Increasing Dream Realism

Dream Realism is one of the most important factors in a lucid dream. Without dream realism, lucid dreams wouldn't be what they are. If you had no dream realism, you might as well just be sitting at your desk and day dreaming. The quality and life-likeness of a lucid dream is dependent on its realism. That is why I have created this tutorial for you to all follow.

Using this tutorial

You might think this tutorial is a bit overwhelming at first, so I have some suggestions for how to navigate it so it is not too hard to read it all. This tutorial is organized in such a way that it is easy to get the information you need and not the information you don't need. The first thing you should do is find if you want to practice increasing dream realism in or out of the dream. If you want to practice in real life, then only read the first part. If you want to practice only in the dream, skip the first large font and scroll down until you see in large letters, "Increasing dream realism in the dream." If you want to practice both, read the information you want to read in the first part.

The arrows represent main points, so skim through and read the titles next to the arrows that are italicized and if something seems important or beneficial to you, read the paragraph beneath it. For example, the "possible results" main point is one you should read. If you like the possible results than you can view the methods above that. If you navigate it this way, you won't have to read information you don't find useful.

Prerequisites

If you follow the first part of this tutorial, then you don't need as many prerequisites. All you need is mental discipline. Although, if you are following the second part, you should already have a frequent amount of lucid dreams to practice the exercises described here. You should have at least 1 lucid dream per week (or a couple per month) before starting the second part of the tutorial. If you don't have that many, try searching through the other tutorials to find a technique that works for you. Use the technique along with decent dream recall (at least 1 or 2 dreams per night) until you have a couple of lucid dreams per month and then you are set to begin.


If you feel like you want to start dream realism before you have a decent lucidness or just really want good dream realism, you should practice increasing dream realism in real life. To do this, you have to do many things.

Using your senses
One of the main parts of dream realism is using your senses. How much you feel, see, hear, smell, or taste is important in dream realism. That is why it is important to increase it.

Touch
During your daily rituals and actions, notice what you feel. Don't try to block out sensations or feelings. Focus on parts of your body during the day and notice what you feel. Hopefully, after doing this for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, you will naturally notice things feelings and sensations and you will become overall more aware.

Sight
Sometimes, people don't notice what they see, they ignore things. The first step is to stop doing this. Start scrutinizing things and notice their forms, shapes, colors and any other aspects of the object. Observe places in general and notice and abnormalities or any feelings you may get by a place or object. Sight is one of the most important part of a dream so you should become very aware of things around you. A positive side - effect of this in real life will be that you will remember things easier.

Hearing
Don't "block things out." Try to notice all sounds. If you are in a noisy room, try to pick out individual voices or sounds. Become observant in your hearing. Hear pitches, tones, inflections, and any other form of sound you can think of. In time, your dreams' sounds will become crystal-clear.

Smell
Olfactory stimulation can be a wonderful thing in dreams. Unfortunately, many people, including myself, rarely experience the sense of smell in dreams because they generally ignore it in real life. When you walk in a room or place with a particular smell, try to relate it to other smells. Feel what it reminds you of and try to describe it in your head. Usually, peoples' bodies get used to smells after a couple minutes of being in the presence of them. Try not to do this. Keep the smell in your head. In your dreams, you will greatly appreciate your effort.

Taste
When one eats or tastes in general, they usually take what they are consuming for granted. As you do with all of the other senses, you should cherish it and savor the flavor. Notice the textures and how it tastes (e.g. bitter, sweet, sour, pungent, etc.). Along with sight, there is a strong chance that you will begin to notice individual flavors more and food will be more enjoyable. Keep doing this until you become good at it.

Possible results
After practicing the sensory methods, your dreams will become amazingly real in a sensory aspect. Without your senses working, life would be incredibly empty, and the same is with dreams. Since your life is often reflected in your dreams, when you become aware of your senses in real life (which isn't very hard, but most people don't do it), you will become aware of them in your dream, which is a much harder. Although, once the dream is already a little bit real, you can increase the dream realism 100-fold by using some of the methods listed in the second portion of this tutorial.

Understanding your emotions
Another factor of dream realism that is very important is your emotions. At all time be aware what your emotions are, where they came from, or more specifically, why they got there. When you have emotions in your dreams, it is a controlling part of your dream that decides how real it is. So being aware of your emotions (with techniques as listed above with your senses) increases dream realism drastically.

Understanding your reality
Sometimes I, like others, don't really understand what state of reality I am in. That is, I don't fully recognize that I am awake. With awareness in lucid dreams comes realism. So, in real life, recognize with all your ability that you are awake and everything around you is amazingly real (because, well, it is). In the same way, in your dream you should recognize fully that you are dreaming and your realism should skyrocket. Never forget your reality state; make sure you know it at all times.

Hypnosis
I'm no master in hypnosis by any means, although I know it DOES work, placebo or not. Learn about hypnosis and tell yourself to make all of your dreams, lucid and non - lucid, to be as real as possible.

Medicine
Medicine or drugs in general are said to change dreams and increase realism (in some cases decrease). I personally don't know of the effects first-hand, but there are many tutorials about it such as Physiology of Sleep FAQ (Updated Feb. 18/05), Vitamin B6, and The Pharmacy.

Disclaimer: Take medications at your own risk. Make sure to learn about the correct dosages and directions of taking any medication before taking it.


Increasing your dream realism in your dream should be used by people who either don't have enough time to practice the methods outside of your dream for one reason or another or are maybe just not motivated. That, or they just would rather do it in their dreams. Make sure you have decent dream recall and dream lucidity before attempting this. When it comes to practicing dream realism in the dream, you should produce the quantity before the quality so you have something to work with.

Be aware of your senses
Use the methods listed above in the "using your senses" portion of the tutorial in your lucid dream. If there is no available sensory stimulation, create it (use a mixture of confidence, willpower, and expectation while controlling your dream) and then focus on it. This should increase the general realism.

Be aware of your emotions
Like I've said above, make sure you know why you have the emotions you have and where they came from. Make sure you recognize them correctly for what they are.

Be aware of your dream
Constantly assure yourself that you are dreaming and that everything around you is fake, although it looks real. With dream awareness comes realism so assure yourself and use the methods listed above.

Grounding your awareness
This is a method I've tried and experienced first-hand and know that it works. There are several ways to do this and you can even come up with some of your own. This section is just to help you come up with ideas for you to ground your awareness. Don't think that these are the only ways.

1. Look at your hands. Focus on the lines and curves and grooves. Some say that this helps increase realism and lucid reliability (by this I mean that you won't lose lucidity or lose the dream quickly).

2. Look at your feet or look at small textures (e.g. wood, pavement, rug, etc.). Do the same thing as when you look at your hands. Notice the texture.

3. Spin or rub your hands. Some say this stimulates your brain and increases the lucidity and realism, but I don't know for sure. I do know, though, that it works.

All of the above are mainly about stimulating your senses to increase realism. Try thinking of your own, too.

Request, will, expect, or hope for dream realism
While in the dream, use a mixture of confidence, expectation, and willpower while willing more dream realism. There are many ways to do this and you can think of the best ways. Some things you can do are...

1. Ask yourself politely for it.
2. Demand more realism.
3. Wholly believe, hope, and expect for more realism.

Those are just three though, the possibilities for doing that are endless, so come up with some of your own.


This is tutorial that is mainly some guidelines for increasing your dream realism. You don't have to follow it exactly though. Try to find ways that work for you. Hopefully you found this tutorial quite beneficial and helpful for you.