How I Have Lucid Dreams And How You Can Too

I am sometimes asked how I am able to tap into my dreams and remember them in such great detail. Most of the time, I'm able to walk around in my dreams as well and do whatever I want. I can talk to people, have conversations, and so on.

I'm also asked if I'm able to achieve out of body experiences as well. The answer to that is both yes and no. I have been able to a few times, but that is something that takes quite a bit of practice. Normally, when I begin to fall asleep I end up already in a dream scenario and by then I'm distracted. After that, I don't really care about much else. I get distracted VERY easily.

What are the benefits of lucid dreaming?

1. Self reflection and understanding of the subconscious mind.
2. Relaxation.
3. It's interesting and fun to look back on.

(Yeah, no scientific explanation.)

Here are the tools I use for lucid dreaming:

1. Valerian Root (Not required, but relaxing.)
2. Melatonin (on occasion, this is rare.)
3. Binaural Beats (Theta, usually I prefer 528Hz. 7Hz is fine after training for a while.)
4. Meditation

Going to bed earlier seems to help me as well. If I'm too tired and up late I have trouble remembering my dreams or alternatively, I'm more prone to intense nightmares. Please, be careful when practicing lucid dreaming. I have had extremely morbid nightmares that have caused anxiety attacks upon waking. I have been staying up late the past few weeks and that's part of the reason I haven't been posting my dreams. Not because I am unable to recall the dreams but because they are too intense or too personal.

Another key is training your brain with neuro-linguistic programming. There is one MP3 that I had listened to for a period of three months before going to bed with the intent of having a lucid dream. Within a few minutes of listening to the audio recording I find myself asleep in what I believe is about 3-5 minutes and then the dreams come naturally. Unfortunately, my headphones broke so I am unable to do this currently.

It's told too often but don't get up when you wake up. Stay up for about 5-10 minutes while you lay down reflecting on your dreams. Keep a journal next to your bed and write them down if you must. I used to do this constantly, but I never do this anymore. Why? I don't have to. I've trained myself to remember my dreams as well as yesterday.

Meditation before bed. Most people prefer to sit up while meditating. I don't. I try to lay down for a while before bed and empty my mind. Most people can do this on their backs, for me this is impossible as I get the spins and find myself feeling like I'm "shifting" back and forth out of my body. This makes me nauseated and I hate it.

I count backwards from 20 and then backwards from a hundred. I breath in deep with each number, hold for three seconds , exhale on the next.

For example, inhale- 1, hold, exhale 2, inhale 3, hold, exhale 4, and so on.

Another version I use is Pranayama. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama


There's my few tips, avoid caffeine, don't smoke, and I'm bored of writing this now.

Abstract Tsunami Hell

I was driving a small blue beetle towards a wall of cement. The wall opened up a door way for me to drive through, but as soon as I entered it shut behind me. The cement walls formed into walls of fire and lava, and I drove through a skinny winding road which was surrounded by water which would rise around me like a tsunami. I kept driving. Despite the fact that I for some reason thought this was normal, I still feared I would be crushed by the waters.

I later arrived at my destination, my mother's home. On the outside of her home, the front door was chainmail made into what seemed to be used as beaded curtains. Her jewelry, which I knew she loved, was stuck on the outside cleaning to the curtains. I tried to untangle them but it was impossible. I found a small leaf belly button ring lost outside as well, which was the only thing I was able to save. I walked inside the doorway calling her name. "I'm right down here," she responded.

I walked to find the house like abstract, the entrance led to the top floor and the only way down to where she was I would have to jump. The stairway was thin and unstable, almost like tight rope and zig zagged down below. They couldn't be used, it was like she was trapped inside. I asked her how she got in in the first place. "I jumped, you can do it!" she told me.

"Where should I sleep tonight?" I asked.
"Are you going to come down?"
"No," I told her. "I'm not going down there it doesn't look safe."
"There's a bed on the top floor you can stay there."

Just then my cellphone rang. I answered. "We need to talk," the man's voice said. "Talk about what?" I asked him. "It's about where you're going." I ran my head through my hair, slightly frustrated. I recognized the voice, it was my friend Benjamin and I could hear him rustling through papers through the phone. He sounded anxious.

"It's about where you're going, I figured it out. It's a curse. If you don't change things now you'll be trapped too. You have to prevent it from happening. It runs through the generations, the only escape is change," he insisted.
"No," I said. "I have to be here and I have to go now. I don't have time for this-"
"You don't have a choice. If you don't stop the curse now it will continue, you have to change it. You have to set an example. Get out of there while you can. I've been going through these files, I've studied it all."
"You're lying." This whole conversation was useless jibberish to me, and I was reluctant to even consider the possibility of being trapped.
"Get on it, or you'll be trapped too." I heard him slam down the phone from the other side.

I woke up.

Another Train

I remember it was the middle of June. It was a nice, sunny day outside and I sat outside the train building. I was holding a black and red backpack. I was wearing a long, black velvet dress. I had a rather large diamond watch. I believe I kept staring at it keeping track of the time while I waited outside of the station.

