Lucid dreaming is an interesting topic, but sadly it is hard to find good resources about it. Now it is time to make the ultimate lucid dreaming guide where you can find information about all important lucid dreaming techniques and locations where you can find lucid dreaming information.
You will notice that there will be short answers on all topics. Every topic will have a link that links towards another article that goes in-depth on this.
What is lucid dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is a dream where you are aware that you are dreaming, this does not mean that you can control your dreams. Lucid dreaming is a skill that requires a lot of dedication and time. Everyone who can dream can lucid dream.
You could also check out the YouTube video.
Where should I start?
You can take multiple paths with the same goal in mind, that is of course being able to control your lucid dreams and have them as often as possible. There are two main roads you could take in lucid dreaming. These are Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming (DILD) techniques or try Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming (WILD) techniques. You can of course combine them to get the best chance to become lucid. You can also check the pros and cons in the article DILD vs WILD.
Every person is different. You are the only one knowing what could work for you. It is important to learn what your dreams are about and find signs or clues on what could work for you. You can do this by writing down your dreams in a dream journal.
What should I do as a beginner?
The best way to start lucid dreaming (my own opinion) is to start with Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD) combined with a dream journal and reality checks. I would also highly suggest starting meditation sessions before bed, it can help with your awareness a lot.
Beginners can struggle with lucid dreaming, and it is quite hard not knowing what you could expect. Lucid dreaming is amazing and there is an article to explain how lucid dreaming feel.
Lucid dreaming comes with a lot of misconceptions and creepypasta, I would highly suggest knowing what myths and facts are out there.
How long does it take before I see results?
I have helped many people with lucid dreaming, and when you really want to get a lucid dream, you can get it within a month or two. Most people I helped out got their first lucid dream within 3 weeks. Most of them got their lucid dream after a Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) and the others with MILD.
Lucid Dreaming Techniques you must know
There are some lucid dreaming techniques you should know, these are listed in the lucid dreaming technique summary. There is also a tier list of lucid dreaming techniques made by me.
Techniques I highly recommend you to learn are:
- Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming (MILD)
- Dream-exit Induce Lucid Dreaming (DEILD)
- Senses Induced Lucid Dreaming (SSILD)
- Wake Back To Bed Intention (WBTB)
Why should I learn those?
MILD can help you out without doing anything during the day or night. You only have to tell yourself that you are going to lucid dream, and it will increase the chance that you will become lucid.
DEILD is super important to extend your lucid dreams while you wake up. This technique is basically a shortcut version of WILD and super handy.
SSILD is an amazing hybrid lucid dreaming technique that could benefit you since now you can do both DILD and WILD at the same time.
WBTB intention is where you don’t use an alarm but use intention to wake up during the night. This prevents you to feel tired when you wake up by using an alarm.
How can I increase the chance to become lucid?
You can increase the chance of lucid dreaming by a lot of things, these could be:
- Write down your dreams
- Wake Back To Bed (WBTB)
- Meditation
- Reality Checks
- Good sleep schedule
- Healthy lifestyle
- Intention to lucid dream
- Clear goals in mind
These are the things you should be doing as a lucid dreamer, definitely if you are doing DILD techniques. Outside of these obvious things you could do to increase the chance to become lucid. You could try more advanced lucid dreaming techniques such as:
You Could also decide to combine Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming techniques with Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming Techniques. This will increase your success rate by a lot.
Best way to do WILD techniques?
WILD techniques are popular for a reason, this is because you are able to become lucid from the waking state. It could be extremely difficult to do since it requires you to make your body fall asleep while keeping your mind awake.
WILD is almost always performed in a Wake Back To Bed (WBTB).
WILD could be performed in multiple ways, these ways are called anchors. Anchors are basically something you hold on to until your body falls asleep. These anchors are:
- Visually Induction of Lucid Dreams (VILD)
- Finger Induced Lucid Dreaming (FILD)
- Dream-exit Induced Lucid Dreaming (DEILD)
These are only the popular ones, you could easily make an anchor yourself. Anything that keeps you focused enough while being able to fall asleep.
Interesting fact: Did you know that REM sleep increases the chance for you to become lucid?
What can I do to prevent losing the ability to lucid dream?
You have to stay consistent to get lucid dreams regularly, when you take a break you will hurt your skill to become lucid.
However, if you took a break already, how can I get back to the same level of experience? This is quite easy, learn the fundamental again and see what you could improve on, and then just follow your old methods.
From my own experience, try out multiple lucid dreaming techniques until you find the technique that could carry you to become always lucid (this is called Omnilucidity).
How can I control my lucid dreams?
Controlling is quite difficult at the beginning of your journey and it could take some time before you are able to control them fully to your wishes. You can learn more about controlling your lucid dreams here.
How can I extend my lucid dreams?
It is possible to extend your lucid dreams by a long time, you could for example use time dilation to extend the length of the dream in the dream itself.
What should I not do while lucid dreaming?
You are allowed to do anything you want in your lucid dreams, the only thing that could harm your experience is your beliefs and your fantasy to come up with things to do. There is a list of 30 lucid dreaming goals you should definitely try.
Fun fact: Did you know that most people who want to lucid dream just want lucid dreaming sex?
Are there any dangers?
Lucid dreaming has no real dangers. People who struggle with mental issues could experience dreams negatively, but it could also be used as treatment. You could also not die from them or get mental issues from them.
Some people learned that Sleep Paralysis is a danger of lucid dreaming, but it is just a normal experience everyone goes through and should not be treated as a threat.
What can I learn from lucid dreaming?
You can learn more about yourself and you could explore an unknown world where you are able to do anything you want. Not only that you could learn new skills and even treat depression with only the power of lucid dreaming.
Interesting fact: You can increase real-life skills with lucid dreaming
What could I do when I am good at lucid dreaming?
When you reached a certain level of lucidity you could take the next step and do interesting things in your dreams. You could for example learn to make a mindscape. This is a world with your rules where you could go every time you become lucid.
You could also decide to get a dream guide who could guide you through the dreaming world.
Should I use lucid dreaming supplements?
Lucid dreaming supplements are great for getting better recall and more awareness in your dreams, but they could also harm your experienced and make you rely on the supplements themselves.
I have used some of those supplements myself and reviewed some of them individually and some of them in a big article.
My recommendations, if you are going to use supplements yourself to use Huperzine-A, it’s cheap and available in almost all countries. You could also give LucidEsc a try, they worked well for me but gave me more side effects.
Bottom line
This lucid dreaming guide has everything you need to know to become a lucid dreamer yourself. Lucid dreaming is amazing and it has to be bigger than it is today. Spreading awareness on this subject is amazing and hopefully, many people will do this as well.
Hopefully, everyone who read this lucid dreaming guide learned something new.
