Top Quotes: “A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming” — Dylan Tuccillo

Background: I love dreams! What a cool random part of being human :) I’ve been keeping a dream journal for over five years and love to look back upon my dreams and try to gain insight from what’s going on in my subconscious. I heard about this book and the concept of lucid dreaming from my good friend Sarah so I had to give it a read. I haven’t yet fully lucid dreamed; but I bet if I follow these tips I can someday!

Getting Lucid

“Imagine being free of your physical body, leaving behind silly things like gravity. Picture yourself flying, and doing so in the literal sense. Imagine conversing with the natives of the dream who promise valuable insights and knowledge about your life. Hidden in this place you can find wisdom and guidance that could change your life.”

“If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it’s that in the long run — and often in the short run — the most daring prophecies often seem conservative.”

“Shamanic cultures believed that dreams are a key to realities hidden from our five senses, and that there are many subtle world that exist parallel to and overlapping the physical one.”

“Hindus believe dreaming is a higher state of consciousness than the waking stake.”

“Dreams which are not understood are like letters that are not opened.”

“Aboriginal peoples and the Iroquois would start their day by sharing their adventures of the previous night.”

“REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and wakefulness are essentially similar brain states. The only difference is in the sensory stimuli coming in. During the day, our experience is shaped by the sensory input coming from the external world, but when we dream, our attention is turned inward. Our thoughts and memories become the active agents in creating our experience.”

“If a scientist was only monitoring your brain, they’d have a hard time knowing where you’re awake or dreaming.”

“‘Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes’ — Carl Jung”

“In a study where skiers were asked to carry out mental rehearsals of themselves skiing, researchers found that the electrical impulses of the athletes’ muscles were about the same as the ones they used when they were actually skiing. The brain sent the same instructions to the body whether the skiers were simply thinking of a particular movement or actually carrying it out.”

“Simply imagining lifting weights can significantly increase muscle strength (by 50% as much as actually exercising!)”

“Phrase intentions in the present tense as if they’ve already occurred like before bed saying to yourself, ‘I am lucid and aware in my dreams.’ Then actually imagine yourself in a dream realizing it’s a dream; it might be helpful to think of a recurring dream and engage all five senses.”

“It’s important for thoughts about lucid dreaming to be the last things on your mind as you go to sleep. Concentrate on this until sleep pulls you under.”

“If you’re thankful for something before it happens, it has already happened in your mind, eliminating any stress and fears that come with the unknown.”

“The Achuar Indians of the Ecuadoran Amazon share their dreams every morning. If someone has a bad dream about someone in the tribe, both parties are responsible for coming together and resolving any sort of conflict the dream might be hinting at.”

“To remember dreams better, don’t move or open your eyes when you wake up. Allow yourself time to remember the dream you were just in.”

“Within 10 minutes of waking up, 90% of dreams are forgotten.”

“After you write your dreams in your journal, go back and give each one a title.”

“Health issues can pop up in our dreams long before we see symptoms in the waking world.”

“If you go to bed calm, the memories of your dreams will be clearer come morning.”

“Dream signs — recurring things that pop up in your dreams — act as landmarks and a great way to achieve lucidity. Tell yourself, ‘The next time I see ___, I will realize I’m dreaming.’”

“In daily life, test to make sure you’re awake by trying to press your finger through your hand, pass through a solid object, or float after jumping. Check if your hands look normal and that you have ten fingers. If you hold your nose, can you still breathe? Does your reflection in the mirror look normal? Can you read the same sentence twice without it changing?”

“Try asking yourself if you’re dreaming 5–10 times a day or whenever something strange happens. Perform a reality check every time you see a dream sign in waking life.”

Experiencing & Staying Lucid

“When you start your lucid dream, the dream starts getting visually fuzzy, or you want to amp up lucidness, anchor your dream by:

• Taking a deep breath and looking around
• Spin yourself around like you’re a ballerina
• Focus on something and stay active
• Touch something — your finger to your thumb or to a wall
• Say something out loud like ‘Stabilize!’ or ‘Increase lucidity!’
• Sit and meditate”

“If you wake up during a lucid dream, don’t move or open your eyes. Focus back on the dream — the setting and the details — as you drift back to sleep, telling yourself, ‘I’m dreaming.’ It’s likely you’ll find yourself back in the same lucid dream like you never left.”

“In lucid dreams, you can transcend space and time, conjure people out of thin air, and create buildings or even cities.”

