We’re going to talk about how to lucid dream. How do you have your first moments of lucidity? How do you stabilise them? What do you do in lucid dreams? What can you do?

Lucid dreaming is not that difficult. You just need to be consistent with the training. Don’t overcomplicate it or look for 100 resources. You have a few techniques that are tried and tested, so put them to use, and once you have your first lucid moment, you’ll know they work. 

Lucid dreaming is a skill you train, and we’re going to talk about the training you need.

Now, this isn’t a comprehensive guide. These are the essentials. For an in-depth look at lucid dreams, I recommend the book A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming: search on the web for it!

The Need for Training

As mentioned, our default is to be asleep in our dreams. Not literally asleep, but almost. We’re dreaming and we don’t know we’re dreaming. Isn’t that weird?

If you’ve never lucid dreamed before, you’re probably wondering how on earth you do it. How can you possibly make the switch?

The good news is that it’s simply a skill that you train, and the training is really easy. You just need to do it.

I find you need to keep up the training. In the last few years I’ve had spells of regular lucidity, even several times in one night, but when I forget to do my exercises, lucid dreaming eludes me.

When I first heard about lucid dreaming, I was excited to do it, but I just didn’t understand how you could train yourself to have them. It didn’t compute. I didn’t think I was capable.

This is normal because it’s a strange skill to train, in a way.

But once I had my first moments of lucidity, not full blown lucid experiences, just moments, I knew it was possible and I was able to trust in the training more.

That’s what I want for you. Try to have one moment of lucidity. Just a moment. Then you’ll know it’s possible.

So, what is the training? There are two categories to it: training in waking life, and training in dreams.

Training in Waking Life

Journalling

This is the easiest habit to uphold, yet arguably the most powerful. All you need to do is write down your dreams every morning, before you do anything else.

This will help you spot patterns, meaning you’ll be able to identify repeating elements that are exclusive to dreams. These then becomes triggers for lucidity.

Dream checks

Have you ever seen the film Inception? Amazing film, I recommend it. And I won’t throw out any spoilers, but Di Caprio’s character does dream checks. He’s checking because he’s slowly losing the ability to tell the difference between dreams and reality, but that’s another story.

Dream checks are a super-common and powerful way of gaining lucidity, and there are many ways to do them. The key is to make them regular: use a time of day, every hour, a triggering event (e.g. strange events), when you’re waiting in a queue…

Looking at your hands. Look around you. Ask “am I dreaming?”. Try to explain how you got here.

This might sound crazy, but if you do dream checks enough, eventually you’ll start doing them when you’re dreaming, and eventually you’ll answer “Yes! I’m dreaming!”, and at that point you’re lucid dreaming.

Intention

As you’re lying in bed, renew your intention to have a lucid dream.

Why do you want to lucid dream? What will you do in the dream? Let yourself visualise and free associate. 

A little phrase can help “I am lucid and aware in my dreams”

Do some dream checks as you’re lying there, waiting to fall asleep.

Wake, back to bed

The Wake, Back to Bed technique is an advanced technique and one you’ll use when you get real serious about it.

The idea is that you set an alarm to wake up six hours after you go to sleep. You then get up for twenty minutes, do some dream checks, read over your journal, and renew your intention to have a lucid dream, then go back to bed.

You’re much more likely to have a lucid dream in the two remaining hours than at any other time during the night, and this technique maximises the chances of that happening.

Training In the Dream

Your waking training will spill over into your dreams. You’ll start running dream checks automatically in dreams, and it’s likely you’ll realise you’re dreaming. It’s pretty exhilarating. Even though I’ve had plenty of lucid dreams, I still get excited!

A big obstacle you’ll face is fading, so let’s talk about it.

Fading

What’s going to happen, especially as you’re starting out, is that your lucidity won’t last long. It’ll sometimes feel solid and stable, other times it feels like you’re almost drunk and that the dream is slipping away from you. You don’t have any control.
This is when you have to re-establish clarity, and there are three basic ways to do that.

1. Do stuff: by doing stuff, you engage the dream.
2. Shout “Clarity!” “Stabilise!” “Lucid!”
3. Spin around.

Over time, you’ll gain more control, and your lucid dream will feel very solid and real, almost like waking life, except you’ll know beyond doubt that you’re lucid dreaming.

Now, if your dreams are stable, what do you do?

What to Do

Well, you can pretty much do whatever you want. That’s the beauty of it. Your tools include…

• Your imagination,
• The instant realisation of imagination, like in a video game,
• Ability to travel,
• Speech, movement, and all your usual human capabilities.

Here are some ideas for what to do:

• Travel to places you’ve never been,
• Speak to friends, old friends, people you’ve never met,
• Fly like a bird,
• Kiss the person you like (just a kiss, no more),
• Practice affirmations or conscious creation, using a process like this Joe Dispenza meditation: this is super powerful in lucid dreams because your usual fears and insecurities are offline,
• Speak to the people around you, ask them questions,
• Reintegrate your shadow,
• Try to dissolve the dream, like in Tibetan Dream Yoga.

All right, those are the essential things you need to know about how to lucid dream.

Just a word before I go: lucid dreaming is not that difficult. You just need to be consistent with the training. Don’t overcomplicate it or look for 100 resources. You have a few techniques that are tried and tested, so put them to use, and once you have your first lucid moment, you’ll know they work.

Best of luck, oneironauts.