My recurring lucid dream: I wake up. I look toward my nightstand next to me and see the digital clock that I don’t have there flashing “12:00”…I realize immediately that I’m dreaming, and that I’m aware I’m dreaming. This is called a lucid dream “marker”. Another marker: I wake up. I attempt to turn on my bedside lamp. I turn the switch, but the light does not go on. My heart begins to race…I know I’m dreaming. Just to make sure, I get up out of bed and go into the bathroom where I try the light switch there: no light ensues. This is another marker, my affirmation that it’s time to start flying while I can, while I have the chance. Why waste time on anything else? I start to flap my arms like a giant bird, and begin to levitate off the floor. I rise and then fly around my bedroom for practice, testing my “wings”, then approach my balcony and take a leap of faith, literally, into the star-filled night sky, and soar and spin and glide until I ultimately scare myself into waking up, for real this time, back into the mundane physical world where a non-illuminated light bulb is just burned-out, and is not a marker or symbol of anything. I find myself curled-up quietly, in the same position I fell asleep in.
Markers were also used in the 2019 lucid dreaming study at Northwestern University. Unbeknownst to their research team at the time, three other similar studies were underway in France, the Netherlands, and Germany (with thirty-six participants total); they all reached the same conclusion, independently – a lucid dreamer could be engaged in two-way communication during the REM, Rapid Eye Movement, sleep stage (90% of all lucid dreaming happens in this sleep phase, which occurs mostly near the end of the sleep cycle), and could be influenced by external stimuli to affect the environment inside their dreams. These Neuroscientists’ findings were published in the journal, Current Biology.
These teams of lucid dream researchers connected to the dreaming participants by asking them direct, simple questions, then asking them to respond with eye movement to the left or the right for a yes or no answer. They were also able to solve simple mathematical problems, such as “What is eight minus six?” by moving their eyes to indicate their answers. When the participants woke up, they were asked how the “outside” voices came through to them within their dreams, and they said via various sources, such as a radio, television, or video game in the dream. The researchers also used flashing lights, such as strobe lights, in the laboratory, and the dreamers reported seeing flashing lights in their dreams, corresponding to these flashing lights in the external laboratory world. Other sounds besides vocal questions were made also, which the dreamers reported hearing upon waking up. These lucid dreaming studies bridge the gap between the conscious and subconsciousness mind.
Now you may be intrigued enough to wonder what you can do to achieve a lucid dream state yourself. Dr. Achilleas Pavlou, a lucid dream researcher, has some tips: he says the more you lucid dream, the easier it gets to reach that state, so with a little patience (or a lot of patience, in my own humble experience) and repeated practice, you will find it’s like any other skill you want to learn…it will come to be easier and feel more natural with time.
Pavlou also states that creative thinking in general lends itself to lucid dreaming, so thinking creatively or “outside of the box” thinking can enhance not only your waking hours, but your dream-time too. Resorting to creative alternatives in your conscious, waking state seems to bleed over into your subconscious dreaming state. I personally found that when I took more risks in my lucid dreaming state, that bled over into my conscious state, and gave me more confidence in taking risks and chances in “the real world”.
There are also apps available to guide you into a lucid dreaming state; one was created by Neuroscientist Ken Paller of Northwestern University called “Lucid”. Once the app is activated, it plays sounds six hours after being set. Studies have shown that it has induced lucid dreaming in 40% of its users. I have been experimenting on my own, and setting my snooze alarm as I wake up and drift back to sleep; I’ve found that I do start dreaming again, but so far no lucid dreams have appeared for me this way, which are very different from regular dreams.
Another easy method toward lucid dreaming is keeping track of your dreams in a dream journal. It’s best to write down your dreams as soon as you can upon waking, and describe not only all of the details you can remember, but also the feelings you experienced inside the dream. The more your conscious mind becomes aware of what just happened in the subconscious dream world, the more those two parts of the brain feel more easily joined (from what I’ve experienced). You could write your dreams by hand on paper, type them up, or record them into a recording device…the most important thing is being consistent in this practice. And, if nothing else, you will gain more insight into your own subconscious mind, which is a plus in and of itself.
