If you are serious about becoming a lucid dreamer, then this blog is a must for you. I will teach you everything you need to know. If you are diligent in following these free lucid dream lessons, then you can start having lucid dreams in a relatively short period of time.

Journeys Beyond Belief

Imagine flying above a winding road in an old country neighborhood just above the heights of the telephone poles, soaring above skyscrapers in a large, metropolitan city, gliding through the incredible geological formations of the Grand Canyon, propelling yourself throughout a surreal, enchanted forest filled with dangerous creatures just out of your reach, blasting into the far-reaches of the universe and exploring bizarre planets, breathtaking nebulae, and spectacular galaxies. Consider being a member of the crew of the Starship Enterprise or any other cast member of your favorite television program or movie? Would you like to have the power and satisfaction to thwart off a group of thugs that are threatening you or your family’s safety? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to obtain helpful insight for problems or issues you may have with your relationships, school, work, or anything else? How about having an unbridled relationship with any partner you desire? These fantasies and others are possible through lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming allows you to take full control of your dreams while remaining asleep. You can control and consciously communicate with your subconscious mind while you are sleeping.

Definition of Lucid Dreaming and Dream Control

A lucid dream is a dream in which a person is aware that they are dreaming while they are actually sleeping. This phenomenon is also known as conscious or self-aware dreaming. Dream control is actually the function that allows you to do what you want during a dream. The words “lucid dreaming” and “dream control” are often used synonymously, but dream control is what I am really discussing here and is where the fun, excitement and the learning happens. Lucid dreaming only means that you know that you are dreaming and dream control is when you are in control of what happens during your dream while you know you are dreaming. For the purpose of the lessons on this website, I will use the term “lucid dreaming” to mean that you know that you are dreaming and you are in control of what happens during your dream.

A lucid dream can seem extremely real and vivid. During a lucid dream, the dreamer can actively participate and control the entire dream. Lucid dreaming can truly be a fantastic experience. Just think how incredible it would be to do what ever you wish in a safe environment that feels as close to real as real can be, without the fear of consequences. On a more practical standpoint, a lucid dream is extremely therapeutic and psychologically helpful in many ways.

This blog website will provide you with free lucid dream lessons, which will show you exactly how to start having your own lucid dreams as quickly as possible. Later, more blogs will be posted on this website that will contain every aspect of lucid dreaming. Keep in mind that the more you know about lucid dreaming, the more lucid dreams you will have.

An Incredible Reality

About twenty-five years ago, I briefly witnessed a discussion on television about lucid dreaming. I only caught the end of the discussion and quickly wrote down the term “lucid dream.” It was the first time I ever heard the term, “lucid dream.” I had experienced lucid dreams prior to this television discussion, but not very often. This was during the mid-1980s when there weren’t many home computers around, let alone access to the Internet. As soon as I had the chance, I went to the book store and looked for a book about this intriguing subject. It took several trips to different book stores until I ran across a book named Lucid Dreaming, by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. I was thrilled to find this book. It was a treasure to me and read through it almost without stopping. This book and several others taught me what I needed to know to induce and increase the frequency of my lucid dreams. It only took me short amount of time to be much more successful. I now have lucid dreams on a very regular basis and as often as I want. I have been consistently experiencing lucid dreams for over twenty years. I consider myself an expert on the subject because of my extensive lucid dreaming experience and the massive amounts of research I have done on this subject. I can help you have your own lucid dreams, or if you are already having them, I can help you to have more.

In this blog website, www.luciddreamlessons.com I will provide you will free lucid dream lessons and share information I have learned with you so that you may have as may lucid dreams as you wish.

A lucid dream is like using a holodeck. For those not familiar with holodecks, they are facilities that simulate reality, generally located on starships like in the fictional Star Trek universe.

Lucid dreaming is not fiction my friends, it is a reality!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

By now, you should be very diligent in keeping a dream journal. Perhaps you are now recording full dreams or just dream fragments. I recommend that if you have been keeping a dream journal for three or four weeks and you are just remembering dream fragments or no dreams at all, then continue to focus on working on your dream journal for a couple of more weeks and then come back to this lesson. If you can’t recall any dreams, then there is not much reason to obtaining lucidity. In the near future, I will add an extra blog containing more techniques that should help you progress in remembering your dreams.

If you have been successful in dream recall let’s move ahead now and learn how to induce a lucid dream.

Techniques to Inducing Lucid Dreams

There are many methods that will induce lucid dreams. In this lesson, I will focus on a two very essential techniques that have worked for a countless number of people, including myself. In my next blog, I will provide you with several more techniques, in case you are still struggling with experiencing a lucid dream.

Lucid Dream Induction Techniques

Since lucid dreaming has been around for a while, there are several techniques that have been developed and are regularly used in the lucid dream community. It is essential that you fully understand these techniques in order to successfully induce a lucid dream. I am only going to address two extremely important techniques in this blog. In my experience, “reality testing” (or reality checking) and “dream signs” are the two techniques that can induce lucid dreams quickly and easily.

