Suggestions That May Prompt Lucid Dreaming

## **Why Lucid Dream?**

Lucid dreaming is the ability to control your dreams with free-will while being conscious of the dreams and the fact you are dreaming. Lucid dreaming is also the closest the average person will be able to get to having their own holodeck - an alluring prospect indeed!

There is really no major compelling reason to lucid dream other than that it is cool, but even if that is so, why not join the fun of many others who have found joy in lucid dreaming?

## **Suggestions That May Prompt Lucid Dreaming**

**1.** Start a dream journal, (either in a physical or digital format), where you note down every morning the dream[s] you can remember from the night before. This will require deliberate recall of your past dreams, and heighten the extent to which you're able to remember your dreams. It can also serve as a useful repository of dreams if you wish to add your dream to this wiki!

**2.** Perform daily *reality checks*. A *reality check* is a deliberate "tic" of sorts, where you perform an action such as checking your watch or looking in a mirror often throughout your waking hours, such that your brain will do it out of habit in your dream - when the results are different in the dream, (e.g. the watch renders a drastically different time the second time you glance upon it within a few seconds, or when upon looking in the mirror you find you're invisible), you may recognize something is off and come to the realization you are dreaming, which may prompt you to lucid dream and be able to control the dream that you are in.

**3.** Use lucid dreaming supplements, or natural herbs which are associated with more vivid dreams, such as Calea Z. Note that dreamy wiki does not endorse or sponser *any* supplement, either prescribed or herbal, and all information here is purely for interested parties to read, research, and make an educated decision as to whether or not they wish to take a supplement. Please consult your doctor if you are considering a lucid dream supplement to see what affect it may have on your health based on your personalized health plan.

**4.** Try the mnemonic lucid dream induction method popularized by Dr. Stephen LaBerge.

**5.** Make sure your mattress is good. This aids sleep and not lucid dreaming directly, but one is only able to lucid dream if they are able to sleep well.

**6.** Watch a powerful movie or read a great fiction book before going to bed. These may cause you to vividly imagine the scenes in the related media in your sleep, as it's been freshly imprinted upon your mind.

**7.** If you are really dedicated to having a lucid dream, you can set up your alarm to wake you up every 90 minutes. This will break your sleep cycle and induce REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when dreams happen.

**8.**

    Count backwards while trying to fall asleep. This is mostly to help one fall asleep and is not directly related to lucid dreaming. The psychological reason for why counting backwards aids in sleeping is that you are "revving down" so to speak, whereas if you count up you are in fact "revving yourself up". So in fact, counting sheep is ***not*** the best method of it's sort[counting], counting sheep *backwards* is!

**9.** Don’t drink too much before going to sleep, as this actually inhibits dreaming, (as does smoking - though that inhibits much more than the ability to lucid dream!).

**10.** Decide on a *visualization ritual*. A *visualization ritual* is imagining a scenario that you are planning to dream about. Imagine this scenario as vivid and detailed as possible before you fall asleep.

**11.** Use a lucid dreaming mask, such as NovaDreamer. Due to the price of these however, it is wisest to stick with the other suggestions before resorting to a lucid dream mask, which is effective, but still not completely guaranteed!

**12.** Go to bed thirsty. This will trigger you to make sure you get something to drink in your dreams, which can induce lucidity when that happens. (Most likely however, it will just prompt you to wake up in real life and fill a cup from the faucet!)