Lucid Dreaming: Techniques to Induce Conscious Sleep
The simplest definition of a lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. It’s a bit of a mouthful but basically I like to think of a lucid dream as a periodic state of heightened consciousness while one is sleeping.
We can experience multiple degrees of consciousness while we sleep and therefore we can experience different degrees of lucidity in our dreams.
Overall, I would say that there are four basic levels of lucid dreaming. There are probably more or at least varying degrees within these levels but I’m going to stick to four for simplicity.
Levels of Lucid Dreaming
Level one: The Excited Awakening.
The dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming but immediately wakes up in normal reality. This often occurs when the excitement of becoming aware in a dream induces wakefulness.
Level Two: Uncontrolled Awareness.
The dreamer is aware that they are dreaming but has little to no control over the dream. Awareness of a dream can occur when we have unpleasant dreams that we want to avoid. In this state we often cannot control our selves or the dream itself but our awareness makes us unafraid of the dream. Our awareness in this state is typically short lived and the dream content often shifts to something different.
Level Three: Superficial Controlled Awareness.
For me, this is a true lucid dream. We become aware in our dream and are able to control ourselves within the dream. Often the people and objects within the dream stop what they are doing and we become free to walk around our landscape and view our surroundings. However, our control over ourselves and the dream landscape is limited. For instance, we may be able to seek out certain objects or people or make ourselves fly, but we are unable to walk through a wall or create a doorway. I believe that our limited control occurs because we have little experience or practice at controlling dreams and making changes. We may also have some fear or doubt that it is in fact a dream.
Level Four: Deep Control and Awareness.
This is a state of high lucidity. We have complete awareness in our dream state and complete control over ourselves and our surroundings. We can make changes to the dream and the objects and people within it. I find that a reality check (more on that later) can actually make one more lucid (more aware) within a dream as the reality check confirms that it’s actually a dream and gives the dreamer more confidence and therefore more control.
Inducing Lucidity: Becoming Aware.
For some people lucid dreams come naturally and for others they have to focus on it and work diligently for a long time to induce one. Unfortunately I’m the latter. It’s difficult for me to induce a lucid dream and often takes me about three weeks of persistent focus. For that reason I don’t do them often. However, they are amazing when they occur and usually end up being totally worth the effort.
These are some of the methods I use to induce lucid dreams.
1. Think about it and focus on it.
I think about becoming aware in my dreams a lot. All day in fact. I use mantras like “tonight I will become aware in my dream” repeatedly throughout the day.
2. Ask yourself “Am I dreaming?”
Do this several times throughout the day and confirm with a reality check. Always assume that you could be dreaming.
3. Look at your hands.
Do this throughout the day. It’s a form of reality check and it brings focus to the task of dreaming.
4. Wake back to bed method.
This is the best method for inducing lucid dreams by far but it’s also the hardest and most annoying to do. It involves setting an alarm and waking up in the late morning hours, typically a few hours before you would normally wake up in the morning, and then staying up for 20 – 40 minutes before going back to bed. The process wakes your mind up and somehow makes it easier to become aware in your dreams. I find that when I actually do this, my awareness is very clear and I have the most control over the dream. It’s hard to do though because, who the hell wants to wake up in the middle of the night and then go back to bed?
5. Reality Checks.
Reality checks distinguish between the dream state and normal reality. They confirm whether we are dreaming or whether we are in normal reality. If we are trying to induce a lucid dream we should always assume that it’s possible we are actually dreaming. Reality checks should be done throughout the day especially if anything even remotely odd or unusual occurs. These are good too because they make us focus throughout the day on the task of dreaming.
Here are some examples of reality checks starting with my favorites.
- Plug nose and breathe. If it’s a dream we will be able to breathe even when our nose is plugged.
- Word or symbol bracelet. I cut out a small playing car number and symbol (ie. 10 of hearts) and tie it to a string and check it throughout the day. If I look down and the symbol is different then I know I’m dreaming.
- Light switches. They tend to not work in dreams. (I rarely do this but other people like it).
- Clocks or word changes. Look at a word, look away, and look at the word again. If it’s different then you are dreaming.
Like I said, the challenge of lucid dreaming is different for everyone so keep at it if you are having a hard time having one. Sometimes it takes me weeks to have a lucid dream but they are always worth it. Good luck!
What are your thoughts? Do you lucid dream? What methods do you use to induce a lucid dream? What’s your best dream? Feel free to share.
Thanks, great article.
I find it difficult to tell whether it is a lucid dream or a vision (I presume they are totally different 'gifts' yet they use similar methods for coming into existence). I have had two such 'visions'; the one proved true within months and the other over 11 years). If you would like me to detail them I'll make a small post.
Those that I know are lucid dreams have all had to do with my being with the characters from a story I have been writing for the last 18 years (about 26,000 pages). I've actually shared adventures they've had, which I have then written into the books.
