Lucid Dreaming

Hey Bloggers! Now that you've had a chance to read a personal account of lucid dreaming, I bet you're all pretty anxious to start lucid dreaming yourself!

So, let the lucid dreaming begin!!

We're gonna discuss and go over some of the lucid dreaming techniques, so after following these simple methods, your lucid dreaming experience is nothing but a good night's sleep away!

Let's begin with the Wake-Initiation of Lucid Dream Methods (WILD):

the WILD technique works by recognizing the hypnagogic state--that weird in between state when you're not quite awake and you're not quite asleep--and by keeping your mind alert and conscious during this period, your body slips into sleep while your mind enters straight into a dream state without losing awareness of the fact that you're dreaming.

Step #1 Set your alarm clocks people!!

This technique will first of all be most successful after around 4-7 hours of sleep. Why?? Because this is the time where most of your REM sleep is likely to occur and as you may remember, REM stage of sleep is primarily where all dreams take place!

Step #2 Relax your body and mind.

Relaxation is key to this process! So, after waking yourself up, let go of all the tension and your body. Relax your muscles, relax your mind, and control your breathing. Take nice, slow deep breaths.

As your relaxing, let thoughts and images run through your mind. But do not interact or get involved with them. Stay focused on the task at hand, remind yourself that your goal is to lucid dream. Keep your mind alert as your body drifts into sleep and repeat to yourself "I am Dreaming" over and over again.

Step #3 Enjoy the Hypnagogic State

As you enter the Hypnagogic state, you may see and experience different colors around you, hear different sounds, and feel different sensations. Observe them and enjoy them, this is the precursor to your full-on dream state! but once again don't get too involved. Remain relaxed while still reminding yourself of your intention to lucid dream.

Step#4 Let your body fall asleep

This is the tricky part. The key thing here is to continue to remain relaxed, and let your body fall asleep while your mind is still awake. Stay focused on lucid dreaming. Never lose sight of your plan. Hold onto your consciousness. As your body drifts off, continue to remind yourself on your plans to lucid dream. With practice, your body will fall asleep as you'll enter your dream state, with an alert mind.

As your body falls asleep, you may enter sleep paralysis, but don't get too alarmed! Remember this is a natural process that occurs during sleep. Instead, Relax and enjoy your transition into your dream state.

Step #5 Enter your dream!

Once your body is asleep and a dream is unfolding before you....enter that dream! Observe your dream environment, and experiment with it. Use this time to enjoy your lucid dream! Test your abilities and your control within this state. See what you're capable of!


Hope this helps future Lucid Dreamers!

Next, we're going to discuss the Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams technique (MILD) So, if the WILD technique doesn't quite work for you, the MILD method might just be your thing!

MILD was created by Dr. Stephen Leberge, who is an expert in the field of lucidity.

This technique involves setting an intention to lucid dream, and to remember and recognize signs that you are lucid dreaming.

So how does this work???

First of all Self-awareness is Key to this process!!

Awareness of yourself and the world around you will help up the chances that you will recognize when you are dreaming.

How can you increase your self-awareness??

Dream Recall!

Make it a point to start remembering your dreams. Good dream Recall is key to lucidity! Why? Because you get better awareness about what your dream world looks like! We highly recommend keeping a Dream journal for this.

Dream journals will help increase your ability to recall your dreams and they help you to spot any patterns that your dreams may have.

What’s a good way keep a journal?? We recommend that after waking from a dream, it is best to lie still in your bed and review the dream for a few minutes before writing it down. This will help keep the dream fresh in your mind so that you write down your dream with better accuracy. After reviewing the dream in your head for a few minutes, and once you feel like you’ve got it down, jot down your dream in your journal.

Another good way to increase self-awareness is by Reality Testing.
What’s Reality Testing?

--Reality testing are actions you do to help determine whether you are dreaming or not. For example, a common reality check is to flip light switches. So, if the results of your reality checking (e.g. light switching) are not consistent with what you would expect when you are awake (i.e. nothing changes when you flip the switch) then you can conclude that you are dreaming. The trick is to start reality testing when you’re awake, so that these actions can carry on to your dream world.

Common Reality Tests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream)

• The finger check: Count the fingers on your hands and the hands of other people. In dreams, a person is likely to have more/less than five fingers on a hand

• Flipping a light switch. In dreams, changes in light are rare.
• Mirror test: Look into a mirror. In dreams, reflections often tend to be distorted, blurred, or inaccurate in some way.
• Digital watch test: Look at a digital watch, look away, and look back. If when you look back, some radical changes have occurred and the numbers or figures look weird and distorted, this is a good indicator that you are dreaming.

