A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming (27 page)

2. Tigers, oh my! If simply visualizing your form doesn’t work,

try a shortcut.
Because your brain is used to cause and effect, work with your brain rather than against it. Try creating or looking for

a potion in the dream world. When your potion is in hand just

say to yourself, “After drinking this potion, I will become a tiger.”

Gulp! Gulp! Feel free to get creative. How about a magic curtain?

Enter a dark cave, get on all fours, and come out as your tiger. You

are, in essence, giving yourself a placebo pill, tricking yourself into

believing.

3. Mirror image.
No luck with the potion? Find a full-length mir-

ror. Then, looking at your reflection, project your shape-shifting

thoughts onto the reflection. Watch the reflection’s various body

parts change. When the reflection has turned into its new form,

just step through the mirror.

I dreamed I was running through the woods, not being chased,

just running. I bent down and grabbed the forest floor with my

fists and began running with all four limbs. All of a sudden I felt

myself changing into some sort of canine. I was amazed at how

fast I could run with four legs, how it felt. I was pushing with my

back legs and pulling with my front. My center of gravity was

completely changed, and I felt what it was like to change into a

dog. —MIGuel h.

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4. Sink or swim.
Take a leap of faith. Find a body of water, such as a pond, and jump into the water, thinking, “When I hit the water,

I’ll turn into a giant, golden fish.” Or do something really brave:

after you’ve made sure you are in fact dreaming beyond a doubt,

jump off a cliff and imagine yourself as a bird, flapping your arms.

Confident actions such as these are a sort of bold ultimatum to the

dream world. They prove to your subconscious that you are ready

and that you believe. Or you can try a shamanic tradition that’s a

bit more chill. Find a pelt of the animal you want to become and

wear it. If your goal is to become a jaguar, for example, wrap your

body in a jaguar’s hide and feel it becoming yours.

Telekinesis

It’s fun to imagine a world where everyone could move objects

with their minds. Imagine how easy it would be to clean your

room or organize your record collection. The opportunities for

practical jokes would be endless. Of course, in the waking world,

we lack the ability to do such a thing. This is hardly the case with

lucid dreams.

Your ability to move things with your mind will come with

focus and confidence. Since telekinesis is about mental power,

know that it can happen, and it will.

1. Start small.
Once you’re lucid, find a small and light object and try to move it a very short distance, so that you can get comfortable

and confident in your telekinetic abilities. We take much of the

waking world with us into our dreams, such as our understanding

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of gravity. We’ve grown to understand that a tennis ball is light,

while a car is extremely heavy. Instead of going straight for the

cement truck, try lifting a book of matches.

2. don’t stress.
There’s a chance that your mind won’t even make a light object move. Don’t get frustrated, you’re still becoming accus-tomed to dream world physics.

Have fun and make it into a noncompetitive game to take the

edge off.

3. extension of the mind.
The fabric of your dreams is really just a part of your mind. You use your mind to control your breathing,

to move your legs, to focus your thoughts. When you can envision

the dream world as a collection of elements, all intertwined with

your mind, then you realize that moving a car is just the same as

wiggling your pinky. There is no real separation between you and

the object. Once you’re comfortable with this thought, it’s time to

move a larger object.

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In the dream world, you can feel the connection between you

and the “outside world.” The entire dream feels alive and con-

scious, even the air around you pulses with a presence. Remember,

you’re not manipulating the external forces of gravity: You’re

manipulating yourself.

The Energy Ball

Controlling and harnessing energy is an incredibly fun skill.

Once you can harness energy, you can use it to battle giant

robot ninjas, fight monstrous nightmares, and tear down symbolic

walls. The idea of harnessing energy can be rather abstract. Most

of the time you don’t see energy, let alone take command of it. But

it’s always surrounding you, moving around in the air and through

objects. To make this skill less abstract, create an energy ball. An

energy ball simply gives you a visual, tangible representation of

that energy so that you can control where it goes.

1. Visualize the energy around you.
Trace the electricity that is

moving through electric-powered objects in the dream world. See

this energy as something visible, such as blue pulsations. If you

have trouble doing this, find something that you know has energy.

For example look at a light fixture and visualize the energy coming

from the wall socket to the lightbulb.

2. Touch the energy.
Reach out and stick your hand in the energy

that is flowing around.

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3. Turn the energy into a ball.
Using your hands as “energy

brooms,” sweep the energy toward you. As it comes at you, move

your hands in a circular motion, as if you’re bunching all the energy

into a ball. Swirl your hands around the ball to make sure that the

energy doesn’t get loose.

Focusing on the bike and envisioning what was about to happen,

I made a quick arm movement down to the ground, making the

bicycle fall over. Furthermore, I noticed a car driving down my

street shortly after that and decided I was going to lift it in the

air with my mind as it was driving. As it was driving by, I made

an upward motion with both of my arms and the car rose about

four feet, still in propelled motion, and quickly fell back down

again as I let go of my telekinetic hold on it. —BeN S.

4. Push the ball away from you.
No need to get all intense when

making your first energy ball. Simply push the ball away and see

what it does. Does it immediately break apart? Does it affect the

things it touches? Once this skill becomes second nature, you can

start using it however you please.

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