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just you know, im gonna do them in order: What is lucid dreaming? Preparation: the 3 fundamental lucid dreaming habits How to lucid dream: A step by step guide Lucid dream benefits & risks

What is lucid dreaming? A lucid dream can appear spontaneously, or you can induce it with specific techniques, and with time and practice, you can learn how to influence your dreams. The concept isn’t a new one; lucid dreaming appears in Ancient times, and it was a common practice among early Buddhists. Furthermore, lucid dreaming has been studied and reported for many years, and it has been scientifically proven. In recent years, Dr. Stephen LaBerge, a psychophysiologist and lucid dream researcher, has been actively studying the subject and inventing powerful lucid dreaming techniques.

Preparaiton Tip: have a dream journal. write down your dreams in a dream journal every morning 1 – You will improve your dream recall, and your dreams will become more vivid, and they will look more” alive.” 2 – You will develop an idea of your dream signs, which are crucial for becoming conscious of your dreams. You can recognize that you are in a dream precisely with your dream symbols/signs. As you’ll be using the journal in a sleepy state upon waking up, make sure the notebook is near your bed, and it’s easy for you to open up and start writing. Additionally, try to remind yourself regularly that you WANT to remember your dreams. Plant this idea in your head, and don’t forget it. You can repeat a mantra, such as: “Tonight, I WILL remember my dreams.”

ok. reality check A few of the most common reality checks are: Hands – Look at your hands, and try to push one finger of your hand through your other hand’s palm. If you are awake, your finger will touch the palm’s surface, but the finger may go through the palm if you are in a dream. Clocks – Is often difficult to read characters and numbers. If you’re dreaming, you might have a hard time seeing the numbers, or if you do, the time on a clock will change very quickly or in a weird matter. Text – It is usually hard to read inside your dream, so try to read a text, and if you can’t (or if you can, but it changes quickly, or it is an odd one), then you are in a dream. Breathing – Pinch your nose and try to breathe through it. If you can still breathe, you’re dreaming. Tongue – Bite your tongue and see if it hurts. If you can’t feel pain, you are dreaming.

Fundamental habit 3: Affirmations The mind is a powerful tool, and dream affirmations can be a fantastic way to set a lucid dream intention. Focus on a mantra /a dream affirmation/ that will” plant” the idea that you will become lucid in your dream. You should repeat your affirmation, in your head, throughout your day, and just before going to sleep. It can be something like: “Tonight, I will become aware inside my dream.” “When I dream tonight, I will become lucid.” “I’ll have a lucid dream tonight.” “I’ll realize that I am dreaming tonight.” “Next time, when I dream I will become lucid.” Now that we’ve covered these fundamentals, we can proceed to the step by step process.

How to lucid dream: A step by step guide A study from 2017 concluded that a combination of specific techniques works best for inducing a lucid dream. Hence, the following guide is a combination of these methods, plus a few additional steps. Step 1: Perform reality checks & affirmations Practice lots of them at regular intervals up until you go to sleep. An excellent method is to bite your tongue and see if it hurts. The idea is that when you are in a dream, you can’t truly feel real physical pain. Once you get used to doing it and feel pain, you will know that you are awake. However, when you don’t feel any pain, it will be a sign that you are in the dream world. And do not forget about your affirmations – repeat “I’ll have a lucid dream tonight” or your chosen mantra again and again before going to bed tonight. Step 2: Plan your dream in advance Don’t just blindly expect to have a lucid dream. To increase the chance of inducing a lucid dream, determine from before you want to dream.

there are more, hold on

Step 2: Plan your dream in advance Don’t just blindly expect to have a lucid dream. To increase the chance of inducing a lucid dream, determine from before you want to dream. During the day (and especially before you go to bed), imagine what sort of dream you want to have. Set 3-4 clear intentions for your lucid dream. You can even write it down on a piece of paper. In this way, you will prepare your mind, and it will be easier to incubate a lucid dream. Focus on what exactly you want to see and do. Do you want to fly around? Do you want to explore an exotic place? Do you want to try lucid dream food? Do you want to meet your idol? Whatever it is, make sure to imagine it good.

