How to Lucid Dream for Beginners
A lucid dream is when the dreamer realizes that he or she is dreaming. People
who have lucid dreams are aware of their current dream state, and some can
control their activities and change the world of their dreams. Most lucid
dreams occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a sleep period in which
brain activity in the prefrontal cortex is increased but muscles are
essentially stationary.
Is having lucid dreams harmful?
Lucid dreams are generally harmless, and given the development of motor
skills, reduced anxiety, improved creativity, and proper supervision, they may
even help treat disorders such as PTSD. Nevertheless, there are certain risks.
In some cases, methods of inducing lucid dreaming can disrupt the sleep cycle,
increasing symptoms of mental health problems such as depression.
Dissociation, blurred boundaries between imagination and reality, and sleep
paralysis are all possible side effects of sleep disturbances (conscious but
unable to move). Before giving clarity, talk to your therapist or sleep
professional, especially if you have sleep problems.
How to Do Lucid Dreaming
Although more scientific research is needed on how lucid dreams function,
there are several methods you can use to generate lucid dreams.
Maintain good sleep habits. Having a lucid dream requires consistent
sleep hygiene. Create and stick to sleep habits that work for you. Maintain a
cool, dark sleeping environment. Avoid coffee and alcohol in the evening.
Remove all electronic devices from the bedroom and avoid looking at screens at
least 30 minutes before bedtime. Night Ritual can help you relax your mind and
prepare you for a restful night's sleep. Good sleep hygiene ensures that you
get enough sleep each night to experience the REM sleep needed for lucid
dreaming
Lucid dreaming requires metacognition, that is, knowledge of your own
ideas. Writing your dreams on a regular basis is a great technique to improve
your self-awareness and increase the frequency of your lucid dreams. Make it a
habit to keep a journal and pen by your bedside and write down what you
remember from your dreams each time you wake up. Handwriting can help you
remember your dreams and nightmares better. Examine your personal diary
entries for trends or clues from previous dreams.
Create a reality check mechanism. Regular reality checks throughout the
day to be aware of being awake are used in this strategy. The goal is to
improve metacognition (knowledge of one's thoughts) and learn to distinguish
the difference between reality and dreams. Checking in the mirror for
anomalies, checking that the watch is running regularly, and sliding your
index finger into the palm of your hand to see if it's stationary are all
common reality check strategies. Practicing these easy reality tests in your
waking life can help your brain prepare for reality tests and gain clarity in
your dreams.
A lucid dream induction experiment using mnemonics.
Prospective memory, a type of memory that involves establishing intentions for
future behavior, is central to the mnemonic induction of lucid dream (MILD)
approach. Concentrate on recent dreams that come to mind as you fall asleep.
Try to find the omen in your dream. Something strange about the dream
situation you recalled. Go back to the same dream and set your goal to become
conscious while you are having that dream. Say to yourself, "When I dream
tonight, I will remember that I am dreaming." The purpose of the MILD
technique is to return to the same dream, identify unrealistic aspects of the
dream state, and make yourself a lucid dream.
Try the “get up and go back to bed” method. When you go back into REM sleep,
the WBTB approach tries to trick your conscious brain into continuing to work.
Set an alarm clock for 5-6 hours after bedtime. Get out of bed and do
something energizing as soon as you wake up. Consider engaging in
mind-stimulating activities such as reading, writing, or meditation. Go back
to sleep after 20-60 minutes. If the strategy is successful, the conscious
mind will continue to engage as the body returns to REM sleep.
If you want to try lucid dreaming on your own, keep in mind that it takes time
to master. As your metacognition improves and you become more aware of your
previous dreams, you are more likely to have lucid dreams.
Advantages of Lucid Dreams
Choose your Dream
You are no longer a slave to bizarre dreams about seemingly trivial events
that happen during the day. Instead, you choose the image you want to witness
while you sleep. Our subconscious mind is a sophisticated system, so even if
you've never been to Paris, the degree of detail your mind makes up will amaze
you.
Creativity
Your creativity is the only limit to lucid dreaming. You will be amazed at
what your conscious and subconscious thoughts can do when you work together to
build a new nation. Perhaps you will come up with a wonderful, life-saving
innovation.
Reunion with a forgotten lover
If you lose someone you love and miss them badly, seeing them in a dream may
find solace in a conversation in which you become a participant rather than a
bystander. Many of us have had nightmares in the past about the person we care
about.
Gossip often confuses me, and I wonder why we talked about emptying the
dishwasher when we woke up feeling helpless and had more interesting stories
to tell.
Get rid of fear
This is a great opportunity to relieve anxiety because it has no effect.
Nothing can harm you while you are dreaming. If you have a fear of heights,
dream of skydiving! If public speaking is tense, create a scenario in which
you give a standing ovation speech.
Contacting the subconscious mind
Our subconscious mind is more powerful than our conscious mind, and its
programming is always running in the background. If you've tried to change
your addiction or self-destructive habit, but have failed, it's your
subconscious at work. You can talk to your subconscious mind and possibly edit
it during a lucid dream!
Improve athletic performance
If you want to improve on anything, like playing an instrument, daydreaming
about it is a simple approach to "practice" and develop. When you lucid dream
about the talent you want to achieve, you will find that if you add practice
hours to your dream, you will master it much faster.
More comfortable sleep
Rather than waking up by surprise from an unexpected dream, staying in a state
of awareness allows you to fully experience it without waking up. Better sleep
is the result of less disturbance.
Inspiration
Whether you remember it or not, your subconscious mind is like a huge database
of everything you've done. You may not have known what is going on around you,
but your subconscious mind is tracking everything.
A lucid dream may be just what you need to stimulate creativity and
consolidate thoughts that were previously in your subconscious mind.
There will be no nightmares.
If you're after a fire-breathing dragon, you no longer have to act as a
victim. Instead, summon a sword and fearlessly turn around to defeat the
monster.
Whatever nightmare you are experiencing, if you learn the art of lucid
dreaming, you will be able to manage it, or at least take comfort in the
knowledge that nothing will harm you.
Most people have had at least one lucid dream in their lifetime. On the other
hand, having regular lucid dreams is a skill in the chosen few.
Conclusion:
Proponents of lucid dreaming claim that real-world applications offer
significant benefits, such as lowering anxiety, increasing creativity, or
helping people find solutions to problems. Recurrent nightmares, PTSD, and
depression were all treated with lucid dreams.
