Metatation - A Practice for Lucid Thinking (and Lucid Dreaming)
- The Lucid Guide
- 32 minutes ago
- 7 min read
I want to introduce a new term here. One I’ve coined not for novelty’s sake, but because there wasn’t quite a word for this before.
Or at least, not one that did the job properly.
Metatation /ˌmɛtəˈteɪʃən/ [noun]: A practice, coined by Daniel Love, blending elements of meditation and metacognition to observe the underlying processes and patterns of thought, rather than its content.
Metatation is a blend of meditation and metacognition. The name’s simple enough, but the practice it points to is a little more layered (not complicated, just layered - like most things worth doing). And yes, it sounds a bit made-up. Because it is. All words are. But this one, I think, is necessary.
If you’ve spent time exploring lucid dreaming, you’ve probably bumped up against a strange kind of problem. You learn the techniques, you set the intentions, you read the books. Maybe you even keep a dream journal with religious devotion (until you forget, or lose interest, or life gets in the way). But still, something’s missing.
You’re thinking about lucid dreaming... but not in the right way. Or rather, not with the right kind of thinking.
That’s where metatation comes in. It’s a seated practice (or walking, or lying, or whatever works - this isn't some new-age retreat and I’m not precious about the details), and it involves looking at your mind.
Not just what you’re thinking about, not just the content, but the process, the patterns, the logic, the shape. The way a thought arises, how it links to the next one, how you react to it, whether you cling or flinch or follow.
It’s not about stillness, and it’s not about peace. That’s meditation. This is something else.
What actually is it?
Put simply, it’s the act of observing the mind while it’s working - and doing so with a kind of gentle suspicion (probably the wrong word, but you get the idea). Not hostile, but not naively credulous either.
You sit (or stand, or stare out of a window, again it really doesn’t matter), and you pay attention to your thoughts as thoughts. Not truths. Not insights. Not cosmic lessons. Not "messages from the shadow self" (or some other twattery). Just patterns, responses, descendants of previous beliefs etc.
It’s related to mindfulness, sure, but it’s not quite that.
Mindfulness, as it’s usually sold, encourages non-judgemental awareness (and it also comes with a smeg-load of baggage).
Metatation is fine with judgement - it encourages it - not in the moral sense, but in the analytical scientific sense. You’re allowed to wonder why a thought showed up, or what it’s trying to achieve. You can ask where it came from (often you won’t know - or might think you do but be entirely wrong). The point is to look, not to drift.
And no, it’s not the same as journaling either. Journaling happens after the fact. Metatation happens within the moment of thinking (lucid thinking if you will). You’re not reporting on your thoughts - you’re watching them unfold.
Sometimes you might start with a prompt. Not always. But if you do, keep it sharp and open-ended. Things like:
Who is thinking this thought?
What if this is a dream?
What does my mind avoid?
You’re not trying to answer the question. That’s important. But you can if you want.
The practice isn’t in the answer - it’s in watching how your mind tries to find one (or how it dodges, or how it flails, gets entangled, or performs).
There’s no goal. Nothing you’re meant to feel or achieve. It’s just noticing.
And in the noticing, certain things start to shift. Initially subtle things, mostly. But over time, they develop into stronger foundations for critical observant thinking.
Why is this useful?
If you want a practical reason - metatation is direct training for lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming doesn’t happen because you repeated a mantra before bed or fiddled with your sleep cycles (though those things can be a nudge).
It happens when your brain becomes aware of itself while dreaming. That’s metacognition. And metacognition, like anything else, improves with practice.
There’s a study from 2018 - Baird et al. - that found a clear link between metacognitive ability and the frequency of lucid dreams.
People who were better at noticing their own thinking patterns during the day were more likely to become lucid during sleep. It’s not magical. It’s neurological. That’s how the brain works.
So if you’re trying to become lucid in your dreams, but you’re never lucid in waking life... well, that might be why it’s not working.
Metatation gives you the tools to spot mental habits while they’re happening. It builds that muscle (and yes, I know it’s not a muscle, but metaphor is handy).
And when that skill becomes second nature, you start catching your mind in the act.
Which, when you’re dreaming, can be the moment everything clicks.
Why most lucid dreaming techniques are just clumsy metacognition
I'll be frank - most so-called lucid dreaming techniques are just ham-fisted ways of poking at metacognition without really understanding what it is.
