The ability to be aware of yourself in a dream and influence the world of your dreams sounds magical, at least mystical. Many people passionate about mysticism consider this skill accessible only to a select few, initiates. But this is absolutely not true! Science already knows how to get into a lucid dream without resorting to invoking “supernatural” forces and without stupefying the consciousness with “expanding” substances.

How to get into a lucid dream

Ph.D., somnologist Patricia Garfield and psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge never engaged in esotericism in their lives; their approach to the study of dreams was strictly scientific. However, these people have taught themselves and are successfully teaching others how to lucid dream!

There are also cases when a person who wants to see them and has learned how to enter this state enters a lucid dream the first time! Perhaps such people are more suggestible than others. Or they concentrate better. No one has yet studied a specific group of people who are capable of lucid dreaming without training - it is impossible to say what exactly distinguishes them from others.

The simplest technique for beginners - it was practiced by Stephen LaBerge himself - allows you to maintain awareness when you fall asleep, and is especially suitable for those who fall into sleep instantly, literally “falling through”, and if they remember anything from what they saw, it is hypnagogic images before turning off consciousness: a mix of dim figures and fragments of indistinct voices. LaBerge advises focusing on counting while adding the words “I’m dreaming” (or any others). Without being distracted, go to sleep and count: “One - I’m sleeping”, “two - I’m sleeping...”. As a result, Steve reports, you will realize that you have already fallen asleep, but at the same time the “inner” part of your consciousness is awake! Someone mumbles: “one hundred and fifty-seven - I’m sleeping”? If “I’m sleeping” doesn’t suit you, you can, in principle, repeat anything, even “I’m here,” even “I am the king of earthly kings, Assargadon” - the essence will not change: the main thing is that you will fall asleep, but remain conscious.

There is another technique for entering a lucid dream, starting in reality - you need to try to ask yourself as often as possible: “Is this a dream or reality?” (“Am I dreaming or not?”). It is while awake, during any activity or rest, that you ask yourself this question as often as possible! And do this not mechanically, but each time honestly answering yourself: “This is reality, because...” (“gravity is acting on me,” “I know what is written on the poster behind me,” “Dad is sitting in the next room.” - this is definitely dad, not Jabba the Hutt"). The technique is based on the fact that in dreams we most often act - at least at first - exactly the same as in reality. Just like when we are awake, in our dreams we do not ask ourselves the question of how to dive to the bottom of the sea without a spacesuit - out of habit, it seems impossible to us. As in reality, we go down the stairs, although we could jump out the window from the tenth floor. So: constantly asking ourselves whether we are dreaming or not, in reality, sooner or later we will do the same in our dreams! Steve LaBerge says this definitely happens!

Briefly about the practice of lucid dreams: what you need to do to learn to see them, remember and work with them in the video:

How to become aware of yourself in a dream

How to learn to be aware of yourself in the dream world if in a dream it seems to you that you are sleeping? Actually, you have already realized, but you need to “establish yourself” in this knowledge, to understand that you are the “director” of this dream. There are many ways to prove to yourself that you are really dreaming, and they all have a correlation between dreams and reality. You know that in a dream everything is possible, but reality is limited by physical and other boundaries? Try to make sure in a dream that these frames do not exist. If they really don’t exist and reality changes, it’s a dream. In reality, the writing on the wall does not blur and does not change its meaning, the time on the clock does not jump, and in the mirrors you see yourself, and not someone completely different from you.

Assess your surroundings and try asking yourself a question that in reality can only be answered in a certain way. And then try to take actions consistent with the answer. “How can I make this dog hairless?” - “We need to take the scissors and cut her hair.” So do it! And watch what happens. Well, at least not in reality. The scissors will not be in place in the desk drawer, since there is no desk. There are scissors, but they have four rings and four ends. And so on.

Lucid dreaming: techniques

There are many practices of lucid dreaming - both among different nations and among individual prominent figures. Not all of them are equally useful, especially for beginners. Yogis can certainly do this, but if you do not practice yoga, their technique will not help you. The American Indians have their own point of view on this matter - but unless your name is Sika Deer or the Star Seen from the Bottom of the Canyon, it is unlikely that you will be able to deeply understand their ways. According to Patricia Garfield, in Malaysia there lives an entire tribe - the Senoi people - who literally live by the principles of taking into account all their dreams. There, even small children who have just learned to speak are able to answer the first morning question from the head of the family: “What did you see in your dream?” But we don’t live according to the dictates of our dreams.

