Tim Post on Lucid Dreaming at TEDxTwenteU (Full Transcript)

Watch and read the full transcript of Tim Post’s TEDx Talk: Lucid Dreaming at TEDxTwenteU conference.

Listen to the MP3 Audio here: lucid-dreaming-by-tim-post-at-tedxtwenteu

Tim Post – Lucid dreaming instructor

Thank you. When I was seven years old, I had this recurring nightmare. I dreamt about this huge and boundless space. There were no trees, no buildings, even no other people in the dream; there was just me. And I was locked up in a tiny iron cage by the old, and awful, and scary-looking Snow White witch not from the fairytale with the poisonous apple.

Now, in that dream I felt truly terrified. So, as soon as I woke up from the nightmare in the middle of the night, I ran to my mom. I was crying. I woke her up, and I told her about my nightmare. And she would always reassure me of the simple fact it was just a dream, that the old witch was just part of my dreaming mind, that there was no real physical danger, that these were just dreams.

And so feeling a bit more reassured and safe, I’d return to sleep, but at one particular night, at the exact same nightmare, in that following sleep period, so, suddenly, I found myself again in that iron cage, holding on to the iron bars, and looking to the old witch, while remembering what my mother said to me just a few hours ago, “Tim, this is just a dream.”

Now, interestingly, that realization did not wake me up, so I knew that I was dreaming while still being in the dream. And I can still vividly recall how I looked around in the dream, had a sense of my own dream body, which felt incredibly real, although I knew that my real physical body was actually lying in bed asleep in some other place called waking life. It was a stunning, very profound experience, and at the same time, I didn’t feel scared by the old witch, because I knew she was just part of my dreaming mind. So, I really felt empowered and free.