Archive for the 'Dreams & Lucid Dreaming' Category
This article is part of the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
As you become more skilled at altering your surroundings within your dreams, you should also practice creating new objects. At first, practice working slowly and deliberately to create small, simple objects, such as a tennis ball or a spoon. Hold out your hands, palms facing upward, and use your conscious mind to shape and form the object, willing it to appear in your hands. Take your time and keep things simple at first. Don't try to create something complex or intricate yet. (Don't fret. We'll get to the complex stuff soon enough.)
Once you're comfortable creating small objects, use your mind to will into existence larger objects such as a simple wooden chair or a box. If the object is too big to hold in your hands, mentally will it to appear in a specific location in the room, facing a specific direction.
Regardless of the size of the object, remember to work on basic objects at first. Instead of jumping directly into creating complicated items, it's better to practice the creation of simple dream objects until you …Continue reading
This article is part of the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Once you have practiced maintaining control of your dream body, it's time to move on to controlling your dream environment. It is best to begin with small changes to your dream surroundings and gradually work up to larger changes.
Spend time practicing simple changes — such as altering the color of the room — before attempting to change the entire dream scene. Select a piece of furniture and change its style. Change the shape of an object from round to square or vice versa. Add a small feature to the room or to an outdoor dream scene.
Don't focus solely on visual changes. You should also incorporate your other senses in the process. Change the sound of music from one style to another. Attempt to alter the scent of a flower or food to an entirely different scent. Change the tactile sensation of a specific texture or fabric by altering the texture to a different style. This practice will also help you learn to …Continue reading
This article is part of the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
As you grow more proficient at becoming lucid within your dreams, you may find it takes some practice before you're able to influence things within the dream or even to control your own actions in the dream. Being lucid simply means being aware of the fact that you're dreaming. There are many levels of lucidity, and some of them come with more control than others. Having a lucid dream doesn't always mean you'll have control of the dream, but with a bit of practice you can learn how to gain control of your dream self as well as the dream environment and everything in it. That's when things really get fun.
As soon as you achieve conscious awareness within a dream and have taken steps to maintain that lucidity, immediately remind yourself that you are in complete control of your actions and reactions. Quickly assess the dream scene — don't spend too much time looking around or you may get caught up in the dream and lose lucidity — then make a conscious decision about where you would like to go within the dream scene and what you would like to do. Make a determined effort to take that action before …Continue reading
This article is part of the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Once you become lucid within a dream, you may find the most difficult aspect is holding onto that awareness. It’s incredibly easy to become caught up in the events of the dream and quickly lose whatever lucidity was initially gained. You may achieve conscious awareness one moment and not even notice when it slips away in the next moment. This is a common occurrence and will happen less often as you continue your daily lucid dreaming practice and learn to control your level of awareness within the dream.
The first time you realize you’re dreaming, it is natural to feel a sense of excitement. It’s important not to allow yourself to be carried away by this excitement or it is very likely you’ll lose your hold on that conscious awareness and either become caught up in the dream again or possibly even wake yourself up. Try to remain calm and hold on to the thought that you are dreaming. Repeat to yourself, "I am dreaming. This is a dream." Focus your efforts on convincing yourself you are dreaming. This will help you maintain a firm hold on your newly achieved lucidity.
Sometimes it’s also necessary to take other simple steps to remain consciously aware and to increase your level of lucidity. As you …Continue reading
This article is Part 12 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Though it's difficult to induce a lucid dream directly from the waking state when you first go to bed at night, it is very possible to achieve a wake induced lucid dream (WILD) during your wake-up interval in the morning or when napping in the mid-afternoon. In order to induce a conscious dream from the waking state, and especially when attempting it during a daytime nap, it's first necessary to completely relax your physical body. There are several very effective relaxation techniques described on this site.
When you are completely relaxed, lie comfortably on your back in bed. Lift one hand and forearm until it is pointed upward, held perpendicular to your upper arm. Keep your arm in this position as you drift off to sleep. When you lose conscious awareness, your arm will naturally fall back to the bed, which will most likely wake you up. When this occurs, begin the technique again. The purpose of this exercise is to teach yourself how to retain your conscious awareness as you transition into the sleep state, to maintain a perfect balance between a physically sleeping body and a consciously aware mind. You'll eventually become able to remain mentally awake long after your body falls asleep.
Another useful technique is to perform a specific mental task as you fall asleep. Though it may come as a surprise, something as simple …Continue reading
This article is Part 11 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Because dreams take place in the REM sleep state and we experience the REM state more frequently in the later hours of sleep, the chance of achieving a lucid dream is much higher during the last few hours before you wake up. By making a slight adjustment to your sleep pattern, you can take advantage of this increased occurrence of REM sleep to trigger lucid dreams.
Using a "wake-up interval", you can quickly increase your chances of having a lucid dream. The simplest method of employing the wake-up interval technique is to sleep until two hours prior to your usual wake-up time, get out of bed and remain active for one hour, then return to bed for the final hour of sleep. Your chances of achieving a lucid dream in that final hour of sleep will be dramatically increased.
For example, if you typically sleep for eight hours per night, on a normal night you may decide to retire to bed at 11 PM and wake up at 7AM. To use the wake-up interval, you would instead go to bed your usual bedtime of 11 PM but set your alarm for 5 AM — six hours later — then awaken at 5 AM and spend an hour involved in any activity during which you're not likely to fall back to sleep. At 6 AM, you would return to bed and sleep for another hour. (As you can see, this results in a total sleep time of only seven hours, but we'll resolve that problem in a moment.) …Continue reading
