I’ve been trying to do lucid dreaming since May 1st of this year. Recently finished Andrew’s Lucid Dreaming/Dream Yoga seminar on Tricycle’s online courses. Got lots of questions about the last 35 nights of dreaming - if indeed some of those dreams were actually lucid. Looking forward to learning more. I have been doing yoga and sitting zazen since 1980 in Japan and then in San Francisco Zen Center. Would like to extend my daily practice of mindfulness into hours asleep. I’m a 65 year old retired physical therapist and wound care specialist. I live in Virginia, USA.
Great to have you join the community. What about your recent dreams indicate that they may have been lucid? Did you realize you were dreaming or did you take actions indicating lucidity?
Barry,
I had perhaps 2-3 dreams/week before 5/1/21.
On 5/1/21 I started using the induction techniques described by Andrew Holecek. I’ve had 1-3 dreams/night since then.
In more than half of them I knew I was dreaming, but I took no volitional action to alter the course of the dream.
In 7 dreams I knew I was dreaming and consciously chose to utilize the mutability of the dream to take action of my own volition.
Trying not to be too wordy, I have summarized 5 of them below.
Do these seem like lucid dreams to you?
1: I have stumbled. I am about to hit the pavement hard. I think, "No. I am not going to hit that pavement." I slow my fall. I stop it. I reverse my fall even as my outstretched hands are inches above the pavement. I make myself fall upwards in reverse, like a film put on re-wind, until I am standing upright.
2: I am in the subterranean levels of a medical center being flooded fast. I can't swim upward against the downward deluge of water. I am looking down through deeper flooded levels for some refuge. Then I remember there is a really nice cafeteria down on the lowest level. Realizing this is a dream, I let go of my desperate grip on the ladder and swim far down to the cafeteria and start choosing among the delicious entrees.
3: I realize I am in a dream in which I am suspended in empty space while a floating cloud of network nodes are being woven in an invisible airy cocoon around me. I think, "you know, you should probably do something volitional to get out of this before you are all bound up." But then I think, "I really want to see where this goes if I do absolutely nothing." I watch in wonder as I am surrounded by a galaxy of scintillations. I wake up tingling and happy.
4: Watching my F-18 pilot brother-in-law flying high over the California coast, I think, "I wish I could fly like that." Suddenly I am flying at 80,000 feet. I think, "Oh my god, this is horrible, I'm scared of heights and I'm not in an airplane." Then I realize it's a dream, so I relax. I see two kestrels soaring nearby. I summon them to either side of me. Embracing wings and arms we fly first to the frozen wetlands of the arctic tundra and then fly cross country to the Blue Ridge Mountains where we land on a rocky ridge and watch the sunset.
5: I must attend many mandatory seminars which are dry and tedious. In between seminars I seek out hallways that are relatively uncrowded. Because this is a dream and just for the hell of it, I make myself slowly lift up off the floor. My feet are bearing less and less weight. The tedium leaves me. Then I am weightless. Now I am an inch off the ground. Two inches. Then someone comes around the corner of the hallway, someone with whom I must interact. I quickly land lest they look at me askance.
Barry,
It looks like my text got truncated in the dialog box. Here is the full text:
Do these seem like lucid dreams?
I have stumbled. I am about to hit the pavement hard. I think, “No. I am not going to hit that pavement.” I slow my fall. I stop it. I reverse my fall even as my outstretched hands are inches above the pavement. I make myself fall upwards in reverse, like a film put on re-wind, until I am standing upright.
I am in the subterranean levels of a medical center being flooded fast. I can’t swim upward against the downward deluge of water. I am looking down through deeper flooded levels for some refuge. Then I remember there is a really nice cafeteria down on the lowest level. Realizing this is a dream, I let go of my desperate grip on the ladder and swim far down to the cafeteria and start choosing among the delicious entrees.
