Warning : This document is still a draft
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
Want to play 24h/24h ? All day, all night ? This book is for you. There is nothing there about crystal ball and astrology. Only about how to take control of your dreams.
Introduction
This book is not about astrology, mysticism, or pseudoscience.
It is one of the first attempts to seriously describe what lucid dreaming is, in terms of brain waves and sleep states.
It is quite old (1990), so some facts or assumptions are outdated.
Nevertheless, it is a good guide for helping you get “better” and “more useful” dreams.
The author did his PhD thesis in a lab, making experiments about lucid dreaming, and he wrote this book afterward.
It is practical; there are progressive exercises to improve dreaming.
There is also a lot of testimony (perhaps too much for me), which allows you to see what others experience.
In the first chapters, the authors explain the few scientific things we know about dreams.
In a few lines, dreams are generated by our own mind, influenced by what we saw or experienced.
There is no way the future can be predicted with them, as it is a situation you have never experienced.
Because dreams are generated by our mind, we can take control of them— not completely, but partially.
Dreams reveal some of our fears, what we would call “nightmares.”
Sometimes we fail to recognize what is stressing us, what the current problem is.
Analyzing recurrent topics in dreams allows us to spot them.
With lucid dreaming we can “create” the conflicting situation and learn to face it.
Even if you don’t reach the state of lucid dreaming, this book gives good advice for progressing in life.
The book is difficult to condense.
Facts are not stated clearly, and we need to extract information from dozens of testimonies.
So this summary is quite crude, especially in the final chapters, where there is little to say.
The World of Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming is the first awareness of dreaming.
People dreaming often do not realize they are dreaming; they realize it afterward, when waking up.
Why learn to be aware?
Because it is fun and you have nothing to lose, lucid dreaming can improve waking life.
You can auto‑evaluate your mood, how you are really feeling.
Dreaming time is short, but it feels longer—like in movies, where “one year later” passes in an instant.
Life is short. Taking advantage of this moment is cost‑less, so why not try?
Exercises
The first set of exercises is to pay attention to the world.
- Look: shapes, color, dimensions, patterns…
- Listen: intensity, pitch, duration, regularity, content (if a human voice)
- Feel: texture, heat, weight, and how you appreciate it
- Taste: enjoy your food, note texture and flavor
- Smell: flowers, smoke
- Breathing: What is your breathing speed? Amplitude? Which muscles are you using? Is it changing?
- Emotions: Happy? Tired? Anxious?
- Thoughts: What are you thinking about? Your next day? Your family?
- I: Be aware that you exist, and that your actions impact the world. Be aware of your awareness.
You may wonder, “this is what I do all the time.”
Look at the difference between “hearing” and “listening.” Hearing is passive, listening is active.
Most of the time we receive information passively.
We may eat something but not focus on the taste.
We become conscious of odors only when they are strong.
When learning to drive, we form an overall picture of the vehicles around us, keeping only the most relevant ones in mind.
If you were asked, “what was the color of the vehicle that just turned left?” you might be unable to answer.
That’s fine, but for lucid dreaming you need to pay more attention to everything, whatever it is.
These exercises are about being “extra‑curious,” looking at everything in detail, and searching for weak signals.
As mentioned before, dreams are generated by you.
The main goal of this exercise is to accumulate many stimuli so you can unconsciously reuse them in your dream.
One quotation from Idries Shah, who was asked to answer the question:
A fundamental mistake of man
She answered:
To think that he is alive when he has merely fallen asleep in life’s waiting room.
Preparation for Learning Lucid Dreaming
Learning how to learn
Just being aware that lucid dreaming might not be “bullshit” may allow you to practice it.
You may say in your dream, “Oh yeah, that’s right, I am dreaming,” and take control.
Dreamsigns
The first “dreaming” exercise (the previous one was to be done awake) is to record your dreams in a notebook.
Adding the date lets you measure frequency and, indirectly, your health status (when you are less healthy you tend to dream less).
You often won’t remember everything.
