Wellness
Enjoy your nighttime adventure.
There you are, falling asleep peacefully in bed when suddenly... you start flying? Clearly, you’re having a dream. So why does it feel like you can sometimes control where you go, almost as if it’s really happening? Well, you can actually learn how to lucid dream in order to have more nighttime adventures like that.
“Lucid dreaming is when you are in the midst of a dream and then suddenly have the awareness that you are dreaming,” Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, a professional dream analyst, tells Bustle. “It is essentially being awake and asleep at the exact same time, having a foot in both worlds. And it is absolutely the coolest experience ever.” I mean, how often can you say you hung out with ghosts (even if it was just a super-realistic dream)?
While this kind of experience can happen during a peaceful dream — like when you’re flying — it’s also fairly common during nightmares. “A lot of people become lucid within a nightmare because what they are experiencing is so frightening, the adrenaline rush seems to trigger a certain amount of consciousness,” Loewenberg says, which is why you can usually wake yourself up.
This half-awake state can happen all on its own, often when you least expect it. But if you practice lucid dreaming techniques, you can actually learn to control your nighttime experiences and move around in them without waking up. It sounds next-level, but Loewenberg believes anyone can do it. If you’re down to give it a try, here’s how to lucid dream.
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Take Deep Breaths
Another lucid dreaming technique involves gentle breathing exercises. To do it, “inhale normally for a count of four, then gently hold it for a count of four, slowly release to a count of four, and hold empty for a count of four,” Gover says.
Do a few rounds of this four-part breathing and you might just experience a lucid dream. Why does it work? “It may be that the breathing technique relaxes the body and mind and primes us for dreamy sleep,” says Grover. “It may also have to do with the fact that in REM sleep we breathe irregularly, and most lucid dreams occur during REM sleep.”
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Write Your Dreams In A Journal
Also helpful? Journaling. “Actively practicing dream recall and writing your dreams in the morning are two more ways to become a more conscious dreamer,” Gover says. All you need to do is keep a notebook by your bed and jot them down the moment you wake up. “Affirming that you dream several times each night is one way to become more lucid, or conscious about the fact that you are dreaming.” Test these out to see which technique works best for you, and happy dreaming.
Studies referenced:
Drinkwater, K. (2020). Lucid Dreaming, Nightmares, and Sleep Paralysis: Associations With Reality Testing Deficits and Paranormal Experience/Belief. Frontiers in Psychology. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00471/full
Xie, A. (2012). Effect of sleep on breathing - Why recurrent apneas are only seen during sleep. Journal of Thoracic Disease. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3378217/
Experts:
Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, a professional dream analyst
Tzivia Gover, MFA, a certified dream professional
Sources:
Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, professional dream analyst
Tzivia Gover, MFA, certified dream professional
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