I realize I am in a dream in which I am suspended in empty space while a floating cloud of network nodes are being woven in an invisible airy cocoon around me. I think, “you know, you should probably do something volitional to get out of this before you are all bound up.” But then I think, “I really want to see where this goes if I do absolutely nothing.” I watch in wonder as I am surrounded by a galaxy of scintillations. I wake up tingling and happy.
Watching my F-18 pilot brother-in-law flying high over the California coast, I think, “I wish I could fly like that.” Suddenly I am flying at 80,000 feet. I think, “Oh my god, this is horrible, I’m scared of heights and I’m not in an airplane.” Then I realize it’s a dream, so I relax. I see two kestrels soaring nearby. I summon them to either side of me. Embracing wings and arms we fly first to the frozen wetlands of the arctic tundra and then fly cross country to the Blue Ridge Mountains where we land on a rocky ridge and watch the sunset.
I must attend many mandatory seminars which are dry and tedious. In between seminars I seek out hallways that are relatively uncrowded. Because this is a dream and just for the hell of it, I make myself slowly lift up off the floor. My feet are bearing less and less weight. The tedium leaves me. Then I am weightless. Now I am an inch off the ground. Two inches. Then someone comes around the corner of the hallway, someone with whom I must interact. I quickly land lest they look at me askance.
I am just a beginner, but if I had experiences such as these I’d say yes, these have been lucid dreams—recognizing that there are different stages of lucidity and that the purpose of Dream Yoga is to utilize lucidity as moments for observation and practice. Keep up the great work, it’s inspirational to read.
Here is a quote from "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (W.Y. Evans Wentz):
“As a result of these methods the yogin enjoys as vivid consciousness in the dream-state as in the waking-state; and in passing from one state to another experiences no break in the continuity of memory. Thereby, the content of the dream-state is found to be quite the same as that of the waking-state…”
This refers, of course, more to a Dream Yoga perspective but I find this “unbroken continuity of consciousness” perspective to be very helpful in determining how well we are doing in establishing dream lucidity.
In my opinion, if you are acting like “yourself” in the dream and making decisions that are of the type you would be making when awake…you are definitely experiencing some measure of “lucidity”. Lucidity is not measured by how high we fly or how often we pass through impediments.
Interesting to think about. I like to consider that when my thinking in a dream is “better” than when I’m awake, and then my waking thinking visibly “improves,” it shows progress in my working towards evolving my conscious mind. I guess I’m not at the " “unbroken continuity of consciousness” stage quite yet
For example, where I would feel fear of a certain person or situation in the waking state, but am undisturbed by the same circumstances in my dreams—if I can bring that equanimous attitude to my waking state I see that as progress. Thoughts?
Good to know about lucidity not being measured by ‘magical’ actions done in dreams. Didn’t know that.
My dream-me usually has the same decision making logical process as waking-me, but dream-me is fearlessly definite whereas waking-me is trepidaciously equivocating. When I compare either of them to the me I am when sitting zazen, the zazen-me seems wiser than either of the other two.
I know waking-me needs improvement and when he is mindful of zazen-me’s advice during the day he acts better. But the dream-me and the zazen-me don’t seem to be communicating with one another. I’m not sure how this new dream-me I’ve discovered fits into the mix.
I think that is kind of what this is all about. The dream state is like an amazing social laboratory where we can work to subtly change ourselves.
From my own experience…every night now I find myself a part of a dream plot that is real people doing real things, except, of course, sometimes those “real things” can drift into subtle surrealism. I watch…I redirect the plot at times…I decide how to interact. I definitely feel that my waking self has become more centered and aware of the plot of my life because of this.
Still…every once in a while there comes a reason for a short flight of fancy.
My dreams often times feel just as real as my waking life…which, of course, makes me realize even more the reciprocal illusory nature of both states. By that I mean that if both states feel the same…just as real…and we know one to definitely be illusory in nature…
I have done some zazen in my days training in Aikido. I find now that meditation in general has become like a middle ground between the waking state and the dream state. It is like sitting calmly right there in the portal connecting the two.
