The 5 Layers of a Lucid Dream
Layer One
Layer one is by far the most frustrating and testing layer of the five, and therefore will be the making or the breaking of your adventures into the world of lucid dreaming. If you’re an experienced onieronaut, then layer one experiences are more disappointing and frustrating. However, if you’re just starting out, then they can end up being really demoralizing. However, if you stick with it and decide to not give up, then you’re literally just around the corner from full-fledged lucidity—and that’s where the real fun begins. So, just as before, this layer has two variations, and I’m going to explain them to you now.
Layer One (Minor)
Okay, so, first off, we have Layer One (Minor). This is when you realize you’re dreaming, but then wake yourself up from the dream within seconds of becoming lucid. This can happen for numerous reasons, but it’s usually down to simply getting overexcited. Excitement and lucid dreams don’t bode well together, as you’ll realize the more and more you practice. And if you want to scour the higher layers and have long stretches of higher-layer lucidity, then you must learn how to control that excitement, you know?
Don’t get me wrong, you can still feel excited in a lucid dream, but it’s all about how much attention you pay that excitement, and making sure that that isn’t what you’re primarily focusing on. So, anyway, I’m sure you can all relate to a Layer One (Minor) experience, we’ve all had them after all— but, I’m going to give you a real quick example of one, anyway. So, one night, I was one some sort of guided tour of our solar system, and my guide was someone quite clearly indigenous to a planet other than our own, and he was quite reminiscent of the light beings I’ve often conversed with in waking reality—but, that’s another story for another time. So, after traversing the solar system for a while, my guide informed me, to my surprise, that I was, in fact, dreaming. Due to the initial shock of being told this, combined with the excitement that shortly followed, the surroundings started to dissipate very quickly, and cracks and glitches started to appear all around the dream world. And, within less than half a minute, I’d woken myself back up and was back in my bed at home. A quick thing I’d like to point out here, is how it was a dream character that induced my lucidity in this particular experience. This is definitely something to keep an eye out for. It can often transpire that it’s others in the dream that bring you to full awareness, and not always just yourself.
Although, of course, you could argue that those characters are just another facet of yourself anyway, so, in fact, either way it’s you that creates the opportunity for lucidity. But, either way, it’s interesting to look out for these slight variations. Another thing I want to point out quickly is that even though for those few seconds I was aware that I was dreaming, I didn’t properly “break through”. Properly breaking through can take quite a few minutes, so it’s not something that will often happen during a layer one experience. I’ve alluded to this whole “breaking through” thing quite a few times, now, but don’t worry, I’ll be going into it in more depth than the layer two video, as this is the layer where it begins to occur more frequently. Okay, so, another aspect of layer one minor, is when you become lucid, but then you choose to wake yourself up from the dream. There’s one common reason for this occurring, and that is—yep, you guessed it—nightmares. For example, often in the past I’ve been experiencing the most horrific nightmare, then something will prompt me to realize that it’s just a dream. But, instead of, you know, taking control of the dream and breaking through, as I say, I decide instead in my panicked state to simply wake myself up. This is similar to what I was talking about in my Layer Zero video, about being able to wake myself up from nightmares as a child. It’s similar to that, but not exactly the same. The major difference, here, is that one would be fully aware that it was just a nightmare. It wouldn’t be an inkling, it would be a full-fledged certainty. And also, the decision to wake yourself up from the nightmare would be a lot more consciously calculated. However, as you become more and more skilled as an onieronaut, you should learn to never wake yourself up if you become lucid during a nightmare. The reason being, is that often nightmares are your subconscious mind’s way of passing on a message of some sort. So, embrace these opportunities when these arise, and confront whatever’s been tormenting you in the dream. It can be a very rewarding feeling, when you turn a nightmare back into a pleasant dream.
Layer One (Major)
Okay, so secondly, we have Layer One (Major). This is when you realize you’re dreaming, but within a minute or two you have a false awakening, and carry on the dream non-lucid. A false awakening, for anyone who isn’t sure, is when you dream that you’ve woken up, whereas in fact you are continuing on with the dream.
So, for example, I dreamt that I was at the top of a very tall building, looking down over the edge. At this point in the dream, I was Layer Zero (Major), as I had a vague sort of inkling that something didn’t feel quite right, but I wasn’t quite yet at the point of realization where I could break through into layer two or higher. I then decided, as I was looking down from the top of the building, that I’d just off it and attempt to fly. This perfectly illustrates what I was talking about in my previous video, about how you have no sense of consequence in a Layer Zero (Major) dream. So, in mid-flight, lucidity began to properly kick in, and my rational mind began to put two and two together. I eventually came to conclusion that if I was flying, then I was most certainly dreaming, and so I began to rise through the layers. But, before I could even get a proper grasp on what was going on, and stabilize the scene, the dream began to fade due to the exhilaration I was feeling from the flying, and, within seconds, I had woken up and was back in my head. At least, I thought I was back in my bed at home, whereas in fact I had simply made a scene transition, and was still very much within the dream world. However, from this point on, the dream carried on in a fairly mundane fashion—and, I was totally non-lucid. A great way to combat this is to get into the habit of performing a reality check every time you wake up. Get used to doing this, and then when these kinds of experiences arise, you’ll be able to quash them, and continue on your journey to the higher layers. Another slight variation of this layer, is when you become lucid, but within seconds the dream begins to fade to the black. After a while of being in the black, the dream reassembles around you, and you re-enter. However, when you re-enter this time, you will be totally non-lucid.
“The black” for anyone that isn’t sure, is a term that I’ve coined that is the in-between state of being awake and being asleep. You’re not quite one or the other, and you’re still seeing very distinct colors and shapes and perhaps even images within the mind’s eye. This is similar, although not exactly the same, to the hypnogogic imagery, the experience whilst falling into sleep; and the hypnopompic imagery, the experience whilst waking up.
So, there we have it, that’s Layer One for you. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on a constant search for more intricacies and subtle differences within each layer, so please don’t hesitate to either comment me or send me a message, if you discover more yourself. Okay, so, cheers for watching, everyone. And, the next video is going to be going into the layer two minor, and the layer two major. This is the layer where the real fun begins, so make sure you tune back and check it out. All right, then— (salutes) catch you later!
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