RealityShifter

Whenever you get the feeling you're only scratching the surface of a particular issue in your dreams, it can be helpful to use a technique to delve deeper into the unconscious. In dreams, the unconscious mind frequently is represented by archetypal symbols or metaphors. It may be portrayed as an untamed wilderness, a large unexplored house, a vast churning ocean, or even a busy and colorful market. Whatever form it takes in your dreams, your unconscious mind most often presents itself to you as an infinite expanse of detail to explore and investigate.

To dig deeper into your unconscious mind, you'll need to take steps to trigger a dream conducive to that form of directed exploration. Rather than posing questions to your unconscious mind and allowing it to guide you, you will instead direct your unconscious mind to open itself to your exploration and allow you to wander freely. The goal is to follow a path of your own choosing through the territory of your unconscious mind, investigating whatever details catch your interest along the way.

At bedtime, perform the lucid dreaming techniques described in previous articles in this series to ensure you become lucid in your dream. After performing the techniques of your choice, conduct a dream incubation session to direct your dream self to explore your unconscious mind. Visualize your unconscious mind in the form of your choice -- as a lush forest, a house, a temple, or whatever metaphor you feel is most appropriate. If you have been recording your dreams in a dream journal, review your previous entries to determine if your unconscious mind has already shown itself to you in a specific form in the past. If it has already presented itself to you in a specific form, it may be more effective to utilize that form for this exercise.

As part of the dream incubation process, imagine yourself at the entrance to your unconscious mind. If you've selected a forest or jungle to represent your unconscious mind, visualize your dream self standing at the edge of the forest. Imagine a winding path leading into the forest. If you've selected a house or temple, visualize your dream self standing at the building's entrance before a closed door. Imagine your dream self opening the door to reveal a long corridor. Affirm to yourself that you are standing at the edge of your unconscious mind, ready to explore its depths.

In the mental image you've created, see your dream self becoming lucid before taking the first few steps along the path or corridor. Set your intent to explore your unconscious mind within your dreams that night, then retire to bed and await your dream. Hold the intent in your mind as you drift off to sleep.

Along the path through the landscape of your unconscious mind, you may encounter many twists and turns. At many points, the path may branch in several different directions, leaving you to choose which direction to explore. When this occurs, stop at the fork in the path and reaffirm to yourself that you are dreaming and will remain consciously aware within the dream. After reaffirming your lucid state, allow yourself to ponder each direction on the path to see if one direction tugs at you more than the others. This may be a hint from your unconscious mind indicating there is something worth pursuing in that direction.

Keep in mind the entire landscape of your dreams is generated by your unconscious mind and you do not necessarily need to create a specific scenario to represent the exploration of your unconscious mind. Simply by recording the details of your dreams in your dream journal each day and actively exploring your dream environment each night, you are already learning to understand the territory and mechanics of your unconscious mind. You're gradually becoming more and more familiar with the methods employed by your unconscious mind to direct your conscious awareness toward specific issues. This technique is merely another method that can help you in that process.

This post is Part 23 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.

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Just as you can create your own ideal dream teacher, you can also create a dream guide -- a dream character created specifically to provide your unconscious mind with a walking, talking personality with which you may converse during your dreams.

Allowing your unconscious mind to take on the form of a dream guide offers a way for your conscious mind to communicate directly with your unconscious mind. Dreams are rich with symbolism and metaphor driven by the unconscious mind, and over time you'll learn how to interpret those messages by reviewing your dream journal entries, but with this technique you can communicate with your unconscious mind in a straightforward manner to pose specific questions. By calling upon your unconscious mind in the form of a dream guide, you'll give it a way to interact with you in a much more direct and less metaphoric way.

You may wish to ask your unconscious mind for answers to particular questions, such as "What should I do about such-and-such situation?" With your unconscious mind taking on the role of a dream guide, you'll have the opportunity to obtain very specific answers. [click to continue…]

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Through the many techniques described in this series, you've already discovered you have the ability to create objects and even create entire scenes within your dreams. It is also possible to create people within your dreams. With this technique, you'll develop the skill to create entirely new characters to act independently or to act jointly with you. You can create not only characters to accompany you on playful adventures but also characters to act as your teachers or instructors.

Your unconscious mind is a tremendous resource filled with valuable information. Much of that information can be of great use when practicing a task or learning a new skill. By creating a dream character to act as your teacher, you provide your unconscious mind with the perfect outlet to convey information to your conscious mind.

A musician may wish to take lessons from a famous classical composer. An athlete might want training from a world champion or Olympic medalist. A writer may hope to gain inspiration from a bestselling author. A scientist may wish to study with a renowned Nobel prize winning physicist. A martial artist may desire instruction from a master in a martial art. As you can see, the potential uses for this technique are endless.

If you select a person from history as your instructor, the teacher you meet in your dreams obviously will be a creation of your own unconscious mind and not the person himself, but your unconscious mind will fill in the blanks to provide you with the lessons you need most. You won't be getting the real Albert Einstein or Mozart or Jane Austen, but your mind will get as close as it possibly can on its own.

