It was an exhausting day: flying into Seattle from LA, and then driving out to Yelm just in time for the first session of a seminar. That’s why the plan wasn’t to enter lucid dreaming, but to at least catch up on some sleep.

I awoke quite early the next morning, and went right for the kitchen to get a taste of the delicious treats that my hostess had baked. It was already fairly light outside, and I got a chance to enjoy the beauty of the brook and pine forest outside the window. I thought about how nice it must be to live in a place with such scenery. After having enjoyed some tasty treats with a glass of milk, I went to go back to bed. As I lay down, I nearly immediately heard some noise. This was puzzling, as lucid dreaming rarely comes to me so quickly and without lapses in consciousness. Meanwhile, such noise is a definitive sign that a lucid dream is already in progress. Something wasn’t right…

Then, it finally dawned on me: up in these northern parts at this time of the morning, it simply couldn’t have been as light outside as it had seemed to me when I was walking about the guest story of the house. It had all happened in lucid dreaming! The treats, the milk, and taking in the landscape. And even I, with all of my experience, would have never figured that out if it weren’t for that noise which betrayed the fact that I was in lucid dreaming once I returned to my body. Incredible…

I rolled out of my body right away and got on with a series of experiments…

As soon as my obligatory plan of action had been completed, I was returned back to my body. I rolled out again with ease and decided to just run through the beautiful environs of the fabled little town of Blueberry Hill, upon arriving there by force of will. The place was quite impressive. I rushed through the window and began sprinting around the house from a distance of 100 yards, intently scrutinizing everything I came across.

My secondary plan of action complete, I was returned back to my body. I couldn’t recall anything else important to do. But I had to squeeze everything out of this lucid dreaming, and use it for still more. For some reason, out of the blue I got the strange idea of turning up inside Vladimir Lenin’s mummified body at his tomb in Moscow’s Red Square. Without first separating, I began trying to feel myself being him. My body immediately shortened in stature. I began to feel myself in the exact body position that his mummy lies in, as well as in its clothing. For the first time in a long while, once I began to feel the surrounding environment, being in lucid dreaming felt very scary. The incredible realness of sensation evoked some strange terror that made me decide to cut lucid dreaming short, against my own advice. I returned to my body with only minor difficulty. I opened my eyes. It was pitch black all around me. The time was 2 am.

I went back into Lenin’s body, but the terror did not return. This was unfortunate, as I would like to experience such extraordinary feelings again. Seeing as the nearly dumbfounding account of my adventure was illustrative of many items on the curriculum, I decided to share it and everyone at the next day’s seminar got a good laugh out of it.

Questions

What are the three basic applications of lucid dreaming?

Are proven practical lucid dreaming applications accessible to any practitioner?

While in lucid dreaming, is it possible to travel through Africa?

Is it possible to walk on the moon in lucid dreaming?

Is it possible, while in lucid dreaming, to appear at the time of the Earth’s creation?

In lucid dreaming, is it possible to appear in the magical world behind the looking glass?

Which relatives can be met in lucid dreaming?

Is it possible to meet and talk to your favorite actor in lucid dreaming?

Where can one realize any cherished dream?

Can a practitioner appear in the computer game Doom?

Can a musician use lucid dreaming for creative purposes?

Does the practicing lucid dreaming influence a person’s imagination?

What most probably governs lucid dreaming space?

What kind of information is obtainable in lucid dreaming?

While in lucid dreaming, is it possible to find out where the lost key to an apartment is located?

What kind of people can discover where treasure is hidden in lucid dreaming?

Should any information obtained in lucid dreaming be construed as accurate?

Should information obtained in lucid dreaming be verified after waking up, even if it’s already verified in lucid dreaming?

Should obtaining information occur before deepening has been performed?

To obtain information while using the animate objects technique, who should be talked to if the goal is to find out the thoughts of a boss at work?

How might information from an animate object be obtained?

Can an inscription on a wall be used as an inanimate source of information?

Is it possible to use the episode technique to learn where one has lost the key to one’s apartment?

