The Power of Lucid Dreaming

) Lucid dreaming is when you’re aware that you’re dreaming while the dream is still in progress. Sometimes, people can even control parts of the dream—like changing the circumstances, flying, or interacting with characters. In my limited experience, controlling dreams is so empowering.

) Most of us just experience our dreams — we’re chased through our childhood neighborhood... our teeth fall out... we're fre falling. Dreams just happen to us; we’re not in control of how they unfold. In elusive lucid dreaming, the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can guide some of what happens. In a lucid dream, the dreamer is often able to determine outcomes! When this occurs, my day is always so much better... I feel decisive and in command!

) Why it happens

Lucid dreaming is tied to how your brain behaves during REM sleep (the stage when most dreaming occurs). Usually, your brain’s self-awareness is dialed down—but in a lucid dream, parts linked to awareness become active again so that you can consciously participate.

Attention is a core difference between "normal" dreaming and lucid dreaming

) To lucid dream is to become aware of the established nature of both dreams and reality, how we take for granted the random ways the world works and how absolutely nothing must be as it is. To control a dream is to be able to live out otherwise seemingly impossible experiences, discovering unexplained desires and foreign ways of thinking. Especially for those who are miserable in routines or whose agency has been stripped from them, lucid dreaming provides more than a temporary escape

) I find that by simply telling myself what I want to dream about on a certain night and occasionally influence what dreams I do have. My most frequent self-request is flying... my most productive ideas seem to get much better as a result of "flying" dreams. Never with wings... more like the Supergirl fashion of flight!! But more often, I have a moped that flies... Love it!

) Benefits people report

• Creative problem-solving

• Practicing skills (like public speaking or sports visualization)

• Exploring imagination

• Sometimes reducing nightmares

  ) Things to keep in mind

• It can take time and consistency to experience

• Sleep quality matters—don’t sacrifice rest trying to force it

• Some people experience sleep paralysis when experimenting (temporary inability to move when waking or falling asleep—harmless but can feel intense)