Meditation has always been promoted as having a tonne of benefits from improving your mental health and well-being to helping people across the planet to relieve stress and anxiety. You’ll find a wealth of articles on this site, as well as across the internet for the many uses of meditation. However, have you ever considered using the practice as a gateway into lucid dreaming?
If you’ve heard of lucid dreaming before, being mindful and self-aware is the first step to completing a lucid dreaming session. If you haven’t heard of lucid dreaming, in this article, I’ll explain what it is and how you can achieve it.
Lucid Dreaming
In short, lucid dreaming is the ability to take control of your dreams. At first, this may sound crazy and somewhat spiritual, but there are countless cases where people have been able to achieve this state of mind. In fact, it’s actually quite common in certain communities. If you successfully enter the state of lucid dreaming, your dreams will feel very real. Instead of witnessing your dreams and watching them play out in front of you, you’ll be able to have complete control.
This may sound like something out of the film Inception, however, this is a very good way of describing it. Without the fighting and people taking over your mind, of course. Lucidity, as the practice is known, when your mind switches conscious states, and you suddenly realise that you’re actually in a dream. Usually, dreams will feel fuzzy and hazy. When in a lucid dream, things seem a lot clearer and more vivid.
Despite how this sounds, this is a very safe practice and nothing like an out of body experience. When you’re in a lucid dream, you always safe and tucked up in your own bed. Of course, having full control of your dreams also means you can wake yourself up at any time.
It’s been known that Tibetan monks have been able to achieve this state of mind of thousands of years. The term ‘Lucid Dreaming’ was coined by Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys, an enthusiastic dream researcher in the 1800s. States of lucid dreaming have been scientifically proven by several studies.
So, How Can Meditation Help Me Achieve This State?
To enter a state of lucidity, you must be relaxed, calm and possess a reflective state of mind. I’m sure you can see where this is going. By constantly practising meditation, you’ll find that your mind becomes more and more peaceful throughout the day. One of the key aspects of meditation is ensuring your mind is presently aware. This means being aware of the moment you are in right now, right this very second. As a rough guideline, close your eyes.
Take a long deep breath in, filling up your lungs with air as much as you can. Hold for second or two and then exhale. Make this exhale as long and steady as you possibly can. Empty your lungs of air. As you practice this exercise, follow the breath inside you with your mind. Right from the beginning of the exhale to the very end of the exhale. You should feel your breath fade out at the end. Try it now.
When you open your eyes again, you should automatically feel a huge amount of stress release from your shoulders and back. You’ll also feel a lot more aware of your surroundings. This is a feeling of being in the present moment. The more you practice this technique, the longer this effect will last throughout your day. This is meditation in its simplest form.
Now, to achieve lucidity, you need to bring this present feeling into your dreams. Throughout today, practice this technique. Tomorrow, we’ll be exploring the technique of how to enter the state of lucidity but for now, try and get your mind into this state as often as you can. Maybe write a note on your hand saying ‘Now’. Every time you notice this note, take a deep breath in as described above. Also, throughout your day, repeat in your mind, whenever you remember, ‘I Am Present’. This is also vital to achieving Lucidity.
Practice
Keep practising, and I’ll see you tomorrow! If you’re looking for any more tips on how to stay present throughout the day, leave a comment in the section below, and I can advise other methods on how to stay present. This will also allow you to stay focused throughout the day, making you more productive and stress-free!
