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Michael Sheehy Discusses Lucid Dreaming with National Geographic

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Michael Sheehy Discusses Lucid Dreaming with National Geographic
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CSC's Michael Sheehy weighs in on the state of becoming aware of one's dreams as it occurs, in the December 12, 2023 issue of National Geographic.

“All dream yoga is lucid dreaming,” explains Michael Sheehy, a Tibetan Buddhism scholar and director of scholarship at the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “The difference is, in dream yoga you’re intentionally performing contemplative techniques while you’re in the dream. You are aware of what you’re doing while you’re dreaming and you’re doing things you can’t normally do when you’re awake.”

These intentional actions include conjuring unusual objects to appear in your dream, transforming the dream’s environment or location, or transforming one item into another, he explains.


After the dream, “you may experience cognitive flexibility, realizing how easily you can change your thoughts and mindset or how you perceive your circumstances. And you can imagine new possibilities, perspectives, and situational outcomes,” Sheehy says.