| Most lucid dreams occur between 5AM and 8 AM, | | | | dreamsign. If your boss comes into work wearing a |
| times that are most likely to be longer REM periods. | | | | tutu, when this is completely out of character for that |
| LaBerge's work at Stanford confirmed this occurrence. | | | | person, this can also be a sign that the dreamer is |
| The first step is to develop good dream recall. If one | | | | dreaming. Almost every dream has dreamsigns, some |
| cannot remember dreams at all or has difficulty | | | | defiance of physical laws, social laws, or |
| remembering dreams, then lucid dreaming is nearly | | | | out-of-the-ordinary interactions of objects, people and |
| impossible. Awareness must be developed in the area | | | | things. By training yourself to recognize dreamsigns, |
| of dreaming. First of all plenty of sleep is necessary, | | | | you can wake up in any dream you like. Train the |
| and the longer one sleeps, the more dreams are | | | | waking consciousness to look for out-of-place objects, |
| possible. As the night progresses, dream periods get | | | | situations or people in waking life. Noticing that one's |
| longer and closer together until near wake up time, the | | | | boss is wearing an orange hat with a feather in it |
| dreams are forty-five to sixty minutes long and only a | | | | when it is completely out of character for him or her, |
| half hour apart. The first dream of the night is the | | | | this could be considered a dreamsign. A dreamsign is |
| shortest, perhaps only five to ten minutes in length. | | | | something that is unordinary, like purple kittens, and this |
| Dream recall happens when the dreamer awakens | | | | would be a signal to the dreamer that he or she is |
| directly from the dream, which happens after almost | | | | dreaming. Impossible situations and objects are possible |
| every dream a person has. We fall back to sleep and | | | | only in a dream. |
| forget the dream because we are in the habit of it. | | | | Another discipline is looking for dreamsigns during |
| One way around this would be to set an alarm clock | | | | waking hours and then this mental attention will be |
| to wake you up at a time when you are likely to be | | | | carried into the dream world. Simply recognize the out |
| dreaming. You could set your alarm for ninety minutes | | | | of the ordinary experiences all around every day, |
| after bedtime, or other various intervals of ninety | | | | confirm that it is a dream, and as the dreamworld |
| minutes from bedtime. If you are aiming for a period of | | | | presents unusual events, the mind will respond similarly |
| time that would be richer with dream time, try setting | | | | in the dream state as it did in the waking state by |
| the alarm(s) for six or seven hours after you go to | | | | confirming that it is a dream. |
| sleep. Dreams are thickest and most likely during the | | | | An ancient Tibetan Buddhist technique is to maintain |
| late morning hours of sleep, right after or before dawn, | | | | wakeful consciousness as one drifts off to sleep. |
| depending on when you like to wake up. The | | | | Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold say in their |
| probability of a lucid dream during this time is also | | | | book Exploring The World Of Lucid Dreaming (1990), |
| double than in the earlier part of the sleep period. | | | | that Rinpoche, a Tibetan teacher who was visiting |
| Remind yourself of your intention to remember your | | | | America, taught people to "think of all our experiences |
| dreams before you go to bed. Motivation is a big | | | | as dreams and to try to maintain unbroken continuity |
| factor in the success or failure of dream recall. It will | | | | of consciousness between the two states of sleep |
| help to keep records of the dreams you recall, for this | | | | and waking." One could most easily do this when going |
| will inspire more dreams to be remembered. | | | | back to sleep after just having awakened from a |
| As soon as you awaken in the morning ask yourself | | | | dream. It is more difficult if the first REM state hasn't |
| immediately what you were dreaming, for you were | | | | been reached yet. |
| just dreaming before you woke up, if you woke up | | | | Another is called "Mnemonic Induction of Lucid |
| naturally. If you cannot remember to ask yourself this, | | | | Dreams," or MILD, the phrase coined by Stephen |
| try putting a note next to your bed reminding yourself | | | | LaBerge. Mnemonic means "something that aids the |
| to ask this question. Don't move when you wake up. | | | | memory." It is difficult for most of us to even |
| Stay still. Don't think about anything either. If you can't | | | | remember that we are trying to awaken in a dream, |
| remember what you were dreaming, ask yourself | | | | let alone do so. Stephen LaBerge's MILD technique can |
| what feelings or thoughts are present. This will give | | | | assist with this. This is a close cousin to the technique |
| you clues to what you were just experiencing and | | | | of looking for dreamsigns, but differs because you are |
| might jog your memory. This may bring back the entire | | | | the one who picks something to look for, rather than |
| dream. At first, only fragments of the dream will be | | | | just waiting for something out of the ordinary to |
| remembered by the person who does not have good | | | | happen. For instance, one could program oneself to |
| dream recall, but with practice, more will be revealed | | | | wake up in a dream every time he or she opens a |
| without as much effort. | | | | door. This is done by remembering in waking life to |
| Many techniques are available to train oneself to | | | | check whether or not one is dreaming every time a |
| dream lucidly. One common technique taught by many, | | | | door is opened in waking life. Then, in the dreaming life, |
| including the Don Juan character in Carlos Castenada's | | | | this will automatically happen again, the question will be |
| books, is to look for the hands in the dream. Once the | | | | posed and the dreamer will then awaken in the dream. |
| hands are seen, one can realize one is dreaming | | | | A second version of this method, MILD, is to recall the |
| because the signal was recognized, and then one is | | | | dream just awakened from. While returning to sleep, |
| lucid in the dream. If the hands begin to change, one | | | | imagine returning to that dream and waking up inside it. |
| must look away or lucidity might be lost. | | | | Before falling back to sleep, pick something you want |
| A very potent technique for inducing lucid dreams is to | | | | to do as soon as you see yourself awakening in the |
| train the waking life consciousness to always be | | | | dream, like flying or something like that. Often, the |
| asking itself if it is dreaming. Every 90 minutes, one | | | | dream one was having is returned to and one and |
| could ask oneself if he or she is awake or dreaming, | | | | might remember that one had seen oneself waking up |
| and always answer, "Yes, I am dreaming. This is a | | | | in this particular dream. |
| "conditioned response" that will show up in the dream | | | | Another method for inducing lucid dreams is called |
| world. | | | | "sleep redistribution." A normal eight hour period of |
| Bizarre occurrences are dreamsigns, triggers which | | | | sleep might be between midnight and 8 AM. With this |
| become doors to lucidity. A single out of place object, | | | | method, the eight hour sleep period is cut short by |
| character or circumstance can be a dreamsign. These | | | | sleeping only until 6 AM. One goes about his or her |
| are clues to show you that you are dreaming. For | | | | business for two hours and then goes back to bed |
| instance, a streetlight is flashing blue, rather than the | | | | from 8 AM to 10 AM. During these two hours, one will |
| familiar red, green or yellow. This would be a | | | | have more dreams than was possible from 6 AM to 8 |
| dreamsign for the dreamer, and the dreamer could | | | | AM in normal sleep. It is a fact that within only a few |
| then realize that this is a dream, rather than physical | | | | moments of falling back to sleep, especially during the |
| reality. Then lucidity is achieved. If a tree in a familiar | | | | morning period, REM can be re-entered quite quickly. |
| courtyard were pink instead of green, this could be a | | | | |