Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreams are actually "beyond dreaming." What happens is, you'll be having a dream when suddenly your conscious mind takes notice of an anomoly, or something "not quite right," and you think, "Hey-this can't be real, so

"I MUST BE DREAMING!"

That's when the magic happens, and the dreamer is aware that he is dreaming. Anything can happen, then. You can fly like a bird, you can talk to a long-lost loved one, you can tell your boss to take this job and shove it, you can travel to beautiful lands in the blink of an eye, you can make elephants appear...the possiblities are endless.

Another way to describe the experience of having a lucid dream is this: the next time you are in a movie theater and get wrapped up in the story that is unfolding on the screen in front of you, imagine suddenly realizing that you were not just a spectator, but a *part* of this movie! Suddenly, the movie/dream is going on all around you, and everything is vivid and up-close. You can smell, taste, touch, see, and hear everything that is going on, and it amazes you that this "movie" you thought was just a story told via actors and props is actually really transpiring. Suddenly you are chatting up Luke Skywalker, or screaming at Rose to make room for Jack on that board in the ocean, or flying through the air like Peter Pan. Anything that you imagine becomes part of the script, and you have a blast! That is close to the concept of what having a lucid dream feels like. Sound like fun? You bet it is!

There is a fear factor to overcome, also. Once, in one of my lucid dreams, I remember apprehensively watching a nurse who was washing her hands at a sink, with her back turned towards me. I thought, "I just know when she turns around, I'll see something horrifying!" She turned around, and lo' and behold, there was just a kindly-faced woman. I thought, "But I just *knew* she would turn into something scary!?" and as if to give me what I wanted, the woman's face suddenly had an expression of, "Well, ok!" and her face transformed into a horrifying beast that lunged out at me, a la that gruesome werewolf movie. Then, just as quickly, her face returned to a normal woman's face, and she went about her business. It ended up being comical, and I learned an important lesson: Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!

I also learned that my fears were only illusions, and I don't have to let my fears rule my life...or dreams.

In lucid dreams, events will keep happening to try to coax you back into the drama, and forget you are aware. It is challenging not to fall into this trap. The trick is STAYING in the lucid dream. There are techniques given such as looking at your hands in your dream, or twirling around in a spin like a ballerina, or doing somersaults with your dream body. Concentrating on doing one of those things will prevent the surge of excitement when your adrenaline kicks in, which would pull you out of the dream and this wonderful moment would be lost while you awaken fully. It is important to learn these techniques if you want to lucid dream effectively for longer periods of time.

Are You Awake or...
Dreaming You're Awake?

One of the most important things you are able to do in a lucid dream is to conquer your fears in a non-threatening state. I did this with a life-long recurring nightmare, and once I stopped running away and turned to face my "demons" and declared that my faith in God and His protection was stronger than my fears, the nightmare stopped and has not reoccured in 4 years. Remember, it is best to overcome your fears through loving kindess and understanding, not by shooting a dream assailant or being mean to someone bullying you. Everyone in your dream is really reflecting an aspect of your own Self, so to do harm to that person is to do harm to yourself! The Golden Rule applies in dreams: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The threatening demon in your dream is an aspect of yourself that you fear, and that great fear can only be overcome with love and understanding, not by violence or anger...or by running away.

There is one movie I have seen that comes closest to representing what a lucid dream experience is like, and that is WHAT DREAMS MAY COME with Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr. If you saw this movie, remember how the character of Christy wouldn't let things appear that scared him? Remember how vivid the colors were in the scenes depicting Christy's heaven, and how dark and horrifiying the scenes of hell were--but they were explained as illusions? This movie is a wonderful example of the belief that we are closest to our true Spiritual Self in the dream world, similar to the experience of death. Remember how Christy learned he could walk on water and fly? He had to believe it first, before he could perform those feats. Lucid dreams are like that; if one becomes lucid and wants to experience flying, they first have to believe it is possible, then that they are capable of doing it, and then try it. I remember vividly how odd it was to fly through the air in a dream, because there was no wind noise as you would have if you were physically moving...because, of course, it is not your physical body moving in the dream. It was an indescribable feeling.

Anyone can learn to lucid dream, and some people are naturally more prone to lucid dream. People with sleeping disorders or illnesses that disrupt sleep such as Fibromyalgia, C.F.I.D.S./M.E., or Narcolepsy may have a predispostion to remembering more of their dreams, having more nightmares, lucid dreaming, and experiencing a sleeping disorder called "Sleep Paralysis," because their malady or pain prevents a deeper stage of sleep; therefore they are already partially awake. On my Links page, I give Lucid Dreaming links to FAQ's, as well as links to other websites with a wealth of information

The great Taoist master Chuang Tzu once had a realistic dream that he was a butterfly. He lived the life of a butterfly, gathering nectar and flying in an insect's world. In the dream he had no awareness of his waking life, and individuality as a person. He was only a butterfly. Suddenly, he awoke and found himself laying in his own bed, a person once again. But then he thought to himself, "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"

Your answer to that question shows how enlightened you are...or aren't; so think it through. It can be a fun debate to get into with your friends, especially if they remember enough of their dreams to know how vivid and tricky they can be. I had this debate with my son, J.C., and started it simply by asking him how he knew he was awake? He rolled his eyes and said, "Mommmmm, of course I'm awake! I'm standing here, aren't I?" "Yes, but how do you know you aren't dreaming that you are standing there?" (flustered) "C'mon, Mom! Here, I'll pinch myself...see, I'm awake!" "How do you know you aren't dreaming that you're pinching yourself?" "BECAUSE I FELT IT!" "Ahh, yes...but how can you prove that you aren't dreaming that you felt it?" By now he's getting really irritated, to my delight. He spent the rest of the night trying to prove to me that he was actually awake and not dreaming, but of course I stood my ground and kept asking him to prove it. Eventually, he grumpily understood that it isn't that easy to prove that one is awake. It's sortof like that old question of whether a tree falling in the forest without anyone around makes a sound or not. If no one can hear it, then how can it be a sound? I tend to lean towards the side that says there are sound waves created by the event, and animals around hear the sound and if they could they would testify to that fact, but there's always somebody around who will argue the flip side effectively, too. It all boils down to being a moot point about perception and reality. Which came first; the chicken or the egg? I really hate that question! Let's move on...

When we are dreaming, we often take the most bizarre images and characters for granted and don't even show suprise. Somehow, the purple giraffe in our living room just belongs there, and we don't clue in to the fact that we are dreaming. Have you ever had your alarm go off, but incorporate it into your dream as a fire alarm buzzer or something like that? My boss didn't quite know what to think about that excuse, but it really was a frequent occurence in my dreams! I finally got to the point in which I had to have a back-up alarm. Our dreaming mind will often take outside noises and incorporate them into dream symbols so we don't wake up, especially if we are abnormally tired and really need the rest. When one wants to start becoming aware within a dream and lucid dream, they have to overcome these tendencies to accept the bizarre as normal waking-life occurences, and see them for the dream images that they really are. It is only then that we can master the lucid dream.

Another way of looking at it is this way: how often have you realized you were dreaming in the middle of a dream, but up until then you were taking it for granted that the dream was actually your reality?

Things that make you go...Hmmmmm...

How observant are you in your reality? Did you notice what the smiley face was doing, above?

Here's a link to a huge resource on sleep disorders put together by NASA:

SLEEP DISORDER RESOURCES

Here is an A-Z by State listing of Sleep Disorder Clinics:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

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