Meaning of a Dream

The Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream (DEILD or dream re-entry) is a condensed version of the WILD technique, allowing you to slip into a lucid dream from a waking state. Under the right conditions, it's a wonderfully effortless way to become lucid.

Once you get to know the DEILD technique, you'll be able to use it multiple times per night in what is also called dream chaining. You can also use it to deliberately re-enter a great dream (lucid or non-lucid) if you prematurely wake up.

The DEILD or Dream Re-Entry Technique can be effortless...

If you're a light sleeper (you wake up at various times during the night) then DEILDs may come very naturally to you. If you're a heavy sleeper, you might need the aid of an alarm clock or lucid dreaming app (like the Singularity Experience) which is designed to momentarily wake you from REM sleep...

The ideal conditions for a Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream occur after 4-6 hours of sleep, when your REM cycles are starting to become longer. You must briefly wake up from a dream in order to implement the DEILD technique. If you find this happens naturally - great. If not, use an alarm as mentioned above. The alarm should be disruptive enough to rouse you from the dream state, but not enough to wake you fully. It should also shut itself off as soon as you are partially woken.

Failing that, allow your adorable Shetland Sheepdog to sleep on the bed with you and disturb you in the night. Works for me :)

As your mind straddles the border between a dream and wakefulness, keep your body absolutely still. Any movement now will trigger the firing of motor neurons in your brain and transfer your full consciousness to the waking world. Any sense of sleep paralysis will also completely wear off. (This is why you don't want to have to move in order to shut off your alarm.)

With your body unmoving, keep your eyes closed (or immediately close them) and recall the dream you were just in. Place yourself back in the exact same moment you were in before you woke up. Sometimes this happens automatically and the DEILD becomes effortless. If not, try to mentally recapture that dream in as much detail as possible. Recall the sights, sounds, emotions and tactile sensations of the dream. If you find this alien, see these tips on How to Visualize with all the senses.

This part is automatic. If you performed the last two steps accurately enough, your brain will re-create the dream and send your awareness back in - only this time, you'll be fully lucid. Like Wake Induced Lucid Dreams, DEILDs are highly vivid because you enter the dream with a heightened sense of awareness carried over from the waking state. Once you "sink" or "pop" into the dream, remind yourself that you're dreaming and perform a reality check for good measure.

The time between waking up and re-entering your dream lucidly can be as little as a few seconds. If you find you are lying in bed for several minutes, then the moment is almost certainly gone. But don't worry - you can still have a lucid dream at this point by following the steps outlined in How to Have a Wake Induced Lucid Dream. You're already in an ideal state of mind and body to have a WILD so make the most of the opportunity - just drift and start to visualize a whole new dream scene...

If everything you see, hear and feel in lucid dreams is the same as when you're awake, how do you know you're dreaming? Can you confuse lucid dreams with reality? What is the objective difference?

Rebecca says: Great question. This is a common misapprehension about lucid dreaming and I'm more than happy to set the record straight.

In my experience (and, I'm sure, the experience of many lucid dreamers) it is not possible to confuse lucid dreams with reality. With the power of conscious thought behind you, knowing you're dreaming is as intuitive as knowing you're awake.

Any deviation from that truth would be an indication of psychosis, and I see no evidence whatsoever to tar lucid dreamers with that brush!

In fact, this myth of confusing dreams with reality stems from a common misunderstanding that lucid dreams can "feel" exactly like waking life. People think that if this is so, then the two states must be indistinguishable.

While conscious dreams can FEEL real, there are other factors, such as memory and logical thought processes, which clearly distinguish these states.

To illustrate this I have mapped out three separate states of awareness - waking reality, lucid dreams and normal dreams - as I experience them:

So while lucid dreaming is a conscious experience, it's a completely different state from being consciously awake, and it is easy to distinguish so.

How Do I Know This Isn't Real?

Philosophical arguments aside (what if reality is a dream itself?) here's a more specific example from last night's lucid dream and why I couldn't possibly confuse it with reality. There's nothing special about this example and I believe you could apply all the same rules of logic to any other lucid dream.

In my dream, I was standing on a mountain over a forest. The desire to fly made me realize I was dreaming. I became lucid and the scenery shot into focus - suddenly I could see thousands of pine trees as vividly as real life. I got a sense of how high up I was, and now, when I looked into the distance, I could see the shiny silvery sea. If it looked so real, how could I be sure I wasn't awake?

I was standing on a mountainI was talking to an odd looking character I'd never seen beforeI had no memory of how I arrived on the mountainMoments earlier the scene was dream-likeI said out loud "my body is asleep in bed right now"I had a memory of my real "normal" lifeI could fly and there was little sense of gravityI could fill the atmosphere with invisible waves to fly higher...and so on...

But, you might argue, this scene was too fantastical to confuse with reality. So what if I dreamed lucidly of a very boring and lifelike scenario...?

Lucid Dream vs Reality

My experience of being in my living room in a lucid dream is not the same as my experience of being in my living room in reality.

The lucid dream version is self-contained. I can only hear things in the immediate vicinity or whatever my consciousness is focused on.

I don't necessarily know what day it is, nor what time of day.

The world beyond the living room doesn't exist yet until I go there. As a result, I tend to perceive only my localized bubble of awareness and there can be little room for separate lines of thought that don't directly manipulate my dream reality.

While awake, I might sit in my living room and daydream about being on a beach, while simultaneously being aware of both locales. In a lucid dream, daydreaming of a beach would most likely result in me appearing there, and the living room scene being left behind. In this thought-driven reality, thoughts drive the behavior of the "physical" dream world.

And of course, the big giveaway is, in a lucid dream I can do impossible things like push my own fingers through my hand (see: reality check). However, this is typically used to distinguish a dream from reality, and not the other way around.

Indeed, 95% of the population goes to sleep every night and fully accepts their dreams as reality. It's only when they wake up they realize it wasn't real.

In this sense, you can confuse normal dreams with reality, can you not?

But there is never a concern - for a sane mind - to think you are dreaming, when in fact you are awake. And it's just the same with lucid dreams.

Exception: Have you ever recalled a memory of something trivial then realized it wasn't a real memory - but a recollection of a dream?

For a moment you were fooled. Why?

Memories are tricky. They are blurry and subjective and emotionally rooted. You can't critically analyze them in hindsight and so it's easy to confuse snippets of dreams with real life memories.

We're talking about ordinary memories here - squashing a bug or brushing your teeth - not jumping off the Empire State Building ;)

False Awakenings

A final word on false awakenings - aka dreaming of waking up.

These can be exceptionally realistic dreams, like the most vivid kind of lucid dream, and yet you still don't know you're dreaming. Because you dreamed of waking up, you naturally assume you are now awake. Confusing, much?

