Posts Tagged ‘conscious dreaming’

Problems Lucid Dreaming?

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Lucid Dreaming is Conscious Dreaming and is the ability of awareness that you are dreaming. In a nutshell, you are aware that all the occurrences you are experiencing are actually within a dream, while you are dreaming. While lucid dreaming you have a certain amount of control, unlike when you are experiencing normal dreaming.

Having the power to completely control the direction of your lucid dreams is part of your basic metaphysical existence. All the limitations you feel in life cease to exist swiftly.

Is lucid dreaming as straightforward as all that? Is lucid dreaming something which can be experienced by anyone?

Lucid dreaming is not so difficult to practice. There are various studies that prove you can do this, if you really want to learn how to use this powerful medium of expressing your inner desires.

However, you must determine clearly your objective for trying to master the art of lucid dreaming. Do you simply want your own private getaway in the form of lucid dreams or do you have a particular reason for developing your skills? No matter your reason, you must have clarity of mind for its purpose.

Once you have this, you can begin actually learning lucid dreaming. It begins with Dream Recall, or remembering a dream you had the night before. Only when you’re able to do this can you progress into learning actual lucid dreaming.

This is not going to be an overnight kind of process. You should keep a dream recall register to begin writing down every single detail you can recall of your dreams every day. You will find your capacity for dream call improving as you do so. Try implementing “reality checks” during your dreams to begin training your mind to be alert as you dream.

The time required for preparing the subconscious mind to experience lucid dreaming can be reduced greatly with hypnosis for some individuals. Generally one or two hypnosis sessions allows you to continually recall all your dreams. Your mind is conditioned for lucid dreaming once this happens.

On occasion, you may suddenly find yourself wide awake during a lucid dream. However, you will easily be able to recall all the essential details of your dream with the power you have achieved thus far. You can simply relax and fall back asleep, while you continue in the desired direction in your dream. Upon awaking you will realize that you have experienced the power of conscious dreaming the previous night.

Lucid dreams can be readily induced by going back to sleep for a couple of hours after you wake up in the morning. These dreams are the closest to lucid dreams, because they seem to be borderline between actual dreams or your conscious thoughts manifested in anticipation of an event for that day. Just set an alarm clock to go off a couple of hours before you will be waking up for the day, then turn it off and go back to sleep to experience lucid dreaming.

Simply set your alarm to sound off a couple of hours before you normally awake. When your alarm goes off, wake up, switch it off and then go back to sleep to enjoy your lucid dreams. Keep in mind that it is very helpful to keep a record of your sleeping patterns to determine the best time for you to have lucid dreams.

Lucid dreaming can be a helpful practice for those with sleeping troubles such as insomnia. When you are having a hard time getting to sleep, remind yourself that sleep means lucid dreaming; and your subconscious mind will make sure that you get to sleep quickly.

Recent advances in sound technologies have made it much faster and easier for one to learn lucid dreaming.

Listening to binaural audios is one of the most reliable and fastest ways to have lucid dreams for many individuals.

These perform by playing different frequencies to some extent in each ear. This results in relaxing the listener deeply and shifting their brain waves to the frequency that is just right for the occurrence of lucid dreaming.

Before the discovery of this system of binaural sound waves you could only achieve this level of relaxation by many years of meditation study.

If you combine listening to binaural sound waves, hypnosis and affirmations to prepare the subconscious mind, lucid dreaming can happen very soon after your first attempt.

How To Lucid Dream

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

You have heard about people who lucid dream and think it is something you would like to do. That is a good starting point but exactly how do you begin and what are the steps to being a successful lucid dreamer?

Knowing why you have chosen to become a lucid dreamer is important. How can it benefit you personally? To know this we can work backwards from what it considered normal sleep.

Why is lucid dreaming different from normal sleep? When you lie down to go to sleep, your eyes close and hopefully you go to sleep. When you wake up you remember dreaming something or you don?t remember anything at all.Kind of strange when you think about it.

The sleep we normally have fulfills the purpose of allowing us to rest up for the next day.However, what would it be like if you were able to control your dreams? Instead of being a spectator to your dreams, what if you could be an active participant?

What if you could control your dream rather than the other way around? A lucid dreamer is someone who can do exactly that; someone who is not a passenger but a driver of their dreams.