As for individual representatives of the human race who know how to enter a lucid dream, you should treat each of them as soberly as possible. They are divided into three types:

1. Supporters of the scientific approach (LaBerge, Garfield). In any case, they are worthy of trust.
2. Gurus of various spiritual practices (these are citizens like the late Osho - Buddhists, semi-Buddhists, Hindus, quasi-Hinduists, Hare Krishnas, Jains - thousands of them). If you are really passionate about the religious component of all this and are absolutely sure that you intend to continue in the same spirit, when you reach a certain level, they will tell you how to learn lucid dreaming. Unless, of course, the guru is really interested in your spiritual development. Steve LaBerge noted that the practice of lucid dreaming from Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh seems to be intended only for the Enlightened Ones - for ordinary people it is incomprehensible and unrealizable... In fact, the practice of B. Shri Rajneesh is suitable only for one person. His name is Osho.
3. Esotericists (a motley audience, often openly charlatan). These ones can be really dangerous simply because they pry into other people’s brains with unwashed hands. You may end up realizing that you are not in a dream, but in a madhouse.

Do not be persuaded to experience lucid dreaming with the help of any interesting substances unless you dream of drug addiction or insanity. Such extremes are not necessary! As already said, lucid dreaming practices are available to anyone!

Something about the preparatory stage

Here's what Garfield and LaBerge agree on about OS practices (what you need to do to see them):

• clearly formulate what you want to see (very specifically! Not “I would like to meet this wonderful actor...”, but “In my dream I will invite Iwan Rheon to dance”);
• internally accept this very possibility - to evoke the desired dream, do not doubt that you will succeed, believe in it;
• Constantly concentrate on the desired dream. Imagine the desired situation, think about it, clearly imagine the situation, the appearance of the person/those you want to see, come up with questions for them - everything depends on the situation. If you don’t need to meet with Reon, but go to sea with Columbus, get closely involved with Columbus and his campaign. If you want to solve some creative problem, imagine all the possible, even the most crazy, options for solving it.

An excellent, working and, most importantly, simple and understandable practice, derived by Patricia Garfield from the experience of antiquity. The fact is that the ancient Greeks and Romans (probably both the Egyptians and the Sumerians, but we know less about them) knew very well how to induce a lucid dream and did it regularly!

Garfield gives the example of Greeks coming to the temple of Asclepius, the god of healing, to be cured of an illness or to learn a way to treat it. It was a whole journey - more spiritual than physical (although the second one too - many traveled from afar, and this only helped to tune in to the indispensable “response of the deity” - a lucid dream).

How to have lucid dreams the Greco-Roman way?

1. Find a place where no one will disturb you (among the ancients this was a temple, sometimes a special place in the temple).
2. State clearly - in a clear, concise phrase - your intention. “I will see in a dream...”
3. Relax completely.
4. Visualize what you want to see as clearly as possible.
5. Be sure to believe that you will see what you want.
6. Work with what you see: ask questions! Remember that in a dream you can ask them not only to someone, but also to something. “Why are you showing me this?”
7. Pay special attention to those images that have a positive impact on you.
8. When you wake up, write down what you saw and heard, preferably in the present tense.
9. Find other people who are interested, discuss dreams with them, give them a certain role in your life - and the subconscious will certainly respond and begin to interact with you.

Patricia advises not to give up the practice, even if it seems unsuccessful at first. Time, patience - and everything will work out.

What to do in a lucid dream

Anything. Realize your dreams, destroy fears, look for answers to questions about yourself or solutions to creative problems - depending on what task you formulate for yourself. All of the above is possible.

How to get out of a lucid dream

There are several options:

• the dream will be interrupted spontaneously (something from outside will wake you up);
• you will enter the slow-wave sleep phase - that is, you will fall asleep more deeply and the OS will “fade away” by itself;
• if you want to wake up while in the OS, you can do it of your own free will. There is a high probability that you will find your own, personal way of interrupting OS (all practices are implemented in one way or another through the prism of each individual person; yours will not be like LaBerge’s). But there is also a way to get out of a lucid dream, mentioned by several practitioners at once: make some sudden movement, perhaps an absurd one that does not correspond to the situation. Relatively speaking, if you are talking with someone at the top of a tower and decide to wake up, jump off it.

Lucid dreaming is a very interesting practice of self-discovery. Steve LaBerge sincerely believes that she has a great future - because she helps people realize their creative potential. Patricia Garfield also wrote a lot about the creative component of practice. If you have a desire to try, there is nothing stopping you from doing so. What do you have to lose?..

