Welcome to my class!

Welcome to your first lesson in Lucid Dreaming!

This class is for everyone and anyone. I will not focus on any specific induction technique, but rather let you try them all out and see which one fits you the best and help each and everyone of you based on your needs.

There will be two parts of this lesson. The first one is the basics. I will be on chat once a week to answer any questions you might have, but don't hesitate to ask them in the "Questions" thread if you don't feel like getting on chat.

The second part will be a Weekly assigned task, which will be suitable for beginners and also later on people who want to be a part of a group who strives for improvement and wants extra motivation. It will start off easy and get more advanced as we go, but everyone can join in at any time. Just create a new thread and it will be your workbook.

Something similar to: "Matte87's Workbook" is fine. If the name of the thread is weird, I can just change it for you.

This is entirely optional and there is no set time you have to complete the task within, but I do recommend you trying it out, motivation is key to Lucid Dreaming!

There will also be a day during the week when I'm on chat and hopefully with alot of you, on which we discuss the tasks, how to do them, share tips and tricks and just get eachother motivated.

So, let's begin!

What is a Lucid Dream? A Lucid Dream is when you realise that you're in a dream while dreaming. Nothing else is required for it to be a Lucid Dream. No matter how little you can control it, how bad the quality is or if you even lack the ability to make your own choices. If you know you're dreaming, it's a Lucid Dream.

When you realise you're dreaming, anything is possible. The only limit is your own imagination and what you believe you can (or can not) achieve.

I won't lie to you. Learning how to Lucid Dream can take some time to master and it sure can be frustrating as you've only got a few tries each night at best. But if you stick with it, I promise you it will be worth your while! So, how should you begin? In three "simple" steps.

1. Improve dream recall.

2. Set up dream goals.

3. Practice technique.

1. Recall

The first thing you want to do, is to try to increase your dream recall. This is a must. If you don't even remember your Lucid Dreams, what is the point? You can start a Dream Journal here on DV, and I suggest you do.

We all dream each night, it's just a matter of recalling the dreams. As we grow older we pay less attention to dreams and they're gradually discarded by the brain as something "useless". If you make sure the brain HAS to remember the dreams, then more neuro-connections will be made and you will start to remember them. Just like with the regular memory, the "dream memory" will improve with practice.

Start writing down your dreams every morning. Lie completely still with your eyes closed. Within a minute your brain thinks you're about to go back to sleep and you will soon have "access" to the dreams. They will start appearing on their own, and as soon as you remember a dream, try to rewind the dream in your head.

If you only get fragments and can't recall more than that. "Probe" the fragments. You do this by thinking of the imagine in certain scenarios. Say you suddenly have bananas on your mind. This is usually not a coincidence from what I've found out, but often about something I've just dreamt. Try to put bananas in a scenario. Were you eating them? Perhaps throwing them? No wait! You were skating on banana peels, that's it!

After a memory has been triggered, it usually comes rushing at you. Try to remember as many details as possible and explore the dream memory as much as possible. Then write it down. If you wake up during the night, only take notes and go back to bed. Remembering dreams in the morning is VERY hard unless you have a few words that will trigger the memory of that dream.

2. Dream Goals

Set up a few goals you want to achieve. Perhaps you feel like trying out flying the first time you get lucid? Visiting the moon or creating your own planet are things that are possible to do in the end once you've mastered Lucid Dreaming, but in the beginning I suggest you choose something more simple . Start small, work your way from there!

Here is a list of suitable short term goals

Short term

*Fly
*Stabilize the dream by activating senses
*Talk to someone, ask how it feels to be a Dream Character
*Jump, test the gravity
*Feel the ground, notice how real it feels
*Do something inappropiate

Now having a long term goal is also good, but it's something you need to realise will not happen over night. I suggest you set one up for the future, and then practice your Dream Control until you feel like you're ready to take it on.

For example: If you want to go to the moon, you will need to learn how to either fly, teleport or induce a dream scene. Why not learn those things first? I never get tired of flying and by using it in my Lucids I practice it every time. You will be able to fly up there one day, but don't rush it, you have time!

You can ofcourse also choose a short term goal as a long one. I decided to master flying and telekinesis and it took me a while, but now I can do them without fail and they are extremely fun and useful powers.

