This is a guest post by Jamie Finlayson of Lucid Ability.
If you had the choice to become an expert in anything what would it be?
Martial arts? The piano? Public speaking?
I want to become an expert at flying.
I’m not talking about airplanes or helicopters. I mean flying like superman… literally.
Now you’ve either stopped reading because you think I’m cuckoo, or you want to know how this crazy guy plans to become an expert at flying.
The Greatest Discovery of My Life
I remember being in a strange castle about 20 years ago only I had no idea how I got there. Suddenly, I woke up in bed. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out what happened: I was lucid dreaming.
A lucid dream is when you become conscious while you are dreaming. Not only do you know you’re dreaming, but you can explore and manipulate the dream world using the power of your mind.
The best part is: it’s a skill you can learn.
Your Own Virtual Playground
Inside the dream you become a superhero and make all the rules. Gravity doesn’t mean anything. Physical matter is merely an illusion. When most people begin lucid dreaming they usually:
- Fly like superman
- Run through solid walls
- Court their favorite celebrity
- Travel to the far reaches of outer space
- Go back in time and visit the dinosaurs
Of course these things are merely an illusion. You won’t really see actual dinosaurs. Everything you experience are representations your subconscious mind creates. The subconscious mind is the ocean; you are the captain of the ship.
If It Feels Real, Then What Is Reality?
Stand up and look around you for a moment. This is what the dream world feels like. It’s just as real. Your reality is created by electrochemical signals in the brain. What’s real is whatever your brain tells you is real. It makes sense if you think about it.
If your eyes never sent signals to your brain you wouldn’t be able to see. Likewise, if your brain never received any signals when you touched something you wouldn’t know what it felt like. You’d only know it was real because your other senses told you.
Everything that makes up your reality is created in the brain and you get those exact same electrochemical signals when you dream, so it feels the exact same as the real world. Your brain can’t tell the difference between dreams and reality. If it did you would become lucid every night.
It’s About More Than Escapism
The real goal of lucid dreaming isn’t to frolic about and indulge in fantasies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we can use our dreams to better ourselves in the real world. To become experts.
Public Speaking the Easy Way
Imagine you’re about to give your first public speech. It’s enough to send shivers down your spine. The thought of standing on stage might make you anxious and send your mind into a spin.
But what if you could practice giving your speech in front of a live audience without any of the social repercussions you would face if it was for real? What if you could practice your speech in your dreams?
It wouldn’t matter if you messed up because the only people that can judge you are figments of your imagination. You could practice and practice your speech until you felt absolutely sure you were ready.
Fine Tuning Motor Skills While You Sleep
Remember what I told you about the brain being none the wiser if you were dreaming or not? It means it’s possible to improve motor function in the brain by practicing repetitive skills in the dream world.
Play the piano? No problem. You can fine tune your finger movements while you sleep. It doesn’t stop there. Whether you’re a martial artist practicing kicks or a break dancer working on spins, anything is possible.
But How Do You Actually Do It?
Lucid dreaming is easy to learn and it doesn’t need to inconvenience your life. Here are 4 simple steps that will enable you to wake up in the dream world:
Remembering Your Dreams
The first step in becoming lucid is using a dream journal to write down your dreams every morning. There’s no point in becoming lucid if you won’t even remember it happening. All you need is a simple notepad and pen which you’ll keep on your bedside table.
Before you get up in the morning keep your eyes closed and try to go over the dream in as much detail as possible. After you think you have it all quickly grab your dream journal and write everything down. It only takes 5 minutes so don’t slack off.
Performing Reality Checks
You can’t read a digital watch in a dream. The part of your brain that deals with the numbers counting down is fast asleep. This is where it gets interesting. Repeatedly look at your watch during the day and it becomes a subconscious habit. You’ll automatically check it in your dreams and when you do… BOOM! You become lucid.
As you’re carrying out the reality check, remember to ask yourself if you’re dreaming. It’s important to build up a high level of self-awareness. Carry out the reality check at least two dozen times per day and always remember to look at the watch face 3 times to eliminate false readings.
Lucid Hand Affirmations
Just before you go to bed, stare at your hands for about 5 minutes or whatever feels comfortable. You need to look at them really closely and pick out all the tiny little details. The trick is to be completely self-aware while you’re doing it. Shut everything else out.
As you stare at your hands repeat the affirmation, “When I see my hands in my dream tonight I’ll know I’m dreaming.” Say it like you mean it. You know it’s going to work. The more you can convince yourself of this the more likely it will happen.
Visualizations
Just before you go to sleep try to visualize yourself in a dream. Look at your watch and realizing you’re dreaming. Check your hands. Study the detail. Wow, it is a dream. Now go on with the rest of your dream, reminding yourself occasionally of your lucidity.
Use all your senses: touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. The more senses you use, the more real the visualization. Relax while your doing this and just have fun. Knowing you’re awake inside your dream should be the last thought on your mind before you drop off.
Those simple steps won’t inconvenience your life, but the outcome will truly change it. That I promise you. You can become an expert in your own special world and use it to help you become an expert in reality.
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Jamie,
This Lucid Dreaming is something that is intriguing. I’ve experienced it to a small degree on occasion but never knew there was a way to control it. Thanks for the suggestions.