Somewhere below, in the middle of endless green fields, a river meandered like a blue ribbon. It was as if she was playing with him. Who will be the first to reach the hill on which the city stands? He floated silently under the clouds, enjoying every moment. It's hard to describe. A desire simply arises in the heart, and every cell of the body responds to this wonderful call. And now it was calling forward. To his own city. With a magnificent palace in the center and a beautiful garden behind it. There was a stunning gazebo among the trees where he loved to sit alone, enjoying the birdsong.

A quiet rustling sound was heard nearby. Looking around, he saw a pair of young dragons. My heart began to flutter. But not from fear, but from joy. It was like meeting old friends. They sailed majestically across the sky, like two huge ships. The golden scales shimmered in the sun with all the colors of the rainbow. At the sight of such a spectacle, he wanted to scream with all his might, but the dragons got ahead of him. They let out a long, joyful cry, soared up and disappeared into the clouds.

And he flew and thought how the doors of his city would open before him, how his friends would greet him. The birds will sit on his hands and sing their songs for him. After all, this is his city. This is his world...

Do you think this is a fairy tale? Fiction? You guessed wrong. The world described above is quite real. This is the world of lucid dreaming, and everyone is as capable or better. Of course, you can say that this is all fiction, unreal, and so on. The fact is that reality is not so simple either. Our brain doesn’t care at all whether it takes a picture from dusty memory archives (perhaps even from an old movie) or receives it from an external source. You won't even notice the change. To a simple question: “Are you sure you’re not sleeping right now?” - most people won't even be able to answer. How to have lucid dreams? This is what we will learn today.

What are lucid dreams?

How to enter a lucid dream? Before getting an answer to this question, you need to find out what it even is? Essentially, the answer follows from the title. A person sees a dream, realizing that he is sleeping. This is the very first, main and most difficult step towards building your own world in your dreams. The problem is that most people on the planet are not only unable to control their dreams, but are not even able to understand that they are in a dream. And at the same time, we are still trying to talk about what is real in this world and what is not!

There are different types of people. Some people have vivid, beautiful (or scary) unforgettable dreams. Others have absolutely no memory of what they saw in their dreams after waking up. There are also people who are given the gift of self-awareness in dreams from birth, without any training or exercise.

There is no need to think that this is some kind of modern invention. The first mentions date back to the distant 8th century AD. Even then, people thought about traveling in their dreams. Serious scientific research began to be carried out much later, in the 20th century by S. Laberge, and later by other scientists.

Why is this necessary?

Before we start talking about how to enter a lucid dream, you need to find out why it is even necessary? Let's forget for a moment about such things as the hidden reserves of our body, inexhaustible sources of new knowledge, additional sources of energy, and so on. Let's turn to dry and banal mathematics. For hundreds of thousands of years, people have been looking for a way to extend their relatively short life by at least a couple of days. Whatever is being done for this purpose: new medicines are invented, diets and exercises are invented. No matter what lengths people go to in order to stay in this world at least for a short time. But very few people think about the fact that every day we delete from our lives as much as 8 hours allocated for sleep (some less or more). It doesn’t seem like much, one third of a day. Okay, we lose 10 days out of a month. More interesting now, right? Over 30 years of life, lost time is gained by 10 years! But we can’t stay awake, you say. That's right, we can't. But we have the power to fill this emptiness with meaning! Imagine having the opportunity to add years to your life, this is no joke! Time in a lucid dream is full of surprises. It seems that I slept for several hours, and the needle only moved by fifteen minutes. Moreover, there are cases where a person lived in a dream for several days, weeks and even months. And in the real world, as if nothing had happened, he woke up 8 hours later in the morning. Should we neglect the opportunity to increase our life expectancy by an order of magnitude?

There are many “supernatural” possibilities that open up to us in such dreams. This is unexpected knowledge and talents that a person had not noticed before. There are more interesting “revelations”, but it is better to leave them behind the curtain, since every traveler in the world of dreams must discover them for himself.

Psychologically, this is a great way to relax and give vent to your emotions. After all, this is your world! Everything here lives according to your laws, although it will not be possible to fully understand this right away. If you want to fly, fly, swim underwater, please. If you want to relax on the beach in Crimea every day - good luck! Your brain can create amazing landscapes and panoramas if you make it work for you. We'll talk about how to do this later.

Is this possible?

How to get into a lucid dream? Is this possible? Many people, after several unsuccessful attempts, become disappointed and come to the conclusion that either they were deceived and all these are fairy tales, or they do not have the ability to do this. Both of these are fundamentally wrong. First of all, everything written here is true! Secondly, there are no people who are unable to become aware of themselves in a dream. Some people succeed right away, others take weeks or even months, but in the end they are still successful. Maybe you won’t be able to build beautiful castles and raise golden dragons right away; it’s quite difficult. Everything will come in time if you don’t stop and go to the end! First you need to step over the main barrier - awareness. What are we going to do now? Are you willing to go down the rabbit hole? Are you ready? Then go ahead! We master the entrance to a lucid dream (LS).