Reality Testing

Reality testing is a common technique used to determine whether or not you are dreaming. It involves performing tests to determine if you are dreaming or not. By performing these tests while you are awake, it can become a habit to perform such a test while dreaming. If the reality test fails, then you may realize that you are dreaming and start having a lucid dream. Remember, the goal is to do these tests on a regular basis so they become a habit. Eventually, you will perform reality tests while you are dreaming if you practice doing them while you are awake. When I was learning, I did the tests about eight to ten times a day. I didn’t do all of them, but maybe two or three random ones.

Here is a list of common reality tests that I have read about and tried:

• Simply asking yourself throughout your waking hours, “Is this a dream?” Then make the decision weather or not you are awake or dreaming. It’s really that simple. This is a reality test that I use the most.
  
• Look into a mirror. During a dream, reflections from a mirror often appear different from which you would normally expect. Reflections can be blurred, distorted, or even frightening.
• Open book and look inside. Often, the pages will be blank during a dream.
• Squeeze your nostrils shut and if you are able to breathe without using your mouth, you are dreaming.
• Try to stick your finger through the palm of your hand. Of course this wouldn’t work during a waking state unless the unlikely even that you really had a hole through your palm.
• Look at your watch or a clock (remembering the time), look away, and look back. The time will probably have changed to a different time and you may see strange letters and characters. (Digital watches and clocks have a tendency to work much better than analog watches or clocks.)
• Look towards the ground beneath your feet or at your hands. If you do this while dreaming, the difference in appearance of the ground or your hands from a waking state is usually enough to alert you that you are dreaming.
• Flip a light switch on or off. The light usually doesn’t change as it should in a waking state unless, of course, the light bulb really burned out.

Use your imagination and test other actions. With practice, I’ll bet you will notice things that you can test that prove you are dreaming.

You can build up a habit of periodically asking oneself throughout the day if you are dreaming by performing one or several of the tests above. These habits will eventually cause you to test them during a dream, which will lead to lucidity when you realize that your actions or behaviors are not real.

When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to jump up off the ground to see how many time we could click our feet together before returning to the ground. Even with much practice it is hard to click your feet together two or three times. I think three was all I was able to achieve. In one of my first lucid dreams, I was able to jump up in the air and click my feet together about nine or ten times. This was a reality test that carried from my waking state right into my dream. I suddenly realized that this couldn’t possibly be real and immediately knew that I was having a lucid dream. This lucid dream carried on what seemed to be about twenty minutes. I had complete control over everything in my dream. I simply thought what I wanted to happen during the dream and it happened. What a blast I had!

Dream Signs

Dream signs are clues that you are dreaming. They are things occurring in your dream that wouldn’t happen in a waking state. Before you recognize that they are dream signs, they will seem natural to you while you are dreaming. Once you recognize the dream sign, you will know you are dreaming and become lucid in your dream.

Dream signs may include things such as flying, a dog or cat talking to you, or several other abnormal events. Dream signs include out-of-the-ordinary actions or objects in your dream. They can also reflect wants, fears, hates, and embarrassing situations. They can manifest themselves in many different ways, depending on the dreamer. The key is that you recognize its abnormality. This is what makes you realize that you are dreaming.

There are many kinds of dream signs that will eventually become very evident to you. Here are some common examples that I have read about and experienced:

• You, another dream character, or an object does something unusual or impossible in waking life, such as walking through walls, flying, jumping extremely high, or breathing under water.
• You have a sensational loss of bodily strength. You are unable to move entirely or run away from something you are scared of.
• If you read a sign, book or any other document, look away, then look back, the words usually change.
• The place or situation in the dream is weird and includes fictional characters or places.
• You, another character, or an object changes shapes. This may include unusual clothing, hair, body parts, etc. You may even find yourself looking at your own self.
• During a dream, you may have a very unusual thought, a strong emotion, an abnormal sensation, a loss of normal logic, or an altered perception.
  
• If you move your head from side to side, you notice a strange motion of an image you are looking at.
• If you look at a clock or watch, look away, then look back, the time is usually different, it may have changed in appearances, or the clock or watch may be gone.
• You seem to have an abnormal number of fingers or other body parts.

Be conscious of your surroundings during your waking state and think about dream signs. This habit will eventually cause you to become more aware of dream signs during a dream. This will eventually lead into a lucid dream when dream signs are recognized.

Analyze your dream journal to determine your own dream signs and highlight or make a note of them.

Differences Between Reality Testing and Dream Signs

Reality testing and dream signs may seem to be a lot alike, but there is a difference. Reality testing takes place during your waking state and then carries over to your dream state. Dream signs are merely things that should only occur during dreams.

I rely much on dream signs because I have been using them for a long time. I also still perform reality testing as well. For you, as a beginner, I would recommend using both of these tools to their most fullest extent as possible.

The next blog lesson will cover more ways to induce lucid dreams.

Sweet Dreams

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Now that you have successfully had one or more lucid dreams, you may have noticed that it can be hard to stay asleep and remain lucid. This lesson will address things that can happen during a lucid dream and provide some techniques to help you remain lucid.