All well and good, but how exactly do you become a lucid dreamer? There are two ways of accomplishing this goal. The first method is to have a dream-initiated lucid dream, or DLID. This is where the dreamer becomes aware that they are in fact dreaming and begins to take control over the dream.

WILD refers to a wake initiated lucid dream. You slip into a dream before you are fully asleep. Instead of going to sleep before you dream you simply enter into the dream with your mind still conscious.

How exactly do you induce either one of these lucid dream states?

Remember your dreams.

You will need to learn how to remember your dreams if you want to be able to have lucid dreams. It is referred to as dream recall, the ability to remember your dreams. If you can remember your dreams you are more likely to realize when you are dreaming because many of the dreams you have will be the same or almost the same.

Keeping a dream journal is the best way to learn this skill. A dream journal is for writing down anything which you can remember about your dreams for future reference. You should do this immediately after waking up; the longer you wait, the harder it will be to recall.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

Developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge the idea is to tell your self to recall an object or situation from your dreams, before you go to sleep. You can look back to your dream journal for an example of a recurring them like a pink haired woman. Anything that when you see it in your dream will tell you that you are in fact dreaming.

WBTB refers to Wake Back to Bed

To use the wake back to bed method you need do little initially beyond setting your clock to wake you up. Set your clock for about five hours sleep give or take an hour, once the alarm goes off get up and do something. Read a book, your dream journal anything but going back to sleep, after approximately an hour you may go back to bed. In studies done this method has 60% of the time. When you are interrupted in the middle of sleep, you are interrupting rapid eye movement sleep. This is the time when dreams are the most active. Therefore, you stop in the middle of your best dreamtime only to return to sleep a short time later, improving your chances of entering lucid dream state.

Cycle Adjustment Technique

Cycle Adjustment Technique

Developed by Daniel Love, this involves setting your alarm to wake about 90 minutes earlier than usual; once you acclimate to this, set your alarm to wake you up alternately early and at the time you used to get up. At those times when you wake up at the usual time, you’ll be accustomed to waking early. This means that you are more likely to lucid dream during this last hour and a half.

Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)

Let’s get back to this method which is described above. To achieve lucid dreaming, the technique is to try to keep mentally aware even as your body relaxes into a sleep state.Think of it this way ? you are getting ready to watch a movie; your closed eyelids are like the black screen before the movie begins and you are waiting for the trailers to roll.

First, it was cds and DVD?s now we have devices that will help you lucid dream. Masks and other electronic apparatuses can be used to recognize REM sleep and give you a light buzz or light to make you aware that you are dreaming. If you want to increase, your chances of success use the method that has proven to be the best. Using a set of headphones listen to binaural beats at the right sound frequencies during sleep.

The sounds bring the two sides of the brain in synch. Your brainwaves are then converted to REM waves the time during sleep when you dream and the frequency at which lucid dreams occur.

With self-hypnosis and a conscious preparedness before you go to sleep anyone can practice lucid dreaming.

This type of sound can alter your brain and bring you to the REM stage of sleep very quickly. This is where your lucid dreaming will occur.

With a combination of self affirmations, self hypnosis and binaural sounds, being a lucid dreamer is something anyone can do successfully.

New Beginnings Using Lucid Dreams

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Having a lucid dream is essentially a very simple idea. It is nothing more than the condition of being aware that one is dreaming while in the midst of dreaming. In this context, lucid means aware or conscious. The degree of lucidity of any dream depends on the stability of the dream itself, how much of the dream can be recalled upon awakening and most importantly, the control that one can exert over the events of the dream.

It is this last factor which is the most remarkable and amazing thing about experiencing a Lucid Dream. Being able to identify the fact that you are having a dream is astounding. You can decide which direction you want the dream to go in and there really are no limits to what experiences you can have!

Imagine for a few moments what that is like. Dreaming usually seems a lot like reality. Most people even feel most of their senses and faculties as if they were awake. The difference is that when lucid dreaming, they know they are dreaming. They know that, no matter what happens, they cannot die or become injured while in the dream state. The normal rules and regulations of reality no longer exist. This is, for all practical purposes, you inborn virtual reality world and you make up all the rules. The depth of realism and imagination is not hemmed in by a budget or computer graphics.