Preparation

How to get into a lucid dream? Don't try to call OS when you're tired. If you have a hard job, go to bed early, set an alarm, and after you wake up, try to log into the OS.

Do not drink before bed, the urge to go to the toilet will ruin any

Prepare a notebook and pen for journaling.

Diary

Always keep a pen and notebook near your bed. After waking up, dreams are erased very quickly, you need to have time to write everything down. Record everything you can remember: the area, people, animals, tastes, sensations. Try drawing a map of your movements. Over time, you will notice some patterns. Something like locations will be drawn, like in computer games. Transition locations will appear. You probably remember how in a dream you are suddenly transported from one place to another. When you start keeping a diary, you will understand that such places are also natural. Remember them. Constantly re-read your diary, analyze and make a plan for your next dream. Even if you can’t control yourself yet, make a plan over and over again: go there, explore such and such a place, try to fly... One day everything will work out.

Changing consciousness

Everyone calls this exercise differently - “critical thinking” or “reality check” - but the essence remains the same: force yourself to doubt the reality of the world around you. It sounds pretty fantastic, but there's nothing wrong with that. Constantly ask yourself, “Am I dreaming?” - and find convincing evidence. For example, look at the same sign or object twice. In the dream they will change. Or try to fly. However, the most effective way is the first option. Over time, this habit will take hold and begin to manifest itself even in sleep.

Self-tuning

It will be nice if throughout the day you constantly tune yourself in for a positive result. Repeat to yourself: “Today I will succeed” or “Today in my dreams I will fly.” This should not sound like a cry of despair. You must believe unconditionally in your success. If you didn’t succeed and you just fell asleep, when you wake up, tell yourself: “It’s okay, I’ll try again.” Sooner or later this fortress will collapse, and victory will be yours. Just don't give up!

Calm

One of the main criteria for success in our event. Increased arousal is a disaster both when trying to enter a dream and when you are already there (instant departure). Meditation can be a good help in this case. If you learn to control your thoughts and feelings, this will be a big step towards success.

Fixing attention

A fairly complex but effective technique for lucid dreaming from a waking state. As mentioned above, you should not try to enter a lucid dream when you are tired, otherwise you will simply pass out. Either go into a lucid dream during the day, or set an alarm, wake up, and do it at night.

So. Lie down on your back (it’s better to choose a harder pillow) and close your eyes. Relax and calm your breathing. Mentally walk through your body, all muscles should be relaxed. Now it is important to free yourself from thoughts. This is quite difficult (this is when meditation practice will help), but it is necessary. You will feel like you are falling into some viscous substance (like resin). Don't be alarmed, this point is very important. It only lasts a few seconds. The main thing is not to let your consciousness turn off at this moment. A few seconds - and you are on the other side! You are in a lucid dream! This method is extremely complex and simple at the same time. Difficult because it can be difficult to relax, concentrate and not let your consciousness turn off while passing through the “tar” layer. Simple because it is the shortest path to the world of lucid dreaming. This technique has several undoubted advantages. If something goes wrong, you can stop, calm down and continue rather than wait until the next day. No additional exercises, attitudes, devices or substances are needed. If performed correctly, the transition to lucid sleep is guaranteed. Many people recommend using daytime for such exercises. The advantages of this choice are obvious, especially at the beginning of the journey. You're less likely to simply switch off. When everything starts to work out, you will be less dependent on fatigue, the state of your body and the time of day.

Health

Maybe some banal phrases will follow, but it’s still worth reminding about this for the common good. The technique of lucid dreaming should not be mastered by an unhealthy body. Therefore, if you have a fever or headache, reschedule your classes. Also, do not do this with a full stomach, drunk or hungover. Believe me, our consciousness is a fragile, precious instrument. Handle it with care!

What's next?

Let's say everything worked out for you, and this will certainly happen if you have desire and perseverance. What happens next? How will your first lucid journey in a dream begin? First of all, you want to look at your hands. No one knows exactly why, but most often this is where it starts. Later, if you feel that the dream is starting to fade (you wake up), take a special look at your hands. This will allow the situation to deepen somewhat. An amazing sensation is the second most popular action performed in lucid dreams. At the beginning of the article such a flight is described; it is difficult to describe the physical sensations experienced during it. After such dreams, the feeling that our laws of the universe are not as unshakable as we were told about them since childhood cannot leave us.

