Have you ever tried yoga nidra to get lucid in your dreams? Yoga nidra is an excellent practice for wake-induced lucid dreaming, or WILD. In yoga nidra, the body sleeps (rests in deep relaxation) while the mind remains effortlessly lucid; effortlessly aware.

An ancient tantric practice of conscious deep sleep, yoga nidra is a profound form of meditation. This alert, deeply relaxed state helps us to balance lucidly between the worlds of wake and sleep. It’s easier than sitting meditation: our body falls asleep every night, so we are deeply familiar with this process.

Lucid dreamers find that with the right affirmations and guidance, yoga nidra can become a wonderful way of remaining consciously aware while falling asleep, so that they immediately enter a wake-induced lucid dream (WILD).

Yoga nidra also helps us with lucid dream stabilisation. We practise steady lucid awareness in this deeply relaxed state.

A yoga nidra session is a fantastic way of surfing hypnagogic imagery and learning to confidently navigate liminal spaces such as the lucid void and sleep paralysis. It’s a beautiful tool for exploring consciousness, and for accessing deep healing. It’s a space where we can set powerful intentions to help us consciously create our best reality.

Lucid dream at will

People report spontaneous encounters with guides, power animals, and sources of wisdom during yoga nidra states. It can be heartwarming to discover the enormity of our own inner resources and understand our true nature as we explore these fascinating liminal realms.

I used to struggle and fight in sleep paralysis in my early twenties, until I figured out a way to relax, breathe, and visualise wonderful scenes… back then, I had no idea that I was doing a kind of creative yoga nidra. Soon I managed to perfect the art of wake-induced lucid dreaming (WILD) and have long, stable lucid dreams at will.

Since then I have had many thousands of awesome lucid dreams and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon!

Some people prefer to be guided by a voice, but you can also practise yoga nidra on your own. Here are some tips, adapted from one of the practices in The Art of Transforming Nightmares:

How to do Yoga Nidra for Lucid Dreaming and WILD

1. Lie down comfortably on your back. If you’re someone who falls asleep quickly, lie on a yoga mat rather than in bed. Close your eyes.
2. Relax with some regular, deep breaths. Feel your body grow heavy. If you like, you can do a body scan, bringing your attention to each of the different parts of your body and consciously relaxing them. With every exhalation, you release any tension and allow your thoughts to slow.
3. Notice your mind beginning to drift slightly. You may become aware of light forms advancing and receding, or geometric shapes. Strange, vivid imagery may appear. Stay aware; observe any imagery as if it’s a surrealist movie, without getting attached to it. You may experience sensations of floating or falling, or hear random noises or voices. These images and sensations are all a natural part of the hypnagogic state: relax and observe with detachment. Notice as your body awareness shifts: at some point, when you become deeply relaxed, you will be unable to feel it unless you try to.
4. The moment when you can’t feel where your body begins and ends signals a golden threshold: you are floating on the very cusp of sleep, so be alert and don’t allow yourself to be sucked in by beguiling dreamlike imagery. Stay present to this threshold state; stay lucidly aware. This is wonderful practice for stabilising lucid dreams so they last longer.
5. Stay present in this floating, bodiless state for as long as you like. While here, you may wish to focus on a past dream you had, and mentally re-enter it. Vividly experience the imagery and sensations of your past dream, and stay lucid as the imagery spontaneously moves and changes. This is one way of moving consciously into the dream state—effectively remaining conscious throughout the process of falling asleep—and having a wake-induced lucid dream (WILD). You could also imagine your lucidity as a powerful tiger (or any other animal of your choice). Leap onto the back of your tiger and let it carry you into an amazing dream adventure. Or simply let a new dream form around you, and you will be lucidly present within this new dream.

Benefits of yoga nidra

There are so many benefits to this blissful practice, here are just a few:

1. Enter a beneficial state of deep, conscious relaxation

2. Set powerful intentions to create real change in your life

3. Balance with stable lucid awareness on the edge of sleep

4. Navigate and explore pre-sleep imagery (hypnagogia)

5. Cultivate wake-induced lucid dreams (WILD)

6. Train your mind to recognise when you are in a dream body

 7. Activate the skills of lucid dreaming through the power of rehearsal

8. Travel on imaginal journeys to states of profound healing & bliss.

9. Connect with inner guidance and wisdom

10. Send healing energy to specific health issues

11. Fly free from your body in an imaginal journey and learn to induce out of body experiences

12. Experience great calm and stillness to encourage blissful sleep

You can create your own yoga nidra scripts by basing them around your most wonderful dreams. Simply follow the steps above on how to do yoga nidra, then imagine yourself lucidly aware in the dream of your choice, able to engage and respond in any way that feels right for you. It can be incredibly realistic and beautiful to try this.

If you prefer to be guided, I’ve created two new yoga nidra video & audio courses based around the techniques I used when I taught myself to lucid dream at will. Both have professional quality guided lucid dream meditations specially created to guide you into beautiful lucid dreams.

Enjoy experimenting with the ancient art of conscious sleep!