It may help to create a fictional teacher instead of trying to create a specific historic personage. In your dreams you have the opportunity to create your own ideal teacher, one who embodies all the qualities you desire in an instructor. You can create a teacher who is an amalgam of several different historic masters in your field. Select the best qualities and personality traits from many different masters and merge those qualities and traits to create a single teacher.

To create your ideal teacher, first consider the skills and abilities the teacher must possess in order to provide you with the best possible training. Also consider your own personal learning style. Do you learn best through visual demonstrations, audible instruction, hands-on participation, or a combination of all three learning styles? Do you feel more comfortable with a teacher who instructs through firm guidance and gentle, supportive coaching, or a teacher with a tougher and more demanding approach?

Spend a little time creating a mental image of your ideal teacher. Is your teacher male or female? What does he look like? Is she old or young? How is he dressed? What does his or her voice sound like? Your unconscious mind will fill in many of these details for you, and may even send you a teacher who appears nothing like you originally imagined, but you'll greatly encourage the process by providing your mind with this mental image to use as a template.

Before bedtime, take a few minutes to vividly imagine a scene of yourself in the appropriate setting, studying or practicing your desired skill with your ideal teacher. Imagine your surroundings. Are you in a studio? In a lab or classroom? On a sports field? Fix this image in your mind and take the appropriate steps to incubate a dream of that event. Imagine your teacher standing before you, providing you with thorough instruction and guidance, pointing out all the details you need to know. During this dream incubation process, be sure to incorporate a conscious dreaming technique to ensure you become lucid in your dream, and then go to sleep with the intent and expectation to meet your teacher tonight in your dreams.

When you arrive at the dream scene, look around for your teacher. If all goes well, he or she will be there waiting for you. If your teacher is not already there, wander around a little bit and explore. You may find your teacher somewhere in the dream scene, or he/she may find you. Pay special attention to paths and doorways that branch off from your current dream setting. If you come across one, follow the path or open the door. They frequently lead directly to your teacher.

As you're exploring the dream environment, use some of the techniques to make sure you remain lucid. If you don't use any of those techniques, there is a good chance you'll get caught up in other dream events and lose your lucidity.

This post is Part 21 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.

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Dreams are a wonderful stage on which to rehearse situations for waking life. You have unlimited opportunities to rehearse the same event until you have mastered it in your dreams, and there is no fear of embarrassment because you are your only audience and nobody else will ever see your rehearsal.

This technique may be used to rehearse any situation, from a simple conversation to a business presentation to a complex event with many possible outcomes. If you are unsure of which steps to take or which approach to use to handle a certain situation in your life, you can rest assured your unconscious mind will provide you with a variety of potential solutions and may even hint at which approach will produce the most beneficial outcome.

The same type of rehearsal may be used to practice other skills for waking life. Musicians have the opportunity to practice playing a musical instrument, or, by rehearsing their performance in their dreams, may overcome a fear of performing in front of a large crowd. Athletes can utilize their time spent dreaming as extra practice time to enhance their level of proficiency in a particular sport. The results of this type of practice are scientifically proven. A study published in the Journal of Sport Behaviour found that runners who practiced in their dreams reported significantly faster running times than non-dreamers.

To utilize your dreams to rehearse a situation for waking life, you'll need to employ a combination of the techniques described in articles throughout this series. To begin, you will need to follow the steps to incubate a dream in order to make certain you dream about the desired situation. Common sense dictates that if you don't dream about the situation in question, you won't be able to rehearse for it.

Don't fret about the dream incubation process. One important thing to remember is that our concerns in waking life often find their way into our dreams. If a specific problem is bothering you, chances are it will worm its way into your dreams on its own, with little dream incubation required. If you are rehearsing for a significant situation or event that has been on your mind often lately, you most likely will find it's not difficult at all to incubate a dream about that subject.

To use this technique, incubate a dream about the desired situation, making sure to include the intent to become lucid within your dream. When you find yourself in the dream setting you programmed with the dream incubation technique, the stage is set for your rehearsal. Use the techniques to control your dream environment and to create objects within your dreams to make sure all the necessary pieces of the scene are in place. If you're practicing for a sporting event, create the stadium, field, track or other setting where the even will take place. Add your teammates or competitors, and add a crowd to cheer you on. If you're rehearsing for a business presentation, create the office or conference room where the presentation will take place. Create all the tools you'll need to give a fantastic presentation.

Take the time to try different approaches and tackle the situation from many angles, paying attention to how each approach turns out. Some will obviously produce better results than others. Use the dream time to rehearse until you've refined your approach. This may take several nights of practice and you'll need to repeat the scenario until you feel comfortable taking the same steps in waking life.

Example #1

Let's take the previously mentioned business presentation as an example. Perhaps there are several presentation methods you can use -- visual aids, audio clips, printed handouts for the attendees, etc. -- and a variety of opening remarks you can use to hook your audience, but you aren't certain which methods will be successful. Maybe you're not comfortable speaking in front of a large group, or you don't feel confident that you can get your point across to the audience.