Try to recall fragments and reconstruct what you experienced using a back‑tracking method.
The next step is to find peculiarities (dreamsigns): people, environments, actions, stories—whatever seems relevant.
The brain is a modeling machine that takes sensory input (sight, hearing, smell) and proposes options (e.g., order a piña colada, or, if you’re avoiding alcohol, order a virgin cocktail).
Roughly speaking, the brain gathers all information it can and puts the options on the table for your “free will” to decide.
Sleep Phases
When sleeping or being inactive, your brain receives no feedback from the world, so it starts to create its own environment.
There are two types of sleep:
- a quiet phase: very low brain activity, low breathing and metabolic rate. This is when growth hormones are released. People feel disoriented if awakened during this phase. Paradoxically, it is also the phase during which people talk or sleepwalk. This phase is commonly divided into three sub‑states.
- an active phase: muscle activity, mainly rapid eye movement (REM). The rest of the body is “locked,” so even if you are dreaming you won’t move. This is called “sleep paralysis,” and when abruptly awakened you may be unable to move for a few minutes.
The transition from quiet to active depends on the current quiet sub‑state.
- Phase 1: light sleep – stay in this phase for 20–30 min
- Phase 2: characterized by special brain waves (K‑complex)
- Phase 3: deep sleep, delta waves
- Return to Phase 2
- Enter active REM sleep (occurs after ~70 min) – stay there for 5–10 min
- Cycle back: quiet Phase 2 → Phase 3 → Phase 2 → REM
There is approximately one REM phase every 90 minutes, so total dreaming time is limited.
The REM phase shortens over the night.
Often you won’t record every dream you have.
You can set an alarm if you are motivated to write them down (and if you reliably fall asleep).
Why do dreams feel so real?
There is no definitive scientific answer, but the body tends to connect sensations even though REM blocks most movement:
- The internal clock remains roughly the same while dreaming.
- Orgasm can occur in lucid dreaming; heart rate changes little, but muscles may contract.
- Holding your breath in a dream can cause you to hold your breath in real life.
- Counting or singing activates the brain twice as much.
Talking Seriously about Dreams
Because our society studies humans as it studies animals—like a black box that takes the environment as input—studying the mind still receives little attention.
Charlatans who make predictions using dreams do not help.
For most people, dreaming is harmless.
For people with psychological disorders, it depends.
Dream‑Sight Classification
There are four common categories:
- Inner awareness / ego – what the dreamer perceives (thoughts, feelings)
- Action – activity and motion
- Form – shape of things and people
- Context
A full list of examples appears in the book.
Often, individual objects are not shocking alone; it is the combination that looks weird.
Exercises
- Keep a dream journal.
- Identify dreamsigns.
- Classify them.
- Count them and note which category is most frequent.
- Check in real life where these dreamsigns occur; be attentive to them.
Because you are the only one who will evaluate your “performance,” set goals according to these rules:
- Explicit, specific, numerical goals
- Make goals difficult but realistic
- Set short‑range and long‑range goals
- Record and evaluate your progress
These rules are also helpful in other contexts (sports, music, work, family, …).
To improve your REM time without sleeping more, try the following (assuming you cannot extend total sleep because of obligations):
- Suppose you normally sleep from midnight to 7 a.m.
- Instead, go to bed at 10 p.m. and sleep for 4 hours.
- Wake at 2 a.m., stay awake for 2 hours, then go back to sleep from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m.
- Because REM periods become longer when you are sleep‑deprived, this split‑sleep schedule can increase total REM.
Waking Up in the Dream World
Lucid dreaming is easier than you may think
The previous chapter covered learning to recall dreams and identify their particularities.
To progress, you must be able to record at least one dream per night and build a track record of a dozen dreams.
Are you awake?
While sleeping, the critical faculty is shut down.
Even if a tiny green elephant flies in your room, you won’t panic.
You become aware of the dream only upon waking—too late.
To awaken, you need to stimulate your critical faculties.
The proposed approach is to habitually ask yourself:
“Am I dreaming or am I awake?”
