Lucid dreaming is basically being conscious and aware in your dreams. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t deprive your sleep and make you wake up tired, but in fact it is a tool to help one overcome a lot of fears, de-stress and enjoy their sleep time fully by going to far- away lands and having adventures that they actually might never have.

Now, you can learn how to control your dreams and here’s how. But before we start, remember: don’t rush through it or be too harsh o yourself if you don’t get it soon. It takes a lot of time to master this art and not everyone achieves full satisfaction in a short period of time. Having said that, lucid dreaming is an adventure in itself and here are a few basic techniques with which you can control your dreams too.

Young Woman Sleeping on Lawn Chair --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

Young Woman Sleeping on Lawn Chair — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

  1. Maintain a dream journal. This is essential in the beginning as it gives you perspective and helps you realise when you need reality checks. Also, dream journals help you track all your dreams so you can find patterns in them: what triggers what sort of a dream and so on.
  2. When you get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep, wake up and go back to bed. This technique is called the wake back to bed technique and works really well for beginners. Here, your mind is active but your body falls back to sleep, which is why you fall into a lucid dream easily and immediately.
  3. Mnemonic induced lucid dreaming is also a good technique for beginners. Here, you repeat a phrase over and over before sleeping so that it becomes clear that you want to stay awake during your dreams. It’s like a reality check to wake the consciousness.
  4. Another way to wake your consciousness while dreaming is to identify triggers that do so. Try different triggers, like reading before bed, for example. Find out which trigger works for you and what sort of a dream does it induce.
  5. Sometimes, people who are called creative or artsy find it easier to lucid dream. Also it is said that, people playing video games master lucid dreaming more easily than others.
  6. Auto-suggestion is a technique where you let yourself believe that you will become lucid while dreaming, without actually becoming lucid so that you really do. It’s a way of tricking your subconscious and though it is a little tough, it has worked for a lot of people.
  7. Wake-initiation of lucid dreams is another technique which is a little experimental and difficult. Here you try and remain conscious while falling asleep and go straight into a dream. This technique can take longer to master.
  8. Cycle adjustment technique, or CAT, is a very effective and relatively easier way of inducing lucid dreams. It requires you to adjust your sleep, wake cycle in such a way that you regain your consciousness during the latter part of your sleep. It might require you to wake up really early on some days and is often said to work every alternate day, which is still great for beginners.

Try out a few techniques that suit your needs. The best lucid dreaming techniques are those that work for you. Happy dreaming!

More from my site