A false awakening has all the characteristics of a lucid dream (vivid, intense, self-awareness) without realizing you're dreaming or taking conscious control. It is a good example of a scenario where you can confuse a dream with reality based on it's tangible and realistic nature.

The worst case scenario in a false awakening is you get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, head out the door for work... only to wake up, back in bed again. This next awakening can be a false awakening, too. And so it can be a frustrating cycle.

The answer is to perform a reality check when you wake up. Often this transforms a false awakening into a lucid dream!

And while the experience is frustrating as it plays out, I don't believe there is really any doubt of reality when you finally do wake up for real. A moment's objective thought will reveal whether you are dreaming or not... and the only reason a false awakening continues in the first place is because dreams lack objective thought.

This is the key to distinguishing your reality for what it is - and it's automatically provided by a healthy human consciousness.

Inside my FREE 10,000-word e-course, you'll learn proven methods to become a frequent lucid dreamer:

1. Recall multiple dreams in detail every night

2. Recognize dream signs that trigger lucidity

3. Perform foolproof reality checks in your sleep

4. Prime your mind and body for lucid dreams

5. Use hypnagogia to induce conscious dreams

6. Use self-hypnosis to program dream content

7. Safely take dream herbs and supplements

8. The easiest lucidity technique known to man

9. Stabilize your lucidity to make dreams last longer

10. Actively control your dreams and fulfil fantasies

Grab my FREE e-course now and get my exclusive Lucid Dreaming Newsletter by entering your email address.

Wishing you the sweetest of lucid dreams...

Creator, World-of-Lucid-Dreaming.com

Is it possible to create original music during a lucid dream? Yes, it certainly is. Not necessarily more possible than while you're awake, but definitely possible.

I know this because I've managed to create music while dreaming, on multiple occasions. Music that has been described by random YouTube users as ‘fantastic', ‘great' and even ‘awesome'. How did I do it? Can you do it too? Yes to the latter and the former will be explained post haste.

One night, a few years ago, I was making an introductory video for this website. The video needed a musical soundtrack that would be simple and unobtrusive, yet tuneful and hopefully pleasant. At risk of sounding vain, I admit that I am very vain. Especially when it comes to my music. So I decided that I would make a bone-rattlingly good tune that would nicely fit the fantastical lucid dreaming video.

I put together four chords that I've always liked and started creating a song. It started nicely enough, but nothing was clicking. I kept repeating the chords in the hope that my brain would autopilot its way to something decent, but no such luck. I was tired, it was late, so I went to bed and subsequently to sleep.

Now! We've all done that thing where our brains replay the last song we heard on persistent auto-repeat. Yes? And we've all done that thing where we spend some time doing a repetitive activity in the evening, then when we go to sleep we dream about doing the same activity. I dreamed about playing the four chords over and over. I was not lucid at this stage. To the hazy recollection of my repeatedly impact-damaged brain, I spent the rest of the night dreaming about random other things, probably such as flying carpets, mountain climbing, waterfalls and swimming.

In the early morning, probably an hour or two before I woke, I realized I was dreaming. Those chords were still playing on my brain's one-song-on-an-endless-loop (TM) radio station. Being lucid, I wiped out everything and stood in the clouds. I constructed a huge piano out of light and started conducting it. I say conducting rather than playing, because I didn't have to touch the piano to make it play. I was waving my fingers at it like a wizard. Every time I played a key, that note would send light up into the sky.

I played the four chords with my left hand and the music became louder and warmer. Then I started playing the other parts of the song. This continued for at least twenty minutes. My mood lifted with the pace of the music. Drums joined in out of nowhere. A soft bass hummed underneath us and buzzed in elation at the end of each bar. I made fills and solos and flourishes. It was awesome. But I wasn't trying to remember any of it, I was just enjoying conjuring my lucid dream song.

I woke up some time later and thought about the song I had played in my sleep. I hopped on my piano and tried to work out how I was playing the song. After I had worked out the gist of the note patterns, I got on my computer's piano and made an attempt to record what I remembered from the song. Let me tell you, most of that amazing lucid dream song is lost forever. The complexity of it was too great to remember.

The parts I did remember (and some that I embellished) went into the final recording of the track Lucid (click to listen). So far, Lucid is my most successful and popular song. I've sold upwards of fifty copies over the internet, which I don't have to tell you is a pretty big deal. I was even forced to make myself my own Grammy award for best song written while asleep.

Another attempt at a lucid dream song was my more recent piano piece Abresolute. Same as the last time - I was in the clouds - but instead of playing a piano of light I was trying to explain the song to a future being, most likely my firstborn child. Pretentious? Moi? Not only that, I wanted to name him Basil, which I still maintain is a perfectly good name.

Pete Casale is a lucid dreamer and musician, among many other things. Listen to his music for free here, including the lucid dream-inspired songs Lucid and Abresolute.

You can hear his latest musical works by subscribing to his YouTube channel or joining his Facebook page. All of his music is free and donations are welcome.

In the past, I have become conscious rather frequently in my dreams. For example, last night I was interacting with a few of my friends and right when the conversation took its most exciting turn, I realized I was dreaming and gained control of the dream. The only thing I wanted to do was hear the next sentence! I tried to wait out the end of the conversation and even tried to let the dream continue, but now that I was conscious, I couldn't really be surprised by anything that was happening.

What suggestions might you have for actually reaching the part of dreaming where conversation with the subconscious becomes possible? I'm not too worried about the flying or breathing underwater yet (which I actually have done on occasion), but rather, is there a way to really let the dream continue with my conscious mind playing only a minimal part in affecting the actions of others?

Rebecca says: First of all, I applaud your desire to use lucid dreaming for something more profound than just fulfillment :D

This is actually the true meaning of lucid dreaming - it's not primarily about dream control but simply having the conscious clarity of thought to enjoy the dream in a more vivid and meaningful context.

When you become lucid, heighten your awareness (rub your hands together and remind yourself you're dreaming) but refrain from exerting any other conscious will over the dream. I find if I passively explore the dreamscape for a minute (walk round a corner, through a dream door, etc) the dream picks up again on its own and I become wrapped up in the story.

If you're hanging around and still nothing happens, try actively handing the dream back to your subconscious. Say out loud "Show me something that will blow my mind!" or "Take me somewhere really cool!" Tell the dream what you want... not specifically, but that you're open to anything happening.

Or you can go somewhere to deliberately be an observer: go to a city and sit on the top of a building and observe the streets below. Lock onto a dream character you find interesting - and follow them.

Another experiment is to find a portal - a mirror, door or even a wardrobe - and jump through, expecting to find something amazing the other side (perhaps a house from the past, or a spaceship of the future). Having an expectation will admittedly start to shape the result - because you don't want to be standing at the back of an empty wardrobe, not having traveled anywhere! But it opens new possibilities for the subconscious to create a new scene with new characters and developments.

In summary, give the dream a little nudge, keep exploring, and it will resume its own path...

