How to get a lucid dream?

Question

Yesterday I experienced my first lucid dream well it wasnt really completely lucid but i was kind of aware it was a dream. Yesterday i decided to take a nap then started dreaming about going to cvs and stealing lighters... dont ask me why idk lol.... then i suddenly woke up, i was too tired to walk up so i want bake to sleep remembering the dream then i saw a cop car in the dream and i kind of remembered this is a dream so i started egging the car.

Answer 1

There are different levels of lucidity and different ways of achieving it.

Lucid dreaming typically occurs outside of REM sleep which is why it's easier to lucid dream if you are a light sleeper and if you aren't exhausted enough to experience every stage of sleep.



If you are trying to experience lucid dreaming for the first time then you want to keep the mind stimulated even when you are unconscious. The easiest way to do this is to leave a light or a background sound on so the senses are kept partially alert.

A lot of people say you should clear your head of thought before you fall asleep but the easiest way I've found to slip into lucid dreaing is to start playing out a dream before you are asleep. Think of a scenario in your mind and focus on it for as long as you can; you will find as you begin to slip out of consciousness that it will be harder and harder to keep the scenario logical and focused in your mind and there will start to be nonsense dream-scenarios that slip in. Try and focus on them, at that point be aware of yourself inside those weird scenarios and how you interact with them. You will cross a point when you actually fall into a sleep and begin dreaming.



If you experience a lucid dream the first time then congrats. If not don't panic, just keep trying.

When you wake up, quickly try to recall as much of your dream as possible and the following night try to replay that dream in your head before you fall asleep, however strange it seemed. The brain gets better and better at memorizing a dream the more times it encounters it and the more familiar the dream seems the more easy it will be fore you to consciously register that it is a dream while you are asleep. Once you can do this then you will be able to control and influence the dream. Once you've done it with one dream then you can change that dream as many times as you like into a new dream.



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As I said, there are different levels of lucidity and you may experience one or all of them progressively while asleep.

1) You recognize that you are in a dream but you can't control yourself or your surroundings.

2) You recognize that you are in a dream and you can control yourself but not your surroundings.

3) You recognize that you are in a dream and you can control both yourself and your surroundings.



Some lucid dreams can seem so real that it's hard to tell if you are awake or asleep even though you have awareness of yourself and your surroundings. I remember one lucid dream where I was running through my regular morning routine and it seemed so realistic that I actually convinced myself that I felt pain when I burnt myself on the toaster, that my toothpaste tased of mint, that the clock changed minute by minute and I could smell the coffee. I only realized it was a dream when I couldn't check the date on my phone. Usually details in dreams are sketchy and impossible to focus on by high levels of lucid dreaming allow you to create them to an alarmingly accurate degree.

Answer 2

The first 20 or so times that you lucid dream, it's common for the shock of discovering lucidity to wake you up. Fortunately, you eventually gain a resistance to that.



One thing that helps is to walk around for about 15 minutes in the middle of the night, or to deliberately wake up a couple hours early and then go back to sleep.



As far as daily habit, if you stop a few times a day and examine the nature of time, it will dramatically increase the probability of lucid dreams. If time is disjointed (you can't explain how/why you are where you are) then you're dreaming. Eventually you'll ask this question while dreaming and then be like... oh!



PS. You will learn to identify certain triggers that wake you up, and you will have to annoy these. For me, whenever I act on a sexual temptation in a lucid dream there's a 99% chance that I wake up or lose my lucid status. It seems that there's even a 100% chance that it will at least shorten the dream. But I find that flying and creating elemental disturbances is more rewarding.



Also, I would avoid the grand theft auto mode. I've hurt people in my dreams who started crying in a very convincing way. I can't help but wonder if 10% of the time that we really are in a shared world and that the lucid ones have the ability to cause psychological damage to those less aware. Just a thought~

Answer 3

One of my favorite tools to help with lucid dreaming is Binaural Beats. These audio files are great to help you fall asleep, study, and many other things, and they also have ones made specifically for lucid dreaming. Here is a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JCjc3Akkf8

The most effective way I find to lucid dream is to set my alarm for 5 to 6 hours later then when I go to bed and to sleep as normal. After my alarms go off I wake myself up completely by getting out of bed and surfing the computer for about 45 minutes. It can be fun to look at pictures of desired dreamscapes etc. After I am awake I lay back down listening to the above audio. While falling asleep I repeat the intention of lucid dreaming. I find this technique very effective.