Will

Even in a lucid dream, you often have to remind yourself who is boss. Our consciousness can be compared to a large garbage dump. What and who is not here! You can meet both beautiful and terrible creatures. Until you have learned to control and create something in your dreams, you remain just an observer. The main thing is not to be scared! It is important to remember that this is your world and you are the master here. Whoever you meet, you can command him or make him disappear. For this you need one condition - self-confidence! People, animals, things, buildings will appear in front of you. You can remove or adjust them, but always remind yourself that everything here is subordinate only to you.

Creation

You don’t need to think that the lucid dream technique requires you to draw every twig or leaf. Your brain remembers perfectly well what a forest, river or dog is, but if you want to correct something, the matter is limited only by your imagination. Write down everything you do in your sleep and mark it on a map. Write what you are going to do. Chances are good that one day you will return to the house or castle you built last night. Or get yourself a golden dragon that will meet you and protect you in every dream. You can create multiple locations and move between them using the transitions described above.

Knowledge

Many people use the state of lucid dreaming to get answers to questions that interest them. Hidden talents and opportunities are revealed. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in a dream our consciousness does not have the usual limitations. People often create a secret room, a magic ball or a magic box in their dreams, which they use to get answers to their questions. And, oddly enough, it works; a person really often receives information that is inaccessible to him in the real world.

Conclusion

Now you know what the lucid dream technique is. There are the most contradictory reviews about it. There are people who say that spending a long time in the OS worsens a person’s connection with the real world. Someone says that a person can go into a lucid dream and not return from there. Some people think you can go crazy there. As a rule, these are people who have either never had such dreams, or have made a couple of unsuccessful attempts and abandoned this activity.

There are others too. Those for whom the practice of conscious sleep has helped get rid of various complexes. Some learned to write poetry, music, made discoveries, and learned a foreign language. And some simply found a place to relax and retire. The practice of lucid dreaming is a vast, unexplored field, containing so many wonders and possibilities that we cannot even imagine. But all you need is a little desire, patience and self-confidence!

Many people have encountered such a situation when they realized that they were dreaming and this state is called lucid dreaming. The sensations can be barely noticeable, or they can expand and give the person the ability to control their visions. There are techniques that allow you to develop this ability.

Dreams have always interested people, so this topic has been carefully studied for many years. Lucid dream (LS) is a state of consciousness that occurs in the REM sleep phase and is extremely emotionally intense. It can occur spontaneously or initiated by the person himself, who can control it. For many years, scientists have been trying to figure out what lucid sleep means, thanks to which many discoveries have been made. There are developed techniques for immersing and controlling such dreams.

How is a lucid dream different from a waking dream?

Numerous experiments made it possible to obtain objective data that confirmed that brain activity during OS differs from other phases and from the state of wakefulness. They also differ from waking dreams, which are considered simple fantasies. The scientific and methodological value of OS lies in the fact that they can help reveal many secrets of human consciousness and understand the abilities of the brain. Science defines lucid dreaming as an opportunity to obtain material for self-knowledge and introspection. One of the first scientists to devote his life to this topic was S. Laberge.

How to get into a lucid dream?

Scientists assure that every person has the opportunity to develop the ability to get into OS. There are several directions you can take. The most important thing is to have a strong desire to be in your own dreams. The technique of entering a lucid dream is described in many books, for example, the following popular authors are: R. Webster, M. Rainbow and R. Monroe. Another important tip is to keep a diary, where immediately after waking up, write down the scenes you saw in all details. It is important to practice regularly using different exercises. You don't need to count on quick results.

Techniques for getting into a lucid dream

The main condition for getting into the OS is maximum relaxation, but it is important to control yourself so as not to fall asleep. For this purpose, it is necessary to use relaxation and it is best to choose exercises to relax muscles and control breathing. The technique of lucid dreaming should be selected individually, since it affects each person differently. It is important to have some privacy by turning off your phone, and it is also recommended to close the curtains and sit in a comfortable position.

1. Imagine and even mentally say how each muscle on the body relaxes, and you need to start with the smallest of them.
2. Visualize yourself falling from a great height. It is important to try to prolong this state as long as possible.
3. Imagine yourself swinging on a swing or in a boat floating on the waves.
4. Visualize yourself in a place you really like. It is necessary to present everything as accurately as possible in the smallest detail. Thanks to this, there is a possibility that a lucid dream will latch on to this picture.

