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Another Night, Another Lucid Dream!
If you want to know how to condition yourself to be a lucid dreamer, you’ve come to the
right place. Let’s look at how this can be accomplished.
Why do you want to be a lucid dreamer? How will it help you? To understand the
rewards of this type of dreaming better, let’s look at common sleep experiences.
Sleep itself is not so interesting; you get ready for bed, lie down and close your eyes.
Then you may have uncontrolled dreams or not and several hours later you awaken.
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 you could be an active instead of passive participant in your dreams? What if you
could take control of your dream instead of being controlled by it? Someone who has
managed to become a lucid dreamer can do all of this – they are not bound by anything
except for their imagination.
This sounds great the only thing left is the how. You can accomplish lucid dream state in
one of two ways. One, you can have a dream initiated lucid dream (DILD); this is where
while dreaming you become aware of the fact that you are dreaming. In this way, you
bring a level of consciousness into the dream.
A wake initiated lucid dream or WILD is a state where the person passes almost
immediately from being awake into having a dream, with no period of dreamless sleep in
between. In this way your mind will still be aware of what you are dreaming.
So, what methods can you use to induce these kinds of lucid dreaming states?
Recall your dreams
You will need to learn how to remember your dreams if you want to be able to have lucid
dreams. It is referred to as dream recall, the ability to remember your dreams. If you can
remember your dreams you are more likely to realize when you are dreaming because
many of the dreams you have will be the same or almost the same.
Keep a record of your dreams. You may not remember much at first but write down any
details regardless of how trivial. You will begin to remember more and more as time goes
on. Do this as soon as you wake up when your dreams are still fresh in your mind,
otherwise you will forget as the day goes by.
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)
To use this process, go to sleep with an alarm set to wake you up five to six hours later.
When you wake up, don't go right back to sleep. Instead, do something else, like think
about lucid dreaming or read a book, for about an hour. Then go back to bed.
According to Dr. LaBerge, this technique has a success rate of about sixty percent. That's
because you've awakened in the middle of the sleep process, while you're still in the
middle of an REM cycle and not completely aware. It's like telling your mind that you're
interested in lucid dreaming.
Cycle Adjustment Technique
This invention of Daniel Love is another way to have lucid dreams. This involves getting
up earlier. Get up an hour and a half earlier until you get used to it. After that switch back
to your regular time to get up. Keep switching back and forth. This way when you sleep
the later time period, you will be likely to lucid dream as your brain is used to awakening
earlier.
Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)
Keep your mind aware and let your body sleep is the theory in this technique. Prepare to
go to sleep but imagine you are staring at a blank screen waiting for the movie to appear,
perhaps even daydream about something you like. Soon your dreams will begin to play
out and you will be aware enough to have a part in what happens there.
You can also use this technique with tactics like counting, chanting or imagining yourself
climbing stairs as you go to sleep. This method of achieving lucid dreaming is best done
in the afternoon or other times when you are not terribly tired.
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.
Listen to binaural beats with headphones; this is a very effective way to achieve a lucid
dream.
These sounds naturally change your brainwaves and cause you to go into REM sleep
quickly and easily. You will also still be aware so it will be a lucid dream.
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.
The lucid Dreamer and Dreams |
