Quick Guide to Lucid Dreaming

From: Fenwick Rysen
To: Zee-list
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lo eskis o

I keep hearing things like:

>> Yep. I WISH I could get the hang of lucid dreaming...!
> 
> ME TOO!!! :)

It's not all that hard. Here's a basic exercise
that's been working for me for years now. Took me about three
weeks before it worked, so expect some buildup time. But if you
stick with it, I *guarantee* you will begin lucid dreaming.

First of all, in your everyday activities,
start randomly asking yourself the question, <Am I
dreaming?< Ask the question, and then focus on your bodily
sensations, to see how <real> they are. Then try to do
something you could only do in a lucid dream, like change the
color of the floor. Obviously, if you are awake, this is not
going to work. However, if you do this a few times a day
consistently over a few weeks, it becomes a habit that wires
itself into your subconscious (it takes roughly 30 days to
completely form or destroy habits).

After a while, you will be dreaming some night
when the habit is so deeply ingrained that you will ask <Am
I dreaming?< while you are dreaming. You might notice that
your body feels slightly different when lucid dreaming, and you
*will* be able to change the color of the floor, as well as
change and guide other aspects of the dream.

When you first become lucid in your dreams,
there will be a tendency to wake up: When the mind becomes
conscious, it decides that it's time for the body to do the same
thing. Just keep trying, and focus on staying asleep the first
few times out. After a while you will be able to remain asleep
when lucid dreaming.

I don't highly recommend trying to fly when you
first begin lucid dreaming. If you take off straight up into the
air, it leaves nothing around you in your dreamscape, and it
becomes even harder to find something to stay related to to keep
you asleep. Get some practice just wandering around your
dreamscapes and changing minor things before you start doing the
spectacular. Of course, if you want to start flying your first
night, go for it, but you may cut your dream short.

I cannot convey the importance of a dream
journal in helping with this work. Keep a notebook or, better
yet, a tape recorder beside your bed and record your dreams
*immediately* upon awakening. You don't need to cover every
detail, just the major points. And you'd be amazed at what can
slip away in just five minutes if you don't write it down
immediately. If you keep a recorder, transcribe the major points
to a journal on a regular basis, before the job becomes to huge
to tackle.

A dream journal will help you begin to remember
more of your dreams, giving you more chances to become lucid. It
will also have some other benefits, such as showing you patterns
in your own subconscious. Avoid books on dream interpretation
like the plague; you are the best judge of what symbols mean to
you. And if you don't want to interpret them, then don't. The
main goal is to start remembering more of your dreams.

I hope all of this helps. I have had great
success with just this one technique alone, but it *does* require
that you stick with it long enough for the habit to form
(typically 3-4 weeks). Don't expect success overnight: There is
no fast food service line for mastery of the occult arts.
However, the effort is well worth it.

So to all you people who've been whining: It's
not all that hard, just give it some dedication. I'll see you in
dreamland.

In Life, Love, and Laughter
--Fenwick Rysen