What is conscious dreaming and how to practice it: 5 techniques from a neuropsychologist

counseling psychologist

“I started keeping dream diaries 10 years ago. I can say that they help me trace the cause-and-effect relationships of events and at the level of awareness begin to influence my life by agreeing or disagreeing with dream events. To be able to change it is a high level of control over your destiny.”

What is conscious dreaming?

Lucid (conscious) dreaming is a dream that a person is able to control. Training is required to master this skill.

Dreams are a reference to events that have happened to us during the day. If something happened in the morning, then during the day we will always mentally return to it willy-nilly. Dreams are not fundamentally different from this process. Scientifically speaking, neural groups in our brain are excited in connection with some phenomenon and form its representation. Then they return to this pattern of activity.

This is normal brain function. Once excited together, neurons tend to return to their synchronized activation, which is what happens to a person during sleep.

There are many studies on what people dream about. These have been conducted with psychology students. Observers scrupulously recorded what happened to them during the day, with whom they met, what they did, what emotions lived. At night, the subjects went to bed in the lab, being hooked up to an electroencephalograph to determine their sleep stage.

At some point, the students were awakened and asked what they had seen. These studies showed – a substantial percentage of our dreams have sources in actual experiences from the day just before bed.

Thus, dreams are nothing more than information about past experiences. Conscious dreaming (CD) is the ability to control the storyline in them. This, in turn, gives us the ability to influence the course of events we dream about. Such a skill is a way to change life, to begin to control it.

In order to see conscious dreams, it is necessary to teach yourself to wake up at night. This is the sensation when you are asleep and realize that you are in a dream. That is, a certain level of sleep: on the edge between the deep phase and wakefulness. It takes practice to teach yourself to wake up at the right moment.

neuropsychologist, neuraliner

“Lucid dreaming can be used for self-development, solving creative problems, practicing skills and working through psychological problems. It is a useful tool for personal growth.”

How does our brain work during conscious dreaming?

Our brain is complex. It processes tons of information, regulates physiology and maintains cognitive functions. During OS, the precuneus of the frontal cortex is activated. This is the area associated with complex functions such as planning and self-awareness.

There are changes in the activity of different parts of the brain between the fast and slow-wave sleep phases. This allows us to move from an unconscious to a conscious state.

Who can have conscious dreams?

Theoretically, anyone can learn to see lucid dreams. However, it requires practicing and developing certain skills. Some people are more prone to this experience. They see OS on a regular basis without additional effort.

Personality traits affect the ability to lucid dream. For example, creative types or those who tend to be reflective and introspective may be more prone to such experiences. There is also a correlation between the frequency of such dreams and the ability to remember ordinary dreams.

The ability to remember what one has seen at night plays a significant role in the practice of OS. Developing this skill enhances the likelihood of having awareness during the following dream episodes.

Benefits of conscious dreaming

The benefits that lucid dreaming brings to a person:

• control over the content of the dream, which can lead to positive life changes;
• validation of new experiences in a safe “play” zone;
• an opportunity to explore the subconscious mind;
• improved quality of rest through an intense emotional experience.

Techniques for developing conscious dreaming

There are various ways of entering such a state: from reality checks to methods of tuning in before falling asleep (imagining what you want to see in your dreams). Let’s look at the most popular ones.

1. the “Am I dreaming?” technique.

This option is suitable for those who have OS starts in the middle of the night, but not at the moment of falling asleep. It is necessary to ask yourself repeatedly during the day: “Am I asleep?”.

This is a kind of reality test. When a person often answers the same question throughout the day, it becomes a habit. It is this habit that is important in determining the boundary between the real and the unreal.

In a dream, a person will also ask himself whether he is dreaming or not. And it is then that he will realize it. Next, the journey into the world of lucid dreaming will begin.

2- The technique of “Entering the alpha state”

This method is suitable for those who can enter the OS immediately after falling asleep. Before lying down, turn on some meditation music. It can be any soothing melody or sounds of nature.

Your goal is to relax, not to fall into sleep. This is called the alpha state. In this state, the brain begins to produce alpha rhythms. As a result, the line between reality and unreality is clearly defined. You can start traveling.

3- WILD (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream) technique.

This is awake self-awareness directly into the REM-sleep phase (increased brain activity). What is necessary for this?

1. You need to lie on your back. Your hands should lie at the seams. This will avoid numbness of the body parts.
2. Take a few slow inhalations and exhalations.
3. Concentrate on your heart rate. Try not to be distracted by anything.
4. Soon you will begin to see hypnagogic images or hear sounds. It is important to remain a passive observer for a while.
5. Make an attempt to spin around your axis. In doing so, do not physically move.
6. You can try to visualize yourself in a certain place. Then do a reality check. For example, try to fly up or go through walls.

4. WBTB (Wake back to bed) technique.

This variant allows you to create artificial conditions for the onset of a rapid phase of sleep. It is precisely in this phase that conscious dreams most often occur. How to provoke entry into the OS without waiting for the short phase? You need to trick your brain.

1. Go to sleep the same way you always do.
2. Pre-set an alarm clock to ring four or five hours after falling asleep.
3. As soon as it rings, get up and walk around the apartment for five minutes.
4. Go back to sleep. At this point, your brain will be in a borderline state. On the one hand, the sleep is not deep enough for your consciousness to be unable to control it. On the other, your subconscious mind is already awakening.

5. Keeping a diary

This method promotes better memorization of your ordinary and lucid dreams. Analyzing the entries can reveal recurring elements or symbols that are used as triggers to achieve a state of awareness.

It is also a great way to deal with psychological problems. The subconscious mind reveals our fears, emotional traumas displaced by the conscious mind. Recordings can help us find the root cause of anxiety. This is especially important for those who have frequent nightmares.

Based on the techniques of working with sleep and behavioral psychology, you can change a lot in your life.