I really want to have lucid dreams but I read that lucid dreaming is really addictive and this worries me. Would you compare this need to taking drugs? How do you keep control over it?

Rebecca says: Let me start out by explaining the literal definition of addiction: the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit or substance. When you withdraw from the substance or habit, you get cravings and, in severe addiction, physical withdrawal pain.

This is not the case with lucid dreaming. Sure, it is a lot of fun and people want to do it, just like people want to go dancing or rock climbing or play the guitar. It can become an important part of your life like any other pastime. But, unlike the common focus of addictions like drugs or alcohol, there is no psychological nor physiological addictive need to lucid dream.

And how could there be? You dream for 100 minutes per night, and I guarantee that won't all be spent lucid dreaming (unless you have a rare condition of permanent lucidity, which develops in childhood). Even highly experienced lucid dreamers admit they don't lucid dream every night. So I ask: how can we become addicted to something so elusive as to be unavailable for 95% of our conscious daily existence?

I have read in the media that "lucid dreaming is addictive" but this is a poor use of language. They are trying to say that it's highly enjoyable and you'll want to do it more... not that you won't be able to live a normal existence without frequent injections of its chemical or mental stimulus.

Inception's writer and director, Chris Nolan, had long wanted to make this movie based on his own experiences of lucid dreams. He knew what he was talking about. And yet, there are a number of lucid dreaming myths in Inception.

Perhaps this was why Nolan chose never to use the term "lucid dreaming" in his movie. In doing so, he allowed himself the flexibility to create his own dream mythology, centered around the act of consciously entering other people's dreams and stealing / planting secrets.

Nonetheless, the central theme of being able to consciously create and navigate the dream world is impossible to ignore - this is lucid dreaming in its essence.

Even non-lucid dreamers made the association; Google searches "lucid dreaming" shot through the roof in the months surrounding Inception's release.

So where does Inception's mythology deviate from the truth of lucid dreaming?

To draw the line between fact and fiction, I wanted to highlight the three biggest myths of Inception and contrast them with the reality of lucid dreaming.

Spoiler alert: if you have been living under a rock and are yet to catch this movie, the following does contain spoilers... Check out Inception on DVD first!

In the movie Inception, a spinning top was used as a reality check. Does that apply in real life lucid dreams?

Rebecca says: When Dom Cobb spins his spinning top in Inception, he does it to determine whether he's awake or dreaming. In reality, the top eventually runs out of energy and falls over. In a dream, it has the potential to spin on forever. But there are a few flaws to this concept as a reality check:

It's very time consuming to watch a spinning top and wait for it to fall over. During waking reality checks this will become mundane (as it's recommended you do at least a dozen a day). And during your lucid dream, watching a spinning top that never falls wastes precious lucid dream time! There are much faster reality checks to do, such as pushing your hand through a solid object or looking at a clock. It's unlikely you'll have your spinning top handy when you become lucid. Even if you carry this item around with you all day long (which in itself is burdensome) it will take time for your subconscious self to "attach" the spinning top to your dream body too. It's possible of course, but a lot of trouble. The only solution is to go in search of a spinning top in your lucid dream, which is undesirable when you are yet to establish your lucidity with a reality check. It's catch 22. A spinning top isn't a foolproof reality check. While the top may spin on indefinitely in the dream world, it may also fall over, thereby failing as a reality check. Remember, you only ever see the spinning top fall over in reality, and this expectation may play on into the dream. Since there is no interaction between your dream self and the spinning top, I'd say it would be hard to force it to keep spinning. In contrast, it's easier to force your fingers through a door in a dream.

So that's why I don't recommend using a spinning top as a reality check. It's a cute idea to use in the movies, illustrating the underlying notion of what's real and what isn't. However for practical purposes it falls short and I would recommend these top 10 reality checks instead.

 

This section contains expert lucid dreaming interviews. If you want to suggest a future interviewee, post it in my suggestion box.

While I take a scientific approach to lucidity, it does has many branches (out-of-body experiences, astral projection, precognitive dreams and shared dreams, to name a few) which are frequently subject to esoteric interpretation. You may find conflicting theories of mind, body and soul in these pages, and my intention is to give each subject his or her own platform to recount their personal experiences and interpretations. The views expressed don't necessarily reflect my own - but then that's half the fun isn't it ;)

An interview with Robert Waggoner, lucid dream researcher, author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, and President-Elect of the IASD.

An interview with Charlie Morley, a holistic lucid dreaming teacher bringing together Western science with Tibetan Buddhist lucid dream practices.

An interview with Daniel Love, creator of the Cycle Adjustment Technique, author of Are You Dreaming?, and consultant to the upcoming show Anamnesis.

Rebecca Turner is the creator of the website World of Lucid Dreaming. In this interview she answers reader questions and shares her personal insights for beginner lucid dreamers.

An interview with Erin Pavlina, lucid dreamer and explorer of altered states, featuring her personal beliefs and insights into lucid dreaming and astral projection.

Peter Maich Interview

A lifelong lucid dreamer, this interview with Peter Maich covers his experiences of lucid energy/light, the conceptual dream void and taking Galantamine supplements to induce lucid dreams.

Lucid dreaming is now more popular than ever - and is certainly on the radar of journalists, directors and writers. This section is dedicated to lucid dreaming in the media. It features movie reviews, documentaries, science experiments, and other interesting media mentions.

An Inception review by a lucid dreamer; starring Leo DiCaprio and delving into the world of subconscious realities and the mystery of consciousness.

Learn how to master lucid dreaming, Inception style! Program your subconscious mind to lucid dream like Leo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.

The high profile lucid dream explorer, Robert Waggoner, describes the top 10 things he likes about Christopher Nolan's new lucid dreaming movie: Inception.

How James Cameron's Avatar in 3D threw me back into a lucid dream world, where fantasy meets reality. Amazing visuals that emulate the lucid dreamscape...

Vanilla Sky: a review of the lucid dreaming movie starring Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. A tale of life, love, science and reality.

The Good Night Review - a guest article by Dan tea. A lucid dreaming movie starring Penelope Cruz, Martin Freeman and Danny De Vito. Full review.

European scientists have begun to translate brain signals which reveal the content of your dreams. Could you one day record and playback your lucid dreams?

Lucid Dream Explorers: A DVD documentary review. Check out this lucid dreaming DVD featuring interviews with top lucid dream experts Dr Stephen LaBerge and Dr Alan Wallace.

Lucidity is a brand new XBox Live and PC game by LucasArts for lucid dreaming fans and puzzle lovers everywhere. Enter Sofi's dreamscape and discover the laws of lucidity!

Wake Up! A lucid dreaming DVD exploring the potential of lucid dreams - focusing on creative expression, psychotherapeutic healing and spiritual growth.

Today we launched the World of Lucid Dreaming Forum - an online community dedicated to the discussions of lucid dreams and out of body phenomena. Join us!

