You have heard about people who lucid dream and think it is something you would like to do. That is a good starting point but exactly how do you begin and what are the steps to being a successful lucid dreamer?

Knowing why you have chosen to become a lucid dreamer is important. How can it benefit you personally? To know this we can work backwards from what it considered normal sleep.

How is lucid dreaming different? Have you ever considered the process of sleep before? Every night you make preparations, crawl into bed and go to sleep. You may have dreams or nightmares or all may just be dark for a few hours, it is rather boring isn?t it?

The sleep we normally have fulfills the purpose of allowing us to rest up for the next day.However, what would it be like if you were able to control your dreams? Instead of being a spectator to your dreams, what if you could be an active participant?

What if you could control your dream rather than the other way around? A lucid dreamer is someone who can do exactly that; someone who is not a passenger but a driver of their dreams.

Are you are ready to begin but remain unsure of how any of this is possible? That is ok we are getting there, there are two way to enter lucid dream state. The first is a dream initiated lucid dream, (DILD). This happens once you have already begun to dream and during the dream, you come to the realization that you are indeed dreaming. At this point, you have brought an element of control to the dream because your conscious mind is now involved.

Another popular method is to have a wake initiated lucid dream (WILD); this is a straight shot from awake to asleep with no lapse in your consciousness. This is usually achieved by purposefully retaining awareness during the hypnagoogic state, which directly precedes sleep.

How exactly do you induce either one of these lucid dream states?

Remember your dreams.

A simple place to start when you would like to lucid dream is in dream recall. This is where you can remember and perhaps recite your dream in part or in whole. You are very likely to have the same dream more than once in your life and being able to remember them will alert you the next time you have that particular dream.

Keeping a dream journal is the best way to learn this skill. A dream journal is for writing down anything which you can remember about your dreams for future reference. You should do this immediately after waking up; the longer you wait, the harder it will be to recall.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

This method was developed by top lucid dreaming researcher Dr. Stephen LaBerge. The idea is to affirm to yourself that you will remember something when you see it in a dream ? then when you do, you will realize that you are dreaming and begin to assert control over your dream.

WBTB refers to Wake Back to Bed

The way you do this one is, only plan on sleeping for a few hours like five or six. Set your alarm if you need to so you will wake up. After you have slept the few hours and wake up, stay up. Find something to do to stay awake. Do a little house work; Think about what you might like to do in your lucid dreams. Return to bed in an hour.

Dr, LaBerge says that his method has a 60% rate of success. Why is this? Basically, you wake in the middle of an REM cycle, so when you return to sleep, you will have a better chance of lucid dreaming.

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.

When you consider all the methods and techniques wake initiated is by far the most intriguing way to enter lucid dreams. What you have to do is manage to keep the brain aware while the rest of you falls asleep. You can enter your dreams much like entering a theater. You go into watch the movie, set down and the light go down, (sleep) dark envelopes you just before the movements on the screen appear.

The trick is to keep your conscious mind aware and let your physical body sleep. This can prove to be very interesting. Lay back, close your eyes and wait for your dream to begin. Imagine you have put a movie in the DVD player and you are waiting for it to begin. Focus on the black screen until your dream begins to play out.

You need to stay aware; it is a lot like self hypnosis. This is not a good exercise to try when you are tired as your mind may not stay as aware. Try to focus on things that require brain activity such as doing math puzzles, jogging or anything to keep your mind active. Breathe evenly and focus on relaxing every part of your body.

They now have tools you can use to make it even easier to induce lucid dreams. You can get dreaming masks and devices with strobe lights to help you get into the right state of dreaming.

The best and easiest way to achieving the state of lucid dreaming is by using headphones.You should listen to sounds that naturally alter your brainwaves, these are called binaural beats.

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.

Anyone can learn to be a lucid dreamer. Practice the self hypnosis and keep telling yourself when awake that you will be aware when you are dreaming. This will prepare you for your lucid dream experience.

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