I was once asked, “If someone wrote a biography about you what would the title be?” My quick response was, “She Was Nothing If Not a Dreamer.” This is true in every sense. Not only do I spend a fair bit of my waking hours dreaming and creating, I also have vivid dreams at night. I often remember these dreams in detail and love discussing them with anybody who doesn’t think it strange, and talking about dreams with my kids is a morning ritual.
I’ve always known that dreams hold the power to help us create the lives we want and to understand the here and now. So, when Adam Palmer from Astral Zen contacted me, I happily agreed to have him visit us here.
Adam has developed a three-part series of articles to help us understand the power of lucid dreaming. I hope you enjoy them this week and that putting his information to use gets you closer to your creative goals!
Part 1 of 3
Most adults are accustomed to having vague and unmemorable dreams, and that’s on the odd occasion that they dream at all. The long, vivid dreams that we enjoyed as children have all but disappeared, owing mostly to stress, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, caffeine, and a society that places no importance on dreaming. Even sharing a dream from the night before may result in a puzzled look, depending the company that you keep!
What is Lucid Dreaming?
A lucid dream is simply a dream in which you know that you’re dreaming. It’s being able to shout out, “this is a dream,” rather than just continuing through, completely unaware. Being able to control a dream or having a vivid dream does not necessarily qualify the dream as lucid, although these traits often accompany lucid dreams.
Top 10 Reasons to Lucid Dream
Once you’ve experienced your first couple of lucid dreams and begun to gain better control of your environment, there is really no limit to what you can do. The dream world is a powerful and dynamic environment, often more ‘real’ than this.
- Fly, dive to the bottom of the ocean and even conjure up an entire dream scene.
- Practice and learn new skills inside your own private and safe environment.
- Lucid dreaming is a powerful manifestation tool.
- Play out waking reality scenarios.
- Gain far greater clarity and insight on problems or troubling issues.
- Lucid dreaming practice techniques result in more calmness and awareness on a day to day basis.
- Stop nightmares
- Experience just a fraction more of the true awesomeness available to you.
- Personal and spiritual exploration; use a lucid dream as a spring board to more distant realities.
- Creative inspiration.
The Principles of Lucid Dreaming
The 3 “tenets” if you will of lucid dreaming are;
- Induction – How do you begin? The primary techniques are the Wake-Induced-Lucid-Dream (WILD) and Dream-Induced-Lucid-Dream (DILD). A WILD involves performing techniques directly from waking, with the intention of moving directly into a lucid dream. A DILD on the other hand, involves recognising that something within the dream just isn’t right. With practise, this then prompts the magic question, “am I dreaming right now?”
- Stability and Duration – In the early stages, excitement causes lucid dreams to end very quickly. Increasing the stability, intensity and duration of lucid dreams takes practise. Meditation and all day awareness practice helps dramatically.
- Memory and Recall – Why attempt to induce a lucid dream if you later have no memory of it? Dream journaling is the best method to build dream memory fast.
Step #1 – Stop Destroying Your Sleep
You need to start doing more to create the most favourable sleep conditions for long and vivid dreams.
- Try and keep away from coffee, sugar, cigarettes and alcohol, especially before bed – they all affect your sleep.
- Pharmaceutical drugs also often interfere with sleep, even if the changes are only subtle – tranquilizers and sleeping pills will dramatically affect sleep. I certainly don’t recommend stopping any medication without first discussing with your doctor.
- Mental stimulation is everywhere, from TVs to game consoles, laptops and cell phones. Best avoided for at least an hour before sleep, preferably more if possible. Wind down instead with a good book on lucid dreaming.
I know that this may look restrictive – for some it will seem outright impossible. Remember that not only will the effort pay off, but it’s not all or nothing – anything you can do will help.
Once you’ve cleaned up your sleep time, you’ll be ready to continue with the next steps.
In part 2 and 3 of this series I will go on to expand on lucid dream induction techniques, dream journaling, powerful manifestation techniques and one of my own experiences.
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Adam Palmer has been consciously practicing lucid dreaming and exploring the out of body state for over 10 years. Now he wants to help others share the experience. Connect with him at Astral Zen.
