Lucid Dreaming- how to tips
Written by: Steff from HowToLucid
So for lucid dreaming, there are similar things you can do.
There are lots of SMALL things you can differently, that will make a BIG difference to lucid dreams.
They'll help you become lucid more often and more vividly.
So what are the tips?
Here are the main ones:
Practice the right techniques that work for YOU
Eat the right food (ideally a vegan or plant based diet, but at least give up things like sugar or fat)
Be proud of lucid dreaming, and share it with your friends. This re-enforces your belief that you can do it
Don't rely on supplements at the start, learn how to actually lucid dream first
Don't sleep too little. Sleep is important for almost everything you'll do in life, so get it right
If a technique isn't working for you, try a new one. But importantly, write NOTES in your journal about the technique and what didn't work
Get a voice triggered tape recorder to record your dreams, so you don't have to physically get up and write in a diary….trust me you’ll thank me later 😉
PAMPER yourself before bed: Have a bath, massage, have a nice shower whatever you need to do to relax and go into bed feeling GOOD.
Lucid dreaming tips for beginners (list)
These aren’t in any particular order, but we’ll try and start with the more simple tips and then get more advanced as we go on.
#1 – Eat the right food
Food can actually be fairly important when learning to lucid dream.
How does this work? Well, stop for a moment and think about the food that you put into your body. Is it good food? Does it provide you with the nutrients you NEED? Most of us don’t really think about this and will just eat anything.
When you stop and think though, you realize that the food you put into your body directly affects things like your mood, mental state, dreams, sleep and much more. Try focusing on improving your diet, even just a little bit.
This change will improve your dreams and give you more lucid dreaming experiences. Also, remember to drink enough water as this has been shown to improve your mood and make your thoughts clearer.
#2 – Practice the right things
Many people try and lucid dream but they just practice the wrong things. There are certain things that will give you lucid dreams, and there are things that will just waste your time.
Knowing what to actually practice will save you LOADS of time with this, and after all, who doesn’t want to save time? We’re busy people and we like to save time where we can.
#3 – Focus on your mindset
Your mindset is VERY important.
What you believe, and what you think will directly influence your lucid dreaming ability. The thoughts you have on a daily basis, even the ones you’re not really that aware of will all affect your ability to lucid dream.
Try spending a few minutes each day affirming to yourself that you CAN lucid dream and you WILL control your dreams (See the MILD technique for more).
These positive affirmations will greatly increase the chances of you having a lucid dream. That tip right there is worth it’s weight in gold. (Even though words on a screen don’t weigh anything.. You know what I mean)
#4 – Tell your friends about it
Spread the word!
By telling your friends what you’re up to and by sharing the idea of lucid dreaming, you’re making it more ‘real’ in your own mind. Every time you tell someone something you’re making it more real because it’s SOMETHING you’re talking about.
Suddenly it becomes less of just an idea and more like something that’s a part of you that you can share with people. They say the best way to learn something is to teach people the thing you’re trying to learn. It re enforces your understanding and makes you more well rounded and knowledgeable.
By the way if you want to be a superstar and spread the love, this article would LOVE to be shared on something like Facebook or Twitter. Just saying. You can find more ways to share the lucid dreaming message here.
#5 – Read lucid dreaming tips like these
This article is a great example of something you should be doing. You’re researching the topic and learning about it, and in doing so you’re increasing the chances of you having loads of lucid dreams.
By consuming lots of information about lucid dreams you’re making your mind more open to the idea of it. The more you know, the better you’ll be able to actually do this stuff. Just don’t be one of those people who reads LOADS about something but never actually DOES anything about it.
#6 – Treat it as a journey
It’s not an overnight thing. You won’t just suddenly become a master of controlling your dreams. It takes years to become a ‘master’ and even then you’ll never know everything. There will always be new things to learn, and more to do.
That’s not a bad thing, and it’s very exciting to keep learning and seeing where it’s going to take you. Don’t be in a rush, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you to do this stuff. enjoy it! I used to be in such a rush to learn things, and it IS important to practice what you learn fast but don’t be in a rush to learn EVERYTHING all at once.
Take things slow, and do it step by step.
#7 – Get inspired by other things
There are certain things that will inspire you and make you better at lucid dreaming. Things like watching films about it, reading books about it, and going to new places will all help.
When you go to a new place, you’re giving your mind something new to focus on. New imagery, new faces, experiences, feelings and sounds. All of this is GREAT for inspiring fresh and interesting dreams.
Try and do something new every day, and try going to a new place every week or month. Of course, this will depend on if you’re able to do that, if you’re in full time work you might not be able to just get away for a few days but if you can, you should. Not only will it make you more cultured and interesting as a person, but it will make your dreams more interesting. The more new things we do, the slower time seems to pass as well! Do you remember as a kid being on ‘summer holidays’?
