Lucid dreaming is defined as dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. This is a highly powerful state to be in. Just imagine being in a dream and knowing that you are actually in a dream. How many times has that happened to you? Probably not very many times.
There is a probability that it has happened, but you weren’t aware of it, or you don’t know how you could possibly duplicate the experience. It takes a bit of work, but if you get to focus on how to do it, it’s possible for you to achieve.
How To Lucid Dream
Metacognition
Lucid dreaming can be achieved by a simple practice – and that is everyday deep awareness. It will come to the point where you have to be aware of being aware. This is called metacognition – awareness of your awareness.
How do you do this? You practice by registering to yourself that you are awake and you are dreaming. When you are awake, tell yourself that “this is real life” or “I am awake” or “I am not dreaming”.
You can use whatever marker or words that will help you the most. More importantly, when you are dreaming, tell yourself that you are dreaming.
When you are noticing something extraordinary or insensible happening, those are the times that you can register to your consciousness that you are dreaming.
Signs of Dreaming
What are the other signs that you are dreaming, apart from extraordinary things happening? One is if you don’t experience any pain. Try pinching yourself in your dream, or biting your tongue.
If you are awake, these things will hurt enough to register to your consciousness that you are in pain, but not enough to cause any injury. If you bite your tongue or pinch yourself in your dream, it won’t hurt at all.
Another way to check if you are awake or dreaming is to look at your reflection in the mirror. In your waking life, of course this should register as a normal reflection. If you are dreaming, however, your reflection could be hazy or not present at all.
Of course, the extraordinary things that don’t really happen in real life, such as flying, losing all your teeth, levitating, or having special powers are all signs that you are dreaming. When you can, register this to your consciousness in order to increase your metacognition.
Getting into a deeper sleep
Most lucid dreaming happens during your REM sleep. This means you have to fall into a significantly deep slumber in order to have access to this portal.
What this means for you is that you should be able to have a deep slumber for most of your nights. The more you get into REM sleep, the easier it is for you to lucid dream.
Do everything that you can in order to ensure a good night’s sleep. Practice sleep hygiene. You can do this by incorporating simple lifestyle habits that aid in a good, deep, long, and satisfying slumber. Some of the things you can do to achieve this are:
#1 Sleep at a set time every night.
#2 Get a good amount of sleep for your body type. The best minimum to achieve is around six hours a night.
#3 Avoid drinking too much alcohol especially near your time of sleeping. There are studies that have stated that the amount of your alcohol intake is indirectly proportional to the quality and even length of your sleep.
#4 Keep a good bedtime – meaning sleep when it is dark and awaken when the sun is up. Keep your room as dark as possible when you are sleeping.
#5 Get enough morning sun. Studies have also shown that the more quality sun you get, the better you sleep at night.
#6 Minimize your screen time. In this digital age, this is getting to be more and more challenging. However, to ensure quality sleep, you must work to decrease this especially as it nears your bed time. The longer the interval between the last screen contact and the time you get to bed, the easier it is for you to fall asleep and get a deep one at that.
#7 Avoid eating at least three hours before your bed time. A full stomach upon sleeping is the cause of a lot of digestive discomfort, not to mention lack of quality sleep.
These are just some of the many things you can practice for good sleep hygiene, which will eventually help you get a better quality sleep – an important factor in inducing lucid dreaming.
The Benefits of Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming has a lot of benefits. Just imagine being in a nightmare and the attendant anxiety that comes with it.
Lucid dreaming can actually help you stir the dream into the direction that you want – so if it isn’t going very well, you have the power to make your nightmare into a good dream and consequently take away your anxiety.
The many things that lucid dreaming can aid with are
- Decreases anxiety, depression, stress
- Helps with post-traumatic stress disorder
- Cures sleep disorders
- Alleviates dependence on drugs and other substances
- Helps with sleep deprivation
These are just some of the psychological advantages of lucid dreaming. Because of the overall increase in mood, it also helps with self-esteem, spiritual well-being, and health in one’s interpersonal relationships.
Psychic Abilities and the Subconscious
Because lucid dreaming helps you become more aware of your consciousness, it also gives you a better connection to your subconscious mind.
Being more in touch with yourself and practicing a deep sensitivity to your emotions allows you to establish a deeper connection with others as well.
Others also includes your environment and whole situations, not just other people and your relationships with them.
There are times that lucid dreaming can actually help with precognitive abilities. Being in touch with your emotions and being able to connect this with the collective consciousness can help you predict situations.
Some people have claimed to see the future in their dreams. Because our subconscious knows everything, and we can get in touch with it if we practice deep awareness, then we are able to access infinite intelligence as well.
It is this alignment and connection that allows us to seemingly have mystical powers – as if we can predict the future.
But the truth is, this is borne from a deep connection to the world and the emotions that course through us every day.
People who see the future in their dreams are given a glimpse of subconscious reality and that they are able to access this anytime they want, if they are able to focus enough.
This is one of the benefits of paying deep attention and knowing how you and other people react – it’s as if you can already predict what they are going to do or say in the future.
Communication with the Spiritual Realm
The spiritual realm communicates with us all the time, and if we are attuned enough, we will always hear what they are wanting to say. Sometimes, they also talk to us through our dreams.
This is one way to also get psychic ability from dreams and lucid dreaming. The spiritual realm sends the message in our dreams and tells us of things that we should watch out for, things that are about to happen, things that they are warning us about.
It is by listening intently to these messages are we able to decipher what the future might possibly have in store for us.
The more attuned we are to our own feelings and emotions, the more skilled we will become in the future interpretations of these.
What’s more, we will also discover how other people behave in relation to circumstances and stimulus and this is what will help us predict accordingly.
The power of dreams to heal
There are times when dreams and lucid dreaming is able to help us heal as well. Apart from the physiological symptoms that it alleviates or completely eliminates from our psyches, it can also aid in mental illness and even physical injury.
Sometimes, all you really have to do is will your mind to heal and control your body, and it can do magical things if you have enough faith first and foremost.
The rest can be done with continuous focus and practice. Remember that this lucid dreaming is a skill, and as with other skills, it is a muscle that needs to be practiced and trained in order to wield maximum benefit for its user.
Conclusion
These are the many things that lucid dreaming can help you with. It is interesting to note how it doesn’t only help you with your physical illnesses and other conditions, but it also elevates you to do more than what you have always been used to.
The more you use this power, the more benefit it will be able to give you. Anyone can do this with focus and practice, so as long as you are intent on it, it can be your reality as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article !