The Secret Life Of A Lucid Dreamer!
Wouldn?t it be nice to have a lucid dream, to be aware you are dreaming and control what happens? Of course you do, but how does one learn to do this?
So, what is so good about being a lucid dreamer? What would you gain from it? In order to understand the advantages of being aware when you are dreaming, we need to examine what regular sleep actually is.
Before we look at lucid dreaming, think about normal sleep; you get into bed, close your eyes for a certain length of time, and either dream or just see black for a few hours and then wake up! It isn’t very interesting now is it?
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.
Would you like to stop just being a passive observer and make sure your dreams are whatever you want them to be? That’s what being a lucid dreamer is all about. You’re totally in control of your dreams, and able to explore new worlds that aren’t bound to the real world’s laws.
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.
Method number two is a wake initiated lucid dream, or WILD. This is when the dreamer begins awake, then goes to being asleep, but without losing consciousness. The dreamer enters their dream as though via a door, instead of waking up inside a dream he or she is already having.
So, what methods can you use to induce these kinds of lucid dreaming states?
Remember your dreams.
If you’d like to lucid dream, perhaps one of the most successful way of doing so is known as dream recall. Dream recall is simply the ability to remember one’s dreams. By remembering your dreams, you are able to recognize them when you are sleeping, because most likely, you will have the same dream, or at least aspects of it, more than once.
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.
MILD refers to Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams
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)
To use this process, go to sleep with an alarm set to wake you up five to six hours later. When you wake up, don’t go right back to sleep. Instead, do something else, like think about lucid dreaming or read a book, for about an hour. Then go back to bed.
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
Daniel Love came up with this way to accomplish lucid dreaming. Start getting up an hour and a half earlier. After you get used to this, go back to getting up at your usual time. Since you are used to getting up earlier but don?t have to now, your mind is still thinking you are awake, therefore you will be more likely to be aware in your dream.
Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)
This method is described above. If you’d like to use it, the thing to do is to keep your mind awake during the process of your body falling asleep. This is one of the most interesting ways of entering lucid dreams, and is a lot like watching a movie. Just like when you’re watching a movie, you start in a state of readiness, and prepare yourself.Then, you’ll either hit play or start to fall asleep. The screen and what you see when your eyes are closed are both black. Just wait for your movie or dream to begin.
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.
In recent years, the advance of technology has brought us new devices to help us dream lucidly. These include strobe lights, dreaming masks, and other gadgets thought to assist with lucid dreaming.
One of the easiest, most reliable methods to induce lucid dreaming is by listening to binaural beats and special sound frequencies through headphones.
This type of sound can alter your brain and bring you to the REM stage of sleep very quickly. This is where your lucid dreaming will occur.
Combined with the self hypnosis sessions and affirmations to prepare your subconscious mind beforehand, becoming a lucid dreamer is something that everyone can now experience!