Lucid Dreamlife

July 2015

& More....

SuMMer IntervIew SpecIaL

Hear From 3 Lucid Dreamers as they Share their experiences...

- Theodore Roosevelt

nothing worth

having was ever

achieved without effort.”

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Interview: Becky paton tells us How She woke up In Her Dreams...

Interview: richard powell Shares His Story...

Interview: natalia talks about Her experiences...

Inspiring Lucid Dreaming videos

Lucid Dreaming events

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Hello,

Welcome to the July issue of the Lucid Dream Life. I hope you’re enjoying some incredible dream experiences. There is so much to learn from the dream world and so many useful applications for lucid dreaming.

This is the summer Lucid Dream Life interview special. You’ll read stories, lessons, and tips from committed lucid dream practitioners. We took a poll to find out the information people really wanted to learn from other lucid dreamers and came up with a list of the 10 most popular questions to have each interviewee answer. In this issue Becky, Richard, and Natalia share their experiences with lucid dreaming.

Enjoy the read,

Monroe Gaines

Letter From the

Publisher

Publisher: Monroe GainesEditor: Malorie Williams

Editorial Submissions: Email articles, personal stories, and ideas to the editor at: info@LucidDreamLife.com

Deadline for the editorial: The 14th of the Month

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- Unknown

“watch for the people

whose eyes light up when you talk about

your dream. those are

the ones you keep.”

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Becky Paton tells us How She woke up In Her Dreams...

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What is your name and where are you from?

My name is Becky Paton and I am

from Chichester, West Sussex, England

What was your introduction into the world of lucid dreaming?I have always had lucid dreams. I am very fortunate that I come from a background where dreams are discussed openly, so I believe by always having that open dialogue, I never lost touch with the conscious aspects of my dream life. I love engaging with dreams as a whole, but my lucid dreams became more frequent

as I became more curious about them as I got older. So about 3 years ago I began to research online. I found there was a growing interest in this particular aspect of dreaming, and thus what had always been a spontaneous and somewhat sporadic experience developed into a practice, supported by some amazing people I was lucky to meet and engage with on the online community through forums like World of Lucid Dreaming.

When did you experience your first Lucid Dream?My Mother used to read me stories when I was very small. She is Moravian and some of the fairy tales from her homeland where actually quite dark (as fairy tales can be!). As much as I was fascinated, I was also quite frightened by them so I used to try to stop myself from falling asleep until the point I could not help but let sleep take me. I would enter a dream sometimes believing I was still awake, or perceive myself having an out of body experience. I guess in some sense I was experiencing what we now call a WILD.

What is your favorite induction technique?Without a shadow of doubt – The

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WILD. To witness oneself going to sleep consciously is extraordinary.

What are your favorite LD themed books, movies, or resources?Currently I am reading Alan Wallace’s Dreaming Yourself Awake. The first book I read on lucid dreaming was Charlie Morley’s Dreams of Awakening – Mindfulness of Sleep and Dream. Being a fan of conscious living, I love Timothy Freke’s little treasure of a book Lucid Living. I have had a life-long interest in the ideas of Carl Jung. Movie wise: Waking Life, Paprika, The Matrix, Inception, and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind are some favorites. Web wise I really enjoy Reece Jones on youtube and I also like howtolucid.com. I was involved in Dream Shares in the past and love to read up on

the first book I read on lucid dreaming was

charlie Morley’s Dreams of

awakening – Mindfulness of

Sleep and Dream.

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their ongoing work, truly fascinating: lucidfriendfinder.com/dreamshares. And of course Lucid Dream Life Magazine!

Describe your most memorable LD experience?This is a tough one. As I’m sure it would be for any lucid dreamer! So I will take the question literally and write one of my most memorable experiences, a dream I have never recorded and that I’d dreamt before I had heard of the term ‘lucid dreaming’. I found myself in my local environment at night under the light of the moon. I knew I was dreaming so decided to fly to the Quayside, which is local to where I live. Despite being fearful of water, I found myself standing by the water’s edge, knowing I could plunge in and no harm could come of me. I waded through the water until the point it became deeper and then I dived in, so naturally. As I did so, I became an Otter. I remember

how exhilarating the water felt on my skin, and how fluid I felt, like I was the water and the water was me and it was as familiar to me as breathing. I then came up under the boat shed, and as I did, I was fully me again. I emerged at first into the inside of the boat shed, but as I held a wooden beam treading water, the boat shed transformed into a cottage, even though I continued to hold the beam and paddle in the cold water. I saw my Mother sitting making medicine lovingly over a fire in the center. It was such a beautiful scene. The following Summer I embraced my Otter experience and went swimming! I love the feeling of water on my skin now.

