How To Be A Lucid Dreamer
So you want to be a lucid dreamer. Well that’s a good start, at least you know what you want to do; but how exactly do you go about it?
It can be helpful to know why you would like to be a lucid dreamer. What do you have to gain from the process? In order to find the profit in lucid dreaming we should begin with the normal dream process.
What typically happens is you lay down, you close your eyes and you wake six to eight hours later – you may or may not remember any dreams you gave had in this time. In and of itself, not terribly exciting.
Average sleep has a purpose it prepares our minds and bodies to carry out the duties of the next day. However, consider the idea of managing your dreams consciously.
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.
The second way is having a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD); where the dreamer goes from being awake, to being asleep with no change in consciousness. In other words, the dreamer enters their dream as if it were a door, rather than just “waking up” in a dream.
Now that we know the basic how, what are the fine points to entering either one of these lucid dream realms?
Dream Recall
The easiest place to begin your lucid dream search is in dreams you have already had. When you can remember your dreams, you will be able to recognize when you have that dream again. Many times, we will have the same dream or part of a dream over and over.
The best way to remember your dreams is of course to write them down. Keep a pen and pad by the bed and immediately upon waking from a dream write it down. The reason you want to write it immediately upon waking is so you do not forget any part of the dream. Dreams tend to fade from our conscious mind rather quickly.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)
This is a technique based on entering your dreams with the intention of realizing you are dreaming or looking for a dream sign. For instance when you awaken in the nigh from a dream and recall a blue dog you mark that blue dog in your mind as your dream sign. Then when you encounter this again you will know you are dreaming.
Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB)
This simple process has you taking no action except to set an alarm that will waken you in less time than you normally sleep. For most of us about five or six hours will do it. After the alarm awakens you do not try to fall back to sleep. For about an hour you should read, watch TV or concentrate on lucid dreaming then go back to sleep.
According to Dr, LaBerge, this method has a 60% success rate. The idea here is to wake yourself in the midst of a REM cycle so that upon returning to sleep, lucid dreaming will be easy to achieve.
Cycle Adjustment Technique
Developed by Daniel Love, in this technique you first acclimate yourself to waking 90 minutes earlier than usual. Then alternate waking early with waking at your usual time. When you wake up at the later (regular) time, your body will begin to stir 90 minutes earlier, giving you a much better chance at achieving a state of lucid dreaming, at least during this 90 minutes.
Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)
This technique involves maintaining mental alertness even as your body shuts down for sleep. Think of it as if you are in a movies theater, with the film soon to begin; your closed eyelids are like the black screen just before the movie starts.
There are any number of ways to keep your mind alert, count, controlled breathing techniques or concentrated relaxation are all great ways to keep the mind alert. It is a bit like hypnotizing your self. This works best if you are not exhausted, try it during an afternoon nap.
Like many other areas of our life, technology has made its mark. Today you can find several electronic devices that can aid you in inducing lucid dreams. There are masks that can detect when you enter REM sleep then use a vibration, sound or small lights to induce lucidity.
Possibly the best method of all is to play binaural sound frequencies on headphones.
These binaural sounds induce lucid dreaming by causing the hemispheres of your brain to synchronize, making your brainwaves reach the state required for lucid dreaming.
With self affirmations and self hypnosis combined with binaural sound, being a lucid dreamer is a goal which anyone can reach.
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