How to Practice Lucid Dreaming

 For those who don’t know, lucid dreaming is a very exciting and special way that your brain can be trained to dream.  Essentially, when you are lucid dreaming, you are AWARE that you are CURRENTLY dreaming and you are able to CONTROL what you do in your dream. With just this premise in mind, it is easy for the dreamer to contemplate the endless possibilities this type of control could offer.

I myself have been lucid dreaming for about 3 years now. It is not easy to do, nor is it something that can be mastered overnight; lucid dreaming takes practice and preparation.  Listed below are a few things that MUST be done habitually in order for lucid dreaming to become a staple part of your dreaming experience.
The key aspect of Lucid Dreaming is being aware that you are dreaming while you are actually dreaming. This is also the most difficult step. However, there are a few exercises you can practice to help your brain recognize the dream state.

The first step is to think about your dreams, and think about them carefully.  Ask yourself questions such as: What do I dream about most often? Is there a specific place that I go to in my dreams frequently? Are there certain people that I dream about regularly? Do I have reoccurring dreams, if so how often? These are very important questions to analyze.      

For example, if most of your dreams take place in a certain location, then you can train your brain to recognize that if you are in that location, then you know for a fact that you are dreaming because it is impossible for you to be at this place in reality.  This same concept can be applied to people.  For example, let’s hypothetically say that your grandmother passed away a few years ago.  Therefore, if you encounter your grandmother in your dreams, you can train your brain to recognize that if you are with your grandmother you know for a fact you are dreaming because there is no way you could be with her in reality.

Another effective tool is to keep a dream log.  Every morning when you wake up, just jot down a few key words, descriptions, etc. that you remember from your dream.  It is important to do this IMMEDIATELY when you wake up because your brain forgets 95% of its dreams within the first 5 minutes of your brain being awake.  This dream log can be fruitful because it can reveal patterns and trends in your dreams that you wouldn’t have been able to pick up on had you not logged these details.

Now some of you may be asking, why would I want to control my dreams? Well, once you are able to recognize the dream state, you can control what your body does, where you go, what you build, etc.  For instance, like I said earlier, I have been lucid dreaming for about 3 years now and, since then, I have been able to create a whole new kind of ‘dream world’ that I am consciously aware of and can, most importantly, revisit each time I go to sleep.  I have created cities, malls in the sky, swimming pools that are 80 stories deep with windows, festival grounds, lakes, snowboarding mountains, whatever I feel like creating.  You are truly able to defy reality and create whatever your mind can think of. You can even spontaneously fly upon will!  Who doesn’t want to create their own dream world without any type of consequence? So now we can ask this question again, who would NOT want to control their dreams?