Lucid Dreams: Techniques and Tips on how to Induce Them
The ability to have a lucid dream (awareness that you are
dreaming) is something that anybody can do. Some pick it up
easier than others, but with enough practice even the most
stubborn mind achieve this ability.
The Question:
Being able to induce a lucid dream is really just a matter of
training your mind to realize when you are dreaming and when you
are awake. You practice by asking yourself this question
throughout the day:
"Am I dreaming?"
I know, not much to it. However, many people just assume they
are awake when they are awake. When someone asks them how they
know they aren't dreaming, they respond "I just know".
Well, it's this "I just know" attitude which is what keeps them
from having lucid dreams. The reason is that they are too
confident about their surroundings and that confidence carries
over into when they fall asleep. So when they are dreaming, they
look around and except everything as "real", when it is actually
a dream. The craziest things could happen in their dream, like
meeting an alien, and they will continue to think it's real.
The first thing you need to do is to start questioning your
environment. While you are at work or home and you are awake,
ask yourself "Am I Dreaming?" and don't just say "Nope". Really
look around your environment and think about it.
One way to tell if you are dreaming or not is to look at some
detail of an object, then look away, then look back again. If
the detail of that object has changed in some way, then chances
are you are dreaming.
The Dot:
Now all you have to do is remember throughout the day to ask
yourself if you are dreaming. One popular method is to draw a
tiny dot on the palm of your hand. Whenever you see this dot,
then that is your cue to ask yourself "Am I Dreaming" and look
around the room, exploring the possibility that you might
actually be dreaming.
If you ask yourself enough times in real life whether you are
dreaming or not, then what will happen is that you will
eventually ask yourself if you are dreaming while you are
asleep. You will then realize (in your dream) that you ARE
dreaming and that's when the dream becomes lucid.
So that's the most common technique in a nutshell. There are
other methods, such as wearing a special electronic visor on
your head that sends light flashes to your eyes, but these are
costly. The method in this article is much cheaper.
Good luck, keep at it, and try to be patient. It might take up
to 2 weeks to a month before you are able to train your mind to
become lucid while dreaming.