Lucid Dreaming: 6 Easy Ways to Attain This State

When was the last time you were consciously aware of your dreams? What’s the most effective way to lucid dream?

For most people, dreaming is more like watching a movie play out in their head during sleep without being an active participant in it or even knowing that they are in a dream. They get to know about it the next morning after waking up. This is true for about 63 percent of the people on the planet. But others can manage to sneak into their dreams and remain conscious for the entire duration of the dream. 

Being lucid in a dream means to be aware of the fact that you are dreaming while you are still in a dream. A regular lucid dreamer can be not only aware of their dreams but also have total control over it. They can make themselves fly from one location to another, perform other gravity-defying acts, learn a skill, “self-amuse” by performing heroic acts which they cannot perform in real life, and many more. 

How to Lucid Dream- 10 Amazingly Simple and Easy to Follow Steps

1) Let the ambiance of your room put you in a lucid state 

Becoming lucid in a dream becomes more easy and enjoyable when you are sleeping in a comfortable and cozy bedroom. The environment you sleep dictates the type of experience you will get while in a lucid dream. 

Factors like the temperature of the room, light exposure, sounds, and ambiance contribute to the quality of your lucid dream. Hence, it is essential to make sure that your room aids deep sleep. 

It is common for a person who has never had a lucid dream before not to have their room properly organized and prepared for sleep. Not everyone needs an external push when it comes to falling and staying asleep. 

However, if you are wondering “how to have a lucid dream,” you better dim all the lights in your room (including TV and phone screen) a few hours before bedtime. This will aid the secretion of the sleep hormone melatonin. 

2) Learn about lucid dreaming beforehand

This is another important thing that will prevent you from sleepless nights as you are trying hard to get lucid in your dream without even knowing the fundamentals of it. Humans have been lucid dreaming since 415 AD. 

Even philosopher Aristotle hinted at human being’s ability to lucid dream when he wrote: “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.“

The term “lucid dreaming” was coined in the year 1913 by a Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden. He shared his findings and ideas in an article called “A Study of Dreams“. Eeden and a sinologist, Marquis Hervey de Saint Denys, worked separately to come up with this concept. They both are considered pioneers of lucid dreaming.

3) Keep a dream journal

The best way to recognize that you are dreaming is by understanding and memorizing the events that take place in your dreams. To make this happen, you must recall your dream the moment you wake from sleep. A dream journal (a simple notebook) will help you capture the true meaning behind your dreams. 

Moreover, maintaining a dream journal requires a lot of patience and persistence. This is because it is difficult to remember a dream in the manner it occurred. Most often, we only remember certain events that we find meaningful. So, start writing whatever comes to your mind without worrying about the sequence of events. 

You will find nuggets of information that you can use as “lucid dream indicators” the next time you go to bed. A dream journal can also help those who want to learn how to lucid dream fast. The people who write down the events occurring in your dream get good at this skill– if you want to call it that– in no time. 

4) WILD (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream) method

Not everyone will be able to identify an event — that they memorized from their dream journal — in their dream and turn a regular dream into a lucid one. If you are not one of the 19-35 percent of the entire earth’s population who can get lucid dreams without external aid, you should try tried and tested techniques like WILD (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream) by Stephen Laberge to lucid dream.

The idea is to wake up (in the middle of the night) after 4-5 hours of sleep, stay awake for an hour, and then go back to sleep. In this second sleep session, try to relax and feel the mattress beneath your skin. Breathe deep and try not to think for a while. After a while, you will begin to hear hypnagogic sounds. 

Once you are in a half-dream state, you will experience something that Laberge calls hypnagogia (also known as a hypnagogic hallucination). As you are transitioning from a wakeful state to being asleep, in between both, there is a phase known as “threshold consciousness.” This is where you will experience lucid dreams and hallucinations. 

5) Third Eye Method or Chakra-Induced Lucid Dream

To learn how to lucid dream fast, it is key to practice several lucid dreaming techniques in a short span of time. Let’s say if you practiced the WILD method the last night, then you should try a new method the next night immediately.  This is how you can speed up the learning process. 

The third eye method, or also known as Chakra-induced lucid dream, is another way to induce lucid dreams by focusing your attention on the 6th chakra or the third eye chakra. 

In case you are wondering what a chakra is — in the Hindu tradition, there are 114 energy centers (also known as chakra or a wheel) in the human body. The 6th chakra is in a part of the brain that can be strengthened by meditation and yoga.  

To practice this technique, you need to follow the same sleeping pattern as that for the WILD method. Wake up 4-5 hours after sleeping, stay up for an hour, and then go back to bed. Further, try to relax by taking a few deep breaths with your eyes closed. Then focus your attention on the 6th chakra or the third eye, located between your eyebrows. Now breathe through the third eye.

As you continue to breathe, you will notice some visualizations at the back of your eyelids. There is a likelihood that you will slip into a lucid dream followed by a dream-like state. With this technique, you won’t be successful every time, but as you go on strengthening your third eye, things will get easier. This is how the third eye method or the chakra-induced lucid dream works.

6) Perform reality checks

Performing a reality check allows you to discern whether you are awake or in a dream. This might seem a bit strange to someone new to lucid dreams, but sometimes when you are lucid dreaming frequently, things can get confusing. During the awakened state, there is no question of realizing a dream, but while asleep, you should be able to identify whether you are in a dream or not, easily.

A reality check comes into play when you are in a lucid dream but are not quite sure about being in it. In such a situation, it is best to perform a reality check like breathing with the nose closed with your hands or punching through a thick wall. In a dream, both scenarios are possible. Hence, this way, you can discern whether you are in a lucid dream or an awakened state.

Conclusion