DreamWell offers a wide range of meditations on dreams because there are so many wonderful things about dreams and so many wonderful ways to work with dreaming.
One fascinating way to work with dreams is through lucid dreaming. Lucid dreams are dreams in which you are aware that you are dreaming. You are dreaming and then, through a flash of insight, you are aware that you are dream.
I’ve had three lucid dreams in my life. The first was scary to me. The second was uninteresting and fast. The third was fantastic.
There are ways to increase the probability of having a lucid dream. There are specific techniques. DreamWell offers two techniques for lucid dreaming call the mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD) and the senses initiated of lucid dreams (SSILD). Both of these techniques have been scientifically shown to increase the probability of lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreams are not magic
For the longest time, I was excited to lucid dream because I thought I’d be able to do anything and have intensely vivid dreams.
This isn’t the case. Having a lucid dream just means that you are aware that you are dreaming. That’s it.
The dream might not be very vivid or interesting. Or you might be aware that you are dreaming, but still act as if you are in a dream. You might not be able to control the dreams. These are all separate things than lucid dreaming.
Reality Checks & Waking Up
Reality checks
There are generally two techniques people will do in order to increase the probability of having a lucid dream.
The first is called a reality check. This basically means that you create a habit of asking yourself if you are dreaming throughout the day. The idea is that if you create a habit of asking yourself if you are dreaming, then when you are dreaming you are more likely to realize that you are in a dream.
Some people may look at their watch or some text because text will look funny in dreams. Some people may jump up and down, because sometimes you’ll fly in dreams.
One of my favorite ways to do a reality check is simply to review what I’ve been doing. I ask myself how I got to where I am and what I did before. Generally in a dream there are large jumps that just don’t make sense. I’m in a castle, then I’m at home. I was talking to my mother and then I’m running away from zombies.
I particularly like this reality check because it is deep. It takes time. I am invested in really asking and answering the question if I’m dreaming. I can easily glance at my phone mindless to see if I’m dreaming. It takes effort .
Waking up
There’s another technique that’s very important to talk about, which is waking up in the middle of the night and then going back to bed. This technique is frequently called Wake Back to Bed or WBTB for short.
We have the most vivid dreams during REM sleep. REM sleep occurs later in the night. So this technique is to wake up immediately before this REM sleep period and set the intention to have a lucid dream before falling asleep.
This is known to be effective at increasing the probability of having a lucid dream. It makes sense from how sleep stages are organized in the night.
Generally people will set an alarm for about 5 hours after going to bed. This will interrupt your natural sleep which will clearly have unintended consequences. As a result, it is hard to recommend this technique because sleep is so important.
Personally, I want to have lucid dreams, but I want to have good sleep as well. I’ll sometimes drink a lot of water before bed. If I wake during the night because of this, then I will practice a lucid dreaming technique. If not
Remembering your dreams
It might sounds obvious, but in order to have lucid dreams, you need to be able to remember your dreams. This is one of the reasons that DreamWell offers a morning checkin that includes a dream rating, checklist for dream events, and a free form dream journal. Generally if just taking the time to see check if you had a dream will increase your ability to remember your dreams.
In any case, there seem to be at least three steps in remembering a dream (article):
- dream production
- dream encoding
- dream retrieval
Dream production refers to how often you produce dreams. Getting a good amount of sleep will help produce more dreams.
Dream encoding is how well you pay attention to the dream while you are in it. Practices like mindfulness meditation can help with this.
Dream retrieval is how well you remember the dreams that you have had. Again, some form of a dream journal will help with this.
mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD)
Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams is a technique popularized by Stephen LaBerge. The seems to be a variety of techniques, but the core of it is to simply repeat the intention to have a lucid dream. It is recommended to repeat a sentence like “The next time I’m dreaming I will remember that I’m dreaming” immediately before falling to sleep.
Again, this technique was originally intended to be used after waking up in the middle of the night and immediately before falling back asleep.
senses initiated of lucid dreams (SSILD)
Apparently this technique was originally posted on a blog post in 2013 with the original name of “a Very Mysterious Technique”.
This consists of shifting your attention from focusing on what you see (with your eyes closed), to what you hear, to what you feel with your body. This is considered one cycle.
You would repeat 4-6 cycles quickly, focusing on each sense for a few seconds. Then cycle 3-4 more times but spending 20-30 seconds on each sense.
While going through the cycles the point is just to experience and pay attention to the sense. You should not try to force anything. Just simply observe.
After you complete these cycles, simple allow yourself to sleep. Again, this technique was originally intended to be used after waking up in the middle of the night and immediately before falling back asleep.
Personal thoughts
I want to speak as an individual and share my personal thoughts on lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming does capture the imagination. It sounds so magical and wonderful to be able to be lucid in a dream. It sounds even better to be able to control the dream.
I love the idea of lucid dreaming
One recent research study has really captured my imagination. In the study, scientist monitored people who could lucid dream. Before these dreamers slept, they were established a code. The dreamers would move their eyes in specific patterns to signify yes or no. During REM sleep our brains prevents our bodies from moving, primarily to prevent us from acting out our dreams. But, our eyes can and do move.
This sort of methodology has been used before to allow lucid dreamers signal when they are in a dream. The difference with this research study is that the scientists tried to ask the dreamers questions through flashing lights, audio tones, just asking questions, or through touch. The amazing thing was that the dreamers would respond to the questions with their eye movements!
This is demonstration of communication with someone when they are in a dream. It is communication, in real time, from the dream world to the waking world! How does that not capture your imagination!?
Another aspect of lucid dreaming that really captures my attentions is the ability to speak with dream characters. It is strange. These are characters in my dream. This is my dream world. But I am able to speak with someone and their answers surprise me. Apparently, dream characters will have trouble doing math problems.
I would love to be able to dream and speak with these characters.
I’ve faced obstacles
I’ve been trying to lucid dream off and on for almost 10 years now. I’ve achieved 3 lucid dreams in this time. That’s actually not a lot of lucid dreams. I’ve face some challenges and obstacles.
Lucid dreaming takes time and work
Both the MILD and SSILD techniques have been shown to increase the probability of having a lucid dream. This is particularly true when you wake up in the middle of the night to practice these techniques.
However, a recent research study tested these techniques. Generally, it takes at least two weeks to begin to see an effect. In first week of the study, 1-7% of people experienced a lucid dream. In the second week of the study, 10-20% of people experienced a lucid dream. So achieving a lucid dream takes work, time, and the results are uncertain.
We do not know the long term effects of lucid dreaming
We actually do not know a lot about the long term effects of lucid dreaming or cultivated lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming occurs spontaneously, but it is relatively rare to have repeated lucid dreams night after night. The effects of this hasn’t fully been studied. Some researchers have questions if it is a good idea to lucid dream.
It can affect sleep
In addition, waking up in the middle of the night will disrupt your natural sleep. Sleep is tremendously important for the health and well being.
Because of this I do not intentionally wake up in the middle of the night to practice lucid dreaming techniques. I know that this will increase my probability of having a lucid dream, but I am unwilling to disrupt my sleep for it.
Dreaming is magic
In the process of trying to lucid dream, I’ve encountered my dreams. I keep a dream journal. I pay attention to my dreams. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is so much to explore and experience in dreams, whether lucid or not, that my desire to lucid dream has waned. I honestly would still love to experience lucid dreams, but I’ve found dreaming to be magical.