What is your favorite aspect about lucid dreaming or the biggest benefit you’ve gained from your LD practice?I have been practicing daily mindfulness

since doing a course in October 2014. For

me this

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mostly includes what we call ‘informal practice’. So although I do a sitting meditation every evening and use my body scan for WILD induction, most of my practice revolves around walking meditations in nature and using everyday life situations to bring me back to the present moment. This without a doubt supports my lucid dreaming experience, as there is nothing like ‘arriving’ fully conscious in a dream and just noticing and witnessing myself fully lucid in my dreamscape. I fall in love with this moment of transition every time, both in daily and nightly awakenings.

Tell us about your meetup.com group and what led you to start it?Well of course the idea was inspired by a lucid dream! I became lucid one night and during my dream I met a good few characters that were trying to convince me that they were from ‘Chichester Lucid Dreamers’ and that I ought to join. I then had a ‘false awakening’ and found myself going downstairs to see if this group really did exist. I found them online, went through the process of signing up, and felt happy I could speak with lucid dreamers in real time. Then I woke up! Of course I then had to actually check this out to see…if it really did exist. No. It didn’t. But then I had this idea…why don’t I start a group….there must be other lucid dreamers in the area who want to share experiences?

A few months went by, I hadn’t forgotten this seed of an idea, then I discovered the meetup network. It hit me straight away that this would be a great place to start the group. That was in November 2014. Now we have over 80 members and counting! I am so happy to meet with some rich and creative souls and between us we throw open the dialogue of dreaming and plan themed

I became lucid one night and

during my dream I met a good few characters that were trying to

convince me that they were from

‘chichester Lucid Dreamers’ and that I ought to

join.

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discussions, ‘Wild Dreaming’ camps and keep in touch about community events and workshops.

Do you have any advice for people looking to learn how to lucid dream?There are so many resources online these days, we are so lucky to live in a time when minority community interests can be shared Worldwide. So punch lucid dreaming into your search engine and get ready to be inundated with youtube links, websites, institutes, books and articles. People use lucid dreaming for many different purposes and whatever your desire may be, there will be somebody out there

who has similar feelings and ideas. But allow yourself to be challenged too! In the world of lucid dreaming -and living - nothing is as it seems…enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole! Be curious, always. As with all else in life, developing a passion takes practice and commitment. It is here that we remember and wake up in this dream we forgot we were dreaming!

Where can we find you on the web?I have a website under construction which will be lucidgeneration.com when launched.http://www.meetup.com/Chichester-Lucid-Dreamers-Meetup-Group/

- Matthieu Ricard

“nothing goes right

on the outside when nothing goes right on the

inside.”

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Richard Powell Shares His Story...

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What is your name and where are you from?My name is Richard Powell, and I was born and raised in Alaska. I moved

away to live in Los Angeles California

after high school, and after living there for 17

years I settled in Portland Oregon in 2005.

What was your introduction into the world of lucid dreaming?I think one of the first memorable introductions to lucid dreaming was when I watched the movie Dreamscape

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with Dennis Quaid back in 1984. But it wasn’t until some time closer to 1988 when I actively got into lucid dreaming. There was an article in the Los Angeles times where researchers were talking about the many benefits that resulted when people participated in the practice. After reading that article, I began to record my dreams on a regular basis, and got to a point where I was easily handwriting 7 to 10 pages of dreams nearly every single day. And for a period of time, I was having lucid dreams quite regularly.

When did you experience your first Lucid Dream?I honestly don’t remember my first lucid dream. I suspect that I probably had them as a child, well before I actively pursued trying to have them as a young adult. I have various dream journals stashed away in boxes in my garage. It’s possible I could find some hints in there about my first recorded lucid dreams. And now that I’m thinking about, I’m excited at the prospect of looking through them.

What is your favorite induction technique?I have always had lucid dreams as Dream Induced Lucid Dreams (DILD’s). I have

never had a Wake Induced Lucid Dream (WILD), though not for lack of trying.