After increasing your self-awareness through dream recall and reality checking, the next step is to set the intention to lucid dream.

Set the Intention to Lucid Dream.

While falling asleep repeat to yourself, “I will become aware that I am lucid dreaming.” Over and over again. Remind yourself that you will lucid dream, and remind yourself to reality check and look for other signs and indicators that you are dreaming.

Next, Visualize the dream world.

It helps that while falling asleep, you visualize the dream world and engage in it. Imagine that your are reliving a past dream, and feel yourself connect with your dream environment. Look at your surroundings, touch the objects around you, smell the air. The visualization of your dream world will help you enter lucidity.

Finally, Practice! Practice! Practice!

Lucid dreaming may not happen the first night you try it. It’s important to keep on practicing and persevere. With time you will reap the benefits of your work, so don’t quit! We believe that you could be a lucid dreamer!

So keep going!

=)

Sometime during my senior year in high school, I remember that I began to experience unusual sleeping patterns. Some nights I would have insomnia, others I would sleep 11-12 hours. Consequently, some weeks later, I became curious about the meaning of my dreams. My dreams meant something to me, they confirmed which emotions I was experiencing in my adolescence were correct. I'd finally found a meaning to my life, or I had found what appeared to look like it. Needless to say, prior to my sleep disorder episodes, I also played a part to night terrors and unpleasant sleep paralysis periods of religious proportion. I decided dreaming was something I couldn't ignore. Hence, I became a dreamer and I began an odyssey of sleep exploration and affirmation.

I started noticing that some things just didn't add up. Like when I dream about my house for instance, it always looked like my real home but it has a twist to it, sometimes it's in a different location, in different country or it has a different design. Nevertheless, it always feels like home. This transition led me to a particular habit for when I’m aware that I’m dreaming, it let me to fly.

In a recent dream, I remember that everything around me looked the same as my current room; the bed was the same color as my real bed, my door led to a hallway, but my bed was in the middle of the room. Most people probably aren’t going to care about this if they were to encounter a similar situation. However, I used this incident as a cue to notice that I was in a dream. Or better yet, in my own reality. So, I began to concentrate and started to think about levitating. I was feeling weightless and as if gravitation had zero effect on me. Then, suddenly, I began to float like most people picture Jesus floating when he resuscitated. I could see and feel that the ground was getting farther and farther from my feet. Next, I eased my way out to the hallway without wasting any energy, just to find out that I was in my old high school. I saw students I’d never seen before, but they didn’t mind me flying past them. I talked to one of the students and then I woke up.

After a couple of minutes I went back to sleep, right away I knew that I was dreaming and started to fly again.

In our contemporary world, dreaming experience as the previous ones described is widely common. However, it is when a person becomes sensitive to nuances in their dreams that they enable themselves to be acceptant to lucid dreams. There are numerous theories on how to lucid dream, but only a percentage of the population is able to actually experience it.

In my dreams, when I’m conscious that I’m being part of a dream and not reality as we know it, I practice established set of norms which after doing my own research I now realize, are in fact, the standards for lucid dreamers. What are these norms? Flying and sex fantasies.

Flying in my dreams is my Holy Grail, it is my freedom to do whatever I want since it’s also a sign of having a lucid dream. Sometimes when I’m having a nightmare I use flying to escape from my predators. Other times I just fly because its feelings are indescribable. One can describe how sex feels like because we are able to experience it as a part of our life. Flying is something that only exists in dreams.

Lucid dreamers tend to explore their worlds not as being part of them, but being consciously under command to a certain degree. They are still governed by its paradigm; the scenery remains the same, random and illogical. A wall can turn into a car, people can turn into animals, and outside can mean you are inside. Nevertheless, they know they are dreaming.

This type of dreaming is connected to what you already feel in reality. For example, flying isn't something that we experience every day. Therefore its feelings surpass any others.

As a dreamer, I choose to fly, to feel rich, to talk to celebrities, and so forth. Think, what would you do if you knew you were dreaming and there were no consequences to your actions? I remember one time I robbed a bank, another time I jumped off a building to prove to myself that I was in control of my dream. I also love Mustangs because I use to have one, it was my first vehicle, so in one of my dreams I stole a 2010 Mustang GT and I drove it like I stole it.

Welcome Back!!

Greetings again, fellow lucid dreamers!