Have you ever woken up from a dream only to find that you were still dreaming? Did you notice how lifelike your surroundings and sensations were? Were you aware that you could direct your dream and control almost every aspect of it? If this sounds like something you’ve experienced, then you have had a lucid dream. A lucid dream is characterized by being completely aware that a dream is in progress, so much so that you may change and direct events in whatever way you like.
As parts of the brain continue to be active after we fall asleep, it is not surprising that lucid dreaming occurs occasionally. It is thought by some that lucid dreaming occurs after one recognizes that one is dreaming. After this happens, one becomes completely conscious, even though sleep is occurring. Because of this, one can continue to dream and actively participate in the dream without waking up completely.
There are a few ways to trigger lucid dreaming. One way is to increasingly attempt to become more conscious that one is dreaming. During a dream, for instance, if you notice that something does not fit with reality, it may shock the consciousness into lucidity. Another way is to attempt to remain fully conscious as your body falls asleep. A good way to try this is by holding your arm up while resting your elbow on the bed. As you start to fall asleep, your hand will fall to the mattress, and if you’re lucky your consciousness will be jolted into awareness.
Lucid dreams have often been compared to out of body experiences, astral projection and sleep paralysis. In my opinion each of these things are just different versions of the same thing. In each one, the consciousness is fully awake while the body is asleep and you are able to move about freely in a sort of dream world. Though, out of body experiences do feel much more real than lucid dreams, thus giving to the feeling of being out of ones body in the physical environment.
In my experience of lucid dreams, one can feel and experience every sense. Taste, touch, smell, hearing and of course seeing. And each of these senses may be highly magnified or deadened depending on the dream. Some theories are that the body and consciousness requires a certain amount of energy to maintain lucid dreams and astral projection and this is why sometimes it may be hard to see or move about.
If you are thinking about attempting lucid dreaming, I highly encourage you to start out by becoming more conscious of the non lucid dreams that you have. After a while, you will start remembering more and more of your dreams until you are able to fully awaken into them as they occur.