What is amazing is that I've even come out of such a dream with the 'memory' of 'tingling' of my hand being touched as I awoke. It was very real and lasted for a few seconds.
Inducing them: I tried various ways as shown on YT and in articles, but none of them worked for me. I did find a program for influencing myself through flashing messages too fast for my eye to see and used it for about a year. I cannot say whether it helped or not.
Last point for now. I have never even thought of wanting to test or control the dream. It is such a vivid experience, so real and I am left with such a beautiful and joyous feeling, that all I've wanted is to experience it again. I have found that when I start to question, then it stops working for me - as has now happened, last lucid dream I shared with my beloved characters (family) was a few years ago.
You have tossed in a few good ideas I want to try.
Thanks for sharing. That sounds very interesting. Its great that you used your experiences to write a book! That would be a great source of inspiration I'm sure.
lol, is that what is happening? Or is it the book that is using me to write itself? In the book, the characters know I exist and chat with me, so, who knows...maybe...
hmmm. That's an interesting way of looking at it. You might be right.
Some of my most profound experiences have been during lucid dreams. One, in particular, stands out.
I was dreaming one night, and became lucid. I immediately decided to fly (a very common reaction) and began flying through my childhood neighborhood. I was attempting to see how far my memory went, and eventually I hit a wall, and ended up flying back to my home.
I landed in my driveway and was, I kid you not, in an old memory from my childhood. My mom, dad, and brother were the spitting image of themselves, same haircut and clothing. A part of me sensed that I wasn't just dreaming this, but that I was inside of a stored memory.
I haven't had a similar experience since, but have a strong desire to experiment with this more. Thanks for sharing.
That sounds incredible. Very interesting. Sounds like you have a lot of experience with lucid dreaming, probably more so then I do.
One of my most interesting experience was a while back. I set an intention before going to sleep to fly myself to the moon lol. I woke up in my dream, did a reality check and immediately took off upward. I reached the point where the earths atmosphere turned into space and I got really scared. I couldn't cross the line and go on into space because I wasn't sure if I would be able to breathe and survive. I went back down and woke up shortly after.
The experience reaffirmed for me that there are different levels of lucidity and control. In the moment of fear I should have done another reality check to ensure myself that it was a dream and that I would be fine.
Thanks for sharing your story. Very cool :)
This is a bit old, but I'll still comment. Between your fourth and third i.e superficial control and deep control, I personally thing the 3rd is real lucidity, I often find myself doing things not possible e.g levitating or changing scenery when not fully in control, this often leads to full lucidity where the physics becomes similar to waking life physics e.g cant walk through walls or do anything strange. I usually prefer the wake to bed method since the trigger is always automatic and you can do it on and off.
I posted two entries from my lucid dream journals in the past. here i was trying to ask dream characters personal questions. It took me like a month of reflecting on this before I remember to interrogate people in lucid dreams. See it here
Very interesting. You sound like you are quite accomplished at lucid dreaming, probably more so than I am. I've have never actually had a conversation with someone in a dream. Maybe that is something that I will try next time it happens.
mabe, I did a lot while young, the triggers were automatic but as I grew older, I maintained the interest and read a few of carlos castaneda (which I later learnt was fiction). These kept me interested and provided enough trigger in addition to the wake back to bed method you mentioned. I often kept journals but lost track of practicing during busy periods which often last for months. I recently moved the journals to Evernote after losing physical notes but I've only had one or two lucid dreams the whole year.
About discussions with dream characters, I think you just have to be obsessed with the idea then the memory will transfer to your dream memory (I don't think we have access to our full working memory while dreaming).
I will like to read the entry once you get to do it, see how intelligent/or not and how seemingly autonomous their thought process is.
Carlos Castaneda - Yes!!! I loved the entire series. Especially Journey to Ixtlan. Yeah there is a lot of mystery around the books being fiction or non-fiction. Either way, I think the books have a lot to offer.
Yeah, I should get back into lucid dreaming. Its been a little while for me as well. Life gets busy and for me lucid dreaming is very challenging and a lot of work. I will keep in mind the conversations with dream characters idea in mind though for next time I have a lucid dream.
That's true, I was angry when I found out they were just fiction but they still have a lot to teach regardless. I think i will dig up my copies and read again, the teachings of don Juan, second ring and journey to Ixtlan.
I can relate to not having time to pursue that interest but I will work my schedule towards it so I can do the wake to bed at least.
Please post your entries if you do have some lucid dreams and do the interrogations.
Great post! I finally got around to reading it. :) And I think it was helpful. There were a few new things though not much I hadn't really heard before, but the way you worded it was very well done and it reminded me of a lot of things.
