The Tibetan inspired Dream Lotus technique for entering LDs shares with the “Counting Yourself to Sleep” technique the practice of maintaining a constant focus of your awareness as you fall asleep. The Dream Lotus, however, involves a very different kind of mental task. Instead of the verbal “I’m dreaming” recitation, it calls for visualization of a complex symbolic image located in the throat. From what is known of the patterns of brain activity associated with such mental processes, it seems that the visualization activity may well encourage a different brain state from that evoked by the counting, at least for some people. This is speculation at this time, but the act of picturing a lotus in the throat may have some effect on subsequent mental events, given that many mystical traditions use mental concentration on specific areas of the body to promote certain special states of mind. From practicing Concentration and Visualization exercises, you should now be ready to make good use of this technique. Even so, you will probably find it helpful to practice the technique while you are wide-awake at first, before trying it on the verge of sleep.
Exercise: Dream Lotus and Flame Technique
A. Create a mental image of a lotus flower with a flame in the center. Enclosed is a picture of a lotus flower with a flame in the middle of it. Look at the picture and then create a mental image of it within your mind’s eye.
B. Put the image in your throat. Practice placing the image of the Lotus and Flame in your throat area/chakra. Use the “Creating a Mental Image in Space” and “Manipulating a Mental Image” exercises to develop your skill at locating the Lotus and Flame image within your throat.
C. Prepare for a nap. Just as in the Counting Exercise, wake up 90 minutes earlier than usual in the morning. Get out of bed. Return to bed 90 minutes later for a nap, arranging to be wakened 90 minutes to 2 hours later.
D. Relax. Use your favorite Relaxation Exercise to release all tension. Let go of worries and concerns.
E. Visualize the Lotus and the Flame. Create the image of the Lotus with the Flame coming out of its center within your throat area/chakra. Once you have given life to this image, let it continue to exist in your throat. Don’t force trying to keep it there; instead, passively admire and enjoy it.
F. Observe your imagery. Watch how the image of the flame in the center of the lotus interacts with other images that arise in your mind. Don’t get caught up with any other images or thoughts, just observe them go by. Continually maintain the lotus image.
G. Blend with the image. As you contemplate the flame in the lotus, your awareness should gradually begin to merge with the image. Allow the distinction between you, the observer, and the lotus you are observing, to disappear. Your consciousness will now persist as long as the image of the lotus does, remaining present until you are in a dream, and lucid. Complete your 90 minute nap.(Adapted from The Lucidity Institute, Inc. 1998)
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Auto-suggestion Sit or lie down. Get comfortable. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Visualize your physic
body, starting from your feet and moving up toward the top of your head. As you visualize each body segment, say to yourself that your body is becoming totally relaxed. Repeat this until your whole boy is as relaxed as you like. The following relaxation exercises are all based on autosuggestion.
Exercise 2.
Ball of Light Visualize a ball of light at your third eye (at the middle of your forehead). When the light is as bright and strong as possible, slowly move it down your face to your neck. Remember to think about being relaxed during this whole process. Next, see the light branching out from the outside of your right shoulder, moving down the outside of your right arm. When the light reaches your hand, trace the outside of your fingers. Bring the ball of light slowly back up the inside of your right arm until you reach your armpit, then move the light across your chest to the outside of your left arm, and repeat the process. Once the ball of light is up to your left armpit, move it down your chest and stomach. Now move the ball of light to your right hip, then down the outside of your right leg to your foot, tracing your toes. Then move it up the inside of your right leg. Suggest to yourself that the relaxation is stronger than the tension. Move the ball of light across your genital area to the inside of your left leg and down to your foot, tracing your toes, and then up the outside of your left leg. At your left hip, start moving the ball of light up your back to your neck, and then along the back of your head, over the top of your head and back once again to your third eye. The moment the light is at your third eye, you may feel a sensation of relaxation throughout your entire body, making the necessary connection for total relaxation. (Adapted from Exercise Two: Molfese 1994)
Exercise 3.
