Lucid Dreaming
“Am I dreaming?”
ZODIAC THEME
The art of Lucid Dreaming allows one to work directly with one's mind and is a psychic skill we’ll focus on strengthening during Pisces season, the Pisces Full Moon or when your 12th house is illuminated. Pisces gifts us access to channel what swims in the depths of our unconsciousness.
Pisces requires us to be in flow with the unconscious current, and lean heavily into our intuition and dreams. However, Lucid Dreaming can be observed and developed at any time your intuition calls your awareness to it; or when your 12th house is illuminated. You can learn more about Pisces energy in Foundation 3.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most effective ways to influence positive change in your life is to work in tandem with your conscious and unconscious mind. The art of Lucid Dreaming allows one to work directly with one's mind; becoming self-aware, "awake," within a dream. As you develop this skill, you can adjust and create a shift in your unconscious, allowing for significant shifts on the surface.
Lucid Dreaming can become a powerful path to greater awareness, heightened creativity, and spiritual awakening. Buddhism uses the mind to work with the body. In Vajrayana Buddhism ("vehicle of skillful means"), there are techniques of dream yoga guiding one to wake up to reality.
The word "Buddha" comes from the Sanskrit root budh, meaning "to awaken;" denotes one who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance. Are we the most spiritually awake in sleep, and the most asleep in waking "reality"?
Lucid Dreaming can be leveraged to practice new skills or rehearse an activity. Dream control is developing self-control. Dreaming with greater awareness can also help develop intuition and reveal hidden knowledge (even about ourselves); it may also allow communication with others.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute discovered that a region of the brain, anterior prefrontal cortex, known for self-reflection, is significantly larger in individuals who frequently lucid dream. Which can mean, people who more often lucid dream have a more developed region in their brain that contributes to a higher level of awareness. "participants in the high-lucidity group showed greater gray matter volume in the frontopolar cortex ... compared with those in the low-lucidity group. Further, differences in the brain structure were mirrored by differences in brain function. Our results reveal they shared neural systems between lucid Dreaming and metacognitive function, in particular in the domain of thought monitoring." Filevich et al. Metacognitive mechanisms.
Together, let's create the intention to become lucid, building momentum (karma) that crosses over into the dream world. When you are ready, actively think about the process of Lucid Dreaming, signaling to your brain, you want to be awoken, and remember your dreams. Place your dream journal next to your bed, make yourself comfortable, and state your intention to Lucid Dream out loud.
The best way to remember your dreams is to set the intention each night and signal to your brain that you want to remember. After you experience the lucid dream (yoga dream), remain aware and record any memories and symbols that came to you.
Be gentle with yourself, if you do not remember anything upon awakening. It can take multiple attempts for your mind to let go and relax into this dreamwork.
PRACTICES
Exclusive for Nomad Members: 1 hour Lucid Dreaming Theta Waves Meditation
Lucid Dreaming Exercise & Overview
What you Need
Pen
Dream Journal
Flashlight/light next to your bed to record your dreams upon awakening (If you wake up in the middle of the night, record your memories, and you can return back to sleep).The Intention
I want you to think about any present-day challenges you’ve been experiencing. You'll discover that your inner mind can create unique solutions to the problems you've been experiencing. Set the intention to become lucid, building momentum (karma) that crosses over into the dream world. When you are ready, actively think about the process of Lucid Dreaming, signaling to your brain, you want to remember your dreams. Place your dream journal next to your bed, make yourself comfortable, and state your intention to Lucid Dream out loud.
What You’ll Do
There are different methods in which you can prepare yourself for Lucid Dreaming / Dream Yoga. The majority of the methods suggest that one avoids/reduces alcohol and eats light before going to sleep.
One method suggests setting an alarm for six hours after you go to sleep; prompting you to awake and record your dreams. The other is to sleep naturally.Body Position: Tibetan dream yoga suggests sleeping sitting up, with ones' back straight, or to sleep on the right side. Find a position that is most comfortable to you.
Listen to the guided meditation, either with headphones or with a speaker, allowing yourself to drift asleep.
Visualization: As you drift off to sleep, you can incorporate another Tibetan Buddhist technique of Throat Visualization. Each chakra is associated with a particular frequency, expressed by color and sound. The throat chakra is red, and the sound is AH. Imagine a red lotus flower with four leaves glowing at the base of your throat - visualize an AH there (or you can visualize a white light radiating upwards from the bottom of your throat).
Suggestion: With a pen write, "Am I dreaming?" on the top of your left hand before going to bed. When you awaken, ask yourself again - am I dreaming?
Hints while in the dream state
At any moment in your dream state, ask yourself, "Am I dreaming right now?" When you answer, ask yourself, “how do I know this?”
Look for a piece of written paper. Read the words, look away, and reread the words - if the words have changed, you are most likely dreaming.
Pinch your nose closed; if you notice you can still easily breathe through your nose when you have it pinched shut, you are most likely dreaming.
Try using your imagination.
Look at your hands. Carlos Castenada's book Journey to Ixtlan, the Mexican shaman Don Juan says to Carlos, "look at your hands, every time you look at anything in your dream, it changes shape. The trick is learning to set up dreaming is obviously not to look at things, but to sustain the sight of them. Dreaming is real when one has succeeded in bringing everything into focus. Then there is no difference between what you do when you sleep and what you do when you are not sleeping." Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan, 83 - 84
If you wrote, "Am I dreaming?" on the top of your left hand before going to bed, look at your hands.
Lucid Nightmares
Dream characters are often fragmented parts of ourselves. What Jung calls "the shadow." There is a belief that when we experience Lucid Nightmares, we are attempting to integrate disconnected pieces of ourselves back into the whole of our personality. If you are experiencing a Lucid Nightmare, face what is frightening you and ask for (or call out to) other characters to materialize in your dream to assist you. Another approach is that you can ask yourself, "am I dreaming?" and remind yourself that you are safe in bed.
Encounter with Wise Beings and Guides
Ask the question, "who are you?" There will be times that being of greater awareness will come to you to offer your guidance and educate you.
Read Your Dream Journal
Take some time to research the symbols and dream journey.
Suggested Practices
As your mind descends into sleep, it will try to hold onto things. Use Lucid Dreaming as a tool to problem solve a present-day challenge you are experiencing.
Meditate. Keep the Moon tarot card on your altar, meditating on the image before going to bed each evening for a week.
Stay aware. Pay attention to symbols, dreams, and people that come to you after the journey work. Even months later.
Keep a journal. Record your dreams and emotional responses.
Suggested Herbs* (*I am not a doctor)
Artemisia vulgaris - Mugwort (as a tea or incense)
Calea zacatechichi - Mexican dream herb (you can make a tea, or light it)
Piper methysticum - Kava, Kava-kava
Melatonin - helps with sleep and jetlag
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) nutrient that supports adrenal function can improve the ability to remember dreams.
Suggested Reading
The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying
Living, Dreaming, Dying: Practical Wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Rob Nairn. Shambala Publications, Boston, Massachusetts, 2004