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The Lucid Dreaming Experience
You have decided you want to be a lucid dreamer, otherwise known as a conscious
dreamer. Knowing what you would like to do is good, the question remains on how do
you accomplish this?
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.
Normal sleep is just a method of refreshing ourselves for the busyness of the next day.
However, it could be a lot more interesting if you could control the period of time in
which you're dreaming.
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.
How can a person achieve this? How do you learn to be a lucid dreamer? DILD refers to
a dream initiated lucid dream. You need to realize you are dreaming. In other words, if
you are dreaming and know it, you are having a lucid dream.
The second method is to have a wake initiated lucid dream, or WILD. In these situations,
the dreamer goes from awake to lucid dream with no change in consciousness. The
dreamer simply begins dreaming without having the sensation of falling asleep.
Now that we know the basic how, what are the fine points to entering either one of these
lucid dream realms?
Dream Recall
If you're interested in lucid dreaming, dream recall is one of the most effective ways of
learning to do it. Dream recall is the ability to remember your dreams. If you remember
them, you're more likely to be able to recognize them while you're asleep. That's because
most of us have the same dreams or dream elements 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)
Dr Steven LaBerge is a leading scientist who studies lucid dreaming. He was the founder
of MILD. This method involves telling yourself you will remember your dreams or
perhaps an object in the dream. When you see the object while dreaming it will trigger
your mind into knowing you are in a dream.
Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB)
Go to sleep as usual but only for five or six hours, set your alarm if need be. When you
wake up from this, don’t go back to bed; instead occupy yourself with something to keep
you awake. Think about lucid dreaming or watch some TV. After about an hour 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, 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)
As described earlier wake initiated lucid dreams are matter of keeping your mind
conscious as you fall asleep. This may be the most fun way to achieve lucid dream state.
Imagine if you will that, your dreams are like a movie you are planning to watch. You get
comfortable, turn on the television set, (sleep), first you have a dark screen (eyes closed)
and now it is a matter of getting through the previews to the movie.
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.
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.
Anyone can learn to be a lucid dreamer. Practice the self hypnosis and keep telling
yourself when awake that you will be aware when you are dreaming. This will prepare
you for your lucid dream experience.
Alternative Medicines - How to Lucid Dream and Awake in Your Sleep |
