Overcoming Nightmares Through Lucid Dreaming

By Kerry McGlone  

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Nightmares can be defined as an unpleasant and frightening dream. They’re physically harmless, but not something anyone wants to experience as they sleep. They can leave individuals scared, and even have them traumatized, leaving them unable to sleep the next night in fear of it occurring again.

Just imagine yourself having the ability to put an end to a terrifying nightmare – something that not many people can say they can do.

Does that intrigue you? It sure intrigues me!

How Can Nightmares be Stopped?

The ability to become conscious during a dream is considered the most efficient way of escaping the harsh and brutal nightmares being endured. Yes, that’s right: lucid dreams have been proven to prevent nightmares and enable an escape.  

It should also be noted that  many lucid dreamers inadvertently get started as a result of having a nightmare and coming to the epiphany that it MUST be a dream.  Once they realize that their nightmare is a dream, they acknowledge their own lucidity, and with that experience as a basis, it is common for people to continue their lucid dreaming endeavors more actively.

Now that we’ve established that, let’s discuss how this can happen, and how you can be well on your way to putting an end to your nightmares. The two techniques I will talk about are commonly used by active lucid dreamers, and are able to be used by anyone in a lucid nightmare.

Learning how to dream lucidly is essential. This may seem obvious, but the first thing you must do to actively stop nightmares is to be able to lucid dream. The lucid dream needs to be practiced in order to allow you to consciously act in your nightmares, which is of extreme importance to putting an end to them. Once you have gained control of your dreams and able to attain lucidity on a regular basis, you are one step closer to putting an end to nightmares you may face in the future. Please note that this step is crucial, but may be slow to master.

[To get started, check out Julian Websdale’s article on Wake Up World: How to Induce Lucid Dreaming.]

Waking Up

For those of you who have mastered the art of lucid dreaming – congratulations. It’s often difficult to achieve, but you’ve done it! Now, let’s talk about waking up through the act of a lucid dream in order to stop nightmares.

Waking up is a common practice through lucid dreaming to stop a nightmare. As soon as you enter lucidity within a nightmare, a way to wake yourself up is to simply to shout “WAKE UP!” as you blink hard in the dream. As a result, you will most likely come to the end of your nightmare, and can then proceed back to sleep, or whatever you feel like doing.

Confront the Nightmare

Even though the waking method works, what you are not doing is confronting the nightmare, which can be done through a lucid dream. Given nightmares can be incredibly scary, it’s no wonder why you’d want to wake up within an instant of being exposed to them. After all, you’re only human! With that being said, once you build up the courage within a lucid dream, whilst experiencing a nightmare, you can confront the nightmare and overcome what you’re fearing. Ask for answers. Don’t feel like you’re completely helpless from the nightmare.

Although this won’t diminish any chances of experiencing a nightmare again as you sleep, it will allow you to receive answers, and will help put your mind at ease for the rest of the day.

Summary

These tips are two well known methods to confronting and putting an end to a nightmare. In addition, it is known that escaping from a nightmare is how many people initially start learning how to lucid dream. Escaping from the nightmares can trigger lucidity, potentially allowing you to naturally lucid dream freely.

For more information, visit  Dream Lucidly.

Sweet dreams!

Previous articles by Kerry:

• How to Maintain a Lucid Dream
• Lucid Dreaming and the 5 Stages of Sleep

About the author:

Kerry McGlone is a Lucid Dreaming enthusiast and the creator of Dream Lucidly.  As a frequent researcher, she has attained knowledge and experience on lucid dreams, resulting in an enhanced understanding and having the passion to share knowledge with others. If you’re interested in becoming a lucid dreamer, feel free to give Dream Lucidly a visit!