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Chris Higgins
How to Have a Lucid Dream
by Chris Higgins - February 26, 2007 - 11:00 AM

Lucid dreaming is a state in which you know you are dreaming, and can control the dream. While it’s difficult to get started (I’m still working on it), the notion of influencing your own dreams is tantalizing. There are plenty of resources on the web to get you started: How to Have a Lucid Dream is a good overview. Dream Views is a well-designed source of information and tutorials. Wikipedia has a page on lucid dreaming as well.

Screenshot - The Science of SleepIf you’re not interested in working on your own lucid dreams, you might watch The Science of Sleep for Michel Gondry’s take on dreaming.

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Comments (17)

  1. Check the lightswitch. If you flick it and the lights in the room don’t go off or turn on you are in a dream (or you have a faulty lightswitch).

    posted by Isaias Torres on 2-26-2007 at 11:20 am

  2. I DID A LITTLE RESEARCH ON LUCID DREAMS. 1 THING TO DO WHILE YOUR AWAKE IS TO CONFIRM IT SEVERAL TIMES A DAY, THIS HELPS YOU OBTAIN THE STATE OF MIND TO REALIZE YOUR DREAMING. ALSO WHEN YOU DO REALIZE YOUR DREAMING TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT AND IN YOUR DREAM CLAP YOUR HANDS OR SOMETHING PHYSICAL TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF YOUR DREAM. I HAVE DONE THIS SUCCESSFULLY SEVERAL TIMES AND IT’S REALLY NEAT TELLING PEOPLE IN YOUR DREAM THAT YOU KNOW ITS A DREAM. WITH PRACTICE YOU CAN TAKE FLIGHT, DECIDE TO PILOT THE SPACE SHUTTLE (I ACTUALLY DID THIS ONCE), OR ANY OTHER FANTANSY YOU MAY HAVE. IT DOES TAKE PRACTICE………WAKE UP!

    posted by JOHN BROWN on 2-26-2007 at 11:38 am

  3. I also recommend watching the movie Waking Life.

    posted by Isaias Torres on 2-26-2007 at 12:32 pm

  4. I lucid dream all the time. If a dream is too scarey, I change it. If I think a dream is too silly, I change it. I once dreamed I was in a war and under heavy attack. I thought if I knew how to fly a helicopter I could get out. So I backed up my dream and learned how to fly a helicopter in basic training. Fast forward the dream back to the battle and fly away!

    posted by mary ellen on 2-26-2007 at 1:25 pm

  5. At my (alternative public hippy) school we had a class called “Creative Dreaming,” in which a lot of us worked on lucid dreaming. People generally picked something to try to remember to do something simple during their dreams — looking at their hands, for instance — and built on that. It worked for a lot of people. The rest of the time in class we talked about the contents of our dream journals and what was happening in our lives to make us dream about killing our parents or whatever. It was actually a lot more legitimate than you might think.

    My favorite dream media is Jesse Reklaw’s “Slow Wave”:

    slowwave.com/swisten.html

    posted by Mary on 2-26-2007 at 1:34 pm

  6. I started trying to lucid dream by remembering my dreams… Unfortunately I remember all of my dreams (or close to all) every night. I often have to ask my friends if they actually said things that I remember them saying and about 20% of the time the memory was a dream. that’s annoying.

    posted by Ben on 2-26-2007 at 2:26 pm

  7. Dreams are a very fascinating subject and have had great significance in our spiritual history.

    I feel very honored to have a link to my story “How to Have a Lucid Dream” on such a Great Blog. And now I have found a new Favorite Blog to read.

    Take Care

    posted by Charles Hamel on 2-26-2007 at 4:15 pm

  8. I can’t even manage to remember my dreams! I am only vaguely aware that I have them.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 2-26-2007 at 11:13 pm

  9. I’ve always been able to control my dreams and only found out it was something everyone couldn’t do as I got older and started asking people about their dreams. I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing I can fly and knowing I can start any car I want. When I was younger I could pause my dream and pull up a menu, like in video games, to pick different weapons and stuff. I haven’t been able to do that since I was younger.

    posted by Naj on 2-27-2007 at 5:00 am

  10. I was just talking about this with a teacher the other day. His biggest tip was similar to one in the article: throughout your day, look at clocks and try to change the times on them, so that it will be habit and when you get in a dream you’ll do it and be able to change it, thuse finding out you are in a dream. I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet.

    posted by Jeremy on 2-28-2007 at 10:30 am

  11. ANOTHER GREAT LUCID DREAM I REMEMBER IS IN THE DREAM I REALIZED I’M DREAMING AND COMMUNICATE THIS TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE DREAM AND EVEN GOT SOME NAMES…IN CASE WE WERE TWO HUMANS ACTUALLY CONECTED IN DREAM STATE OR SOMETHING, SILLY BUT FUN. I STILL SAY FLYING THE SPACE SHUTTLE WAS THE GREATEST!

    posted by JOHN BROWN on 2-28-2007 at 10:36 am

  12. I’ve never understood why Lucid Dreaming isn’t a more popular subject - it’s limitless, free, and only requires a bit of conscious effort. There’s an abundance of good information about lucid dreaming out there. Nobody has mentioned Stephen LaBerge’s work. Check out “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” - it approaches the concept from a scientific perspective, well researched and validated. Or, if your into the more spiritual aspect, there’s “The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep” by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Just keep trying and eventually it will happen … but, most of all, have fun!

    posted by Brian on 2-28-2007 at 11:29 am

  13. I’ve been trying to lucid dream since i was 12, but I was never able to. I read somewhere that you should get someone to whisper in your ear while you’re sleeping, “You’re dreaming…It’s just a dream…”, etc. I asked my sister to do it, and she did, fora few nights, but every single time i woke up!

    posted by Zagzig on 2-28-2007 at 7:45 pm

  14. Hello from a member of the Dream Views website!
    The best way for many beginners to start out with lucid dreaming is to keep a dream journal. You must first be able to recall your dreams before you can go any further! You’ll also learn to recognize your own “dream signs” and “dream characters” - regularly recurring events/places/people that remind you to check whether you are indeed dreaming. For instance, one of my dream signs is school (I’m ten years out of it, so it’s become easier for me to realize that if I’m in school, I’m likely dreaming.) However, my dream characters are typically my family members (making it just slightly harder to do a “reality check.”)
    Cheers!

    posted by Christine on 3-1-2007 at 9:00 pm

  15. I am inclined to agree with mr. John Brown. He states that taking action while awake stimulates the mind and allows it to recognize things or situations during sleep. Also that if lucid dreaming is realized, action within the dream helps to maintain it, and while dreams seem to take a long time, in reality they take only a few minutes from begining to end. The most important thing is that it takes practice! GOOD LUCK!

    posted by Prof. Rodney Banks on 3-3-2007 at 12:17 pm

  16. After reading other comments, I like what mr. John Brown has to say. My research agrees that taking action during the day help to establish a state of mind that allows you to realize your in a dream, hence lusid dreaming. Also to take action during the dream, and thismust be done quickly as most dreams, even though they seen to last a long time, only last a few minutes. The main thing mr Brown said is that it does take practice. I also like what Mr. Brian says, that this is free and a wonderful experience! CHEERS!

    posted by Prof. Rodney Sims on 3-3-2007 at 1:03 pm

  17. lucid dreaming is great and easy to learn i learnt by folowing a fiew easy steps in some book years ago, it was so easy i recomend it to any one

    posted by pete on 7-8-2007 at 4:23 pm

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