Dreams are known to be absolutely random. One night you’re walking around school naked and the next you’re riding on a flying elephant to your cousin’s bar mitzvah even though he’s not even Jewish. Have you ever wanted to be able to control your dreams and create your own realm of reality within your head every night? Well look no further because the science of Lucid Dreaming allows for that. Lucid dreaming has been known ever since Aristotle’s time; he was quoted saying that “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream”. Lucid dreaming isn’t just used for fun, however. According to thelucidreamsite.com The tibetan buddhists used lucid dreaming as a way of self reflection and “as a means to gain spiritual enlightenment.” They referred to it as “dream yoga” and the objective of it is “to probe your consciousness and bring you to a constant state of awareness.” Also, it is said that in a deep, reflective lucid dream, the mind portrays your own problems such as social anxiety, timidness, and other emotions as “physical” characters within the dream that you can interact with…cool huh?

Why don’t we all lucid dream as soon as we fall asleep at night? Well there are two popular methods to lucid dreaming. One method is to lay down at night on your back with your hands by your side, close your eyes as if you were going to sleep, except fight the urge to fall asleep for 30-45 minutes WITHOUT MOVING A MUSCLE. After a while your body will feel weightless and you will enter a stage of “sleep paralysis“. You will not be able to physically move your body because it is technically asleep; however, your mind will still be conscious and ready to control your dreams. This method requires an absurd amount of concentration and discipline, so if you don’t want to try that there’s always method #2. This version takes a little bit more time; however, once you get the hang of it, you will be able to lucid dream any night of the week if you wanted. The first part towards learning lucid dreaming is teaching yourself how to remember your dreams as soon as you wake up. It is recommended to keep a “dream journal” next to your bed and write them down first thing in the morning so it is easy to recall your dreams easier. The second part is reality checks. Similar to the movie Inception, in a lucid dream there will be some parts of the dream that are inaccurate from reality. For example, if you were to look at a clock it would look a little something like this:

Try clapping or putting your hands together, as well. Believe it or not, in the dream world your hands would just end up going right through each other as if they were transparent. The goal is to recognize these phenomenons going on during your dream and it should trigger your mind to realize you are just dreaming and you are not in reality. Only after that epiphany will you be able to control your dreams. Another indicator that you’re lucid dreaming comes in the form of “dream signs.” Everyone can discover their own unique dream signs by paying close attention to an arbitrary, random, and reoccurring entity in your dreams. It could be a purple cat, a red bouncy ball bouncing around the dream, pretty much anything. Now we know what lucid dreaming is, but what causes humans to be able to do it? Neuroscientist J Allan Hobson proclaims once we realize we are dreaming something triggers the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which is responsible for self-awareness and working memory.  According to Hobson’s theory, when lucid, the dreamer “treads a fine line between staying asleep, yet remaining conscious enough to remember they’re dreaming.”

Although it seems too good to be true, lucid dreaming is a great way to live out your fantasies in the most realistic manner possible without it actually being reality. Don’t get too carried away, however, because then differentiating between reality and dreams might be a little confusing. If you’re interested and want to learn more about lucid dreaming, visit this site to learn how to get started yourself. Best of luck and happy dreaming everyone!