Achieving Lucidity

[White Rabbit Australia]

Achieving Lucidity is something I looked into several years ago and managed to achieve at first by accident and then regularly at will through a technique taught to me through assorted occult sources and some experimentation. I was conducting a full-time dream journal at the time which acclimatized me to the various stages of sleep and the various sensations or degrees of wakefulness possible when one wakes to record dreams on a regular basis.

I will shorthand the technique and just write a few brief comments about it since it is not difficult and it does not take a lot of time to see results.

The technique requires you to write the words 'Am I Dreaming'? in clear block letters on a piece of paper that is diagonal in shape. Place this paper somewhere at eye height that you walk past frequently every day. Each time you see it stop and ask yourself - are you dreaming? Next, look around to determine if there are any signs that you are.

There are quite a few signs that I learned about through a movie called Waking Life - such as light switches working, time being visible, words in books being readable, but I'm sure anyone to any degree interested in lucid dreaming knows many more. Look for these signs and determine whether you are awake or asleep. It may sound or seem silly to ask yourself in broad daylight whether you are dreaming - but the trick here is to train your brain to ask the same question not when you are awake, but while you are asleep.

If your brain gets in the habit of doing this - as it did for mine - it has the effect of making you conscious within your dream that you are dreaming and can prompt a level of awareness known as Lucidity. In my own experiment, the paper itself appeared to me mid-dream on a wall and prompted me to suddenly become aware that I was dreaming and 'lift' my consciousness slightly higher to a point where I had considerable dream control.

I would be interested to hear others experiences or methods for achieving lucidity or experiences with this method I have shared. :)

WR

[Xan]

White Rabbit... I find that as I have developed the habit of going to sleep in silent meditation awareness I am more clear and lucid in my dream life.


Xan

[FairyNightwish]

Hey White Rabbit...here Alice... :P
We seem to use the same method...the only difference for me is that instead of having a paper on a wall...(when i tried it my parents thought i was crazy :P )...i found out that the same effect we can have if we use to ask ourselves "am i dreaming?" everytime that we do someting which we do lot of times in a daytime...for example...everytime i go to wash my hands i made it a habbit to look at the mirror and say "am i dreaming?"

I was "lazy" to keep a journal of dreams though, bc i used to remember them very well, but lately i see the necessity of it, bc i start to not remember the dreams that well anymore. Maybe this happens bc im in big stress?

I want to ask you what difference you think it makes to keep a journal and if you wake up after each dream taking notes as Kastaneda suggests...

I have sleep issues and im afraid that if after each dream i do something like that, ill have trouble to sleep back. what you think about this?

[White Rabbit Australia]

Hi Xan.FairyNightwish,

I can't see any real difference in the paper on the wall method and just asking during daytime activities 'Alice' - ;) - both are just a method of trying to involve or access the unconscious which seems to be a necessary step in getting closer to any sort of control or lucidity - the first is just more ritualized, while the second would no doubt work just as well - so long as get in the habit one way or another, of asking if we are asleep - we are more likely to ask ourselves while sleeping... at least, thats the theory.

Keeping a journal is better than relying on mere memory but Very time consuming - it all depends how much time you have or want to spend studying your dreams, looking back over them for patterns or messages etc and generally losing yourself in the Onieric world obsessning over meanings, hints, archetypes etc; I spent just a month or two writing down my dreams because it was exhausting - even though it was very informative to - it began to be so involving that was all I did.

WR

[Xan]

Fairy... An alternative to writing your whole dreams in a journal right away is to jot down a few notes which you could fill in later. Journaling signals your subconscious mind that you want to remember your dreams.

A simple method I use for dream recall is, when you first begin to wake up... don't move... especially Don't Move Your Head... until you've remembered some images and feelings from your dream. From this you could easily fall back to sleep.

Also you could keep paper and pencil close to your sleeping position so that without moving much you could write down a few phrases before returning to sleep.


Xan

[FairyNightwish]

Thank you Xan and White Rabbit for your answers :))

[sharkboy]

and if you don't want to write something on the paper and put it around the house, you can always try to draw a sign on your hand and when you see it do some reality checks.

[Evaah]

Man, I need to try this. I do keep a dream journal (actually I just write down my dreams in my "daily life" journal.. helps me keep track of events that happen that may be related to certain dreams).. but I didn't think it actually helped with lucidity.

I tried saying "Am I dreaming?" for a little while, but then I forgot and became more focused on other things.

But the little paper idea - that's a good one. I have lousy memory... :D

[jimm1245]

A technique I used was whenever I would look at the time, I would close my eyes and concentrate on the time changing. When I opened my eyes, if the time changed, that meant I was dreaming. Doesn't matter if it is a watch, wall clock, cell phone, whatever. We look for the time several times throughout the day. If you train your brain to do this, it will work for you.