Becoming a Lucid Dreamer
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 just seems to serve the purpose of simply refreshing ourselves in order to live out the next day. But what if you could control that period of time that you have dreams?
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.
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 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.
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)
Developed by renowned lucid dream researcher Dr. Stephen LaBerge, this technique works by telling yourself to recognize a certain object or situation when you see it in your dreams. When you see this object, it triggers the realization that you are in a dreaming, allowing you to begin lucid 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 Stephen LaBerge, there is a 60% success rate of this technique. The reason why is that you would have woken up during the process of sleep, meaning that your mind is not fully aware of this, and are still in the middle of REM cycle. So basically, it’s like going to your mind and telling it that you want to lucid dream.
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.
A number of ways to stay aware are counting, imagine climbing or descending stairs, chant, control your breathing, count your breaths, and concentrate on relaxing the body from their toes to head. (This all falls under the term ‘self hypnosis’.) It is best to do this when you are not tired, like 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.
Listening to binaural beat frequencies through a head set is the simplest and most consistent way to create a lucid dream.
The purpose is to synchronize both sides of the brain to create the REM frequency that is required for lucid dreaming.
Put all or many of these techniques together and you are ready to begin your journey into the wonderful world of lucid dreaming. It is a simple process that anyone can do.
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