Incubate a dream scenario in which you give the presentation in one way and observe how your audience responds, how comfortable you feel, how enthusiastic you are about the topic being presented and how well you convey the information and that enthusiasm to the audience. Try your presentation again using a different approach, and a third time using yet another approach, and so on until you find one that feels comfortable and produces the desired result.

Once you've practiced giving your presentation in your dreams until you feel comfortable giving it just as well or better in waking life, incubate a dream of yourself giving a highly successful presentation to an interested and receptive crowd, with the entire audience hanging on your every word. Incorporate as many details as possible into your dream to emphasize how well the presentation went.

Example #2

To use another example, let's say you're a runner hoping to win a medal in the 100-yard run. You would begin by creating a dream scene of the track where the run will take place. Put yourself at the starting line before the race. See the other runners line up beside you. Feel the texture of the ground beneath your feet and hands as you moved into the starting position.

You would go on to imagine yourself taking off, running the race. Feel the wind rushing past you as you run. Feel the pounding of your heart, hear the sound of your breath, feel your feet hitting the ground with every step. See yourself crossing the finish line first, and hear the roar of the crowd cheering you on.

Throughout this entire dream sequence, you also experience the emotional feelings that would accompany this event -- the rush of excitement during the run, the exhilaration of pulling ahead of all the competition, the joy of winning the race.

The main focus should be on experiencing every detail to such an extent the dream feels real. You would rehearse in this manner in your dreams as often as possible in the days leading up to the race. During the actual race, all that dream practice will contribute to your success.

This same technique may be applied to any area of life to help you improve your own level of skill. The important thing is to incubate dreams of successfully performing the task or feat. The more often you dream of achieving success in your endeavor, the more likely that improvement in skill will carry over to waking life and generate success.

This post is Part 20 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.

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As described in the article Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming, there are many ways to utilize conscious dreaming for personal growth and improvement. In this article and the next few articles in the series, I'll provide methods of applying lucid dreaming techniques for problem solving, creativity, healing, and more.

Using Your Dreams For Problem Solving

Before going to bed, formulate a question or statement about the problem you would like to solve. Make the question or statement as brief and concise as possible. It should be specific enough to direct your unconscious mind toward the appropriate topic, but not so specific that it leaves no room for your mind to be flexible in presenting potential solutions.

For example, if you're encountering difficulties at work, try [click to continue…]

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A technique called dream incubation is the perfect approach to use whenever you would like to dream about a specific person, place, thing, or event. It also can be a useful method of getting in touch with your subconscious to find answers. Dream incubation requires that you predetermine what you will dream about and then set your intent to dream with full conscious awareness about that particular thing. It is essentially a way of programming your dreams in advance. You can't always program all the details, but you can select certain features to incorporate into a dream.

When you first begin to practice this technique, choose simple objects to work with. For example, make a decision to dream about an apple, a boat, or any other straightforward object that can be easily incorporated by the unconscious mind into your dream. As you become skilled at dream incubation, you can select more complex targets such as specific locations, people, or events.

How To Incubate a Dream:

At bedtime, begin by writing out the details of your desired dream as if you are planning the entire dream in advance. Write notes about the dream in the same manner in which you write entries in your dream journal each morning. I recommend using the dream journal method described here.

Write your description as if you're making a dream journal entry about a dream that has already occurred. By taking steps to convince your mind that the dream has already taken place in exactly the manner you described, you will greatly increase the chance of dreaming that same dream. Be sure to include a note indicating you achieved 100% lucidity within the dream.

After you've written the details of the dream, spend a few minutes creating a detailed mental image of the desired dream scene. Involve all your senses by including sounds, smells, and tactile sensations in your visualization. Fully visualize the dream as you would like to see it unfold. Use the visualization as a rehearsal for your dream, and make sure to imagine yourself becoming consciously aware within the desired dream scene.

If you plan to use the dream incubation technique to seek answers from your subconscious mind, you can be creative about how you'll receive those answers in the dream. Will you meet a person, a representative of your subconscious mind, and converse with him or her? Will you watch a situation in your dream unfold in a manner that provides the answers? Will you follow a winding path that leads directly to the information you seek?

You can even use a picture from a magazine to provide your mind with a ready-made visual image. Before going to bed, look at the picture and fix the image in your mind. Using the mental image of the picture, create sounds, smells, and tactile sensations to enhance the visualization. Temporarily immerse yourself in the dream scene until it is fully fixed in your mind, and again, don't forget to imagine yourself becoming lucid during the dream.

As you fall asleep, use affirmations to affirm your intent to dream about the desired object or scene. If you are drifting off to sleep at night use the affirmation, "Tonight I will dream about _________", filling in the blank with the object or event of your choice. Include a conscious dreaming affirmation. If you are drifting off to sleep for a mid-afternoon nap or after a wake-up interval, instead use the affirmation, "I am dreaming about _________." Fall asleep knowing you'll dream about precisely what you wanted to dream about.

Don't worry if it doesn't work the first night. Keep trying until you dream about the things you programmed in advance. The first time is always the hardest. After you succeed once, you'll find it gets easier and easier with each attempt.

Stay tuned for the next article in the series, which will describe techniques to help you use your dreams for problem solving.

This post is Part 18 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.

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