You spend a great amount of time each and every night dreaming. Sometimes your dreams are long-winded adventures where you move fluidly from one place to another, encountering different people and situations. In other dreams, you have certain premonitions or glimpses at the future, and although you may not realize it at the time. In other dreams, the answer to a problem or a creative idea is revealed to you. Of course, you’ll also experience nightmares where everything seems to go wrong. The common thread between each of these types of dreams is that you are taken on a trip. You have no control over what is happening, although the insights you receive may be valuable to you in some way. On the other hand, you can also have a dream where you are fully lucid. So what is lucid dreaming?
Basically, a lucid dream is exactly as it sounds. That is, you have some level of consciousness. You can recognize that you are in a dream, and therefore you understand that what you are experiencing is not real. Many people have the feeling of being ‘along for the ride’ within a lucid dream. In contrast to your regular experiences in the dream world, you don’t get emotionally involved in what is happening. Dream events can sometimes be very distressing, but in a lucid dream you don’t need to feel worked up about what your imagination is simulating.
There are a number of developed techniques that can be used to help people train the ability to have a lucid dream. Advanced practitioners are even able to exert control over what happens in their dreams. That is, instead of being taken along for the ride, they do the driving within the dream.
You might be wondering why anyone would want to try to develop this seemingly unusual skill. But believe it or not, a lot of people do and there are a number of benefits. The first is the chance to experience adventure. That is, when you teach yourself how to have a lucid dream and you practice to the point where you can easily manipulate your dreams, you open yourself up to possibilities beyond the physical world. You can scale the highest mountains and even fly amongst the clouds if you so wish. There is no possibility of physical danger because you are still dreaming.
Others pursue lucid dreaming as a route to personal development. In your lucid dreams, you can simulate situations that you face in real life. For instance, say you would like to overcome your fear of public speaking. If you’re left with sweaty palms and a thumping heart at the thought of giving a speech in real life, you can simply practice public speaking within a dream. All you have to do is imagine yourself before a crowd and go for it. Public speaking is less scary in the dream world, and over time you can eventually gain the courage to face your fear in real life.
What is lucid dreaming? It’s a fantastic leap towards your full potential. All you need to do is take the time to realize this skill and you can access the amazing power of your mind.
This post has been contributed by the Art Of Astral Projection team.
You can find out more about lucid dreaming here.