I recently had my first lucid dream (A dream state in which one is conscious enough to recognize that one is in the dream state and is then able to control dream events.)
Within the past six months I have started meditating and participating in a yoga class which I take more for mind reasons than body reasons.
I am wondering if anyone else here knows about the suject or has expierienced a lucid dream before?
~Erica
Hi hon,
yes I’ve experienced lucid dreams, and honestly, it was a delight. The awareness lasted only a short while, sometimes it degenerated into wierd stuff “out of my control”, but I suspect it was really my subconscious showing me my fears and areas where I needed focus.
My favorite are the ones where I am flying, and realize I’m dreaming, and soaring over the countryside. Truly refreshing and delightful.
That was years ago, when I was very focused on my spiritual growth. At that time I was also focusing on inward growth and dream interpretation, so there was a real focus on learning from my dreams, as well as noticing where I could have control of them. My next step was to truly take control and make something happen in the dream according to my will, but unfortunately when I would suddenly become lucid in the dream, most of the time I would have no idea what I really wanted to do (except in the cases where I knew I wanted to continue flying, or just delighting at being aware).
It’s like when someone asks you if you had a million dollars, what would you spend it on? Hurry, answer NOW. See what I mean? 
You can take control of them, enjoy the lucid moments, and if you choose to, you can, beforehand, think of something within yourself that you wish to change that you may be having difficulty with. Then, when you are dreaming, make that thing happen. If our dreams can tell us things about ourselves and our subconscious, then it stands to reason that by intentionally making something happen in our dreams, we are affecting the subconscious.
Best of luck to you. 
Hehe, if I had a million dollars, I’d have to give them quickly to someone else. I barely can cope with what I have right now, god forbid, a million dollars would totally ruin me. I am weak.
Yes, I had lucid dreams when I started meditating. It wasn’t much fun for me because many of the dreams were nightmares. Then I read that I could control things in the lucid dreams and this helped me a lot. The lucid dreams disappeared after a few months.
As with anything that comes up as a result of our spiritual practices, there are two ways to go: (1) favor the practice, or (2) indulge in the special effects. This is an interesting topic that you could bring up in class.
I prefer the first approach. That would mean that you give preference to your practice over the “special effects”. That would mean to continue with the meditation practice that you have chosen to do.(I’m assuming that you have been given the proper techniques for sitting, breathing and the mind). And not to give too much attention to the lucid dreams. Of course, if a “side effect” is too difficult it is always good to back off on the practice. E.g. meditate fewer times a day, meditate for shorter periods, stop meditation for a few months. This is just plain common sense.
The second approach would be to pay more attention to the “special effects”. That would mean cultivating lucid dreaming. Giving it a lot of attention, keeping diaries of your dreams etc. etc. People have written complete books about lucid dreaming and there are special branches of (Tibetan?) yoga interested in them. Undoubtedly you will learn something from this approach too.
However, in my own practice I would favor meditation over lucid dreaming. You are free to go where you please. Just make sure that you know where you want to go first.
Please don’t meditate to “learn to control the mind”. Meditate to free your mind. And return it gently to your meditation object whenever it strays. It’s like training a puppy with much love and patience.
I believe you are speaking of lucid dreams at night while you are sleeping. If they do disturb you, keep in mind that you have more control than just that within a lucid dream. You can choose NOT to have lucid dreams, by making that an intention before you go to sleep at night. Firmly, and clearly, hold the intention in your mind for even a moment, then let yourself drift off to sleep.
If the dreams are sometimes uncomfortable, you can also intend that you will only have lucid dreams that are productive and beneficial, without emotional turmoil.
It’s all up to you, and you can control it before you even fall asleep.
it may take some practice, or a few tries, or it may work right off for you.
It’s worth a shot
After only practising mantra for a short period, I had my usual nightmare of falling, falling, knowing I’m going to die. And in the dream I instantly started chanting the mantra and was saved. It was amazing. Later on, I had dreams where ghosts and scary creatures tried to kill me, I repeated the mantra, and banished them instantly! Another one which was the best of all, because it was so powerful, was a turning, spinning flaming bush that came towards me a hundred miles an hour, trying to kill me. I almost screamed the mantra in the dream and was saved yet again. Amazing stuff. Don’t know if that is lucid dreaming, a lady told me once it is. Not sure. But thought I share it, because it was just so amazing. Elisabeth
Elisabeth,
That’s a very interesting experience with your dreams. From your friend’s response, that would mean any time you, in a dream, become aware enough to change the progression of the dream, that is lucid dreaming.