Perhaps you can help me with a question I have about dreaming. For some reason, I’ve never been able to read in my dreams. It drives me nuts because I’m an avid reader. In my dreams words turn to mush. What is with that?
Hi Yvonne,
It’s the same principle as the digital watch reality check. Your sleeping brain can’t handle the date.
It can also be used as a reality check and if you begin questing your reality each time you do it the real world you should become conscious if you do it in a dream.
I was the same. I never knew it was a skill you could learn when I was younger.:(
Cheers
Jamie, I read in my dream last night. It was an advertisement for the fifth “Scream” movie. I know I wasn’t simply recalling an advertisement, because that movie hasn’t been made or spoken about yet. Is reading in a dream a good sign of control?
This sounds amazing Jamie, great article, but I have to ask:
What kind of skills am I capable of train in lucid dreams?
As I can see, reading and math are skills that cannot be trained in dreams….
Thanks.
HI Andres,
Math is a skill that can be trained (sort of). I’ve heard of people who can’t work out powerful formulas. They ask their subconscious inside a lucid dream and write it down when they come out. Most of the time it’s write.
You can also learn thing as I said above – speaking, martial art kicks, musical instruments.
Carry out any task to boost confidence. Any motor skill.
At the moment I’m working on something to do with learning languages. Your subconscious will always remember what you have read, so maybe it can speak to you as if it’s from the other country and help you learn. But I’m still to work on this. I have so much to do
You could basically work on most things. Right now one experiment I’m trying to do is learn a handstand inside a dream and be able to do it in real life.
Cheers
Hi Jamie,
What’s the equivalent of lucid-dreaming practice time compared to real-world practice time? In other words, how long would it take for me (in my lucid dream) to have a one-hour real world practice?
Thanks!
Seb
Hey Sebastian,
Good question. I think it’s pretty hard to say. Experiments at the lucidity institute at Stanford University have shown that time in the real world is basically the same as time in the dream world. You can generally lucid dream for up to 60 minutes which is the biggest portion of dream time we have each night.
If you want my personal view I don’t think you can compare time in both worlds. I think of a lucid dream as an event, more than a unit of time. Sometimes 4 hours might have passed but it seemed like 5 mins, likewise 5 mins could feel like an hour.
I do think the practice you get in a lucid dream is better because you are 100% aware, not something you generally get in life unless you are meditating or under hypnosis. You also have full access to the machine that is the subconscious mind.
I hope that somewhat answered your question.
Cheers
Thanks a lot Jamie. Great post by the way…
Nice work here Jamie!
Hey Justin,
Thanks a lot dude.
Interesting. I’ve never thought about or paid much attention to the concept of lucid dreaming. But here is the thing…99% of times, my dreams are lucid.
Not only I know I’m dreaming. I know I am sleeping, dreaming, and feeling the dream that is not real. Even as I dream, all of that is going through my head.
I’m not entirely sure that it actually helps me in my waking life. Most of the time the dreams are just manifesting stress/anxieties/fears of whatever’s occupying my mind at the time, which makes sense since I spend waking hours thinking about that.
Dolly,
That’s excellent. You sound like you would be able to do it really well.
From what it sounds like you are probably experiencing lucidity, but at a much lower level. Usually at these lower levels of lucidity you know you are dreaming and can even change the way things happen.
But it’s like the tap is only turned on half way. You need that extra bump to fully engage your conscious mind. That’s just a guess from what you mentioned, but when you are fully lucid you can completely change the course of the dream and do whatever you want.
Do you meditate by any chance? Usually when someone meditates they have a much greater awareness in dreams and can become fully lucid really easy.
Thanks
You can go to real places in your dreams, see things that are currently happening, have happened or have yet to pass. It isn’t all just a fantasy. Sometimes it is real.
When I was told to make a “Dream Journal” it seemed pointless, a waste of time. I didn’t until my Pastor told me that, in the Old Testament, God tells his prophets to record their dreams. I decided to try it. Little did I know then, how supernatural the act of writing your dream actually is, both during and after.
Dreaming is mentioned all throughout the Bible. It is written, “God speaks to us while we dream.” While this may seem cliche, take note that we do not dream words.
Why does this matter? When we dream we see pictures (tho we can read while dreaming). When I say “Dog” you might envision your chihuahua while your buddy see’s a pit bull. You may see your dreams one way but when you write them out, (especially to follow the WORD), you may begin to notice symbolism or messages, or a separate story entirely. For me it was right away, an epiphany, a revelation after 15 years of nightmares and dreams I had no control over.
I started letting someone read my unorganized “entries” and I learned that many of the dreams Id had were secret past events my reader had experienced in his own life, long before we’d ever met. There were so many of them, he got angry over it.
God says though, that the former things are gone and that he will show us the future, so dreams of the past aren’t from God. They still prove a supernatural side. The irony is that I asked that 1 person to read the dreams, had I asked anyone else i would never have known the correlation.
I would like to develop this “Lucid” Control skill to spend more time with God and to help find missing people I dream about.
There is much more to dreaming or time than our sciences will be capable of explaining, especially in our lifetime. It’s ok though, you can find out on your own.