Understanding Lucid Dreaming: What Does It Really Mean? (Tutorial for Newcomers)
Hey Everyone,
Welcome to Dreamviews! My name is DJ Jones (Spiritofthewolf) I am 24 years of age, I have been Lucid Dreaming for about 4 years now. I have about 244 Lucid Dreams under my belt (that I can actually remember physically counting). I have been around this site since the day after my first Lucid Dream. I had my first Lucid Dream June 11th 2005, got up out of bed early the next morning and researched "Controlling Your Dreams" and found this site.
Through out the years, I have heard many different/new ways to induce Lucidity. I have read some interesting LD's and stories as well. The reason why I am writing you this is so that you, the newcomer, really gets a grasp and understanding of what Lucid Dreaming is....
What Is Lucid Dreaming???
Lucid Dreaming is Realizing Your Dreaming while the dream is going on. Meaning.. If you are inside a dream, and a pink cat with purple dots runs across you and you stop and say "This is a Dream", that is what Lucid Dreaming is. One of the most common questions amongst new comers is if they really did have a Lucid Dream upon waking up from a dream they had during the night or early morning. If you ever get into this situation and you are wondering, stop and ask yourself after you wake up, did i say "I am dreaming" or "This is a dream" ??
The bottom line is for you to have a Lucid Dream, you must Realize you are dreaming.. I have had Lucid Dreams where I wouldn't say aloud that I was dreaming, but just know in my mind, that it was a dream...same concept, I am aware of my surroundings and know that it's all a dream. You can either make yourself realize it's a dream aloud to your self; or, tell yourself inside your head as the dream is going on....
What Are The Basic Steps To Begin Lucid Dreaming?
There is 1 basic step I had to come to realization myself with my journey into achieving and doing Lucid Dreaming.. That step is UNDERSTANDING....
There are thing's about basic normal dreaming you must understand, before attempting to Lucid Dream.. Am I saying that if you don't understand what I am about to tell you that you will never lucid dream? No not at all. I am just trying to give you some free advice, that will make your journey to achieving LUCIDITY a bit more easy, and relaxing...
1.) When Night Falls
When night time comes, or when you get tired, natural reaction is we will eventually fall asleep. If you have trouble falling asleep late at night--as sometimes I do, it may pose a slightly bigger challenge for you to Lucid Dream, but this can be easily over come by making yourself get into a sleep pattern or sleep cycle. For those of you who are young, and run on a daily set sleep cycle, this will become easier to you...
First Thing I would like for you all to understand before anything else...
!!EACH AND EVERY NIGHT YOU FALL ASLEEP YOU WILL DREAM!!
Appreciate that fact alone. That you have the opportunity to just close your eyes and be free from the chains of life and let your mind be free as well. During your normal dreams you will explore places you never thought were possible to explore, and have many different things go on with inside your normal dreams....But the best part about it all is, each night you sleep, each night you dream...Each night you dream...is a new chance for you to become Lucid!!!
That is what I have noticed here on this forum.. People try so hard to get that ONE LUCID DREAM because they read about people's experiences and they want the same thing... Understand what I am about to tell you because it will put your mind at rest... YOU THE READER, WILL HAVE A LUCID DREAM!!!
How Do I Know I Will Have A Lucid Dream....?
That is right. I said YOU WILL HAVE A LUCID DREAM!! You may be sitting back right now wondering, "How does SpiritOfTheWolf know I will have a Lucid Dream?"
How Do I know? Because of Understanding.....
If you understand, that the one thing that is troubling you from achieving lucidity is just YOU, a whole new can of worms will open up, and getting to the point of having that ONE LUCID DREAM will not seem as hard as some say....
What I mean when i say YOU, is not YOU as a person, but instead, How YOU go about getting to that goal of your first Lucid Dream...
Like I stated above, you would not believe some of the things people have tried just to induce a single Lucid Dream, it is mind blowing..
With a bit of Understanding it will all come into play.
Just understand that each night you go to sleep you will dream, be happy about that, just know it is a new chance for you to become Lucid.. If you wake up in the morning and you don't have a Lucid Dream, do not get mad, understand that it will take some practice.....
I recently told a person Lucid Dreaming is a lot like life.. We go about our everyday life going places, but yet we forget that so many years ago, for us to get to where we are now........We had to learn to walk..........
Same with Lucid Dreaming..Getting an understanding about it helps out a lot so you know exactly what you are dealing with.....
So before I move on to the "obvious steps to Lucid Dreaming" remember what I stated above.. Each night you fall asleep is a new night for you to become Lucid... Do not get frustrated if for a few days or weeks you wake up and still haven't achieved your Lucid Dream... it will come with time...
