Lucidus Interruptus

My preferred method of inducing Lucid Dreams is to practice Lucid Living. I recently I had two chances to practice this for an entire day. On both occasions I took a long drive in the country, then a 3-4 hour hike, and another leisurely drive back home. During this time I put as much attention on Lucid Living as I possibly could. I’d be lucid for a few moments and then loose it. Then I’d get it back, and loose it again. This went on for the entire day.

On both occasions, on the same night, I had long Lucid Dreams. Over a period of 30 years I’ve had many Lucid Dreams, but none of them had been longer than 30 seconds and the majority were less than 10 secs. However, these last two were very different and followed the pattern of my Lucid Living practice during the day.

I became lucid in the dream; then woke up and few seconds later. But I went back to sleep immediately, entered a normal dream and within seconds I was lucid again. I would hold on to it for 5 seconds or so, then loose lucidity. However, this time I did not wake up but entered a normal dream. Then a few seconds later I became lucid again. This must have happened 6-8 times, and each new moment of lucidity lasted longer than the previous one. These were the best LDs I’ve ever had.

For most of us Lucid Dreaming takes work. It’s not something that just happens; we have to practice some sort of technique. And the more practice the greater the chances of having an LD. So, first I want to recommend that you find a way to spend the entire day practicing. I don’t believe this will work for WILDs, but should be very good for other techniques like Reality Checks, MILD, Lucid Living, or something of your own devising.

Secondly: as I was driving back on my second trip I came up with a variation on Lucid Living.

First, I would get into the lucid state of mind. Then I would decide to loose my lucidity. Next, I would think of something: like how much I hate rap music, or George Bush, or pollution. I found that emotional subjects worked best, but you could also try long division in your head or something else.

Having lost lucidity, I would then bring myself back into a lucid state; and start all over again. Hence the title: “Lucidus Interuptus”.

I found the moments when I decided to intentionally loose lucidity particularly entertaining. It was like saying to myself: “Excuse me, but I am going to temporarily go insane.” :crazy: