How to practice lucid dreaming? How about lucid dreaming techniques? [Lucid Dreaming Series (2/6 - part 1)]

Digging into the art of lucid dreaming by learning lucid dreaming techniques is one of the most common mistakes and a recipe for frustration. That is the primary reason people abandon training, starting to claim that lucid dreaming is an ability that only a narrow group of people can learn. Nothing more misleading. Everyone can learn to dream lucidly regularly, which will come with regular training. It's about understanding that just because everyone can jump, doesn't mean everyone should participate in the sport of high jump right away.

So, why is this part titled "LD techniques?" - don't you worry, my friend. We'll get to this.

Every human has at least 4-6 dreams per every night (depending on sleep length). Dreams always come during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep.

That's right, including you.

The REM phase lasts 5-30 minutes and is repeated every ~1.5 hours of sleep. The longer you sleep, the longer the REM phase.

This stage is preceded by a longer NREM (non-rapid eye movement) "deep sleep stage," during which you can also dream, but it's less common. NREM stage is primarily focused on recovering the body.

First conclusion: there are no people who do not have dreams every night. The crux of the matter is recalling them.

PILLARS OF LUCID DREAMING

We distinguish 3 pillars of lucid dreaming:

- sleep hygiene

- dream journal

- reality check

SLEEP HYGIENE

Sleep hygiene is essential to remembering your dreams and creating an environment conducive to lucid dreaming. The worse your sleep hygiene, the less likely you are to recall a dream.

Proper sleep hygiene will not only help to firmly improve regeneration or well-being but, most importantly, improve the quality and length of REM sleep. No matter how challenging you find it to optimize your sleep hygiene, it's well worth the effort. Lucid dreaming, muscle growth, cognition, and sex drive are just some of the basic benefits.

How to regulate circadian rhythm?

- go to sleep before the midnight

- avoid blue light at least 2 hours before bedtime

- sleep at least 7.5 hours

- avoid physical exercises up to 3 hours before the bedtime

- avoid stimulants at least up to 8 hours before the bedtime

- avoid sleeping directly after drinking alcohol

- don't overuse weed and other CNS depressants

- take care of your last meal (it should be easily digestible, rich in complex carbohydrates and preferably low in fat).

Press [read more] and read the article on sleep optimization afterward.

DREAM JOURNAL

Keeping a dream journal is indispensable to lucid dreaming as you begin your practice. It will enable you to become aware of having a dream.

More, it will help you to memorize dreams, pay attention to them, and keep track of all the progress you've made.

Finally, if you're into biohacking, dream journals are also the key to understanding your subconscious.

Mobile apps will make it easy to run a dream journal. So, if you are a busy man, you can stick to this method. Nevertheless, I recommend creating your dream journal in a notebook.

During the night, every time you wake up spontaneously (this always happens after REM sleep), just form a short note about the leading theme of your dream (you can even record it on your phone, then write it in your notebook in the morning with all the details). The "main theme" you wrote down during the night should be enough to recall the entire dream even days afterward.

If you go back to sleep without taking a short note, you will forget the dream 99% of the time. In fact, just getting out of bed is enough to forget all the dreams you've had during the night.

REALITY CHECK

While dreaming "normally," all of the scenery elements will seem very ordinary and logical, and you will likely never notice anything unusual. For example, a red elephant riding a horse which is smoking a cigarette would be nothing extraordinary. The cause is grounded in the brain - its part responsible for logical thinking is completely shut down during unconscious dreaming. However, if you ever notice that "something is off" in your dream and do a "reality check," BOOM, you will start dreaming lucidly.

The purpose of reality checks is to ensure yourself that you are not dreaming in this very moment. However, to develop such a habit you'll manifest in your dreams, it's indispensable to check the realism of your waking reality. Daily. How? Reality check can be performed by a short gesture or even a brief thought. For example:

- counting your fingers (in your dream, they will be deformed)

- pinching your skin (in a dream, you will not feel any pain, and your skin will be deformed)

- thinking what you did 2 minutes ago (in a dream you will not remember)

- trying to breathe through a pinched nose (in a dream, you will breathe in)

- checking your surroundings in order to find anything unusual

- just wonder whether you are or are not dreaming at the moment

Reality checks should be done regularly throughout the day when something unusual happens and when you do ordinary tasks (mindfulness) like walking through a door, up stairs, etc. Just pick one or two situations that you find are likely to happen in both waking and sleeping life.

If needed, feel free to set an alarm on your phone to remind you about reality check. 

You will notice in your dream journal that many events happen repeatedly. Following it, you will find your own personal indicator for performing a reality check. If you do it during the day and it becomes your habit, you will definitely do it in your dream. Simple as that.

Once you stick to the activities I mentioned in this article on a regular basis, it will only be a matter of time before lucid dreaming occurs. No special techniques are required - regular practice is enough, just like exercising your muscles.

The cherry on top of lucid dreaming is mindfulness (article). You will notice that the more time you spend in the virtual world, the fewer dreams you can recall. The more you are grounded in reality, the more vivid your dreams.

In the second part, I will describe some of the best lucid dreaming techniques that will increase the success rate when done along with the activities I explained above. Remember, stick to the 3 pillars. Techniques are like doping in sports. First, you should have a good technique of basic exercises, a good diet, and some experience with resistance training.