Ever heard of the movie "Inception"? If so, I'm sure you thought that the movie was a sci-fi action thriller that was totally fictionalized. However, even though dream sharing technology does not exists, scientist are discovering more and more about the unbounded dream world through human subjects practicing lucid dreaming, dreams where the subject becomes conscious in their dream, able to control their dream through the channels of their inner most desires. In other words, people are learning to control their dreams and do whatever they want in the abstract dream world. But how does one lucid dream? Here are three simple steps.
1. Distinguishing Reality While Awake
Learning to lucid dream is a 24-hour job that will require you to prepare yourself for the dream world while awake in reality. While you're awake, you must create what I like to call your receptor, a device, object, ritual, or body movement in which your brain can identify with the face that you are in reality. For example, my receptor is vocally telling myself I'm awake about once every hour. While I do this, I also count my fingers back in forth, moving my fingers up and down as I count. This makes my neurons understand that what they tell my body to do, it will do. Thus, reality is this transaction of my body letting me do what I want when I want. Find a unique receptor that works for you, and do it about every hour while you are awake.
2. The Right Way To Sleep
If you are like me, you sleep in every position other than your face looking up at your ceiling. But when you're lucid dreaming, it's important to try and stay as still and relaxed as possible. When you're in the dream, everything will feel like reality, but in fact it is not. Sleeping in the upright position is the best way to maintain your safety in reality while you're inside your mind. Preparing yourself for the dream is key to letting yourself go lucid, or gain consciousness in the dream. First, set an alarm for three-fourths of the way through your sleep schedule. This will wake you up during a dead sleep, where your body is completely shut down and in full sleep mode. However, upon waking up, you will not be fully awake; you are only fully awake when you arise from your bed and begin your day. Second, when you're awake, train yourself over several nights to practice your receptor as you are about to fall back asleep. Remind yourself vocally that you are awake and aware that you are about to dream. Do this out loud and practice your receptor until you fall into your own mind.
3. Going Lucid in the Dream World
Going lucid is based largely on how conscious you are at the end of step two as you cross over into the dream world. You simply cannot be fully asleep without consciousness to be able to control aspects of the dream. If you are fully asleep but fully conscious of your sleep, you very well could begin your dream narrative whenever your brain pleases. But that's the thing that we can't control -- the world in which we're dropped into.
Thoughts rush in and out of our mind by the microsecond. Typically, ideas spring forth from our inner most desires without our control. Extreme emotions play a big role in this part of going lucid: fear, happiness, anger, confusion, all are what compose the architecture of the dream itself. Going lucid, however, is how you can manipulate the elements, characters, or narrative itself in your environment within the dream. This takes nights upon nights of practicing the retaining of consciousness.
For example, we've all had the nightmare where we are running away from something, but we are not moving forward. If one were lucid, aware that he/she is dreaming, then he/she would be able to actually run away or do whatever desired within the dream. Without the control from consciousness, our extreme emotions consume the dream, and we react to the environment unconsciously through channels like memory or ideas that are birthed beyond conscious activity/thought.
This is only a little information about lucid dreaming. The internet is your friend for learning more about how to lucid dream, but these are just the basics of how to practice it and what it means. Remember that crossing over into the dream world consciously gives you limitless possibility, so have fun dreaming, restless beings.
