a dream makes you realize that you have been deceiving yourself for years, that you have failed to recognize you have been dreaming. This astonishing revelation can lead you to believe that there may be many more modes of consciousness available to the human mind. …(there is)...

Lucid dreaming can be learnt by anyone, all that is required is time, patience and intent of will. Some people have the ability through some form of personal power to simply recognize the dream state for what it is and react accordingly. Others are cued by certain phenomena of the dream, such as some incongruence of the reality being experienced, which leads them to question with almost scientific scrutiny what it is they are experiencing.

A technique for initiating a lucid dream is to ask yourself a few times a day if you are actually dreaming right now. Once you ask yourself this, conduct several incongruency tests, such as trying to pass your hand through objects. This habitual practice may carry over to when you are actually dreaming, and since you have built in this questioning mentality, the lucid state may be easily recognisable.

If you can remember your dreams each night or at least several times per week, you will have a good chance in becoming lucid. The simplest technique is to look for your hands in your dream. If you build up the thought of searching for your hands before sleep, eventually when you do see your hands, you will remember that you have been searching for them for some reason. If you are focused enough, you will remember why and recognise the reality you are experiencing as a dream. Once this recognition takes place, instantly the dream state will become lucid. You may get quite a surprise with the realness of it all.

Once in the lucid state, the challenge is to remain conscious. Lucidity can waver, and if you are conscious enough, you will be able to watch yourself slide down the scale of lucidity. Finally after nearly three years of documented dream exploration, I have discovered how to keep myself lucid. It has to do with remembering the last few seconds that have just past, to remember your current position in the dreamstate, and to not let the internal dialoge take over and distract you. Glance at objects that are around you, this will help form your surroundings in your memory, if you stare too deeply at an object, lucidity can rapidly diminish...

The final piece of advice is to never think that you aren't the right 'type' of person for it, I'm almost certain that every healthy brain can manage this amazing state of non-ordinary reality...

Roger Essig, 2000 E.V.