The question seems silly when awake, but how do you know?
How do you distinguish a movie, a virtual reality, and a dream?
Which clues can prove (or disprove) that you are awake?
In dreams, physics is often ignored, because the brain would need a lot of energy to enforce it.
For instance, mirrors may not reflect correctly.
How to Train
Two strategies:
- Ask the question frequently (e.g., every 15 minutes) throughout the day.
- Trigger the question when you encounter a specific stimulus (the exercise at the end of this part).
Triggering is more efficient.
Identify your most common dream‑sights.
If you often dream of “blue cats,” then each time you see a cat while awake, ask yourself, “Am I dreaming?”
It’s like training a dog: he must answer when called.
But be careful not to answer automatically; look for proof that space is not distorted, etc.
How We Remember Things
While awake we often make lists of things we need to do so we don’t forget them.
We usually don’t write down things we want to do.
Motivation is a key factor.
The second factor is association.
If you need to buy dog food, seeing a dog in the supermarket will remind you.
MILD – Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams – is a procedure that relies on good recall.
Each day you have a list of triggers; when you encounter them while awake, you ask, “Am I dreaming?”
Example list for one day:
- I see an animal
- I turn on the light
- I hear music
- I look at my face in a mirror
(The book provides four items per day for seven days.)
There are also devices (e.g., Dream‑light) that emit light pulses to stimulate awakening during REM.
Falling Asleep Consciously
To maintain consciousness as you drift into REM, you can focus on:
- hypnagogic imagery,
- visualization,
- breath,
- heartbeat,
- body sensation, …
(The first three are detailed in the book.)
If your mind stays sufficiently active when entering REM, you will notice that you have entered a dream.
This is called WILD – Wake‑Initiated Lucid Dreaming (as opposed to DILD, Dream‑Induced Lucid Dreaming).
Among these methods is the “goat” counting technique: “1 – I am dreaming, 2 – I am dreaming, …”.
The description here is brief because the book contains many methods I will not detail.
The Building of Dreams
The previous exercises condition you to react to stimuli.
There are also schemas that associate concepts:
- If I say “ocean,” you think of beach, sunlight, boat, fish.
- In a shop, a person at the desk near the entrance might be the bookkeeper—you don’t need to ask.
Dreams resemble stories perhaps because the narrative pattern is activated.
A typical story has three parts:
- Exposition
- Complication
- Resolution
Dreams feel meaningful because they are our own creations.
Principles and Practice of Lucid Dreaming
How to avoid premature awakening?
Some people wake up as soon as they become lucid because they get overly excited.
Sight is the most unstable sense; the dream often ends when its color fades or visual stability is lost, signaling the brain that something is wrong.
To avoid waking, focus on feeling (hearing, touch), which are the last senses to disappear.
Because of REM, you will not experience conflict from sleep paralysis; you can open your eyes even while paralyzed.
One method to keep the dream when the world fades is the “spinning” technique.
Spin around in the dream and feel the spinning sensation—a distinct feeling where vision blurs and your stomach knots.
By focusing on the spin, you shift attention from sight to bodily sensations, helping the dream stabilize.
If you do wake up, stay still and try to fall asleep again.
Moving signals to your body that the night is over.
Conversely, you can deliberately try to wake up.
Speaking loudly can be an option to exit a nightmare.
To wake, withdraw your participation and attention from the dream.
Rehearsal for Living
Peak performance: when body and mind cooperate to reach their maximum capacity.
Dreams can help achieve peak performance, comparable to waking mental imagery for skill learning.
When you imagine movements, neural impulses are sent to the muscles, but REM blocks the actual motion.
This primes the neural pathways related to muscle memory.
However, the physical laws of your body still apply, so some movements may be impossible in sport.
Nevertheless, you can train sequences in a particular order (e.g., for Aikido).
The book calls this cognitive coding.
You can train in non‑stressful or unusual situations.
Exercise
- Set your intention, a goal to achieve.
- Induce a lucid dream.
- Set up the practice environment (e.g., spin).
- Practice.
