Thread: What meditation object do you think is best for lucid dreaming?

So there are various meditation objects for developing concentration. The breath, a mantra, some form of visualization, and much more.

I have been using the breath, but I am starting to realize that I rarely ever notice my breath in my dreams so it's unlikely that breath meditation is conductive to lucidity until in much later stages where the meditation practice has increased my overall awareness and mental clarity. However, I would assume that advantage would come regardless of the meditation object as long as I continue to practice. So it would make sense to choose an object that would increase my chances of lucidity even in the earlier beginner stages.

Do you guys agree with this? I am leaning towards switching over to mantra meditation instead, but I am wondering if anyone uses another type of object such as visualization or a physical object or concept, and if they have had more success with it. I am reading the Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, and the author stated that it's ideal to use an object which is physical and external to our body. That would exclude mantras, but it seems like mantra should work out fairly well since we do think a lot in our dreams.

In the book "Dreaming Yourself Awake" the author B. Alan Wallace suggests the Shamatha practice of "Settling the mind in its natural state" as one of the best foundational meditations for lucid dreaming. To initiate the practice, he suggests starting with body scans, then settling the breath, then mindfulness of breath for `21 counts or so. Next comes the main practice of: holding awareness on the 'space of the mind' and whatever phenomenon enter with a detached perspective.
I believe the main idea with this approach is to develop a heightened awareness of your relationship with the reality you are experiencing.
This is a great application of concentration meditation as it incorporates elements of self-awareness.

I was thinking, maybe there should be no difference between "meditation for lucid dreaming" and WILD. If I have time for a sitting meditation, why not lay down and make a wild. It is meditation, directly focused for lucid dreaming. We know that unsuccessful wild's increase the chance for DILD. On the other way it looks like the "active meditation" (mindfulness) is more efficient for inducing lucid dreams. I am planing to start again with lucid dreaming. Meditation and mindfulness. In practice: WILD and as many time possible being in the here and now, without thinking, just beeing in the pure: I AM.

the AUM mantra if done correctly or yogic breathing techniques. More or less I see them both as the same though I doubt you will get decent explanations on the web, might be wrong though.

In the book 'the Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep' it is suggested that one uses the Tibetan "A" as ones point of focus.

For more details on the Zhine meditation method. - Zhine Tibetan Dream Yoga

I wouldn't actually say that the walking meditation is best for lucid dreaming, but it seems that over 50% of the times I do get lucid in a dream is when I notice that I'm walking. There's even no clear dream sign in my walking, though it could be that I move a bit too slow or float a bit while walking in dream. The percent seems to go up after every retreat I attend. I do about 5-6 hours of walking meditation per day in my retreats.

I think the best meditation for lucid dreaming is maintaining mindfulness during everyday, complex waking life experiences. In dreams, we do not sit or lie quietly in a room with only our thoughts for company. We are usually active in the dream world, interacting with objects and beings, noticing things moving into and out of our visual field, feeling emotions and reacting to our experiences. We are "living" just like (or similar to) we do in the waking state. In "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep," Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche writes:

"This is the sequence: awareness in the first moment of experience, in response, in dream, ..."

In other words, in order to get lucid in dreams (regularly), we must first master awareness in the first moment of experience and response to experience! We must practice this while awake.

Rinpoche continues:

One cannot just start at the end. You can determine for yourself how mature your practice is: as you encounter the phenomena of experience, examine your feelings and your reactions to the feelings. Are you controlled by your interactions with the objects of experience or do you control your reaction to them? ... can you remain in steady presence in diverse situations?

I believe this, right here, is the crux of lucid dreaming practice.

Sitting mindfulness meditation (I prefer open eyed, with visual input, not sitting stock still or focusing only on a single object, but looking around experiencing my environment) can be helpful to get started. Start in a quiet location, like on a bench in park (there's still usually plenty of activity if you open yourself to experiencing it!) Then gradually move up to more and more complex, hustling & bustling environments as you master remaining mindful in relatively quiet situations.

I'm sure you're right on that FM. I know that virtually all my non-lucid dreams are frenetic and active, and just like in WL, I'm totally focused on the events in front of me. I have enough difficulty stopping to realize I might be dreaming in WL, let alone while dreaming.
I guess a useful meditation object would be learning to "stand and stare" (if you know the poem), that is, to break off from the bustle of living in the moment and stopping to notice.

I guess being really busy in WL and not giving yourself a chance to stop is going to make your subconscious do the same?

The Present Moment

Simply remind yourself daily to focus on the now.

When the now is your predominant focus there will be no need for reality checks anymore, because you no longer have to be aware of the dream, you just are awareness itself. What is there to observe IN the NOW? That's the practise...

Read the book "The Power of Now" couple of times by Eckhart Tolle =]