Lucid Dreaming
The art of being or becoming aware that you're dreaming, while remaining in the dream
My first experience with lucid dreaming, which was also my first experience with flying, happened in my mid-twenties. I'd been practicing intentional dreaming for maybe a week. I was back home in Chicago, on summer break from the University of Denver, where I was studying philosophy and creative writing.
In this dream, it deep night, with a full moon, out in a duned desert. I was driving a jeep, or my friend, David Shafton from high school was, and we met up in this simple, open landscape. In a flash I realized we were dreaming and got really excited. I turned to him and said, "David! we're dreaming!" I'll prove it!" And I turned around and leapt into the air and flew up." It was amazing, liberating and empowering like nothing else I'd experienced.
After that night, encouraged by this breakthrough, I re-committed myself to setting my intention each night, to taking a few more minutes to really feel the lucidity, to really feel the flying (and I now had a memory of doing so that I could draw upon - use this - this is how it can work!), feeling the freedom from the gravity, to feeling warm wind on my face, and to remembering it all clearly on waking.
From there, my system seemed to back track, as though that first dream was my introduction to the world of flight, and from then I had to go back to kindergarten. I then started back at zero, just trying to walk, and finding my body didn't have enough mass in it to move forward, so while my feet would walk ahead, my upper body would lag behind, lacking the 'presence' to keep up. So, I had to get down and dig my fingers into the ground and crawl forward, with the rest of my body sort of floating behind. Day by day, my crab crawl became a forward lean, then a walk, then a run.
Next I began to jump as high as I could. Again at first, I would jump a few feet up and fall. Then I would hang in the air for just a moment longer. Then I could jump higher and higher, and it progressed like this. About 45 days into it, I would leap and fly freely, once or twice a week, and the rest of the time, I was back to big leaps with longer 'hang time'.
In one distinct sequence, about two months in, I was in an alley in a downtown scene. I took two steps and leapt up. I shot up, missing the top of a building by inches, and definitely felt the rush and the fear of crashing into that corner.
I woke with this crystal awareness that the pattern of growth of my flying was matching how empowered I was feeling in my personal life. At first, not 'present' enough; not enough physicality, and this was how I'd felt for most of my childhood - insubstantial. As these lucid flying dreams unfolded, I came more and more 'in' to my my body, and my life.
After this dream, I understood that I was focused entirely on Power, and it was time to put some of that energy to Intention. I had two more lucid flying dreams that week, each with progressively more control; flying
One of the keys to flying seemed to be letting go of the sureity that I would fall back to the ground. I would leap into the air with flight as my intention. The moment I was in the air, I would shift my entire attention to 'being in the air', using it as practice for letting go of the thought,"I hope I can stay up this time". I would, in that moment, let go of ALL thought, other than - Go that way (picking at a direction, seemingly at random). The more I nurtured this approach, the less time I would spend worrying about falling back to the ground. Each time I did it, it became easier and I became better and faster at moving myself into the air, and then experiencing being in the iar as my new 'this is what IS". It worked entirely on the principle of 'what you give your attention to will flourish and grow. I mean that I gradually let go of pushing off the ground, because pushing off the ground required my attention to be in the direction of the ground. Well, that's not what I was aiming for now was it? If we remove our attention from something, it will wither away, unless it requires our attention. Then we give it as much as it needs until that's complete or evolved.
This was the constant reminder to 'Be', wherever was, in each instant. One moment I'm on the ground, bound by gravity, because that's was I was choosing. In the next instant, I was in the air, floating, 'being' there, because that's what I was choosing in that instant. For this to work I had to continue choosing to be there, or to choose a direction to fly. Eventually, my mind accepted that I could be in the air as easily as I could be on the ground. I'd 'let go' of that previous way of perceiving what was possible.
At the end of this three month journey, I had two remarkable experiences. Both were challenging, and both fearful and mezmerizing; both paradigm shifts.
Into Space: In this dream, I lept up, flew up maybe a mile, and hovered. I could see the earth below me, clear and stretching out to the horizon in every direction. I was warm and still. I looked up and saw deep into space. Stars pulsing. I knew I could fly as far as I wanted to, and I was immediately scared. What if I lost Earth behind me? How would I find it (her, Gaia...) again? I didn't fly out into space that night. I realized, some time later, that I could have, but that was my edge. And I didn't know, until that moment, that I had one. I know now that we have a limitless connection to our planet, via a light-cord. I could have (can) fly as far as I wish, and in a moment, choose to be back home, and I will be.