- Push boundaries.
Other applications:
- Prepare for meetings
- Reduce anxiety
This schema (intention → dream → action → debrief) is a common way to use dreams for learning, problem‑solving, and facing fears.
Creative Problem Solving
Process for creativity (Hermann Helmholtz):
- Saturation: Gather information, try things without success. Read, talk to experts, observe, record, measure. Concentrate, meditate. This is the learning phase.
- Incubation: Do nothing; let the mind work in the background.
- Illumination: Suddenly a new insight appears, linking the problem to a novel context.
In the dreaming state, your mind more readily creates bizarre combinations, facilitating illumination.
Overcoming Nightmares
Dreams are limitless; so are nightmares.
They are not real, but they are unpleasant, and you are alone in them.
Nightmares highlight our fears.
Collecting dreamsigns during these episodes helps identify stressors you may not consciously recognize.
Fear of the unknown is worse than fear of the known.
“There is no cause for fear. It is imagination blocking you like a wooden bar.” – Jalaluddin Rumi
Waking up to end the dream (by stopping attention to the situation or yelling loudly) is a solution, but it does not help you face the fear or find a compromise.
Exercise: Conversing with the Dream Character
- Practice imaginary dialogue while awake. Ask open questions such as “Who are you? Why are you staring at me? How can I help you?” Choose a few questions for your dream characters.
- Set your intention before bed.
- Converse with the dream’s figures.
- Evaluate the dialogue after waking.
Do not fight your fear by suffering through it.
If you fear being struck by cars, dreaming of being hit will not help.
Do not “let it happen to you.”
The author describes six fearful situations:
- Being pursued – face the pursuer.
- Being attacked – show readiness to defend, don’t flee.
- Falling – relax and allow a comfortable landing.
- Paralysis – relax; it will end soon.
- Being unprepared for an exam or speech – leaving the dream is OK, but consider practicing while awake.
- Being naked in public – who cares in a dream?
Recurring Nightmares
When awake, think of a better ending or how to face the situation.
- Recall the current nightmare; write down details and patterns.
- Choose when you want to re‑enter the dream and what action you will take to change the outcome.
- Relax and prepare for sleep.
- Perform the selected action in the dream.
- Recall the dream and analyze the result.
The Healing Dream
Health: condition of adaptive responsiveness to life’s challenges
Health is not just “not being sick”; it also includes psychological well‑being.
Often, traits we lack (“too shy,” “too weak”) are projected onto other people or monsters—shadow figures representing missing aspects of the ego.
“Your thinking is distorted by fear, greed, anger, pride, prejudice, and faulty assumptions; you cannot see what is truly reflected in your consciousness.”
“The true way of healing is to seek out the barking dogs of the unconscious and reconcile with them.”
As in previous exercises:
- Focus before bed.
- Induce a lucid dream.
- Face the situation.
- Debrief while awake.
- Repeat with different strategies if the first attempt fails.
In some way, confronting your problem in real life may help solve it.
Mindfulness: state of attentive awareness in which environmental information is consciously controlled and manipulated while people make new distinctions and construct new categories.
In some aspects, lucid dreaming can have a similar effect to hypnosis.
Life Is a Dream – Intimations of a Wider World
Some material on the Tibetan use of lucid dreaming for exploring reality.
Try to meet yourself: the fewer preconceptions you have, the easier it is to discover who you are.
Dreams are a way to experiment with “gods” or “divine” experiences.
A list of prompts to ask yourself in a dream:
- What is my mission?
- Who am I?
- Let me feel god.
- Show me light.
- …
Pick one at a time, and remind yourself of it before sleeping.
Conclusion
Oneironaut: a person who travels in a dream.
This book is a first introduction to dreaming, how to improve dreams, how to become lucid, and how to use dreams to improve life.
Lucid dreaming is not necessarily the ultimate goal; making pleasant dreams and learning to analyze them is also a good start.
The exercises provided give a general methodology for using dreams for personal purposes.
>> You can subscribe to my mailing list here for a monthly update. <<