Stop thinking that more awareness equals easy lucid dreams awareness and lucidity
are often conflated to mean the same thing in fact, if you look on any lucid
dreaming website or anywhere else you'll find that mindfulness practice meditation
Anything leading to awareness is often touted as being a great way to have
lucid dreams but that's not exactly true.
And if you follow that path, you'll end up barking up the wrong tree well,
that's if you didn't have this video.
So, by the end of today's video, you're going to learn that meditation and
mindfulness will not lead to lucid dreams unless you do it in the right way.
And that's exactly what this video is all about, teaching you
how to use awareness correctly
for lucid dreaming.
So, first things first.
I've been teaching lucid dreaming for decades and in that time I've
had professional meditation teachers top of their game, come to me
wondering why, when they're so good at meditation, when they're so hyper
aware why can't they have lucid dreams?
Well, it's because awareness and lucidity are two very different things
awareness is a muscle you build and use towards lucidity but just
throwing meditation into your practice, willy nilly is not going
to achieve regular lucid dreams.
And it really doesn't help that there are terms like...
Dreams of awareness which are completely misleading.
Because even though awareness is a component to lucidity it is
definitely not the main component.
It's only one functional element of true lucidity so, how do you use awareness?
For lucid dreaming.
So I want you to forget everything you think you know about awareness and lucid
dreaming, and let's start from scratch.
Let's do an experiment right now, I want you to take your hand and to
become incredibly aware of your hand.
Focus on the sensations in your hand, the heat, the position everything you can.
Become very aware of how your hand feels.
And you'll notice that awareness isn't that difficult it's just a
case of where you place your focus.
And focus is the key word but we'll get to that in a moment.
But as you're aware of your hand...
Bear in mind that you're completely unaware of the sensations in your left
foot until now that I've mentioned it and your awareness shifts to your left foot.
And now that you're focusing on your foot, you may still have a vague
sensation of the feeling in your hand, but you're also not aware of your
breathing which suddenly you are now.
Now that you're aware of your breathing, you're probably not aware of the like
button, and the subscribe button, and the comment section So prove that you
are and hit the like button, subscribe if you're new here, and leave a comment.
So awareness itself isn't that difficult, and essentially what most people mean
when they use the word awareness is
focus
but bear in mind something very important when you were
practicing awareness just then.
Did you at any point question whether you were dreaming?
Was that part of your awareness practice?
Probably not.
You were probably so intent on focusing on those things that you
forgot to question your reality.
So awareness itself, or focus to be more precise is actually leading you
away From lucidity, if used incorrectly.
If you focus on focus, but not on questioning reality, on reality
tests, then awareness actually becomes a distraction in your non lucid
dreams, you are technically aware.
It's just the focus of your awareness is nothing to do with lucid dreaming.
And this is why people who are really experienced with meditation don't
automatically have lucid dreams.
Because even though their muscles of focus and awareness are strong they are
aimed in the wrong direction in fact, it can even be a hindrance to these people.
Because they've developed such a strong sense of awareness and focus
what they've actually created, is an incredibly compelling distraction away
from the skills required for lucidity.
Awareness and focus are only useful for lucid dreaming when they are targeted on
the skills required So, what does this all mean, and what can you do instead?
Well, if you want to use meditation mindfulness and focus for lucid dreaming
you have to remember that what you're really doing is building a muscle
that will be used for something else
it is not the muscle building itself or the strength of that
muscle Which leads to lucidity.
You build that strength so it's a tool for the skills required
but what are those skills?
So let's look at standard mindfulness meditation awareness practice
often you focus on your breathing.
And if thoughts enter your mind, you let them float by
and you maintain your focus on that central point.
on your breathing all very good if you want to build the muscles of
awareness and focus, but not very good for lucidity, because if you're
so focused on breathing alone, that itself becomes a distraction from the
priority for lucid dreamers which is Questioning your current state of reality.
That is the focal point for lucid dreamers.
To be a skilled lucid dreamer, your ability to focus needs to
be strengthened so that you can use it for the right things.
And the right things are this.
You need to focus on the priority question, Is this real?
Am I dreaming?
What is going on right now?
And when you're focusing on that, you then engage critical thinking
skills and observational skills
and this isn't just vaguely being aware of what's going on around you
this is focusing on the world being present and aware and then asking the
question, Is this a dream right now?
Is this real?
And then using your critical thinking skills and reality tests, you
make an assessment based on that.
So, mindfulness is only a tool in order to facilitate those skills.
Think about it this way.
You can be incredibly aware.
In a nightmare.
When you're being chased by the drooling demon zombies, you are very
aware of your fear you are very aware of trying to escape the zombies, and
you are very aware of their breath on your neck that dream is full of
awareness, but it's not a lucid dream.
In order to turn that into a lucid dream, that focus, that awareness needs
to turn inwards and question the nature of your reality your priority question.
As a lucid dreamer, it's always, is this real?
Or is this a dream?
What is going on right now?
And that engages critical thinking, observation, and reality testing.
So, more awareness definitely doesn't equal more lucid dreams, but more
awareness about the right things does.
And you can gain more awareness about lucid dreaming by watching one of
the videos on the screen right now.