Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

I did it!

I had a lucid dream last night, absolutely unmistakably, and it lasted long enough for me to try my hand at dream control, with thrilling results.

I was dreaming that I was in a cluttered room in a house unfamiliar to me, but spied my own stuffed bear, Iyengar, on a chair. That struck me as odd, and I wondered if I could be dreaming. I concluded there was no way, but just to go through the motions, I looked at a newspaper lying on the floor and saw it was addressed to me. I looked away and looked back, in the classic state test, and this time it was addressed to “Pearly Gates.”

I could scarcely believe it, as things seemed so real and so vivid, but I WAS DREAMING AND I KNEW IT!

I started jumping up and down and was able to jump higher than in waking life. I touched the ceiling, and then I thought about leaping out the window and flying, but decided to save that for when I’m a more advanced lucid dreamer, just in case.

I thought about my long list, in waking life, of people I’d like to enjoy “quality time” with, should I achieve lucidity, but none in particular came to mind, and anyway, I couldn’t figure out how exactly I would get from this room to romance with Viggo, so I did an experiment instead:

I looked at the door and announced that I would like a dream companion to come through it, which happened immediately. I said that I would like us to engage in such-and-such activity, which also happened immediately. I said that I would like this activity to conclude in the customary pleasant manner, and it did!

I’m absolutely delighted. This tells me that the advice just to notice things as often as possible was good—and where had I heard that before? Oh, right, during 18 years’ worth of meditation teachers, dharma talks, intensive retreats, visits to the Zen Center, and books on Buddhism.

But probably the nearly two and a half months of dedicated lucid dreaming effort also helped. Knowing exactly what to do to confirm lucidity and some ways to alter the course of a dream came from reading so much about it.

One way to change the course of a dream is to imagine changing the channel on a giant TV to the desired show and then stepping through the screen. I think I actually considered doing that in this dream, but, maybe because I have watched virtually no TV for decades, it seemed simpler and easier just to invite what I wanted to come through the door. There’s nearly always a door or a window in any room. Or should be if you look again.

I also note that this happened just a couple of days after I consciously decided to be in cahoots with my own unconscious and began thanking it for helping me. Thank you very much for this lucid dream, unconscious! My goodness, the places we will go!