Lucid dreaming may not be a familiar term to most parents, but one former lucid dreamer is warning about how her obsession with it soon became a nightmare. Ashley, a former lucid dreamer-turned-Christian, recently appeared on an episode of “Ex Psychic Saved,” which is hosted by former medium Jenn Nizza. She warned that the concept of lucid dreaming is becoming increasingly more popular amongst young people. “Lucid dreaming” is a term coined by Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden. Oftentimes, the dreamer is aware that they are asleep and manipulates events in their favor. Studies have indicated that lucid dreaming is its own separate form of consciousness. “It points to the possibility that conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself,” said Çağatay Demirel, a researcher who has done brain studies on lucid dreamers.

“Lucid dreaming, essentially, is dream manipulation. You’re in a dream state, and you start to manipulate and change how that dream is going, and kind of create your own dream and do whatever you want inside of that dream,” shared Ashley. Ashley had been abused, particularly at night time, leaving her with a desire to be in control and rid herself of the nightmares that haunted her. “It was exciting because now, all of these horrible, scary dreams, I could stop them. I couldn’t stop them from happening, but I could stop them as they were happening. I felt like I needed to be the powerful one.” However, that power soon became intoxicating. “I just didn’t want to wake up,” she admitted.

Ashley’s journey into lucid dreaming didn’t happen in a vacuum. She was dabbling with other occult practices such as divination and idol worship. But nothing would satisfy her. “I looked at the statue, and I said, ‘I’m praying to this thing, and it can’t hear me.’ That was the beginning of when the Lord started calling me,” she said. “I said out loud, ‘Whoever the real God is, reveal Yourself to me.’ And I meant it,” she said.

Thanks to the man that is now her husband, Ashley was able to experience true peace when he prayed over her and read Scripture during a panic attack. Ashley said it was the first time she felt truly loved. She soon gave her life to Christ and hasn’t participated in lucid dreaming in the last nine years. She warned listeners that it isn’t as harmless as it sounds. “It becomes a practice that leads to very dangerous ideas about yourself. And I think it connects very closely to astral projection. Once you become good at lucid dreaming, the next step is often trying to do things like that while you’re awake, traveling in real time, interacting with spirits. It’s a slippery slope,” she warned. The Debrief imagines a future where lucid dreaming can be used for “neural mapping significantly improves our ability to detect and decode dream-based commands, granting individuals or companies greater control and awareness while dreaming” and Michael Raduga, founder of REMspace, claims his company has initiated the first-ever two-way communication with lucid dreamers.

Got Questions recommends a cautious approach to lucid dreaming as well. “Although dreams are mentioned frequently in the Bible—God can and has used dreams to speak to people—lucid dreaming as such is never addressed. Lucid dreaming simply means being able to control your dreams. There is nothing essentially wrong with this. But if lucid dreaming becomes too much of a focus or an obsession, it should be avoided,” the ministry noted. It stated for a Christian, a focus on lucid dreaming was of “no spiritual value.” “A Christian should prayerfully examine why he/she wants to experience lucid dreaming… [if it] becomes more than [pure motives] or involves even the smallest hint of New Age or occult practices, it should be avoided.”