I also taught myself to wake from nightmares. I would realize I was having a bad dream, and begin shaking my head back and forth, saying “wake up, wake up” to myself, and it always worked. A couple of times, though, I only woke up in another dream lol. It was very interesting.
I told my 10 year old son this technique, and the next time he had a bad dream, his mind remembered it, and he was able to wake himself using it.
I think we would all be very surprised to find how much control or influence we really do have on our dreams and our dream state. We really aren’t helpless, and any helplessness in a dream is merely reflecting our feeling helpless in situations in life.
I just found this website on Lucid Dreaming, you may find it informative - and it isn’t trying to sell you anything. They also have a forum for discussion. http://www.dreamviews.com/
Since meditation involves viewing the various modifications of the mind at both a conscious and subconscious level, it is typical that such viewing will manifest a new and different awareness of the contents of your deeper mind, that would normally be beyond the parameters of conscious mental awareness.
This could easily include any memories and emotional triggers stored in the subconscious mind, which are the driving force behind your automatic reactions and spontaneous responses to virtually everyone and everything, and which serve as the foundation of your personal self-image and feelings of self-esteem, your most profound core beliefs, your greatest mental expectations, and which also vividly fuel your dreams, hopes, and fears.
As a result, lucid dreams or otherwise seeing and remembering dreams more vividly can definitely be a by-product of the meditative process, and can reveal the nature of mental and emotional influences normally hidden from conscious view. If any of these influences are felt to produce a negative impact, they can be identified as such, effectively neutralized and finally eliminated accordingly through your continued self-discipline in meditation and other spiritual practices.
Hari OM!
Adityananda
Hi Joanna63!
Thanks for sharing your technique to wake up again whilst having a bad dream. Since I left my guru who gave me that mantra I mentioned, I have picked myself another mantra as a kind of experiment to see if it will also ‘kick in’ when I’m having bad dreams. So far nothing happened. Swamiji wanted us to believe that only a mantra given by a guru would have the necessary powers, but since I am no longer with him, and have no intention of ever being mistreated again by another Guru, I decided to experiment. I bought myself another mala and just chant ‘Om Nama Shivaya’.
From your experience with willing yourself to wake up just by shaking your head and repeating some words, I can see that we ourselves are powerful beyond our wildest DREAMS!!! I’m still sad because I would have preferred to have a loving and kind mentor/guru on the path, but it is better to be alone rather than be with a fake guru. Glad I found this post on dreams, because my dream life used to be incredibly interesting, need to connect again! If you are interested in my story, google ‘false guru swamiji’, and my little amateur webpage will come up!
Elisabeth
My husband says he dreams in black and white, i.e. no color. He also says he never sees faces, but he knows who the people are… Very strange indeed!
I just saw a PBS show on dreams, which was very interesting. The show basically said that dreams were a way for your mind to play out possible scenarios without any dangerous consequences. This is done in order to know what to do if you were ever confronted with such a situation in real life. Interesting stuff!
I can relate to your husband not seeing faces but knowing who the people are! I had my only ever ‘spirit’ experiences in a remote island off Madang in New Guinea, 27 years ago. These “people”, or “spirits” tried to contact me one day, during the day! I was on my own and just looking out onto the ocean, and these people tried to make contact. Because I was very scared, the connection was fleeting and short-lived, but it was a group of people, I had my real eyes open, but saw them with my “inner eyes”. They were trying to warn me about something, or they were in pain, not sure, there was a real sense of urgency, and for a split second amidst all the confusion, when contact was finally established, I KNEW WHO THEY WERE! But I didn’t see proper faces or bodies, it was a group, they were trying to tell me something and I went: "AAAhhhh…it’s YOU!!!
And a split second later, when contact was broken, all my memory was gone about who they were and why I knew them. Now, THAT is very strange indeed! Ultimately, my husband and I left the island (Tabot Island, off Madang, New Guinea), because the ‘faceless’ spirits came to me more and more and I thought I was going mad. (I wasn’t taking drugs or anything, I was living a very healthy lifestyle ). The last time ‘these faceless people’ were trying to establish contact was when I was on the boat leaving the island for good. Never, ever had anything like that happen to me again. And I don’t want to. It is too scary.
But I do understand the concept of ‘sensing’ people, knowing them, without seeing their faces. Elisabeth
I suppose it is possible for lucid dreams to manifest in different ways. This is one the ways in which my spirit guidance has interacted with me.
