DREAMS|MINDFULNESS
How to Lucid Dream
A brief guide to lucid dreaming
When we dream, it doesn’t usually take much to fool us. In fact, most of us spend our entire sleeping lives being tricked by absolutely cartoonish nonsense. When you think about it that way, it’s strange how rare it is for people to actually notice that they’re dreaming.
Lucid dreams are the dreams in which we become aware of the fact that we’re dreaming and can actually exert a level of control over the narratives as they’re playing out. Though not common, it’s likely that most of us will experience at least one of these dreams within our lives. Far fewer, though, are those who can hone the skill enough to have lucid dreams frequently, or even on command.
While there are many methods for learning to lucid dream, these processes are rarely consolidated into simple lists of steps. Because dreaming is an experience that varies wildly from person to person, it makes sense that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here. With the proliferation of tools available, though, it’s perhaps a better time to learn than ever before.
Not long ago, lucid dreams were largely considered to be a myth. Many assumed that to be asleep simply required that we disengage ourselves from our conscious awareness.