Is anyone familiar with the practice of lucid dreaming?

For those who aren't, it is the state of awareness of the dream state while in progress, with full "consciousness" of it while engaged in the dream. In a way that enables a kind of astral travel, within the dimensions of the non-physical. Contact with spirit beings is common, as well as the gain of knowledge, and realities previously unknown, with relevance to the material world.
If trained, near omnipotence in the dream worlds is possible.

I haven't been studying it for that long, it can be a pisser to entrain.
It was a major suprise when I found it is an actual mental/psychic/religious dicipline, I'd been encountering it on and off alone since childhood.

I'm curious how many other practitioners there are of this..

Now, that's something interesting for me. Can't say i'm practicing it, but would really like to know more on the subject, since i have an enormously big amount of dreams anyway. Is there any information to be found on the web about it? Any link would be very welcome.

I try it quite often...and I can usually get the dream to the end...but as soon as my conscience mind kicks in...it just becomes a day dream inspired by the dream...but it's helped when my dreams get a little too scary...that doesn't happen a lot...thankfully

For links, lucidity.com is probably the best, though I imagine there are other sources on the web besides, just do an engine search under dream lucidity or lucid dreaming.

It is essentially the process of learning dream control, and through intent and awareness to become their guide. Once the lucid dream plain is achieved, it can be one hell of a ride.

Remember the song Silent Lucidity, by the band Queensryche? It is about lucid dreaming, go find a copy and give it a listen, that'll provide one perspective of the whole thing. Or if you're feeling lazy just traipse over to www.themomi.org, I think they used to have a MP3 file of it somewhere.

I'm still trying to learn how to do it...unfortunately, discipline has never been my strong side.

I explained it, lightly, to my daughter, however, how to take control of your dreams, an attempt to help her overcome her nightmares. I don't know if it worked...

How can you learn to control your dreams? *ponders*

One way to do it...

http://spiritweb.org/Spirit/obe-spiritualist.html

Thanks for the link, Clearwitch.

I need to know more about Astrological travel. Used to be able to do it all the time, now I cannot. Any links on that or advice?

*bumps*

*smiles*

A Home, at last, hmm..??

This board ought to be magickal...

Conscious Dreaming, or otherwise known and Lucid Dreaming.


A Seneca Native American healer once said, the dream world is the real world. At night when we release the grips our daily reality we slip into a world filled with symbols, both enchanting and sometimes more often than not ornate. For the most part we feel utterly without control within these realms, we relinquish a sense of the logic and embark on journeys of past, present and of possible futures. Yet, we seem to believe we have no control of the experiences we endure during our adventures throughout our sleeping hours. To dream consciously is to be aware you are dreaming while you are dreaming. It is a triune, rather than dual state of awareness. You are aware of your body lying in your bed as well as being aware of the contents of your dreams, and at the same time aware of watching yourself dreaming.

The average person dreams for between 90 minutes and 2 hours every night, although this only accounts for the dreams occurring during REM sleep… (Rapid Eye Movement.) Lab research coins certain dreams called “big dreams” which are associated with out-of-body experiences, during which the dreamer may appear to be completely inert, even comatose.

“You will dream tonight, whether or not you remember. You will have four to seven dreams (or a whole series of dreams). You may also have a spontaneous out-of-body experience in the dream state. If you dream in REM sleep for markedly less than the average ninety minutes, something is interfering with you. The interference may come from drugs, including widely prescribed sedatives and sleeping pills, alcohol, caffeine, a bad conscience, serious depression, or psychic disorders for which shamans have other names.” – Robert Moss

To get to the phenomenal stages of lucid dreaming one first has to get in touch with ones dreams as it were. We have so many daily distractions that overshadow the dream experiences of the night before, like being waken unnaturally by alarm clocks for instance. Our sleeping and thus dreaming hours become less and less, and upon the moment of waking we are immediately distracted by the thoughts of the day that lies ahead. Regular sleeping patterns would benefit those that wish to work with their dreams, as is making sure there is enough time to allow the dream imagery to settle into the conscious mind before jumping out of bed to rush towards the day.

As with just about any aspect of enhancing the body, we need to exercise our dream recall and thus starting your dream catching routines. I will use the simple outlay Robert Moss the shamanic teacher uses to enhance dream recall.