Should a doctor be consulted before trying to cure a disease through lucid dreaming practice?

Are results from influencing physiology in lucid dreaming always 100% guaranteed?

What lucid dreaming techniques might be used to influence the bodies of other people?

Is it possible to obtain information that can be used to influence the body and its functions?

Is it possible to take a well-known painkiller in lucid dreaming and feel its effects on exit?

Is it possible to use autosuggestion in lucid dreaming?

Can athletes use lucid dreaming to develop their skills?

Is it realistic to expect that the soul will exit the body while practicing lucid dreaming?

Is it possible to enter a parallel universe through lucid dreaming?

Should a practitioner hope to develop super-abilities in lucid dreaming?

Tasks

Meet your favorite singer and travel to your dream house in lucid dreaming.

While in lucid dreaming, find a wise person who is an authority on matters of lucid dreaming and learn from them what entrance techniques will best suit your practice.

Try to perceive heat throughout the entire body by translocation to a sauna or through auto-suggestion.

Learn to move objects by simply staring at them in lucid dreaming, and appreciate the extent to which this skill is reflected in reality.

Like falling headfirst, the vibration technique should be used if sensory amplification techniques do not work, or when the practitioner in lucid dreaming is located in an undefined space where there is nothing to touch or look at. This technique works thanks to the unusual vestibular sensations that it causes, which help to enhance perception.

After separating from the body, it is normally quite easy to create vibrations by thinking about them, by straining the brain, or by straining the body without using muscles. The occurrence of vibrations provides a significant opportunity to deepen lucid dreaming. An advantage of this technique is that it does not require any preliminary actions and thus may be practiced at any moment.

The brain is strained to the maximum extent possible, which causes vibrations that may be intensified and managed through spasmodic or prolonged straining.

If this technique does not produce deepening after 5 to 10 seconds, the technique has to be changed or action should be taken at the practitioner’s current depth in lucid dreaming.

New York, USA

I woke up at 6 AM today, went to the bathroom, and then lay back down immediately to try to sleep. I usually have difficulty falling asleep, so this time, for the first time, I put in earplugs and wore a facemask. After about an hour, I was still quite awake and running through ideas for my class in my head.

After an hour I wasn’t falling asleep yet, but I was very relaxed physically, and so I tried forced falling asleep. After about 10-15 seconds, I felt a strange dislocation and numbness settle over my body (M.R.: no separation), which felt unusual. I immediately tried listening in, and heard a very loud ringing sound, like fire alarms going off. I listened to it and it got louder and then seemed to peak. It was very loud (M.R.: no separation), but nothing else was happening and so I switched to observing images for a few seconds. Still nothing. The ringing got even quieter, and so I went back to listening in. It got louder again, and again it seemed to peak.

Then, I realized that it was so loud that I was probably already in lucid dreaming but didn’t realize it. I tried rolling over with a sudden jerk, and BAM! I was out of bed, standing on the floor! I can’t describe how unexpected this was: I had no idea what rolling out would feel like, and it turned out to be kind of like climbing out of a pool, about that much resistance. Michael’s advice to not worry and just DO IT was right on the money.

I was very excited, but I remembered the SOBT advice to immediately deepen. Everything was grey and I felt nothing, heard nothing, saw only grey silhouettes around me. I started rubbing my hands together firmly in front of my face and they slowly came into view, along with everything else in my room. I started peering at my hands and fingers, and my vision became crystal clear. My room came into perfect lifelike focus. I walked around my room peering and palpating everything I could find. Since it was my first time in lucid dreaming, I examined all the random objects lying around on my shelves and table and they all appeared perfectly real, even the writing on them (I didn’t stop to try to read the individual words because I didn’t want a foul). I continuously reminded myself that I was phasing, so as not to lose consciousness and fall asleep (M.R.: no plan of action).