Waking Up Too Soon

During the first few lucid dreams you may wake up very soon after becoming lucid. This is normal. The excitement of realizing that you are lucid is enough to wake you up immediately. Don’t worry, it gets easier to remain lucid the more times you become lucid. There are two proven ways two help yourself in remaining lucid.

Remain Calm

During the dream, try as hard as you can to stay calm and focus your attention on the dream rather than giving in to the excitement of reaching lucidity. You can also prepare yourself while you are awake by using the power of suggestion. Throughout the day, say to yourself, “If I become lucid during a dream, I will remain calm”, or something to that nature. You will be surprised how influential the power of suggestion really is.

Spinning

If the dream shows signs of ending, such as loss of the vividness, detail, or even just having the feeling that you are waking up, spinning can help you remain asleep in the dream state. If you feel the dream fading, spin your dream body like a top, around and around, over and over again like you may have done as a child. You should then be taken back into the dream. When you stop spinning, look for a dream sign or perform a reality test to verify your lucidity.

False Awakenings

Be aware that sometimes you may think that you have awakened from a dream when in fact you may be still dreaming. You are essentially dreaming that you have woke up. Once again, look for dream signs or perform a reality test even though you think you might be awake. What an intriguing phenomena it is to dream that you have awakened from a dream. Perhaps you were in a second-level dream state returning to a first-level dream state. We will discuss this more, later.

With some practice, you can remain lucid and be able to identify if you are experiencing a false awakening. Be sure to record all the details of struggling with remaining lucid and any false awakenings you may encounter into your dream journal.

Sleep tight!

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

The things you can do during a lucid dream are virtually endless. Lucidity is the jewel of the dream world, the golden key of the subconscious mind and the paradise of fantasies. With practice, you can have ultimate pleasure, mind-boggling fun, breathtaking relationships, immense understandings and incredible problem solving skills. Once you learn to become the master of your dreams, the items mentioned above will just become a matter of falling asleep. What an incredible gift, indeed!

Your First Lucid Dreams

Now that you have some control over waking up too soon during a lucid dream and the ability to recognize false awakenings, you can remain lucid and start experimenting with the lucid dream world. During one of my first lucid dreams I decided to fly. Flying is a fairly common desire for beginning lucid dreamers. So, I laid down on the ground and spread my arms out like an airplane. Bare in mind that up to this point I’ve never been one to enjoy being on top of tall buildings and looking down. Skydiving has never been on my list of desires. I decided to start out by flying low to the ground. I flew around my neighborhood about six feet above the ground for several minutes. I bumped into a few things and even crashed a few times, but eventually I had a fair amount of control. I even stopped when I came to street intersections. It was strange how I still observed safety even though I was completely lucid. This was because this was very new to world to me. It didn’t take long in future dreams before I was flying higher and higher until I was above the telephone poles and was swooping up and down at will. My point is that it takes time to become adjusted to the lucid dream world. However, there are some people that have a natural talent to progress very rapidly in controlling their dreams.

While lucid dreaming, things are happening like in non-lucid dreams, but the difference is that you now have the power to change the course of the dream and basically do whatever you want. For example, during another early lucid dream, I encountered a group of guys that I knew were going to attack me. Well, I could have probably just controlled them to become nice guys, but I thought it would be more fun to teach them a lesson. I decided to show off some of my devastating Kung Fu moves, which I most certainly don’t possess while awake. At first, I wasn’t having a great deal of success. I became frustrated and almost woke up. I tried hard to remain calm and soon, I was jumping, kicking, spinning around and attacked my unwelcome dream muggers just like you may have seen in a movie. I knew that I wasn’t really hurting anybody so what the heck! They immediately retreated like cowards. I woke up later with a feeling of power and excitement that stayed with me throughout the day. The key thing here was that was able to stay calm even though it was a very exciting situation. This sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it’s really not. Try staying calm during your lucid dreams and you will have a better understanding of what I mean.

Controlling Your Lucid Dream Environment

During your first lucid dreams you should be able to control things like changing the some situations or controlling some of your own actions, but it will take practice and experience to have complete control of your dreams. You will find that changing some things is easier than changing others. It can be difficult at first to know how much force or desire is required to do or change something. Don’t become discouraged, because with practice, you will improve. Try to remember to stay calm during a lucid dream and things will eventually become easier to do.

To make things happen during a lucid dream you must believe that you can do it. If you don’t believe you can do something, then there is a great chance that it won’t happen.

In the lucid dream world there are new concepts to accept. You can now do things in your dream that you would never think possible while you are awake. Once you conquer this new dreaming belief system, you will become successful at what you want to do. For some of us this will be easier than it will be for others. The key here once again is to never give up. Believe and it will eventually happen. Try doing easy things at first and build up to more complex desires. For example, if you are having difficulty with flying, then just try to float a little bit off of the ground. If you are having a hard time completely changing a dream scene, then just try changing a small portion of it. If you don’t have success with something, try something else. If it just doesn’t seem to be working out, just try observing instead of controlling, but always keep in mind that you are in a lucid dream.

Take it slow. It just takes more practice for some than others. Never worry, it can work for you!

