It can be hard to know which lucid dream book is right for you, depending on where you are on your path into dreaming. People often ask me which of my seven books to start on, and the best journey through them, hence this post.
In short, from absolute beginner to advanced, I’d say it could be good to start with Dream Therapy (US title is Mindful Dreaming); then grab The Art of Lucid Dreaming; then get dark and hopeful with The Art of Transforming Nightmares; then dive deeply into the beauty with Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming.
As creative breaks from all the non-fiction, you could add my lucid-dream-inspired novels, Dreamrunner and Breathing in Colour, and those into children’s dreams and nightmares could add Sleep Monsters & Superheroes to the mix.
Here’s a video to take you through the focus of each book, and below you’ll find more detail for each. Enjoy, these books were created with passion and love to help you on your journey into deeper lucidity 🙂
Dream Therapy
US title is:
Mindful Dreaming:
Harness the Power of Lucid Dreaming for Happiness, Health and Positive Change
Perhaps what really fascinates you is how to interpret the symbolic language of your own dreams and work with them to unwrap their deeper meaning? Maybe you’d like to focus on how to recall more dreams and tap into their wisdom and healing energy?
Dream Therapy (US title is Mindful Dreaming) takes you step by step through core Lucid Dreamplay techniques for profound dreamwork.
This book explores techniques for lucid dreaming, the meaning of sex dreams, and how dreams can help us heal from illness, physical pain, negative memories and grief. It helps us connect with and heal our inner child, and illuminates how dreams help us to manifest our inner desires, and shows how to have the amazing experience of “soul dreams” which can light our path through life and help us make life-changing decisions.
“Not just a ‘how to’ book… it will stir your soul.” – Bhaskar Banerji, PhD.
The Art of Lucid Dreaming:
Over 60 Powerful Practices to Help you Wake Up in your Dreams
Are you interested in practical, easy-to-understand tips on how to get lucid, stay lucid, and guide dreams? Perhaps you’re new to lucid dreaming, or you’re experienced but want a fresh approach and new practices to try?
The Art of Lucid Dreaming takes you from how to improve dream recall right through how to handle nightmares and sleep paralysis and into creativity, healing, and spiritual lucid dreams.
Its special and unique feature is the Lucidity Quiz – this is fun and deep to do, bringing you to a focused awareness of the exact kind of sleeper and dreamer you are. After taking the quiz, you’ll be able to identify yourself as a particular type, ranging from “the visual and imaginative thinker” or “the child prodigy dreamer” to “the unsupported dreamer” or “the anxious or depressed dreamer”, among other categories.
The Lucidity Quiz empowers you to fast-track yourself to the lucidity practices that most fit the person you are at this point in time. The book offers 65 practices and 15 tailor-made Lucidity Programmes. I designed it specially to suit all types of dreamer, and it’s super-practical.
“There is no better lucid dreaming teacher than Dr Clare Johnson. The information and exercises in this book will be life-changing.” – Jean Campbell, author of Group Dreaming.
The Art of Transforming Nightmares:
Harness the Creative and Healing Power of Bad Dreams, Sleep Paralysis, and Recurring Nightmares
Maybe you or someone you know suffers from nightmares or stress dreams, or would love to learn how to have a happier dream life? Or perhaps you just find it incredible how powerfully nightmares speak (or yell!) to get our attention, and want to learn more about the rich gifts so-called “bad” dreams can bring us?
If you’ve ever had any disturbing or upsetting sleep experience, from feeling unable to move (sleep paralysis) to shooting out of your body and fearing you may never get back into it, this book can help.
The Art of Transforming Nightmares is unique because of its Nightmare Quiz, which helps you decide which category of dreamer you are from fifteen main types which include the “agitated sleeper” and the “lucid void visitor” as well as the “psi dreamer”, the “sleep paralysis explorer”, and the “traumatised dreamer.”
Once you know which categories you fall into, you can fast-track to the nightmare solution techniques that you need the most in order to become an empowered, happy dreamer. There are 15 Nightmare Solution programmes and 45 practices to help you or your loved ones free yourself from fearful nighttime experiences and uncover the gifts of healing and wisdom that lie at the heart of nightmares.
“This revolutionary book empowers the reader with the little-known secret that nightmares can be transformative, healing gifts.” Angel Morgan, PhD., President of IASD.
