Dr Keith Hearne & Dr Clare Johnson discuss the nature of lucid dreaming at the Dream Research Institute, London: A celebration of the 40 year anniversary of Keith’s discovery

Exactly 40 years ago today, in 1975, a young psychologist devised a pioneering experiment – one which provided the first scientific proof of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer ‘wakes up’ inside the dream while remaining physiologically asleep. This young pioneer was Dr Keith Hearne, and today we are celebrating 40 years of lucid dreaming science.

It was great fun to spend the day with Dr Keith Hearne, talking about topics ranging from the lucid dream body and his ‘light switch effect’ in lucid dreams to the healing potential of lucid dreaming and the ultimate nature of reality. Afterwards we had a Lucidity Dinner and a lovely walk along the canal. To join in the online fun and games around Lucid Dreaming Day, check out this link.

If you missed the day with Keith and I, you can catch up on parts of it another time as we videoed it, and in the meantime you may like to check out this DreamTime magazine feature, where Dr Keith Hearne talks to me about his experiment, his first ever lucid dream, and 40 years of lucid dream research. Just click on the cover.