1.)Clearly state your intention to yourself: For example, declare to yourself “I wish to remember my dreams tonight”. Or “I ask for the guidance from my dream source.” Repeat this as you get into bed. Or you may even wish to write down this affirmation and slip it under your pillow.
2.)Have your tools ready: Keep a notepad and pen next to your bed, or a tape recorder, so that you can record any information about your dreams as soon as you wake.
3.)Give yourself time to bring your dreams back: Allow for some extra time spent in bed, if possible to allow your dream images to become clear to you.
4.)Give yourself space: Try to record your dreams before getting out of bed.
5.)Write your dreams down at once: No matter what time you wake, whether it is at your usual time in the mornings or if you happened to wake from a dream at say 4AM, write it down immediately!
6.)Start with a few trigger words: These you can use later to fill out the entire dream. Remember to make a note of any names or phrases, your notes may appear in reverse order because the most recent dream material would be most clear in your memory.
7.)Don’t censor your dreams: No matter how you or anyone you know was portrayed, it’s essential to record everything you remember.
8.)Don’t interpret: Concentrate on capturing the raw material of the dream before you try to make sense of the symbols or scenes.
9.)Pay attention to your feelings: Your feelings about your dreams are often your best guide to its meaning and urgency.
10.)If you wake with no dream memory, relax: Roll around in bed, gently. Or return to the position in which you woke, this often encourages dream images to come back.
11.)Put out a welcome mat: If you find that no dream recall is taking place, simply take the time to record your thoughts and feelings. And soon you may find flashes of dream imagery making itself known to your conscious mind. We are prone to the cycles of nature as much as daily activity affects our dream recall status. As with any exercise, practice makes perfect!

In the Muslim hadith there is a story of how the prophet Muhammad journeyed through all the heavens on his mystical steed, guided by Gabriel, the Archangel of dreams, recorded all of the Koran- and returned to find that the glass of water he had knocked over in the moment he fell into his trance had not yet finished emptying.

To quote W.B Yeats; “All would be well could we but give us wholly to the dreams and get into their world that to the sense is shadows, and not linger wretchedly among substantial things; for it is dreams that lift us to the flowing, changing world that the heart longs for.”

Great post lillith... I'll do that tonight.

I learned as a fairly young girl to control my dreams, when I had a series of nightmares, most of which were recurring..

Rather than control what you dream about, it is easier to control the dream itself. One of the larger problems with that, is that dreams depending on the style, can often seem so very realistic and your brain gets trapped in the emotions and feelings that are involved in the dream, much like you would yourself, were the events happening, actually real. It's a fine line between controlling your dreams, and waking up though...~smiles~ Once you try to control them too much, that's your concious kicking in, and chances are greater that you'll wake up.

I don't know how to explain it exactly, and I'm sure it's different for every person, but I've developed a trigger of sorts within my subconcious, that when something I don't like happens, I have a split second where my concious kicks in and makes me aware that it's a dream, at which point I slide back into the dream and then it's my mind, and in my control. The best way with a nightmare for example is to not try to control it, but use the knowledge that it is a dream to keep yourself from getting stupidly terrified.

I don't know... ~laughs~ The control of a dream is going to vary from person to person in how they go about it, also with so many different types of dreams and styles and stuff, again it will vary.

~*~Voodoo~*~

I know one thing about controlling your dreams, it is very demanding and you need to get the attention of your "guardians" of dreams. Once you get their attention, demand what you want to know or see in your dreams.

I can control my dreams only sometimes. It has to be one of the coolest feelings. Hopefully what Lillith said can work for me.

I learned how to do Lucid dreaming as a child. I can't do it whenever I want, but when its happening, I know it, and I know how to control it. When I was about 5, I had an out of body experience, and I was looking down at myself. I remember staying very still and kind of looking around myself. Nothing really happened, it was just weird because I could see my body laying there. When I woke up, I felt myself shoot down back at...well...myself, and I was awake.

Then when I was 13, I fell asleep on a narrow bed I once had. I was fully conscience, but I couldn't move, and all I saw was water all around me. Next I felt waves moving my body, and I was just floating. I don't think I was going anywhere in particular, but it was still nice. I don't know what either of them meant, but I remembered them, and being fully awake/conscience when they happened.

I think the only dream activity that I cannot control is flying... I cannot make myself fly in a dream, and unfortunately I cannot continue flying in a dream where I have been flying and am starting to lose the capability. I would assume that is because the amount of concious awareness of the dream itself to control a dream, is too much concious awareness for flying to be a possibility. Don't really know..

Kundalini

Hi all, I'm really interested in dreams, "dreamwalking" the dream world and everything else like that.
So if anyone else has an intrest and would like to have a discussion on it, please post

Do dreams hold meaning?