Moving Light Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Stretch your muscles and begin to relax. Imagine that warm currents of mental energy are slowly moving up through the soles of your feet toward your ankles. Feel the muscles in your feet gradually warming and relaxing as you imagine the currents passing through them. Imagine that the warming currents of thought energy continue to move up into your calves, into your thighs, through your hips, and into your buttocks. Now they enter into your lower back and abdomen. Proceed slowly, giving yourself time for each group of muscles to become fully relaxed before moving onto the next part of your body. Feel the muscles in your legs becoming heavy, warm, and relaxed, while your whole body begins sinking down into the chair or bed beneath you. When you feel your legs becoming very relaxed, imagine the mental currents moving in a clockwise motion around your abdomen, up along your spine, and through the front of your torso into your chest and shoulders. Feel the muscles in your stomach and lower back releasing any tightness as the current passes through them. Allow a feeling of well being to begin flowing through your whole body along with the imaginary currents as you continue to relax. When the lower half of your body is warm and relaxed, imagine the currents flowing upward through your ribs and shoulders, warming and relaxing the upper body and leaving your back and chest feeling completely warm and free of any stress or tension. Now imagine the currents turning around to move downward through your arms and into your fingertips. Imagine the currents swirling around through your fingers and then moving upward once more, back up through your arms and neck toward the top of your head. Now feel the muscles in your neck and face gradually becoming warm and relaxed as the imaginary currents pass through them. Then imagine the currents flowing through the top of your head, leaving your entire body feeling comfortably warm, heavy and relaxed. Feel your entire body sinking luxuriously down into the chair or bed beneath you. (Adapted from “Mental Currents” Exercise, Day 15, Harary & Weintraub, 1989; p. 51-52)
Exercise 5.
Pot Shaped Breathing. This exercise can be done in conjunction with any or all of the above four relaxation exercises. Get comfortable. Because it is often too easy to fall asleep while lying down, you may wish to perform the relaxation, meditation and concentration exercises presented here in a comfortable sitting position. The first time you practice this exercise, however, you should lie on your back on a firm surface. Loosen your clothing at neck and waist. Close your eyes. Rest your hands lightly on your abdomen so that your thumbs rest on the bottom of your rib cage and your middle fingers meet over your navel. Study your breathing and take a long, slow inhalation, followed by a long slow exhalation. Then return to a breathing pattern that is just a little slower and deeper than usual, and notice your midsection. Direct your attention to your hands, and you will see that your diaphragm and belly muscles contribute a great deal to both the intake and expulsion of breath from your lungs. Feel the motions of your abdomen and notice how different groups of muscles expand and contract as you rhythmically fill, then empty your lungs. Concentrate on the point where your inhalation begins, at the juncture of your abdomen and the bottom of the chest, filling your lungs from the bottom up. Simply pay attention to the way your body feels as you breathe. Breathe slowly and deeply. Allow your breath to find a calm but normal rhythm. Don’t force it, but allow your diaphragm and solar plexus to contribute more to the “pot-shaped” phase of your breathing. Your abdomen should extend out roundly as you inhale, like a pot. Think of yourself as inhaling nourishing energy in the form of light, then sending the light through your body with your exhalation. Feel this “light” or oxygen flow from your lungs through your arteries and capillaries to bring nutrients and energy to every cell of your body. (Adapted from LaBerge & Rheingold, 1990: p. 85)
The above relaxation exercises involve visualization, the sense associated with sight in the dream world, and feeling that which is visualized, the sense that is associated with emotion in the dream world. As we move on to more of these meditations, they get more advanced, such as in the wake induced manifestation exercise. Having the ability to visualize and feel what you visualize will be very important. The only way that this can be accomplished is by practicing. There is a lot of information on meditation and there are even more exercises around that involve visualization and feeling what has been visualized. It would be of great benefit to investigate and find or invent a meditation that you can do that will enhance your ability to use all seven of your senses by will, just as you use the five senses you are used to by will.
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Below we will see LaBerge’s description of some WILDs as “weird”. This got Jerimiah to thinking about the weirdness of many modern cartoons, where physically impossible things occur constantly. So he adapted a technique from Keith Harary’s book, using a fantasy cartoon as an incubation device for WILDs. But, before we get to that, let’s see what Dr. LaBerge has to say about what he calls
“The weirdness of WILDs”.