This is my review of The Lucid Immersion Blueprint - a new digital course by Ryan Hurd.

Ryan is the creator of the website Dream Studies. I have followed his blog for a few years and think of Ryan as a very well educated lucid dreamer (he has a Masters in Consciousness Studies) and possessing a deeply poetic perspective of the dreaming mind.

Ryan has a way of balancing objective scientific insight with spiritual self-inquiry. He emphasizes the need to take a holistic approach to lucid dreaming and remains in awe of the extraordinary potential for self-growth. Though he doesn't claim to be any kind of expert or "guru" in lucid dreaming, I think he makes an inspiring tutor with ample personal experience to draw from.

Ryan's science-and-spirit approach is the continuing theme in The Lucid Immersion Blueprint. This is not your run-of-the-mill beginner's guide to lucid dreaming but something far more unique in its approach.

His story begins with a month-long jaunt in Nicaragua, where the conditions of travel ignited his lucid dream life. His anecdote holds a number of truths for lucid dreamers: how changes in sleep patterns, escaping the daily grind, and being more mindful can trigger any number of highly vivid and conscious dreams.

Though understated, this example already gives the reader an informal framework to begin their own dream studies. This is Ryan's teaching style across the board; he paints a picture of scientific and personal observations, picking out pertinent details, and then lets the reader decide what lessons to take home.

Some people may be too impatient to allow this approach to play out - instead preferring to be spoon-fed practical instructions. But given the nature of our quest, I think a lot of people will enjoy Ryan's reflective yarns and find this an all-round more memorable jaunt into lucid dream induction.

In the main 180-page illustrated ebook, The Lucid Immersion Guidebook, you'll learn about the latest research in lucid dreaming plus Ryan's original method for immersing your mind, body and spirit into your dream life.

BUILDING THE FOUNDATION (p 15-35) teaches essential basics like good sleep habits, understanding REM sleep, improving dream recall, recording your dreams without judgment, dietary tips, and even when not to pursue lucid dreaming (such as in the aftermath of trauma). SCIENCE OF LUCID DREAMING (p 38-62) depicts the language of dreams, their emotional intensity, co-creative dream theory, letting go of control, the traits of lucid dreamers, and how the lucid immersion program works. THE LUCID IMMERSION METHOD (p 67-80) explains what makes the immersion method work: the paradox of trying too hard, the culture of lucid living and waking awareness, dream incubation in the ancient world, and uniting the mind, body and soul (emotions) in lucid awareness. PERPARING FOR THE IMMERSION (P 82-85) is a short chapter advising on some internal and external preparations: creating the bedroom sanctuary, and taking lucid dreaming seriously while maintaining a sense of playfulness. GOING MENTAL (p 87-101) is a discussion of cognitive techniques for lucid dreaming, such as strengthening the intention, mindfulness, day residue, dreamsigns, advanced journaling, video games, binaural beats, meditation, Dream Yoga, daydreaming, and subtle mind programming. GETTING EMOTIONAL (p 103-116) deals with the soulful side of lucid dreaming: developing emotional intelligence, eliminating negative expectation, "touching the shadow" (projecting feelings onto other dream figures), day review, Scott Sparrow's Dream ReLiving, and meditation in the lucid void. FINDING BALANCE (p 121-148) refers to physical health for lucid dreaming which Ryan isolates as: advanced sleep practices, body meditations, active sound entrainment practices, and The Lucid Diet (including the safe use of supplements). Other intriguing practices include the Threshold Exercise and Nature Awareness. YOUR IMMERSION PLAN (p 151-162) provides a way to put all your newfound knowledge together, starting with any 3-6 lucid practices. Once the immersion is over, you'll rest for a week, then launch the next stage which may take the form of travel immersion, home alone, wilderness, with peers, or even experimental immersions.At the end of the book Ryan lists his recommended lucid practices which really underlines the holistic nature of his approach. You won't find any quick-fire solutions or magic pills (as if such things exist) but rather a strategic plan for achieving lucidity through mental, physical and emotional lifestyle changes.

There are some famous lucid dreaming techniques he has deliberately omitted, such as a visualization method for Wake Induced Lucid Dreams, or details of the Wake Back to Bed technique. These, Ryan points out, have been covered by predecessing lucid dreaming works (which he encourages you to read); the Immersion course is dedicated to teaching his own original path to lucidity.

Meanwhile, the Workbook for Lucid Immersion is a printable 17-page PDF which launches your immersion training by encouraging you to reflect and write about your background, beliefs and values. It also launches your meditation efforts.

The Advanced Edition contains all of the above plus several additional features.

Overcoming Roadblocks deals with a number of common issues experienced by beginner lucid dreamers. These include dreams that end prematurely or become too emotional, as well as dreams which you can't control nor remember your intention. Ryan also offers advanced advice on dealing with boredom in the dream world, negative expectations, and seeking cognitive flexibility.

Advanced readers will also hear three interviews with experts in lucid dreaming.

In more than two hours of audio interviews, Ryan probes the minds of Robert Waggoner (author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self), Chris Olsen (creator of the lucid dreaming documentary Wake Up!) and Tim Post (editor of the website Lucidipedia).

Specific topics under discussion are common roadblocks, belonging to a lucid dreaming group, and incubation methods for conscious dreams. I am really impressed by the extra lengths Ryan went to in securing these interviews and asking questions of the experts that truly provide greater insight.

Other audio bonuses include two lectures delivered by Ryan Hurd himself.

The first is a 20-minute presentation called Lucid Nightmares: The Dark Side of Self Awareness in Dreams. This is a fascinating topic to explore and an area which Ryan has had a great deal of personal intuition.

However, one caveat: if you have never had a lucid nightmare before, I suggest you put this audio aside for now. In lucid dreaming, the expectation principle is powerful and this session may be all it takes to create your own nightmare experience. Of course, lucid nightmares can be valuable and I welcome their insight, however there is such a thing as poking the beehive. Proceed only when you feel ready for the emotional intensity that lucid nightmares can bring.

The second of Ryan's talks is a 40-minute discourse on The History of Lucid Dreaming, bringing together various cultural and philosophical interpretations of conscious dreaming. He finishes with a neat Q&A session with the audience, discussing the link between lucid dreams and OBEs, the most amazing thing you can do in a lucid dream, and how sleep debt affects lucidity.

The Lucid Immersion Blueprint is a course of true quality and originality. Ryan applies his unique approach to teaching lucid dreaming through a combination of scientific and spiritual enquiry. How fantastic to find an author with such genuine passion and knowledge for his subject; a true student of lucid dreaming who has dedicated much of his life to understanding its complexities.

There is, I should say, far more information in this course than you actually need to dip your toe in the waters of lucidity. Casual readers may well find this overwhelming, finding it unnecessary to learn about the depths of dream theory and cultural interpretations before experiencing lucid dreaming for themselves.

