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.
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 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.
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.
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.
So what are the actual methods used to induce these two types of lucid dream experiences?
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.
The way to practise dream recall is by keeping a dream journal. The dream journal is meant as a tool to write down anything you can remember about your dream, in order to recall it for the future. This should be done right after waking up; otherwise dreams will become harder to remember.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)
This is a technique that was developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, one of the lead scientists studying lucid dreaming. The intent here is to simply tell yourself that you will remember something, like an object for example and then in the dream, when you see this object you will realize it is a dream.
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 research, this technique has about a 60% success rate. What has happened is you were awakened during an intense time of REM sleep. Your brain will not be completely aware that you are awake. Many times since REM stages tend to be longer, the episodes of lucid dreaming will be as well.
Cycle Adjustment Technique
This method was created by Daniel Love in this technique you set an alarm to awaken you 90 minutes before you normally would awaken. This is done for approximately a week. After a week, you begin to alternate between normal wake up and early. On the normal waking days, the body will come alert earlier thereby increasing the chance of lucidity.
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.
Technologies like strobe lights and dreaming masks can also help you to become a lucid dreamer.
Definitely the easiest and most reliable way of inducing a lucid dream however is by listening to binaural beats sound frequencies via 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.
