Preparing for Lucid Dreaming
The key aspect of preparing for Lucid Dreaming is much like every other aspect of Spiritual Dream Interpretation – First, ask Holy Spirit both to help you and to increase the clarity and intensity of your dreams. Remember that Lucid Dreaming can be a startling experience when we first realize it is happening and thus it can jar you awake, thus ending your Lucid Dream. Seeking peace from Holy Spirit helps prepare you for this process, however, it is equally necessary to simply gain experience from actually engaging in Lucid Dreams. To help bring the state of peace that will allow you to successfully enter into a Lucid Dream, preparation prior to going to sleep can also be beneficial. As in any case where dreaming is important, do not go to bed with anxiety as it will hinder your dream life in general and almost certainly prevent Lucid Dreaming. Become consistent in going to bed with the intent of focusing on your dreams and spend some time focusing/meditating on the things of God. These practices will strengthen your dream life generally and help to prepare you for dreaming lucidly.
As with most aspects of the spiritual life, there is no formula to follow in order to engage in Lucid Dreaming. Psychological approaches tend to suggest routines and exercises that are supposed to help prepare your mind for the Lucid Dream experience. Most of these involve the idea of actively testing reality when you are awake in order to train your subconscious to actively test reality while you are asleep. While this concept may sound good, Holy Spirit is much better at prompting and reminding us of who and where we are than such activities will ever be. Such practices are not necessarily dangerous or improper, but if they are utilized in the place of seeking Holy Spirit’s help, then they are unlikely to be truly successful in preparing the dreamer for Lucid Spiritual Dreams.
So, how does a dreamer begin to recognize that they are Lucid Dreaming? This begins with a simple realization. Recognition that the things being experienced are occurring in a dream is no different from the recognition that they are actually occurring in real life. Simply things such as experiencing the ability to fly and knowing within the context of the experience that it is not possible in waking life will help pull back the veil and establish awareness of dream experience. For dreamers aware of the spiritual nature of their dreams, another simple part of the process is beginning to remember other dreams while experiencing the current dream or to recognize that a particular dream has been dreamed before. Recognizing people, places or things and knowing what they represent are also good indications that the dreamer is beginning to be aware that they are dreaming.
It is difficult if not impossible to take control of a dream unless the dreamer has become aware that they are actually experiencing a dream. It is important that the dreamer does not allow the comprehension that they are dreaming to create anxiety if they cannot influence the dream, as comprehension is only the first step in the journey. It is at this stage that a dreamer can begin to expand their understanding and glean more and more value from their dream life and if the ability to control or influence a dream never develops, the value gained by recognition of dreaming within the dream is worth it. When a dreamer recognizes that they are dreaming, it opens up the opportunity to pay closer attention to what is being dreamed and thus increase the understanding gained from the dream. This process is similar to learning to remember and record your dreams, where through placing value on this means of spiritual communication the individual’s dream life is increased.
Once a dreamer becomes consistently aware that they are dreaming, they can move from the role of a passive participant into the role of an active influencer.