LucidDreamingVR
A Collaboration to Explore the Potential of Virtual Reality in Lucid Dreaming
LucidDreamingVR is a research project developed in collaboration between the Research Center of the Italian Buddhist Union and the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Trento. Its main goal is to investigate the potential of virtual reality (VR) to support and enhance lucid dreaming experiences.
What is Lucid Dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is a state of consciousness in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming. In other words, one “wakes up” within the dream, gaining a certain degree of control over the dream experience.
This unique form of consciousness is highly valued in various contemplative traditions, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, where it is cultivated through specific spiritual practices. Lucid dreaming is considered a powerful tool for exploring the illusory nature of reality, developing cognitive flexibility, and deconstructing fixed beliefs and biases about the self and the world.
Virtual Reality as a Contemplative Technology
LucidDreamingVR explores the hypothesis that virtual reality can serve as a contemplative technology, helping to induce lucid dreams. The experimental application, named LucidDreamingVR, was developed by the Research Center of the Italian Buddhist Union based on principles from Tibetan Dream Yoga.
This application was provided to the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Trento for research purposes.
Core Principles and Practices
LucidDreamingVR focuses primarily on two techniques:
Recognition of dream signs – unusual elements typical of the dream state.
Reality checks – simple tests to determine whether one is dreaming or awake.
The project investigates whether practising these techniques in a virtual environment can support lucid dreaming by simulating dreamlike contexts and dynamics that are difficult to recreate in waking life.
Tibetan Dream Yoga and Virtual Training
The virtual training also includes specific practices from Tibetan Dream Yoga, such as:
Altering the shape and size of one’s avatar and surrounding objects.
Gradually overcoming the limits imposed by physical laws.
In a contemplative context, these practices are designed to develop mental flexibility and transcend self-imposed limitations. In a research context, they aim to provide a concrete preview of actions available in lucid dreams, making the state more accessible.
A Structured Training Program
The training consists of eight sessions, each comprising approximately 15 minutes of open-monitoring meditation in virtual reality, followed by approximately 20 minutes of interactive exercises.
Experimental Study and Published Results
Between October 2024 and April 2025, LucidDreamingVR was tested in an experimental study at the University of Trento involving:
An experimental group using LucidDreamingVR.
A control group with traditional metacognitive training (without VR).
A second control group using VR without dream-related content.
The study was published on 28 September 2026 in Frontiers in Psychology as Virtual reality as a metacognitive training tool for lucid dreaming, by Andrea Signorelli, Francesco Tormen, Bruna Dal Bianco and Nicola De Pisapia.
Thirty-eight participants completed a five-week programme. All kept dream diaries and practised reality checks; the experimental group also completed eight LucidDreamingVR sessions preceded by open-monitoring meditation.
The experimental group reported 26 lucid or semi-lucid dreams, compared with 11 in the baseline-training-only group and 4 in the group using VR without dream-related content. After accounting for the total number of recalled dreams, the rate of these experiences was significantly higher in the experimental group than in either control group.
The analysis combines lucid and semi-lucid dreams as “lucid-like” experiences, based on participants’ reports. These findings concern the combined training, meditation and VR programme; they do not isolate the effect of VR alone or of any individual component. The small sample calls for further studies to assess how broadly the findings apply.