Having grown up in a commercial fishing family in Kodiak Alaska, and then having left that life pretty permanently at the age of 9, it has resulted in my having many dreams of being on fishing boats with my dad and with my brother on a pretty regular basis. If I’m ever in Kodiak Alaska, there is at least a 95% chance that I’m dreaming. One would think that this would be a good indicator that I’m dreaming. In actuality, it is usually other oddities in a dream that bring me to realize that I’m dreaming.

What are your favorite LD themed books, movies, or resources?In terms of references, I always mention Steve LaBerge’s book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. Steve LaBerge was one of the first to scientifically

I could find some hints in there about my first recorded lucid

dreams.

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prove that lucid dreaming was a real thing. However, it is not my favorite book. The book Are You Dreaming by Daniel Love is a really smooth and nice read. It grabs your attention and excitement right from the get go and holds it. As one who strongly identifies with Buddhism, I also really enjoyed the book Dreams of Awakening by Charlie Morley. I like these last two books so much, that I recently purchased two extra copies of them to hand out to friends who expressed an interest. It seems that I keep handing these books to people and I’m so excited to have the books in the hands of as many people as I can get them into that I never think of asking for them back. At this point, I see them as gifts and I never really have any desire to have them back. The information is too important and profound to not share it with others.

As for movies, there are three that are at the top of my list. Dreamscape (1984), The Matrix (1999), and Inception (2010). A full list of my dream related movie recommendations can be found on my website at the following link.

http://www.lucidheart.com/top-dream-lucid-astral-projection-obe-movies/

Describe your most memorable LD experience?If it’s okay, I’d like to offer my most eye opening dream experience, which I consider to be an astral projection, or a visitation experience. I was not lucid, but this particular dream was far more powerful in it’s life changing effects than any lucid dreams I’ve ever had. Though, to be sure, having and remembering this dream probably would not have been possible without all my efforts in the area of lucid dreaming and dream journaling.

I believe it was my 20th birthday weekend in August. I hadn’t spoke with my dad for about a year. Not because we were fighting or anything, but because we just had never kept in good touch after my parents divorced, and after I moved away to California. In the dream, I was walking next to my dad inside what appeared to be a mall. His lips were puckered and he was whistling, probably the same tune he always whistled when I was a kid. And as we walked along I noticed slot machines.

I remember thinking how odd it was that there were slot machines in a mall,

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and then the answer just came to me, seemingly from nowhere. We were in Reno Nevada. I had never been to Reno Nevada before, and never had any desire or thought to go there before having this dream. As we walked along, something caught my dad’s attention, and I saw that he was looking at a row of classic and antique cars lined up in the middle of our path. Again, without any prompting, I just knew that this was the reason we were here. We were at a car show together. As I was noticing a Corvette and Mustang, my body started floating up above the scene, and the last thing I remember was seeing all these classic and antique cars lined up.

One month later, in conversation with my Grandma, she said that my dad had been at a car show in Reno Nevada on the same weekend that I had this dream. That car

show is called Hot August Nights. And the very next year I attended it with my dad and my step mom.

The detailed account of the experience can be found on this link below.

http://www.lucidheart.com/astral-projection-to-reno-nevada-car-show-hot-august-nights/

This dream was life changing because it opened my mind to so many possibilities. Regardless of whether you’re religious, spiritual or even atheist, you can’t deny that we are all connected to each other in ways we can’t fully understand. Some day science may explain these sorts of things. But I see no reason why we can’t see and experience them as something truly magical whether science can explain them or not.

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What is your favorite aspect about lucid dreaming or the biggest benefit you’ve gained from your LD practice?Without my lucid dreaming practice, I’m not entirely sure where I would be in terms of my sobriety. In going to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting back in 2009, I knew I was going to need to accept a power greater than myself. Having never believed in a supreme being, which is what the word God seems to have always meant, I was going to need a workaround in getting through the twelve steps. It is my belief that this thing people call God is within our own hearts. God is in each and every one of us. I connect with my God, or what I call the universal consciousness, through the lucid dreaming practice.

Additionally, lucid dreaming bridges the gap between your conscious and your subconscious, giving you direct access to a treasure trove of intelligence and knowledge that is normally unavailable to us when we’re thinking with our conscious mind.

It’s difficult to say what the biggest benefit is, because I believe there are so many. However, one more thing that occurs to me is that when you’re practicing the techniques, you are constantly questioning your reality. You are more aware and more present in whatever moment you’re in when you do this. As a person who is often consumed with long work hours, it is imperative that I step away from thoughts of work when I’m with my child so that I can be present for him and attentive to his needs.

