Lucid Dream

What is a Lucid Dream?

A lucid dream is when you while dreaming are aware that you are dreaming. The beautiful thing is when you are able to exert control over your dream. You know .. faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound..

Types of Lucid Dreams

There are basically two ways you can have a lucid dream. The first is while having a normal dream, train yourself to know that you are in a dream then control your dream. This is called dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD).

The second method is to go from a waking state directly into a dream state without actually falling asleep. Hard? Probably. Impossible ? Probably not.

Induction methods

Ways to help you achieve lucid dreaming.

1. Dream recall
   
• Remember your dreams. The better you can remember them will increase your ability to recognise that you are in a dream. The main technique to improve recall is to keep a dream journal. For an example of a dream journal go here . Yeap. This blog is a dream journal. MY dream journal.
• Another method to improve dream recall is to keep still after waking up. This supposedly helps you remember your dream. Not too sure about this. I usually head off to the throne when I wake up.
  
2. Reality Testing
• This is reality checking. You can simply look at some book in your dream, look away then look back. If the text has changed, you are dreaming.
  
• Pinching yourself. Standard test everyone should know.
• Try moving through objects like Micah's dad.
  
• Go to http://dreamingstrangedreams.blogspot.com/ . If you can read this article again you probably are not dreaming.
• Do all that while you are dreaming, you should realize that you are dreaming. Duh!. After which just kick a$$ in your dream.
  
3. Dream Signs
• Look for weird things, like your bed floating around, or your bedroom opens up to a Melbourne street. Once you know you are in a dream.. see above.
  
4. Mnemonic induction of lucid dreams(MILD)
• The MILD technique is a common technique developed by Dr Stephen LaBerge, used to induce a lucid dream at will by setting an intention, while falling asleep, to remember to recognize that one is dreaming, or to remember to look for dream signs when one is in a dream.*
5. Wake-Back-To-Bed
• Stay awake until you are tired. Sleep for five hours. Wake up . Keep on telling yourself you want to lucid dream for an hour. Then go to bed again. Doesn't really work for me as I sleep like a log.
  
6. Cycle Adjustment techniques
• The cycle adjustment technique, developed by Daniel Love, is an effective way to induce lucid dreaming. It involves adjusting one's sleep cycle to encourage awareness during the latter part of the sleep. First, the person wakes up 90 minutes before normal wake time until their sleep cycle begins to adjust. After this, the normal wake times and early wake times alternate. On the days with the normal wake times, the body is ready to wake up, and this increases alertness, making lucidity more likely.*

Well good luck trying to achieve your lucid dream. Have I done it before? Yes. It was a bit lucky. Will blog about it next time.



*from wikipedia