Dimension Portal: In this dream, I became lucid, and noticed I wasn't interested in flying. I was in a peaceful forest glen, with beautiful rolling hills, softly flowing trees, and a stream nearby. I chose to sit down, near a tree, to meditate. Without setting an intention, I simple sit, relaxed, and became open. Immediately, a portal opened in the sky above me. It revealed a a dark, industrial, unfriendly alien world, and I quickly shut the gateway. At first, I was upset that some part of my shadow was coming through, and I was scared that I might have to travel through a lot of shadow to get to my light again. I was scared about what I might be exposing myself to. I felt out of control, I felt novice (and was ashamed for that), and a gamut of other emotions.
I was also excited that I'd been open a dimensional doorway in my dreamworld. How cool was that! What I learned from this?
1. I could do much more in my dreams than fly
2. If I could open dimensional portals, what else could i do?
3. As I went about exploring the many possibilities in my dreaming, I needed to begin journeying with consciousness and intention. I suddenly had access to an elevated scale of potentialities, and was also vulnerable, because on at least one level, these were real explorations, accessing real places, and that demanded new levels of preperation.
What we know is that everything is in the dreaming. We can effect our physical bodies, communicate with others including those in other dimensions (which includes those who have passed over), species off planet, and infinitely more. It's best to take these travels with our eyes open.
As you're exploring your dreaming, you may discover where you have an edge. You can use this to explore where your fears rests.
Using Intention to Lucid Dream
Thank yourself for dreaming that night. Thank yourself for remembering your dreams when you woke the following morning. Thank yourself for dreaming lucidly.
Now, feel being lucid in the dream. What's it feel like? Are you elated and excited? Is it calming? Practice imagining looking around and taking in your environment, and being aware that you're dreaming. What do you want to do? If this is new for you, tune into the overall sensation. The stronger you can generate the experience, the faster and more vivid the lucidity will be. Recording your dreams can be key for this to happen quickly.
Some people use the tool of meditating on their hands, so that when you see your hands in your dreams, you'll realize you're dreaming. Have fun exploring the options. I like to keep it simple, and simply speaking to myself, as I've been describing, has been very effective in my own practice.
The art of being or becoming aware that you're dreaming, while remaining in the dream
My first experience with lucid dreaming, which was also my first experience with flying, happened in my mid-twenties. I'd been practicing intentional dreaming for maybe a week. I was back home in Chicago, on summer break from the University of Denver, where I was studying philosophy and creative writing.
In this dream, it deep night, with a full moon, out in a duned desert. I was driving a jeep, or my friend, David Shafton from high school was, and we met up in this simple, open landscape. In a flash I realized we were dreaming and got really excited. I turned to him and said, "David! we're dreaming!" I'll prove it!" And I turned around and leapt into the air and flew up." It was amazing, liberating and empowering like nothing else I'd experienced.
After that night, encouraged by this breakthrough, I re-committed myself to setting my intention each night, to taking a few more minutes to really feel the lucidity, to really feel the flying (and I now had a memory of doing so that I could draw upon - use this - this is how it can work!), feeling the freedom from the gravity, to feeling warm wind on my face, and to remembering it all clearly on waking.
From there, my system seemed to back track, as though that first dream was my introduction to the world of flight, and from then I had to go back to kindergarten. I then started back at zero, just trying to walk, and finding my body didn't have enough mass in it to move forward, so while my feet would walk ahead, my upper body would lag behind, lacking the 'presence' to keep up. So, I had to get down and dig my fingers into the ground and crawl forward, with the rest of my body sort of floating behind. Day by day, my crab crawl became a forward lean, then a walk, then a run.
Next I began to jump as high as I could. Again at first, I would jump a few feet up and fall. Then I would hang in the air for just a moment longer. Then I could jump higher and higher, and it progressed like this. About 45 days into it, I would leap and fly freely, once or twice a week, and the rest of the time, I was back to big leaps with longer 'hang time'.
In one distinct sequence, about two months in, I was in an alley in a downtown scene. I took two steps and leapt up. I shot up, missing the top of a building by inches, and definitely felt the rush and the fear of crashing into that corner.
I woke with this crystal awareness that the pattern of growth of my flying was matching how empowered I was feeling in my personal life. At first, not 'present' enough; not enough physicality, and this was how I'd felt for most of my childhood - insubstantial. As these lucid flying dreams unfolded, I came more and more 'in' to my my body, and my life.