However, this is no discredit to Ryan's work. I'm sure there are many ambitious and advanced dream explorers who will revel in the depth of information here, which is beautifully packaged.

I recommend this course to anyone who has dabbled in the realm of lucid dreams and now seeks to immerse themselves in the full intensity of the experience. It is a detailed guide for anyone willing to commit to a holistic approach to lucid dreaming and all that it entails. Meditators, philosophers and lovers of nature will find this route instinctive.

Order The Lucid Immersion Blueprint for $27 (Essential Edition) or $37 (Advanced Edition).

I've gotten my fair share of weird looks when I tell people I'm doing my high school research project on lucid dreaming. It feels that people associate sleep science with palm reading and the like...

Have you ever had anyone react negatively or oddly to the revelation that you practice lucid dreaming? If so, why do you think there are so many misunderstandings about lucid dreaming?

Rebecca says: I encounter this a lot, when people ask me what I do for a living. I tell them I write a website. About what, they ask. About lucid dreaming. Then I pause and wait for their giveaway reaction.

Generally smart people already have a good idea of what lucid dreaming is. The term is becoming more of a household phrase, and these people realize it's something real. It sparks some interesting discussions, and I find more and more people I know already naturally lucid dream (but just don't call it that).

Some people just ask what it is outright, and I explain as best I can without sounding like a broken record. This can be hit or miss. On the plus side, what starts out as polite small talk quickly becomes quite deep and you get to know complete strangers on a more meaningful level. On the downside, some people just don't get it. It's hard to explain lucidity when they don't understand the difference between conscious and subconscious awareness... so that ends in an awkward moment and I quickly move on.

A few times I've had people give me funny looks and say things like "do you really believe in all THAT?" as if it literally means invading other people's dreams or psychically dreaming of the future or some other hocus pocus. Again, these are the ones who just don't get it and though I'll try to explain, it's difficult to teach people whose minds have already been made up about something, especially when you know their belief completely lacks any reasonable foundation. It's like trying to argue Evolution to a Creationist, you have to change their whole belief system just to define the concept to them.

So, why the misunderstanding?

We live in a world where the scientific method is not revered as it should be. Science gives us every single piece of technology in the world today. Yet when you apply science to people's personal beliefs, they suddenly want no more of it. Many people believe in angels, ghosts, the afterlife, mediums, telepathy, psychic energy, chakras, auras, the list goes on... These are all beliefs based on wobbly "I-want-to-believe-it-so-I-will" theories which have not been backed by observable evidence, and so science rejects them until such time that they do. 

This creates a whole lot of uncertainty for people stuck in the middle. These are people who were never educated properly in the scientific method, and so have no system to decide what is and isn't real - yet feel we should draw the line somewhere.

So at one end of the scale you have people who believe anything if it suits their philosophy. In the middle the uncertain ones who have no way to measure what's real and what's not and so flip-flop on their beliefs. And at the other end people who trust in the scientific method to find objective truths. 

The middle group, who flip-flop over their beliefs, are the ones who will potentially label you crazy for believing in lucid dreaming. Partly because they are uneducated and don't know what it is nor the science behind it, and partly because they don't know how to categorize what's real even if the evidence hit them in the face.

If that all sounds pompous, then forgive me. I don't know everything, this is just my educated opinion. And I place a huge amount of importance on education. This doesn't mean you have to have a fancy college degree, you just need a thirst for learning. The day you stop learning and caring about finding answers, settling instead for whatever you are spoon fed by your local spiritual / religious group, then you have officially given up on meaningful intellectual progression in life.

Also, don't worry about what these other high school students think. They're too immature at the moment. When I explained the OBE vibrational state to my friends in school, they said "Haha. You used a vibrator." :/ QED

One of the best things I've found about getting older is you and your peers get wiser, and you can have more meaningful discussion of these things. So I think it's pretty awesome when teenagers ask questions like this, because it suggests you're already ahead of the game and actively applying your intelligence. Don't let your school friends put you off this method of thinking - because it really does serve you well.

August 2011, Auckland - World of Lucid Dreaming has launched an exciting new digital product teaching the scientifically proven skill of lucid dreaming to beginners.

Lucid dreaming is the ability to become conscious and self-aware within the dream state. It is a proven sleep state popularized (and somewhat fictionalized) by the blockbuster movie, Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Today there are millions of lucid dreamers in the world and millions more who seek to "wake up" in their dreams...

The new course, entitled The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track, focuses on the act of becoming lucid in your dreams and mastering control over the conscious dream world. It is packed with lucid induction techniques, in-dream challenges and expert insights, including a fascinating interview with the leading lucid dream researcher, Robert Waggoner.

"We all have the natural ability to lucid dream," says Rebecca Turner, Editor of the World of Lucid Dreaming website and creator of the new course.

"We all dream every night - it's essential to healthy brain functioning - and most people are actually quite good at remembering their dreams. Lucidity is sparked by becoming conscious in your dreams, just as you are during waking hours. So it simply combines two normal things we do every single day."

The result? An amazing virtual reality world, where everything looks and feels as vivid as waking life. "This state of heightened awareness tells us a lot about human perception," Rebecca says, "and just how powerful the human brain really is."

About The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track

In the course, readers are educated about the world of sleep and dreaming, and encouraged to remember their dreams in more detail. They are then presented with numerous step-by-step tutorials for inducing lucid dreams on demand. The course also covers plenty of dream control techniques and ponders the implications of having direct access to the dreaming subconscious.

The course includes two special bonuses:

Lucid Dreaming Hypnosis narrated by Gale Van Cott. "The MP3 is special because it's based on a guided meditation technique that I regularly use to go lucid," Rebecca says. "Now I can pass this experience on to other dreamers... something I'm really excited about. I also love the background music - it's really haunting but in a beautiful way!" The Guided Meditation Handbook. "Guided meditation has played a key role in my life since I was a teenager," Rebecca says, "enabling me to access profound states of awareness and fast track my lucid dreaming skills. I wrote this bonus guide from the perspective of a lucid dreamer, including step-by-step visualization tutorials you can use to induce lucid dreams and even out of body experiences tonight."The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track is now available for instant download here.

About The Author

Rebecca Turner has been lucid dreaming since 1997 and is the Founder and Editor of World of Lucid Dreaming, one of the biggest lucid dreaming websites on the net. She lives in New Zealand with her partner Peter and two dogs.

Dreaming itself is a healthy biological function; we all dream every night (even if you don't remember) and we all experience varying states of consciousness while awake. To lucid dream simply means combining these states. Hence: conscious dreams.

Sounds simple, right? So why do I receive countless emails every week from people who claim it's impossible for them to become lucid? They all love the idea of controlling their dreams, and they say they've been practicing, but to actually attain consciousness while they're asleep just seems like a paradox to them.

