23. Lucid Dream Backup

The training exercises given in this book, especially the energetic development work, will heighten your dream, lucid dream, and spontaneous OBE activity considerably. It is a shame to waste all this energy on uncontrolled dreams, so I suggest that you use a lucid dream technique as a backup and secondary goal.

This will provide some out-of-body experience by way of lucid dreaming and will help keep interest high until you succeed at having an OBE.

A lucid dream is a genuine type of OBE, although the dimensional gate traveled through to achieve it is best thought of as being internal. And while it doesn't work for everyone, a lucid dream can often be converted into a real-time OBE by feeling for the physical body and returning to it, or near to it. It is also sometimes possible to project from a lucid dream into the astral planes by imagining and targeting an astral destination.

Everyone dreams when asleep and most people remember some dreams, if only the occasional fragment. Some people claim they never dream, but they really mean they just don't remember their dreams. Dreaming is commonplace, but there is much more to dreaming than meets the eye. For most people, dreams are their only connection with the greater universe and their spiritual roots.

I think of dreaming as a natural internal energetic process of the mind. Free of the constraints of normal waking consciousness, the subconscious mind takes over, reflecting thoughts and fantasies and creative energies into the mind's eye of the sleeping but never totally dormant mind. The dreaming process can be thought of as something like an energetically generated personal dream space, infinite in size and scope, inside me human mind. The brow center is energized during sleep, creating and hosting the dream environment, a personal dream space that also connects the human incarnation with its original animating spirit mind, the higher self. The mind's eye can be thought of as a personal link to other dimensions, a doorway to the great beyond.

As the physical body and mind fall asleep, a copy of consciousness is reflected into the etheric body, and from there into the projectable double as it is generated, and later into the astral and higher subtle bodies. While this is happening, the physical/etheric copy of the mind begins sliding toward another type of projection, an internal projection into the dream environment.

At the start of the process, while falling asleep, the physical/etheric mind begins losing the strength of will to form coherent and logical thought patterns. It slowly loses itself among wandering fragments of thought and subconscious impressions. It loses touch with reality and begins to experience dreams, some of which appear to be generated by the subconscious mind. This is part of a fairly well-known natural process whereby the mind works at solving problems and internal conflicts. It plays out dream scenarios and situations, and lives these internally within the safety of the dream environment. This helps the mind find peace and balance in a natural way.

I think dream environments are simply other dimensions, dream dimensions that are reached via an internal mental gateway. All the action therein is played out in the mind's eye of the dreamer, or is reflected into it. Dream dimensions can be every bit as real and infinite in size and scope as any other dimension or parallel universe. Just as you cannot point to the astral dimension, so you cannot point to a dream dimension.

I consider all nonphysical dimensions to be subtly related alternative gateways into related and possibly even interconnected dimensions.
 

Lucid Dreaming

With a normal lucid dream, full waking consciousness returns to you at some point during the course of a dream. You suddenly become aware you are dreaming, effectively waking up inside the dream environment. You can then take some measure of control over the dream scenario and over the course of events.

Lucid dreams differ from OBEs in that they often seem much more substantial and realistic. A powerful lucid dream can be indistinguishable from reality, even if entered from the full waking state. A lucid dreamer is much more aware than a real-time or astral projector of having something like a physical body. Lucid dreamers often experience physical sensations like gravity, texture, temperature, taste, pleasure and pain. These sensations are generated by the subconscious mind from similar remembered experiences. The more powerful the lucid dream, the more real these sensations become.

Lucid dreaming, real-time projections, and astral projections share a fair bit of common ground. The dreamer's center of conscious awareness often flicks back and forth many times between these states during a single experience. Often, more than one type of experience is perceived or remembered as happening simultaneously. This is caused by different aspects of the mind-split intruding on each other during the eventual shadow memory download at the end of the experience.

This causes a confusing set of mixed memories, being part dream, part lucid dream, part real-time OBE, and part astral projection.
 

Reality Checking
To become lucid, you need to program your mind with a trigger to make you realize you are dreaming, so that you can take control. The best way is by forming the habit of frequent reality checks. (Reality checking also works with spontaneous OBE.)

 

It takes time and perseverance to make reality checking a habitual action, and it will not work until it becomes habitual. But once it does, lucid dreams or spontaneous OBEs can be experienced just about every night, even many times each night. Because of this, reality checking is well worth the effort.

