By Lynda Forman
All of the talk about dreaming has got to make you wonder whether you always need to be a spectator in your dreams. And the answer is: no. With lucid dreaming, you will begin to be an active participant in your dreams, beginning to create a new direction for the dream in which you can learn more about what’s happening and even create a positive ending for something terrifying. All this takes is practice – and you can begin to change the way you sleep at night.
Believing in Dreams
Before you can begin to approach lucid dreaming, you need to remember that whether you believe you can or you can’t do something is more powerful than the action itself. If you tell yourself that you can lucid dream, then you’ll be able to do so. If you tell yourself that you won’t be able to dream and change your dreams, you will also do so. Before you go to bed at night, stop and tell yourself that you have the power to lucid dream. Even if it doesn’t work that night, continue to tell yourself that you are capable of lucid dreaming and eventually you will believe it and then you will see the results of this hardened belief.
Telling Yourself That You’re Dreaming
Once you’re in a dream, stop and look around for a moment. Take control of the dream by telling yourself in the dream that you are dreaming. Once you state that you are dreaming, you will be able to see that you are in control of what is happening – after all, it’s in your head. You’ve probably already had this experience in a dream, where you’ve stopped and told yourself it was just a dream. And while you might not have changed anything, you did have the power to understand where you were and what it meant. Now, when you are actively trying to lucid dream, tell yourself that you are dreaming and then ask yourself what you want to do next in the dream.
Changing the Dream State
In the dream, you will question what you are doing and what others around you are doing. When you begin to interact in this way, you will start to change the way that the dream works. Start by moving around in the dream to see where you can end up going. Talk to others in the dream and listen to see what they say to you. The more you begin to interact, the more you will find you are able to do. Try flying. Try dancing around. While you are in the dream, you are only limited by what you believe you can do. This is your opportunity to do the things you can’t do in real life, so why not try something outrageous while you are dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is much more complicated than this, but when you’re first starting out, believing that you can change your dreams and your experience in dreams is the best way to begin. After you wake up, write your dreams down in a journal to see what you have done as an active part of a dream. With each time you lucid dream, you will become more adept at interacting, and you will be able to do more, see more, and learn more from the insides of your own brain.
The information and techniques discussed in this article were compiled by the writer and do not necessarily reflect Savina’s techniques. Savina offers classes on lucid dreaming in person and online. She will also soon be writing an article detailing her techniques for her newsletter subscribers. Email info@mediumreadings.com for more information or to sign up for her mailing list.