Thread: Simple but effective awareness exercise

Hey there DV,

most of you will know how important meditation (conscious awareness) is for lucid dreaming,
in case you don't know;
I answered this to someone who was confused about meditation and awareness

There's no definite technique involving thinking that will guarantee you to become lucid, Iriba.

Since you seem to be confused why to meditate I'll try to explain it logically.
So, whether it is the dreaming or waking state, the mental block to lucid dreaming usually originates from a dull awareness.
This undertrained awareness is the result of people being caught up in their head all day. They rotate from one thought chain to the other and are barely ever present in the moment, which is the only reality.

Think about it, what is reality (real-ity) for you at this moment?
It's not what happened 3 days ago, it's not what will happen tomorrow, it is what is happening at this moment.
I notice you trying to rationalise everything with your mind, but if you're in your thoughts you're not experiencing THIS moment.

Meditation is all about finding the off button in your mind so you stop getting caught up in your head and rather start experiencing the only reality, the present. Now, what do you think is the one thing that keeps people from becoming lucid?
It's the lack of awareness of the present in the dream. You're always caught up in your mind, making it unable to become aware of the true nature of your environment. It's not even about critical thinking or reality checking. Most of the time when I come to my senses in a dream (due to habit of.. you guessed it.. meditating) I already know it's a dream.
EVEN from there you HAVE to stay present while lucid because if you get caught up in the bad habit of excessive thinking again you'll lose your lucidity because you get caught up in the dream again.

The whole point of dream yoga (which is actually just regular meditation with lucid dreaming as a specific goal) is to stop thinking and start feeling the present. If you do this daily, the habit will eventually pass on to the dreaming state where you suddenly snap out of your thoughts into the present moment and you'll magically realize you're not in the waking state.

Now, for you it's time to stop asking questions because the point is to shut your mind down and start perceiving without judging.

So to get back to the subject,
I meditate a lot myself and I often think of ways to test and train my awareness in a practical and effective way and I've managed to create a nice little technique.
Sometimes when I eat certain candy I want to keep it in my mouth as long as possible but I often catch myself biting the candy and eating it before I even realise.

This gave me an idea! If you take, for example, a piece of chewing gum and put it in your mouth without biting it while doing something like watching television or browsing the internet.
The goal is to consciously keep yourself from chewing or biting it. This requires your awareness because if you drift off into auto pilot chances are high you chew on it as a conditioned reflex.

The reason I suggest doing something else at the same time is because in a dream you also have to maintain the awareness of the fact that you're dreaming while you get involved in the dream scenery.


I don't know if this works for others but I've definitely benefited from it so I thought it was worth sharing it..

random thought: maybe start associating some items like candy that you use a lot with lucid dreaming so it serves as a reminder to keep your awareness open and full to reality as well.. come to think might be useful as more of a life enhancer as well

Originally Posted by Dthoughts

random thought: maybe start associating some items like candy that you use a lot with lucid dreaming so it serves as a reminder to keep your awareness open and full to reality as well.. come to think might be useful as more of a life enhancer as well

That's a good suggestion, theoretically speaking everything should be associated with awareness. The candy is only used as a constant factor you can't ignore. The candy is like your mind, when you're aware of it you can keep it still and peaceful but when you lose consciousness (of awareness) you bite it and it get's all shattered up.

Im actually gonna try the candy trick, it sounds like it makes alot of sense

Well said, OP. It's kinda funny, if we think about it and simplify it, all we have to do in order to lucid dream consistently is be mindful. So easy to say, yet so difficult to maintain. I'll try your trick as well.

Your feedback is appreciated, let me know if you guys notice any progress!

sounds cool to try...will try this today!

I had the same idea some years ago.
I had actually tried hard many times, but could not make it...I would chew the candy before i knew it...
But I am sure I can do better know.
I tried it again, and I can definitely keep it for much longer....
I will keep doing this! Thanks for reminding me!

I would refer you to: http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-yoga...ml#post1877126

Awesome stuff, Hypertrophy (cool username, btw), this thread is on the mark.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

I would refer you to: http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-yoga...ml#post1877126

Awesome stuff, Hypertrophy (cool username, btw), this thread is on the mark.

Yours reminds me of a mixture of Cthulu and Charlie Sheen hehe, quite badass.

edit: I had no idea the technique mentioned in the dream yoga thread was so similar,
excuse me guys, I thought I came up with it, but I guess this thread should still be an easy accessible summary.

Hah, yeah it's a portmanteau of my name and Cthulhu.

And I think this thread is definitely worthwhile, too.

I think those tricks are really good at reconizing awareness. Once you have reconized what awareness is it shouldnt be hard to be partly in present . If you experience 2 good meditation sessions you should instantly notice what it means to be in present fully. Its very different that just thinking you are in present moment and achieving the state your fully in present all the time is really hard (i cant do it). You shouldnt be confused at all if you have experienced moment of full mindfullness. You can only be fully in present when you mind is dead silent. I mean like if you tried to think nothing would waver your stillness of mind. Few minutes of meditation can put you in this state but it doesnt last long. All i can say once i meditate there are no questiongs or emotions i feel complete peace for maybe 2 min after meditation. I feel really good just by staying in that state. My meditation ends when i lose that state of mindfullness and awareness. It feels like you are in awareness drug few minutes.
I learned to meditate right way maybe 6 months ago and i have practised what i thought to be mindfullness and meditation for 2 years. My mind have become really silent but only when i meditate i reach that state of fully been in presence. You should know excatly what i mean by this when you meditate. The feeling of being in a present is so clear in it that you should understand what im saying.
If you experience even slightest discomfort or urge to do something else during meditation your meditating wrong way. Of course at beginning it you feel it but at the end you should be in complete peace. Thats why people say you cant meditate longer than you can be in that state. Its not hard to meditate but know it when your doing it wrong.

This is a really good idea... The best awareness exercises are forcing yourself to notice automated parts of our lives that often go unnoticed; the sound of our own breathing, the sound of our own footsteps, the feeling of clothing on our bodies... This is definitely a trigger that would work!

Raven

Yeah.I love the idea of meditation.But I have no idea how to...

Originally Posted by Lart3N

Yeah.I love the idea of meditation.But I have no idea how to...

Just stay in the present moment and get rid of your thoughts. Fully experience things as they are happening. You don't have to do it sitting or lying down; you can do it while you're walking or doing an activity.

Hm. I do wonder if natural lucid dreamers do this without realising.

I don't know bout you guys but after reading this thread I had a load of lucid dreams. I have completely forgotten about it and now my lucid dreams are back to zero!