A lucid dream is any dream during sleep in which you become aware that you are dreaming. This simple realization snaps your waking consciousness into a dream, enabling you to do things you always wanted to do.
It is scientifically proven and many examples of research proved its existence, the first of which in the UK sleep lab 1975. Researchers have used brainwaves, blood flow, and eye movement data to validate levels of consciousness during lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming enables you to:
- Explore your dreamworld with total clarity. Everything you see, hear or touch, taste, and smell can be as authentic as reality. The fact that our brain is able to produce a reality so vivid and real and we can experience it, is literally mindblowing to us.
• Fulfill any fantasy. You are able to fly over mountains, base jump from the top of the mountain, have dream sex, travel in time, ride a dinosaur, or just become a samurai on some alien planet.
• Overcome personal psychological issues. In the safe environment of lucid dreams, you can easily face your greatest fears, anxieties, or past traumatic events.
• Unlock your potential for creativity and productivity. Some people started to break from the chains and limits of the everyday world and create in their lucid dream state. Seek original artistic inspiration or solve technical problems. In a lucid dream, everything is possible.
How do I start?
We are offering some basics steps and techniques, through which you can start to explore your dreams and enter the unlimited world of lucid dreaming.
- Write down your dreams. Every morning when you wake up try to remember some content from your dreams and write it down — just to form a habit.
- Do reality checks in your dreams: try to push your hand through a wall and ask yourself: “Am I dreaming?”
- Perform a daily 10-minute meditation — concentrate on your breathing and increase your self-awareness.
- Boost your dream intensity with a lucid dream supplement.
- Set three clear lucid dream intentions before you go to sleep at night — “I want to talk to my lucid dream character and ask him what does he represent.”.
- Get at least 6 hours of sleep every night.
- Explore your dreams with lucid dreaming technology.
The MILD Technique
The MILD Technique — Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams was created by Dr. Stephen LaBerge at Lucidity Insitute. In it very effective and perfect for beginners. In essence, the MILD technique will train you to increase your self-awareness, making it easier to recognize when you are in the dream state. It includes incubating a lucid dream with affirmations and programming your next dream to contain pre-determined triggers to prompt lucidity.
A mnemonic is any learning technique that helps you to memorize. In this case, you are planting a cue in your unconscious mind, which helps you to remember your intention to lucid dream and recognize when you are dreaming.
This technique is divided into four parts:
1. Dream Recall — Write a dream journal
2. Reality Checks — Try to put your hand through a wall. Ask yourself:” Am I dreaming?”
3. Lucid Affirmations — Next time I am dreaming, I will remember I am dreaming
4. Visualisation of your Dream — Imagine your dreams before going to sleep
Tips on Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams
Wakefulness interjected during sleep, increases your chances of becoming lucid.
In order to have more lucid dreams with MILD, you may want to experiment with different waking up techniques during your sleep. These should be very mild techniques, which will bring you to full consciousness for a few minutes. A few minutes of reading should work just fine. When you return to sleep, perform the MILD technique again. If you don’t want to sacrifice your night sleep, you can experiment during daytime naps. It works great after sleep a short night before.
If you must sleep through a third of your life, why should you sleep through your dreams too?
Stephen LaBerge
