A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (16 page)

Remember Rapid Eye Movement (REM), that stage of sleep

where your brain is completely active yet your body is asleep,

the time in which we dream? To learn lucid dreaming this stage

is incredibly important. The goal is to direct all your energy at

REM, to focus your intention on those open windows of time

when you’re actually dreaming.

Here’s the problem.

When we set an intention before bed, we don’t hit a substantial

period of REM for nearly an hour after falling asleep. There are

three stages of sleep you go through before even getting to REM.

Your intention has to wait in line for light sleep and deep sleep to

pass by before it gets its chance to shine.

Often enough, as we enter REM, we’ve forgotten our original

plan: to have a lucid dream. Your goals to see a dream sign or

to perform a reality check will continue to fade as you progress

through additional sleep cycles.

If only there were some clever, simple solution to this problem,

a way to go to sleep right into a dream, bypassing the amnesia of

deep sleep! Don’t panic, there is a way.

Wake-Back-to-Bed

The last two windows of REM occur at the end of our sleep

cycles, in the early morning hours. Although we dream on

and off throughout the night, lucid dreamers tend to focus on

these last two stages for a couple reasons:

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They’re the longest.
As the night progresses, the amount of time

you spend dreaming increases. The last two stages of REM are the

longest—nearly fifty minutes each—giving you a great chance to

have long, vivid, conscious dreams.

No more deep sleep.
Since you’ve already gotten your deep sleep

over with earlier in the night, the only thing that lies between the

last two stages of REM is a small sliver of light sleep. Your body is

still tired, but your mind is primed for dreaming.

Easier to remember.
Subjects waking up directly out of a dream

have better dream recall. Focus on these last two stages of sleep

and it’s likely that you’ll remember your lucid dreams directly after

waking.

Armed with this knowl-

The first lucid dream I had was spontane-

edge, let’s trick Mother

ous. It was one of the most memorable

Nature by catching our last

moments of my life. I was camping at the

two REM cycles. This feat

time and had spent the day by my tent

is done with a technique

reading a book. I had felt quite meditative

all day, but other than that I had not tried

known as wake-back-to-

any technique either during the day or as

bed. Simply put, it involves

I was falling asleep, it just happened out of

waking up after six hours

the blue at about 4:00 a.m. Like I said, it

of sleep, staying awake for

was one of the most amazing experiences

twenty minutes, then going

I ever had, waking up in a “dream world”

back to bed. This thrifty

being fully awake in that world, spinning

solution sends you back to

and jumping around in excitement, unbe-

lievable excitement. —Jack G.

bed right before you enter

the last windows of REM.

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How to Catch Your Last REM Cycle

By waking up just before your last REM cycles begin, you’re

essentially putting your sleep on “pause.” When you go back

to bed twenty minutes later, you’ll be diving right into a nice,

refreshing swimming pool of your own dreams. With wake-back-

to-bed, setting an intention, looking for dream signs, and focusing

on becoming aware in your dreams becomes very effective. Here is

the step-by-step technique:

Step 1: Set Your alarm for Six Hours after Bedtime

Wake up around six hours after you go to sleep. This tends to

be a reliable number, but results may vary. If your early morning

wake-up time isn’t working, try variations. For example, if you’re

sleeping for a total of eight hours, maybe you’d want to try to catch

the very last REM cycle, so you’d want to set your alarm for seven

hours after your bedtime, not six. If you have difficulty returning

to sleep after a wake-back-to-bed, stick with six hours; it will be

easier to fall back asleep with this option.

Step 2: Wake Up for Twenty Minutes

Wake up and stay up for around fifteen to twenty minutes. Staying

awake for this span of time awakens your left brain, the analyti-

cal half of your mind, which is essential for realizing that “Whoa,

this is a dream!” Without your active left brain there to help, your

creative right brain will happily get carried away in the whimsy of

the dream. In other words, you don’t want to simply wake up for

a few seconds and fall back to sleep. We know, your bed looks so

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cozy you could just cry. But this tech-

nique is basically pointless unless you

stay up, get your brain thinking clearly

and logically, and then go back to bed

with a strong intention.

Step 3: Go Back to Bed

Now you can get back into bed and

ooze into a state of comfortable relax-

ation. Many have found that sleeping on

your back helps with lucid dreaming, so we

recommend that you try this position. As you fall back to sleep,

you want to focus your mind on your intention: “I will realize that

I’m dreaming.”

Step 4: affirm It

Tell yourself over and over “I am aware that I’m dreaming.” Let

this be your dominant thought as you fall asleep.

Step 5: See It

Behind your closed eyelids, visualize yourself inside a dream. See

yourself becoming lucid and realizing that you’re dreaming.

See yourself noticing a dream sign or doing a reality check. Imagine

it with all of your five senses. The stronger the visualization the

better.

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Step 6: Feel It

Feel the excitement and emotions that come with being lucid in a

dream, when you stop and perform a reality check only to realize

that you are in fact dreaming. Feel the incredible freedom of being

aware—without boundaries or limits—inside a dream.

Step 7: Expect It

As you repeat the phrase “I am aware that I’m dreaming,” you will

begin sinking into sleep. Remember, you’re not simply turning off

like a robot, you’re an explorer on a journey to your own inner

universe. An incredible adventure awaits you. The next place you’ll

find yourself in will be a dream.

THINGS TO DO IN THE FIFTEEN TO

TWENTY MINUTES WHILE AWAKE

• Read past dreams from your dream journal.

• Look over your list of dream signs.

• Read this book (or another book about lucid dreaming if you must).

• Take a pee.

• Draw a picture of a dream you’d like to have.

• Get up and walk around.

• Write a letter to your subconscious.

• Continuously ask yourself “Am I dreaming?” until you go back to sleep.

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Eureka! You’re In.

Welcome to Wonderland! You’re Alice and you just hit the

floor of the rabbit hole. The moment that you recognize

that you’re dreaming will be an exciting one, so give yourself a big

pat on the back for this accomplishment. If this is your first lucid

dream, then it’s likely you now know what all the fuss is about.

The experience is profound—you’ve just discovered a completely

uncharted terrain.

CAT NAP