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Mindfulness and Lucid Dreams
Mingle
Veteran
in Meditation
Are these two linked in some way? I mean mindfulness Is being aware that you are thinking/feeling and being unattached to them. Lucid dreaming is being aware that you are dreaming. Do the two sort of compliment each other? I once read a quote which said something like "if someone is not being mindful in every moment even whilst dreaming he is still weak" can't remember were I saw that so I guess its pointless.
I ask because I have been having a few dreams lately were I have actually started questioning the validity of them, I have been wandering round being aware that its all some kind of simulation and I'm not really there. Just feels like they are soon to become lucid.
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I have those kind of dreams occasionally too but no more often than I did before I started to meditate.
I tend to have lucid dreams when on retreat doing a lot of meditation, so there seems to be a connection. I wouldn't worry about it though, practising mindfulness while awake is challenging enough.
Life is so it would seem-just a dream within a dream (if you get what I mean
)
Ya, what a coincident! I was also thinking that whether mediation is the reason that dreams are coming in mind.
Lucid dreaming is an interesting thing and it's tricky to keep dreaming if you realize it fully. I've found that the trick is in a kind of mindfulness akin to being in the "zone".
Don't let the thought that you are dreaming finish it's cycle and just flow with what is happening.
The flying test is always good but make sure to jump up off the ground instead of off any buildings or bridges.
I may start concentrating on lucid sleeping. Where I know I am sleeping and don't need to make up even more stories.
I hear there are things you can do whilst awake to invoke lucid dreaming. Like making a habit of checking your watch and seeing if its a logical time so that you might do them in your dreams also. Thus realising the time isn't logical and that you are dreaming.
What would be an illogical time?
Well I'm referring to if you check the time multiple times and it's not moving forward or something.
For as long as I can remember I have always had lucid dreams. I thought this was the norm till recently when I was talking to my wife and later close friends who told me they had no control.
I never placed a relation between meditation and dreaming till recently when I have noticed that the dreams I do have seem to relate to the topic of or things that have arisen in meditation. Which makes me think that we tend to think about things long after our awareness turns its attention elsewhere.
Just wanted to add, that I am normally aware pretty quickly that I am in a dream but manage to stay in the "zone" (to steal @David term above) typically by thinking "oh this is a dream, let's see what's going on" or something similar.
Ah, I getcha.
I don't think this is universal or anything but in my dreams any written word is jumbled or so blurry I can't make it out. That's usually a sign. The flying test I mentioned works the best for me and many lucid dreamers swear by it.
I've never been able to fly when I'm not dreaming but then, so far every time I've tried to fly it has worked.
Every time I've finished the thought following "this is a dream" I've woken up.
I've also had them pretty much my whole life but control didn't come into play until my late teens.
I can't say whether meditation helps or hinders the process but they both make the other more interesting.
I've wanted to try meditating during a lucid dream but it doesn't seem to occur to me to try at the time.
One day maybe.
The dreams I have been having lately the way I have become lucid has had nothing to do with waking life. Like this one I had the other day when I was walking around with these two relatives and I had the suspicion none of this was "real" so I started asking them questions about myself to test if they were genuine people and needless to say they failed the test. Can't remember the questions but it seems dream me doesn't fuck around.
Fyi also if you eat something like chicken, turkey or tuna before bed it makes you more likely to dream and remember them.
I would say late teens is about the same for me, it also seems that control has gotten easier through the years. Being able to "Fly" is another big indicator that I am dreaming.
Interesting idea about trying to meditate in a dream. Might have to see about that if I get the chance.
Just out of curiosity, how well do you remember your dreams? I keep a dream journal next to my bed and write down key facts when I happen to wake up. Makes for interesting reading when you are really awake.
I also seem to remember various settings previous dreams when I'm meditating. Like its bringing me closer to the same state of mind.
Do you kind of jump and swim or is it like Superman style? I usually jump and swim and then have to aim. So I'm usually more like jumping really high than flying though I've had a couple Superman style.
I never remember. Plus if I try to change too much the realization that I'm dreaming hits home (the thought that I'm dreaming gets received instead of being on pause) and it's over so I tend to go with the flow. Eventually the opportunity should arise.
A little too well if you ask me. Two nights ago I was with this alien being that could change shape from a kind of lizard with feathers at the neck and an almost humanoid head to something that looked like a large and fuzzy tardigrade (eight legged water bear). It was the same kind of colors you'd see in an Avatar movie. I was taken by surprise but adjusted within moments as I apparently have dealt with alien beings before, just not this species. It was friendly so all was good and we could understand just enough through body language to get the job done. No idea what the job was.
I used to do that but stopped because it became just too frequent. I have forgotten a bunch I'm sure but I remember so many.
Whatever you do, stay away from the quit smoking pill Champix. Unpleasant psycho dreams.
In lucid dreams "I" can often fly, walk through walls, stretch other people's arms and legs...I do all this to make sure that it's a dream and I have some control over it ...
Do you use dream settings as a meditative focus or are you trying to induce dream states during meditation?
Not at all just a positive side effect
I actually have lucid dreams fairly regularly, but I have since I was young. I used to keep a journal of them. The more spot-on I am with my yoga and meditation the more frequent and involved they are. When my practice slows, so do the dreams, and they both pick up at the same time. Just be a little careful about reading too much into lucid dreams, they don't necessarily mean anything in particular and it's easy to get your ego caught up in them because so many people try to do it, and can't. But it really doesn't make you extra special, especially since we don't know why they happen sometimes and other times not, and even if we have control in the dream, we don't have (I don't, I mean) control about when that happens or whether it happens.