This is going to be a short post, but I just wanted to share a breathing technique with you, inspired by the famous ‘Iceman’ Wim Hof (check out his book).
He’s famous for developing a powerful deep breathing and meditation technique but I was just practicing one of his methods when I noticed that it could be used to make lucid dreams that bit more profound and stable.
The reason it’s worth trying, is that deep breathing has an effect on lucid dreams, and certainly has an effect on your mind and helps you relax. In fact breathing DEEP has been shown to have a powerful effect on a lot of areas of your body, not just your mind.
So, what’s it all about?
The Wim Hof breathing technique for lucid dreams
To be clear, this technique wasn’t originally intended to be used to lucid dream, I just thought that it could be used to prime your mind and relax before sleep. Wim Hof mainly uses techniques stemming from a form of yoga/breathing meditation known as ‘inner heat’.
He’s most famous for immersing himself in freezing, ice water (with real ice chunks floating around it) but his breathing methods are solid and they really do work!
You can do this before trying to WBTB or WILD, and you can certainly use it when meditating. Here’s the Wim Hof breathing method for lucid dreaming:
- Start by breathing as much as as you possibly can in
- Exhale as far as you possibly can (but don’t force it)
- Repeat this about 20 times, while trying to not think about anything in particular
- On the 60th time, on the exhale, hold your breath for as long as you can
- If you can’t holdout any longer, let it go and then inhale. Now hold the breath for about 15 seconds
Repeat this as many times as you like, and you’ll notice that your dreams will be more vivid and sometimes more stable. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’d guess because you’re fully oxygenating your blood and mind.
Oxygen has always has a great positive effect on humans, and deep breathing is healthy for a limitless number of reasons. Doing this before sleep, or more importantly JUST before trying to lucid dream can boost your chances, and make it more likely you’ll have an awesome lucid dream!
Deep breathing gives you better dream recall
People have reported that by trying this method, their dream recall (how many dreams they can remember in the morning) has shot through the roof. I’m not sure if this is because this is technically meditation, or just because it’s increasing oxygen to the brain, but either way it’s worth trying just for these reasons!
Meditation also has an effect on dreams
It’s worth reminding you guys that meditation really DOES have a huge effect on lucid dreams. sure, this breathing technique will help but really, meditating is what you’re really doing. I think that’s why this method works, because you’re focusing on your breath and relaxing.
I’ve said before, that mediation should be practiced at least once a day if you’re serious about lucid dreaming more, and this sort of proves that point. Go ahead and try it out, and if you’re open to trying a bit of meditation as well, there are now powerful machines that can help you slip into the meditative state!