“As this course is designed to help you learn how to enter the dream state consciously, you should be prepared for what that experience may be like. The set of physiological conditions that make WILDs possible is also conducive to some strange mental experiences. The physiological state is characterized by the brain being awake and active as the body is paralyzed in the REM state. Some of the sensations this combination has been known to trigger are: being unable to move, heavy weights on the chest (sometimes in the form of monsters or incubi), ‘electricity’ running around in the head or body, vibrations, loud buzzing, rushing or roaring sounds, body parts melting, and the feeling of leaving the body. “Research has shown that direct entry into the dream state from waking may be responsible for a large proportion of ‘out-of-body’ experiences. It is surely the cause of ‘sleep paralysis’ episodes, in which people awaken to find that they cannot move or cry out, and are subject to attacks by monsters and strange forces. Sleep paralysis can be quite terrifying, but it is harmless.
Not everyone experiences these events during WILDs. However, when they do happen, it is essential to remember that all of these strange and awesome experiences are happening within your mind, so you can avoid unnecessary anxiety and not miss out on good LD opportunities. As with nightmares, if you reframe a distressing situation as a dream, created by you, which cannot hurt you, the experience can become strange and wonderful. There sometimes is an extraordinary feeling of excitement and energy about WILDs. If the dreamer is non-lucid or doesn’t understand what is happening, the excitement can turn to fear. However, if you retain your reason and balance and remember that the sensations mark the onset of a dream, the excitement can become exhilaration and delight. Even if things get extra bizarre, keep in mind that it is a dream, and in a few minutes you will awaken, whether you are ready to or not! With that in mind, you should now be ready to take off on some fabulous adventures.”
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Awakening only moments after becoming lucid is one of the most frequently cited difficulties faced by LDers. Happily, this problem is easily solved and is primarily a hurdle for beginning LDers to overcome.
The problem of avoiding premature awakening from LDs breaks down into two phases. The first step for many will be to learn how to get beyond the initial flash, “Wow! This is a LD!” without jolting awake. The next stage is to achieve some proficiency in methods of prolonging LDs long enough to achieve your goals.
The general strategy for preventing immediate awakening is to suppress the expression of excitement and to engage in the dream. As a model of how to contain the thrill of becoming lucid, imagine what it’s like to be dealt a winning hand in poker. If you let it be known what you are holding by showing your delight, you won’t win much. Instead, you want to be “cool”, a mood that can be practiced, and save your excitement for after you have won, or, in this case, after the LD has reached a suitable end.
Involving yourself in the LD is as essential as keeping your cool. Becoming lucid can distance you from the events of the dream, because it is generally not a part of the ongoing “story line” of the dream. In fact, withdrawing from the dream plot is a useful method of ending a dream. To ensure the continuance of the LD, you should fully engage yourself in the dream scene you are in when you become lucid. If your senses are completely involved in the impressions of the dream, they are less likely to make the switch to perceiving waking reality. This strategy of perceptual engagement is also the keystone of methods for prolonging LDs, such as the spinning technique described below.
