
Hi, I’m Dr. Clare Johnson, the first person in the world to do a PhD on creative lucid dreaming. Author of 8 books.
I’m here to help you explore the wonders of lucid dreaming and the mysteries of sleep.
Dr. Clare Johnson was the first person in the world to do a PhD on lucid dreaming as a creative tool. She is former President and CEO of a global dream community, the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and has written eight books on lucid dreaming, sleep, nightmares and dream therapy. She is a lifelong, prolific lucid dreamer.
For her original doctoral thesis, Dr. Johnson interviewed fiction writers, artists and poets to discover how lucid dreams sparked their creativity, and wrote a lucid-dream-inspired novel. Learn more about her PhD here. For over 25 years, she has been researching, writing, and teaching on diverse lucid dreaming & sleep-related topics.
Dr. Clare Johnson created the Lucid Light Theory of Dreams and Reality, investigated the nature of the lucid dream body with her Prana Dream Body Hypothesis, identified the Six Stages of Hypnagogia, and created the Lucid Imaging Nightmare Solution. She categorised Four Levels of Awareness in Lucid Dream Figures and identified the Viewing Tube Problem of Consciousness Exploration.
She also categorised Four Levels of Dream Control and their usefulness for creativity, proposed the Elevator Hypothesis for Hypnagogic States, developed the Insomnia Freedom Technique, originated the Rainbow Theory of Consciousness, and invented the ALIVE Code for Reality Creation.
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming delves into all of these theories and beyond, into deep lucid dreaming, the lucid void and how physics works (or doesn’t work!) in lucid dreams. It is filled with practical techniques on how to have lucid dreams.
People all over the world now use Dr. Clare Johnson’s original lucid dreaming techniques, such as her popular CLEAR technique for stabilising lucid dreams. Her much-loved Lucid Writing technique can transform nightmares, dissolve creative blocks and initiate healing. It’s like a waking version of lucid dreaming and can have similar therapeutic effects. Lucid Journeying is a lucidity induction technique that she teaches in lucid dreaming ocean retreats, video classes, and in-person workshops.
A qualified yoga instructor, Dr. Johnson brings bodywork into her lucid dream techniques and sleep practices, as this is excellent for healing and integration. Her term for the full array of her hundreds of dreamwork techniques is Lucid Dreamplay.
A TV show in which she discusses different aspects of lucid dreaming was released in 20 languages and she recently taught a lucid dream video course with over 5000 participants. She appears in the Superpower US docuseries, which explores the superpower of intuition.
Dr. Johnson is English and speaks four other European languages. As part of the launch of the French version of The Art of Lucid Dreaming, she appeared on a Paris TV show where she spoke about lucid dreaming in French.
For over two decades she has spoken at conferences and international multi-media platforms on lucidity, sleep, dream intelligence and the role of lucid dreams in healing, dying, creativity, and consciousness exploration.
Sleep and deep lucid dreaming are her life-long passion.
A Personal Journey
When she was three years old, Dr. Clare Johnson had her first flash of lucidity in a nightmare of drowning. When she was a student at Lancaster University in the UK, her lucid dreaming practice exploded, along with spontaneous sleep paralysis experiences. She was so fascinated by what was happening that in 1995 she did an independent undergraduate project on lucid dreaming, which she wrote in French.
Stuck in rainy Lancaster in her final year, Dr. Johnson teleported to the south of France in lucid dreams to practise her French in the sunshine. This nocturnal lucid travel felt instrumental in her receiving first-class honours with oral distinction and a prize for best examination performance. After all, while the other students were fast asleep, she had been revising her French in her lucid dreams – a clear advantage!
This inspired her to do her PhD on “The Role of Lucid Dreaming in the Creative Writing Process” (University of Leeds, UK, 2006).
In the past 45 years, she has had many thousands of lucid dreams.
