Easy Lucid Dreaming:
A Beginner's Guide To Lucidity

This article looks at some easy lucid dreaming techniques, helping most people have their first lucid dream between 3 days and 3 weeks.

I have packed as much information into this beginner's article as I can, so don't worry if you feel overwhelmed. Just take it slooow!

First, my name is Rebecca. I've been lucid dreaming since I was 14. Over the last 12 years I have researched a lot about dream control. I have practiced many different lucid dream exercises and developed my own ways to become lucid and stay conscious in the dream state for longer, enabling me to have many fantastic lucid dreams at will. The following is my "big picture" take on easy lucid dreaming for beginners. It combines the most popular lucid dreaming techniques and the best value dream control products to leapfrog you to success.

Step #1 - Improve Your Dream Recall

You should improve your dream recall so that you remember at least one dream every night (and preferably more). The easy way to do this is to tell yourself regularly, "I will remember my dreams", especially just before you go to sleep. This plants the intention in your subconscious.

Also keep a dream journal by the bedside so you can write down your dreams when you wake up. Discuss your dreams with friends whenever you can, to really hit home the message that dreams are important to you and must be remembered. Your subconscious will attend to it.

Step #2 - Perform Frequent Reality Checks

A very easy lucid dreaming exercise, reality checking is the secret weapon of those who tend towards Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams (DILDs). By performing reality checks regularly throughout your waking day, you will enhance your awareness of the waking state and be much more likely to recognize the dreamstate. Soon you will spontaneously perform a reality check in a dream, exposing the nature of the dream reality and giving you instant dream control.

Step #3 - Learn To Do Meditation

Meditation is the exploration of the subconscious mind. When you meditate deeply, you can experience some fascinating phenomena, including hallucinations, feelings of euphoria and sudden insights. Meditation tunes you in to your waking reality on new levels, and helps you feel more at peace in your daily life.

Research has linked meditation with easy lucid dreaming for several reasons. First, it trains you to enter altered states of awareness on demand. Second, it bridges the gap between your conscious and unconscious brain. And third, it makes you more self-aware, helping you to recognize the unreality of the dream world and become lucid more often.

Start by introducing a simple 10-minute meditation into your daily routine, such as an easy breathing exercise. To access deeper meditative states, I like to listen to guided sessions like the Guided Meditation CD by Brain Sync. It combines music, the spoken voice of Kelly Howell, and brainwave entrainment frequencies to guide you into a tropical garden in your subconscious mind. This is deeply soothing and improves your visualization skills for your next Wake Induced Lucid Dream.

Step #4 - Lucid Dream Research

If you are serious about having regular lucid dreams, you do need to do a little research. It can help you latch on to the best induction methods for you, and learn easy ways to control and explore your conscious dream world. If you don't know the ropes, the whole process takes a lot longer to learn.

This part is easy. Lucid dreaming is becoming increasingly popular with books, websites, forums and even TV and movie coverage. You will find more than 100 free lucid dreaming articles on this website. And the more you think about lucid dreams during the day, the more likely you are to become conscious in your dreams at night. The more you understand about this amazing mind phenomenon, the sooner you will take to it.

If you are looking for a great introductory book on lucidity, read Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming by Dr Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold. It's a truly comprehensive and practical workbook for beginners and experts alike.

Step #5 - Discover Advanced Methods

Once you nail the easy lucid dreaming techniques, like dream journaling and reality checking, it's time to begin more involved methods. Get ready for some acronyms (the bane of any beginner's guide to lucid dreams).

So far, I have only offered methods for Dream Induced Lucid Dreams (where you start dreaming normally and become lucid from within the dreamstate). The most popular type of DILD is called Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD), created by Stephen LaBerge. I recommend starting out on this route, because DILDs often give way to spontaneous lucid dreams.

There is also a whole other category known as Wake Induced Lucid Dreams (WILDs). These were originally developed by Tibetan Buddhists in the form of Dream Yoga, which involves training yourself to go directly from waking to a lucid dream state. It involves falling asleep consciously and induces some strange phenomena linked with the out of body experience (OBE). When you are ready to induce a WILD, I recommend this practical and highly informative video course by Lucidology, describing powerful Mind Awake / Body Asleep methods.

Step #6 - Experiment with Lucidity Products

There are dozens of lucidity products on the market - ranging from CDs and MP3s, to lucid dream masks, to books and online courses. Here are some of my favorite tools for easy lucid dreaming below, with links to my own product reviews.

If you want... Binaural Beats for Lucid Dreams

Lucid Dreaming MP3 by Unexplainable Store - with brainwave entrainment to walk you into a Mind Awake / Body Asleep state for success with WILDs. Dream images will start to appear from the subconscious and with practice they will become interactive and controllable.

Meditation CD by Brain Sync - with precision-engineered brainwave frequencies to take you into blissful states of peace within minutes. With this CD, 87% of research subjects who never meditated before entered the theta brainwave state on their first attempt.

If you want... Paraliminals & Hypnosis for Lucid Dreams

Dream Play CD by Learning Strategies - program your dreams with paraliminal hypnosis by Paul Scheele. This beginner's guide to lucid dreams will instruct your subconscious mind to remember more dreams and recognize the dreamstate for conscious dream control.

If you want... Binaural Beats for Meditation Music

Inner Journey CD by Hemi Sync - combines ethereal sounds and binaural beats to relieve stress and give free reign to your imagination - an ideal landscape for personal exploration through meditation. The perfect stimulus for contemplation and creative thinking.

If you want... Lucid Dreaming Video Techniques

Lucidology Instructional Video - learn the Mind Awake / Body Asleep technique for inducing WILD lucid dreams and out of body experiences. An excellent resource for lucid dreamers training to shift their awareness and go directly into lucid dreams at will.

If you want... Dream Herbs for Vivid Dreams

Calea Zacatechichi Capsules - also known as The Dream Herb or Leaf of God. A natural herb used by shamans for thousands of years to induce vivid and incredibly meaningful dreams. An ideal stepping stone to easy lucid dreaming. Safe and legal in 99% of the world.

If you want... Books on Lucid Dreams and OBEs

Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming by Dr Stephen LaBerge - this beginner's guide goes far beyond the confines of pop dream psychology, establishing a scientifically researched framework for using lucid dreaming - that is, consciously influencing the outcome of your dreams. It is based on Dr Stephen LaBerge's extensive laboratory work at Stanford University mapping mind/body relationships during the dream state.

The book also encompasses the teachings of Tibetan dream yogis and the work of other scientists - including German psychologist Paul Tholey. This practical workbook will show you how to use your dreams to solve problems, gain greater confidence, improve creativity and more.

Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe - when, unpredictably and against his will, Robert Monroe began to have out of body experiences, he was alarmed and incredulous. He found himself leaving his physical body to travel to places far removed from the material and spiritual realities of life on earth; in effect he became an inhabitant of a world unbounded by time or death.

In this classic, first-hand account of the out of body phenomenon, Monroe challenges us to rethink our ideas about life and death and, with step-by-step instructions, invites us to initiate the out of body experience for ourselves.

So there it is - easy lucid dreaming for beginners. Of course, a beginner's guide is only the start. Once you have found some effective ways to become lucid, you will have more questions about controlling and working with the alternate reality of lucid dreams. But that is another article altogether...

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