I'm still having trouble lucid dreaming, though I had one not too long ago where I sort of entered that state and.. It felt really powerful and I think I abused my power.. I was defending myself in the dream, but I didn't have to kill the person who was attacking me and I felt bad afterwards. At least I think I killed them.. I can't totally remember.. Either way it was a reminder to me to not be so ruthless with such God like power if I were to have it.
There are other ways, I could have just bound the person or put them to sleep or done something like that instead of shooting their own bullets back at them sorta like in the Matrix.
Kind of a scary thought though.. Reminds me of the movie "Akira".. I think if most people had God like powers they would probably abuse them and.. It was a good lesson to me to remember the moral lessons I have learned and not go down that path, hopefully in the future I can be more restrained and controlled and not give in so much to the incredible power that is possible in the dream world.. But it sure is a sort of fun and thrilling feeling to be able to basically control the physical world with your mind.. I have to wonder if there might some how be a way to invoke such kinds of powers in real life once again hearkening back to The Matrix movie, though I tend to doubt it! I imagine if it was possible there would be people out there flying around and doing all kinds of crazy stuff, heh. Though perhaps there is and they just keep it a really good secret? Who knows.. Interesting to think about though. Anyways.. Glad I came back to this! I think it may be helpful in me reaching lucidity more in the future. Thanks for the write up and hope you're doing well!
That sounds like an intense dream and like you learned a lot from it and took a lot away from it. It's kind of strange when you think about dreams on a philosophical level in that, you are creating the dream. The dream and the characters within it, are a part of you, perhaps a part of your subconscious. So by killing a dream character, are you killing a part of your self or your subconscious? Just something weird to ponder hahaha
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I love this, but I'd add a fourth layer to Lucid awareness. I'd call it: Connection with the Inner Dreamer.
After you've been lucid dreaming for a while (or a short time for those who are particularly savvy) you may begin to notice that even while lucid your control is limited.
For every little bit that you do control there are countless other things that you don't.
Yes I agree. There are definitely multiple layers of control. I didn't get to deep into that in my post because I wanted to keep the article relatively short but you are right. I think it has a lot to do with your state of consciousness, the more conscious you are the more lucid you become. I also find that you can sometimes increase your lucidity in the dream by doing reality checks.
Thanks for the comment :)
Ahaha I'm still learning Steemit. It only posted half my comment.
I had described what I believe the fifth stage to be in vivid detail. But I'm tired now, so perhaps I'll save that for a future post. ;)
Either way, thanks for the engaging post!
Yeah that happens. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate it :)
Thanks for this post..... Always interested in this stuff........Makes me wanna go watch altered states again.......
Thanks. Is altered states a movie? I haven't heard of it.
So glad this is a trending topic! I am fascinated with the prospect of lucid dreaming. I have never been able to achieve it, but I have experience hypnogogia, which I will be doing a post on soon! I go through phases where I get into the habit of doing reality checks, but when the lucid dreaming never happens, I slowly get out of the habit. I've also tried drinking Runa tea which is supposed to help with lucid dreaming. I think maybe I am not being persistent enough. I know it takes commitment (unless you are like my friend who lucid dreams alot, and actually wishes he didn't!!!).
I have never heard of hypnogogia but it sounds interesting. I'll have to look that up. Yeah I am actually like you in that it takes a lot of work and focus for me to achieve a lucid dream. Often 3 weeks or so of constant thinking about it. Very worth it though. If you are really struggling then you probably need to do the wake back to bed method. That's the best way by far. Its just annoying lol. Good luck though and thanks for the comment
:)
I have a question for you, which may be hard to answer. When you "go lucid" in a dream, what are your thoughts like? Would you say you are thinking normal, and have control over your thoughts, or are your thoughts kind of "tripped out" and abnormal (like, you are completely aware of the thoughts in your mind, but they are not in line with what you might normally be thinking in response to the situation occurring in your dream)? I know this is probably extremely difficult to answer, but I've always wondered about this. Maybe one day I will discover for myself if I ever master lucidity!
I would say that my thoughts are normal. Very clear. Especially when you have strong lucidity and a lot of control in the dream. Something to keep in mind is that lucid dreams do not last long. Like 3 minutes up to maybe 20 if you are lucky. For me my longest one was probably 5-6 minutes. There's not a lot of time to analyze your thoughts, its kind of like this surprised "oh shit, I'm dreaming what should I do? Fly!" and then go. Or look just look around. I would say that my thoughts are minimal like if you were doing something you have never done before just taking everything in. Hopefully that helps!
That makes alot of sense! Thanks for giving me a little insight :)
No problem. Good luck!
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Good stuff, I just had lucid dreaming this morning. I started to follow you so I can keep connected 😊Great blog!
That's great. Congrats on the lucid dream. I haven't had one in a while so I'm probably due.
Thanks for the comment