After spending about a minute looking at everything and being amazed by the simulacrum of reality, I decided to try to do something with the experience. I didn’t have any plans beforehand because I was not really expecting success, but I decided on the spur of the moment to try flying. I looked up at my ceiling, then down at my feet, took a deep breath and tried to levitate while looking at my feet. They slowly rose a few inches off the floor, and as I exhaled they went back down. Perfectly controlled, as I expected. I tried again, with another deep breath and this time a jump, and I launched myself through my ceiling like superman, fists extended. I didn’t want to pass through my ceiling insubstantially, I wanted to blast out, and I did, through about 10 floors of brick and plaster which exploded in front of me like a multistory pratfall in reverse.

Then I was out, above my house. I was not in my neighborhood, but in some kind of huge cave that housed an entire city. I didn’t recognize anything and didn’t have any plans of where to go, so I just flew around a little bit and eventually zoomed in on a window where some "friend" of mine (I don’t know who it was, they were just labeled "friend" in my dream consciousness") was watching a movie on television. At this point, since I didn’t have anything to do, and I was just hovering outside the window with a pause in my actions, I fouled and woke up in bed.

I hadn’t moved and I wanted to immediately try to enter lucid dreaming again, but I was just too excited and I felt my physical body very clearly. I decided to get up and record my experience, and when I stood up it confirmed that I was completely awake and not the least groggy or relaxed since I was able to turn on my computer and write clearly and lucidly right away.

I awoke at 6 AM, turned on CNN, and had a bite to eat, as is my custom. After catching the latest news, I turned off the television. I then began to attentively review my plan of action for the day’s upcoming lucid dreams and add in new details. The morning’s first lucid dreaming was to be devoted to an experiment on maintaining by means of assuming an extremely uncomfortable or even painful position with the perceived (subtle) body. The second lucid dreaming would be needed to undertake an experiment on the consistency of bodily perception: somehow separate or cut off an arm and see what happens with sensations. Other items on the plan of action for this and subsequent lucid dreams consisted of more down-to-earth and everyday goals.

At 6:20 AM I closed the balcony door, inserted earplugs, and put on a sleeping mask to keep sunlight from interfering. After lying down in a comfortable position on my stomach, I once again thought about my plan of action. I decided to enter lucid dreaming using a direct technique. I didn’t start off with the technique right away. Instead, I decided to reach the edge of sleep first. I got lost in thought at some point, and my imaginings turned into episodes that enveloped me. My mind was then abruptly returned to the body, and I tried to separate, but unsuccessfully. I then began to do the rotation technique quite slowly and passively. My awareness once again began to fade, and another shallow lapse in consciousness took place. On the way back up, neither standing up, nor levitating, nor rolling out were successful as separation techniques. Meanwhile, I could clearly sense an approaching lucid dreaming. I started doing sensory-motor visualization, imagining that I had already separated and was walking about the room while deepening lucid dreaming. Those imagined sensations started becoming real after another micro-lapse in conscious awareness about three minutes in.

As soon as the sensations had become true-to-life, I rapidly made them hyper-realistic through a mix of palpation, peering, and focused intention. Then, I fell backwards to the floor and folded my legs underneath, trying to recreate a pulling feeling in my hips that had once helped me to stay in lucid dreaming for a long time. This time, however, my legs bent quite flexibly, and so no pain or strain arose. Feeling that lucid dreaming would soon end anyway, I began to twist my legs even more intensely. Mild pain finally came. Realizing that I couldn’t hope for much more at that point, I decided to see whether such weak sensations were enough for maintaining lucid dreaming. Now fading, I kept my legs in as painful a position as possible. I started counting the seconds that went by, all the while enjoying a tranquility uncharacteristic of lucid dreaming. After all, staying in lucid dreaming for as long as possible usually requires chaotic action in order to stimulate all of the senses. At 26 seconds in, the sensations abruptly began to dissipate, as did the pain. Several seconds later, I was back in my body. I was unable reenter lucid dreaming state, which meant that it had fully run its course.

I began falling back asleep with the intention of repeating the test during my next lucid dreaming experience, and only then moving on to the other activities on my plan of action. The indirect method would bring me twice more into lucid dreaming that morning, allowing me to continue on with the experiment. Yet another lucid dreaming would come thanks to becoming conscious while dreaming, and all this by 9:30 AM.