Program yourself to stop what you are doing for a moment, in real life, and check the reality of your current situation. This is very quick and simple to do, but must be done regularly, many times each day, for it to become a habitual action. The reality-checking habit must become a habitual response to a frequent real-life event.

 

Every time you do a reality check, look around and ask yourself

• Is this situation normal?

• Do my surroundings look normal?

• Do my hands look normal?

• Can I float, levitate, or fly?

The key to effective reality checking is a simple trigger. This trigger must be a frequent action or event that can be used several times each day. The idea is to isolate a simple action and program yourself to habitually react to this event by doing a reality check every time it happens. For example, every time you have a drink during the day, do a reality check.

 

A few ideas for reality-check triggers:

• Hands: Every time you notice or wash your hands

• Drink: Every time you have a drink

• Toilet: Every time you go to the toilet

• Time: Every time you check the time or time is mentioned

• Food: Every time you eat something

Whichever primary trigger you choose, it is a good idea to in-dude drinking and going to the toilet as fixed reality-check situations.

 

These both involve urges in the physical body and both of these urges can be felt quite strongly from within the dream or projected state. Most people get at least one of these urges during sleep every night. These urges often lead to false awakenings, where dreamers or projectors wander off to get a drink or go to the toilet, or both, not knowing they are actually out of body. They often go through the motions of drinking or of starting to empty their bladder, with their physical body still asleep in bed.

So, every time you go to the toilet, turn the light switch on and off twice, to check that it is working normally. If you are projecting in real time (a false awakening), the light switch may sound as if it clicks, but the light will not go on and off and the switch will not actually move. Try passing your hand through the wall or some other solid object. Check your hands to see if they look normal, or if they melt.

If you find yourself outside using a tree or a bush, which often happens when the urge to urinate is felt within a dream or OBE, check the reality of the situation before continuing. If the physical body needs to urinate and this wakes you up inside a dream or OBE, you can fight this urge and continue the experience for several minutes or so, before being pulled back into your physical body.

Alternatively, feel for your body and project back into it, then get up and go to the toilet while holding on to as much of your deeply relaxed state as possible. Jot down a quick outline of your experience, just a few keywords before returning to bed. When you get back into bed, you will often be able to slip straight back into the dream or OBE state to continue where you left off.

 

The next morning, use your notes to help reclaim shadow memories of further experiences.

Hunger and Thirst
It is possible to use the hunger and thirst urges to cause lucidity during dreams. It is also possible to use this to wake yourself up during an OBE, or even to cause a false awakening. A false awakening is a short real-time OBE, in which the projectors believe they are awake instead of projecting. The thirst and hunger urges are quite strongly felt from within all these states, and will often make the dream or projected double go for a drink or a snack.

The first step is to program yourself to do a habitual reality check whenever you have a drink. Note if the fluid you are drinking is actually moistening your throat and slaking your thirst. If you are dreaming or projecting, no amount of fluid will do this and you will find yourself drinking a ridiculous quantity of fluid in an attempt to do so. The next step is to deny yourself fluids, and/or food, for a few hours before going to bed.

 

Place a large glass of water and some food on a tray in your room. Put these well out of reach on the far side of the room. Behind this food and drink, place a large piece of white paper on which is printed clearly, "You are having an OBE!" or "Do a reality check NOW!" Make sure you only put this sign up before retiring or you will get so used to it being there, you will not pay any attention to it during an OBE.

If you try to consume this food and drink during a dream, you'll find yourself eating and drinking dream copies of the originals. These will look and feel and taste the same but will not slake thirst nor satisfy hunger. This discrepancy can be used as a trigger. Normally, if you try to consume these during an OBE or false awakening, your hands will pass through it. The sign will alert you to the fact that you are having an OBE. When this happens, it is a good idea to reenter your physical body and write down what happened. Then return to sleep and try to repeat the OBE or false awakening.

Sometimes, though, a projector's subconscious creative ability will automatically mask many aspects of the out-of-body environment. Unaware real-time projectors may inadvertently create copies of food and drink. As with dreaming, these will not satisfy hunger or thirst.

 

This discrepancy, again, can be used to trigger realization that an OBE is in progress.

Affirmations
Affirmations are repeated sayings used to program the subconscious mind. These are most effective if said just before falling asleep. Before you go to sleep each night say, "I will remember to do my reality check!" replacing the words "do my reality check" with whatever your primary reality check really is - for example, "I will remember to look at my hands!" Do this twenty times or more before falling sleep. Concentrate on the content and meaning of what you are saying; do not just rattle it off parrot fashion. The whole idea behind this affirmation is to convince your subconscious to remind you to do your reality check during a lucid dream or OBE.

