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How To Dream Lucidly Every Night
You've heard about lucid dreaming and you're sure that it is something you want to try.
However, you are at a loss as to how one becomes a lucid dreamer.
You may have heard that there are benefits to being a lucid dreamer. This is the case, but
to get a clearer picture of what these benefits are, you need to take a look at what usually
happens when you go to 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.
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.
How would you like to control what you do while in your dream? Control the events that
happen in it in any way you like. A lucid dreamer is in complete control of their dreams.
They are able to enter the spiritual realm of existence far removed from what exists in the
physical waking hours.
This sounds great, but how can you become a lucid dreamer? There are two ways to
reach this state – one is by having a DLID, or dream initiated lucid dream. These are
instances where the dreamer has taught themselves to recognize that they are having a
dream and start to assert control over the direction of their dream.
The next way is called wake initiated lucid dream (WILD); in this process, you go from
wake to sleep stage with no loss of consciousness. To put it more simply you walk
through the door from here to your dreams instead of just happening upon them
So how are these types of lucid dreaming induced?
Dream Recall
One of the best ways to begin learning to become a lucid dreamer is by practicing dream
recall. This is simply the ability to remember your dreams. When you remember your
dreams and learn more about the commonalities which can be observed in your dreams, it
is easier to recognize a dream and start to take control over the direction of it.
Keeping a dream journal is the best way to learn this skill. A dream journal is for writing
down anything which you can remember about your dreams for future reference. You
should do this immediately after waking up; the longer you wait, the harder it will be to
recall.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)
One of the leading scientists who studies lucid dreaming is Dr Stephen LaBerge. He
developed the MILD system. Keep telling yourself you will remember your dreams.
Think of something in the dream and resolve to remember it. When you see this in your
dream it will remind you that you are dreaming.
Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB)
In this technique, you sleep and set your alarm for only a few hours from the time that
you go to bed. Upon awakening, don't go right back to sleep – stay awake 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
Developed by Daniel Love, this involves setting your alarm to wake about 90 minutes
earlier than usual; once you acclimate to this, set your alarm to wake you up alternately
early and at the time you used to get up. At those times when you wake up at the usual
time, you'll be accustomed to waking early. This means that you are more likely to lucid
dream during this last hour and a half.
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.
Some of the methods which can keep you mentally alert are chanting, being aware of
your breathing, counting, and picturing yourself climbing up or down stairs and focusing
on relaxing your body from head to toe. All of these techniques fall under the umbrella of
self hypnosis. The best time to use this technique is when you are not physically tired,
especially in the afternoon.
There are also technological innovations which can help to induce lucid dreaming, among
them strobe lights and dreaming masks.
Possibly the best method of all is to play binaural sound frequencies on headphones.
The purpose is to synchronize both sides of the brain to create the REM frequency that is
required for lucid dreaming.
With a combination of self affirmations, self hypnosis and binaural sounds, being a lucid
dreamer is something anyone can do successfully.
Power Tools For Lucid Dreaming. |
