I have been drawn to lucid dreaming because of the idea that the way I typically sleep perpetuates unskillful unconscious patterns, rather than fostering wakefulness and curiosity, and fails to take advantage of a significant period of time in my life. I assumed that this meant that my lucid dreaming would be a way to bring my meditation practice into sleep, and that more hedonistic approaches to lucid dreaming contributes to habits that I do not want to create. However, it seems that Andrew is not against the use of lucid dreaming for flying or for romantic encounters. What is behind this? Could a hedonistic approach to lucid dreaming provide the motivation to lucid dream, allowing lucid dreams to later be used for more transcendent purposes?
Welcome to the community. Good question.
My take:
Andrew emphasizes that lucid dreaming and Dream Yoga are not the same thing and that lucid dreaming is just one component of DY. I believe he, and other DY teachers suggest that enjoyment of lucid dreams can play a part in developing a healthy lucid dreaming practice, that can then feed into purposeful Dream Yoga activities. So, romantic encounters, flying and other way-out experiences have their place in fostering motivation and confidence in practitioners.
For younger folks than, sayā¦me, I do believe that lucid dreaming is bound to have a more hedonistic attraction. If we truly are striving for an unbroken continuity of consciousness between awake and aādream, then the way we live our waking lives is bound to be how we dreamā¦especially when lucid.
I think Barryās perspective on this is a good one.
I came upon this path late in life so my goal has always been transcendental and spiritual rather then recreational. That said, I am not averse to an occasional flight of fancy. At this point in my spiritual development, however, I would rather watch karmic traces self liberate in the dream than create any new ones. 
Hi there!
Iāve been exploring my spiritual path for 40+ years (path of non-duality/non-Buddhist)ā¦ Iāve spent most of that time in an amazing adventure within the spiritual/dream worlds, always with the āhighestā possible destination in mind. That being said, Iāve found that while a traveler in this physical world, balance is extremely important and the experience in my life of ānormalā lucid dreams is such a wonderful way of finding joy/fun in my life while learning how to love and surrender more - what (for me) itās all about.
(Full disclosureā¦ took a while to get over that little bit of guilt!)
One thing that strikes meā¦ālucid dreamingā has become a big market. Google it and youāll get a lot of sites that are trying to make money on it.
I came here to get away from that and to find a deeper meaning.
I am working on new verbiage in my affirmations. Instead of intending to be lucid in my dream I intend to be conscious.
luĀ·cid
/ĖloĶosÉd/
adjective
expressed clearly; easy to understand.
āa lucid accountā
LITERARY
bright or luminous.
I do like that second definition. 
Good observation. I have been thinking of it more as āawareness.ā I figure it will take about a year or two at most for āLucid Dreamingā to appear on the cover of TIME magazine and have it replace āmindfulnessā as the flavor of the month.
Good conversation. Can only concur. Am old, and serious about cleaning the slate, but if harmless fun is involved, bring it on! 
Good bumpage of a good conversation. 
Fwiwā¦in my own practice now I hardly ever think about ālucidityā and possible explorations. I live my life in the dreamā¦and then go to bed and live my life some more.
Iām happy to hear it 
It makes me hope itāll become like that for me soon.
Whatās ābumpageā, precious? [qua Gollum: āwhatās ātaters, preciousā?] Iām not very savvy on virtual world lingo. Only in old age am I spending much time on a computer, just hanginā arounā 
Iād be out in the garden if it werenāt for physical limitations.
I also wish I didnāt live so far away from you all, with the time differences and all. I would enjoy the hangouts, but they happen at uncivilised times in my country.
Bumpageā¦is the process of bumping a thread to the front of the queue. I donāt believe youāll find that exact word in the dictionary, however.
LOL! Thank you. Making a noun of a verb. Bumping it up the queue.
Me too Jane! Iām on CET and a lot of the sessions are at around 3am. 
Thatās a shame, huh. Where do you live? I donāt know what CET is. Time zone?
Ah, Central Europe! Where? So, slow conversation it will have to be, like slow cookery. Not a bad idea really. We should talk about something, but I have no burning ideas, thoughts or questions today. What are your particular interests and aims here? Iād love to talk about anything related to all of this really. I know very little about the fullness of Buddhism, but enjoying what Iām learning at the moment very much indeed.
Blessings, and hope youāre well at this awful time
Iām in Italy. Iām not going to be able to contribute much right now. Iām in the throes of resistance. Iāve upset the proverbial apple cart by delving and carrying out reality checks etc. The aftermath feels a little stormy. Blessings to you too!
Oh well, we all go through that. Itās not a crime. [Your English is excellent, btw, unlike my Italian (non-existent), says the ex-teacher 
]. Iāve just started a ādeeperā practice, and unexpectedly experienced an hour of strong s**t from my thoughts yesterday in meditation which hasnāt happened for a long, long time, so I guess I was overdue for a stirring of the mud. I was genuinely shocked and upset by it, and bored my husband about it for an hour before I realised it was all stuff I thought Iād put to bed forever, and needed to gain perspective on yet again. But, now itās passed, like all nightmares. I find Iām like this: Iām cringing at the time, then I think, ābring it on!ā There would seem to be a gap between what I really need [letting go], and the ability to open to it. Creaky door syndrome? 
I suspect thatās a common experience. Itās all stuff thatās not easy to talk about, is it. Iāve found talking to people here has been very uplifting, even if itās not as satisfying as speaking in person to like-minded individuals.
I like conversing via asynchronous chats because it focuses on writing as a form of thinking and that takes it to a deeper level in my experience. Too often we listen, just waiting to get our thoughts into the mix and then where does that go? Reminds me of living in Alaska and working with Eskimos, whose pause patterns of speech are an average of 6 seconds or more. That means after finishing a sentence, the other speaker will not start talking for six seconds, which is an eternity in western culture. Thatās why Native American were often described as āsilent and unresponsive,ā when communicating with foreigners. Perhaps itās the same for NZ Aborigines, though I hesitate to generalize because Iām almost always wrong when I do.
Tena koe. NZ Aborigines - who are called Maori - are pretty much Europeanised now. Those who wish to, and they are many, cling fiercely to their aboriginal culture, of course, and itās honoured more and more here, as it should be. Our News readers start all speech in Maori. When Maori are communicating seriously with one another, and with us Pakeha (white people) they are ceremonious about it. As individuals they no longer conform to one pattern of social behaviour. We are trying to redress the cultural balance here, but social inequality for them is still shameful. When we are stupid, they call us āeggsā. Such a sweet insult, huh
Iām a writer among other things, so itās not a struggle for me. Iām always happy to wait for others though
I spent some time with a couple of New Zealand doctors in Nepal where I was stationed in the US Peace Corps, in the Himalayas, near a hospital built by Sir Edmund Hillary. I remember one show that we Westerners put on for our Nepali friends. I sang a song and two doctors did a Maori Haka, kamate kamate kora kora . kamate kamate kora kora . . . ahhhh heeeeeeeee!!! The Nepalis went wild and for weeks thatās all we heard whenever the docs went into the village.