Remembering a Lucid Dream
After a successful reality check during a dream or OBE, you will suddenly realize you are lucid dreaming or having an OBE. Stay calm! Strong emotions like excitement can ruin an experience by waking you up in your physical body. Once you become aware, you can take control of the situation and continue from there.

Once lucid, it is important to begin affirming to yourself that you are going to remember everything. This greatly improves your chances of remembering the experience. Tell yourself repeatedly, "I will remember everything!" Another excellent way of strengthening this memory is to give a constant running commentary throughout the experience.

 

Speak aloud to yourself, describing everything you see and do at all times, but still regularly affirm you will remember it.

Exit Symptoms within Dreams
It is quite common for a dreamer to experience the energetic sensations associated with a projection exit (vibrations, rapid heartbeat, falling sensation, etc.) from within the dream state. These sensations will often trigger the lucid dream state, making you suddenly aware of your situation. But the transfer from one out-of-body level to another, say from real-time to the astral planes, is not accompanied by the same energetic sensations as a normal conscious-exit projection.

 

You may perceive yourself to be having a spontaneous OBE exit, and feel all the normal sensations, especially if you have been trying to cause a real OBE exit earlier. You may even be dreaming that you are in the process of attempting a conscious-exit OBE, which is not uncommon.

If you become aware of projection-related symptoms during a dream or lucid dream, keep calm and do not fight them. You will experience something very much like a conscious-exit projection, but it will be your dream body experiencing it. Projection sensations felt within a dream, while they can be quite strong, are always much less alarming than they might be in the physical body. Most people will feel only vibrations, partial paralysis, and a floating sensation, as if they are levitating within their dream.

 

They may not, however, realize they are dreaming at this time; more usually they will not.
 

Position Effects on Lucid Dreaming and OBE
The resting position of the physical body can have quite an effect on whether an OBE or lucid dream is achieved. I find that I cannot make a conscious exit while lying on my side. I must be either sitting, reclining, or lying flat on my back. If I lie on my left side, I tend to project directly into a lucid dream. Lying on my right side does not encourage me to sleep or anything else, and if I do manage to fall asleep, it is usually dreamless.

 

While the resting positions given above may not affect everyone in exactly the same way, I suggest that their potential effects be explored.

Lucid Dream Projection

One of the most powerful experiences I know of results from deliberately projecting into a lucid dream environment from the full waking state, with no break in consciousness. I call this mind-blowing experience lucid dream projection, although others have also called it WILD (wake induced lucid dream). Although this is technically a lucid dream, it can aptly be called the ultimate out-of-body experience as it has many similarities with a conscious-exit OBE.

A lucid dream projection is essentially no different from a conscious-exit projection. Both cause the same clarity of perception, that of operating remotely from the true physical body. The only difference of note is that lucid dream projections are far more realistic and true to life than are projections or normal lucid dreams. Sensations like gravity, the weight and feel of the physical body, its ability to taste and smell and feel pleasure and pain, the limitations of solid matter, the feeling of temperature, etc., are all indistinguishable from true-life perceptions.

Lucid dream projection is particularly useful when OBE attempts continually fail on the verge of the exit. All that is required is to make a normal projection attempt. If this fails, or if you get apprehensive and do not want to go through with the full exit, simply stop what you are doing and try for a lucid dream projection instead. All the deep physical relaxation and energetic preparation for the projection attempt can be used to power a lucid dream projection.

After almost triggering the projection reflex, simply snuggle down into your most comfortable, sleep-inducing position. Relax into yourself as if in the process of falling asleep. If your first position does not provide the desired results, try other positions during future attempts. Stay tranced and mentally focused while allowing yourself to drift right up to the edge of sleep. Gently observe yourself mentally while imagining a target dream environment.

Hold this target firmly in mind and allow yourself to drift off into yourself, as if drifting off to sleep.

If all goes well, you will slip directly into your target scenario. You will find yourself suddenly standing there fully conscious. There will be a definite continuance of waking consciousness, with no break in it at all, just as occurs with a normal conscious-exit projection. You will not just fall asleep and wake up there, you will project there directly from the waking state. The transition is sudden and breathtaking. You will feel as if you have suddenly slipped through a curtain into the dream environment while fully awake.

