Lucid dreaming is the art of becoming conscious within your dreams. And – according to Hay House author, Charlie Morley – this mind-training practice can reap huge spiritual and psychological benefits. Ahead of his talk on this topic this Friday 08th February in Soho, Charlie tells us more about what lucid dreaming is, how to do it and what the benefits are.
What is lucid dreaming?
A lucid dream is one in which you think, ‘Aha! I’m dreaming!’, while you’re still asleep. Once you become conscious within a dream, you can interact with and direct it at will, dancing with your unconscious mind. It’s essentially a form of mind training where we can consciously recognise our dreams as dreams while we are in them. As with all forms of mind training, the aim is to be more aware and more awake, to switch off the autopilot and wake up to life.
Most people have had a lucid dream at some point in their lives. Through the art of lucid dreaming we can come to experience this amazing phenomenon intentionally and at will.
Why do we need our pelvic floor?
Is lucid dreaming real?
It certainly is! Lucid dreaming was first scientifically validated in 1975 at Hull University in the UK but more recently in 2009 researchers at Frankfurt University’s neurological clinic confirmed that ‘lucid dreaming constitutes a hybrid state of consciousness with definable and measurable differences from the waking state and from the REM (rapid eye movement) dream state.’
What are the benefits?
There are so many benefits to lucid dreaming but, essentially, once we become conscious within our unconscious mind, we can optimise the functioning of our body and mind while we sleep.
Some of my favourite benefits include:
– the ability to explore the unconscious. You are literally walking around a huge virtual-reality simulation of your own mind…
– engaging in spiritual practice while asleep – this is the main aim of Tibetan dream yoga
– physical healing – a very powerful placebo effect can be engaged from within the lucid dream
– the opportunity to ‘ask’ the unconscious specific questions and problem solve. The unconscious has access to huge amounts of data which makes it a great place for creative thinking
– psychological integration of childhood trauma
Once lucid, we can interact with the dream and co-create the narrative. We are then able to choreograph our dream experience, calling out for what we would like to happen and intentionally healing parts of our mind from within.
Charlie Morley is a Hay House author and Buddhist lucid dreaming teacher. To learn more about lucid dreaming and how to do it, join him for his two-hour workshop, lucid dreaming can change your life, this Friday 08th February in Soho. If you can’t make it, you can also catch him on 01st March in Camden.
Click here to find out more about Charlie’s workshops and to book.
