In The Moment 03.2020

creative inspiration and to discover new insights.
There were many occasions when I’d recite: “I sleep
deeply and wake refreshed” while in the hypnogogic
state, and even after six hours of broken sleep, I’d
wake feeling ok.
During this time, my lucid dreams gave me back an
element of control, support, and a sense of identity.
Mindful dreaming handed me empowerment, when
I needed it the most. It gave me moments of joy to
work with.
A short while before my daughter’s birth, I had also
been suffering from writer’s block, and through lucid
dreaming, I found inspiration again. I now have 40
poems, the first draft of a collection.
My wonderfully inspiring teacher on the subject,
Charlie Morley, explains more about why lucid
dreaming is a powerful way to impact change.
“During lucid dreams, neural pathways in the brain
can be strengthened and created, just as they can
while we’re awake,” he says. “This means that
dreamers who consciously engage in certain
practices within their lucid dreams, such as sport,
acts of kindness or engaging with joy, are creating
and strengthening the pathways associated with
those practices, making them easier to do in the
waking state.”
Our capacity for joy is, of course, already within
us; it’s inherent. But life struggles, health, childhood
trauma, triggers, work, finances and a plethora of
other day-to-day ‘blocks’ can often feel like a barrier
to our experience of joy. However, within our
unconscious mind lies a huge amount of potential
to explore ways in which we can overcome these
obstacles. Mindfulness in itself is one proven path,
and dream work can act as a support to mindfulness
and vice versa.
Charlie adds: “One of the easiest ways to explore
our unconscious is through our dreams. Lucid
dreaming takes this exploration a step further
because, as hypnotherapy expert Valerie Austin once
told me, it allows us ‘access to this data straight from
the unconscious without it being edited by our
rational, conscious mind’. Our true capacity is just

sleep

HOW TO INDUCE

A LUCID DREAM

Practice mindfulness.

Keep a dream diary. The more you’re able to

recall your dreams, even just fragments, the

easier it will be for you to have a lucid dream.

Try to stay in the mindfulness state during the

hypnogogic state, you may then enter straight

into a lucid dream.

Try some reality checks during the day. Every

time something surreal, unusual or uncanny

happens in the day, ask yourself: Am I

dreaming? If you get into this habit, you’re more

likely to ask yourself that same question within

an actual dream, just before you become lucid.

You can then ‘test the dream’ to see if it’s real.

Try switching on a light at the wall. Your brain

won’t be able to make the light appear as

quickly (or in the same way) as a real-life light

switch would.

Look at your hands, look away, and then look

back at your hands. When you look back at your

hands, they will be blurry or mishapen because

the mind can’t replicate the same image in

quick succession.

Try to read text or your mobile phone screen in

a dream. You’ll find the words are illegible, jump

around or are difficult to read.