Your target dream scenario can be anything you like, but I strongly recommend a large department store or shopping mall scene that you know personally. For some reason, this scenario makes lucid dream projection much easier to achieve. I have no idea why this works but, what works... works.

Remember a scene from a store or mall with which you are familiar. Construct this scenario in your imagination until you have a clear feel and imagined view of it in your mind's eye. It also helps if you name your lucid dream's staging scene. Vocalize the target's name in your mind as you imagine its image while attempting to project there. Image this scene in your mind's eye and silently but continually repeat its name, as you allow yourself to slide deeper and deeper into yourself and toward the target environment.

Once you appear at the target, try not to get distracted. Plan to move out of the store and into the mall, if you are not already there. Keep moving. Walk through the mall and look for a door or an elevator. Either of these should take you to another environment, if you want to leave the mail. Avoid sexual thoughts at all times, as this will severely affect the quality and duration of the whole experience.

Before you open a door, imagine and expect to find the environment you want, or a way leading to it, on the other side. Hold this image and intention firmly in mind as you open each door. If this fails, go back inside the mall and find an elevator. Ask a dream character where the nearest one is if you cannot find one. Once inside the elevator, press a button and imagine your chosen destination; hold this and its name firmly in mind as the elevator moves. Expect to find this destination or a way leading to it when the elevator stops and the doors open. If this does not work, try other floors at random. If this fails entirely or you get lost, find a door leading out of the mall completely and follow your instincts from there on.

Once you know where the elevator is, or where a convenient door is, you can return to it during future excursions. From there, you can quickly navigate wherever you wish. If you cannot think of a destination, either spend some time creating one in your imagination before the lucid dream projection, or explore at random.

The more often you use the mall as a staging area, the easier and more reliable lucid dream projection will become.

Lucid Dream Projection - Experience

The true differences between a lucid dream and an OBE only become fully apparent if both are experienced very close together, which allows a fair comparison. Studying case histories simply does not provide enough data to allow this.

The following account of my first lucid dream projection shows the effects of the resting position, while also highlighting what are some fairly obvious differences between lucid dream projections, OBEs, and normal lucid dreams.

I awoke at about two in the morning, lying on my back with my whole body vibrating. I could feel myself about to spontaneously project. My arms and legs were already starting to float out. However, I did not want to project. I was tired and had a busy day ahead of me, and just wanted to go back to sleep. I'd been having a very interesting dream up until then and wanted to go back into it if I could.

 

I felt heavy and sluggish but managed to roll onto my left side. The vibrations stopped immediately and the heavy sinking feeling soon left me. Happy now, I snuggled down and relaxed back into myself, concentrating on the dreamscape I had just left and the name I had given it: "Advantage". I hoped this would take me back into it, as this trick often seemed to work.

After only a few seconds, I popped directly into the dream I'd left earlier. The transition was breathtaking. There was a full continuance of waking consciousness. I did not fall asleep and then wake up within the dream, but projected directly into it from the full waking state. I suddenly appeared in a busy, brightly lit department store, just like the one I'd been dreaming of earlier.

In front of me, a dark-haired young woman was setting up a dining room display. I saw people everywhere, shopping, serving, packing shelves, etc. Everything looked and felt real, stable, and solid. It was simply mind-blowing! I jumped up and down few times to feel the weight of my body, then pinched myself, "Ouch!" This hurt just as it would in real life, and my body weight felt normal. I was fully dressed and could even feel the texture of my socks when I wiggled my toes inside my shoes.

I glanced at my hands. They looked normal and did not melt. I tried creating an apple in my hand, but nothing happened. The dreamscape I was in did not waver in the slightest. Curious, I thought, in a normal lucid dream the environment can be altered and anything can be created by imagining it. Regardless, I was fully aware that I was dreaming.

I walked over to the young woman and asked her what she was doing. She told me they were getting ready for the big day, whatever that was. I picked up a large vase of flowers from the table in the middle of her furniture setting. The china felt like real china and the flowers smelled like real flowers. I pulled a rose petal off and ate it. It tasted dry, scented, and faintly bitter, just as a rose petal should taste, but the taste did not linger in my mouth as it normally would, I tipped the vase and splashed some of the water into my hand. It felt cold and wet, just like real water.