Lucid dreaming is an incredible skill that more and more people are mastering. Having a Lucid Dream is something almost everyone experiences very occasionally, but just imagine how exhilarating it would be if you could Lucid Dream whenever you want to!

If you truly want to open up a new path into some pretty amazing experiences then you probably want to learn just what you can do with these dreams. Imagine, if you will, being able to create your own universe, your own movie saga, create novels and book, or even experiment and design things all in the state of peaceful relaxation and slumber. You could even time travel and speak to people you have never met or have not seen in many years. Your dram has no limits!

Being able to have Lucid Dreams on a regular basis was until very recently a very difficult thing to accomplish. People would spend as long as a year training themselves before having even the first lucid dream; others never managed to achieve it.

Some Simple Ideas that May Produce a Lucid Dream

Many people who have experienced a Lucid Dream swear by eating certain foods just prior to the dream. If you would like to try this they usually recommend orange juice, milk, cheese, and mustard. These seem to produce the best results.

Other foods of note are pickles, ice cream, popcorn and fish. Although they are not as effective as the three foods and drinks described above. Some people say that they improve your overall dream recall and “prepare” your brain for future lucidity. The main problem is of course that they are high in fatty acids, salts and sugars which definitely doesn’t assist you in getting a good nights rest!

Can Technology Help?

As technology improves, so does the chance to get assistance with your Lucidity. There are now modern devices that you can use to stimulate and induce lucid dreams. There are innovative devices like masks and eyeshades that notice faster eye movement and blink a red diode when you begin to doze. This red beam is integrated into the dream, and reminds the person who is asleep that they are dreaming. The person can then start to control the dream once they realize that it actually is a dream!

The most exciting developments have been in audio technology. Sound waves at slightly different frequencies are played in to each ear of the listener ? a technique known as binaural beats. This can open the experience of Lucid Dreaming to many people.

These sound waves synchronize the hemispheres of the brain and produce the brainwaves of REM sleep, which is the state needed for Lucid Dreaming to occur.

If you would really love to experience a Lucid Dream then this is for you. This is definitely one of the easiest methods and devices that assist in achieving a Lucid Dream.

Confessions During Dream Control.

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

For most people, dreams are mysterious ‘mini movies’ that play in their minds while they’re sound asleep, seemingly without their control, with some being rather pleasant, and others, not so much. However, we now know that it is actually possible to make dream control a complete reality, bringing about what is known as lucid dreaming.

What is the true meaning of the term lucid dreaming and in what way does it work? Are there any advantages, and is it truly a possibility for people to achieve control and make journeys nightly into the realm of dreaming their mini series of unique travels? This article will answer these questions that are very commonly asked on the subject of dream control.

What Is Dream Control?

Dream control, (through the use of lucid dreaming), is your becoming aware of the fact you are in a dream state, and that you can actually control the happenings in your dream. As you are sound asleep, you recognize that the events you think are going on are actually dreams, and that you can control how the events transpire to even the ending.

For those suffering from frequent nightmares, this simple but powerful method may serve to be just the thing they need to finally enjoy a restful night’s sleep.

Common Ways of Inducing Lucid Dreaming

A rather effective method known for achieving lucid dreaming involves the use of binaural audio, which entails listening to two different frequencies at the same time in order to synchronize the brain waves, bringing about a deep sense of relaxation, as well as a state in which lucid dreaming is possible known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Before this use of modern technology was discovered and available on CDs or DVDs for the purpose of dream control, self hypnosis and meditation were the most widely used techniques for lucid dreaming, although many people report finding it too difficult to achieve this state using these two particular means of dream control.

Many additional techniques, since then, have been developed as methods for inducing lucid dreaming by those experts in both fields of psychology and science. And regardless of any of the earlier methods used the basic purpose still remains the same. To train the mind while in the state of sleep to be aware of being in a dream. The state needed to begin lucid dreaming.

To accomplish this, it takes us being completely awake it start, with the secret being the ability to remember to either say something or do an action in the dream, which will bring on the appropriate realization in your mind and permit you to control the next events happening.

It’s as simple a thing as reminding yourself while you are awake and before going to sleep you’ll be dreaming and in that dream you’ll remember to say or do something, something specific, at which time you will know that you are dreaming.