Pleasant dreams.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

My research shows that lucid dreams have been around for quite a long time. Some claim that St. Augustine is the earliest record of lucid dreaming in the form of a written letter in 415 A.D. I really can’t dispute this, but my research found earlier accounts of the practice of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming spans thousands of years, and a multitude of religions and geographical locations.

Here is a condensed list of lucid dreaming over the centuries:

* 1000 BC: Upanishads, the Hindu oral tradition of spiritual lessons, philosophy, and proverbs include lucid dreaming
* 1000 BC: Bonpo, the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet, claims that lucid dreaming has been used during meditations for over 12,000 years
* 1000 BC: Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, is another ancient Hindu region that describes how to become conscious during a dream
* 350 BC: Aristotle wrote, “when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which tells us that what presents itself is but a dream”
* 3rd Century: Saint Denys, a Christian martyr and saint claims to have been a prolific conscious dreamer
* 415 A.D: St. Augustine, a Christian philosopher and priest referred to lucid dreams in a letter
* 4th Century: Mohammed’s Laylat al-Miraj is an account of a nighttime vision that provided him with spiritual initiation
* 8th Century: Tibetan Buddhists – The Tibetan Book of the Dead described of a form of yoga designed to become conscious while dreaming
* 12th century: Sufi Ib El-Arabi from Spain suggested that controlling thought in dreams is an essential skill for aspiring mystics
* 15th Century: Sir Thomas Browne, a philosopher and physician stated his ability to lucid dream
* 15th Century: Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer wrote avidly about his lucid dreams in a private journal known as the Olympica
* 17th Century: Pierre Gassendi and Thomas Reid are two philosophers that discussed becoming awake while dreaming
* 1867: Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys published his book Dreams and How to Guide Them
* 1913: Frederick Van Eeden wrote A Study of Dreams on lucid dreaming to the Society for Psychical Research and he coined the term “lucid dreaming”
* 1935: Walter Y. Evans-Wentz translates a section of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
* 1977: Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D continues to do a tremendous amount of research on the topic of lucid dreaming today

I admit that my research was short, but my intention was to provide you with a general idea of how much lucid dreaming occurred throughout the ages. I am quite positive that my list only includes a small amount of those that practiced lucid dreaming. Volumes could be written on this subject.

Dream on!

© 2010 -2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Even if you just live out your wildest fantasies during a lucid dream, it would probably be enough. However, I do encourage doing much more than just fulfilling fantasies during lucidity. I love to have pleasurable experiences like the next person, but there are much more productive endeavors you can take advantage of during a lucid dream. Let’s take a look at a few.

Fantasies

There are no social or physical consequences of your actions while acting out your lucid dream fantasies. You could do virtually anything at all without any apparent consequences. I would caution you with intimate fantasies. If you are married or have a significant other, it may not be appropriate to have intimate relationships with other partners even though they are not actually real. That’s up to you to make your own decision. Having said that, lucid dream fantasies are virtually endless, so enjoy your most pleasurable desires.

Nightmares

Lucid dreams may be a way to end nightmares. The fear you feel during a nightmare is real, but the danger is not. If you know you are dreaming, then you know that your nightmare cannot cause you any real physical harm. The best way to end your nightmare is to face the source of your fear. I mentioned in one of my earlier lessons, while I was lucid dreaming, I was being attacked by a group of thugs. Briefly, I did feel some fear, but knowing I was in a lucid dream the fear quickly vanished. I knew that I had nothing to worry about. I confronted all of the thugs and had fun doing it. After I defeated them all physically, I felt a sense of strength, bravery, but mostly, it was just fun because I knew that I really didn’t do any harm. The key to overcoming nightmares is to become lucid in your dream so you can realize there isn’t an actual danger. Then you can put an end to the  nightmare by confronting and defeating the source of fear.

Creativity and Problem Solving

While dreaming, our thought process can engage in a variety of ways of thinking that are rare during waking life. Our creativity and problem solving skills can be extremely enhanced while dreaming. Tapping into this advantageous way of thinking through lucid dreaming can help us to create, invent, discover, build, and solve a problem. Lucid dreaming taps into our subconscious mind to assist in this process. Many lucid dreamers report using dreams for problem solving, creativity and artistic inspiration.

Practice

Many people use lucid dreaming to practice a variety of events in order to be successful in waking life situations. You can use lucid dreaming to practice:

• Public speaking in front of an audience of millions or just a few people
• Confronting someone that you need to face up to in waking-life
• Talking to someone you are attracted to, but are too shy to do so during waking life
• Practicing your athletic skills
• Memorizing information for presentations or tests
• Planning for the future
• I’ll bet you can think of several more. Give it a try

Physical and Mental Healing

The vivid positive imagery of lucid dreaming may be used to alleviate physical pain and emotional disturbances. Study has shown that some people have utilized lucid dreaming to alleviate physical pain, overcome phobias, anguish, and social and sexual anxieties. Greater self-confidence can also be archived by lucid dreaming.

Spirituality

Lucid dreaming can assist us in looking past everyday experiences and tasks. It provokes spiritual questioning and the desire to learn more about our own spirituality. This can be a tremendous assistant in spiritual awakening and increasing our spiritual consciousness. It forces us to look beyond everyday experiences and explore the positive realm of spirituality.