The Moment Of Realization
Every one here, new and old, at one point in their life had a moment of realization. That moment of realization was the simple fact of Realizing they wanted to Lucid Dream...The moment you realize it, it is almost like your life changes in a way.. You begin to do thing's you never thought you would do.. like Record your dreams down each and every night...
It is almost like you are on a Lucid Diet.. Gathering the basic ingredients to achieve a certain goal... If you haven't explored around the forums yet, the stuff listed below is the basics to begin Lucid Dreaming, but i've added a little bit of my own in depth views on it.....
1. Keeping A Dream Journal
This is hands down a must when it comes to Lucid Dreaming. A Dream Journal is a log of the previous night or morning dreams that you had. Each time you wake up from a dream, you write down what you can remember about it, so when you wake up the next morning and look back upon it, it will still feel fresh in your mind...
I have had many people ask me "Well what If I only remember one thing about my dream?"
If you remember only half a second of your dream, write it down.. Even if it is something silly, write it down.. the more and more you write down, the more and more your mind will be able to remember.. It is like working out..You will start with less weight, but as you keep at it, you will be come stronger and use more weights...
Same with the brain..If you imagine a brain with 2 arms... trying to lift a bar, and on both sides of the bar is 2 of the same dream imagine.... the brain is gonna "Pump that amount of iron" for a while, until it gets use to it, to where it becomes like 2nd nature, and then move up the scale...To where it can add more weight to the bar (remember more of your dream). With that, your Mind will become stronger, and it will obviously become more easier through time for you to remember your dreams....
You with me so far?
2. Reality Checks
You may have heard this term before, or you may not. Reality Check is a mental check you do through out the day to see if you are dreaming or not..
You are probably wondering what is the purpose of that when you obviously know that you are awake... Well it's used basically to get your mind in "Training"..
It goes back to that whole 2nd nature concept.. If you do a Reality Check through out the day, or when something strange happens, your mind will remember that--even when you are asleep dreaming...
So when the opportunity arises inside your dream, it could dawn on you to do a reality check to see if you are actually dreaming, or if you are really awake...
Some Example of Reality Checks Are:
1.) Plugging Your Nose To See If You Can Still Breathe
This is probably my personal favorite because it pretty much works 110% of the time. What you do is, when you are awake through out the day, just plug your nose for a couple seconds and try to breathe through it.. We all know that you cannot breathe through your nose when it is plugged in reality.. but inside your dreams, that is not the case.. If you were to plug your nose in a dream and try to breathe through it...it would actually work.. You would still be able to breathe through it.. the next step after that is usually the realization that you are actually dreaming, therefore becoming Lucid..
2.) Reading Text Inside Your Dream
This is another Reality Check that works most of the time. This Reality Check can be used in waking life with people really not noticing what you are doing. All it takes is for your to look at some text--doesn't matter where--for a few seconds---look away, and then look back at the same text. In waking life, obviously the text will still be the same as it was when you first looked at it. If you were dreaming, the text will change or look strange looking. Again, inside a dream, after realizing the text changed, the next step would be realizing you are dreaming!
3.) Looking At Your Hands
This one is a little bit easier then all the rest as far as Reality Checks go. All you do is look at your hands for a few brief moments and notice all the details and lines in them. When you are in a dream, chances are when you look at your hands, something will be different about them. You may have extra fingers, or your hands may look deformed in some way. Looking at your hands in a dream again--after realizing your dreaming-can also make the dream more Vivid or Realistic looking.
4.) Sticking Your Finger Through Your Hand
This Reality Check was probably the first one I did when I did my first RC. In reality, you just take a finger and try to put it through your other hand. Obviously it will not go through your hand in waking life, but if you were inside a dream, most of the time your finger will go through your other hand. Again, after that incident taking place, usually you will realize that it is a dream.
Those are just a few basic Reality Checks you can do through out the day. Each time you do a Reality Check, get into the mental mind state (even though that you are awake) that you could possibly be dreaming. Each time you do an Reality Check ask yourself aloud or inside your head "Am I Dreaming?" and then do an RC.. Once you figure out you are actually awake, just go about your day
You do not need to do hundreds of Reality Checks a day like some people do or think you have to. I have read where people do Reality Checks literally every 5 minutes. If you really think about it, that is ALOT and it will actually get overwhelming and frustrating. Just take your time with them, and do them wisely. If something strange happens while you are out in about and in a public place, do one that will be less obvious to the people around you (like reading text). If you are alone do a Reality Check that takes a little bit more.
All in all, in the end you will train your brain to actually do the same thing inside your dreams when something strange happens, or when you question if you are really dreaming or not, giving you more chances to Lucid Dream...
