Archive for the 'Dreams & Lucid Dreaming' Category
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
This article is Part 10 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Achieving conscious awareness in your dreams is not as difficult as it seems, but it does require practice in order to attain a lucid state on a regular basis. The great thing about lucid dreaming techniques is their simplicity. They're easy to learn and easy to practice on your own, they don't cost anything, you don't need any fancy equipment to practice them, and they don't take a huge amount of time each day.
The most important thing is to be consistent about your daily practice. Inconsistent practice is a common cause for failure to achieve lucid dreaming. Practicing one or more of the following techniques every day will help you achieve conscious awareness in your dreams. It may not happen the first night, but if you're consistent it could happen in a few short weeks.
Start by using just one technique each day. After a few days, add a second technique and perform both techniques each day for a few days. Then add a third technique and perform all three techniques for the next few days, and continue adding a new technique every few days. Even if you practice every one of these techniques within the same day, it will not require you to set aside hours and hours of practice time. Most of the techniques take only a few minutes, and many of them can be done as you fall asleep. …Continue reading
This article is Part 9 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
In my previous article, I described how reality checks can help you achieve lucid dreams, and how to use your personal dream symbols as triggers to perform a variety of reality checks. In this article, I'll cover other simple reality checking techniques to help you become lucid in your dreams.
One of the easiest reality checks involves using written or printed text to determine whether or not you are dreaming. In dreams, text nearly always shifts, wiggles, or changes as you glance at it. This makes it perfect for use in a reality check. Whenever you ask yourself, "Am I dreaming?", glance at something with text written or printed on it. Use a book, newspaper, sign, billboard, or anything else you can find that contains clear and easy-to-read text. Stare at the text for a moment. If the text remains clear and does not shift or wiggle, read the words and fix them in your mind then look away briefly. Look back again at the text and verify the words have not changed.
If the words have changed, congratulations! You are dreaming! If the words have not changed, try …Continue reading
This article is Part 8 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
In order to determine whether or not you are dreaming, it is necessary to develop a habit of performing frequent reality checks. A reality check simply involves asking yourself a question, such as "Am I dreaming?" or "Is this a dream?", and may also involve specific actions you can take to determine if you are awake or dreaming.
Because most of us are not in the habit of asking ourselves "Am I dreaming?" while in the midst of a dream, we must train ourselves to get into the habit of questioning our reality. By training yourself to regularly question your reality during waking life to determine whether or not you are dreaming, the habit will eventually carry over to your dreaming life and ultimately you will find yourself posing the question while dreaming. When that happens, you'll greatly increase the odds of realizing you are within a dream and thus increase the odds of achieving lucidity.
Asking yourself "Am I dreaming?" only whenever the thought occurs to you will not help you develop the habit. Instead, you must make a habit of remembering to perform reality checks at frequent intervals throughout the day. It may help to schedule your reality checks so they coincide with other events that typically occur multiple times during each day, such as every time you eat, every time you use the restroom, every time you walk in or out of your home, or even every time you walk through any doorway. If you make it a point to …Continue reading
This article is Part 7 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Every person has his or her own personal dream symbols — objects, events, people, or places that appear frequently within dreams. One person may dream often of a specific animal, while another may find himself or herself frequently visiting the same location in dreams. These commonly appearing phenomena vary from person to person and are known as personal dream symbols.
Discovering your own personal dream symbols can be of great help in achieving conscious dreaming. Once you have discovered your personal dream symbols, you will be able to use those objects and events as cues for a reality check in order to trigger a conscious dreaming experience.
In order to discover your personal dream symbols, it is necessary to keep a dream journal. (Refer to the previous entry to learn the best methods for recording your dreams to encourage lucid dreaming.) Over time, you will begin to notice patterns emerging in your journal. Certain keywords will appear more often than others. You will discover …Continue reading
This article is Part 6 in the series Mastering the Art of Lucid Dreaming.
Keeping a dream journal is the single most effective method for enhancing dream recall. It also can be highly effective at helping you achieve lucid dreaming. By recording the details of each dream in your journal, you will be able to track dream patterns and discover your personal dream cues, which then can be used in other techniques to trigger conscious dreaming.
The first step is to obtain a notebook or journal in which to record your dreams. Keep the journal and a pen or pencil beside your bed at all times, with your journal left open to the next blank page. You also may want to obtain a second journal to leave in any other location in your home where you might fall asleep (such as the reclining chair in front of the television) or to take with you when you travel.
It is important to store your dream journal in an easily accessible location, preferably next to your bed. Even the slightest amount of activity can cause you to forget the details of a dream, and the small amount of activity involved in getting out of bed to locate your dream journal may …Continue reading