Dream Guide

You can create your own dream guide that you visit during a lucid dream. A dream guide can be a person, a spirit, an animal, a tree, a rock, or anything you want it to be. It can be who ever you feel comfortable taking advice from. A dream guide can be a very powerful dream ally, advocate and adviser. Dream guides possess a vast amount of insight and wisdom. For many lucid dreamers, the primary advantage of mastering lucidity is the ability to summon and consult with their dream guide. Your father, mother or any other loved-one or friend can also regularly guide you, give you counsel and become your dream guide. Its totally up to you. You can even create a place to visit your dream guide to seek wisdom. Ask and listen for guidance from your dream guide. Your dream guide is your subconscious mind delivering you the ultimate personalized information and guidance that is custom-fit to you. After all, who knows yourself better than you! With that stated, perhaps your dream guide is more than just your subconscious mind!?

Dream guides will be discussed in more depth in a future lucid dream lesson.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

I need to first clear up the difference between a Lucid Dream Guide and a Lucid Spirit Guide. A Lucid Dream Guide can simply be an entity or object that comes directly from your subconscious mind (also known as unconscious mind). It is what is already in your brain, stored away (sometimes very deeply stored away) and retrieved during a lucid dream. In this sense a Lucid Dream Guide is not a Lucid Spirit Guide. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a very spiritual person and do believe in spirits… so I’ll continue. Your Lucid Dream Guide may be a spirit from the supernatural, afterlife, heaven, or whatever you believe in. In this case a Lucid Dream Guide can be called a Lucid Spirit Guide. Many ancient cultures strongly believe in spirit guides. I most definitely do not rule them out. For now, I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you are dealing with a non-spiritual dream guide or an actual spirit guide. For now, I will just address non-spiritual dream guides and refer to them as Lucid Dream Guides. I’ll have more to discuss on this subject later.

As a lucid dreamer, you may define and create your own Lucid Dream Guide. You create your own Lucid Dream Guide to your own specifications. It can be anyone you want it to be. It can be male or female, someone you know or have known, human or animal, organic or non-organic, a forest of trees, a mountain range or a waterfall, a super computer, or just a person. You are the creator of your personal Lucid Dream Guide.

The primary reason for a large population of lucid dreamers is to communicate and consult with their Lucid Dream Guide. Lucid Dream Guides are powerful creations that communicate with a lucid dreamer. They possess an enormous amount of insight and wisdom. Your Lucid Dream Guide can illuminate knowledge that you may have suppressed and lost somewhere in the vast prefrontal cortex of your brain. It can unravel the complexities of the information you have stored in your brain and deliver messages or wisdom to you during a lucid dream in a simplistic form. Since it is your subconscious mind, it stores all your previous life experiences, your belief system, your memories, you skills, all situations you’ve been through, and all things your five senses have ever experienced (see, hear, smell, taste and feel). A Lucid Dream Guide can have much influence over you, so it must only be used in a positive manner.

Your Lucid Dream Guide knows everything about you. It knows your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, your level of intelligence. It knows your deepest hidden secrets. Your Lucid Dream Guide is your subconscious mind communicating with your conscious mind while you are experiencing a lucid dream. A Lucid Dream Guide is you!

You can define your Lucid Dream Guide while you are awake. You can decide on a special place where you meet with your Lucid Dream Guide. You can create a drawing, token or anything to help you to think about your Lucid Dream Guide while you are awake. This will help you to remember to summons your Lucid Dream Guide when you reach lucidity in your dreams. Ironically, the mere presence of your Lucid Dream Guide in your dream is in itself a Dream Sign.

Some lucid dreamers have had their personal Lucid Dream Guide appear to them for the first time while dreaming and introduce themselves along with their purpose. It is the lucid dreamer’s subconscious mind communicating with them and getting their attention.

Just think of the endless possible ways your Lucid Dream Guide can benefit you. There is nobody (unless you believe in God) that knows you better. What a spectacular event it could be to speak to, observe, and listen to your own subconscious mind! I’ll let you decide how you want to utilize this positive, magnificent power.

© 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Sleep paralysis is when you have been sleeping and you feel like you are awake but unable to move. You feel as though you are paralyzed. This phenomenon is also called Awareness during Sleep Paralysis (ASP). It often leaves you feeling afraid, especially if you also see or hear things that are not really there or you feel like you are being choked or suffocated. You may feel frightened, but cannot call for help. Sleep paralysis may happen only once or you may have it frequently and even numerous times during your sleep and awakening period. It can be a truly terrifying experience in any event.

Some people consider sleep paralysis as work done by evil spirits. It has been referred to many different things including the “old hag” syndrome and alien abductions. Almost every culture throughout history has had stories of evil creatures that terrify helpless humans at night.

Modern Science

Modern science believes they have the answer to sleep paralysis. In order to understand how a body becomes unable to move or “paralyzed” while you are awake, it is necessary to understand sleep cycles.  We discussed this in a previous lesson, but here is a recap. During sleep, the brain experiences two different states called non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.  During non-REM sleep our body only has a few movements such as tossing and turning around in bed and other actions such as talking in your sleep. Sleepwalking can even take place during this time. Heart rate and breathing occur at a constant rate during non-REM sleep and the eyes move slowly.

