Do you know what a lucid dream is ? It is the experience of being aware of your asleep state during a dream. Lucid dreaming occurs during the REM phase of sleep, and it is usually created when, while dreaming, one suddenly realizes his or her dreaming state. The dream may then continue, but the individual has some degree of control over what happens. Laws of physics continue to not apply, of course, and one has the power of "writing the script", to some extent. In a sense, one's desires are the driver of the script.

A lucid dream is heaven on earth - you shape your own "reality" as you please. You can fly, you can twist the way things work, you are invincible. You can meet the people you want to meet, be they alive or dead since ages; or do whatever you like. You can be a criminal or a saint, with nobody judging you for your actions; morality does not exist. You can also engage in free, promiscuous sex, of course - but to do that your self-control must be very high, as similar strong emotions usually wake you up, sometimes wet or with a lingering stiffy.

There are recipes around that explain how you may induce lucid dreams, but I never follow them - I have experienced this state periodically and without explicit planning since my childhood, without paying too much attention to it. Recently, however, I have discovered I have the power to obtain a lucid dreaming state starting from awakeness. This is a much harder trick to pull off, and it has a name of its own. It is called "wake-induced lucid dreaming" (WILD), and it is an even more spectacular demonstration of the power you can achieve over your brain activities, with some training.

To achieve WILD, I start after some hours of sleep, toward the end of the night. It works best if I am well rested and completely relaxed. I find a very comfortable position in bed, I close my eyes, and I try to create an image of an object. The more detailed that image gets, the better it works as a starting point of the dream. When you can touch it, you're on. Recently I had excellent results picturing a door in front of me: as the door becomes more distinct, I imagine that I push it or try to open it. As I do, I can see my hands: that is the true signal that I have entered a lucid dream phase - as I am perfectly aware that my hands are in the position I took when I started the process, not over the door I am seeing in front of me.

The door image works well also because it acts as a direct entrance of a dream world. If you picture a telephone or a chair, once you grab it you're still in your home. Instead while I am creating the image of the door, the thing is still ideally located next to my bed, but after I open and walk in, I am immediately projected in a totally different place. And from here on, I can dictate the events - to some extent. I do not want to control everything, nor do I think I really could: my brain in fact retains some choice of what to present my half-consciousness with. That is actually the best part of the whole thing: this dialogue between your consciousness and subconsciousness makes the dream what it really is - not something you entirely consciously create, but rather something your conscious self wishes for, and your unconscious part somehow creates for you. As an example, I may wish to meet a beautiful woman, but I do not know exactly what her appearances will be like or how she will behave until she appears, in circumstances I did not decide consciously.


I believe lucid dreaming is a very empowering experience and I do encourage you to try and explore this possibility. You might start getting some advices at this site, which contains a lot of information. And let me know how it works for you!