Those 6 weeks seemed to last FOREVER, simply because I was doing LOTS of different things in the time. I’ve been in full time jobs however, where 3-4 months just seemed to fly by in a flash. It’s because in the job I was doing the same thing every day for weeks on end, so I didn’t notice the time going past and it just vanished.
By doing MORE with the time you have, you’ll feel like you’ve lived a longer and more interesting life. Sounds simple, but are you going to do it?
#8 – MIX IT UP!
A HUGE reason people fail at lucid dreaming is they just try ONE thing for a few days and then give up. You need to mix up the techniques you try and make sure you’re always trying something new.
Think of it like a new world, and you’re the person who discovered it. You need to keep pushing the limits, trying new things, seeing what you can do. If you don’t, you’ll likely reach a ‘rut’ where you can’t seem to progress.
A good way to start mixing things up is to read lists of tips like this and trying the ones you haven’t tried before. Try new techniques like the writing induced lucid dream that I recently wrote about (no pun intended).
#9 – Reality check when you wake up
When you FIRST wake up in the morning is the BEST time to do a reality check.
This lucid dreaming tip is probably going to save you lots of pain and frustration. When I get emails form you guys, the most common one is ‘I keep having false awakenings’.
These people dream about waking up, and then after 3-4 false awakenings they’ll ACTUALLY wake up, and email me asking why they can’t lucid dream. It’s because you need to do a reality check the moment you wake up in the morning. Doing this will eventually make sure that you never have a false awakening. All o those experiences will be turned into lucid dreams. Simple, right?
Do you struggle with reality checks? I’ve created a complete reality checks guide showing you why most people fail at reality checks, and what you’re probably doing wrong.
#10 – Don’t move when you wake up
When you first wake up, for the first few seconds before you do the reality check I just mentioned, don’t move. Just lay there and REALLY think about the dream you just had. You DID just have a dream, because everyone dreams, every night.
You just need to remember it. So don’t move at first, just lay there and think about the dreams. At first this might be difficult because you’re new to the lucid dreaming game but after a while you’ll find it easier. See my post on dream recall for more information.
#11 – Voice triggered tape recorder for dreams
This is a great way to record your dreams. In order to remember more of your dreams you need to record them somehow, right? Cool, but what happens when you wake up at 4AM and there’s no natural light in the room?
You’re way too tired to find a torch and write something in a notebook, so what do you do? Use a voice activated recorder and SPEAK your dreams into that.
This way, you don’t need to lighten up the whole room with your phone torch, and you can just translate the dream when you actually wake up for the day and write it down. This voice recorder is exactly the one I’d use if I didn’t love writing in my dream journal so much!
#12 – Block out ALL light in your room
Light in your room can keep you awake.
It’s not good to have lots of light in your room as you’re falling asleep.That being said, you WANT natural light to enter your room in the morning. The ideal situation is to have blackout curtains that stop all light entering your room but that ALSO move out of the way in the morning.
Try to turn off all artificial light sources in your room before you go to sleep. This will give you better nights sleep, and more dreams.
#13 – Pamper yourself before bed
This one’s a good one. When you’ve just finished a long day of work or whatever you’ve been doing, treat yourself. Have a warm bath, shower etc. Get your partner to give you a massage. Read for a bit. do something that relaxes you.
This is great because your body can wind down before bed and you’re more likely to just fall straight asleep. Relaxing yourself and making sure you’re actually ready for bed sounds simple but hardly anyone does it!
#14 – Use a dream pillow!
A dream pillow is a special pillow that you make which smells like various incense and things. It’s designed to lull you into having a better sleep. They do work! I’ve made one with Mugwort before, but you can use lavender and all sorts of things.
Also, on the subject of pillows, please make sure you spend a little bit of extra money to get GOOD pillow! You’ll really notice the difference when you buy your first GOOD pillow. You should always splash the cash when buying a mattress or a pillow, because the quality of your sleep affects your entire life!
#15 – Take naps in the afternoon if you’re tired
A nap can be a great way to get more energy.
Taking a short nap in the afternoon is a good way to get a boost and feel great the whole day! It doesn’t even have to be that long. You can take a 20 minute nap and feel like you’ve slept for hours.
Try taking a short nap at about 4PM and see what difference it makes. If you feel better, then keep doing it! This is assuming of course that you’re able to take a nap in the afternoon. If you’re in full time work, this might not be that easy for you.
#16 – Finally learn how to meditate: It’s important!
Meditation is VERY important for lucid dreaming.
Actually, scrap that, it’s important for LIFE. through meditation, I’ve been able to overcome some challenges in my life, and stay focused and calm. Without it, I’d be a wreck right now. It’s so powerful and so simple, yet for some strange reason hardly anyone these days DOES it!