This particular method to dream control is referred to as MILD, or mnemonic induction of lucid dreams, which was discovered by scientist Dr. Stephen LaBerge. With this approach, your brain is then in complete control as to what occurs in the dream, meaning that nothing could or would come of harm to you as it’s simply all in the mind and you are only limited by your own imagination.

Another means of achieving lucid dreaming is by keeping a dream diary or journal, using a small notebook and pen kept by your bedside to write down everything you can remember in the minutes after waking up. After doing this for a few nights, you’ll start to notice being able to remember what you’ve written and have a similar dream in which you can then begin to control what happens.

With lucid dreaming you can go anywhere you desire, meet anyone you would like to meet and tame those creatures from your nightmares. Explore the fantastic imaginary worlds of fantasy and adventure of your dreams. Become a free spirit. Anything you want is yours and only limited by your imagination. You can be a free spirit, free of societies restriction, constraints and limits. With lucid dreaming you will be in complete control of all your nightly fantasies and adventures.

Experts warn though, that the one danger to lucid dreaming, is doing it too often can have adverse effects. The central reason being that dreaming naturally often informs us of critical things we would otherwise not know. Go ahead and have fun with lucid dreaming. It truly is an interesting experience, but always also let yourself have some times when you just dream regularly!

How Technology Helps With Conscious Dreaming.

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Perhaps more commonly known as lucid dreaming, conscious dreaming includes the ability to realize that you are dreaming while you are doing so and the ability to take control of your dreams, dictating the happenings. Once you are able to realize that you are dreaming, you can go anywhere or do anything in your dream.

While having the ability to control your dreams may sound farfetched, it?s actually something which is within your reach. Lucid dreaming isn?t that hard to do and these dreams are a great place to express your true self and your desires. There are techniques which have proven effective at producing lucid dreams.

To begin you need to think about what you want to gain. Do you want to have fun and live out your fantasies, or do you want to use lucid dreaming to help solve problems in your life. Maybe you are just curious about what the experience is like. It does not matter what your goal is as long as you keep it in mind and stay confident that you will achieve it.

The next step is to begin practicing the techniques which can produce the appropriate state of mind for lucid dreaming to occur. The first step for most people is dream recall, which is simply training yourself to remember your dreams.

You need to remember the dreams you have every night in order to start conscious dreaming. Try to remember every detail. A good way to do this is to keep a journal of all your dreams. Keep it beside your bed and record everything you can recall about your dreams. Do this every morning when you wake up. Do not wait until later in the day as you may forget. The longer you are awake the more you forget about your dreams.

Before long, you?ll find yourself able to remember more of your dreams ? and your dream diary can help refresh your memory. Once your mind is trained to remember dreams, the ability to recognize them while they are happening will follow easily. You might, like many do, come to the awareness suddenly that you are dreaming!

Other than keeping dream diary, many find hypnosis helpful. Hypnosis can help you to quickly reach the appropriate state for conscious dreaming. In fact, hypnosis can help you to recall every detail of your dreams in only a few sessions! Conscious dreaming is easy once this is accomplished.

When you first start lucid dreaming, you might awaken suddenly from them; this is a pretty common occurrence. To get back into these dreams, focus on the details of the dream as you return to sleep.

A third way to train yourself to conscious dream is to awaken yourself a couple of hours earlier than normal, then falling back to sleep. You are able to stay more aware in your dreams in this period of sleep, in fact you may feel you are half-awake and half-asleep. You may feel as if you are lying in bed thinking or daydreaming. If you are able to do this regularly, you will find lucid dreaming will come easily.

You?ll want to know your sleeping patterns, since this can help you to determine when the best times are for lucid dreams. However, you?ll still want to make sure to get plenty of sleep. When you are fatigued, you?ll have a harder time conscious dreaming.

However, it happens that lucid dreaming can be helpful to those afflicted with some sleep disorders including insomnia ? you?ll learn to banish the worrisome thoughts that can keep you from getting to sleep.

You may think that learning lucid dreaming takes years of practice, but in fact it?s not so hard at all to learn ? with just a little practice, you can be a conscious dreamer too!

In fact, conscious dreaming is something that everyone can do. Just practice and use these techniques to develop your own lucid dreaming abilities ? you?ll find that it has a lot to offer.