Most often, I find the problem is inadequate education. They've picked up a few techniques from the internet and rushed into things without fully developing the mindset of a lucid dreamer. I know that lucid dreaming is a learnable skill, and with the right tutorage, anyone can pick it up. Sometimes within just a few days.

That's why I created my own hands-on approach to learning lucid dreaming. In my view, it blows other beginner courses out of the water. It's specifically designed for every reader who lands on this website crying, "I can't lucid dream! It's too hard!"

Well, I've got news for you...

I discovered lucid dreaming as a teenager - it was in some paranormal magazine alongside bigfoot sightings, UFO theories, remote viewing and tales of the legendary chupacabra. (Of course, lucid dreaming is the only scientifically proven concept among all of these alleged phenomena.)

Like anyone with a pulse, I really wanted to try lucid dreaming for myself. I wanted to feel the freedom of doing absolutely anything inside my own private virtual world. So over the following weeks I studied lucid dreaming and read up as much as I could. I kept a dream journal and practiced self-hypnosis.

Soon, I acquired the mindset - and had my first lucid dream.

It was a breakthrough moment for me. Suddenly, for the first time ever, I "woke up" inside my dream world. My environment surged into focus and I existed entirely in that reality, much like how you exist entirely where you are sitting right now. It was not fuzzy or vague. It was real. I was there.

I did a reality check - pushing two of my right fingers through the palm of my left hand - and marveled at the feeling. My lucidity became stronger.

Then I made a rookie mistake. I got all excited and ran outside to tell one of my fellow dream characters I was lucid. I found a woman I didn't recognize and shouted in her face. She didn't react, but just looked straight through me. In the last moments of my dream, I kept shouting at her: "I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!"

By then I was so excited, I accidentally woke myself up.

Over the following weeks and months I experienced many more lucid dreams. Most of them were short-lived and never lasted longer than a few minutes. That was before I learned how to prolong my dreams.

Mastering lucid dreaming is not just a case of knowing how to "wake up" in your dreams. It requires special knowledge to stay lucid and manipulate the dreamscape. Though some people are naturals at this, most people need to be given specific instructions in order to learn how to:

Become fully conscious / increase the dream intensityProlong the dream - potentially up to an hourControl your own movements with accuracy (eg flight)Change the dream scene to program a new adventureSuccessfully interact with other dream figuresObtain information from your subconscious dreaming self

It took me a long time to become a proficient lucid dreamer, because I never realized the importance of developing this lucid skill set. I just bumbled along in my lucid dreams, wondering why I sometimes couldn't fly (once I just stood in a field willing myself to go up, and felt totally frustrated when absolutely nothing happened). I also made the mistake of frequently pursuing sexual encounters - when I didn't even know how to stay fully lucid when things got exciting, nor how to interact with dream figures (tip: they rarely behave how you expect them to).

Eventually, I got some good tutoring and found the answers I needed. There were simple solutions available to me all along, if only I'd realized. For instance, if you're semi-lucid, vaguely aware that you might be dreaming but not really focused enough to do anything about it, you can quite simply rub your hands together to stimulate kinetic sensation. This awakens your senses and the conscious part of your brain, thereby heightening your lucidity immediately.

After I learned these new dream control techniques, my inner world became a rich and infinite source of fascination. I was no longer held back by my own illogical beliefs ("I can't fly, I'm too heavy") nor my own lack of lucidity. Now I had access to the complete lucid universe, able to teleport around the world in a flash, soar so high above the clouds I would end up in space, and work with my fellow dream characters so we all got something out of the experience.

Now, after 14 years of lucid dreaming, I'm experienced in the surreal workings of the subconscious dream world. I know how to induce lucid dreams and program my dreams in advance, plus (more importantly) how to understand and shape my dream world to achieve anything I want when lucid. I'm also now an avid explorer of passive lucid dreaming - dreams in which you allow your subconscious dreaming self to show you anything it wants, and lead you down the rabbit hole...

The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track is a comprehensive collection of all these lessons and more. It was designed to educate and inspire, arming you with valuable tips and tutorials as taught by leading lucidity experts like Dr Stephen LaBerge, Dr Alan Wallace and Dr Jayne Gackenbach. Indeed, the course finishes with an exclusive interview with Robert Waggoner, lucid dream author and advocate of using conscious dreams as a gateway to communicating with the inner self.

Here is a breakdown of the course contents:

Part I: The Art of Lucid Dreaming:
The Pursuit of Conscious Dream Control

In this comprehensive 111-page ebook you'll learn many tried-and-tested methods of lucid dream induction and dream control. It contains a goldmine of information for beginners including first-hand insights and troubleshooting.

You'll learn the background of sleep and dreaming, hands-on techniques to apply to your dream life, specific lessons in dream control, and lucid dream challenges and ideas.

The book is illustrated with dream-inspired fantasy art by Jeremiah Morelli.

By following the step-by-step instructions in this book, you will discover:

How to dramatically boost your dream recall - enabling you to recall up to 4 or 5 dreams per night (page 40).How to have your first lucid dream - using the step-by-step tutorials described here (pages 40-61).How to visualize your way to a lucid dream - entering your own imagined world on any night you choose (page 51).What dream herbs will intensify your dreams - the lazy man's way to a night of vivid dreaming (page 65).How to prolong your lucid dreams - using tactics which can potentially extend your lucid dreams up to an hour (page 74).How to program your dreams in advance - by visualizing your desired dreamscape or dream plot before sleep (page 48).How to summon dream characters and share intimacy - by reaching out to dream characters on their level (page 87).How to stop nightmares and turn them into lucid dreams - by lucidly turning the nightmare in on itself (page 93).How to interact with the awareness behind the dream - by specifically addressing your subconscious inner self (page 99).Part II: The Guided Meditation Handbook:
Meditation Advice for Lucid Dreamers

Modern lucid dream research has shown meditation can enhance your ability to lucid dream, as explained in this practical 26-page ebook.

It features step-by-step visualization tutorials to induce lucid dreams and OBEs as early as tonight. You'll learn how to visualize effectively and create intricate landscapes and scenarios in your mind's eye which can lead directly to lucid dreams (WILDs).

You'll also learn how to hypnotize yourself and place active affirmations in your subconscious mind to help program your dream content in advance. This is also excellent practice for entering altered states of awareness on demand - helping to trigger more lucid dreams in both the short and long term:

How to visualize effectively - and create intricate dream landscapes in your mind's eye.How to do guided meditation - to relieve stress and take an inner journey to find new insights and creativity.How to hypnotize yourself - and place active affirmations in your subconscious mind to program your dreams in advance.How to do night-time meditation and conscious dream entry - using your natural hypnagogia (the swirling lights and fleeting impressions on the sleep-wake border).Part III: Lucid Dreaming Hypnosis Sessions

Hypnosis is a powerful way to plant instructions in your subconscious mind - such as the intention to recognize when you are dreaming and become lucid.

