First things first- only read this if you have a little bit of time and energy to devote to thought, otherwise it'll all seem like mumbo-jumbo. And figure, it took me a lot longer to write it then it will for you to read it.
For those of you that know what lucid dreaming is, cheers. For those of you that don't, wikipedia it, please. I could define it here, but I don't want to depreciate its wonder with a one sentence explanation. I believe lucid dreaming is one of the most amazing and profound natural phenomenons in the world, if not the. Most people only have 1-3 in their entire lives, but most people don't know that there are techniques to encourage lucid dreaming.
Anyway, if you glance at the wiki page on lucid dreaming (Are links aloud?), you'll see the term "reality test" a lot. A reality test is a SIMPLE test to determine if you are in "reality", or in a dream. It is NOT a lot of work to train your mind to experience lucid dreams, as I learned this morning while sleeping in. By far the most realiable reality test is checking the time, or reading some text, then looking away, and looking back at it. Studies show that if you are, in fact, dreaming, the time or text will change when you look back 75% of the time, and if it doesn't, look away and look back again, and 95% of the time it will change by then. I'll tell you more on how to utilize this bit of information later.
Here's the story. Although I can remember having 2 lucid dreams in my early childhood, I only learned what they were about 6 weeks ago. When I learned about lucid dreaming, I was amazed because it explained an extremely mystical, jaw-dropping sleeping experience I had while on vacation about 6 months ago, that left me wondering. So ever since I learned about lucid dreaming, I read all about it and about techniques to induce lucid dreaming. The first technique I tried was semi successful, on my very first try (I was baked, and that helps.). The obscure technique I tried was going from awakeness into REM sleep with unbroken consciousness. This can be achieved (can be quite difficult) simply by COUNTING YOUR BREATH as you fall asleep. Sometimes, your mind will stay awake while your body falls asleep and you'll start dreaming consciously (This is what happened while on vacation, accidentally. It was actually terrifying, as I had no idea what was going on.). When I tried that technique after reading about lucid dreams, I simply experienced some strange hypnogogic imagery and noises and perhaps a false awakening (but I can't be sure about the false awakening, that's the funny thing.). (Note: I suggested to my friend to try that technique, and he did, and on his second try he experienced sleep paralysis with intense hallucinations. You can actually dream with your eyes open, in a sense, using this technique.)
Now I'll describe a far better technique, that's essentially effortless, that worked for me. The hardest part, and perhaps the most important, is to improve your dream recall. Simply think about dreams more often. Think about dreaming and dreams that you've had before going to bed and when you wake up. It sounds too simple, but a month ago I was remembering about 1 dream every month or so, and now I remember bits and pieces from dreams almost every night. Also, you must perform the reality test that I spoke of earlier AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN REMEMBER during the day. I do probably 3-50 times a day, depending on how obsessive compulsive I feel that day (haha). It's simple, and no one will think you're a freak. just look at a clock, look away, and look back, as often as you remember. After your brain gets used to doing this, which may only take a couple days, you're likely to perform the test while dreaming. Our waking habits extend into our dreams, as well. That's simple enough, right? Well this next tip is almost equally as important, even though it sounds like pure superstition. As you're falling asleep, set an intention on becoming lucid! It's that effing simple! Whisper to yourself (quietly, your wife will think you're weird), "I will remember to perform reality tests while I dream. The reality tests will fail, proving that I'm dreaming. Upon becoming lucid, I will remain calm and not wake up.", or something along those lines. I swear that is key, I've been doing reality tests for about 6 weeks, and I kinda gave up on lucid dreaming halfway through these weeks, but last night, I just whispered that to myself, and remembered to perform like 20 reality tests yesterday, and I actually had a lucid dream this morning. (It's easier to have lucid dreams when you're sleeping in, because you wake up and doze off frequently, and your brain starts having trouble distinguishing the dream world and the waking world. Tricky stuff.) More proof of the effectiveness of simply setting an intention as you go to sleep is that the first time I ever did so, I said to myself (and wrote it down, couldn't hurt) "Upon waking up in the morning, I will NOT open my eyes. I will keep them shut, and think about remembering dreams I had that night", and, sure enough, I woke up to my terribly annoying alarm clock in the morning and the first thought that came to me after "I'm awake." was "Keep my eyes shut.", and I did so. That's the first time I've woken up and kept my eyes closed in years, normally they're open instantly.
That's as much information as my little fingers wanna give you on the science of lucid dreaming and techniques, but, as you can see, it's enough. hahahaha.
This morning, when I became lucid in my dream, I was in a grass field on top of a hill in a rich neighborhood with a huge ocean view at night and with 2 friends. The instant I remembered to do a reality test I thought "Oh my goodness, this one could fail". So I looked at the 5x oversized version of my real life alarm clock sitting on a desk or a box in the middle of the field (I didn't find that strange), and the time was blank. I looked away, looked back, it read something like 7:42. After passing hundreds, maybe thousands, of reality tests in the past month or two, failing one for the first time is MIND BLOWING. I kept looking away and back at the alarm clock really fast, getting a kick out of the constantly changing time. I looked at the grass and tried to compare it to real life. It was damn convincing. I looked at the horizon and some houses that were there were gone, and once I noticed that, they appeared again. Then I looked at the palm of my hand and something was wrong. I realized my right eye was half open and I opened my eyes instantly (not intentionally). I honestly don't know if I actually woke up, or if it was a false awakening. My memory jumps to me getting out of bed and telling all the people at my house about the lucid dream (there was no one at my house. I was still dreaming, even more vivid this time.) I looked at the palm of my hand, it was too realistic. One friend said "That's awesome, go back into it!" but I said, "Nah, it's really difficult."
I know this is long as hell, but I swear I'm unable to write about something I'm interested in without shitting out some 3 page long paper. If this thread doesn't die quick (please don't. hahahaha.), I think it would make a great sticky in the spirituality and philosophy forum, as dreams are some of our only direct insight into our subconscious, and lucid dreaming is the most profound view into our minds imaginable.
Feel free to tell about lucid dreams you've had, or just comment. Whatever. Just don't let this thread die, it took way too long to type
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