A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (30 page)

stop running, and begin walking over to me. I still feel fear in

approaching these men. What do they want? I remind myself

that I’m in a dream and find acceptance and love in myself. I try

to project this compassion toward my pursuers. Immediately, I

feel safe and protected. Nothing can harm me. One of the men

holds his hand out, as if wanting to shake my hand. His hand

is on fire. He tells me, “Don’t let your flame go out.” I shake his

hand. It feels warm and powerful. I thank him, and the dream

ends. I wake up feeling empowered. —THOMAs P.

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Once challenged, your hostile dream figure or feeling will usu-

ally lose its power and diminish in size, becoming as harmless as a

kitten. According to the Senoi people of Malaysia, when we con-

front a nightmare, we conquer it. Now that it’s defused, as a lucid

dreamer you can question the once shadowy figure. Normally,

dreams speak to us in the language of symbols and metaphors.

But if you bluntly ask the nightmare what its purpose is, often

it will clearly state with words what it was trying to tell you with

metaphors. Chat away with your demons and discover their hid-

den messages.

Going Toe-to-Toe with a Nightmare:

tips for facing Your fears

In the red corner, weighing in at well over two thousand pounds,

the heavyweight champion of nightmares, the beast from the

East, the skeleton in your closet, repressed and back for revenge,

Mister . . . Demon Bear!

And in the blue corner, the mind behind it all, the creator of

the dream itself, lucid and ready to tackle, the Dream explorerr!

Ding ding! Here are some tips on how to deliver the KO punch:

1. Wherever You Go, There You Are

In horror movies, the damsel who runs upstairs never makes it out

alive. Don’t get clever and think that you can run away from your

nightmares. Many people think that they can outsmart their night-

mares by flying away or switching dream scenes. Remember this

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saying: Wherever you go, there you are. Even if you fly across the

ocean to another planet or change the dream completely, your

nightmare will often manifest itself wherever you are. Recurring

nightmares happen when we continually run from the same fear.

If it has an important message, your subconscious is not going to

quit until it has delivered it.

2. Pulling the Cord

Many people feel relieved when they wake themselves up just

before a nightmare gets too close, which is always an option.

Imagine you’ve got a parachute strapped to your back. You can

yank on the cord at any time and a tether will pull you back to the

waking world, safe and sound. Phew, bullet dodged! So when you

encounter a nightmare, why not just wake yourself up every time?

Imagine that your kitchen stove caught fire and burst into flames.

Would you move into the living room, flip the TV on, and pretend

nothing is wrong? Sooner or later your stove will burn down the

entire house. Continuously escaping from parts of yourself that

demand to be heard can be harmful to both your dream life and

your waking life. When we repress these messages, we repress our

self-awareness. We’re left with an unresolved conflict, like a cough

that won’t go away. With that said, if things get too intense and

you need to get out to collect yourself, remember you can always

pull the cord.

3. know You Are safe

That bothersome beast, person, or object cannot actually hurt you.

In fact, you’ll be doing more harm to yourself by running away

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from it. If your nightmare is acting like a bully and physically

threatening you, it’s all talk. Just like a dog biting its own tail, what

you’re really battling is a part of yourself. Love thy nightmare.

4. Don’t Change the Dream, Change Yourself

When lucid, the goal isn’t to control the situation or the night-

mare. Attempting to quarantine or kill it will just make it angry.

Aggression, according to lucid dreamer Paul Tholey, will often

make the nightmarish figure stronger. And it makes sense: you’re

playing right into its power by thinking that it has power. Focus on

your own emotions and release positive and loving feelings toward

your nightmare. This might sound very difficult, but under the

guise of lucid dreaming, and with total awareness, calmly focus on

changing yourself, not the dream. What emotions are you feeling?

Let go of anxiety and fear and watch as that gruesome demon bear

transforms into a cute teddy.

5. enlist some Reinforcements

If you don’t want to face your fears alone, we don’t blame you.

Lucky for you, there are plenty of people on your side in the dream

world. Call upon an ally or a guide to help you tag-team your

(peaceful) confrontation. Perhaps you want King Arthur to watch

your back, or enlist Gandhi to talk things out? You can conjure a

guide with a strong intention or incubation. Or instead of finding

a dream character to help, you can use your own superpowers to

build up confidence for your confrontation. Imagine a force field of

protection around you, increase the size of your dream body, whatever

gives you the feeling of power and safety that you need. Go get ’em!

