Aug 17 2015

Lucid Dreaming

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“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”

–Edgar Allan Poe

I have had a bit of time off of work, so I have finally gotten to catch up on one of my favorite past times: reading!  I have been holding onto this book, “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming”, for almost two years since a friend so kindly lent it to me (I’m usually not that bad with borrowing stuff, but what can I say, he’s a nice friend….) I have been into all things metaphysical since I was a young child, lucid dreaming being on the top of my list.  I started jotting my dreams into journals when I was eight years old.  When I was a teenager, I would have piles upon piles of metaphysical books underneath my pillows and to the side of me.  I recently joked to my sister that my mom never had to worry about me sleeping with boys when I was in high school, however she maybe should have been worried that I had the book “Life After Life” by Raymond Moody tucked under the covers with me for the majority of my 17th year on this planet.

I would try to bring up metaphysical subjects with my mom or grandma growing up, but they would usually either leave the room or tell me that I “shouldn’t be thinking that way.”  That was when I started writing in dream journals, regular journals and then finally finding a few others with similar mind sets as me in junior high to discuss all things metaphysical with.  It was great to be able to find these kindred spirits and to not feel as if I had to hold back on discussing things that had bothered me since I was a child.  To be able to ask my friend “what if there was just absolute NOTHINGness, like….not even the color black or white because if it was true NOTHINGness there wouldn’t even be colors…” and to not be looked at as if I was crazy was just great to me.

Now that we are living in this huge technological era, I have discovered there is a plethora of people that think like me and have been questioning the same things.  It’s so wonderful in this blogging community to come across metaphysical subjects so readily and have long drawn out conversations with someone across the world about “why in the hell are we here?”  I feel that in general, the world is opening up to metaphysical lines of thinking.  I feel that five years ago I would have been way to shy to be writing about what I am about to write.  What I really want to do in writing this is to help someone, even if it’s just one person reading this right now, to let them know that they are not alone.

I opened up “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” last night, read the first chapter (which included one detailed exercise on becoming aware in the precise moment of wherever you are while reading the book) and fell asleep.  It was a shock to me, but I experienced a lucid dream immediately (I guess I have a knack for it?)  I had quite a few lucid dreams in the last few years, but this one in particular had both the lucidity and the feeling of a very thin veil between dimensions.  I wrote it down right away after I awoke and this is word for word from my journal:

8/15/15

Okay, I am for SURE going to need to get a separate dream journal!  I only JUST started reading this lucid dream book last night and as soon as I fell asleep I already had an experience!  It started with me drifting off to sleep (having random thoughts) and then as clear as day, the song “Black” by Pearl Jam came into my head and then the White Stripes “Hardest Button to Button”, it was really rather goofy.  And then a strong awareness came over me, I realized that I was lying in my bed and that I was in my new studio apartment that I just moved into.  I got the sensation that, especially compared to my old apartment that I just moved from, I was in a space that has very good energy.  I felt wrapped up in a warming loving energetic embrace and realized I was up near the ceiling and saw my body in the bed below.  And then there was what felt like a shift (kind of when your ears pop when you’re rising in an airplane) in frequency and I felt incredibly light and free.  I felt as if I had a gigantic smile on my face, I felt so excited and then I darted across the room to pet my cat.  As I was petting him, I noticed that my arm was transparent and I realized it was just made of light.  I started to get so energetic and fascinated that I could roam free anywhere I wanted, but then a voice softly said as clear as day “we can hear you, but calm down, you’re going to wake people up” and then I darted awake.

So, take that as you will (yes I’m hearing voices, but at least it’s while I am asleep ;)) I just couldn’t stop thinking about it all throughout the next day.  It seemed so incredibly real to me and I know in the past lucid dreams had always been like this, it’s almost as if they feel more real than “real” life.  Now that I have all this time off for the next few weeks I am going to try a few more of the exercises.  As I have paged through the book, I have noticed that a lot of the exercises consist of meditations, so it will be interesting to see how deep I can go doing my regular 20-minute morning meditations along with the meditations in the book.