Narrated by voice artist Gale Van Cott, I created two deeply relaxing hypnosis recordings to lead you into a blissful trance state whenever you listen.

Once under, you will be led into a natural wonderland that you will come to visualize in vivid detail, engaging multiple senses. This is your trance-state gateway to a lucid dream. Besides encouraging meditative states and incubating lucid dream triggers under hypnosis, the recordings may even prompt spontaneous lucidity.

Set to beautiful and haunting digitally-mastered music, you can listen to these hypnosis MP3s as often as you like to:

Help you relax when you get into bed - by systematically relieving your body of tension and silencing your inner monologue.
Hypnotize yourself into a semi-dream state - from which you are primed to receive the lucid dreaming autosuggestions.
Go on a guided meditation - molding your hypnagogia which can lead your mind directly into a lucid dream.
Help you program your dreams in advance - by laying down vivid content and lucidity cues to help you have more lucid dreams.

Lucid dreaming isn't just about flying to Mars or getting intimate with your favorite celebrity. In my course, I discuss more powerful applications such as:

Improving your creativity - Simply explore the lucid dreamscape and ask the dream to show you new things. Artists can find new inspiration by browsing their own in-dream gallery, full of original and surreal art which they can replicate upon waking. And my partner Pete regularly uses his lucid dreams to create new instrumental songs (his first was aptly named Lucid). It's quite amazing to follow the free-flow of ideas from the subconscious mind without your analytical left brain becoming critical about it. Overcoming your fears - Behavioral psychologists say that phobias are ill-conceived subconscious fears projected onto a specific stimulus. So, your irrational fear of spiders may be about a whole lot more than just the perceived weirdness of the eight-legged freaks. The solution when lucid is to summon a giant tarantula and talk to it - you can even pet it and make friends with it! Though surreal, the spider can talk freely about what part of your subconscious it represents and why you may be feeling so anxious about encountering it. The lucid dream world is a safe place to realign your miscalibrated childhood beliefs and overcome these fears with confidence. Communicating with your subconscious mind - By the same token, you can have profound and life-changing conversations with the best therapist in the world: your inner self. For instance, any time you are lucid, approach another dream figure and ask them what they represent. Ask if you can help them achieve something in particular or if they have anything they want to tell you. My course discusses more ways to interact with your inner self and ask probing questions - the answers to which could leave you truly awe-inspired.

Once you know how to induce lucid dreams (virtually on demand, but that's just a matter of commitment) and remain fully conscious for prolonged periods of time, there is unlimited potential for advanced lucid dream exploration.

In Dream Yoga - the Tibetan Buddhist's approach to lucid dreaming - the ultimate goal of lucidity is to dissolve the dream state. Deprived of physical stimulus (from the physical body) and conceptual stimulus (from the dreaming mind), you have the unique opportunity to observe the purest form of conscious awareness.

Whether you are religious or atheist, tuning into these rare states of altered awareness make way for some profound experiences. I'll show you how you can use your lucidity to explore your personal beliefs about the nature of being. Touching "God", having out-of-body experiences, and exploring beyond the outer reaches of our universe are all exciting vehicles to explore the nature and meaning of human consciousness in our own way. We'll explore this concept further in the course.

I invite you to explore the exceptional realm of the lucid dream world... An incredible simulated reality that is all at once intense, exciting, mind-expanding, thrilling, erotic, surreal, magical and fun.

Best of all, your dream world is unique and personal to you - it is your own private playground to use as you want. Whether you seek the ultimate physical freedom, sexual fantasies, evolution of the mind, or a spiritual quest, there are no rules, limitations or boundaries in your own lucid universe.

Creating The Lucid Dreaming Fast Track is my way of touching lives with this extraordinary concept. You can gain instant access to this fully downloadable course, sleeping sound in the knowledge that if you don't have any lucid dreams, you have 60 days to claim a full refund. I'm pleased to say that 96% of customers choose to keep the course. Plus, all customers have the option of receiving free lifetime updates, so any new materials and expansion packs will land in your inbox absolutely free. Click here to kick-start your lucid adventures and join the club.

Best wishes,

Rebecca Turner
Creator, World of Lucid Dreaming

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Home > Introduction to Lucid Dreaming > What Do Lucid Dreams Feel Like?

So you know the psychological definition of lucid dreaming and how it's all supposed to work - but what do lucid dreams feel like?

Years ago, before I had my first lucid dream, I had a very specific idea about what a lucid dream would feel like. I thought it would be very intense and magical and perhaps a bit spooky. Turns out I was right on all fronts.

But there is a heck of a lot more about the sensation and perception of lucid dreams that I have learned about since then. While no two lucid dreams are the same (and while it's no substitute for experiencing a lucid dream first-hand) I have tried to define my own experience of a lucid dream for the uninitiated.

I've broken it down into physical, mental and emotional components:

Your physical experience is made up of sensory interpretations, like the feel of the ground underneath your feet, or the smell of the ocean. In waking life, this information is received via the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. The stimulus is real and your brain interprets the data.

In dreams, this information is 100% synthesized by the mind - from memory and imagination. And yet, when lucid, it can feel just as "real" and vivid as waking life. Sometimes that's very intense and pleasurable (which is why many beginners go in search of lucid dream sex) or sometimes it can be dulled down (often when you lose lucidity or are directing your focus elsewhere).

Here are some examples of physical lucid dream experiences:

It may be a cliche that women love chocolate - but it's a cliche for a reason.

So naturally, I have eaten some truly delicious chocolate cake in my lucid dreams.

Imagine the smoothest, richest, creamiest chocolate cake in the world. It's perfection embodied in a dessert. Now intensify that experience and you're getting close to lucid dream cake...

When lucid eating, chewing and swallowing takes less time and it's all about the flavor and texture of the food. What's more, your taste buds never become accustomed to the flavor so each bite is like your first. And of course there's no need to feel guilty about consuming unnecessary calories.

While chocolate cake is right up there, you can of course eat anything imaginable in a lucid dream. It can be a favorite childhood meal or even something you've never tried before (would that taste be authentic?)

Remember that your expectation of it being totally delicious makes it so. Which means you won't get gristle in the world's best beef burger, nor a floppy bit of lettuce. Expectation is why eating in lucid dreams is so awesome.

Aside from skydivers, base jumpers and other extremists of that ilk, most people have never experienced the physical sensation of flying freely. Yet the lucid dreaming mind simulates it in extraordinary physical detail.

In my flying dreams, the sense of weightlessness, whooshing and wavering in the air is incredibly authentic (or at least how I imagine it to be). This awareness is critical to the experience, and your mind can even play tricks on you, like suddenly falling and simulating that stomach-dropping feeling.