Reality checks? You're trying to catch yourself in the act of being oblivious.
Dream signs? Pattern recognition + logic
All day awareness? A practical impossibility, trying to force oneself to stay superhumanly reflective, which usually ends in frustration or burnout.
Even MILD relies entirely on the capacity to notice and remember your intention mid-dream - which, again, is just a form of metacognitive skill.
They all orbit the same core idea: noticing how you're thinking. Or more often, that you're not the one doing the thinking.
But instead of focusing directly on that capacity - metacognition - people are taught a jumble of habits and checklists, as if lucidity were something you could tick into existence. As my students are familiar with me saying: lucid dreaming is not a recipe.
Metatation doesn’t bother with that nonsense. It trains the actual skill that matters. Not through repetition or new-age ritual, but through direct observation of thought, as it happens.
Once you grasp that, you realise most popular lucid dreaming advice is a bit like trying to build a telescope by taping mirrors into a loo-roll.
You might get the general idea, but you’re unlikely to see anything particularly clearly.
How Metatation is different (and why that matters)
Traditional meditation says let the thought pass.
Metatation says, no - hang on. What is that thought? Where did it come from? Why did it feel so urgent?
Mindfulness is about presence.
Metatation includes presence, but also critical reflection. It’s not passive. It’s not floaty. It’s active watching.
Zen koans come close. They ask you impossible questions designed to short-circuit your logic and reveal the wobbly edges of your mental model. Metatation borrows from that - not in form, but in spirit.
But you don’t need robes, and you don’t need a teacher. Your own mind will provide the confusion. And if you pay attention, you’ll also find the clarity buried inside it (eventually, not instantly).
It doesn’t promise answers. Most of the time, you’ll just end up noticing how absurd some of your internal monologue (and other processes) really is - mine certainly is, far too often - that’s part of the process, and a big part of why this does the opposite of many meditations, it humbles you (rather than makes you feel all floaty and superior).
However, you will get answers - answers that are unique to your mind, multi-layered, and threads well worth pulling on.
That, and a lot more questions... the brain is a big place.
What it actually looks like
You might be sitting in a chair. Maybe cross-legged if your knees haven’t given up. Eyes open or closed. No special breathing required. You can light some incense if you want (I do, mostly because I can't shake my inner-teenage hippy completely, but I also like that scent ground behaviours in memory)
Thoughts, emotions and brain-stuff arise. You notice them. You ask, quietly, what they’re made of. You follow the movement of your attention. You feel the pull of emotion. You watch your identity take shape and then vanish.
And maybe it all sounds grand and pretentious when written down like this, but in practice, it’s pretty damn ordinary. Just sitting and noticing, and prodding.
And of course, some days it’ll be mind-numbingly boring. You’ll forget to do it. You’ll question whether it’s worth the effort. You’ll feel like nothing’s happening. That’s all normal.
You’re training a habit of reflection, not chasing metaphysical secrets of the universe (although, ironically, you're closer to finding them when unpretentiously applying critical thinking to the most complex biological computer in the known universe).
And it’s definitely worth adding - you don’t need to do it for 60+ minutes EVERY day. Sometimes five is fine. Even one, if you’re genuinely paying attention. It’s not about quantity. It’s about the quality of presence with thought.
You don’t need to buy anything fancy. You don’t even need to be good at it (but it does get easier). You just need to start noticing. That’s really all there is to it.
Noticing is enough.
As I often say, your mind is the best teacher, your dreams the best guide to becoming a lucid dreamer - all you have to do is to learn to pay attention, to notice, to investigate, and to keep probing.
No, you won't become "enlightened", you won't transcend the boundaries of space and time, you won't be the next buddha, and you won't reach the end of your practice.
You will however become a detective of your own mind, notice things most people never do, and start to be more present - not in some floaty arty-farty way, in a very grounded, logical, and observant way. You know... that practical kind that doesn't give you vague googly eyes staring into the middle distance - but instead makes you notice details, listen to conversations properly, and not get thrown around by the ocean of your own mind quite as much.
(And yes, I "invented" the word. You’re more than welcome to use it. Just don’t turn it into some branded lifestyle nonsense, please - and if someone else starts abusing it in some book on woo, you know full well they've not grasped the concept)