3. Practice technique

When you can recall atleast a few dreams per week, you start focusing on getting Lucid. Try the different techniques and choose a technique you find suitable to your lifestyle, and just intend to get lucid. I can not stress how important intentions are here, you want to get lucid, and you INTEND to!

Those are the three steps you need to follow to get your first lucid. Believe in yourself and know that EVERYONE can do it. For some people it takes days, other weeks. In the end though with enough dedication, you WILL get lucid.

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TECHNIQUES

Know this. Lucid Dreaming is very individual. There are thousands of people who mastered this using their own variations of the techniques I will now list. There isn't really anything other than intentions needed to get lucid, but these are the most easy to learn and effective techniques out there. They're divided into two different kinds of induction techniques. Inducing a Lucid from Waking state, or from a Dreaming state.

DILD - Dream Induced Lucid Dream

This technique relies on becoming Lucid randomly whilst in the middle of a dream. This is the most common way of getting lucid and 90% of people has atleast once experienced a Lucid Dream in their life through this technique.

When you practice this technique, you rely on Daily Awareness. You want to ask yourself every now and then during the day: "Am I dreaming?". This is called a Reality Check.

How to RC (Reality Check) properly: Whenever you experience anything out of the ordinary, stop what you're doing, look around you. Ask yourself; Do I belong here? How did I end up here? Do I remember how I got here? Does everything around me look normal? Look closely, is anything changing? You can incorporate all your senses into the RC, but the goal is to really question yourself if you're awake.

When you've done so and you're almost sure you're awake, do a final test. Count your fingers, pinch your nose and try to breathe, check a digital clock, turn a lightswitch, read a text twice or try to push your finger through your palm. Do atleast one of these and expect them to FAIL.

If they fail, you know you're in a dream. As soon as they fail, make sure you go through the thinking process again. This is usually enough for me to be 100% sure I'm dreaming, but I suggest you also do a second RC.

How often should I RC? Everytime you experience something out of the ordinary, and atleast 20 times a day. As often as you remember to is recommended.
Don't have fixed times you do this on. You want to get into the habit of questioning your reality.

Doing Reality Checks isn't the only thing DILD relies on. It also relies on Dream Signs. A Dream Sign is a reccuring thing in your dreams. A character that keeps being there. A certain scenario you always end up in or perhaps you're often wearing a strange hat.

As you write down your dreams, try to look for these Dream Signs and incorporate them in the RC's. If you have a person as a Dream Sign, make sure you always RC every time you see him/her.

MILD - Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream

MILD is similar to DILD as it relies on getting lucid whilst in the dream. But instead of doing RC's during the day and looking up dreamsigns, MILD focuses on the few minutes before bed. When you go to bed, you repeat a small phrase in your head over and over.

This is called a Mantra. It's meant to stick, so try having it as a last thought. A mantra should be short, something similar to: "I'm dreaming" or "I lucid dream" is good.

Also when you do the mantra, you want to believe in what you're saying. Say it and imagine yourself being in a dream, realising that you're dreaming.

When I MILD, I usually visualize myself becoming lucid in previous dreams, or dreams to come. I try to get the butterflies in my stomach to flutter and I look forward to getting lucid. I don't get too excited to be unable to fall asleep. Meditating works great with this as it clears your mind, letting your mantra and intentions be the few things in your head before you fall asleep.

WILD - Wake Induced Lucid Dream

This is just what it sounds like. You go from being awake to asleep but remaining conscious. This technique can be tricky but as it's a technique that isn't random like DILD or MILD, it can get you lucid every night.

To WILD you need to have slept atleast 4 hours or more. The goal is to enter REM sleep right away and you do this during either naps, or in the middle of the night/early morning.

Lie completely still, relax as much as possible and don't let your mind wander. If you start thinking about something you will most likely lose consciousness. The goal is to fall asleep but you remain conscious. You will after a while start to see strange lights and patterns.

This is the beginning of a dream, just keep on relaxing. Sleep Paralysis will hit you, this happens every night to protect yourself from thrashing around in your sleep, it's completely harmless and even though you might be feeling strange and well, paralyzed, just ignore it.

The images you see will start to take shape and become more real. The best way to describe this is to think of them first as a regular thought. The thought will become more and more realistic and after a while you're not having the thought in your mind, you're actually seeing it with your "eyes"

When you do, focus on the images. Try to touch what you see, try to listen for sounds and perhaps even smell it.

The vague images have turned into a dream and you're in it!