There are several more recommendations to achieve good results. It is necessary to ensure complete absence of movement, as itching in the eye or nose area may occur. It is important to ignore all these urges. Particular attention should be paid to breathing, which should be close to the sleeping state, that is, even and deep. You can also use this technique: get up at 4-5 am, go to the toilet and drink some water, and this should take no more than 5 minutes. After this, you should go to bed and force yourself to fall asleep.

How to manage a lucid dream?

A person who is just beginning to practice entering the OS often faces various problems that are associated with strong emotions. As a result, the dreamer wakes up only after achieving certain results. Many people simply forget that they were and controlled their actions in a dream, and this is due to the special functioning of the brain. To avoid this, it is necessary to check reality as often as possible, which will allow you to maintain awareness.

Controlling a lucid dream depends on the desired goal, for example, if a person wants to see a certain person or creature, then he should visualize it before going to bed. It is important to send requests to your subconscious, which will lead to results. Many beginners, wanting to change the world around them, encounter a mental block that prevents them from realizing their plans. To avoid this, you can do a simple exercise: imagine a door in front of you, behind which there is a place where you want to go. This door will be a portal through which you can reach your goal.

What can you do in a lucid dream?

OSes come in many different forms and many of them are completely tangible and vivid. This allows the human brain to regenerate completely different and even amazing things. This is due to the fact that everything happens in thoughts, where there are no boundaries. Thanks to numerous trainings, managing lucid dreams is possible, and if desired, it is easy to realize any of your fantasies and desires.

1. Experiments have proven the ability to improve your physical performance thanks to the processing of skills in the OS.
2. Visiting various places, as well as traveling through time.
3. The dream of many people is to learn to fly, and in their dreams it can be made a reality.
4. Gaining creative inspiration by bringing ideas to life.
5. Many psychiatrists use lucid dreaming to help a person cope with nightmares.
6. An opportunity to meet and communicate with people who have already passed away.

Is it possible to die in a lucid dream?

OS not only have certain advantages and benefits for humans, since they also contain danger. There is currently no evidence that you can die in a lucid dream, but serious side effects have been identified. For example, a person may not notice severe pain, lose memories, have a split personality, and experience a loss of reality. There is a serious danger of lucid dreaming for people who have mental disorders and phobias, as well as diseases in which strong emotional impressions are undesirable.

Lucid dreaming - is it dangerous?

Some people, having become interested in this topic, do not know how to enter and use the OS correctly, which can cause serious problems in everyday life. One of the main dangers is that a person becomes dependent on them, and he ceases to be aware of reality. To avoid this, it is important to notice in time that thoughts about the events seen in night visions displace reality. To understand the dangers of lucid dreaming, it is necessary to consider other possible consequences.

1. Inadequacy. If a person has poorly learned to be controlled by OS, then he can transfer many things into real life, which will be perceived by others as inappropriate behavior.
2. Destabilization. There are situations when the boundaries between consciousness and subconscious are blurred, which leads to a loss of reality.
3. Mystical. In a lucid dream, a person encounters various beings and forces, which lead to a waste of energy, which affects the person’s condition.

Do you know how to induce a lucid dream in which you can do whatever your heart desires? There are several methods from different authors. We will share them with you, and you can choose the most suitable one.

The ordinary dreams that you manage to remember are beyond your control. You simply observe events, see bright or not so bright images, but cannot in any way influence what is happening.

The practice of lucid dreaming allows you to stop being a passive participant and become the director of your own dreams. Once immersed in an altered state of consciousness, you will be able to build castles, travel, fly and do whatever your heart desires.

Basic facts about lucid dreaming:

• You control the process - change the role of a passive observer to a participant and director of the “scenario”
• You are immersed in the unconscious part of the brain, which is impossible to achieve while awake
• According to Zealand, you are traveling through parallel realities that actually exist. But in ordinary life it is very difficult to switch to different levels

Important: in Reality Transurfing, a book that popularized the practice of lucid dreaming, the author strictly warns about the dangers of such travel across different worlds.

Zeland claims: if you play too much, sooner or later you may end up in another reality without waking up in the one in which you fell asleep. Therefore, you should be extremely careful and not abuse it.

The opinion of other experts is the same: they generally do not recommend practicing lucid dreaming on your own.

Instructions

How to get into a lucid dream the first time and can it be done so quickly? It all depends on your ability to concentrate. Not all people can induce lucidity in a dream right away, but you can try.

What is important to do to make it work:

1. Start keeping a dream journal. Place a notebook and pen near your bed and write down the plot of your dream as soon as you wake up.
2. Develop visualization skills. You must learn to very clearly draw different images in your imagination so that they are vivid and realistic
3. Learn to plan your intentions, separating them from desires
4. Respect for your own unconscious

Let's talk in detail about each skill.