Answer 4

Try jumping into the air a few times a day when nobody is around. Do this daily. After three to four weeks, if you've been consistent, you'll have a dream where you jump into the air. But in dreams, we don't just drop back to the ground, we float back down. Then you'll know you're in a dream.

Answer 5

Lucud dreaming is where you are physically asleep but you are conscious so you are able to control your surroundings which makes you feel like its so real. People often achieve this by meditation. You must enter into a "no thought zone" where your mind is thoughtless and this way you can fall asleep while your consciousness is activated. Meditate to reach your higher self. This is how i achieve this. This can also lead to out of body experiences.

Answer 6

See: www.wikihow.com LUCID DREAMING, and http://www.dreammoods.com/dreaminformation/dreamtypes/luciddreams.htm From Y!A:"A lucid dream occurs when you know you are dreaming, there are ways such as keeping a dream journal and programming your subconscious to induce a lucid dream; also hypnosis; see http://your-mental-health.8m.com/blank_13.html * about dream analysis (remembering dreams) and autosuggestion/self hypnosis, which can be used to induce lucid dreams in those who are capable of them, and proficient in hypnotic induction techniques. Hypnotism is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind. 85% of people are suggestible, to some degree so you could seek professional hypnotherapy, or hypnotictapes.com has: DREAM INCUBATION - lucid dreaming, or you can try the autosuggestion (self hypnosis) here*. Dream Journal method: go to a store and buy a cheap book that you like and a good working pen (I use a pencil, because it writes at any angle) and keep it by your bed at all times, when you go to sleep put your hand on the book and say out loud "tonight i will remember my dream", then open it to the nearest blank page and proceed to go to sleep. when you wake up grab the book and write down the images and sounds and as much as you can remember from your dream. do this every day and you should get used to realizing when your in a dream and you should be able to remember your dreams very well after a month or so. I also suggest writing it down at least 5 times, to visually convey that message, as well as verbally, then fold that sheet, and place it under your pillow, symbollically "sleeping on it". Repeat nightly. Subconscious Programming Method: assuming you have kept a dream journal for a month or so this method allows you to program your subconscious into inducing a lucid dream. Every night you must concentrate for up to 10 minutes on the words "tonight i will have a lucid dream" and say it out loud about 6-10 times to help program your subconscious into inducing a lucid dream. after a few nights you should be starting to be able to control your dream, congratulations, your having your first lucid dreams. What To Do In a Lucid Dream: when you realize your in a dream a good method of turning it into a lucid dream is to look at your hands in the dream, this will help you gain control over the dream.



If you start to feel like the dream is taking over again stare at your hands again to help yourself gain control again. Lucid dreaming can take months or even years to achieve. It requires a lot of careful meditation and preparation until you're finally ready to do it. It's not for the faint hearted at all. Also be aware that you're not sleeping if you lucid dream, and you'll wake up feeling really tired and probably will need to go straight back to bed. You should read these sites, and see if it's what you're really looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream &

http://www.infobarrel.com/How_To_Lucid_Dream & www.ld4all.com/guide.html & http://www.consciousdreaming.com/lucid-dreaming/how-to-lucid-dream.htm & http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ & http://lifehacker.com/286836/how-to-lucid-dream &

http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html & http://www.dreamviews.com/learnable.php & http://www.cleverinput.com/lucid-dream-technique/index.php The Sticky Notes: Grab some different colored sticky notes and write "Am I dreaming?" on them, then stick them everywhere. I suggest, on the clocks, right above the door knobs, bathroom mirror, on the hallway walls, front and back of doors, etc. Hypnosis: "Am I dreaming?" Repeat this phrase in your head over and over before falling asleep or have a recording of it and play it continuously before and after you fall asleep. Consumption: Try experimenting with different foods and drinks before you go to sleep. Some will give you intense dreams, some will give you nightmares (sweets will do that), some will give happy dreams that you would not want to wake up from. How does this work? Well, you are made up of many different chemicals, and adding a change to it with other chemicals (foods, drinks, smells, temperature) will cause it to react a certain way, and this will have an effect on your dreams. Milk gave me happy dreams, vitamin c made it intense, melatonin made it even more intense, (limit it to 3 nights, max, or it may interfere with your brain's natural production of it!) and I filled up a few pages in my journal with notes on the dozen dreams I have had with it. Also, try sleeping with different scents (candles, incenses, oils, bake a cake maybe?), yes; scents; they stimulate memory, moods, emotions. What you can do tonight is drink milk or take 1,000 mg of vitamin c, right before going to sleep.