DEILD - Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream

This is basicly a WILD, only it takes a shortcut. When you wake up and don't move a muscle. Your brain thinks you intend to go back to sleep. Remain conscious and tell yourself the next thing you see will be a dream. You will feel Sleep Paralysis hit
you very shortly and if you relax, a dream will start to form.

False awakening: It's VERY common to get a False Awakening when you try to WILD or DEILD. ALWAYS do a RC to make sure you're not dreaming, even if you decide to give up and get up. I've often given up, gotten out of bed and done my business, only to wake up seconds later.

WBTB - Wake Back To Bed

This is a very effective technique which enhances the other techniques, it works very well with WILD and MILD. Basicly you wake up just before a REM period (4½ or 6 hours into sleep) and you stay up for a period of time. A WBTB can be as short as 5 minutes long, but the longer it is, the higher chance of getting lucid.

Make sure you can go back to sleep, so I don't suggest being up for more than 40 minutes, but this is up to you. Try different times and see which one fits you the best.

During your WBTB, make sure you think about Lucid Dreaming as much as possible. Visualize becoming lucid in a previous dream or a dream to come, read about it on DV, read previous dreams, plan ahead. Look foward to getting lucid when you're off to bed, and most important of all, KNOW you will!

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Dream Control

When you're lucid, you can basicly do anything. Now there's a difference between believing in it, and actually doing it. The older we get, the more we understand how the world works. What is possible and what is not is deeply rooted within you and therefore flying might be hard for you the first time you get lucid.

"Don't think you can, know you can" is a great quote from "The Matrix". It's just like that in dreams. Things you expect to happen will most likely happen in dreams. And you want to firmly believe you are superman himself whenever you're trying to fly. You will automaticly get better and better at Dream Control as you use it more, so don't worry about not being able to fly your first time. But know you can!

Passive Control: This is a form of dream control which uses the dream to get what you want. Say you tell a DC that you're on the moon, he confirms this and obviously on the moon the gravity is lower, which makes it very easy to jump super high. You enter a room and since the door looks very much like Harry Potter's bedroom door, you will find him there, and you will! This works for almost anything. Asking DC's for things and expecting things to be and work the way they do. Use the scenario to your advantage.

Active Control: This is probably what most people think about. You reach out with your hand towards a rock, make a fist and raise it. The rock will start to levitate. You snap your fingers and you have a coke in them or you just jump and fly like that. This can be more tricky than passive control, so instead of just trying to fly like that, use a jetpack, take a pill or use feathers to start flying at first.

All forms of control takes belief. Visualizing yourself doing certain tasks is a great way of preparing ahead. It's also alot easier to use say superpowers for an example, if you use them like you expect them to be used. "The Force" from Star Wars . Reach out with your hand towards the object and focus, it will lift. Flapping your arms to fly, or imagine having gills to breathe through when underwater instead of just trying to tell yourself you can breathe water.

DO's

*Make sure it's something you want to do, not something you HAVE to do.

*Make sure to practice this at an even pace. Overdoing it will only result in loss of recall and you might lose motivation.

*Take a day off once and a while. If you feel like it's becoming a burden, then don't focus on dreams for a few days.

*Never let dreaming affect your real life in a negative way. Real World > Dream World.

*Realise and accept the fact that everyone is different. Some people learn fast, some slow, don't give up just because someone else learns faster than you.

*Set your own pace, it's not a competition. Unless ofcourse you are in one.

Chat times

Attending chat is optional. If you feel like you can go on on your own from here, then I thank you for reading and wish you the best of luck!

For the rest, I will be on chat once a week.

Beginners Lucidity TaskClub: 18.00 GMT+2 on Saturdays

The chat room will be: #dva. Just type "/join #dva" once you've entered chat, and you're in!

Until then, I want you to try out DILD and WILD. Give WILD a few tries, but if you can't seem to be anywhere near Sleep Paralysis, leave it for now and focus on the other ones.

There's no time limit on this course. I will be around and comment on your progress.

Also, there's probably alot of facts about dreaming that I didn't include. If you want anything at all explained more thourougly, don't hesitate to send a PM or ask in the http://www.dreamviews.com/f136/questions-115756/ thread or chat.

The thread "Beginners Lucidity Club" will be updated once a week with new tasks, check it out here: http://www.dreamviews.com/f136/begin...s-19th-115831/

I wish you the best of luck, and keep on dreaming!