NEW STUDENTS START HERE: Beginner's Intro to Lucid Dreaming - LESSONS I - IV

[OpheliaBlue]

To sign up for the class, simply read these lessons. Then start your workbook here by clicking on "+ Post New Thread." If you have any questions, post them in the Raise Your Hand Q&A Thread, and one of us will reply asap. Lesson I. - Intro to Lucid Dreaming Basics A. Meet the Professors: Welcome to the Beginner's Introduction to Lucid Dreaming. I am OpheliaBlue, and along with CanisLucidus and other DreamViews Staff, we'll be here to make lucid dreaming more attainable for you. Don't worry if you missed any of the other beginner classes. This one is very basic, and designed for beginners, or even for more seasoned lucid dreamers who just want to brush up on their skills. B. Common Acronyms: First, just to avoid confusion, if you see alot of acronyms in this class and on the forum (such as DV, LD, DJ, RC, WILD, etc), you can find a handy acronym-decoder right here: Acronym List - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views. C. Definition of Lucid Dream: A Lucid Dream is simply a dream in which you are aware you are dreaming. In a lucid dream, the dreamer may be able to exhibit some level of control, which many of you may have already accomplished (which is why you found DreamViews!) Applications of lucid dreaming are endless, the most popular being to explore fantasies or control nightmares. There are several ways to achieve a lucid dream (induction techniques), which are broken down into 2 major groups: DILDs (Dream-Induced Lucid Dreams) and WILDs (Wake-Induced Lucid Dreams). These two, along with other types of induction techniques will be discussed in Lesson II. D. On the Importance of Sleep: Before you attempt an induction technique, you must make sure you get an adequate amount of sleep. The average is around 7-10 hours, depending on your age and other factors. Dreams happen on average at 90-minute intervals, following alongside your REM sleep pattern. Waking up at 90-minute time periods to attempt a Wake-Back-To-Bed (WBTB) (Discussed in further detail in Lesson II) is also useful to help induce deep REM sleep, or the dream periods of your sleep. E. Daily Practices: Dream Journal: Provided you are getting adequate amounts of sleep, there are several actions you can take throughout the day to increase your success in having a lucid dream. The first, and possibly most important, is keeping a dream journal. Simply write any and all dreams you can remember the moment you wake up. Even if you only remember a few fragments, feelings, thoughts, colors or shapes, ANYthing you put down will only help you increase your dream recall. And afterall, what's the point of having a lucid dream if you can't remember it. Your journal can also be a useful tool in finding your dream signs. A dream sign is any recurring element in your dreams, which can help you attain lucidity in the future. Additionally, your dream journal is a good place to list the times you wake up, which can help you hone in on when to perform WBTB. Reality Checks: The next important activity is to increase your daily awareness. The more aware you are of the 'little things' throughout the day, the less you will take for granted. Put simply, you'll be more likely to realize you're dreaming the next time you see something that doesn't make sense. One way to increase awareness is by performing reality checks. A reality check is a little test you do, to see if you are dreaming or not. The most obvious is to ask yourself "Am I dreaming right now?" That can sometimes fail, so you can also try more physical ones, like trying to push your finger through the palm of your hand, or pinching your nose and seeing if you can still breath through your nose. You can usually accomplish those last two in a dream, whereby indicating that you are, in fact dreaming. Awareness: The key to lucid dreaming is awareness, out of all daily practices awareness is probably the most important. Many people believe that performing reality checks is what makes you lucid, although your chances of lucidity are greatly increased if you practice awareness first and use reality checks to solidify your suspicions in a dream. To begin practicing awareness, you should notice everything around you in the waking world multiple times throughout the day. (More detail in Lesson III). Your Homework For Lesson I is to: Start your own workbook thread in this subforum (here). See below for an example template Start a Dream Journal and record each dream. Record the times that you naturally go to bed and wake-up, and list it in your workbook. Do reality checks whenever you experience something weird throughout the day, and list it in your workbook. Write a list for why you want to lucid dream (for motivation), and plan out what you want to do in your next lucid dream. Establish a night-time routine (Include reading your dream journal, making sure to leave your DJ open to a blank page for quicker dictations). Optional: Start a DreamViews Dream Journal (here). Start posting snippets from your dreams in the Dream Snippets Thread to get feedback on your dreams! Start practicing awareness from Lesson III If you notice any recurring elements in your dream journal (aka dream signs), list it in your workbook. Example Template for Your Workbook: [b]Reality Checks:[/b] - - - [b]Dream Signs:[/b] - - - [b]Short-Term Goals:[/b] - - - [b]Long-Term Goals:[/b] - - - [b]Lucid/Dream Recall History:[/b] - [b]Current Technique:[/b] - *A special thanks to RareCola for taking on the daunting task of rewriting and polishing this lesson. -Ophelia