How to Start Lucid Dreaming

The key to lucid dreaming is to become aware of the fact that you are in a dream. After this point, you can easily alter the dream to suit your desires. The best way to do this is to establish a reality check routine as follows.

Steps

1. Perform a reality check. ,
   • Cover or close your eyes for a few seconds, and then uncover them. Have your surroundings changed? If so then you are dreaming. Or try pinching your nose closed. Can you stil breathe through your nose? If so, you are dreaming.
   • Establish a reality check routine. Try to perform the reality check at least once an hour and only rely on your memory to do so, or it will not work. Once you have established this routine you will remember to do it when you are dreaming, and then you will realise you are dreaming! A reality check also helps implant the fact that you actually want to lucid dream in your mind. It will help towards your first lucid dreams.
   • Try not to wake up. This is hard. You must relax into the dream enough to stay asleep without losing your lucidity. You must learn to hold your mind between sleep and reality. Draw power from the uncertainties you are in.
   • Live out your greatest fantasies! You are free to do as you wish.

Tips

• Try to affect your dreams subtly, rather than blatantly. This will make it easier to stay asleep.
• If you wish to speak to a certain person in your dreams, but are unsure how to do so, then find a phone box and call them. Even if you do not know their number, just dial randomly while thinking of them. You will be surprised how often this works!
• Another way to establish a routine is by touching every doorway you walk through. If you do this during a dream, it should remind you of the waking world strongly enough to make you realise you are dreaming.
• Most people cannot read text in dreams. Try to read something; if it looks like gibberish you are in a dream.
• Try not to panic when you first realise you are in a dream; just take a minute and relax and get used to your surroundings.
• A good method to encourage lucid dreams is to get up a little earlier than usual, trot around the house for a bit, read, have a snack or whatever, then go back to sleep for a while. Also, having lots of small sleeps, or catnaps rather than one big 8 hour sleep is good.
• When you want to start lucid dreaming, think about it all the time. Read about it, constantly do reality checks, tell yourself over and over you want to wake up in your dreams etc.
• Watch 'Waking Life', it's pretty cool and may inspire you.