For example, one morning I lay in bed and tried to meditate, but I was too sleepy. I forgot what, but my spirit guide said something in order to get me to move beyond my body affected state. I then found myself in a lucid dream. I walked up to a lady I used to have a thing for and tried to kiss her.
She wouldn’t let me, so I decided go flying, my drowsiness went completely away, and I flew through a realm of love and joy.
When it comes to regular dreams, I’ve analyzed thousands of my dreams, and found this is one of the ways our spirit guides try to communicate to us. It is a matter of figuring out what the symbology means. It is also a matter of realizing that a being with more consciousness than the random meanderings of our subconscious mind created such clever symbology.
I’m not saying all dreams come from spirit guidance. The more we pay attention to them and try to figure out what they mean, the more we are likely to receive messages in such a way.
For a few years I was practicing some lucid dreams (LDs) techniques. Due to them i had 2-3 LDs a week. Most of these techniques are actually what yoga calls “svadhyaya”. It`s not only a mind control, but attentive self-exploring.
However, you may have LDs using exercises of other kind, which have nothing in common with evolving consciousness in reality. Sometimes LDs appear not as a result of any directed affords.
You may read a very good book on this subject - Stephen LaBerge “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming”.
This lucid dreaming is really weird to me. When I first started to read about it, I was very excited and soon I had first lucid dreams. But after few years this excitement faded and I dont have lucid dreams so often. And I can’t re-excite myself anymore. Its like lucid dreams are triggered by something (will or emotion) but this trigger is more of uncounscious origin than conscious.
Recently I started to meditate whenever I have lucid dream. I had idea some time ago that if its so difficult to find time during day for meditation why not do it during dream? Its not long meditation but always something…
I’ve meditated during lucid dreams too.
[QUOTE=Pawel;36093]This lucid dreaming is really weird to me. When I first started to read about it, I was very excited and soon I had first lucid dreams. But after few years this excitement faded and I dont have lucid dreams so often. And I can’t re-excite myself anymore. Its like lucid dreams are triggered by something (will or emotion) but this trigger is more of uncounscious origin than conscious.
Recently I started to meditate whenever I have lucid dream. I had idea some time ago that if its so difficult to find time during day for meditation why not do it during dream? Its not long meditation but always something…[/QUOTE]
Dream is a mind activity still induced by sensory impulses, though the thinking instruments (brain, manas and buddhi) are semi-resting. In Yoga practices, as mind gets purified and awareness rises, dreams evolve from scary & irrational (animal instincts) to life-like (emotional) to lucid & rational (logical). Some times they are so clear and fluid that one can script them or change their course.
But important to know is that Ishvara uses lucid dream states for training. It is a perfect setting - quiet outside, mind detached, thinking at rest and awareness sufficiently elevated. A major part of the training involves out-of-body experiences.
Interpreting dreams is a wasteful exercise. First, you do that with thinking which is so conditioned and colored. Secondly, the training given during clear dreams is remembered ‘as is’ and needs no interpretation. Until dreams are really that lucid, they are simply mind-games, worthy of no attention.
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;36378]Interpreting dreams is a wasteful exercise. First, you do that with thinking which is so conditioned and colored. Secondly, the training given during clear dreams is remembered ‘as is’ and needs no interpretation. Until dreams are really that lucid, they are simply mind-games, worthy of no attention.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t fully agree with that. You do it with conditioned and colored thinking, but its ok - this is part of our nature. And this part of our nature is revealed “on move” - doing actual thinking and, even better, during interpretation of dreams and fantasies. Its sometimes not important what is the intrerpreted symbol but how we are interpreting it - which is very informative on our inner state. I often pick up motives from my dreams as signs of my emotional state and respond appropriately. I had to do some correlation with my waking state to learn correlations but at the end its very useful. In waking state we have tendency to overlook troubling things and dreams are very useful tool to be in touch with those troubled parts of us.
Pawel, Albert Haust, anybody else, whos meditated in dream, please, tell about it more, compare with meditation in reality. I cant stay long in LD without moving, it wakes me up.
It was nothing special for me - just one difference is that when I close my eyes its still bright. Usually dream quickly dissolves and senses start to pick up real world…
[QUOTE=Sasha;36436]Pawel, Albert Haust, anybody else, whos meditated in dream, please, tell about it more, compare with meditation in reality. I cant stay long in LD without moving, it wakes me up.[/QUOTE]