Exercise Techniques for Staying Lucid 1. Restrain the impulse to jump and shout for joy. It’s fine to be excited, but don’t express your excitement outwardly. 2. Engage yourself in the LD. Immediately after realizing that you are dreaming, turn your attention to what’s happening in the dream. Look at, listen to, and feel the events and things around you in the dream world. 3. Move around. Get your body’s senses of movement involved in the dream by moving through the dream scene. Run, fly, or dance, while continuing to observe and interact with the dream scenes. 4. Spinning. One of the best techniques for prolonging a LD once you’re there is spinning the “dream body”. If the LD begins to fade out and waking up seems imminent, spin the “dream body” around and around until a new dream scene emerges. The exercise below has you practice spinning while awake so you are prepared when the opportunity arises in a LD. Below see LaBerge’s advice for proper utilization of the Spinning Technique. A. Practice spinning while awake. In case you have any inhibitions that might make you feel silly spinning around, try it now. Put down these instructions, go into an open space, and spin around a few times. Do it now. B. Relive a dream and practice spinning. Pick a recent LD from your dream journal; or, if you have not had any LDs recently, pick any dream. Read it to remind yourself of what happened and especially focus on the events that occurred just before you awakened.Now, stand in an open space, and, with your eyes closed, imagine living through the last part of the dream again. When you reach the end, picture yourself, instead of waking up, catching the moment when it is just starting to fade. Open your eyes, and spin around a few times as you did in Step a. above, repeating to yourself, “the next scene will be a dream.” Then, imagine that you are dreaming still, in a new scene that is the room around you, and do something, or imagine doing something you would enjoy doing in a LD. C. Spin in a LD. The next time you have a LD, be alert for the first signs that it is about to end. Usually, the visual aspects change first, by fading, losing color saturation, or becoming cartoon-like. As soon as this starts to happen, while you are still feeling your “dream body,” (that is, not your physical body, in bed), spin around rapidly, telling yourself repeatedly, “The next scene will be a dream. “ When you stop spinning, your surroundings may be unmistakably a dream. However, if you believe you have awakened, do a Reality Test! Try reading something you find in your environment. Now, try reading it again. D. Note: Some people find the sensation evoked by fully body spinning to be unpleasant. Although feelings of dizziness seem to be less common in dreams than in waking life, if you dislike spinning there is an alternative that may be as effective. This is to rotate just your arms in large circles, originating from your shoulders. The essential aspect of both types of “spinning” appears to be the sensation of velocity produced by circular motions.
5. Maintain your intention to do whatever it is you wish to do in your LD.
Set specific goals and attempt to attain them in your LD. A. Look at your hands. This is the now famous advice from the renegade anthropologist, Carlos Castaneda, derived from his shamanic informant, Don Juan, an early LD expert.Once you’ve attained and maintained lucidity on several occasions, you will be thrilled to apply that lucidity to any special interest or problems of your own. The applications are literally limitless. A few to get you started thinking along these lines are: travel, lucid sex, meeting people far away or even meeting dead people, rehearsal of skills, such as sports or musical skills, problem solving of any sort, acquiring special knowledge, creating new forms of any sort. You’ll be able to think of many more applications that are special to you. (Adapted from The Lucidity Institute, Inc. 1998)
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The acronym MILD stands for Mnemonic Induction of LDs. A mnemonic is a memory-aid, and MILD is a LD induction technique based on memory. This is why we have been improving our memories. The MILD technique is based on remembering that we want to recognize when we are dreaming. Our efforts up until now have been to teach ourselves to carry out intentions to do things in the future by mental effort alone (no written reminder notes!) and by increasing our powers of concentration. Because MILD is practiced during the night, it is very useful for producing multiple LDs in one night. Each time we do MILD, our aim is to become lucid in our very next dream. If we practice MILD before each REM period, we could become lucid in four or five different dreams. MILD is the technique of choice if the goal is to learn to have LDs at will, whenever we like.
MILD requires concentration and short periods of wakefuness during the night, so it is best used when you have extra time available for sleep. The following steps guide you through MILD. The exercise has you first practice while you are alert in the daytime, then at bedtime, and finally after awakening from a dream in the night. This allows you to build up your skill at MILD when your mind is in the best shape—wide awake—so that you know what you are doing when it comes to practicing it when you are groggy in the middle of the night.