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved.  So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons.  It all exists,even if it’s in your mind.  Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”

–John Lennon

23 comments on “Lucid Dreaming”

  1. Yes!! What a great post! So wonderful that you had such reinforcement your first time doing it. I myself am not of a lucid dreamer or OBEer (not yet anyway), but reading/studying those things (including the book you’re in) has had a tremendous impact on my understanding of the spiritual/non-physical realm, how it blends with science and religion, etc. If you haven’t yet read William Buhlman’s “Adventures Beyond the Body,” I can’t recommend it highly enough. Keep me posted, and happy exploring! Julianna

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    • Thanks for stopping by and commenting Julianna, that means a lot to me! 🙂 Thank you so much for the book recommendation, I am constantly looking for new books to get into, I will most definitely check that out! And give it time and a bit of practice, you’ll be lucid dreaming/astral exploring in no time 🙂 I am still a novice of course myself, but on the path to becoming an oneironaut (that word is mentioned in the book. The meaning is: explorer of the dream world :)) I just love that word hah..

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    • Thanks for reading and commenting 🙂 I know exactly what kind of dream you are talking about and YES! That’s very much a lucid dream, or I feel it is at least. I have had that many times, where I will wake up, get my morning coffee going, head for the bathroom, etc. and then all of a sudden I’ll realize that I am actually lying in my bed still, I dream/imagined that I had already got up, but it is so lucid it feels as real as “real” life….

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  3. Lucid dreams are good…:) You have the will to control yourself in a dream.. Lucid dreams increase when you meditate regularly. In my case, whenever I meditate intensively, I see lots of lucid dreams…:) They are really good…:)

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  4. Wow – what an amazing experience!! I’ve rarely had lucid dreams and would love to experience that! So cool that you have a knack for it.

    You and I would have been great friends in high school. 😉 I too was obsessed with all things metaphysical as a child, but most of my family, especially my dad, just did not get that. My high school dream book was ‘Dreams, Symbols, and Psychic Powers’. That thing was so tattered!! I somehow let the dream interpretation go over the years, but I’ve had several very symbolic dreams in the past few months, so I’m going to start paying more attention, esp now that the summer craziness is subsiding and I’ve moved out of the city.

    Looking forward to reading more! ❤

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    • It’s no wonder we found each other in the social media world at least 😉 but yeah, would have been great to talk to you in those high school years too 🙂 That sounds like an awesome book, a mixture of a few different subjects! I LOVE those symbols books because even in “waking life” I will catch myself noticing certain objects/symbols a lot and that’s a handy book to have around to help you become aware of the meaning behind seeing repetitive things. It’s amazing how active/deep/detailed our dreams can be during major transitions in our life, that makes sense since you moved out of the city that your dreams have become more symbolic. Anyhow, thanks for reading and the comment, means a lot to me! And I look forward to reading more of your awesome posts:)

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  5. Great post…and I love the quotes you came up with. Hadn’t seen the John Lennon one. For a long time dreams were really important for me, I kept journals over journals…now, it seems, communication with my Spirit Guides seems to have replaced that (again: journals and more journals :-)) . However, I always wondered what lucid dreaming would be like. Great that it worked for you right away! Curious to read more about your experiences!

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    • Thank you Gia for stopping by and for the comment. Oh yes–Spirit Guides are definitely important to pay attention to. I would be so curious to read about your experience with them!? I can’t wait to scope out your blog more:)

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  6. To keep it short and simple.
    I liked what you have written. More importantly, you are not alone. There are many who do the stuff you do. Lucid dreaming is especially good with music, I have never tried reading to lucid dream but I will try it now with the book you have written about. Thanks.

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  8. I love that music was a part of your lucid dream process. I often wake up with songs in my head that I think are messages from my higher self or other people. They’re usually really corny 80s songs but the messages ring true. 🙂

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    • That’s funny Elisheva! I too have had cheesy 80s songs haha. That’s so cool to hear though–about the messages ringing true and coming from higher self and others. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

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  11. Wow, I really like your post!! I’m a lucid dreamer myself, and although I’m no expert on books, I really enjoyed this as well! I also wrote a story on my blog about lucid dreaming! (Although it’s not very close to the facts, haha)

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