Hey,
I'm Jason.
I'm a mindfulness and lucid dreaming teacher and founder of Mind Awake,
Which is my lucid dreaming app.
So every night when we sleep,
We dream.
Research shows that dreaming is essential for mental health and well-being.
When we don't get enough sleep,
Especially when we don't get enough rapid eye movement sleep,
Or REM sleep,
We lose our ability to regulate emotions in a healthy way.
Memory and other important cognitive functions are significantly impaired.
But when we do sleep well,
We dream.
A lot.
We don't just dream in REM sleep,
We also dream in other stages of sleep as well.
And the total dreaming time adds up to over four hours every single night.
Although we dream so much,
And dreaming is an integral part of our well-being,
Somehow we have become disconnected from our dreams.
We don't remember them when we wake up,
And we almost never realize we're dreaming during our dreams.
And so today,
Let's talk about a way to reconnect with this wonderful,
Natural,
And transcendent part of ourselves.
I want to tell you about lucid dreaming,
And how mindfulness relates to dreams.
There are many ways of defining and explaining mindfulness.
But for simplicity here,
Mindfulness is a way to cultivate present-moment awareness.
Through various exercises like mindful meditation,
You can observe the processes of the mind and work on improving mental faculties like focusing,
Directing attention,
And regulating emotions.
Also,
Mindfulness involves bringing certain attitudes to the practice,
Including being intentional,
Non-judgmental,
Compassionate,
And patient.
It's about bringing conscious awareness to the parts of our mind that we're usually unconscious of.
Like sometimes we're not aware of certain tendencies we have,
Maybe our body language,
Or posture,
Or certain habits,
Certain thought patterns that we have.
The things we do and think and feel on a daily basis,
But just aren't that aware of.
So when we practice mindfulness,
We observe ourselves with a sense of purpose,
And we see these aspects of ourselves more clearly.
It's a means for self-awareness and personal growth.
And rather than just carrying out the same mindless habits over and over,
Being aware and mindful gives us not only insight,
But opportunities to choose our path,
To choose what's best for us and the people that we love.
Metaphorically it's referred to as waking up,
Or awakening from the sleep of unintentional living,
Or living unconsciously.
But what about actual sleep when we really are unconscious?
We sleep for a third of our entire lives,
Yet the brain is highly active during this time,
Especially when we're dreaming.
The mind comes alive and creates profound,
High resolution kind of virtual reality experiences.
That's what dreams are,
Mental simulations of reality.
They're often vivid and detailed,
Emotionally significant experiences that the mind creates for us every night.
And the funny thing is,
Usually we have no awareness whatsoever during dreams.
But it is possible to become aware and explore our dreams consciously and mindfully.
Lucid dreaming is when you know you're dreaming during a dream.
The word lucidity is another word for clarity,
Mental clarity of the fact that you're dreaming.
So picture it now,
You're having a regular dream,
Let's say you're on a beach,
Looking at the ocean,
And all of a sudden a giant elephant rises up out of the water and flies up into the sky.
And you think,
Wait a minute,
This is impossible,
I'm dreaming.
At that moment when you realize you're dreaming,
That's the moment you have attained lucidity.
Another way to put it is that lucidity is awareness,
Present moment awareness during the dream state,
Or awakening within a dream.
Sound familiar?
So this sense of realization,
Becoming conscious of what we're usually not conscious of,
This is what we cultivate when we practice mindfulness.
So essentially lucid dreaming is a form of mindfulness.
It's different terminology because it's a different state of consciousness,
But it's still your mind.
You're still you when you're dreaming.
And I hope you experience lucid dreams for yourself,
Because the moment of awakening in a dream is truly amazing.
For me it feels like I hacked into a higher dimension,
Or gained access to a deeper,
More advanced part of my mind.
And the sense of freedom and exhilaration is so strong,
Because I know it's my dream,
I can do anything I want.
I can fly,
I can move through solid objects,
I can make things appear or disappear or change form.
And this may sound a little strange,
But in lucid dreams you really become a kind of god of your own world.
Those are incredible opportunities to explore the mind,
Experiment,
Play,
And be bold.
That's if you can become lucid,
And if you have some idea of what you should do in lucid dreams,
And of course if you can actually carry out what you want to do.
And that's where the discipline comes in,
The art of lucid dreaming.
You can learn techniques to remember and become more familiar with your dreams,
Become lucid during dreams,
Maintain lucidity,
What to do during lucid dreams,
Why to do it,
And how to do it.
The list goes on,
And I talk about all things lucid dreaming in other course material.
But for now let's talk more about how lucid dreaming is a form of mindfulness.
When we practice mindfulness and we just observe what the mind is up to,
Well then we start to see all sorts of things we didn't know were there.
We learn and get more familiar with our thought patterns,
Our self-talk,
Our emotions,
And how that influences our behavior.
Basically,
By intentionally observing the mind,
We gain insight into the mind.
One way to put it is we're shining the light of awareness into the darker aspects of the mind.
Darker meaning just a lack of awareness,
A lack of illumination,
So to speak.
Dark aspects of the mind,
Or the shadow in Jungian terms,
Is what we're not aware of,
What we're ignorant of.
And so the term insight is really accurate.
With these practices,
We gain insight.
We get to see into our minds.
We observe the process,
Get more involved,
And build a healthier relationship.
And if we're really interested in bringing awareness and luminosity to the subconscious parts of the mind,
Well it would be quite an oversight to just ignore dreams.
Dreams are like supercharged,
Vibrant,
Content-rich thoughts.
They're full of interesting imagery,
Symbolism,
And intense emotions.
And so dreams are a powerful and accessible resource for personal insight.
All we have to do is pay closer attention and bring the same mindful attitudes to our sleeping and dreaming mind.
So when we shine that light of awareness and become conscious during our dreams,
It truly is life-changing.
It's an unmatched opportunity to reconnect with yourself at the deepest and truest levels.
Not to mention,
Lucid dreaming is incredibly fun.
It's exhilarating and empowering.
You can fly and have all kinds of encounters with people,
Encounters that feel completely real,
If you catch my drift.
All the senses we experience in waking life can be felt fully in lucid dreams.
And the limits of what you can do in lucid dreams are really the limits of your own imagination,
Expectation,
And intention.
V lucid dreaming to me is the most underrated opportunity to advance mindfulness practice.
Not just for the insight you get,
But because the dream state is the perfect place to practice,
To prepare for challenging things in life,
To experiment and push boundaries.
If you can change the way you engage with your dreams,
You change the way you engage with your life.
It's a great way to become more connected as a person,
More integrated,
And more whole.
Obviously,
I highly recommend it.
So that's it for today.
If you liked this,
Please give me a follow,
And please share with your friends.
That would really help me spread the word and help more people connect with their dreams in this wonderful way.
