Imagine for a second that you are dreaming, a dream so painstakingly vivid and elaborate.
Sure, there are inconsistencies, but you don't notice any of it.
Even if you do, it doesn't stop you from perceiving the dream as real.
Imagine that when you were getting ready to go into that dream you had an escape word
or a symbol.
A word when uttered would pull you out of the dream if the dream ever gets too scary
or overwhelming.
Only that, now you have so completely immersed yourself in the dream, you managed to forget
that you are actually dreaming and that there’s an escape word to get you out of it.
Lucid Dream is defined as a dream in which the dreamer is aware of the process of dreaming.
The first step of lucid dreaming is to recognize that one is dreaming.
Followed by being cautious to let the dream continue and being conscious enough to be
aware of the dream.
There’s even some control over the dream state’s environment and the narrative in
a lucid dream.
Cultivating one’s ability to be aware of one's dream is an essential part of certain
ancient spiritual practices of Hinduism, Buddhism and some Native American traditions.
Svapnadarsana in Sanskrit or Nyilam in Tibetan is the yoga of the dream state.
Svapna means sleep and Darsana means appearance.
In the tradition of Tantra, a qualified teacher passes this method to his/ her students after
the necessary initiations.
Many Tibetan lamas agree that it is more of passing of an enlightening experience, rather
than any actual tangible information.
Thankfully, we have Evan Wentz who wrote about the six stages of dream Yoga in his book:
Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, as elaborated by the Tibetan Guru Marpa.
In the first stage, the dreamer is instructed to become lucid in the dream.
In the second stage, the dreamer is instructed to overcome all fears since nothing in the
dream world can cause any real physical harm.
For example: The dreamer should put out a fire with his own hands, only to realize that
fire cannot hurt in the dream.
In the following stage, the dreamer should contemplate how everything, both in the dream
state and in the real world, are one and the same because they are all in constant flux,
ever changing.
Nothing is permanent in neither of the worlds and hence life is illusionary in both states.
Objects in the dream world and in the real world are empty and have no substantial form
or nature.
This is considered the stage of recognizing the dream and the reality as maya/ or illusion.
Then the dreamer has to manipulate the objects in the dream to recognize his/ her complete
control over the dream.
After exercising complete control over the objects within the dream, the dreamer then
should proceed to realize that even his/or her own dream body is as insubstantial as
the objects around it.
In the final step, the dreamers are instructed to visualize the images of deities such as
Buddhas or Bodhisattvas and focus on them.
These symbolic images would then act as the pure light of the void, a symbolic doorway,
to this state of being.
Many dreamers who practice this particular form of Dream Yoga claim that they have been
able to visit their teachers that they miss and also travel to far away lands.
They describe the dream state as a very pure state of mind.
There is something so similar yet completely opposite of Lucid Dreaming and Nyilam, the
dream Yoga.
It is called Yoga Nidra or Yogic Sleep, a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping
Yoga Nidra is among the deepest possible relaxation states while still maintaining complete consciousness.
In lucid dreaming the dreamer is only focused on the internal world, while in Yoga Nidra,
the person's internal world completely shuts down while he/ she still maintains full consciousness
to the outside world through hearing.
This practice is found to help soldiers from war cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Sometimes I feel like I am sleepwalking through my reality.
At times it feels fluid and I feel like I'm floating.
I don't register certain moments and I carefully take in some others.
Just like in a dream.
I don't claim that I belong to any religion.
But the environment I was brought up in, was that of the Brahmin tradition.
It tells me that I am, along with everything in my reality is a type of dream and that
the One, or God is the actual dreamer.
It is in the eternal sleep manifesting the others, the reality, the illusion or the Maya.
My culture tells me that I am a part of the God's lucid dream.
Whether I believe it or not, is an entirely different thing, but I have to agree that
it is certainly fascinating.
It's the same fascination that I have with the simulation hypothesis.
I had this dream once.
I was lying on a sandy beach looking at the ocean.
In a distance I saw this man swimming so gracefully, making the water his companion.
The day was peaceful.
I wanted to swim like that man.
But then the sky turned menacingly dark and soon there was a tsunami.
Waves were as high as some of the tallest buildings of the world.
It all felt incredibly real and scary.
I dreadfully watched all the children, women and men being swept by the violent waves.
I wanted the swimming man to save me.
When I woke up from the nightmare, I was lying on the bed in my room, drenched in sweat along
I saw my sister coming into my room.
I had this thought, ‘in my dream, I perceived the swimming man as a separate self.
But the whole dream and the people in it were all my mind’s work.
Other people in the dream who were swept by the tsunami were really just myself.
Then, who is my sister or any of the other aspects of my so-called reality?
Could it be possible that I just woke up to another dream, perceiving everything around
me as separate?
Could it also be possible that I am stuck in an infinite awakening process?
Waking up over and over again, only to find myself in another dream.
How would I even know when it ends?
My tsunami nightmare felt absolutely real and so does the keyboard of my computer as
I am typing this?
What’s the difference between the most intense dream and my reality?
My friend had a lucid dreaming experience once.
She woke up from a nightmare, all anxious and frightened.
She then got out of her bed and walked towards the kitchen to drink some water.
When she was drinking her glass of water she casually looked towards the oven.
The clock in the oven was all messed up and she couldn't read what time it was and it
was at that moment, she realized that she was in a dream.
She was lucid in that dream, even if it is for a split second; the realization that she
was in a dream woke her up.
She woke once again, all anxious and frightened.
Since then, she has had several lucid dreaming episodes.
Now that it became such a normal thing she taught herself to get out of the dream if
it ever gets too scary.
She audibly gasps or shouts and when she hears herself gasping, she is triggered to wake
up from the dream.
It is like the kick described in the film Inception.
The Kick can be anything like clapping or yelling; any practiced action to get you out
of the dream.
So, what if you are in a vivid dream right now and you actually forgot that you are dreaming
along with the word that you are supposed to say to get out of the dream?
One day you are going to say the word accidentally and …
WAKE UP!
Have you ever had any scary or … you know what, any lucid dreaming experience?
If yes, I would love to hear about it.
So please share your experience in the comments below and we will continue the discussion there
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