I braced myself, hoping that I was truly inside a lucid dream as I believed. I yanked the linen tablecloth from under the main table setting in the display. It almost worked, but the vase and a couple of plates smashed noisily on the floor. A few people looked, but no one seemed to care about the breakage, not even the shop assistant whose display I had just ruined. She went on unpacking and arranging things as if nothing had happened, shaking out another linen tablecloth as she busied herself resetting the table.

More confident now, I walked down an aisle and pushed over several large pieces of cheap-looking pottery from the top shelf, one at a time. I looked around to see if anyone noticed. These made very loud smashing sounds and broken pieces flew in all directions. A few people looked over, but no one seemed to care. Reassured by this, I walked over to the checkouts and jumped up onto one of the benches. A few people looked at me, but no one seemed to care and no one said anything.

I slipped back into my body and rolled onto my back thinking, "Wow! That was incredible ... so real!"

 

I fought to control my excitement and settled back into myself again, trying to get back into the dream. This was getting really interesting. I held the store and its name in mind again and tried to sink back into it, but to no avail. The vibrations started up again and I felt myself starting to project. This time the projection reflex caught hold and buzzed me out of my body. I came to rest at the foot of my bed. The house was dim and quiet as I floated around my bedroom deciding what to do. I took a quick look at my hands. They looked strangely elongated and started melting away.

Not wanting to continue the OBE, I dove back into my body and opened my eyes. I lay there for a moment, then closed my eyes and tried to get back into the dream. The vibrations started up again and another wave of falling, floating heaviness came over me as I started projecting again. I fought it off and rolled over onto my right side. The projection symptoms stopped, but I couldn't get back into my dream. I rolled over onto my left side and settled back into myself again. This position felt much better. Holding the image and name of the dreamscape in mind again, I soon found myself back there.

I reappeared in the store where I had started during my last visit, several minutes ago. The same shop assistant was busily setting up the same dining display. The vase I'd broken earlier was whole again and back on the table where it had been earlier. I walked through the store, looking for signs of damage from my earlier visit. Everything I had broken earlier was whole and back on the shelves again. It was like nothing had ever happened. This was incredible! No matter what I did, the scenario restored itself.

I slipped back into my body again and rolled over to my back, trying to settle myself and get back into my dream. I think my excitement had interrupted it. The vibrations started again, so I rolled over to my left side again. I was getting the hang of this now, and realized that projecting into the dream was much easier from my left side. Settling back into myself and holding the store's image and name in my mind again, I slipped back into the store.

 

Everything was normal and I was back where I had originally started from again, with the same young lady busily setting up her dining display. She looked up and smiled as I waved, then happily went about her work. I decided to explore further afield before anything else happened, and walked out past the service desk into the mall.

I walked for some time, exploring the huge mall. There were a fair number of people around. Everyone seemed very busy shopping, or preoccupied with whatever they were doing. Of note, all the children I saw were very quiet and well behaved, walking like polite little robots beside their mothers. There was some light background organ music playing and the usual noise of people quietly bustling about. A few people were talking on telephones here and there, but no one seemed to be chatting or talking to each other. People answered when questioned, but their replies were uninteresting and not very helpful. It seemed impossible to start a conversation that did not involve talking about the person's immediate task at hand.

Everyone seemed to lack personality, like background characters in a movie. On the surface this dreamscape was incredibly real, maybe too real, but beneath the surface it lacked something. This looked like real life, but was definitely not the same type of real life I am familiar with.

I had decided to look for a way out of the mall and do some further exploring when I suddenly felt weak and heavy. The strength flowed out of me and I felt like I was moving in slow motion. My legs floated slowly upward as I fell ever so slowly to the floor, settling there weak and paralyzed. People stepped over and around me as I lay there, but no one paid any attention to me. I felt like a child's balloon bobbing about on the floor. I was weak and heavy and could no longer feel the normal weight of my body, nor could I feel the floor beneath me.

I slipped back into my body again, coming wide awake this time. I rolled over to my back and lay there pondering the significance of these experiences. The vibrations did not start up this time, probably because I was pretty much wide awake now. It was obvious to me that my resting position had been affecting the different types of experiences I'd been having. I was far too excited and wide awake by now to do any kind of further exploration with this phenomenon, so I gave up and went to get a drink and record this experience in my journal.

The type of paralysis that occurred at the end of the above experience generally indicates the physical body and mind are either too awake, too tense, or in the process of waking up.

Tension in the physical body will disempower, and often paralyze, any subtle bodies that are active at the time.

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