Dream Awareness and Lucid Dreaming

Dr. Alan B. Trawets

When we are awake, our mind is active, but we go to sleep our minds activity becomes far greater. When we dream, our mind is working extremely quickly, supplying images, sounds, and memories for our minds eye to view. Entire worlds are created, complete with characters, real or imaginary, that we interact with. Then, when we wake up, we don’t remember the fantastic experiences that we went through while we slept. Majority of people either don’t pay attention, or don’t even recall what they experience each night in their dreams, this is because to the average observer, dreams are complete nonsense. This is in fact rarely true, some believe that the mind catalogs the day’s events during sleep, and dreams are a byproduct of that process. The term Lucid Dreaming means that the dreamer is aware that what they are experiencing in a dream isn’t real, and therefore gains a certain amount of control over what actually happens in the dream. Most people have at one point in their lives had dreams that can be considered “lucid.” Any dream where you realize, “hey, I’m dreaming,” is in fact a dream that you can control with practice and concentration. While in a lucid dream, the dreamer often can do the impossible. The experienced lucid dreamer may even portray their environment so realistically that they can hardly tell the difference at glance whether they are awake or lucid. If this occurs, the dreamer may engage in what has come to be known as “reality checks.” The purpose of these activities is self explanatory. The dreamer may look at a word, sign, or digital clock, look away and then look back and see that the numbers or letters have changed. Turning on and off a light switch can also tell you whether or not you’re lucid or awake because light levels change little while we dream. Looking in a mirror can almost surely tell you if you’re lucid or awake, because your image in the mirror will be distorted, blurry or frightening. Lucid dream induction methods vary. The most common and simple of the induction methods often happens randomly. DILD’s (Dream Induced Lucid Dreams), are when the person falls asleep normally, and then realizes while in a dream that they are in fact asleep. The most vivid type of lucid dream takes practice, WILD’s (Wake Induced Lucid Dreams) are difficult to achieve but extremely realistic. The easiest way to induce a DILD is to tell yourself while you’re falling asleep, “I will remember my dreams,” or “I will recognize that I’m dreaming.” Over time, your brain will become accustomed to recognizing the signs that a person is dreaming and will be able to become lucid. WILD’s are much more difficult. The worst time to attempt a Wake Induced Lucid Dream is when you usually go to sleep anyway. However after a few hours of sleep, or during an afternoon nap, your REM cycles become longer and it becomes easier to Lucid Dream. In my very first successful lucid dream I entered the dream in a desert of some kind, and after experimenting a bit, I found that when I bent down to scoop up some sand in my hand, it looked real. Not only looked real, but felt, and even smelled real. You may even be able to move around just as you would in the real world inside of a lucid dream. When you are entering a lucid dream from a waking state directly into a sleeping state, the transition may seem frightening. Some people count the breaths they take to remain concentrated, other picture themselves inside the random images that pop into our heads as we drift off to sleep, while others still repeat a though over and over again to keep their thoughts from drifting. It is vital while attempting a WILD to remain completely still; this tricks your body into falling asleep while you are still able to observe what’s happening. You may see different colors swirling in and out of your field of vision, and if done correctly, you may experience muscles spasms as your body falls asleep. If the attempt at a WILD is successful, then you should start to see different images floating through your mind’s eye. All you need do in order to begin a lucid dream is picture and concentrate on yourself stepping into an image. The image or memory will become 3D around you, and then you will be inside your own dream. Lucid dreaming is not something that can be picked up over night, it takes some people weeks at trying to be completely successful in inducing a lucid dream, while for others (namely the people who already remember almost all the dreams they’ve had), its second nature. The world of lucid dreaming is unique and exciting, and sometimes terrifying. But through and through the experience of lucid dreaming gives us a brief look at the truly astounding potential of our own minds. Whatever world you create is yours to explore.