Lucid dreaming is important because it helps us bring consciousness and awareness into our dreams. Once we learn lucid dreaming, dreams no longer just “happen” to us. As we realize we are dreaming, we are able to guide and direct our dreams.
Lucid dreaming is the first of three steps in the shaman’s dream practices. The second is to bring awareness into your dreamless sleep, when you have no dream images in your awareness. The third is to bring your dreaming practice (not your dreams but the skill of dreaming) into your waking state, to understand that you are dreaming the world into being at all times.
Through lucid dreaming, shamans can agree to convene on a certain night at a place of power in nature. They may use a crystal or some other beautiful stone to facilitate their dreaming. When they compare notes in the following days or weeks, they recognize that they had indeed shared the same psychic space and were able to recall what the others had said or done.
To begin, select a stone – perhaps a beautiful crystal – with no sharp edges and that fits nicely in the palm of your hands so that you can rub your hands together while holding it.
When you go to bed, set your intention to dream lucidly. For example, you might decide to dream about being in a mountain in the Himalayas, or perhaps a home you lived in during your childhood, or about visiting with relatives who are no longer living. You can also determine to visit a “university” where you will go to receive teaching and training.
As you concentrate, blow into your stone with a soft breath and ask you subconscious mind to bring the image of the stone into your dreams. Hold the stone in your hand while you go to sleep.
During the night, the stone will fall out of your hand and end up somewhere in the bed. If you turn over and lie on it, you will likely surface from your deep sleep momentarily. Take the stone into your hands. Imagine that you are bringing it with you into your dreams, and reassert your intention to dream lucidly.
After a few tries, you will find that the stone will begin to appear in your dreams. You will realize that you are dreaming while you are in the dream. And, with time, you will become able to steer your dreams in you intended direction.
Are you ready to practice steering your dreams? Be sure to practice this exercise all week until the next installment in this month’s Finding Your Purpose series!
