What Is A Lucid Dream: The Comprehensive Guide

You know I’m your go-to person when it comes to all things sleep-related. But what about dreaming – well, lucid dreaming, to be exact?

So, in the spirit of better understanding sleep, and everything revolving around it, I decided to dedicate today’s article to this seemingly simple question:

What is a lucid dream?

And before you even have a chance to ask: No, it has nothing to do with the movie Inception.

Okay. Now imagine being able to ask yourself the same question about dreaming, while you’re asleep.

That’s what it means to be lucid. I know it seems a lot more complicated than that, but that’s it – the ability to be aware that you’re in a dream, while you’re dreaming.

From there, the possibilities are endless. By waking up your mind while you’re still sleeping, your dreams become an alternate reality where you can use all your senses to explore your unconscious mind freely.

Now, there are two ways you can experience lucid dreams, depending on whether you’re observing or controlling them:

• Active Lucid Dreaming – This is, of course, the more famous „version“ of the two. Everyone wants to give active lucid dreaming a try because the prospects of being able to control their dreams and follow pre-constructed scenarios seem like something out of a sci-fi movie.

• Passive Lucid Dreaming – Then there’s passive lucid dreaming, the less famous cousin everyone underestimates. Personally, I enjoy passive lucid dreams just as much as the active ones, especially when I feel like I’m at the crossroads in my waking life. Being lucid, yet taking on a passive role and letting your subconscious mind lead makes for a perfect way to do some self-exploration.

Maybe you’ve heard before that Tibetan monk have been practicing some form of lucid dreaming (also known as Tibetan dream yoga) for more than a thousand years, so you know it’s a practice that’s been around for quite some time now. By the way, is there anything Tibetan monks can’t do?

But if you asked the same question a few decades ago, you could’ve gotten a “maybe“ at best.

That’s because we didn’t have any evidence before the year 1975. British parapsychologist Keith Hearne indeed wasn’t the first one to delve into the concept of lucid dreaming, but he was the first one to present us with scientific evidence.

I’m not going to go into details…but the general idea was to use eye movement as a signaling method. So, they agreed on a pattern, and the participants were to repeat it while they were in a state of lucid dreaming. And guess what – it worked!

That was only the first of many studies on the subject, though. In recent years, there were several more studies, and all of them came to the same conclusion – that lucid dreaming is, in fact, authentic, and that it could be observed through brain activity.

So, there you have it – proof that lucid dreaming is real. I hope the scientist in you is happy!

It may sound unimaginable, but that’s because you’re new to the concept. I mean, you just now learned what is a lucid dream, and letting it all sink in might take some time.

That said, every experienced lucid dreamer will tell you that yes, you can control your dreams and create plots in advance.

Always wanted to know what flying would feel like? Well, now you can!

Lucid dreaming allows you to set up elaborate dream scenarios before you even go to sleep, or to navigate your dream in an entirely new direction while you’re in it, using both the WILD and the DILD methods.

You can steer your dreams in any direction you want without worrying if anything would go wrong, because, after all, it’s all in your head.

The possibilities are unlimited!

3Boost Your Creativity

Attention, artists!

Did you know that you can use your lucid dreams as an endless source of inspiration, and to embrace your inner child again? Learning to lucid dream is like getting an unlimited, lifetime access to an infinite source of inspiration.

Your subconscious mind is pretty much a warehouse storing memories, experiences, and random information which your conscious mind deemed irrelevant. Imagine getting the key to that warehouse, and rediscovering all those lost treasures – that’s what lucid dreaming allows you to do.

There are two ways to go about it: either visit a place you know never fails to inspire you, or just let your subconscious mind roam free – remember, you’re the one who’s controlling your dreams.

1Sleep Paralysis

This one has to be the most common “risk factor“ related to lucid dreaming. While it might turn out to be as scary as it sounds, the fact that you’re here, educating yourself on the subject – what is a lucid dream, and if it carries any hidden dangers – is the first step of overcoming it.

You need to realize that sleep paralysis happens anyway as a natural part of the REM cycle – otherwise, you’d be all over the place acting out your dreams. The catch is that lucid dreamers are awake and conscious for the experience, and possibly still experiencing hallucinations or ominous feelings, without being able to move a muscle.

