By Hayden Ebert © 2013

Entering the Lucid Dream State by Harnessing the Magical Power of Intent

 

Throughout my life I have had an intense interest in exploring the capabilities of our consciousness. This journey has taken me on some amazing adventures to dimensions of reality that are hidden just beyond the veil of our physical world.

 

Because of my familiarity with altered states of consciousness and my regular excursions to these locales I sometimes forget how the vast majority of the population never tread within these magical levels of reality. The overpowering nature of physicality entices us into a false sense that it is all there is; we blissfully forget our true nature as an energetic point of consciousness and foolishly believe that we are merely our physical bodies and nothing more.

 

Hidden in plain view are the signposts that indicate a wider reality field to those that are open to receiving the signals. The dream state is one of these signposts. Every night we merge with the larger awareness and upload our daily experiences. It is scientifically proven and accepted amongst the general populous that we each enter the world of dreams every night, yet for most people these nocturnal excursions are at best mildly interesting, but for most entirely irrelevant. But one thing is sure, we all have not just the natural ability to dream but have no choice in the matter.

 

‘Hold on a minute, I never dream,’ say some, but this is not the case. ‘Never remember’ the dream is more the truth. The way our minds tend to operate is as a filter which retains the elements of experience one believes to be useful and lets go of the elements to which it holds no importance. Therefore if one has little interest in retaining these nightly experiences then there is small hope of remembering anything much of one’s dream life.

 

Natural laws govern our physical and non-physical universe, the reasons these laws exist and work the way they do is beyond our comprehension, but nonetheless night follows day and the tide continues to roll in and out whether we know the mechanics that cause the events or not.

 

Everything manmade starts its existence in the realm of thought. An etheric form emerges from the nonphysical and solidifies into matter. The magical creator that brings forth the materialization of the thought form is Intent.

 

Without intent these thought forms remain in the realm of the non-physical until intent is applied to bring them into the realm of matter.

 

When we look around us, assuming we live in normal civilisation and not high in the mountains, our sensory field is filled with the objects that have been materialized, the house we live in, the table at which we sit, the computer on our desk, the clothes we wear – everything in our physical environment is moulded by the thought of man and bought into being by the power of intent.

 

Following the natural laws of the universe, anything that can be conceived in the realm of thought can be manifested in the physical world.

 

How then does this apply to the dream state?

 

Understanding and utilising the power of intent is the mechanism by which one will be able to place access to the dream state with waking awareness under volitional control.

 

The first step on beginning one’s journey into lucid dreaming is Intending to regain ones waking awareness within the dream state. Really deciding this is what one wants is sending out an almost mystical message to the larger awareness that you are open and ready to receive what it is you are asking for.

 

After one has set the initial intent to begin dream practices, practical awareness techniques are applied that help one regain consciousness within the dream space. The more fervour and motivation that is applied to ones practice the more success one will have.

 

Early practices will include proven methods such as reality checks and looking for inconsistencies within the dream space that will act as a signal to alert one’s waking rationale to the state in which one resides. These exercises along with many others will begin to awaken the dreamer within the dream resulting in what we know as a lucid dream.

 

What many lucid dreamers find is that the results are a little haphazard. Sometimes they are able to become lucid and at other times they cannot.

 

This issue can be frustrating and it had perplexed me for many years as to why some nights were blessed with lucidity while on others I was enveloped by the abyss not to return until daybreak.

 

As I continued my exploration of consciousness and non-physical reality in general I began to see that intent played a huge part in one’s ability to control when and how one would take one’s waking awareness through to the dream world.

 

I began to notice that in my more recent years that I no longer needed to find specific cues to trigger lucidity. The training wheels were off as such, and I simply began to notice the change of state and I would become lucid.

 

Another noteworthy lesson also began to emerge. The more motivated I was on any given night to have a lucid dream, the more likely it was to occur. I realised that if I decided, really decided that is, that I would have a lucid dream, I could do it whenever I wanted.

 

The realisation of the effect of motivation allowed me to develop a high intention technique I called, ‘The Determination Technique.’

 

I was already practicing energy work for between 30 – 45 minutes a day at varying times and I got very used to sitting in the half state between waking and sleeping where I would observe the contents of my mind as my body began to sleep. I would feel the energy movements throughout my body until there was not much sense of the physical body left more just a big buzzing ball of energy with my mind sat in the centre.

 

At times I would get energy body movements, sensations of arms or legs moving or my whole body rotating or just wobbling. This was all pleasant enough but never during the day whilst doing this practice did I achieve full projection of my consciousness. However in analysing my practice it is safe to say that this familiarity with sitting in the half state is very beneficial as a pre-cursor to what I considered my real practice, the night time practice.

 

Most of my lucid dreams and OBE’s were at the point of sleep onset or a couple of hours in, so I can personally attest to the fact that far from being as some would recommend 3 x 90 minute REM cycles in to sleep I was accessing straight from waking after a period of deep relaxation (and sometimes boredom!) sat in the half state. So for the Determination technique to work, pre-requisite number one is to hone your ability to lie in the half state between waking and sleep for long periods.

 

I realised that the strong determination to retain the ‘me’ that operated in physical reality as I entered the Abyss of sleep was an important factor to the success.

 

I would allow myself to fall into the half state watching the changes in my state of mind. I noted that breathing changed as one began to fall asleep; the in breath became shallow and the out breath slightly stronger and forceful, and how that changed my state and began to make my mind drift.

 

Because of this drifting I began using mental affirmations to myself as I was going to sleep, nothing specific but along the lines of, ‘Tonight I will recognise the dream state’ or ‘I remain aware’ or ‘I will become lucid in my dreams tonight.’ I would keep doing this until my mind would naturally wander and I found that unconsciously I had stopped repeating the phrase.

 

When I noted this I would pull my attention back from the border of sleep and repeat my phrase in my mind. I would then find I was drifting again and I would pull myself back and reaffirm my intention. Each time I got to the invisible boundary of sleep I would pull my attention back so that the last thought on my mind as I went to sleep was that I would become aware in my dreams.

 

Another observation from the half state was that during sleep onset the mind instantly began to naturally try and merge with the energetic Abyss as if it were smoke dissipating into the air. One has to control this dissipation if one is to make it through to the other side (the dream state). One needs to pull back the elements of consciousness that allow the waking ‘You’ to ‘Be’ and keep it from being enveloped by the irresistible pull of the Abyss.

 

This technique I tried and tested night after night, and for me it proved to be the Holy Grail I was looking for: access to the dream state with conscious awareness on demand, and I hope by sharing it here it will help others achieve the same success.