Can you Lucid Dream?

What is Lucid Dreaming?

Imagine visiting a tropical island where you can relax on a golden sandy beach, then the next minute whizzing off to meet your favourite celebrity - Brad Pitt or Scarlett Johansson anyone? Or perhaps you've always fancied taking a peek at the Earth from space? You could shoot up to the stars and float around the planet a couple of times before time travelling back in time to say hello to your favourite historical personality. These out-of-this-world experiences are all possible if you try lucid dreaming. Better still you don't have to spend any money or even physical energy achieving these things because you'll be asleep!

Lucid dreaming is about becoming aware while you are dreaming, so you become aware that you are in a dream. This means, rather than the dream happening to you, you can be in control of the dream. This is possible because you have different levels of consciousness and you can access them using certain techniques. Once you become aware while dreaming, you can decide upon the content of your dreams. This means that you can ask your subconscious questions, or you can rehearse actions you want to take in real life in a safe environment. Lucid dreaming allows you to access your spirituality by triggering your psychic powers - and you might even have prophetic dreams. With lucid dreaming you can create a world free from judgement and fear.

Benefits of Lucid Dreaming

Problem solving

Once you are in control of your dream world, you can ask your subconscious questions, such as: who is my soulmate? Am I in the right career? Why do I always have conflict with a certain person? During the dream you can act out various scenarios to find the best course of action for your waking life. If you are upset about something or if you constantly re-enact damaging behaviours, such as addictions, lucid dreaming is a good time to get to the bottom of your issues. In the dream state you will be more open. So you will be able to admit root causes of problems that you might not allow your conscious mind to think about.

Test your psychic powers

Lucid dreaming is the perfect time to try out your psychic powers. Here you can fly, float or have any other superhero power you care to think of. Some people can access past lives in a lucid dream state. For this you would need to set your intention before you drift off to sleep, then ask your subconscious while you are lucid dreaming: 'show me the past life that's most relevant to me today.' You ask the question by speaking in your dream.

Find Peace

You can ask to see deceased loved ones so you can give them a final message or listen to what they have to tell you. This can be especially beneficial if you feel there is unfinished business between you. You should approach this with good intentions and prepare not to necessarily get the answers you are hoping for.

Phobias

Cure yourself of fears and phobias by facing them in a lucid dream. Know your worst phobias are not physically manifested in a dream so you can hold that spider if you have arachnophobia or stand on that cliff top if you have vertigo - safe in the knowledge neither things are real. Then you can hopefully transfer your newfound bravery into the real world free of your phobias.

How to Lucid Dream

Many techniques exist for lucid dreaming. All of them are just attempting to enable you to become aware while dreaming. The most commonly used technique is to write the word 'dream' on the back of your hand. Then pause, frequently, during your waking day to look at this word and be conscious that you are awake - you are not in a dream. The idea is to do this so often that it becomes second nature for you to look at this word written on your hand. So when you are actually dreaming you look at your hand and it does not have the word 'dream' written on it so you realise that now you are dreaming - giving you awareness and control of the dream.

Another method is to think about a deceased relative or friend whom you would like to see in your lucid dream. While you are awake, keep thinking to yourself: the next time I see this person I will be dreaming. If you repeat this often, you will realise you are dreaming when you see this person - so you will have become lucid inside your dream.

Write it down

Keep a notebook and pencil beside your bed so you can jot down information from your lucid dream as soon as you awake. Think about:

*Who you saw in the dream

*What did they say?

*What did they do?

*How did you feel?

*Any emotions that occur to you.