Lucid dreams can allow you to be the master of your own universe.

Have you ever realized you were dreaming while still in your dream environment? Maybe you woke up immediately or perhaps you tried to tell someone you were dreaming and then you woke up. This phenomenon has a clinical name and even a whole area of brain science devoted to it. It is called Lucid Dreaming.

This is a difficult subject to cover because of several reasons. The first being the initial bologna factor that many people may cast on the subject. These are the same people who do not believe in the proven science of cognitive hypnosis or that we have landed on the moon to whom I say, It is true, get over it. I am a perpetual lucid dreamer. My personal experiences with the subject has been vast, deep and incredible.

The beginning of something amazing

My father first told me about "controlling your dreams" when I was around 12-years-old. He told me that before I went to bed to tell my self I would realize I was dreaming. Then if I found myself feeling like something was out of place or odd, I was supposed to jump in the air and if I was dreaming, I would float down to the ground. Well, a few nights went by with no luck. Each night I would dream and be caught up in the storyline of my nocturnal narrative. Just going with the flow of the dream like most dreamers so often do. Then one night I fell asleep and found myself standing in a small community center near my home. That, in and of itself, wasn't enough to make me question the reality of the moment, but the fact that the community center was a casino with money carpet was.

Somehow, I was able to stop and look around and ask the question, "Am I dreaming?" Remembering what my father had told me, I jumped in the air high as I could. Plop! I did not float down; in fact I hit the ground rather hard. But! That is where my realization came from; it did not hurt! Then, almost as quickly as I concluded I was in a fictional reality, I awoke.

That started a deep fascination with lucid dreaming. I read about the subject, talked with my father, and practiced. I practiced a lot actually. I would go a few dreams and bam I would catch myself, "I am not Dick Tracey," I would yell from under my trench coat. The event became more and more frequent and with every dream I could stay in my "virtual mental reality" slightly longer and longer until I was so skilled as keeping myself asleep and in my dream that I could spend what felt like real-time hours in my dreams.

What did I do while I was there? Now this gets interesting folks.

Mastering flight

By the time I was able to keep myself from waking for any significant amount of time, I had already put a lot of work into figuring out how and why I could stay asleep longer with out becoming detached. If I didn't focus my mind my vivid and very real surroundings would become hazy and more thought like. The difference in being there and thinking about being there.

Also meanwhile, my dad would tell me stories of his consciously controlled adventures in his own dreams. The biggest topic was flight, superman style. That was my goal each time I went to sleep - Realize I was dreaming and take control then will my self to fly.

The first time started out a little rocky. In my dream: It was a sunny day and I was at a house conjured up by my subconscious because I had never seen it before or the area around it. There was a long porch with about seven or eight steps leading to a big front yard with a white picket fence. I don't remember what it was that made snap out of the storyline, whatever it was, but I remember thinking, "This is it. I am going to fly out of here." I stood on the top step looking down and out at the yard then jumped.

Plop! I slid on my stomach and came to a rest half way to the fence. I tried again and again with similar results until finally I glided down from the porch almost like a well made paper airplane, resting on my belly just outside of the gate. Now with a new sense of confidence I thought I would try the vertical method. I looked into the sky and jumped. Nothing.

Jumping was all wrong and I knew it. If I jump then I expect to come down and for whatever reason my dreams hang on to some level of physics, it was holding me back. I looked up and this time I just stood there with my eyes to the sky and I just thought go. I began to rise. A few feet off the grass; with a smile and no fear, I exploded into the clouds. I could see hills, rivers, farms, and lakes, all underneath me as I dove, twisted and looped my way across the horizon. It wasn't very long into my flight that my alarm clock woke me for school but I had done it! Just like I would control myself getting out of bed and showering. I controlled my self in my dream. Dream or not, at that moment in time I was flying and it felt as real as the keys under my fingers at this very moment.

That started a chain reaction of new discoveries in my dreams. No longer was I participant but a conductor and composer. I could turn night to day with a wave of my hand or conjure up a sports car out of thin air. I was unbound. Limitless. When I finally saw the Matrix in 1999 I was totally in tune with the idea that the guy could manipulate whatever he wanted by the end of the movie. There I was seeing my hobby on screen. That flick gave me more ideas to say the least, but having been there and done that, I may have been able to give them an idea or two.

Not all things are good about lucid dreaming. I have had the worst experiences of my life, awake or asleep. I will tell you about that in part two of my blog about dreaming. Don't miss it.