Lucid Techniques
If you have explored this website at all you will read about some people that come up with some far fetched techniques to try to induce a Lucid Dream. Not only is it far fetched, but it can just out right be pointless or even if it gets too extreme, it can be dangerous. I am not saying that trying to induce a Lucid Dream is dangerous, but if you get so wrapped up in trying to have a Lucid Dream you sleep 14 hours a day, then that is taking it a little bit too far.
There are many techniques you can try to induce a Lucid Dream. In my opinion I would not try the techniques until you have a couple days of dreams down in your dream journal as well as being able to remember at least 1 dream a night. Therefore you can look back and see if there is any reoccurring theme's that happen in your dreams.. Those are called dream signs, which I will explain later in one of the last parts of my tutorial...
I am writing this segment because I just want newcomers to understand that you will hear some crazy idea's around here. I love this site and the people in it are great. Just some of the idea's that people have come up with to induce a Lucid Dream have DESPERATE written all over it.
I had read a post one time a while back about a person who ate popcorn a couple hours before bed, went to sleep that night and had a Lucid Dream.. They posted up that it could possibly induce a Lucid Dream. I am not saying it could or it couldn't, but the fact that it worked one time doesn't make it reliable. I have read many different ways that people have come up with that deal with food, liquids, vitamins, etc.. People fail to realize you can Lucid Dream naturally without any side substance at all.
People who are desperate to Lucid Dream every night are the one's that can put themselves in danger depending on how far they are willing to go to do it. Lucid Dreaming takes a few things: Dream Journal, Reality Checks, and Sleep. Those are the three thing's that will get you Lucid Dreaming in a good amount of time.
I know I have talked a lot about the crazy idea's about people trying to induce Lucid Dreams. I am not 110% against it, I like the fact that people are exploring and trying new ways, but it's all about how you go about doing it, and sometimes the ways are just too desperate. I am just asking you new comer to be safe with it, just relax, sleep good each night, and go with the flow. With time and practice, Lucid Dreaming will come to you...
What Do I Suggest?
If I were to suggest anything for the newcomers here at dreamviews to help them begin their Lucid Journey. I would tell them for sure, to keep a dream journal like i stated above, do a handful of reality checks through out the day--do not over do them-and get a decent amount of sleep each night if you can, between 6-8 hours.
If you are looking to have more vivid and realistic dreams as a SAFE way to help you induce a Lucid Dream, you can go to your local grocery or vitamin store and pick up VITAMIN B6. It is just a daily vitamin, but people here at dreamviews figured out that if taken at night it makes your dreams more realistic and vivid. Just to be on the safe side I would just take 1-2 pills every other day or only a few times a week. I have experimented with it a couple times taking B6 every night and sometimes it just doesn't work. I believe maybe your body becomes immune to it after a while. So take short breaks from it when needed, and then if you want to, continue.
That is one of the few things i would suggest that is a SAFE method to help you with your Lucid Journey..
Term Table
I decided to leave some Terms down below for all you newcomers, because around this site you will see a lot of them. Read it over so you get an understanding of them.
LD: Lucid Dream
DV: Dream Views (referring to dreamviews.com)
FA: False Awakening (the state in which you wake up from a dream in your bed, go about your morning routine, and suddenly realize you are actually still dreaming and haven't woken up yet.)
SP: Sleep Paralysis (the state in which your body shuts down prior to entering/ being inside a dream so that your physical body does not act it out. In some cases it may feel like your body is falling through your bed or that someone is pushing down on your chest. First experience maybe scary, do not be alarmed, it is just your bodies natural way of keeping you safe while you dream)
WBTB: Tutorial is located here:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=5397
Credit goes to LUCID83
WILD: Tutorial is located here:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=1886
Credit goes to GestaltAlteration
DILD: Tutorial is located here:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=9423
Credit goes to Howie
For more Terms used around Dreamviews.com go here:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=2954
Credit goes to Howie
In Closing
In closing I just wanted to say thank you for reading this tutorial. I hope it has helped you newcomers in your own way and has inspired you to Lucid Dream. Just remember that when you feel like you have lost all hope, that the only thing keeping you back from achieving Lucidity is your own self, and your own mind state. Think positive about it, be smart with it, know that this ability will come easier to some, and harder for others, but in the end, every single person is able to do it. IT JUST TAKES TIME!!!!
So again, I thank you all for reading this, if you have any questions about dreams/lucid dreaming you can contact me, or find someone around here that you are comfortable with and ask for there help. The 4 years I have been here the staff has been great, they are always willing to help in anyway that they can to make your experience the best. I honestly cannot find a better Lucid Dreaming website on the web to this day (believe me I have tried : ) ). So again, Welcome to Dreamviews, I hope you all enjoy your stay!!!!
Thank You
Spiritofthewolf
