Have you ever wanted to control your dreams? Do whatever you like without any consequence? Live out wild adventures every night? All of this is possible with an amazing thing called lucid dreaming. So what is lucid dreaming? Lucid dreaming is where you “wake up” inside the dream. You become aware you are in a dream and using that awareness you can control your dream and do whatever you like. I have been practicing lucid dreaming for three years, and it is definitely worth learning.
So how does a person learn to lucid dream? Well it all starts with dream recall. When you get up in the morning lay still, and do not think about anything but your dreams. Recall any little detail you can remember. A sound, color, picture, etc. It is recommended you keep a dream journal and write any of the dream you remember in the journal. I followed this method, and within a few days I already noticed my dream recall improved drastically.
After you can remember at least one dream a night, it’s time to choose a technique to start lucid dreaming. There are three main techniques you can use to get lucids. There are many other different techniques but DILD, MILD, and WILD are the three most popular.
DILD stands for Dream Induced Lucid Dream. A DILD occurs when you recognize some sort of clue in the dream that you are asleep. There are two main ways you can recognize a clue you are dreaming, reality checks and dream signs.
Reality checking is a way to determine whether or not you are dreaming. Since dreams usually look, and feel real you need a way of determining if you are actually in a dream. There are a few different reality checks, but the one I like to use is called the ‘nose pinch’ reality check. Pinch your nose right now, and try to breathe through it. Believe that you really can breathe through your nose while it is pinched. If you are dreaming, you will be able to breathe through your nose. If you aren’t, you won’t be able to. So, practice doing this reality check throughout the day until it becomes a habit. Once it is a habit, the reality check will carry down into your dream and you will realize you are dreaming!
Dream signs are simple. Look through your dream journal and see if there is a common theme or sign in most of your dreams. For me, doors are my dream sign. I always see doors in a lot of my dreams. Once you find a dream sign tell yourself whenever you see that dream sign you will do a reality check and realize you are dreaming.
The next technique we will talk about is called MILD. MILD stands for Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming. MILD uses the power of intention to remind you to do a reality check in a dream. 10-15 minutes before going to bed think back to your last dream. Imagine sometime in that dream you recognized you were dreaming and did a reality check. What would you do? After imagining that, tell yourself in your next dream you will recognize you are dreaming, do a reality check, and become lucid. Then fall asleep. In my opinion, MILD is one of the best techniques for new lucid dreamers to try.
The last technique I will be talking about it called WILDing. A WILD is a Wake Initiated Lucid Dream. This technique is considered the hardest for beginners. The basics of a WILD include getting up in the middle of the night, laying completely still until you get into sleep paralysis, and then go into the lucid dream. Basically, you are tricking your body into thinking it is asleep, and then you will go into a dream while you are still awake and aware. When you dream, your body is paralyzed so you don’t act out your dreams. Sleep Paralysis is just a temporary paralysis of your body so you don’t act out your dream. When WILDing you will first go into sleep paralysis before going into a dream. You will usually stay in sleep paralysis about 5-10 minutes before the dream. WILDing is personally my favorite technique out of all of them. After many hours and dedication I have learned to master WILDing and do it almost every night.
After practicing one of these techniques for a while, you will start having lucid dreams! It depends on the person how long it will be until you get your first lucid dream, but on average it takes about a month. Once you become lucid, you are free to do whatever you want! Fly, breathe underwater, go on amazing adventures, etc. If you would like to know more about lucid dreaming, visit Dreamviews. Dreamviews is a lucid dreaming site filled with an amazing community. I am titled as a ‘Dream Guide’ on the website, which means I am a staff member who is an expert on lucid dreaming topics. Good luck and happy dreaming!