Tell us about your meetup.com group and what led you to start it?The Portland Oregon Lucid Dreaming, OBE, and Astral Projection meetup.com group meets at least once every other month. While we call the regular meetups a book club, we don’t always pick a book to read, and we just meet to catch up with our friends. We primarily

additionally, lucid dreaming bridges the gap between

your conscious and your subconscious, giving you direct

access to a treasure trove of intelligence

chat about lucid dreaming and other aspects such as near death experiences, out of body experiences, and astral projection. We share information about resources and techniques and their effectiveness. Sometimes we will have a movie night, and other times when the weather allows we might meet in a park.

In the beginning stages of starting my sobriety, I immediately started journaling my dreams again after 10 plus years of not journaling, and began to seek out other people to share the experience with. Just like some people go to church and surround themselves with similar minded people, I wanted to

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do the same with my spiritual practice. At the time, I did not see any other lucid dreaming or astral projection groups in the Portland Oregon area, so I decided to start a group myself.

I am entirely open to others joining in and organizing their own meetups if they want to delve into some particular aspect that is not met by the every other month meetings. Do you have an idea for a meetup that might be appropriate for our group, and want to organize an event? Please reach out and send me an email with the details.

Do you have any advice for people looking to learn how to lucid dream?a. Get a dream journal, if you don’t

already have one. Keep it beside your bed and make it a habit of writing in it as your first act each morning. I’ve been using an android smartphone app called Awoken. This digital format doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I love that I can search through it for keywords and easily find recurring dream characters and events. And if I want to remember the specifics of a dream I had a year ago, it is quickly available to me.

I am entirely open to others joining in and organizing their own meetups

if they want to delve into some

particular aspect that is not met by the every other

month meetings.

b. Practice questioning your reality throughout the day. Ask yourself if you’re dreaming, and perform some test that might indicate if you’re dreaming or not.

c. Start reading books, such as the ones I’ve mentioned. Are You Dreaming by Daniel Love is my favorite. Another good one is Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self by Robert Waggoner. These books will offer far more detail and insight than I can possibly provide here.

d. Come join our meetup group.http://www.meetup.com/Portland-Lucid-Dreaming-OBE-and-Astral-Projection/

Where can we find you on the web?This is my primary blog, which up until recently had been solely dedicated to

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lucid dreaming and astral projection. Though, as of this year I have expanded my writing practice to include self improvement and eventually I will share some fictional writing on this website.

http://www.lucidheart.com/

I also have a Facebook and Twitter page where I recently began posting some of my writing.

h t t p s : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /rp.lucidhearthttps://twitter.com/lucidyogi

On the business side of things, I run a local web hosting and design company located in the Sellwood Neighborhood where you can come in and meet with me and my team face-to-face.

http://www.hostpond.com/

- Dalai Lama

“ Sleep is the best

meditation.”

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Natalia talks about Her Experiences...

What is your name & where are you from?My name is Natalia

Zmicerevska. I’m a Research Psychologist

at the Brain & Mind Research Institute at the

University of Sydney and a Transpersonal Counsellor in private

practice. I was born in Latvia, but I’ve been living in Australia for over 15 years.

What was your introduction into the world of lucid dreaming?It was a book by Carlos Castaneda – “Journey to Ixtlan” - excerpts from which were published in one of the

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magazines, “Science & Religion”, which my grandfather subscribed to. I read it when I was a teenager. I have always had very vivid and unusual dreams, but this book really fascinated me with the idea of becoming aware and conscious inside the dream.

When did you experience your first Lucid Dream?After trying the technique suggested by Castaneda – finding my hands in a dream – for about 2 weeks, I experienced my first lucid dream! I was about 13 or 14 at the time. I remember that it was just a short but incredibly powerful spark of awareness. Inside the dream and while dreaming, I was staring at my hands and thinking in disbelief “Wow, where am I?? I know that my body is lying asleep in my bed, so where am I??” There was such an incredible burst of super bright and clear colors, sensations, and super hyper awareness of being present in that dreamspace, that I got completely emotionally overwhelmed by it and woke up :)

What is your favorite induction technique?My favorite is probably one of the simplest - MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), which involves repeating

affirmations and statements like “I’m fully conscious in my dream”. I keep the affirmations short, positive and always in present tense. In combination with regular meditation, dream journal and reality checks through the day it has proven to be even more effective. When I’m not very busy in my waking life and have more time the second favorite I use is WBTB (“Wake Back to Bed”), where I set my alarm to wake up after about 6hrs of sleep, read or meditate for about 20-30mins and then go back to sleep – it worked quite reliably for me.

