HOW TO START LUCID DREAMING
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
- Edgar Allan Poe
For those unfamiliar, to become lucid means that you are aware of the fact that you are in a dream. The phenomenon has been recorded as far back as the 4th century B.C. and had fascinated philosophers, scientists and spiritual gurus ever since. Most people have experienced one or two lucid dreams or know someone who has had one.
Lucid dreaming is a skill that can be learned and refined.
I started researching lucid dreams while I was in college and I’ve been practicing the art since 2018. I’ve become pretty good at it, even to the point where I can choose to wake up at any point in a dream. I’ve had dreams where I can fly, shoot fire from my hands and I’ve even created entire cities and conscious entities using my mind.
There are two types of lucid dreams:
Dream-initiated – is when you become conscious during your dream state and know that you are dreaming. This is the type that I personally have the most experience with.
Wake-initiated – is when you go from being awake directly into a lucid dream. This type is more controllable and can be planned for with a little bit of practice but might be difficult if you sleep with a partner because it involves multiple alarms.
There are 5 steps do becoming lucid in a dream, the final step is for those of you who want to perform a wake-initiated lucid dream but you can skip it and practice dream-initiation if for some reason you can’t have an alarm going off in the very early hours of the morning. Like any skill practice makes perfect so consistency is key.
Create and perform a “reality check”
The key to successfully lucid dreaming is to make your conscious mind aware that you are in a dream. This depends on your ability to notice when things don’t line up with conscious reality. You must put yourself in the habit of questioning whether you are awake or not. The easiest way to achieve this is with a “reality check”. A reality check is a simple action that proves you aren’t in a dream.
Here’s a great example:
Look at your hands.
Attempt to push the index finger of one hand through the palm of the other.
Try again.
If you are in a dream about 90% of the time your finger will pass right through your palm and the 10% of the time it doesn’t work it almost certainly will the second time. It’s easy, you can do it anywhere, it engages the senses and makes you question reality.
Do this 10-20 times a day.
Any habit you keep in your waking life will inevitably show up in your dreams. As soon as you become aware in a dream stay calm. Often the first few times you’ll get so exited that your unconscious will force you awake. Stay relaxed and try different things out, often you’ll find that if you simply imagine something it will happen. When I want to change the scenery I will often manifest a door, step through and a new place to explore appears before me.
No screens for an hour before bed
Screens emit blue light that our brains interpret as sunlight, this throws our circadian rhythm and makes it harder to fall into REM sleep which is essential to the dream state. By turning off screens an hour before bed you are preparing your body for a full nights rest.
Keep a dream journal
Have you ever had a dream that was incredibly vivid in the moment and then an hour after waking you could barely remember it? This is because dreams get exponentially harder to remember the more time passes after waking. Our unconscious mind swallows them up. The best practice for remembering dreams is to keep a dream journal and write your dreams down as soon as you wake up.
I prefer writing on pen and paper so I keep a journal, nightlight and pen on my bedside table for easy access but you can do this with a phone, tablet or other device as well. Get in the habit of writing all of your dreams down so that when you start becoming lucid you are ready to record the experiences.
Meditate
Examining the thoughts that run through your head is also critical to the practice of lucid dreaming. As I said before, the habits that you keep in your waking life will show up in your dreams and meditation raises your awareness of the present moment. It causes you to pause and think deeper. This is often the mindset that accompanies a reality check and a discipline of non-attachment can keep you from getting too excited and waking up. Research mindful meditation techniques and find the method that works best for you. Start with 5 minutes a day then progress to 10 and 15.
Use an alarm to perform a “WBTB”
Lucid dreaming can be achieved without this final step but if you want to take your practice to a higher level you can include it. WBTB stands for “wake back to bed” which basically means you’re going to wake up during REM sleep then attempt to retain conscious control as you fall back asleep.
Here’s how to do it:
Set an alarm for 5 hours after you go to sleep, its best to use a soothing noise vs obnoxious beeping or buzzing.
Try to keep your eyes closed when you turn off the alarm. Keep it close enough that you can turn it off without moving too much.
As you fall asleep your body is going to try to trick you into releasing conscious control. It will send a powerful message to your brain that you need to roll over, touch your stomach, scratch your nose, etc. Resist the urge to move.
Once your body is sure you’re asleep, it will relinquish control, and you’ll begin to see colors, shapes, and even glimpses of scenery. It will slowly take shape, and voila! You’re in a lucid dream. Perform your reality check just to make sure and then take control of your new world.
That’s pretty much it, lucid dreaming is not difficult with a little bit of patience and dedication and it unlocks a whole new world you can visit every night. If you’d like to really up your game start taking vitamin B and Galantamine supplements, these improve memory recall and boost serotonin levels which are critical to the dreaming process. One of the reasons why I quit drinking alcohol was to get better sleep for lucid dreaming.
The unconscious mind is the medium of divine revelation, whether through dreams or altered states of consciousness we can receive messages and unlock unprecedented creativity from parts of ourselves that we didn’t even know existed.
See you out there on the astral plane, space cowboys.
#sunandiron