Dream Diary

All people see four or five dreams in one night, but not everyone remembers them. It all depends on what stage of sleep you woke up in. If it’s fast, you “had a dream,” if it’s slow, you won’t remember it.

But if you keep a diary regularly, over time you will remember absolutely all your dreams: 4-5 per night. It is important to write down not only the plot itself, but also to share your feelings and emotions.

Visualization

Anyone can learn to visualize: for this you need to develop your imagination. If everything works out for you now, you can skip this point.

For others, there is a simple exercise:

1. Close your eyes and imagine a huge black screen in front of you, similar to the one in cinemas
2. Mentally draw a picture on the screen. Start with something simple - for example, imagine that a fruit or a primitive landscape appears on the screen
3. Gradually increase the level of difficulty: “paint” pictures with many small details

You can practice visualization every day. It's better to do this before bed, when you feel like you're starting to fall asleep. At this time, consciousness is most receptive.

Planning Intention

It is very important that you learn to translate your desires into intentions. What's the difference?

Let's say you want to eat an apple. As long as it is just a wish, nothing happens. But then you go to the store and you clearly know that in a few minutes the fruit will be in your hands. That feeling that you already have what you want and know that it is real is intention.

Train this skill by practicing on more complex desires.

Respect

If you do not want frightening consequences, you must respect the world of your own dreams. You must accept them in any way - scary, unpleasant. Unconditional acceptance of any dream without negative emotions is the key to success.

Realize that any picture in the subconscious is a reflection of your personality. Therefore, do not complain about nightmares, but try to understand what dark side manifested itself in them.

Zealand method

If you have already sufficiently mastered all the necessary skills, you can begin special exercises that will induce lucid dreams. How quickly this will happen is unknown.

What will lead to success:

• Your strong desire, turned into an intention, to induce a lucid dream
• The practice of “reality testing”. Several times during the day, think: “Am I dreaming right now?” This is exactly what Zeland’s method is, set out in the book about reality transurfing

To check that you exist in reality at the moment, you can pinch yourself, touch yourself, or scream out loud. And don’t forget to write down all your dreams in the morning.

Watch a video on how to induce a lucid dream:

Safety precautions

We have already warned that the practice of lucid dreaming is quite dangerous. There are many reviews about what people tried, and when it worked, they were very scared, and never repeated attempts to induce a realistic dream.

To keep yourself as safe as possible, follow these recommendations:

• Learn to fully accept your dreams and the emotions they evoke. Control it in yourself
• Make sure you are prepared for unpredictable consequences that can seriously frighten you. Will you be able to control extreme stress after a successful attempt at lucid dreaming?
• Don't overuse it. Otherwise, you risk losing the line between sleep and reality, losing your sense of reality and destroying your personality

Practice lucid dreaming only if in real life you are a happy person without any special problems. If you are looking for something in your dreams that is missing in reality, the consequences can be very negative. Miracles occurring in conscious reality will never replace real sensations, but will create dangerous illusions.

Lucid dream - fiction or reality? Psychology relates it to very real things, namely the highest mastery of mastering techniques. The success of all future activities depends on how we sleep. Of course, you want to be able to “install disks” with interesting and pleasant dreams, and even better, be able to get out of bad dreams and wake yourself up. But this is only one side of the issue of lucid dreaming.

Dreams are a reflection of our mental (conscious and unconscious). In dreams, everything is objectified, which is why they seem so strange to us. After all, needs and problems are not always of a material nature.

Sleep is a functional state of a person. There are slow and fast sleep phases. NREM sleep is characterized by delta impulses, while REM sleep is characterized by alpha waves. REM sleep is close to the waking state. During slow sleep, anabolic processes occur in the body (recovery). This is the physiology of sleep, the psychological side looks like this:

• At the stage of slow-wave sleep, there are practically no dreams; all information received during the day is systematized and processed (the important remains, the unnecessary is forgotten).
• REM sleep promotes intensification of search activity, dreaming and reflection. A person seeks and finds answers to the most painful questions that cannot be analyzed in reality.

What is a lucid dream

Stephen LaBerge is considered the founder of the theory of lucid dreaming. However, the psychophysiologist was not only a theorist, but also a practitioner. He himself applied and promoted these ideas. The term “lucid dream” was introduced by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in the 19th-20th centuries. These ideas came to Russia much later. And there is still no exact data about who can be considered the father of the Russian theory about lucid dreams.