Another easy method for becoming more aware in your dreams is to tell yourself throughout the day, “The next time I am dreaming, I will remember to realize that I am dreaming” (Konkoly, 4:21). Tell yourself this repeatedly throughout your waking hours, and while you’re in bed before you go to sleep at night. Let your conscious mind know to remain vigilant, even while it’s “asleep”. Another technique that is similar is to remember the last dream you had while falling back asleep…remember every detail, and try to recreate the previous dream with a conscious awareness of it, and what you would like to enact in it the next time; this is called the Mnemonic Induction Technique.
In addition to exploring extreme adventures through lucid dreaming, it has other benefits as well, the main one being that it could provide insight into how consciousness itself is formed (as these studies are relatively new, much more research will need to be done to delve deeper into this dense subject). In a more practical way, it could be utilized as a treatment for chronic nightmares and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) by having the dreamer face his or her fears within the dreamworld, thereby hopefully eliminating them both in the conscious and subconscious realms. Another practical benefit would be to use lucid dreaming time as a way to practice or rehearse motor skills; many musicians, dancers, and athletes have used their dream time as a way to hone their waking skills while asleep, and many have discovered solutions to their “problem” while dreaming the answer.
The greatest benefit (to me) is that lucid dreaming helps us to develop more compassion:
We feel an ego separation in the waking world, between who we are and the world going on around us. This is an ego-based perspective. When you’re dreaming, you have more of a situation-based perspective, where everything in your dream is created by your mind; everything is connected, rather than separate. This situation-based experience enables you to experience things from another’s perspective, and make the best choices for each given situation, rather than reacting from an ego perspective. This gives you more compassion in your daily life. (Konkoly, 9:37)
Having more compassion in our daily lives means that we treat not only others, but ourselves with more kindness, understanding, and generosity, making the “real world” a much better place to reside in.
So, let’s say you find yourself inside a lucid dream…now what? You could perform a “Reality Test” as I did in my lucid dream, where I turned on light switches that did not produce light, leading you to realize that you’re dreaming. Dr. Konkoly says that she wears a certain bracelet every day, so in her dreams she checks to see if it is on her wrist – if it’s not, she knows she’s dreaming. You can work toward recognizing these “markers” or symbols in your dreams (everyone’s symbols will be different), then work toward gaining control of your actions and environment within the dream. For me, personally, when I first started lucid dreaming I would notice a marker, realize I was dreaming and then scare myself awake. Being “aware” within your dream takes some courage, as at first it can feel a little scary and unfamiliar. Just like in the “real world” anything can happen in your dreams…and even more unpredictable and bizarre things can happen while dreaming, so courage and perseverance is definitely helpful.
Speaking from my own experience, my lucid dreaming has been happening over decades of my lifetime, and is always random and unplanned. Even though I have listed several techniques to “get you there”, lucid dreaming has always caught me by surprise, when I was busy and preoccupied with other things. What has remained constant for me are my “markers” and my great sense of wonder at the adventure presented before me, as some kind of gift…from my conscious or subconscious mind, or the two of them, intertwined. Being able to fly like a giant bird is a beautiful gift, indeed, no matter how it’s created. Science is just now beginning to scratch the surface of what consciousness is – most probably in the future scientists will focus even more intently on the personal experiences of their subjects to discover what individual, subjective consciousness really is, and what that will mean for all of us in the future.
Works Cited
Graves, Dante. “Communicating with a Dreaming Person is Possible”. NOVA/PBS, February 2, 2021. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/lucid-dreaming-communication/
Konkoly, Karen. “This Could be a Dream”. TEDx, Lehigh University, Novermber 13, 2015. https://youtu.be/IpxaPnp0WR0
Pavlou, Achilleas. “I’m a Lucid Dream Researcher – Here’s How to Train Your Brain to Do It” The Conversation, June 19, 2019. https://theconversation.com/im-a-lucid-dream-researcher-heres-how-to-train-your-brain-to-do-it-118901
Lucid Dreaming Image (Flower Woman): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/100486635416198236/
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