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WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER

ever had a recurring nightmare? This exercise involves imagining yourself
finishing that persistent dream with a different ending. eventually this practice
will filter into your dreams, and the next time you have a nightmare you’ll
become lucid without even trying.

While awake, think back to a nightmare you had and imagine yourself

back in the present moment of that dream. sit quietly and replay the nightmare
in your mind once or twice in the way it actually occurred.

Now, replay it a third time, but this time picture yourself becoming aware
that you’re dreaming. Imagine the realization suddenly dawning on you in the
middle of your nightmare. I’m dreaming. Picture yourself calmly facing the
source of your fear, asking what it represents. Project love and acceptance to the
dark figure in front of you. It is you, so why wouldn’t you love it?

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Dialogue With the Nightmare

Sometimes defusing a nightmare requires no dialogue at all.

Simply face your foe head-on—that could be all the treatment

you need. But be curious! Here’s your chance to reveal some really

interesting stuff about yourself. Ask your nightmarish demon

questions like:

• Why are you chasing me?

• What do you want?

• Who are you?

• Why am I in this situation?

• How can I help you?

• What do you represent?

• What do you have to teach me?

TELL IT TO THE SUN!

The Greeks believed that some dreams foretold the future. After a bad dream,
they would purify themselves by bathing in cold water, telling their dream to
the sun and even performed sacrifices to protective deities.

The dark figure prowls behind you, tense and brooding. It’s

been on your tail for weeks. It pounces forward—a throaty howl—

then retreats back into the shadows, watching and waiting. When

we are plagued by inner turmoil, we feel weakened, blocked, and

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outright crappy. Our minds get stuck in a continual funk of imbal-

ance. Even though it’s “just a dream,” a nightmare can affect your

entire life. Your relationships, your career, and your own emotional

and physical health become threatened. Use nightmares as a sign-

post that something needs your care and attention. This journey

isn’t just fun and games. Facing your nightmare might be a chal-

lenge, but this leg of the adventure will lead toward a happier and

more integrated you. �

Summary

• Use your nightmares as triggers for lucidity and get to the bottom

of what is plaguing you.

• The ultimate goal of the ghastly figure is not to hurt you; it wants
to communicate a message and to gain your acceptance. Like a

little kid acting out, it just wants to be heard.

• Ask your nightmare questions and bring to light the repressed

demons of your subconscious.

• Wave your white flag and surrender to the conflict—you will

become paradoxically strong. Instead of aggression, face your

pursuer with love and humility.

• The effects of healing a nightmare while it’s taking place will

carry over into your waking life and enrich you with new energy.

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16

Healing and Wholeness

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The power which a man’s imagination has over his body to heal it or

make it sick is a force which none of us is born without.

The first man had it; and the last one will possess it.

—Mark Twain,

author, humorist, didn’t let school ruin his education

In the fourth century BCE , in the jagged and mountainous

coast of southern Greece, you arrive at one of the first hos-

pitals of the ancient world. Dedicated to Aesculapius, the

Greek healer and son of Apollo, this temple attracts droves of the

sick and ill who’ve made pilgrimages in the hope for a cure to their

ailments. Entering one these temples, you are not searching for

medicine, you are looking for a dream. Your stomach rumbles—

you’ve fasted for days in preparation. You lie down on the hard

stone and fall asleep. You hope that the gods will appear in your

dreams and show you a cure. Inscribed on the temple walls are

the stories of previous visitors, whose ailments, including chronic

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illnesses such as blindness, were reported to have vanished with the

help of dream.

Fast-forward a few millennia. There’s no such thing as a dream

temple anymore, but our bodies and minds haven’t changed all

that much.

As science is finding out, your body can’t even differentiate

between a thought and a real life event. Images of delicious ham-

burgers can make you salivate, a homework assignment can make

you anxious, a funny movie can make your whole body shake with

laughter, and a beautiful member of the desired sex can cause . . .

other physical reactions. “The mind lives in every cell of the body,”

writes Candace Pert. The power the mind has over the body can

have revolutionary effects.

If movies and hamburgers can twist our bodies into knots, then

what about lucid dreams? In a lucid dream, you’re the writer and

the director; the scenes are created by your imagination and feel

very realistic. Compared to a mere thought, a lucid dream is real

in every sense of the word. Even though your physical body lies in

your bed, it is still influenced by the intense emotions and percep-

tions of your dreaming mind. It seems that the ancient Greeks got

it right: we can actually heal through the experiences of a dream.

People are often skeptical when we suggest that they can heal

through a lucid dream. But evidence for this phenomenon comes

from hundreds of firsthand accounts from today’s dreamers, and