It can be difficult for beginners to grasp how lucid dreams work, and many struggle just to determine whether they’ve entered the phase of a lucid dream or not. This ambiguity can occur whether you are lying in bed or have already started to explore your surroundings, like your room or the broader dream world.
If you’re still lying in bed, it’s genuinely hard to tell if you’ve truly woken up or simply become aware within a dream. The thing is, you may either experience strange sensations or feel entirely normal in the phase, and neither state definitively proves you’ve entered it.
However, this uncertainty can be resolved by taking a simple action. If you’re lying in a lucid dream and attempt to get up, separation typically occurs. Usually, all you need is the simplest technique: the desire to get up. If you don’t feel any separation, you can try other methods that are effective in lucid dreams. For instance, you can try controlling the dream’s plot, changing your environment, adding details, or doing things that would be impossible in reality, like flying or deep-sea diving without gear.
If you manage to rise from your bed, there’s a good chance you are already in a lucid dream. Yet, the initial awakening within a lucid dream is often extremely realistic. You’ll see exactly what’s around you in your room (or wherever you fell asleep). In this case, you can use a hyper-concentration technique. Common signs include:
- Unusual sensations while moving
- Extreme difficulty in moving
- A strong urge to lie back down
- Inconsistencies in your surroundings, like something inexplicable outside the window
- Blurry vision, making it hard to focus
There are some unspoken rules of lucid dreaming that you should keep in mind: if you’re using direct techniques, don’t expect quick results. You might fail even on your tenth try. So, if you’re attempting to enter a lucid dream but still struggle with identification, you probably shouldn’t expect immediate success. It will take more practice to achieve a reliable phase entry.
What Are the Characteristics of Space in Lucid Dreams?
The entire dream environment follows standard rules: the deeper you are in a lucid dream, the harder it becomes to change your surroundings. If you’re deeply immersed in the phase and all the objects around you feel stable, altering something or performing even the simplest tricks becomes increasingly challenging. Everything becomes hyper-realistic and starts to obey the laws of the waking world. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t control your environment—it’s just harder to do so.
The main idea behind all techniques is to bypass this rule. Understanding these methods allows you to:
- Move in different ways, including flying
- Change the positioning of objects
- Alter the size and properties of objects
- Control and manipulate the environment (e.g., the weather or time of day)
These actions are possible because there’s another critical quality beyond depth: stability. Stability depends on sensory details. For example, if you enter a lucid dream and find yourself by the ocean, strong associations with the waking world might arise, like the sound of waves or a light sea breeze. Your goal is to change these associations, even if it seems impossible.
The techniques teach you how to weaken the stability of the environment around you. But this isn’t easy; even the most skilled practitioners don’t always get the desired results.
For instance, imagine you’re holding a blue pen in your hand. You can feel its texture and clearly see its blue color, leaving no doubt about its appearance. But if you close your eyes and focus on your sensations, you can change the pen. Simply imagine your hands holding a red pen, envision the color, and convince yourself it’s real. When you open your eyes, the pen might now be red. It’s possible to change anything, but experienced practitioners recommend starting with small details and gradually moving to larger ones. Consistent practice is key to achieving results.
As another example, you can hold the pen and place it on a table. Then, close your eyes and imagine that it’s gone. With persistent practice, one day you’ll open your eyes, and the pen will indeed have vanished.
These practices are based on your sensations and how your brain works. All dreams in which you’re aware you’re dreaming follow classic physical laws. But when you close your eyes (within the dream), you’re no longer tied to your current sensations. This allows you to change the dreamscape and convince your brain that when you open your eyes, you’ll see something different.
By experimenting with various techniques and finding the one that works best for you, you can gradually overcome the stability of the dream world. The key is to discover the method that suits you best.