“In a dream, getting from Point A to Point B is a matter of intention and focus — it can happen in instantaneously.”

“To learn how to fly, start by jumping up and floating. Think ‘float’ and see yourself floating. Swim through the air, flap your wings like a bird, picture yourself with wings, conjure up a magic carpet, bounce higher and higher, or become a bird.”

“Once flying, don’t go too fast and return to the ground for breaks. Think of slowing down or going faster and you will.”

“Try to avoid turns at first. Once you’re confident enough, do gradual turns by shifting your weight in the desired direction. Lead with your head to go faster. Keep reminding yourself it’s a dream to avoid fear.”

“Land by thinking of a place you want to go, descending slowly at an angle, leaning back, and hitting the ground softly, moving your feet like you’re walking.”

“Doors, caves, walls, and mirrors can serve as gateways to convince your logical mind that instantaneous travel is possible. Set your intention on where you want to go before you step through your gateway and connect your destination with an emotion or purpose. Or say ‘Take me where I need to go’ to let your dream guide you.”

“You can also put your dream hands in front of your eyes until the picture goes black, intend to go somewhere else, and remove your hands. Or spin in a circle and you could end up somewhere else.”

“To travel to a different time period, look at pictures of that time or listen to music from then right before bed.”

“When lucid, build yourself a time machine. Before stepping into it, state your affirmation: ‘When I enter this, I will be in ____.”

“You can create anything you want in your dream.”

“Thoughts and emotions create your reality — if you feel calm, you may find a placid lake. You’ll find what you expect to find.”

“Things that appear to be external (a desk or a bird) are actually reflections of your own self as they’re creations of your mind.”

“To create something, picture it in your mind, tie it to an emotion or your sensations, and go somewhere to look for it (behind a door, for example).”

“To meet a person, picture the person in your mind, attach an emotion or sensation to them, and find them at a familiar place they frequented.”

“Try painting a building or an entire planet. Write a song and ask a tree to sing it to you.”

“People you encounter in dreams (‘natives’) gravitate toward one of three basic personality types: 1) Sleepwalkers who walk around like zombies and speak gibberish 2) Friends who are eager to talk but may not understand when you ask if they know they are dreaming 3) Guides who appear to know more than you do, give you advice, and guide through the dream world. They can help stabilize your dream.”

“Ask any of these people questions about you, themselves, or the dream world. Ask who they are, why they are there, what they would like to show you, whether they represent something important, what you should do in life, where you are, whether they’d like to take you on an adventure, or if they can sing you a song.”

“Could it be that dreams are places where we meet other dreamers in a common landscape? Could it be possible to meet our good friends in dreams and share experiences?”

“To shape-shift and embody someone or something else, imagine what you’d like to be and what it would feel like before bed and again once you’re lucid dreaming. Say, ‘When I close my eyes, I’ll be __.’ Try creating a potion or walking through a magic door if you need to.”

“Try to move large objects in your dream after first moving small things. If you need to, try creating an energy ball by sticking your hand on a lightbulb.”

“Carl Jung believed nightmares are missing parts of ourselves. They seem to reflect undesirable aspects of our psyches that we’ve unconsciously denied. If we accept our nightmares and integrate them into our psyches, we’ll be on the way toward becoming whole and balanced people.”

“Bluntly ask the nightmare what its purpose is.”

“Your demons will usually shrink away when you confront them in dreams with positive energy.”

“When awake, replay a nightmare in your head three times and imagine yourself lucid dreaming and asking your nightmare what it represents the third time.”

“Ask a guide in a dream to bring you someone who can heal you.”

“As you prepare for bed, you can decide upon a dream location, theme, or even a person you want to meet.”

“Write down things you want to do or get answers to in dreams — be as specific as possible and think about it a few times before bed. Put the intention under your pillow. The intention should be emotionally charged.”

“There’s a twilight zone in between being fully awake or asleep, which is an optimal time for creativity, insights, and visions.”

“For the highest chance of lucid dreaming, set your alarm for two hours before you would normally wake up. Awaken for 15 minutes and read a book. Get your mind awake but move slowly and stay relaxed. Then lie back down.”

“If you’re falling asleep too quickly and losing consciousness, try lifting your forearm perpendicularly to your supper arm and it’ll eventually fall down and serve as a reminder of your goal.”

“As your body turns off, think ‘1 — I’m dreaming, 2 — I’m dreaming,’ and so on.”