The Best
Lucid Dreaming Techniques

Here are some of the best lucid dreaming techniques I know about. They include memory exercises and guided meditative states.

Once you choose and understand a method, keep practicing it every day - just a few minutes will do. If you are patient and stay completely focused on your goal, you will learn how to lucid dream in time. The first few are the hardest but it WILL happen eventually!

Dream Recall

The first thing I recommend is keeping a dream journal or dream diary. This is a very popular lucid dreaming technique because it is both enjoyable and will vastly improve your dream recall.

Your dream journal will very quickly turn into a fascinating personal record of your dream experiences.

You'll be surprised how fast you forget most dreams. Imagine reading your dream journal in five years to see what you used to dream about! I am always amazed by some of the experiences I wrote about.

More importantly, dream recall is a key part of lucid dreaming. Believe it or not, you could actually have a conscious dream during the night and not remember about it the next morning. So practice how to remember your dreams by writing regularly in a dream journal. As soon as you have established your dream journal, you can start performing reality checks throughout the waking day.

These are little mental cues to test that your reality is real - for example, trying to push your hand through the wall, or willing yourself to fly... This is certainly the easiest way to learn how to lucid dream. So start with simple reality checks before moving on to the more complex dream exercises.

MILD and WILD

Now let's get to some scientifically proven lucid dreaming techniques.

The first tongue-twister is: Mnemonic-Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD). This is a memory based technique, and is possibly the best known of all dream exercises. Try this first!

The next one is less of a word jumble: Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILD). This is what the old Tibetan monks used to do. Through quiet meditation, they walked their minds slowly into the dreamstate. Without actually falling asleep, I might add.

This lucid dreaming technique is excellent if you are already practiced in meditation - or good at simply "tuning out" the rest of the world. If you can already do this, you will learn how to lucid dream in no time!

Adjust Your Rhythms

This next lucid dream exercise requires less skill. But personally I find it quite demanding, since I hate waking up without enough sleep...

The Cycle Adjustment Technique is all about waking up two hours early on alternate days.

When your brain is not expecting it, you must sleep in and continue dreaming - but your conscious mind is ready to get up!

This is a simple way of tricking your brain into lucidity. You may have noticed it happen naturally during your weekend lie-ins - while your conscious brain is halfway to the office!

Entering Altered States

Lucid dreaming is all about moving into altered brain states. So a list of induction techniques wouldn't be complete without a mention of meditation and self-hypnosis.

There is probably some crossover with the WILD dream exercises, but I feel they deserve their own pages anyway.

Even if you have a reality check method that works well for you, knowing a little about meditation and self-hypnosis won't hurt. These are both worthwhile pursuits in my book.

Some people discover how to lucid dream on their first night. Others will take longer. The more effort you put in, the more likely you are to succeed with these simple and direct lucid dreaming techniques.

Just know that if you persevere, sooner or later you WILL wake up in a dream and become lucid. For many people this is an exhilarating and potentially life changing experience... I promise it will be worth it!

Lucid Dreaming Techniques

Keeping a Dream Journal

Reality Checks

Mnemonic-Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

Wake-Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILD)

Cycle Adjustment Technique (CAT)

Meditation for Lucid Dreaming

Hypnosis for Lucid dreaming

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