Effortless Lucid Dreaming
I know this title might raise a few eyebrows of skeptics who have heard countless lucid dreaming techniques that claim to generate lucidity with very little effort and/or persistence- a “get lucid quick” technique that makes the blood boil of those who have put in hours and hours of work to gain and maintain lucidity over the years because such claims of easy lucidity simply aren't true.
I know because I’m that person and I feel a great sense of annoyance when people can simply just lucid dream. I struggle a lot with lucid dreaming. I have periods where I cant get lucid at all. Even though I see myself as quite an advanced lucid dreamer I still really struggle to get lucid. I’ve tried reality checking and WBTB but I still haven’t nailed it down yet. So why is it still such a task for me? Why is it that some people are naturals and others have to work at it? Whats the difference between these people?
My best friend is a natural lucid dreamer and has been doing it all his life. He doesn’t reality check, doesn’t keep a journal, in fact he does absolutely nothing to gain lucidity and he seems to have more vivid and controlled dreams than me. Why?
Well the way I see it is natural lucid dreamers haven’t developed a negative mindset towards lucid dreaming. The first time I tried lucid dreaming most articles I read online stressed how difficult lucid dreaming is and that you HAVE TO do this technique or that technique, that certain things cant be done in a lucid dream like turning a light on and off. So naturally when I began my journey I went in to it thinking and believing that lucid dreaming was hard. Therefore I was worried, stressed. If I failed at getting lucid I felt negative about myself. I felt a lot of tension in my body and that belief that lucid dreaming is hard was reinforced thus making it even harder to gain lucidity. However it seems that natural lucid dreamers, who have more than likely been lucid dreaming since a young age, have had no limits placed on them, no one to tell them that lucid dreaming is difficult. They’ve been able to figure out for themselves what works and what doesn’t and probably don’t feel as stressed out about lucid dreaming than those of us who need to practice to get lucid.
If you have never drawn before and you want to start learning to draw having people tell you that drawing is difficult you’ll believe that drawing is difficult. Before you’ve even picked up the pencil you’ve limited yourself. Of course how-to-draw guidebooks will help you learn certain techniques but you need to allow yourself to simply just draw and get a feel for it without having any judgemental thoughts towards it.
I play lots of instruments and I play them well but put me in front of a camera or another person and I can’t play to save my life. I’ve got that belief ingrained into me that if someone is watching me I can’t play and I have such strong feelings about that belief that its true. I cant play music around other people.
The same applies to lucid dreaming. I have a negative mindset around it. I believe that it’s hard and that I need to put X amount of effort into it and when I fail instead of thinking “well, I’ll try again tonight.” I think about how much I have failed which causes more negative beliefs.
Now I’m naturally a negative person. I would describe myself as a sceptical, pessimistic, hopeless, miserable b**tard. Therefore I tend to attract failure because everything in my eyes is usually negative. Recently I’ve been trying to shift my perspective of things and in doing so my lucidity has gotten much better. I’ll admit currently I’m in a bit of a funk but that’s due to personal issues but doing the following things I’ve managed to improve my lucidity tremendously.
Feel, Don’t think.
This was something I struggled to understand for a while. I read loads about intention and how you have to think without really thinking which just confused and annoyed me but now it makes sense. You have to feel your intention. Not think about it. You need to feel your passion for lucid dreaming. Thinking usually involves over analysing something or attaching certain beliefs to it and you don’t want to have any judgement towards lucid dreaming. I usually sit or lay still and clear my mind of thoughts by doing a few minutes of deep breathing, focusing on nothing but the feeling of air going in and out of my lungs. Then I will spread my awareness to my whole body and take note of any sensations I feel whether its tingling, aches or tension, or anything else. I feel all these sensations, good or bad and don’t try to change them. Once I feel like I am completely in my body and relaxed I try to feel my intention for lucid dreaming. I usually start to feel excited, positive, looking forward to going to bed tonight. I feel a warm feeling in my chest and at the top of my stomach. I feel powerful, invincible. I will have a lucid dream tonight. I don’t try and change the feeling. I don’t try to think about the feeling or judge it. I just let it happen and experience it.
