I've been lucid dreaming for years. If you don't know what it means, basically lucid dreaming is when you become aware that you're dreaming. Sometimes during a lucid dream, the dreamer has the ability to manipulate their dream to achieve a desired outcome. Have you ever woken from a bad dream and wanted to 'go back in' and fix it? Perhaps change the outcome for a happy ending? Or have you woken from a very pleasant dream and tried to get back to sleep to continue the story or dream experience? That's lucid dreaming.
And you might be interested to know that Albert Einstein, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison, Stephen King, Nikola Tesla and Salvador Dali are - or were - lucid dreamers.
Charlie Morley is somewhat of an expert on lucid dreaming with a number of books on the topic. I first learned of his abilities and teachings when listening to Sleeping with Baddiel by Geoff Jein, which I gave one star in my review.
In Lucid Dreaming Made Easy - A Beginner's Guide to Waking Up in Your Dreams, Charlie introduces the reader to several techniques to start lucid dreaming and the book kicks off from there. I thought I was an experienced and capable lucid dreamer, but it turns out I'm still a beginner. Apparently there's sooooo much more to lucid dreaming and I've only been scratching the surface.
Charlie researches the history of lucid dreaming around the world and across different cultures. He highlights the different ways in which it can be used to heal trauma, and advance spiritual awareness. And interestingly, he has practiced with and interviewed experts in the field from Eastern and Western philosophies.
Lucid Dreaming Made Easy is essentially a science self-help book and it can be heavy going at times. It's chock full of references to other dream scientists and religions practicing lucid dreaming, and will give the enthusiastic reader plenty of jumping off points to explore the topic further.
Some of the exercises and tips began to make me feel as though I was in the movie Inception and I don't think I'll ever aspire to the lofty heights of lucid dreaming that I now know exist.
However after listening to this audiobook, I am attempting to exercise greater control over my lucid dreams. Instead of continuing or changing an existing dream, I'm trying to choose a new topic altogether and form a dream directly from my imagination. I haven't been successful yet, but I'll keep on trying; until I fall asleep that is.
As Charlie says: "follow your dreams and dream on dreamers."
Carpe Librum!
