by Gabe

Created on: February 20, 2010   Last Updated: February 22, 2010

Lucid dreaming is the art of becoming aware within your dreams and it is most definitely a scientific fact. It is a phenomena of sleep and it is said that about 10% of the world population are lucid dreamers, however this is a skill that goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. Lucid dreaming is realizing within a dream that you are dreaming and then being able to control the dream environment at will. Lucid dreaming has a number of practical uses, including physical healing, psychological healing and just plain fun.

My first lucid dream was over a year ago and the experience is indescribable. The wave of euphoria that comes over one when you realize that the world around you is completely from your imagination and you can make it become anything you want, is obviously exciting. The reason I first got into lucid dreaming was the possibility of meeting famous people who had long since been dead, like Jimi Hendrix. Also what intrigued me was the possibility of learning new things within a dream. If I practice a skill within a dream, such as playing guitar, will I learn at a deeper level?

The applications of lucid dreaming are endless. The first benefit I could see from learning to lucid dream was learning to become more aware of your environment while awake. Most of the reason why we stay unconscious in our dream is simply because we give in to normal reactionary thought. We react to each new day as if it were the one before. We subjugate our dreams to the normal pace of the everyday world. Lucid dreaming has taught me to start looking deeper into things, to rid myself of assumptions and start creating a favorable waking life for myself.

Lucid dreaming is a fantastic way to confront psychological issues. It has been known for a while that the art of mental rehearsal is important in most successful people. They mentally rehearse upcoming challenges and simple play out their roles in real life through their words and actions. The same can be done with even greater detail within a dream. If a person has a fear of crowds, for instance, he could imagine himself walking through a totally realistic crowd and practice confronting people if he chooses.

I believe lucid dreaming is one of the greater discoveries of the new age. The application of lucid dreaming in the personal life of a human being will result in a new sense of freedom and accomplishment as he learn to take control of his life from the level of his thoughts upwards.

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