One cycle of REM and NREM sleep lasts about 90 minutes. Non-REM sleep occurs first and lasts about three-fourths of your overall sleep time. During non-REM sleep, your body relaxes and restores itself. At the end of non-REM, your sleep shifts to REM.

During REM sleep, dreaming takes place. Your heart rate and breathing vary at different rates and your eyes move quickly, but the rest of your body remains very relaxed. Your brain stops your muscles from moving during REM sleep.

During sleep, your body alternates between REM and non-REM sleep cycles. If you become aware before the REM cycle has finished, you may experience sleep paralysis.

Sleep paralysis happens when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. It probably occurs to prevent a person from “acting out” a dream and becoming injured or injuring someone else. Sleep researchers conclude that, in most cases, sleep paralysis is simply a sign that your body is not moving smoothly through the stages of sleep. Rarely is sleep paralysis linked to deep underlying psychiatric problems.

Preventing Sleep Paralysis

There’s no need to fear the “old hag,” evil creatures or alien abductors. If you have occasional sleep paralysis, you can take actions to control this disorder:

• Get the proper amount of sleep
• Relax before bedtime
• Relieve stress in your life
• Try new sleeping positions
• Go to your doctor if sleep paralysis occurs regularly

Leaving Your Body

Many believe that sleep paralysis is the gateway of astral projection or out of body experiences. After you enter sleep paralysis, you can separate your consciousness from your physical body and move your consciousness into your astral body. During sleep paralysis, your consciousness is associated closely with your physical body and not your astral body. Trying to remove yourself from your physical body will not happen. This will only take place when you are dying or dead.

To make astral projection occur, you need to transfer your consciousness from your physical body to your astral body.  Close your eyes and keep them closed, then try to push forward with your consciousness and imagine that your consciousness is moving forward.  Even though you may not feel any movement, your consciousness will eventually move forward into your astral body.

Focus your awareness on your face and concentrate on breathing slowly and gently. Don’t be startled if you feel vibrations or a rapid heartbeat, this is normal. It is important to remain calm during this period. If you become frightened or open your eyes prematurely, your awareness will immediately return rapidly back into your physical body then you will probably wake up. Keep your eyes closed and have faith that your consciousness is moving forward.  Keep pushing forward with your consciousness as hard as you can until you are approximately ten or twenty feet away from your body. This distance varies among people. Once you are far enough away from your body and the vibrations and sounds are gone, you will be able separate your consciousness from your physical body and move into your astral body. You can get up or float right out of your body to begin your unbelievable travel experience.

What Does Lucid Dreaming Have To Do With Sleep Paralysis?

You may experience sleep paralysis if you become aware before the REM cycle has finished. This is an example of lucid dreaming because you are still in REM sleep.

Stephen LaBerge and other lucid dream researchers have found that lucid dreams happen almost solely during REM sleep. Also, it has been determined that the body is “paralyzed” more strongly during lucid dreams than during conventional REM sleep dreams, probably because the brain is more vigorous.

So every lucid dream is an example of Awareness during Sleep Paralysis (ASP). But lucid dreamers are only sometimes aware of the Sleep Paralysis. More often, the lucid dreamer focuses on controlling the lucid dream or focuses on something much more fascinating than being paralyzed.

You’ve awakened into the astonishing dream world!

© 2009 – 2012 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Here is a list of several dream related books and texts for you to look in to. I haven’t read all of them, but wanted to provide you with other sources and different perspectives of dreaming, lucid dreaming and out of body experiences. I am interested to hear from you about any of the books below that you have read or any other dream related books that you have read.

The books listed below are in alphabetical order.

