The Top 3 Barriers To Lucid Dreaming + How To Overcome Them

But alas, lucid dreaming is easier said than done. Here are three of the most common barriers to it that I see in my work as a dream teacher:

Here's my advice for how to get over each barrier and dip your toes into the realm of lucid dreaming:

The more mindful that you are, the easier it will then become to recognize anomalies in dreams, which in turn can trigger lucidity. For example, if you find yourself at your office desk, you may notice that in your dream, the table is made of mahogany wood. But in your waking life, the desk is actually made of plastic. That simple recognition of something being "out of place" can then help you recognize that you are dreaming. You can then begin the process of asking yourself: Am I dreaming right now?

Equally, in the West, lucid dreaming is something many people try to do just for the fun of it (which is great!), but if that's your only motivator, it's easy to give up on lucid dreaming if you're not successful on the first few attempts. Lucid dreaming offers so much more than just a fun experiment: Almost all ancient wisdom traditions speak to lucid dreaming as a pathway to holistic well-being and even enlightenment.

When you take the time to journal your dreams, you create a bi-directional line of communication with your psyche (and the dream world), which is incredibly beneficial for spiritual and psychological depth insight (something I speak a lot about in my book, The Alchemy of Your Dreams). Through dream journaling, you become more aware of the common dream themes and signs that continue to appear for you. This is highly helpful information because if you focus on making one of these dream signs a "reality check" in a dream, it can help to trigger lucidity.

Becoming a consistent lucid dreamer doesn't happen overnight—no pun intended—but with these three tips, you can start to overcome some of the barriers keeping you from this potentially enlightening practice.