Quick answer
Dreamwalking is the claim that one person can enter another’s dream on purpose and move around in it. The old version gave steps: wait ninety minutes for REM sleep, meditate, float, then deliver messages inside the other person’s dream. There is no evidence this is possible, and no experiment has shown two sleepers sharing a dream. What the stories describe are ordinary and sometimes frightening sleep events: sleep paralysis, in which you wake unable to move and often sense a presence; false awakenings, in which you dream that you have woken; and lucid dreams, in which you know you are dreaming and can steer a little. Each has a plain explanation, and the lucid kind can be practised safely within a few limits. The old version’s rules about consent were fine as a value; no such practice exists. The wider role of dreams in growth is in Using Dreams for Personal Growth: What Dreams Do, a Journal That Helps, Common Themes, Lucid Dreams, Dreamwalking and the Zohar.
Each experience, what it is, and what to do
| Experience | What it is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “I was in a stranger’s dream” | A dream with unfamiliar people and places; dreams borrow and recombine | Write it down and look for what it borrows from your week |
| Waking unable to move, sensing someone | Sleep paralysis: REM muscle paralysis lasting a moment after waking | It passes in seconds to minutes; wiggle your toes; keep regular sleep |
| Waking, then waking again | A false awakening: a dream of waking up | Reality check: read a clock twice or try a light switch |
| Knowing you are dreaming | A lucid dream: partial waking awareness during REM | Enjoy it; practise reality checks by day if you want more |
| Dreaming of someone who has died | Grief and memory; common and often comforting | Let it be a visit in the sense that matters; no travel required |
| Two people dream of each other the same night | Coincidence plus shared context; telling the stories then shapes them | Compare written accounts before talking; the overlap shrinks |
| A vivid dream after meditating late | Meditation close to sleep increases recall and vividness | Fine; move it earlier if it disturbs sleep |
- Keep a fixed wake time
- Skip techniques that break up sleep, such as repeated alarms, if you have a mood or sleep disorder
- Stop if dreams become distressing or you struggle to tell dream from waking
- Do not use it to visit a person who has asked for distance
- Treat what you learn in a dream as your own material, not information about anyone else
Evidence: The Sleep Foundation’s page on whether lucid dreaming is dangerous notes that it is safe for most people but that induction techniques can fragment sleep and may worsen some mental health conditions; ask a doctor first if that applies to you. For the Kabbalistic teaching that a dream should be told only to someone who wishes you well, see What the Zohar Says About Dreams.
Read the full dreams guide
The hub covers what dreams do, a journal that helps, common themes, lucid dreams, dreamwalking and the Zohar.
If I could control my own dreams and share that experience with others, I’d give it a try!
Well, that’s a trip. It’s like Inception in real life.
My dreams are vivid enough as they are, I don’t think I want to go messing around with other people’s dreams too!
I don’t really believe in all this, it just sounds too far fetched for me.
You both are just close minded. This is very intriguing.
I agree with you, this seems a bit unrealistic.
Sounds like a lot of work to do something that may or may not be real.
True, but it would be worth it if it worked.
I’d be interested in trying this out for myself to see if it’s true.
It would be so cool to explore someone else’s dream world.
I’ve always been fascinated by dreams and their meanings.
This is so interesting, I’ve never thought of it this way!