I know for some of you that might not sound appealing. Spiritual stuff might not be your cup of tea, admittedly it’s not mine, but don’t think of it as a meditation or spiritual exercise, just think of it as getting in touch with yourself and taking some time out of the day to just relax and refocus.
Awareness, Reality checks, dream journall
If that titles make you sigh and feel depressed I’m right there with you. Reality checking can be so boring and repetitive. I want to lucid dream without having to do it. Well reality checking doesn’t have to be hard or annoying. If you have a negative outlook on it its gonna seem like a draining task and if you do reality checks because you feel you have to rather than you actually wanting to it’s not gonna help. Then when you don’t get lucid you get frustrated that reality checking isn’t working, thus reinforcing your negative belief about it and the cycle goes on and on. I try not to worry too much about reality checking but I do try to do it. I think its quite a good idea when you are just starting out but remember, ultimately it’s whatever works for you. I find awareness to be more important than reality checking and awareness is a good tool for all kinds of things. If I’m feeling depressed or worried being aware of my body, all the sensations I feel, what my surroundings look, sound, feel, smell like I begin to calm down and relax and see things from a much clearer perspective. Awareness helps me to really experience whats happening around me. I’ve described awareness before as experiencing things in 3D. When you walk around aimlessly and don’t really have any awareness things feel flat and 2 dimensional but when you stop to really experience you become more aware of the depth of everything around you. This helps with lucid dreaming as its gonna help you more aware of the dream state and help you to notice certain signs that tell you if you are dreaming or not.
Dream journaling I find to be a chore at times. Sometimes I really don’t care and would rather just roll over in bed and fall back asleep. Most of the time if I have a non-lucid I don’t see much of a point but non-lucid dreams can be just as important, if not more, than a lucid dream and being able to recognise your dream patterns and dream signs will help you to gain lucidity as well as helping you to learn more about yourself. I would always recommend keeping a dream journal but if you are doing it simply because you have to and not because you want to it’s probably not going to help so just remember that these techniques will help you if you believe they help you.
Visualization
People tend to get confused around visualization because most people don’t really understand what it means. Is it just daydreaming? Can you actually see what you visualise? The answers is it depends but even if you cant see what you are visualising doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong. For me about 80% of the time I cant see what I visualise. Its like daydreaming but more focused. The other 20% I can manipulate shapes behind my eyelids or even hear, smell, etc what I am thinking. The brain cant tell the difference between something you have done and something you have thought about doing so with practice and concentration you can often experience when you visualise but like I said, don’t beat yourself up if that isn’t happening for you. Visualising helps me a lot as it allows me to practice what I want to do in my lucid dream. I find it’s a good idea to have a goal in mind for your next lucid dream. When you visualise try and focus on all your senses. Recently my task was to go skateboarding and I spent some time visualising what it feels like on a skateboard. What the feel of a wooden ramp feels like. The sound of the tail hitting the floor when I Ollie. How I have to balance to stay on a rail. The sound of wind rushing passed my ears, etc. Again try to feel the sensations. Don’t try and think too much, just feel. When I had a lucid dream some nights later I got on my skateboard and rode around this skatepark and sure enough my Ollie, my kickflips, the speed and momentum from the ramps was 100% accurate because I took the time during the day to visualise and feel.
In conclusion, do whatever techinques you want to try but remember you just need to relax, don’t hold any judgemental feelings towards lucidity, get rid of any negative mindsets towards it. Practice awareness. Feel, don’t think. Visualise. If you are struggling take a break.
And above all you can do this. You can all be lucid dreaming masters. In fact you all are lucid dreaming masters. You just need to let go of negative beliefs and believe in yourself.
You are enough.