• A Course in Lucid Dreaming by Staff Editors
• Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements by Thomas Yuschak
• Adventures Beyond the Body: How to Experience Out-of-Body Travel by William Buhlman
• Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences by Robert Bruce
• Awakening to the Dream by Leo Hartong
• Beginners Guide to Lucid Dreaming – The Beginner’s Guide To Lucid Dreaming Techniques gives you the details, facts and specific techniques you need to start enjoying Lucid Dreaming for yourself! by E-Book Emporium and eBusiness Master
• Between the Gates: Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism by Mark Stavish and John Michael Greer
• Cheat Codes For Life: How to Achieve ANYTHING With the Technologies of Success by Robert Crayola
• Conscious Dreaming: A Spiritual Path for Everyday Life by Robert Moss
• Control Your Dreams: How Lucid Dreaming Can Help You Uncover Your Hidden Desires, Confront Your Hidden Fears, and Explore the Frontiers of Human Cons by Jayne Gackenbach, Jane Bosveld, and Jayne Gachebbach
• Cosmic Connection: Messages for a Better World by Carole Lynne
• Creative Dreaming: Plan And Control Your Dreams to Develop Creativity, Overcome Fears, Solve Problems, and Create a Better Self by Patricia Garfield
• Daring To Dream: A Guide To Lucid Dreaming, Astral Travel And Spiritual Growth by John Stone
• Do_OBE How to lucid dream, astral project and have out-of-body experiences by Donald DeGracia
• Dream Cultures: Explorations in the Comparative History of Dreaming by David Shulman and Guy G. Stroumsa
• Dream Work: Techniques for Discovering the Creative Power in Dreams by Jeremy Taylor
• Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, Revised by Namkhai Norbu
• Dream Yoga: The Practice of Lucid Dreaming as a Path to Enlightenment by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoch
• Dreamgates: Exploring the Worlds of Soul, Imagination, and Life Beyond Death by Robert Moss
• Dreaming Realities: A Spiritual System to Create Inner Alignment Through Dreams by Julie Silverthorn and John Overdurf
• Dreaming While Awake: Techniques for 24-Hour Lucid Dreaming by Arnold Mindell
• Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural and Psychological Dimensions of Dreaming by Kelly Bulkeley
• Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. and Howard Rheingold
• Get High Now (without drugs): 175 Sensory Trips and Tricks for Visual Stimulation, Compressing Time, Lucid Dreaming, Meditation, and More by James Nestor
• Group Dreaming: Dreams to the Tenth Power by Jean Campbell
• Guide to Lucid Dreaming: Start Lucid Dreaming (Volume 1) by Lisa Brown
• Healing Night: The Science and Spirit of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Awakening by Rubin R. Naiman
• Lucid by Katherine Angela Yeboah
• Lucid Dreaming & Meditation by Russell Smitheram
• Lucid Dreaming (Omniphonics Ser.) by Omniphonics
• Lucid Dreaming by George D. Parrish
• Lucid Dreaming by Pamela Ball
• Lucid Dreaming Dawning of the Clear Light by G Scott Sparrow
• Lucid Dreaming for Beginners: Simple Techniques for creating Interactive Dreams by Mark McElroy
• Lucid Dreaming: The paradox of consciousness during sleep by Celia, and Charles McCreery Green
• Lucid Dreaming: 99,000 Opportunities for Awareness by Teresa Martin
• Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D.
• Lucid Dreaming: as appears on Wikibooks, a project of Wikipedia by r3m0t, Evilshiznat, and Kaycee
• Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light by Gregory Scott Sparrow
• Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self by Robert Waggoner
• Lucid Dreaming: The Night’s Labyrinth Revealed by Lazaris
• Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep by Celia Green and Charles McCreery
• Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Being Awake and Aware in Your Dreams by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D.
• Lucid Dreaming: Use Your Psychic Powers to Explore the World of Your Dreams by Tony Crisp
• Lucid Dreams In 30 Days: The Creative Sleep Program by Keith Harary, Ph.D., and Pamela Weintraub
• Lucid Living: A Book You Can Read in One Hour That Will Turn Your World Inside Out by Timothy Freke
• Our Dreaming Mind by Robert L. Van de Castle
• Out the In Door: New Techniques in Lucid Dreaming by Michael Szul
• Psychology of dreams (lucid dreaming) / Psikhologiya snovideniy (osoznannye snovideniya) by Strannik
• Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night by Ryan Hurd
• Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Francisco J. Varela Ph.D.
• Teach Yourself to Dream: A Practical Guide to Unleashing the Power of the Subconscious Mind by David Fontana
• The Art Of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda
• The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming: Discovering How We Create and Control Our Dreams by Janice E. Brooks, Jay Vogelsong, and J. Allan Hobson
• The Déjà vu Enigma: A Journey Through the Anomalies of Mind, Memory and Time by Marie D. Jones and Larry Flaxman
• The Dreaming Universe: A Mind-Expanding Journey Into the Realm Where Psyche and Physics Meet by Fred Alan Wolf
• The Inception of Conscious and Lucid Dreams by Daniel Oldis
• The Lucid Dream Manifesto: reprint of – Lucid Dreams, Dreams and Sleep Theoretical Constructions by Daniel Oldis
• The Lucid Dreamer: A Waking Guide for the Traveler Between Worlds by Malcolm Godwin
• The Lucid Dreaming Book How to awake within, control and use your dreams by Paul Devereux and Charla Devereux
• The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton
• The Lucid Dreaming Kit by Paul Devereux and Charla Devereux
• The Master of Lucid Dreams by Olga Kharitidi
• The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream by Andrea Rock
• The Power of Creative Dreaming by Pamela Ball
• The practice of lucid dreaming / Praktika osoznannogo snovideniya by Stiven Laberzh
• The Secret History of Dreaming by Robert Moss
• The Sun And The Shadow: My Experiment With Lucid Dreaming by Kenneth Kelzer
• The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Mark Dahlby
• The Ultimate Lucid Dreaming Manual: From Basics to Beyond by Marc Vandekeere
• The world of Lucid Dreaming by John M Fitzgerald
• Theories in Lucid Dreaming by Kaytee Thrun
• Transcendent Dreaming: Stepping into Our Human Potential by Christina Donnell, Ph.D.

Read yourself to sleep.

