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“In the dream, I’m walking to the front door of the mall to go outside, when a thought enters my mind… “This is just like that dream I had earlier tonight. Wait a minute… Am I dreaming? Holy fucking shit…I am.” The realization was…indescribable. I KNEW that I was literally INSIDE my own dream….yet STILL dreaming. And it didn’t fade away. Not only that, but everything in the dream sort of shifted. Everything became more…realistic, more 3D, more like…well, real life. Not foggy and disconnected like in a regular dream. I remember being in utter awe that I was literally inside a mall…that was itself inside my mind…and that despite looking 100% real, it was 100% a creation of my own mind.
About 10 seconds after becoming lucid, I thought, “I’m going to fly!” I almost never fly in dreams and have always been jealous of people who can. So, that was my first idea. I was curious how real it would feel being a lucid dream and all. So, I ran as fast as I could and bolted out the front door of the mall and jumped into the night sky….and…flew. It was shocking. I was kind of unsure if it was REALLY a dream. But any reservations about being in a dream vanished the second I flew. Flying was SO SO realistic it was almost frightening. I remember distinctly thinking to myself, “how the hell does this feel so realistic?”
When jumped, I floated over the parking lot, and then directed myself upward into the sky above. I could feel the G forces as I rocketed up…and it was kind of terrifying. It was absolutely no less real than literally being 1,000 feet up in the air in the real world. I could feel the cool wind on my skin, I flew through clouds…and then through them…and finally I was above the clouds, what seemed like 20,000 ft in the air, and I looked up at space above. I saw thousands of stars and remember, in the dream, feeling shivers running up my spine. I was looking at the universe…space…and it’s realistic nature was fucking mind-blowing. I was still entirely aware I was dreaming, and kept thinking to myself, “how…how is this possible? How could it look and feel and sound THIS real??”
That was an account of Lucid Dreaming which can be best defined as waking up within a dream while still asleep. Sounds a little complex, but there are numerous accounts of individuals who have achieved this state. It is a scientifically researched and verified state of consciousness. Once, you have realized that you are dreaming whilst dreaming, the next step would be achieving dream control, wherein you can manipulate the mechanics of the dream without breaking the dream.
Perks of Lucid Dreaming:
Freedom! Imagine the bliss of flight, as well as the ability to create any world you desire. Think Inception. Think Picasso, think of the endless ways in which you can express your creativity.
Psychological Healing. A number of dreamers have claimed that lucid dreaming allows them to manifest their deepest fears and subsequently vanquish them.
Connecting with the Subconscious Self. Often dreamers encounter hidden aspects of themselves. For example, if you are unable to love yourself, then your inner self could appear as a demon, which is hell-bent on attacking you. Most dreamers report that once they confront the ‘demon,’ the manifestation usually morphs into something less intimidating. And when the dreamer acknowledges the trait, in this instance of self-hate, the healing begins.
Training for Real Life. This reason sounds a bit out there, but apparently as per research, practising something in a dream enables you to do it better in real life. For e.g; if you are a dancer, dancing in your lucid dream, makes you better in real life, because the motions carried out in the dream world is said to enhance procedural memory for muscle memory in real life…smack me cross-eyed.
Getting High. The thrill of attaining lucidity releases all those feel good neurotransmitters, which get you feeling as pleased a grizzly in a room full of honey.
Transcendence. Once you experience a lucid dream, and you touch that dream grass which feels as ‘real’ as the one you touch when wake, you realize that what is called ‘real’ is just another construct of the powerful human brain. And then you can’t help but wonder if you are still dreaming even when you think you are awake, and participating in a collective dream called the ‘real world.’Time to take the red pill.
Techniques:
Dream Recall– Make it a habit to remember the details of your dreams as soon as you wake up. You should start noticing the patterns that appear in a dream, which would then assist you in realizing that you are in a dream.
Reality Checks– This is when you consciously check if you are dreaming or awake. There are a number of ways in which you could perform these checks, the easiest would be to ask yourself, “Am I dreaming or am I awake?” then look at your surroundings, and answer the question, with, “I’m awake.” Do this often enough, and the chances are one day, the answer will be “I’m awake in a dream.”
A video explaining the basic in’s and out’s of Lucid Dreaming:
[artwork by: Natural Warp]
