What is Lucid dreaming?
I look at my hand and I have 6 fingers! How is that possible? I’m dreaming! Suddenly, I realize I’m dreaming! This is called lucid dreaming… At that moment, you know you’re dreaming. And it can be trained.
How I Learned Lucid Dreaming
It all started when I watched a TED talk on Lucid Dreaming by Tim Post. The first technique he teaches is to look at your hand several times during the day, look away, and then look back at your hand. Did your hand stay the same? Are you awake? Did it change? Do you have 6 fingers? New moles? Is it blurry? You’re dreaming! When you get used to looking at your hand during the day, you’ll automatically do it in your dreams too.
Why does this work? Because reality is stable, while dreams change quickly. Before you can look back at your hand in a dream, it has already changed. I can’t seem to always realize I’m dreaming. Probably because I don’t practice it enough. Sometimes I realize that I’m dreaming, but I get so excited that I wake up from that excitement. Or I have a nightmare, and I’m just happy to realize it’s a dream, so I force myself to open my eyes to wake up.
There are people who can even create their own dreams. I don’t have much success with that. I realize that I’m dreaming, and I tell myself I want to surf, but I can’t quite adjust the dream to my will. Once, I was surfing in a tunnel.
Another technique Tim Post teaches is to immediately start writing down all your dreams as soon as you wake up. “I can’t remember any.” I thought that too. The trick is to go backwards. What did you dream about right before waking up? And what happened before that? And before that… I remembered so much that it felt like I hadn’t slept at all.
Another step is to look for things in dreams that repeat. This way, you also learn to recognize whether you’re dreaming or awake. You go through your notes and look for what repeats. It might be a tree, a black backpack, or flying… When you realize what repeats and is often part of your dreams, then when you see these objects or experience these things, you’ll know you’re dreaming.
Another part of the training is setting an alarm at night and staying awake for about half an hour before going back to sleep. I didn’t want to do this step. It felt like I wouldn’t get any sleep.
I don’t have lucid dreams often because I don’t train enough. When I remember that I need to look at my hand repeatedly during the day, it usually happens in the dream, and then I know I’m dreaming.
Who Is Lucid Dreaming For?
Anyone can learn lucid dreaming; you just need to start practicing. Some people will find it easier, while others will have to try harder. Some people even have lucid dreams naturally, without trying at all. However, lucid dreaming is especially helpful for people who have nightmares every night. They learn to recognize that it’s just a dream, which relieves them. They can either wake up intentionally or change the dream to make it less terrifying.
Another group that benefits from lucid dreaming are athletes. Research has shown that when people can create dreams and train in them, like basketball, they improve in real life as well. This allows them to use sleep as additional training. They’re not only training during the day but also at night while they sleep.
Are There Any Negative Effects of Lucid Dreaming?
From my perspective, learning lucid dreaming has its downsides. I sometimes have the feeling that I’m dreaming even in reality. Especially when something horrible happens, like when I was attacked or when a car almost hit me. Terrible things happen to me more often in dreams than in real life, so my brain associates these scary experiences with dreaming. When something terrible is happening, I realize it’s just a nightmare and wake up. Usually, it’s really just a nightmare, but sometimes it turns out to be real. When I was attacked, in the shock of the moment, I briefly thought it was just a bad dream and wanted to wake up. I tried to open my eyes, but nothing happened. In those moments, looking at my hand, looking away, and then back at my hand helps me know I’m not dreaming.
If you want to learn lucid dreaming, I recommend listening to Tim Post’s TED talk first:
You can also read books on lucid dreaming or enroll in courses that teach lucid dreaming.
Take lucid dreaming seriously and think about whether you really want to learn it, because once you open this Pandora’s box, you can’t close it again, at least not completely.
This article was written by Pavla Bělostíková, MSc, an expert in decision-making psychology and positive psychology, coach, and lecturer.