© 2010 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Yoga of the Dream State
“Milam,” the Yoga of the Dream State is one of many different types of Yogas practiced by Tibetan Buddhists. The intention of this form of Yoga is to help to attain spiritual power and enlightenment or “awakening.” The word “Buddha” means “one who has awakened.”

The Yoga of the Dream State or Tibetan dream Yoga is a philosophical practice that includes lucid dreaming. Just like lucid dreaming in the Western world, the objective of Tibetan dream Yoga is to awaken the consciousness in the dream state, however Buddhist monks have a more secret and deeper knowledge of the power of dream consciousness that is possessed or understood only by a few.

The goal of the Yoga of the Dream State is to control the power of the lucid dream and then complete tasks to enter into a higher level of consciousness. These tasks include:

• Practice a spiritual discipline
• Receive initiations, empowerments and transmissions
• Visit different places, planes and worlds
• Communicate with an enlightened being
• Meet with other sentient beings
• Fly and shape-shift into other creatures

The Practice of Yoga of the Dream State
A common element in Eastern and Western lucid dreaming preparedness is to compare your dreams to waking reality and understand what it feels like to be conscious. This will increase your self awareness and you will find it easier to induce dream lucidity.

Another common element of ancient lucid dreaming and lucid dreaming today is dream recollection. As soon as you awaken, reflect on all the dreams you can remember. Remain stationary and meditate on you dreams. Physical movement disturbs the astral body and can cause you to forget your dreams.

In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that you travel during sleep, revisiting places you have been to in real life, and repeating all of your experiences.

Dreams are mirrors of our spirit. Our dreams are a reflection of ourselves. We meet ourselves in our dreams. They can help us to better understand ourselves and reality. Dreams can show us other dimensions, worlds, other lives and our afterlife.

In Tibetan dream Yoga, the spiritual practice goes deeper than that of Western lucid dreaming. It helps us to better understand life and death. Tibetan dream Yoga teaches us how to find our way through the seemingly meaninglessness state of our existence. When we reach this deep level of consciousness, we can “see” through the deceptive nature of our mind and correctly experience the spectacular human existence. You learn the true nature of reality.

During waking life, we are like sleepwalkers or dream characters semi-consciously making our way through life in a chaotic fashion. We need to be awakened. Spiritual life is awakening from the dream of unreality. All of our spiritual practices are designed to awaken us from the daydream of illusion and uncertainty. Buddhists teach us to awaken to who and what we truly are. We can then recognize the difference between the real and the unreal in our daily life.

Tibetan Buddhism teaches how to reach lucidity and how to practice it spiritually. This is the core of Tibetan dream Yoga, and the center of all the practices associated with it.

Once you master the control of your lucid dreams, it is possible to dissociate your dream body from your physical body. During the normal dream state, dream­ing occurs within the body. As you become a master lucid dreamer, the dream body can separate and journey to other unimaginable places.

© 2009 – 2011 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved

Explanation
If some one told you that they could jump up in the air and fly high in the sky you would probably think they were telling you a lie or they were simply crazy. If they explained to you that they obtained some sort of propulsion device that they strapped to their back, you would be more likely to believe them, but you may have some doubts. Lucid dreaming also requires an explanation.

Experience
If the unbeliever actually had a lucid dream, the figurative light bulb in their head would glow brightly and chances are they would believe in lucid dreaming. Experience is the key. Those of us that have the wonderful experience of lucid dreaming know without a doubt that lucid dreaming is unequivocally real.

Scientific Proof
In the 1970’s, Keith Hearne at the University of Hull in England experimented with lucid dreaming in a sleep lab. He would have a lucid dreamer signal that he was consciously aware while dreaming by moving his eyes from left to right a predetermined number of times. Since we have REM (rapid eye movement) while asleep, Hearne determined that a REM polygraph pad (a device that detects REM) would capture the intentional eye movements. In 1975, his lucid dreaming associate became lucid in the sleep lab and moved his eyes left to right the predetermined number of times to signal that he was consciously aware while asleep. Hearne observed the REM polygraph, thus scientifically proving that lucid dreaming is a reality.

A few years later, Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University performed a very comparable experiment by signaling his conscious awareness from the dream state through eye movements during a lucid dream.

LaBerge published his results in a scientific journal in 1981 and has continuously experimented with lucid dreaming research throughout his life.

Proof Is Positive
Most people do not realize that they are dreaming when they actually are in a full dream state. They accept every far-fetched and impossible thing they are doing or experiencing in their dream to be real. The lucid dream experience includes some very incredible and unique properties. When you reach lucidity in a dream, you simply know that you are asleep and are aware. This is often triggered by observing the far-fetched and impossible things happening in a dream and realizing that these things could only occur in a dream. Thus, the dreamer becomes lucid.

Personally, after I experience a lucid dream, it leaves me with a warm, pleasant feeling throughout the day. It is an invigorating experience that lasts far after awakening. Remember to document all of your dreams.

Often, when you realize that you are having a lucid dream it is so incredibly overwhelming that you wake up the moment you become lucid. It is upsetting to waste a lucid dream so read through all of my lessons to learn how to avoid premature awakenings and have long, wonderful lucid dreams!

© 2009 – 2010 Gary Gardner, All Rights Reserved