I seemed impatient, like I had to rush. Somewhere to go, quickly. Within fifteen minutes or so the train finally I came. You would think that people would be rushing to be there first but nobody really seemed interested. In fact, the crowd separated in two, some directing me to the train. A few of the other passengers snickered as I walked, some turning their heads in the other direction. I felt like poison.

With each step I took the clouds began to cover the sky, a drop of rain falling from the heavens. The closer I got the more the drops would multiply. I heard a man's voice from behind me, "Hurry up!" he shouted. "Don't tell her that," another woman whispered.

I stepped on to the train, and when I did the doors had slammed behind me locking the others out. "Take your seat," the train attendant told me. The moment she spoke the words a tsunami came over the train, the water pushing it forward on it's path. The rain fell harder and harder as we moved, but somehow carried the rhythm of a heart beat.

I wasn't sure where I was going but all I knew was that it was time for me to hurry and go. I felt worried and afraid, I knew the attendant was to come soon to take my ticket. I wasn't sure where I would go in the middle of this mess or the disasters outside. I didn't have a ticket.

"Tickets please," one said behind me. I looked behind me as she took the tickets from other passengers. Their faces were so dark and blurry I had trouble recognizing them. At first I believed it was only my vision, but then I turned around to view the couple behind me. These were no ordinary beings, but dark black creatures with the form of men but the bodies of tar and shadows. The tar was left marking the tickets she was handed, and they carelessly stared off out towards the window.

She finally stopped by me, only looking to what I thought was the empty seat to the side of me. "Ticket please." I jumped, startled by the creature but after a moment found my breath and the courage to speak. "I'm sorry, I don't have a ticket."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "You don't need a ticket."

"But all of the other passengers need one.."
"You don't have to go, baby, this was your choice," she told me as she tore a part of the creature's ticket and handing it back to him.
"Where am I going?"
"I don't know where you're going, but we're going to death. But don't be scared, sugar. You can go back. Do you want to?"

I have to admit that I was shocked. Of course I want to go back, what the hell is this bitch thinkin? "Yes," I told her- trying to be polite. Nervously, I placed my hands in my coat pocket. I found a piece of paper, but I could not read the words. I reached the paper out to her and asked her what it was. "It's just a receipt. It just tells ya to be careful." She handed it back to me.

"So you want to return?"
"Yes, please."

She walked towards the front of the train. "We gotta return, here. A return. Can we get a return?" Only a second later the train pushed itself backwards and the room spun into darkness. I wish I could tell more, but that's when I woke up.

Of Pacing and Letters

We must have been in some type of warehouse. It was dark, cold, and the room smelled of burned rubber and mothballs. There was a large, clear, plastic tarp hanging down from behind him. He paced back and forth cross the wet cement. I don't remember there being a ceiling, but I remember the rain falling down. He ran his hands through his dark brown hair. I sat watching him, tied to a chair with my arms resting at my sides.

"Love," he said to me. "Love, an all dying game. And the passion was exquisite.. blah-blah-blah." He would read through every sheet of paper. Poetry perhaps? I'm not sure. "Zen, Zen, Zen. You are a fool."

I can't remember what the first sheet said. Every time he would read the words, taunting me, laughing at me, staring at me while he continued to pace back and forth. Spinning around even a little. He would throw a sheet in the air as the wind would dance with it, flowing out the open doorway.

"It's a lot like roulette," he read. "Fools, back and forth, you love me before I love you, you love I before I love you, and I will hurt you, before you hurt I. Silly games. I feel for you. I love, I do. It is beautiful, it is true. And I as the liar, burning in fire, I have denied my love to you. When passion is exploding, my heart lies forever knowing that which is true- that I love you."

And again he would hold the paper in between his index and thumb, lift to the sky, as it would fly to never be seen again.

I wasn't sure what this dream meant. But I remember waking up..

Update On Shadow Man/Random Update

Before I forget, I wanted to add an update on Shadow Man.

I was thinking about the dream and I was analyzing the dream itself. It seems I found out who "Shadow Man" was. I think Shadow Man was a creation of my subconscious inspired by the tarot card "The Hermit".

After realizing this, I started trying to find the explanation for the card. It seemed to me the thing that stuck out the most about Shadow Man was his lantern which he had formed from the lamp itself. (Please keep in mind these paragraphs below in quotations are from this website. I give full credit to whoever wrote it.)

"

Star: The star of David shines brightly within his lantern. Biblically, David is means "beloved of God" and so the light from the star symbolizes the light of God. Further inspection of the star reveals that it is comprised of two triangles, one inverted, the other erect. This is a common symbol for male & female, or opposing/balancing energies. In the context of the Hermit, this symbol represents balance, and using the energies together for the purpose of spiritual advancement."

"The Hermit has had to learn this lesson by means of distancing himself from the regular, routine world. By removing himself from the "normal" stream of societal thought, the Hermit is able to listen to the inner stirrings of his own intuition and act upon it. "

You can read the blog here:
Shadow Man


Also, I am trying now to work on some artwork to keep this blog a little more visually interesting as well. I am back to writing. It will take me sometime, but I am back. ;)

The Game Of........