Lucid dreaming can have highly beneficial effects on people. Becoming lucid in a dream and engaging consciously with deep unconscious imagery can help people to overcome trauma, cure recurrent nightmares, deepen creativity and learn new skills.
A lucid dream of filling her fist with orange sand and experiencing synaesthesia helped Dr. Johnson to break through creative blocks when writing her first novel.
A powerful lucid dream of a doll helped her to recover from the trauma of the near-death of her baby daughter.
A lucid dream download of an illuminated manuscript persuaded her to write her latest book, Elixir of Sleep, even though she had decided not to write any more books!
Lucid Dreaming Ocean Retreats, Mentoring & Classes
Dr. Clare Johnson runs lucid dreaming ocean retreats. These are often held in beautiful Portugal. Groups are kept small for an optimal experience. Sign up to her newsletter to be first to know the 2025 dates.
She also offers private mentoring on lucid dreaming, sleep issues, nightmares, and dream therapy, including the Lucid Star programme when time allows.
Along with a South African musician and producer, Dr. Johnson has created a fabulous series of video and audio courses in which she shares her best tips and practices for all areas of lucid dreaming and blissful sleep. If you sign up for your mini-class on lucid dreaming, and other gifts, you’ll receive details as each new class comes out.
The Books
The brand-new release, Elixir of Sleep, leads readers through the amazing states of consciousness we traverse each night, with 64 practices for better sleep and blissful dreams. This book explores how to make the most out of the third of our lives we spend sleeping by tapping in to our dream intelligence and making space for deep self-care.
The Art of Lucid Dreaming, is a super-practical lucidity guide with a Lucidity Quiz and many lucidity programmes so readers can fast track their way to lucidity as unique sleepers and dreamers.
Dr. Johnson’s comprehensive guide to lucid dreaming, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Lucid Dreaming, is the size of three regular books! It’s available as a 20-hour audiobook, too. Read some review comments by top people in the field of dream studies here.
The Art of Transforming Nightmares is a radical and practical book to help people to find the healing gifts in upsetting dreams and experience peaceful sleep and wellbeing.
Step by step guides to Dr. Johnson’s most powerful practical techniques can be found in her books. Dream Therapy: Dream your way to health and happiness, was published in the US as Mindful Dreaming. This book has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Thai, Romanian and Italian.
There are also two lucid dream-inspired novels, Breathing in Colour and Dreamrunner (Little, Brown, 2009 & 2010) under her novelist name of Clare Jay. Dr. Johnson is co-editor of Sleep Monsters & Superheroes: Empowering Children through Creative Dreamplay, a practical resource to help children to thrive in their inner world of dreams and nightmares.
Have fun browsing…
This website has been expanding for ten years. Every single word, every blog post, is personally written by Dr. Clare Johnson, with no recourse to AI or guest bloggers or paid help. It’s the real thing.
People have so many questions about lucid dreaming and sleep. On this site, Dr. Johnson shares tips for all the questions that appear below, and many more.
She aims to help others to discover their own potential for happiness and creativity through a deep experience of lucid dreaming and the profound states of consciousness we encounter during sleep.
DeepLucidDreaming.com has been created with that goal in mind. Enjoy exploring!
- How do I get lucid?
- Can sleep help me heal?
- What can I do in my lucid dreams?
- Is lucid dreaming dangerous?
- What are the pros and cons of lucid dream sex?
- Best sleep tips for me?
- How can I stop my nightmares?
- How can I help my child with his/her nightmares?
- How can I stay lucid for longer?
- Is an out of body experience the same as a lucid dream?
- What’s my sleep type?
- How can lucid dreaming help me to heal?
- Can I improve a sports skill in a lucid dream?
- Do I have a sleep disorder?
- How can lucid dreaming inspire me creatively?
- How should I engage with lucid dream figures?
- Can sleep be spiritual?
- Can lucid dreaming help in the dying process?
- What is the black void?
- How do time, space and physics work in lucid dreams?