Lucid
Dreaming - An Introduction To How To Do It
Author: Stephen
Turner, for www.dreaminglucid.co.uk
The first thing to say about
lucid dreaming is that everyone can learn to have lucid
dreams. Lucid dreaming is a skill, and like any other skill
you will only need motivation, patience and perseverance
to acquire it. Many people have the occasional lucid dream
without ever intending to have one, but it is only after
you establish a firm intention to start lucid dreaming and
then when you experiment with various techniques (discussed
on this site) that you will be lucid dreaming regularly.
By way of example, I had my first lucid dream in 1992 but
then did not have another for 13 years - when I decided
to learn how to do it and experimented with some of the
lucid dreaming techniques.
Even if you do have
the odd lucid dream without trying, you can still benefit
from trying the lucid dreaming techniques since they will
enable you to get the most out of your dreamtime. Eventually,
with enough practice, you should be able to have lucid dreams
at will. One of the pioneers into lucid dream research,
Dr Stephen La Berge, noted that over a period of two years,
his frequency of lucid dreams went from on average one per
month to up to four a night! Once in a dream he could easily
notice the dream signs (discussed on this site) and so could
'go lucid' at will.
How long it takes you
to have a lucid dream all depends on how much effort you
put into practicing the lucid dreaming techniques, but as
a general guide you should expect to see some results within
a month. By keeping a 'dream diary' you will improve
your dream recall and by practicing the day time exercises
you will set yourself up for noticing the dream signs. By
using the 'MILD technique' just before you go to
sleep you will work to focus your mind into going lucid
in a dream, and so improve your chances of this actually
happening while you dream in your sleep.
In my case, having established
my intention to learn, I read up on my subject, followed
the instructions and after a couple of weeks practice, I
was able to notice dream signs. Unfortunately, I did not
stay lucid in a dream for long and quickly fell back into
a normal dream, that is to say, a dream where I believed
that everything I was dreaming was actually real. However,
I persevered and a week later I was having lucid dreaming
at least once a night. At first these dreams appeared to
me to be in black and white and if felt divorced from the
people and objects that I saw. It was as though the very
fact of being awake to my dreaming had taken all the vitality,
excitement and reality out of the dream. I also had absolutely
no control over my early lucid dreaming experiences. However,
one week later, to my amazement, I was spotting the dream
signs, and then I was flying around in a brilliantly colored
world, looking at stunningly beautiful flowers and making
them grow and their colours change. Therefore, you should
feel confident that with practice and no small amount of
patience and perseverance you should be able to start lucid
dreaming; eventually you should be able to have lucid dreams
at will.