My ex-husband and I were sitting at a table, in a small hut on an island. We were waiting to be served at a small table filled with empty glasses of what were once, tropical drinks. I was dipping a toothpick in the wax of one of the floating candles, watching him sip what must have been his last drink.

I remember watching people pass through one another back and forth, oblivious to the busy waitress fumbling over herself to serve a nearby customer their Hawaiian burger and pina colada. (Served complete with the most legendary tiny, pink umbrella.)

A friend of his came by, one I had never met, to speak to him. He whispered something into his ear, gave him a pat on the back and walked away to the next. I asked what he said and my ex-husband told me- but I can't remember the words. A soldier nearby with almost a uni-brow was glaring at me from another table. He seemed to have an issue with me. I felt like he hated me and I knew he had something to say but was unable to say it. For some reason, this really bothered me. Probably due to my easily bruised ego.

I suddenly felt like I had a mission to accomplish. My ex-husband's friend returned once again and sat down next to him at the booth. They sounded like they had something to discuss so I took the opportunity to leave. I sat up and when I did the man with the uni-brow quickly stood up and ran away.

Nearby was a tall shelter assembled by straw and bamboo. It saw him running towards the shelter, climbing up the bamboo to get to the top. I chased after him, climbing as fast as I could to speak to him. When we met up at the top there was no roof. We both had to sit on the bars of bamboo. I remember shouting at him, "What the hell is your problem with me?"

He said nothing, but he threw a small yellow, handheld video game device. When I caught it he yelled back, "It's not my problem with you! It's your problem with you."

"What problem?!"
"You have the game in your hands, figure it out." After he said those words to me he did a back flip and disappeared into thin air.

I turned on the device to see an images of three cats in the form of a triangle. As soon as I pressed the button once more, within a flash I was back at the table. "Where did you go?" he asked.

"I don't know," I told him. I didn't know. I really had no understanding of the events that had just taken place.

Finally, the waitress came to serve our food. Suddenly a group of people gathered at the table, people I had never even seen before. The waitress said to me, "Now you do a good job, alright? You'll be fine now." I took advantage of the people in the room- suddenly I was invisible and this was my chance. I kicked my feet up on the table to play my game. I was never sure what this game was, but I like to call it the game of life.

Shadow Man

I was sitting on the bed in a dimly lit room. The bed was covered in some kind of light beige, corduroy comforter. There was a tall Moroccan lamp near about three feet away with an orange glass shade. A small, brown night stand on the right side. I remember running my hands over the fabric when the sound of a door shutting from behind startled me.

He took two steps forward. It was almost impossible to see him. The tall, dark man in the form of a shadow. His face could not be seen but his presence could be felt and the smell of his cologne was so strong you could almost taste the hints of leather and sandalwood.

I was frightened, but I could not speak. It was useless. All I could do was stare. He took another step forward and when he did a gust of wind passed through the room, blowing like a violent hurricane. With my hair blowing from behind me, squinting my eyes, and lifting my arm to my face to shield myself from the force, I heard the sound of glass breaking. The wind had knocked down the lamp.

A moment later when all became still, he lifted his hand toward the lamp, pulling it towards himself. When he did the lamp somehow shrunk, forming into a small lantern which he now held in the palm of his hand. He gave me a gentle nod, turning towards the door. He stood quiet for a moment until he spoke those words. "Follow me," He told me.

I walked towards him from behind, still silent, still afraid, but still curious enough to take the risk. When he pushed the door open the exit lead to an ocean. I've always had some kind of affinity to the ocean, perhaps because I grew up near the coasts in my childhood.

In the sunlight, he seemed more like a silhouette than a shadow. He had an orange and yellow aura surrounding him. He was no longer a monster to me, but he seemed caring and humble. I followed him outside, not even bothering to close the door behind me. It shut on it's own.

When we came closer to the ocean waves he stopped for a moment looking at the ground. He sat down, patting his hand on the sand, motioning for me to sit. Still confused I hesitated, standing for a moment. "Sit," he said.

I sat down next to him watching the waves crash and fall, the sound blasting through my eardrums. The vibrations flowing through me. It gave me a sense of comfort, similar to being in the womb again.

"Do you know why you're here, Zen?"
"Because I was meant to be?" I asked.
"No," he whispered, "because you chose to be."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you see that ocean? Do you see the waves crashing, falling, clashing into one another, filled with life and death?"
"Yes," I replied.
"That's your life. It all has purpose. You're only waiting for the day of doom but you're not experiencing the beauty. You're seeing the outside of it all, the external. You're not seeing what's really inside. You know your life has a treasure buried deep, you know all that is hidden, but you have not taken the time to experience it all for yourself."
"What do I do?"
"Dive in deeper."

In that moment a bolt of lightening struck the ground, everything turned into a bright light. It became black and I, now half awake, could hear a sound of ringing in my ears. "Wake up," a far off whisper told me.

So, I did.