Exercise
Mneumonic Induced LD 1. Daytime Practice A. Memorize a dream. Right after awakening in the morning and recording your dreams of the night before, choose one in which you would really have liked to become lucid. Memorize it in detail so that you can visualize yourself being conscious through it again. B. Pick a time to practice. Set aside twenty minutes in the day to practice the MILD technique. It should be a time when you can be alone in a quiet place, in a comfortable chair. Pick a time when you will be alert, not sleepy. C. Sit down and relax. At your chosen time, sit down and get comfortable. Do a relaxation exercise. 2. Practice MILD A. Recall your chosen dream. With your eyes closed, recall to mind the dream you memorized this morning. Visualize yourself back in it. Feel yourself being in the dream, thinking the thoughts of the dream, seeing the sights of the dream, hearing the sounds of the dream. B. Focus your intent. Concentrate on the thought/autosuggestion “The next time I’m dreaming, I’ll remember to recognize that I’m dreaming.” C. See yourself becoming lucid. Visualize yourself becoming lucid in the dream you have memorized. Feel the excitement of becoming lucid, and picture yourself doing what you would like to do once you are lucid. See yourself waking from your LD at will and remembering it perfectly. See and feel yourself enjoying the LD exaltation experience after you awaken. 3. Bedtime Practice A. Memorize a dream. Just as for the Daytime Practice, in the morning commit to memory one dream from the night before in which you would have liked to become lucid. B. Prepare for sleep. When you are ready to go to bed for the night, get ready as usual. Follow your usual bedtime routine. If you wish, give yourself some time to mull over the day’s events, so you can let them go to concentrate on the MILD Exercise. C. Relax. Use the relaxation exercise that works best for you to release tension and achieve a quiet state of mind. But don’t let yourself fall asleep yet. 4. Practice MILD A. Follow the instructions for the Daytime Practice of MILD above, except continue the exercise, cycling through recalling the dream, focusing your intent, and seeing yourself becoming lucid, doing whatever you wish, wakening when you wish, remembering everything about the LD, feeling the post-LD exaltation after you waken, over and over again until you fall asleep. 5. Mid-Sleep Practice A. Set your intention to awaken from dreams. As you fall asleep for the night, assert to yourself that you will awaken after dreams during the night. Remind yourself that you want to recall your dreams clearly and to do the MILD Exercise. B. Awaken from a dream and recall it. When you awaken from a dream in the night, first recall it in as much detail as you can, and then write out enough of it to describe the basic events and scenes of the dream. C. Increase your wakefulness. Get out of bed. Go to the bathroom and wash your face with cool water. Carefully test reality to make sure that you are actually awake! Do some stretches to increase your circulation and alertness. D. Return to bed. Get back in bed, and read your dream report, noting any important recurring dream images you find in it. Stephen LaBerge calls these recurring dream images “dreamsigns,” and uses them as triggers for lucidity. Tell yourself that when you next see any of the dreamsigns you will recognize them as cues that you are dreaming. E. Turn out the light and relax. Do a relaxation exercise to release tension and calm your mind. Don’t go to sleep yet! 6. Practice MILD A. Recall your dream. Visualize yourself back in the dream you just awakened from. B. Focus your intent. Concentrate on the thought/autosuggestion, “The next time I’m dreaming, I’ll remember to recognize that I’m dreaming.” C. See yourself becoming lucid. Visualize yourself becoming lucid in the dream you just had. Pick one of your dreamsigns and imagine that it cues you to realize that you are dreaming. Feel the excitement of becoming lucid, and picture yourself doing what you would like to do once you are lucid. Lay it on thick, have a good time. When you’ve had enough fun, and accomplished whatever you set out to do, see yourself waking from your LD at will and remembering it perfectly. See and feel yourself enjoying the post-LD exaltation experience after you awaken. D. Maintain your focus. Cycle through steps A., B., and C. until you fall asleep. Again, if the concentration keeps you awake for more than twenty minutes and this bothers you, let go and just make sure your last thought is of your intention to remember to become lucid. However, staying awake and concentrating longer may enhance your chances of having a LD that night.
(Adapted from The Lucidity Institute, Inc. 1998)
This technique for becoming lucid in a dream is the same as becoming lucid in the waking state.
The dreamsigns that are found and used in practicing Mild have a direct relationship to the major events that occur in our lives. That is, the major events that happen in our lives, especially those that surround discord, are signs for becoming aware. Discordant events that affect our lives in a major way are caused by vibrations in the dream body as they are expressing themselves. The dreamsigns, or recurring events that appear in the dream, are used to attain lucidity (awareness) within the dream. Therefore, knowing the different vibrations of the dream body as they express themselves is lucidity in the waking state. As we become familiar with the various exercises of attaining awareness and gaining control in the dream state, we can use that knowledge and apply it to our waking lives. In conscious manifestation, waking signs that occur during our day to day lives are important. By practicing applying control through intention in the LD, and by applying certain exercises based on alchemy when our waking signs are present, we can move toward mastering the art of directed thinking and induced emotion.
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