Sleep Learning with Lucid Dreaming

Cynthia Sue Larson

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.” — Paul Valery 

If you saw the movie Inception, you might have found the idea of people utilizing lucid dreaming as a means for influencing others a bit creepy. Examples of dream inception in that movie crossed the line of ethical behavior, as suggestions were made to affect others at a subconscious level in their dreams.

While dream tampering in the style of Inception is science fiction, researchers at Yale University recently confirmed the scientific fact that lucid dreaming is a powerful way to master new skills. Lucid dreams are a special type of dream in which the dreamer is ‘awake within the dream,’ or aware of dreaming while in the middle of a dream. I’m especially intrigued by their finding that:

‘merely being a lucid dreamer seems to give you an advantage.’

Lucid dreaming has been known to be great for rehearsing new skills, and enhancing creativity… and now there’s even more good news. Just the act of lucid dreaming helps people learn. Clearly, there is much more to the matter of lucid dreams than meets the eye!

I can vouch for the benefits from lucid dreaming in learning new things. I’ve had lucid dreams in which I’ve gained proficiency in a variety of skills and activities, from developing increased proficiency in computer programming and foreign languages, to mastering new physical activities. I’ve even had some lucid dreams in which I’ve done things I’ve not yet tried in waking life… like repairing an automobile’s engine. These types of lucid dreams have sometimes occurred when I’ve been working extra hard on something by day to find with surprise I’m continuing to work on it through the night, getting some amazing insights in lucid dreams.

Here’s an example of lucid dreaming, excerpted from my novel, Karen Kimball and the Dream Weaver’s Web to give you a sense of how it feels to awaken within a dream:

Karen felt like she was both wide awake and yet also asleep at the same time. Her body was nestled snugly in the branches of the mulberry tree, and even though her eyes were closed, she could see clouds in the sky and hear a warm summer breeze rustling the mulberry’s leaves. She felt the beating of her heart, and noticed that the vibrations that had passed through every cell in her body left her with a tingling sensation. Her left hand was still resting inside the tree, rubbing the rounded place where the branch met the trunk.

‘How amazing it is to feel the inside of a book and a tree, and how very peculiar,’ Karen thought to herself. She gently placed her right hand inside her book and once again felt the varying density and texture of the cover, pages, and bookmark.

Lucid dreaming gives us the opportunity to explore the universe and do things we’ve never done before. A big part of the beauty of this learning experience is that we are awake within these dreams, able to experiment, explore, discover, and the next day upon awakening remember and build upon these experiences.

Please watch and share my YouTube video summary of Sleep Learning with Lucid Dreaming, in which I discuss the recent lucid dream study results from Yale University, talk about how Karen Kimball solves a mystery through lucid dreaming, and provide a useful tip you can use to help you experience lucid dreams.

Sleep Learning with Lucid Dreaming video

One simple tip you can try to improve your chances of having lucid dreams is by recognizing the possibility that life itself might be a dream… and making a regular practice of observing this possibility. Simply making a regular practice of thinking and/or saying to yourself, “Right now… I’m dreaming,” can work wonders toward bringing lucid awareness into your dreams. A lucid appreciation for life can assist you in seeing your life symbolically, with fresh insights, a fuller sense of yourself being much more than your ego, and a greater sense of connection to everyone and everything in the world... and this is the foundational basis by which all reality shifts can best be observed.

Love always,
Cynthia Sue Larson
email Cynthia at cynthia@realityshifters.com

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