Lucid dream is a form of altered consciousness used to correct the psychophysiological, physical, and psychological state of the body. Scientific research has confirmed that lucid sleep is a borderline state not only between sleep and wakefulness, but also between sleep phases. The phases are closer to REM sleep, but even closer in brain function (the lobes responsible for control, planning and understanding are active) to the waking state.

With the help of lucid sleep, you can change the nature of dreams (lowest level) and the content of dreams (highest level). The desired maximum is to wake up and not remember what you dreamed, but to feel a surge of strength and positivity, to understand that you dreamed something very pleasant.

Lucid dreams border on mysticism and esotericism; everything described seems unreal. But at the intersection of psychology and somnology, this phenomenon has been studied for a long time. You can read about this, for example, in the work of V.I. Gromov. Although this topic is still little studied, primarily due to the lack of Russian literature. But this is not the only problem:

• Difficulty in interpretation is another problem. Modern researchers determine the success or failure of the experimental subject by prior agreement: having achieved lucid sleep, he will make a certain movement with his eyes. But active eye movements are always present during the REM phase of sleep, so it is impossible to say with 100% accuracy what they mean at a particular moment. Although, on the other hand, if the process is controlled by technology, then the neural signals from the brain will not be similar to the REM sleep phase.
• Subjectivity of information. The test subjects themselves talk about their “travels”; scientists simply have to write down their words, interpretations and vision of the situation.
• It is difficult to repeat the first and control experiments under absolutely identical conditions.

Interesting fact: lucid dreams occur more easily and sometimes spontaneously in children. But as we grow older, this ability is lost. However, another surge in such activity is observed at the age of 15-16 years.

Is lucid dreaming dangerous?

This issue has also been little studied; there is no exact data at all. But several positions can be assumed.

1. Such practices are contraindicated for weak and mentally ill people.
2. The second danger is the possibility of confusion (analogy with video games). A person can make a mistake, get confused and do something unwanted in real life, thinking that he is dreaming.
3. And one more problem: having mastered lucid dreams, a person will most likely deprive himself of natural sleep. It’s not clear how the psyche will react to this. But if we remember that dreams free our subconscious, allow us to process, find answers to complex questions and think about the very name “lucid dream”, then we can conclude: the subconscious will be tightly locked, and consciousness, on the contrary, will work at its limit. But, believe me, the subconscious will not give up without a fight. It will find how to express itself in real life, since its rightful sleep has been taken away from it.
4. Trying to find the optimal time to induce a lucid dream, waking up and falling asleep, you will certainly disrupt the established routine. And the fact that nothing improves our health more than adequate sleep is undeniable.

So before you start such practices, think again about the essence of the phenomenon - a form of altered consciousness. Of course, changes can always be positive or negative. But in this case, no one gives any guarantees, and the result may be the most unexpected.

Psychologists are actively studying the use of the lucid dream method for the correction of complexes and syndromes, especially those accompanied by nightmares and panic attacks in dreams. In this case, psychophysiologists allow such practices, but only under the supervision of a doctor.

However, experts strongly do not recommend using this method for healthy people who want to try, indulge, play, and experience new sensations. But for schoolchildren it is completely prohibited, since the child’s brain has not yet formed and become stronger. In any case, lucid dreaming is an abnormal functioning of the brain.

The modern world of consumption could not stay away. People are offered all sorts of devices, headbands, helmets, glasses and applications for their phones that supposedly help them get into a lucid dream without any preparation. It's all a myth. Perhaps we’ll make a small allowance for (people’s self-hypnosis), but otherwise we can only hope for the development of self-regulation.

Benefits of lucid dreaming

If you do this competently, under the supervision of a specialist and with a specific goal, for example, to correct the mistakes of the past (to survive), then this is a good method of treatment. As you know, our demons (experiences, uncertainty, problems in adaptation, etc.) can spoil both mental and physical health (), and indeed our entire lives. Then the idea of ​​solving a problem in a dream looks quite good, for example, replaying a situation that torments you, but with a pleasant outcome for you. This is especially true if in real life you cannot meet a specific person or find yourself in specific circumstances.

In a lucid dream you can:

• ask forgiveness from a deceased relative or hear important words from him;
• get rid of fears by placing yourself in frightening conditions, but understanding that this is a lucid safe dream that you are guiding.

But the other side of the coin immediately emerges: by succumbing to panic and forgetting about the unreality of what is happening, your body will experience a real shake-up. Unfortunately, no one can say in advance how the vital systems of the body will react to this:

• On the one hand, the experience gained in a lucid dream can be repeated in practice.
• But on the other hand, the feeling of control over the situation in a dream can overshadow adequate self-perception and cause a state of severe frustration in case of failure.