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming:
A Comprehensive Guide to Promote Creativity, Overcome Sleep Disturbances & Enhance Health and Wellness
Are you ready for a truly deep and mind-blowing dive into lucid dreaming? It’s been pointed out to me that I’ve probably written more than any other author on lucid dreaming, and not just because my novels are lucid-dream-inspired, but because of the massive size of Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming – it’s like three normal-sized books! People joke that when it arrives, they need help lifting this tome through their front door.
Many years of my own academic research and personal lucid dream experience is packed into this book, as well as mountains of scientific studies and compelling lucid dreams from people around the globe.
This book explores everything from the basics of how to get lucid to the intricacies of lucid dream physics, creativity elixirs, the nature of the lucid dream body, sleep paralysis and nightmares, and how to have great lucid dream sex.
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming dives into the sparkling lucid void, what happens when we meditate in lucid dreams, connecting with deceased loved ones and the divine while lucid, out of body experiences and the oneness we encounter in the Lucid Light.
I am always a practical teacher, so this book also has over seventy practices, including my core techniques such as the Lucid Imaging Nightmare Solution and my transformative Lucid Writing method. It’s available as a 20-hour audio book. People tell me they listen to it while falling asleep and it gets them lucid in their dreams.
“Dr. Johnson has clearly established herself to be the ultimate guide to lucid dreaming. This is a magnificent book!” Carlos Schenck, MD, author of SLEEP.
Breathing in Colour
Breathing in Colour is a novel written as part of my PhD which was the first in the world to explore lucid dreaming as a creative tool. It’s written under my pen name of Clare Jay.
‘Your child is missing – presumed dead.’ Hours after receiving the phone call that every mother dreads, Alida Salter flies to India to search for her backpacker daughter. The discovery of disturbing lucid dream collages in Mia’s hotel makes Alida suspect a connection between the disaster which fractured their relationship thirteen years ago, and Mia’s recent, mysterious disappearance.
Mia is no ordinary girl. Growing up with the sensory condition synaesthesia – where she sees the world in a kaleidoscope of shapes, colours and smells – she has gone through life with the vivid imagination of an artist, but for years she has shouldered an overwhelming burden of guilt.
It has been a difficult relationship, but now comes the toughest test of all… Alida must find the courage to trust her maternal instincts and follow her dreams, or lose her daughter forever.
“One of the most poignant, humane, original and exquisitely written first novels I’ve come across.” Jan Fortune-Wood, editor of Cinnamon Press
Dreamrunner
Her husband’s dreams are her family’s nightmare…
Dreamrunner explores what happens when Olivia’s husband Carlos begins having violent nightmares in which he leaps, fighting, from his bed and rampages through the house, shattering her family’s idyllic life in Lisbon. Things escalate when Carlos unwittingly injures Olivia and Leo, their seven-year-old son, and they can no longer hide their bruises.
But what is causing the warm-hearted, gentle Carlos to have such explosive nightmares? While Leo retreats further into an imaginary world, it’s a question that sends Olivia – desperate to protect her son and rescue her floundering family – into the depths of her husband’s childhood, where she uncovers a secret so shocking it has held Carlos in its powerful grip for almost thirty years.
“Compelling. Wonderful characters and a fascinating premise… I eagerly await more books from this talented author.” – Karen McMillan, Radiochick
Sleep Monsters & Superheroes: Empowering Children through Creative Dreamplay Clare R. Johnson and Jean M. Campbell, Editors
If just one dream can give a child solace after bereavement or self-worth after abuse, what might be possible when we help children to work and play with their dreams on a regular basis?
Children can feel powerless in waking life, a fact that is often reflected in their dreams. Sleep Monsters & Superheroes shows how to take an active role in guiding children’s dreams to help grow their confidence and improve their coping skills for real-life difficulties. An all-star team of expert contributors provide simple techniques to help children to do dreamwork for creative discovery and empowerment.
Each chapter includes case studies and methods for working in practical ways with children, explaining what may trigger nightmares for children and how “monster” dreams can be guided to become “superhero” dreams.
Experts discuss dreams of trauma, dreams as part of emotional and physical development, dreaming in the community, spiritual or religious dreams, lucid dreams, dreams during wartime, and dreams of death, among others. Dreams are shown to be teaching aids for use in art therapy, storytelling, and self-empowerment. Sadly, the publisher has priced this book crazy high… nothing I can do about this, but I wish the valuable advice and practices were more easily available to people who need it.
So that’s a possible journey through my books for anyone who enjoys my work and wants to explore more. I wish you a wonderful time exploring these and other author’s books as you adventure deeper into the fabulous world of your dreams!
Dr. Clare Johnson
