Dreaming remains one of the most mysterious parts of consciousness, especially when it comes to lucid dreaming. The desire to master lucid dreaming is becoming more and more common. We still have yet to determine exactly what a dream is, how/why it occurs and if dreams hold any meaning. Anciently, we have described the dream space as an alternate universe where we can gain much of the wisdom needed to help us along the human experience.
In the past, we have always searched for the deeper meaning and sacrecy in our dreams. In recent dates, we know more about the brain and consciousness than ever before.
Additionally, we know more about what our brain is up to while we are asleep. Even though we are only beginning to put the puzzle pieces together, we still have a long way to go when it comes to understanding the phenomenon that is dreaming!
In this article, we will be discussing what is lucid dreaming, the most popular method used and a few tips I would like to share with you!What is lucid dreaming?
To put it simply, lucid dreaming is when you become conscious or ‘awake’ whilst you are dreaming, without actually waking up in your bed. While you are experiencing a dream, you suddenly gain the realisation that you are in a dream. When this happens, it changes the whole nature of your dream.
Before becoming lucid in a dream, you are out of control in regards to what is happening, where your dream is taking place and all other aspects that the dream is made of. When you become lucid you are given a surprising amount of ‘control’ over your dream.
Many people who have never had a lucid dream are under the impression that you can, as an example, simply snap your fingers and make a delicious gourmet meal magically appear in front of you! However, that isn’t exactly how it works. You can indeed manipulate the dream, however, there must be a lot of intent in your manipulations. You cannot manifest an object or person out of nothing, you must create it out of intent and expectation.
Expectations are a great hack for the lucid dreamer. In waking life you can expect something to happen, but that doesn’t mean it is more likely to happen just because you are expecting it to. In the dreaming world, expecting something to occur will make it occur.
The nature of lucid dreaming is extremely complex and massively debated within the community. The best way to understand it is, of course, having one yourself. If you are struggling to successfully lucid dream then doing your research and reading books on the topic is helpful if you want to grasp the concept until you get the hang of lucid dreaming. If this sounds like you, then you may enjoy this next section where we go over how to lucid dream.
How to lucid dream
There are countless ways that one can end up having a lucid dream. Sometimes when I try I don’t succeed. Other times when I am not trying, I end up having a lucid dream on accident! In fact, the first-ever lucid dream that I can recall was when I was a young child and I had no idea what lucid dreaming was and was too young to understand or question it.
Later on in life, I learned about lucid dreaming, realised I was quite familiar with them, and began to encourage them, exploring my own unconscious mind as I snooze!
I am going to share the most simple way to have a lucid dream. Well, in my opinion, this is the easiest route. Many other lucid dreams may beg to differ. However, this is possibly up there are one of the most common ways beginners learn to lucid dream.
You hold the power within your own hands!
The first steps do not take place in your bed, surprisingly! Most of lucidity training happens in waking life. Start with putting an alarm on your phone that goes off a few times a day.
When it goes off, take a few minutes to stop what you are doing, put your hands up in front of your face, and stare at them. Analyze them. Really look at your hands. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Well, trust me, this simple task sure can create some magic!
Try to do this when you are alone so you aren’t distracted by anyone or anything. Also, so people don’t think you’ve gone totally insane or have been spiked with some kind of psychedelic! I have found it works best when you hold your hands up in front of your face rather than having them below your chin, looking down at them.
If this technique works correctly, then you will be in the midst of a dream when your hands randomly show up right in front of your face, blocking your view of the dream world.
Hopefully, this is when you’ll go ‘Holy f*ck!!! I’m dreaming! I’m dreaming!’, creating an unmatched sensation of bliss, ecstasy, and pure excitement! The more you look at your hands throughout the day, the more they are likely to appear, birthing lucidity in the dream realm.
You can also speed things up if you look at your hands for 5 minutes every night right before you go to sleep, repeating to yourself ‘‘Am I dreaming?’’.
You know when you wake up and remember the dream you had and realise it was about one of the last things you thought about before you fell asleep? Well, you can use this to your advantage by looking at your hands right before going to bed, asking yourself the question ‘‘Am I dreaming?’’ with the hope that this will then happen in your dream as well.
Another way to up the chances of having a lucid dream is by repeatedly saying the sentences below as you are trying to fall asleep:
‘‘I am going to wake up in my dreams tonight.
I am going to wake up in my dreams tonight.
I am going to wake up in my dreams tonight.
I am going to lucid dream tonight!’“
How to induce lucid dreaming-tips & tricks
The more techniques you introduce to your practice, the more successful you will be with gaining lucidity. To help you along, I have added some simple yet helpful tips that you can follow to induce lucid dreams more effortlessly:
REM Sleep
Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep) is the stage of sleep where we dream. Our brain activity, pulse, blood pressure, and breathing increase during REM as our eyes dart around under our eyelids. The better quality REM sleep we get, the more clearly we dream. The more clearly we dream, the more likely we are to become lucid during a dream.
Helpful Herbs
Speaking of REM sleep, many herbs can be used to increase dream clarity. A few include but are not limited to CBD, valerian root, ashwagandha and any other herbs that improve sleep quality.
External encouragement
Something that has helped many people during their lucid dream training is binaural beats. More specifically, binaural beats that are exclusively made to educe lucid dreaming. Have you ever been dreaming and someone you know suddenly appears in your dream and begins speaking to you, only to wake up to that same person standing over you and trying to wake you up?
This displays that your dreams can be affected by what is happening around your sleeping body, which suggests that certain beats can help induce the lucid dream state more than others.
Comfort is key
Make sure your sleeping space is as comfortable as can be before drifting off. Try to fall asleep in the most comfortable position possible.
If you experience discomfort during a dream and move around in your sleep, this can disrupt your REM sleep as well as heighten the chances of you waking up from your slumber before you even get to your REM sleep stage.
Testing Reality
This is a common practice in the community that is helpful for both the beginner and advanced lucid dreamer. Applying reality tests as a common practice in your life will help you naturally do the same when in the dream realm. For example, one thing I have noticed in the dream realm is that clocks, numbers, letters, words, etc. all look extremely alien to what I am used to seeing in waking life.
After noticing this, I will randomly think to myself during the day ‘Am I dreaming? Where is a clock?’. I then find a clock and reassure myself that this is a waking life clock I am looking at and I am therefore in fact not dreaming. This helps you notice when a clock in the dream world looks questionable, helping you realise you are in a dream and become lucid.
Asking yourself ‘Am I dreaming?’ in waking life every time something irregular happens will help you do the same when you are dreaming.
Meditation
Using a tool, such as meditation, allows you to sharpen your brain and gain greater mental clarity. Through meditation, we can also gain greater awareness of the nature of our thoughts. Understanding your thought patterns and finding a deeper understanding of consciousness is a huge advantage when learning about the unconscious brain and its functions.
Additionally, it will also help in reducing stress and anxiety, which will help you become a calmer person. Being a calmer person also means you will get better sleep at night, which will help improve your REM sleep!
Closing thought
Here is my final and possibly most important tip out of them all: Practice makes progress!
Practice, practice, practice! Don’t give up! If you put in the time and steer away from discouragement, you will eventually succeed. If you continue to think about lucid dreaming throughout your day, complete the hand exercises daily, and obsess over learning about lucid dreaming through articles and books you will eventually get there!
I wish you all the luck as you either begin or continue on your lucid dreaming path. Don’t fear the void, embrace it! I’ll see you on the other side, fellow dreamers!
