Lucid Dreaming, Waking Life

Lucid dreaming, the skill of recognizing that you’re dreaming within a dream, has a vast potential to not only improve the content of your dreams but also to quell anxiety and improve confidence during your waking life. Leveraging both scientific research and two decades of personal experimentation, this book provides everything readers need to know in order to begin lucid dreaming for the first time and to improve the frequency, control, and clarity of existing lucid dream experiences. Personal anecdotes and dream journal entries from the author help clarify points of confusion and motivate readers. This book focuses heavily on the connections between lucid dreaming, mindfulness, and anxiety, and on the myriad benefits lucid dreaming can have while you are awake.
Whether you have never had a lucid dream before, or you want to improve the quality and frequency of your lucid dreams, the techniques provided here will make the process simple. With the skill of lucid dreaming, your dreams will become your own personal playground, laboratory, artist studio, or spiritual center. What you gain from such a journey is up to you.

Elliot Riley is a reference librarian living in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Her creative nonfiction and poetry has appeared in Halfway Down the Stairs, Moonglasses and Bone Parade.

Elliot Riley
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 188
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2020
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8182-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4026-6
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1

Section One. How to Lucid Dream 3

 1. Definitions and Misconceptions 5

 2. Tips to Get Started 23

 3. Increasing Dream Recall 30

 4. Reality Checks 43

 5. Induction Techniques 50

 6. Prolonging a Lucid Dream 59

 7. Common Mistakes 68

Section Two. Why Learn to Lucid Dream? 77

 8. Dealing with Nightmares and Anxiety 79

 9. Activities to Try in a Lucid Dream 88

10. ­Long-Term Goal Setting 106

11. Dreaming’s Influence on Creativity and Invention 116

12. Meditation 121

13. Teaching Children to Lucid Dream 126

Section Three. Sleep Science and Philosophy 131

14. What We Know: Scientific Data 133

15. Demographic Trends in Lucid Dreaming 138

16. Dreams and Video Games 142

17. ­Out-of-Body Experiences and Astral Projection 145

18. Lucid Dreaming as an Altered State of Consciousness 150

19. Additional Perspectives 155

20. What We Don’t Know: Questions for Further Inquiry 167

Chapter Notes 173

Bibliography 177

Index 183