After this dream, I understood that I was focused entirely on Power, and it was time to put some of that energy to Intention. I had two more lucid flying dreams that week, each with progressively more control; flying
One of the keys to flying seemed to be letting go of the sureity that I would fall back to the ground. I would leap into the air with flight as my intention. The moment I was in the air, I would shift my entire attention to 'being in the air', using it as practice for letting go of the thought,"I hope I can stay up this time". I would, in that moment, let go of ALL thought, other than - Go that way (picking at a direction, seemingly at random). The more I nurtured this approach, the less time I would spend worrying about falling back to the ground. Each time I did it, it became easier and I became better and faster at moving myself into the air, and then experiencing being in the iar as my new 'this is what IS". It worked entirely on the principle of 'what you give your attention to will flourish and grow. I mean that I gradually let go of pushing off the ground, because pushing off the ground required my attention to be in the direction of the ground. Well, that's not what I was aiming for now was it? If we remove our attention from something, it will wither away, unless it requires our attention. Then we give it as much as it needs until that's complete or evolved.
This was the constant reminder to 'Be', wherever was, in each instant. One moment I'm on the ground, bound by gravity, because that's was I was choosing. In the next instant, I was in the air, floating, 'being' there, because that's what I was choosing in that instant. For this to work I had to continue choosing to be there, or to choose a direction to fly. Eventually, my mind accepted that I could be in the air as easily as I could be on the ground. I'd 'let go' of that previous way of perceiving what was possible.
At the end of this three month journey, I had two remarkable experiences. Both were challenging, and both fearful and mezmerizing; both paradigm shifts.
Into Space: In this dream, I lept up, flew up maybe a mile, and hovered. I could see the earth below me, clear and stretching out to the horizon in every direction. I was warm and still. I looked up and saw deep into space. Stars pulsing. I knew I could fly as far as I wanted to, and I was immediately scared. What if I lost Earth behind me? How would I find it (her, Gaia...) again? I didn't fly out into space that night. I realized, some time later, that I could have, but that was my edge. And I didn't know, until that moment, that I had one. I know now that we have a limitless connection to our planet, via a light-cord. I could have (can) fly as far as I wish, and in a moment, choose to be back home, and I will be.
Dimension Portal: In this dream, I became lucid, and noticed I wasn't interested in flying. I was in a peaceful forest glen, with beautiful rolling hills, softly flowing trees, and a stream nearby. I chose to sit down, near a tree, to meditate. Without setting an intention, I simple sit, relaxed, and became open. Immediately, a portal opened in the sky above me. It revealed a a dark, industrial, unfriendly alien world, and I quickly shut the gateway. At first, I was upset that some part of my shadow was coming through, and I was scared that I might have to travel through a lot of shadow to get to my light again. I was scared about what I might be exposing myself to. I felt out of control, I felt novice (and was ashamed for that), and a gamut of other emotions.
I was also excited that I'd been open a dimensional doorway in my dreamworld. How cool was that! What I learned from this?
1. I could do much more in my dreams than fly
2. If I could open dimensional portals, what else could i do?
3. As I went about exploring the many possibilities in my dreaming, I needed to begin journeying with consciousness and intention. I suddenly had access to an elevated scale of potentialities, and was also vulnerable, because on at least one level, these were real explorations, accessing real places, and that demanded new levels of preperation.
What we know is that everything is in the dreaming. We can effect our physical bodies, communicate with others including those in other dimensions (which includes those who have passed over), species off planet, and infinitely more. It's best to take these travels with our eyes open.
As you're exploring your dreaming, you may discover where you have an edge. You can use this to explore where your fears rests.
Using Intention to Lucid Dream
Thank yourself for dreaming that night. Thank yourself for remembering your dreams when you woke the following morning. Thank yourself for dreaming lucidly.
Now, feel being lucid in the dream. What's it feel like? Are you elated and excited? Is it calming? Practice imagining looking around and taking in your environment, and being aware that you're dreaming. What do you want to do? If this is new for you, tune into the overall sensation. The stronger you can generate the experience, the faster and more vivid the lucidity will be. Recording your dreams can be key for this to happen quickly.
Some people use the tool of meditating on their hands, so that when you see your hands in your dreams, you'll realize you're dreaming. Have fun exploring the options. I like to keep it simple, and simply speaking to myself, as I've been describing, has been very effective in my own practice.