Step 3: Put an alarm an hour and a half or two before your usual waking time Put the alarm 1.5 – 2 hours before your standard waking time. So, if you usually wake up at 7 am, put an alarm for 5 am. You need to wake up very early as we dream in the REM sleep stage, which increases as the night goes by. This means that we have our longest dreams in the early morning, which increases the chance of waking up in the middle of a dream. After waking up for a couple of seconds, you might go back to sleep and enter the dream you had before waking up. Note: Choose a softer alarm tone that will wake you up gently. If possible, use an app that will make the alarm stop by itself after 10-15 seconds. Otherwise, once the alarm ring, you should stop it and then go back to bed without waking yourself completely.

Step 4: Go to bed and visualize your desired dream Remember, normal or lucid, dreams operate on expectations. The best way to build an expectation is through visualization, affirmation, and repetition: imagine the desired dream over and over again until it comes naturally to you. Try to combine the visualization, with affirmation, by repeating in your head, “I’ll have a lucid dream tonight,” or something similar until you fall asleep.

Step 5: Wake up an hour and a half or two before your usual waking time As I mentioned in step 3, you will want to gently wake up 1.5 / 2 hours before you usually do. Wait for the alarm to stop (if you use an app or stop it manually) and then keep your body completely still. Try not to move around too much (ideally not at all) to avoid waking up. Otherwise, you won’t be able to induce your lucid dream.

Step 6: Keep your eyes closed When your alarm goes off (or right after you stop it), keep your eyes closed and try to stay as relaxed as possible. Be sure you are lying comfortably. While you are lying, it is essential not to move and to lose all of your muscles. After you are relaxed, you might start seeing some images and shapes. This is a state called hypnagogia. These “hypnagogic hallucinations” appear because you will be in the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep.

Step 7: Re-create the dream scene Try to remember the dream before you woke up. Recreate the scene and everything you remember. If you cannot recall the dream you had just before waking up, think of the one you were planning before you went to sleep. The key is to send back your awareness to your dream world.

Step 8: Perform a reality check Perform the reality check we talked about – bite your tongue to see if it hurts. If it doesn’t, or it feels odd, you are dreaming. A reality check will help you enhance your dream awareness even more and help you gain more control.

Final tips: 1 – Avoid screens before going to bed. Also, make sure you sleep in complete darkness, and there isn’t any light source that will interfere with your sleep. 2 – Before going to sleep, practice a few minutes of meditation. If you’ve never meditated, then simply sit (or lay) and count your breaths. By focusing your attention on your breathing, you’re leaving behind all your stresses and worries, and it will be easier for you to focus on becoming aware of your dreams. A study showed that someone who meditates could develop a higher degree of awareness not just during wakefulness, but also during dreaming. Another study figured that long-term meditators have more frequent lucid dreams compared to individuals without meditation experience. I’ve also been noticing that if I keep a regular meditation practice, I remember my dreams, and they are more vivid, which helps to initiate a lucid dream.

Lucid dream benefits & risks The benefits of lucid dreaming are: You get to live out your fantasies – Lucid dreaming gives you that opportunity to live out (almost) anything you wish for. Enhance creativity – Lucid dreaming is likely to boost your creativity. Become better at solving real-life problems – Findings suggest that lucid dreams can contribute to problem-solving when dealing with more creative tasks Practice and develop real-life skills – Studies suggest that it may be possible to improve real-life skills, by practicing them in lucid dreams. For example, a study tracked athletes following their sports practice in lucid dreams and had the impression that their performance improved. Overcome fears, nightmares, and phobias. – Dreams are the ideal, safe place to experiment and defeat stress and anxiety. You can face anything that scares you and will be able to fight it back. Some studies found that people can treat recurrent nightmares in post-traumatic stress disorder with lucid dreaming.

The risks of lucid dreaming are: Sleep paralysis – Lucid dreaming itself doesn’t cause sleep paralysis. However, some lucid dreaming methods (such as WILD) may cause sleep paralysis. The thing is that sleep paralysis isn’t always a scary, bad experience – it is a natural process of the body. If it happens to you, try to stay calm and don’t panic. Sleep-deprivation – Several lucid dream techniques require waking up during the night, which may cause sleep deprivation if you do it multiple times, day after day. Lucid dreaming nightmares – Sometimes, if a lucid dream shifts into a nightmare, we can lose awareness, even if had it before. The positive aspect is that lucid nightmares are unusual to happen. If you want to be prepared, you can read more about lucid nightmares here. Realistic feelings – They can occur in the dream state, exactly like in our daily life. As a beginner, directing the dream might be hard, so there is a chance that you lucid dream something that causes mixed and confusing feelings.

sleep paralysis is the gateway to lucid dreams

do NOT get too excited do NOT think about your body

or else you wake up