Ask Robert Anything: Should I Stabilize My Dream First?
We had this recent dream and question from an Academy member:
I went to bed earlier as you suggested! What a great advice!
I meditated before going to sleep. Sloppy affirmation at the end of the meditation: "I want to dream at least once tonight and wake up immediately afterwards and I don't care if I'm more tired in the morning".
I dreamt, woke up immediately afterwards, didn't move and kept my eyes closed. I replayed the dream in my head. But couldn't remember much. I looked at the clock, it was 03:30.
I thought: Great opportunity! Affirmation (as short as possible): "In my next dream, I will be aware that I am dreaming!"
But I couldn't fall asleep because of the affirmation.
Then I did my meditation routine, focusing on my breath, but lying on my side. I only made the affirmation every third breath. I slowly felt myself falling asleep. The intellect kicked in.
I focused on my breathing again.
A strong and rough vibration began in my body (no tingling). It became stronger and stronger, especially in my legs. I felt myself being pulled from the waking state directly into a lucid dream.
I was in a kind of cinema hall, without chairs. I asked three times, "Hey, higher awareness, show me something that is important for my personal growth."
After asking it for the third time I woke up.
That feeling of vibration and being pulled from the wakening state right into a lucid dream, and the feeling of transition in between, was I N C R E D I B L E !!!!
It was so exciting! Although I didn't quite reach my goals, I am absolutely not disappointed!
Questions: Should I have made the dream more stable at the beginning? Instead of immediately asking my question to the higher awareness? Do you have a suggestion on how to do this?
Is it difficult for beginners like me to get an answer from the dream/higher awareness? Should I learn other things first? Am I being too impatient?
This is the first time I've switched directly into a lucid dream. I usually noticed something strange that made me realise I was dreaming. So do you think I really need to do reality checks all day?
Here's Robert Waggoner's answer:
Dear Lucid dreamer,
Thanks for sharing your interesting lucid dream!
I'm glad that when you woke at 3:30 a.m., you shifted to the affirmation, "In my next dream, I will be aware that I am dreaming." Calmly affirming a lucid dream when you wake early in the morning, often leads to a lucid dream. But it has to be done in a relaxed, calm and peaceful manner, otherwise you will become too alert and unable to fall asleep.
I enjoyed reading that you appeared in a cinema hall. Many of my early lucid dreams occurred in a theater or cinema, as if to symbolically say, 'All the world's a stage....' and then I would become lucid as I wondered how I got there.
You then asked, "Hey higher awareness, show me something that is important for my personal growth." But nothing happened, and you woke.
So I agree with your assessment: It helps to stabilize the lucid dream, before trying to do this. If you feel too excited, and are focused mostly on the excitement of becoming lucid, then that's where your energy may be. After you become stable and immersed in the lucid dream, then you can completely focus on your request and what happens next.
Also I have found that some beginners 'fear' that the lucid dream will be very short -- and so they breathlessly try to 'act' in the ten seconds of lucidity (which they expect to have). Normally, they get so excited by the lucid dream and the anticipation of the 'act' that they then wake.
In my books and elsewhere on WOLD, you can see my three steps on how to have long and stable lucid dreams (note: the first step involves how to stay calm).
Best wishes for your continued success! You are on the path, and we learn by going deeper on the lucid dreaming path.
Robert
P.S. Check out more of our Ask Robert Anything series on YouTube
About The Author
Past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Robert Waggoner wrote the highly-acclaimed book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self, and more recently, Lucid Dreaming, Plain and Simple (co-authored with Caroline McCready). Robert frequently speaks at global conferences, universities and on radio talk shows about the subject of dreams and lucid dreaming. Robert successfully taught himself how to lucid dream in 1975, and since then, has logged more than one thousand lucid dreams.
About The Author
Rebecca Casale is a lucid dreamer and a science writer with a special interest in biology and the brain. She is the founder of World of Lucid Dreaming and Science Me.
