Lucid Awareness

Lucid, from the latin lucere: to shine; lux: light; lucidus: full of light.

There's a lot of books on lucid dreaming so there's no need to cover that here.
But I would like to emphasize the similarities to lucid wakefulness.
A great place to start is to watch yourself fall asleep, trying to stay aware/awake
as the body goes into sleep paralysis. This is a great accomplishment when you
cross that veil, but even greater is to bring this ability, this watchfulness, into
your everyday life.
Watching your body fall asleep is an art, a matter of great skill and subterfuge.
The body won't sleep until it knows the mind is asleep - and of course we want
the mind to stay alert and watchful. So the mind has to pretend it is sleeping.
How do we achieve this?
First let's take care of the body. When falling asleep there are several things to
notice. First, there is a sleep breath. If you haven't noticed your own sleep breath
and you sleep with someone else, notice theirs and mimic it. You should of course
be relaxed as possible, and you may begin with some deep relaxing breaths, but
the sleep breath is not a deep inhalation at all, but quite brief.
As you find a gentle sleep breath rhythm, let your body relax and sink into your
bed or chair or whatever you are napping in. You are not going to move anything
for a while so find a comfortable position and don't cross your legs/ankles or arms;
but if your hands are comfortably resting one on the other, they are a good way to
feel the paralysis set in - often you won't know where one hand ends and the other
begins. This is a good sign to look for.
It is important to take care of the eyes. If you watch yourself fall asleep, there is an
eye position or focus that you'll notice. If you haven't seen this to mimic it, it is
sufficient to just keep your gaze still, perhaps focussed at the root/bridge of the nose.
I am not talking about REM eye patterns. We just want stillness. We want sleep
paralysis.
Then we want to deal with the mind. You want to be as free of thoughts as possible -
to be mentally quiet and still. This is mimicking a theta brainwave state which is
what we're after. So all we need from the mind is stillness and vigilance. If you use
visualisations, try to do so without talking to yourself about them.
With all this preparation, we are ready for sleep paralysis. Keep a relaxed breathing
rhythm, a quiet yet alert mind and relax your body completely... and be aware of the
body getting very heavy - so heavy you can't move any of it... like a blanket filled
with wet sand is laying over you.
And when your body is asleep and your mind is awake, this is a magical platform
for lucid dreaming, astral travel, healing and affirmations (communicating with the
subconscious mind).

After practicing this, and hopefully making a habit of it, you may begin to see that
there is no reason to drop your guard, to lose vigilance at any time during the day.
That same strong intention that kept the mind awake when your body fell asleep
can be used for mindfulness, presence, heightened awareness throughout the day.
That same intention and stealth can keep you from identifying with the past or
worrying about the future, or taking any moment for granted (going unconscious).
This can be more rewarding than lucid dreaming.
And if you learn not to lose yourself, you won't have any fear of death, for you will
be present for that too, even into the afterlife.