If it happens to you, before you start freaking out, remember that fear only prolongs sleep paralysis and that you should relax instead – none of the things you’re seeing, no matter how terrifying, can hurt you, because they’re not real.

After all, what is a lucid dream, really, if not a final step of sleep paralysis?

3Lucid Nightmares

Let’s face it – every time you go to bed, you’re running a risk of your dreams turning into nightmares. The same goes for lucid dreamers.

Unfortunately, though, the biggest issue with lucid nightmares is, at the same time, one of the best things about lucid dreams, too – they feel incredibly real. I know that the prospect of being conscious of the experience makes it that much more terrifying.

However, keep in mind that, as a lucid dreamer, you’ll not only be able to experience your nightmares more vividly, but you’ll be able to control them, too.

And you have to admit that actively participating in your dreams, even if they turn out to be nightmares, sounds a lot less scary than just going along for the ride. You have an advantage here, one that most people don’t get – you’re able to stop and say:

It’s okay. That is just a dream. It’s all in my head.

1Step 1: Remember Your Dreams And Write Them Down

As you start recording your dreams, you’ll notice specific patterns – people, places, actions – anything you can use as a “dream sign” or a gateway to lucidity.

One of the best ways to remember your dreams is, of course, to write them down. Don’t worry; you don’t have to turn your dreams into elaborate essays – just highlighting the relevant bits should be enough to get you started, and you can always build from there later.

The goal is to get into the habit of remembering your dreams – lucid dreamers can recall up to 3 to 4 dreams per night.

Emily’s Take:

When I first started taking melatonin, it was late autumn, early winter. The season of the colds. Surprisingly, I didn’t get sick, not even once, which was really weird in my case at the time.

After I’ve done some reading, I realized melatonin might have helped strengthen my immune system. I was thrilled when I learned about this benefit!

3Step 3: Inducing Lucid Dreams – Different Methods You Can Try

Once you’ve got the first two steps down, it’s time to get down to business and try to induce lucid dreams.

The goal is to find you a routine that will help you have your first lucid dreaming experience. I wish I could tell you this will be an easy thing to do, but that would be a lie – there are dozens of methods out there, but there’s no way of telling which one will work for you.

So, you should give all of them a try, and see which one does.

The word “technique“ isn’t the best fit for describing dream induced lucid dreams, and here’s why:

There’s not much planning behind them – reaching lucidity is entirely random.

Something will happen within your “normal“ dream to change your awareness and trigger you to become lucid.

For instance, you could’ve randomly performed a reality check and it worked, or you saw one of those “dream signs“ I mentioned previously. It doesn’t matter what it was, as long as it kick-started your lucidity.

Out of all the techniques and methods discussed here, this one has to be the most natural one, and the ultimate goal of most lucid dreamers because of its effortlessness.

And although this takes time and practice, to increase your chances of reaching lucidity via the DILD method, consider listening to binaural beats – it helps A LOT.

Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams is the technique I would recommend to you as a beginner, just because it doesn’t require any unique skills, and it proved, time and again, to be very useful.

It revolves around raising your self-awareness, which makes it easier to realize you’re dreaming and induce lucidity. You’re merely planting a seed into your unconscious mind, which will help you remember your intention to reach lucidity.

Here are four simple steps that will help you (you’ll notice I already talked about the first two, so I won’t go into details here):

• You should be able to recall your dreams – at least one every morning.
• You should have a developed habit of performing reality checks in your waking life.
• Now, pick an affirmation – something along the lines of “the next time I’m dreaming, I’ll remember it“ – and when you go to bed, repeat it in your mind until you’re on the verge of falling asleep.
• Once you’re completely relaxed, it’s time to move on to visualizations. Picture your latest dream in as much detail as possible, and try to relive it – do anything you would do if it were a lucid dream.
  And while you’re at it, try to look for dream signs – it doesn’t matter that this is just a fantasy.

Somewhere along the line, you’ll drift off to sleep. If you’re lucky enough the transition will be so smooth that you’ll slip right into a real lucid dream. One thing I’ve learned in my experience with the MILD method is that it works exceptionally well during afternoon naps, especially if I didn’t get much sleep last night. And since I used to suffer from insomnia, you can imagine I took a lot of naps back in the day.