Overview:

With Inception, the smash hit blockbuster movie of 2010, Christopher Nolan introduced lucid dreaming to the world. But, the truth behind the fiction was way crazier then the film itself. Today, science proves that lucid dreaming is real, and you can do it tonight! Let’s explore the films legacy while reviewing practical tips and tricks for lucid dreaming together.

On July 13, 2010, one of the most groundbreaking films in history was released to the masses. Many viewers admitted they couldn’t fully grasp the film without watching it multiple times. Most said it was one of the most mind-blowing movies of their life.

Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s Inception used first-of-its-kind special effects that would later pop up in Marvel films such as Doctor Strange. It set the bar beyond high for visual, acting, and storytelling brilliance. Few films since then have inspired the same reactions.

But the real magic of the film was not its incredible CGI. Nor is its excellent acting, or perfect cinematography. It was the concept of lucid dreaming that caught and held the imagination of so many viewers. For the first time, on a mass scale, it became mainstream in public discourse.

At first, many chalked the idea of lucid dreaming up to fiction. And the dream machine in the film absolutely is. Still, many viewers started to research whether becoming conscious while dreaming was actually possible.

History

To the surprise of many, lucid dreaming is an ancient practice. One that, to this day, many people continue to take part in. Furthermore, Christopher Nolan himself later admitted that the film was primarily inspired by his own advanced lucid dreaming techniques. And that he developed these during his teenage years.

But what exactly is lucid dreaming? How do you become lucid in a dream? What practical uses, if any, are there for lucid dreaming?

In this article, we will answer these questions and help you explore the incredible world of lucid dreaming for yourself.

What is Lucid Dreaming?

Lucid dreaming is the practice of developing awareness of your surroundings while dreaming. Essentially, it is “waking up” within the dream. Once you can become conscious in a dream and remain dreaming, you can then explore the dream world further.

For first-time lucid dreamers, especially those who become conscious in the dream by accident, this can be a mind-blowing and even borderline frightening experience, For many, if it happens without intention, the shock of finding yourself in a dream wholly conscious will often cause you to immediately wake up. For some, this experience is too much to handle. And, many will go out of their way to avoid replicating the experience. For others, however, it is the most incredible experience of their lives.

For people in the latter group, the first questions are always the same. How can I induce lucid dreaming at will, How can I stay in the dream, How can I make it last longer?

How to Lucid Dream

There are various methods used to induce lucid dream states. These include the WILD and MILD techniques. But if you really want to start simple, all you need to do is start doing reality checks throughout your day.

This could be something as simple as looking at your hands. While doing so, ask yourself, Am I dreaming? If you do this during the day, every day, as many times as you can, eventually, you will start doing it by habit in your dreams.

When you look at your hands in a dream, they will visually distort. They will morph in ways that are impossible while being awake in real life. This is usually enough for most people to become aware that they are dreaming. This begins the process of exploring their own lucid dreams.

How Inception made the world Lucid Dream

Inception did not just inspire the imagination of viewers. It called them to something deeper within themselves. Something they knew on an intuitive level was real. The film resulted in a massive and immediate spike in Google search queries for “lucid dreaming”.

In fact, the number of said searches has never returned to pre-2010 (film release) levels. Additionally, the internet and lucid dreamers everywhere have contributed greatly to this phenomenon.

109,000 person Reddit group

To this day, a consistently growing and updated Lucid Dream forum on Reddit has accumulated more than 190,000 subscribers. And lucid dreaming is not just some new-age practice born out of wishful thinking.

It is 100% real and proven by scientific experiments, such as this one from the National Institute of Health. Even Yale University has invested time and research into the practice of lucid dreaming. This has only contributed to it being taken seriously within the scientific community.

Lucid Dreaming in The Technology and Science Sector

Recently, REMspace, a lucid dreaming technology company out of California, made waves. It released its most recent press release. The report detailed that the company had successfully used its dream machine technology to link two lucid dreamers together in real time.

This resulted in a mutual lucid dream. A dream in which both people were able to meet within a single dream space. They were able to communicate as if they were having a conversation, face-to-face, in real life.

While this may seem amazing, it’s not the first institution to make bold claims in the dream machine technology space. Back in 2024, Japanese scientists created the first machine that was capable of recording still images of your dreams.

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The machine then allows you to view the images taken from your dreams on a screen. Yukiyasu Kamitani, a professor from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, explained in detail, saying, “We were able to reveal dream content from brain activity during sleep, which was consistent with the subjects’ verbal reports.”

While we are not yet at a point where said technology will allow us to view a video recording of our entire dreams, this does seem to point to a future in which it may be possible.

Conclusion

Lucid dreaming is not only a fascinating subject that you can study in books. Nor is it only an academic pursuit. Lucidity is a practice that you can experience firsthand with relatively little training. The ability to explore not only worlds but universes within your own mind is truly awe-inspiring.

Tech companies, scientists, and universities are studying the phenomenon. Because of this, we can be sure that we will be seeing improvements in the technologies surrounding the practice. This will make it even more accessible to everyday people.

Let us know!

So tell us, have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you experience while exploring the world within your head? If you are interested in sharing insights from your own lucid adventures, please drop us a line in the comments, as we would love to hear from you!