Your dreaming mind may add more sensations such as feeling the wind in your hair, rain hammering on your skin, or the warmth of the sun on your face. If you have any doubts about your new skills, you may unexpectedly whack into a powerline mid-flight - which brings me to the subject of pain in lucid dreams...

The lucid dream is co-created by two players: the subconscious dreaming mind (the one that loves surreal symbology) and the conscious ego ("you"). In normal dreams, the subconscious has basically all control. In lucid dreams, the conscious ego steps in and starts to tweak little things as it desires.

Both can technically create pain in lucid dreams, although it's most likely the subconscious mind that produces this experience. (I'm yet to meet anyone who has deliberately induced pain in lucid dreams.) Pain is a result of pre-conceptions and established neural pathways: if you hit your thumb with a hammer, what do you expect? The brain simulates dream pain because this is its reality.

So, if you fall onto a bed of spikes in your lucid dream, you might just find out what it feels like to be impaled. But fear not - you can will the pain to stop instantly or even wake yourself up. And I'm sure it won't be a patch on the real life experience of being impaled - but rather a toned-down imagined version.

The few times I've experienced pain in a lucid dream, it was very different from real pain. It was inconsistent with the cause, and stopped abruptly when the dream moved on. What's more, there was no psychological component, which can make real life pain so much worse.

I have also experienced choking and drowning while in a lucid nightmare and my dream self automatically moved out-of-body where it was no longer painful.

Now let's move to the cognitive experience of lucid dreams: how it feels to be aware, process information, recall memories and mentally control the dream.

In lucid dreams, your focus is expanded somewhat compared to normal dreams, but in my experience it is still very different from real life.

For example, sitting at my desk right now, I am aware of the room around me, the house beyond that, the garden, the village, the New Zealand landscape, and even a sense that I am on planet Earth. I know my location in the grand scheme of things and I know this is a solid, reliable construct.

But the lucid dream world is much more fluid. When lucid, I am most often in unfamiliar places which have no GeoTag. I accept this automatically, knowing that I can teleport to a new location any time. It's as if my brain has no intention of placing my location (why bother?) so instead focuses my awareness only in the current one. The best way I can describe it is becoming absorbed in a video game or a movie and forgetting the real world exists beyond it.

Of course, with conscious effort, you can recall that your real body is lying in bed and that you are going to write an article about this tomorrow.

But generally (for me, anyway) the default setting is to focus on the pretty colors in in front of my face right now. This is why it's a good reason to set up a lucid dream intention while awake, because it's hard for the conscious dreaming mind to imagine new places from scratch. If you have no pre-set intention, just allow the dream to take over and show you an unlimited amount of cool new stuff. This is where the best creativity arises anyway.

Your memory works differently in the dream world. In normal dreams, you have little memory of your real life, and sometimes you even have false memories to make the dream scenario fit. Lucid dreams are only a notch or two above this.

The minute I become lucid, I try to recall my intention. It has to be recently ingrained or I won't have any passion for it. Sometimes I can't remember, which is frustrating, but I always have a backup plan to either explore the dreamscape, ask questions of fellow dream figures, or let the dreaming mind take over.

I haven't spent much time exploring long term memory in lucid dreams but in general I can say that it's off the radar. Like the location awareness, unless you are specifically trying to access a piece of information, the awareness of past memories are simply absent - or out of focus. This is equally true of thinking about my real life future. My lucid dream self lives in the present moment.

Dream control is a cognitive aspect of lucid dreaming because it's all done through willpower and mental focus.

Contrary to popular belief, when you become lucid you don't automatically have total control over your dream environment. Lucid dreaming only means to have conscious self-awareness within the dream state. Sometimes this means controlling many aspects of it, sometimes just a few key expectations, and sometimes you may choose to relinquish all control altogether.

"The sailor does not control the sea," as lucid dream researcher Robert Waggoner puts it. You may navigate your ship (consciousness) through the ocean (the dream) but you do not have to consciously populate every dream scene with every leaf and blade of grass and wisp of cloud. The dream populates itself while we consciously frolic within it. Sometimes that means a bird flies of its own accord, or a dream figure behaves autonomously. It is all still classified as lucid dreaming.

Beginners often run into the trap of trying to control major features of the dream with only a partial sense of lucidity. This can be frustrating and disheartening. To overcome this obstacle, employ these tricks for increasing and prolonging your lucidity. Only then can you master full dream control (if you so choose).

When you do exert greater control over the dream, the world is your oyster. You can paint the sky with a sweep of your hand. You can burrow down into the ground and journey to the center of the Earth. You can fight zombies, become Iron Man, or even create an entirely new civilization. Absolutely anything is possible - unless you have a preconceived limiting belief about it.

For instance, if I told you it was impossible to fly into the sun in a lucid dream (and you really believed me) and then attempted it, you'd probably hit some kind of psychological roadblock. Perhaps you'd melt and emerge in a new scene. Or perhaps you'd hit a wall like Truman Burbank when he reached the edge of his "world".

When it comes to dream control, your expectations are paramount. And if you have no conscious expectations of a certain event, your subconscious will fill them in for you, guiding the dream on your behalf.

Lastly, what is the emotional experience of lucid dreaming and is it possible to enhance the intensity of emotions while lucid?

The intensity of feelings in lucid dreams are exactly the same as feelings in real life. The only difference is that because you're having such a jolly wonderful time, the emotions are more along the lines of awe, ecstasy, excitement, lust, gratitude, love and all that other fluffy stuff.

The big problem here is being overcome with excitement the first few times you achieve lucidity. It's tempting to jump for joy, shout and tell everyone in your dream that you are in fact dreaming (which they don't really want to hear anyway).

So in your early lucid dreams I recommend taking extra care to stay focused and not run away with yourself. All it takes is a calm acknowledgement that if you carry on like a raving lunatic, you'll wake up. And you don't want that.

This isn't a major issue though. After a few lucid dreams I managed to put a lid on my excitement and retained enough mental focus to have more meaningful lucid dreams. Eventually you won't need to ground yourself at all and you can let your emotions run free. But until you've mastered that minimum level of focus required to keep the dream running, just tone down the jubilation please.

Eventually you may start to look for a deeper meaning in your lucid dreams. Don't get me wrong; you'll still have plenty of ego-gratifying activities you want to do. But none of it will be too original. That's when it's time to turn inwards.

One of the more profound applications of lucid dreaming is to communicate with the dream itself by asking questions. This is like talking to your subconscious inner self. Instead of focusing on your physical needs, focus on your emotional needs.

Ask questions of the dream, such as: "How can I feel at total peace with myself?" or if you're really bold: "What is my greatest fear?" Then let the dream reveal itself.

When you probe your dream self you will very likely start to experience more intense emotions and take-home lessons in your lucid dreams, learning about the true nature of your basest self. For more ideas on this, see Robert Waggoner's insightful book Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.