What are your favorite LD themed books, movies, or resources?With movies, it’s the well known ones – “Matrix’, “Avatar”, “Inception”. Books – the one that blew me away was “Transcendent Dreaming” by Christina Donnell. Anything by Carlos Castaneda and Arnold & Amy Mindell. “Lucid Dreaming: The Gateway to the Inner Self ” by Robert Waggoner and “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” by Stephen LaBerge. At the moment I’m trying to get my hands on “Lucid Dreaming: New Perspectives on Consciousness in Sleep” by Ryan Hurd and Kelly Bulkeley – this book is

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a comprehensive collection of theories, research and direct experiences on conscious awareness in sleep and dreaming.

I’m a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and find their website to be an excellent resource (www.asdreams.org). I also use the Lucidity Institute website (www.lucidity.com) quite a bit, as well as the World of Lucid Dreaming (www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com) and the Dream Studies Portal (www.dreamstudies.org)

Dreaming Lucid magazine is also always insightful and inspiring (www.dreaminglucid.com)

Describe your most memorable LD experience?There has been many. The most memorable ones are the ones way ‘out there’ and most difficult to describe in terms of rational mind or linear language. Once, when I became lucid within the dream, I requested to travel to another star system and planets with intelligent life – I found myself traveling through other dimensions of time and space as a ball of sentient energy, a point of awareness. I approached one of the planets and saw fluid shapes

of incredible colors and patterns that were floating above the surface and constantly changing and shape-shifting. They were non-human intelligent forms of consciousness that were much more advanced or expanded than ours. There was an exchange of information and energy between us and then the floating shapes together with the planet and the space around it suddenly merged into one infinite field – ‘blanket’ of myriads of pulsating, vibrating interwoven threads of light strings that were alive and sentient, and I was a part of it. One tiny thread in the very fabric of the whole Cosmos, with no beginning and no end, limitless, aware and at one with ALL THAT IS. Experiences like this are very profound and change you forever.

there was an exchange of

information and energy between us

and then the floating shapes together

with the planet and the space around it

suddenly merged into one infinite field

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What is your favorite aspect about lucid dreaming or the biggest benefit you’ve gained from your LD practice?Previously it would be using lucid dreams for problem solving, healing and creative inspiration. But with practice and exploration, you move past all the ‘bells and whistles’ and looking at lucid dreaming as ways to entertain or solve your problems, you move past dream control to what I can only call the Source of Dreaming – to the root of dreaming and awareness itself, to the Unknown and Unknowable Consciousness that is, I believe, our true self. So the biggest ‘benefit’ I’ve gained from LD practice is the connection and the communication with the larger reality of our being.

Tell us about your meetup.com group and what led you to start it?I facilitate the “Lucid Dreaming and Conscious Living” meetup group in Sydney, Australia. The group has been in existence for about 4 years and we currently have over 700 members. I

was looking for the community of like-minded people to share experiences and to learn from, and when I couldn’t find anything like that in the field of lucid dreams in Sydney, I decided to create the group where people could come and connect to others that are interested and experiencing similar phenomena, so we could share and learn from each other.

Do you have any advice for people looking to learn how to lucid dream?Don’t try too hard, don’t take yourself too seriously, follow your joy, maintain the attitude of open skeptical curiosity and practice ‘engaged detachment’. When you learn to develop a neutral observer consciousness in your waking life, same will translate into your dreams.

Where can we find you on the web?Here is the link to my lucid dreaming meetup group:http://www.meetup.com/Lucid-and-Conscious-Dreaming-Group/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKKxCVAsnxE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrFb9ihPSb0

Inspiring Lucid Dreaming

Videos

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upcoming Lucid Dreaming

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Events:

Lucid Dream Yoga Retreat – August 20-25 2015-- Red Feather Lakes, Coloradohttp://www.andrewholecek.com/lucid-dream-yoga-retreat/

VENICE MINDFULNESS OF DREAM & SLEEP WEEKEND 3, 25-27 Sept, Venice, Italyhttp://www.mindfulnessassociation.org/DreamAndSleep.aspx

Next Months Issue: Stay tuned because next month we’ll explore some more lucid dreaming techniques and feature

more must-read interviews.