Lucid dreaming is the act of “waking up” inside a dream. This gives the dreamer the ability to control every aspect of the dream, and perceive the dream world as vividly as waking reality. It is a scientifically proven phenomenon and can be induced every night with practice.
This article offers the most popular techniques for easy lucid dreaming – a beginner’s guide packed with valuable tips and advice.
Remembering Dreams
The first step to easy lucid dreaming requires good dream recall. Start a dream journal and record at least one dream every night. Underline any recurring dream symbols and themes, as these can be used as triggers for lucidity.
For help remembering dreams, try the Dream Play CD by Learning Strategies. Dream Play uses hypnosis and powerful paraliminals to program the subconscious mind to remember dreams and become conscious in the dream state.
Reality Checks
This is a very easy lucid dreaming exercise. Throughout the waking day, ask the question “am I dreaming?” and try to perform an impossible act. For instance, try to float in the air or push a hand through a wall. Make reality checks a waking habit.
Soon, they will infiltrate the dream world and become a trigger for lucidity. The great thing about learning to have lucid dreams is that when the dreamer realizes they are not in the real world, the conscious brain becomes immediately active. It is the key to instant lucid dreaming.
Guided Meditation
Meditation is all about the exploration of the subconscious mind. It can induce audio and visual hallucinations, feelings of euphoria, and sudden insights. Guided meditation is excellent for reducing stress and maintaining a healthy mind and body. It is also ideal when learning how to have lucid dreams.
Research has linked guided meditation with easy lucid dreaming for many reasons. It helps train the brain to enter altered states of consciousness on demand, and also bridges the gap between the conscious and subconscious brain. Guided meditation also improves visualization skills and self awareness; both pre-requisites for lucid dreaming.
Advanced Techniques
For a mixture of both advanced and easy lucid dreaming techniques, see the “how to” guides at World of Lucid Dreaming. These accurately describe how to have lucid dreams from within the dream state (called Dream Induced Lucid Dreams, or DILDs). They also describe how to “fall asleep consciously”, by going directly from a waking state into a lucid dream on demand (known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreams, or WILDs). With practice, anyone can have lucid dreams using these powerful techniques.