New to It....

Well, i just found out about lucid dreams today and am really intrested... Im going to bed in about an hour or so and would liek to know what i need to do as the first step tonight. thanks

Whats up, man? Welcome to Dream Views. :cooler:

Well first off, you might want to get in the frame of mind to keep a dream journal, so have one waiting for you, when you wake up. Once you lay down, start affirming to yourself that "I WILL have a lucid dream. I WILL recognize that I'm dreaming" things like that. A "I WILL remember my dreams" won't hurt, also. :wink:

Get in the frame of mind to start questioning reality. Tell yourself that, whenever something weird happens, you're going to try to remember what you've been doing. Do you remember waking up? Or is the last thing you remember going to bed? If it is, you're dreaming.

If you have an alarm clock, set it for about 5 hours into your sleep. Wake up for a few minutes, and maybe come to Dream Views and have a look around, while affirming to yourself that you're going to become lucid when you got back to bed. Then, go back to be for another hour or so, and think about lding while you're falling asleep. Maybe counting down "100. I'm dreaming. 99 I'm dreaming 98 I'm dreaming" etc. etc.

Hope this helps, yo.
Good luck!

I'm probably too late. But anyway:

One night's advice is a bit sudden :)

The order of skill IMO goes:
- Recall
- Awareness
- Control

If your recall is lacking, then when you wake up, just lie there for a few minutes. Don't move a muscle. Your physical position is important to your feelings.
Try to remember the last thoughts you had. The last feelings. Anything.
Once you remember something, don't get too excited. Ask yourself what happened before that. And after that. What made that happen?, etc
Once you're satisfied that you won't remember anything more, get up and write it down immediately into a journal. If you don't have a journal, write it somewhere else in the meantime. Get a journal :)

If your recall is fine, but you want to improve your lucid dreaming chances, then a wake-back-to-bed may help you. ie. sleep for 6 hours, get up for 20 minutes, go back to sleep while chanting eg. 'I'm dreaming'
You could try some self-hypnosis, meditation or relaxation methods, and attempt to fall through into a dream from there, but most find this to be quite tricky at first.

Before you go to sleep, remember that a way to check if it's a dream, if you find yourself doubting, is to do some of these (not just one) :
- Throw something in the air
- Hold your nose and keep breathing with your nose
- Count your fingers one by one, while looking at your hand.
- Try to remember your last meal. If you can't, or it doesn't make sense, then you're possibly dreaming.

They're called RC's or reality checks, and can be used along with dream signs later.