Do you want to dream lucidly? Knowing that you want to have a lucid dream is a good start, but it’s not all you’ll need to do. There are several different methods you can use.

You also need to think about exactly why you want to become a lucid dreamer. What are the benefits of dreaming lucidly? To help us find the benefits, let us first look at ‘normal’ sleep.

Why is lucid dreaming different from normal sleep? When you lie down to go to sleep, your eyes close and hopefully you go to sleep. When you wake up you remember dreaming something or you don�t remember anything at all.Kind of strange when you think about it.

We need normal sleep to refresh our minds and bodies, keeping us healthy mentally and physically. What would happen if you could control the time when you are dreaming?

What if rather than being an active observer, you can be the one who can lead your dream to be whatever you want, rather than your dream leading you? This is what a lucid dreamer is; someone who is in total control of their dreams; able to explore new worlds that are not bound to the physical, societal and time-space laws of the real world.

So if you want to become a lucid dreamer how do you do it? There are actually two ways. The first way is having a dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD), which is where the dreamer is in a dream and then realizes that they are, restoring their sense of consciousness within the dream.

Method number two is a wake initiated lucid dream, or WILD. This is when the dreamer begins awake, then goes to being asleep, but without losing consciousness. The dreamer enters their dream as though via a door, instead of waking up inside a dream he or she is already having.

So what are the actual methods used to induce these two types of lucid dream experiences?

Remember your dreams.

If you’d like to lucid dream, perhaps one of the most successful way of doing so is known as dream recall. Dream recall is simply the ability to remember one’s dreams. By remembering your dreams, you are able to recognize them when you are sleeping, because most likely, you will have the same dream, or at least aspects of it, more than once.

Writing down everything you can recall dreaming, this is called keeping a dream journal. The more you do this the more likely you will be to remember your dreams. If possible do this as soon as you wake up as this is the time when you will remember the most about your dreams.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

This technique was developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, one of the lead scientists in the field of lucid dreaming. To use this method, just tell yourself about an object or element that you will remember. When you dream, there’s a good chance you’ll see this element, then realize that you’re dreaming.

Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB)

The way you do this one is, only plan on sleeping for a few hours like five or six. Set your alarm if you need to so you will wake up. After you have slept the few hours and wake up, stay up. Find something to do to stay awake. Do a little house work; Think about what you might like to do in your lucid dreams. Return to bed in an hour.

This technique of learning to lucid dream has a sixty percent success rate according to Stephen LaBerge. You have waked up during the dream cycle of your sleep which is referred to as REM. This is like a trigger telling your mind that you want to be aware when you are dreaming.

Cycle Adjustment Technique

This was created by Daniel Love, and what it is, is setting your alarm to wake you up an hour and a half before your normal time. Once you’ve adjusted to waking up early, alternate your alarm to wake you up normally and early. During times you are to wake up normally, you’re body will already be ready to wake up early, and therefore, you will be likely to be awake in your dream.

Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)

This method is described above. If you’d like to use it, the thing to do is to keep your mind awake during the process of your body falling asleep. This is one of the most interesting ways of entering lucid dreams, and is a lot like watching a movie. Just like when you’re watching a movie, you start in a state of readiness, and prepare yourself.Then, you’ll either hit play or start to fall asleep. The screen and what you see when your eyes are closed are both black. Just wait for your movie or dream to begin.

You need to stay aware; it is a lot like self hypnosis. This is not a good exercise to try when you are tired as your mind may not stay as aware. Try to focus on things that require brain activity such as doing math puzzles, jogging or anything to keep your mind active. Breathe evenly and focus on relaxing every part of your body.

Technology has moved on in recent years, and there are various devices like dreaming masks and other scientific appliances which contain such things as strobe lights to induce lucid dreams.

The best and easiest way to achieving the state of lucid dreaming is by using headphones.You should listen to sounds that naturally alter your brainwaves, these are called binaural beats.

These work by synchronizing the two hemispheres of the brain and have the effect of almost instantaneously changing your brainwaves to the REM frequency needed for a lucid dream to occur.

Combined with self affirmations and sessions of self hypnosis, these methods make it easy to become a lucid dreamer. You just need the practice and determination

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Tags: conscious dreaming, dream control, lucid dream, lucid dreamer, lucid dreaming, lucid dreams