#17 – Read LOTS of books about lucid dreaming
There are lots of books you can read for lucid dreaming.
I’ve written a few, and there are famous and common ones like ‘Exploring the world of lucid dreaming‘ and many more. the more you read, the more you’ll be able to do in the dream.
It’s like anything, the more you know, the better you are at the thing. You do need to actually practice what you know as well, but knowledge is always good! Take a few minutes every day to read something about lucid dreaming. This blog has lots of fresh content, or you can use the many books that are already out there!
#18 – ‘Spend yourself’ during the day!
Now, what I mean by this is spend all your energy during the day. whatever you have to do, have lots of sex, run around, work hard on your business etc… The point is, make sure that by the time it comes to bedtime, you’re fucking knackered.
You want to be so tired that you just beg to fall asleep. This way you’ll have more things to dream about (Because you’ll have been doing lots of things during the day) and you’ll feel better when you wake up because you’ll have slipped into very deep sleep easily.
#19 – Make sure your room is cool
I’ve explained before that in order for your body to go into deep sleep, it lowers the body temperature significantly. In order to do this it needs fresh air circulating around you. Have you ever been camping and noticed that you not only wake up earlier than you usually do, but you also don’t feel that tired at all?
This is because there’s not much between you and nature. The light can easily go through your tent and activate your bodies ‘wake up’ hormones. The fresh air can easily go through the tent and enter your lungs. It’s natural and our bodies are designed to work well with nature.
Try and make sure there’s not much blocking air circulation under your bed. This will make it easier for your body to lower your temperature and fall asleep faster. Having things and lots of clutter under the mattress is a common thing that people do but it STOPS them being able to sleep as well as they could.
#20 – Eat enough during the day
Make sure you eat enough. Not only does this give your body the energy it needs, but it makes sure that you’re firing on all cylinders. You want your body to have lots of energy and be working properly.
Most people don’t eat or drink enough. And when they DO eat enough it’s junk food and takeaways. Make sure you eat lots of GOOD food and drink lots of things like water, juice and milk.
#21 – Don’t look at screens before bed
Looking at artificial light sources before bed is a KILLER of dreams.
Sure, gamers have a better chance of becoming lucid but people that stare at computer screens all the time don’t stand a chance. You want to make sure that you turn of all light sources about 30 minutes to an hour before you go to bed.
This will make your body release ‘go to sleep’ hormones which make it easier to fall asleep and enter dreams. If you find it difficult falling asleep without watching something, maybe try reading instead.
#22 – HACK YOUR BRAIN with binaural beats!
Binaural beats are a special type of sound that induces lucid dreams and altered brain states.
They are very easy to use, and very cheap. You can see my review of ennora for more information, and I think everyone should try binaural beats at least once. They work, and they’re good. You can use these sounds to induce more lucid dreams and get better sleep. You can also use them for things like improving your energy, creativity, confidence and much, much more.
#23 – Really WANT it more
Ask yourself how much you ACTUALLY want to lucid dream!
Many people say they want to lucid dream, but they only KINDA want it. They’ve maybe read an article or two and they want to just try it out to see what it’s like. That’s fine, and there’s a good chance they’ll have lucid dreams this way but to REALLY get results you’ve got to WANT it.
You’ve got to be obsessed with the idea of controlling your dreams, to the point where you’re just reading all the articles you can and buying the ebooks, courses and guides to learn more and to learn the proper way to do things. This way, you’re telling your brain that you’re not going to take no for an answer. You ARE going to lucid dream.
#24 – Use supplements and nootropics.
Using lucid dreaming supplements and nootropics are a good way to speed up your results. They can make it MUCH easier to have a lucid dream, and they’re really cheap as well!
There are many to choose from, and the pages I linked you to above are going to show you the different types and which ones are best.
The best lucid dreaming tip ever!
If I could give you ONE tip to control your dreams, it would be this:
Believe in yourself.
Everyone can lucid dream.
We all have the ability to learn lucid dreaming, but we just always tell ourselves different stories. We’ll tell ourselves that it’s not possible, or that it’s some weird thing on the internet that no one has ACTUALLY ever done. It’s not the case. It’s very real, and it can be very easy to learn. you just need to know what to practice and how to practice it.
I have written a guide for this, or you could read my post about the lucid dreaming basics. Whatever you decide to do, just don’t give up. Hopefully these lucid dreaming tips have helped you or at least inspired you in some way to keep going and keep trying.
I’m sharing this article from an email of mine. I found this article interesting and thought I’d share this with others. If you like this article I encourage you to check out their website. It’s pretty informative!
I’m not the author, just sharing the knowledge.
Blessed be!