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Name: Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
Rating: 4.4 (76 reviews)
Author: Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold

Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold

A step-by-step guide to Lucid Dreaming

4.4 (76 ratings)

16 mins

Topics

Neuroscience

Table of Contents

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
Summary of 8 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Learn how to “wake up” in your own dreams and improve your waking life.

Do you dream? It’s difficult to remember our dreams, as the vivid world of our subconscious all too often disappears with the first light as we open our eyes.

Yet with some training, entering the world of dreams can be a true adventure, and can have positive effects on your overall well-being.

Lucid dreaming is when you “wake up” in a dream and are conscious of what is happening within the dream. These blinks explore how you too can learn the art of lucid dreaming and shows how living in your dream life can enrich your waking life.

In the following blinks, you’ll also learn

how being more active in a dream will keep you asleep;
how practicing jump shots while dreaming will improve your game; and
why it’s important to ask “Am I dreaming?” when you’re awake.

What you see, touch or smell when you are awake is stored for use later in your dream state.

We all dream. Yet few people are able to dream lucidly, or consciously “wake up” within a dream.

Lucid dreaming may seem strange, yet anyone can do it!

It can actually be beneficial, too. In fact, those who can dream lucidly report that doing so has made a positive difference in their waking life.

But let’s start our exploration with dreaming in general, and specifically how our dream state differs from our waking state.

The world you experience when you are awake is communicated through your senses: sight, touch, taste, sound. Through your senses, your brain perceives your environment.

When you take a walk, for example, your brain collects sensory input such as listening to birds, seeing people lounging around and smelling the grass. Your brain then processes this external information and informs you that you’re walking through a park.

In dreams, however, it’s a different story. The information that your brain uses to generate a dream originates internally because as you dream, external sensory input – like smells or sounds – is limited.

A dream brings together the same process of perception that your brain uses to perceive the outside world when you are awake. The only difference is that in the dream state, there are no external factors to limit what you experience in your (dream) world.

Dreams are created solely by information already in your head, such as memories, desires and expectations. The possibilities of what can happen in your dreams then are endless!

Keep a dream journal to help you remember your dreams, and better identify your dream signs.

The first step toward lucid dreaming is learning how to remember your dreams.

Keep a dream journal, as it’s the best method to remember your dreams and better understand what they mean. Place the journal by your bed, and when you wake up each morning, immediately note down the things you remember. If you wait to write down your dreams, you might forget details or that you had a dream at all.

Ask yourself, “Am I dreaming?” when awake, and you’ll ask the same question when you’re asleep.

Do you ever ask yourself, “Is this a dream?” during the course of your day?

Even if you’ve never done this, if you want to become a lucid dreamer, it’s a handy trick to learn. Make it a habit to ask yourself if you’re dreaming during your waking hours. The habits you follow when you’re awake are the same as those you follow when you’re dreaming.

If you can keep your mind active while you fall asleep, you can dream lucidly without losing consciousness.

There are two different types of lucid dreams: dream-initiated lucid dreams (DILDs) and wake-initiated lucid dreams (WILDs).

In DILDs, lucidity is achieved after losing consciousness when you fall asleep. In WILDs, lucidity is achieved when you keep your mind active while you are falling asleep – that is, you fall asleep without losing consciousness.

To control your lucid dreams, you have to learn to stay asleep, retain lucidity and to wake up at will.

When you’re just starting to dream lucidly, it may be challenging to take full control of your dreams. You might abruptly wake up right after realizing that you’re dreaming, lose lucidity and return to a deep, unconscious sleep.

This isn’t ideal, as doing so blocks the pathways to the many possibilities of lucid dreaming. So how do you avoid this?

Lucid dreams can help improve psychological health by integrating “imbalanced” personalities.

Being healthy is not just about avoiding disease. Your mental health also plays a huge role in your overall health.

But what does this have to do with lucid dreaming? Lucid dreaming can do wonders for your psychological health.

Lucid dreams can inspire problem-solving creativity and solve issues in your waking life.

You can actually improve skills from your waking life while you are lucid dreaming. The way you can do this is by practicing mental imagery.

Studies have shown that mental imagery and mental rehearsal are techniques that can help enhance performance at work and with leisure activities, such as playing football.

Nightmares are created by fear. When you face your fears while dreaming, they’ll disappear.

We all suffer from nightmares on occasion, and for some, falling asleep is a stressful time as recurring nightmares are undesirable.

So how do you rid yourself of nightmares?

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What is Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming about?

Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1990) presents a step-by-step guide to the fascinating world of lucid dreams. It introduces various techniques on how to evoke lucidity and how lucid dreaming can be used to enrich your waking life.

Who should read Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming?

Psychologists studying the complex relationship of sleep and dreaming
People who suffer from nightmares
Students of cognitive science

About the Author

Stephen LaBerge holds a Ph.D. in psychophysiology from Stanford University, where he conducts research on lucid dreaming. He is the author of the bestselling book Lucid Dreaming, and the founder of the Lucidity Institute, which works to further knowledge on consciousness.

Howard Rheingold has studied and written on the augmentation of the human mind. His books include Excursions to the Far Side of the Mind, Higher Creativity and The Cognitive Connection.

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