Lucid Dreaming for beginners

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through the Yahoo! articles and I found an extremely fascinating article topic to post about: Lucid dreams. What is a lucid dream? Well, lucid dreams, as it implies in its name, are dreams that are lucid, or clear. In the Yahoo! article and other sources I found, they stated that people can actually be aware of themselves in their dreams and control their dreams! That means no more nightmares! Such acquisition is amazing! Let me tell you how this is possible as clear as I am capable of.

 Many people have lucid dreamed in their lives without trying. (You might have too!) In a lucid dream, one becomes aware that they are dreaming. But having the ability to conduct what you do in your dream is the hard part. Once you realize you are dreaming and began to take notice of your surroundings, anything can happen in your dream. Everything becomes vivid with details and color. According to the Yahoo! article, it states: "You will be able to escape from a hideous monster and into the arms of Brad Pitt." Hahhaa! Yes, you will be able to do this once you expert lucid dreaming.

The first step is to recall your dreams and become familiar with your senses in the dream. Many experts suggest keeping a dream journal or use your itouch (like Mr. Sutherland). Jog down any detail of your dream. The point is to train the mind to perceive dreams every day, the minute you wake up. Also, become more aware of the details in everyday life. One technique is doing reality checks, which is reminding yourself to be concious. You should ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" and prove that you are in reality by pressing against solid materials. When you do this in dreams, your fingers might go through.

Next, try different techniques:
- Sleep at a good time; when you are neither too tired or too energized. As you fall asleep, repeat in your mind "The next dream is a lucid dream." and continue thinking about everything you have learned about them. We are trying to keep your mind slightly concious as your body shuts down into sleep. In your dreams, do reality checks.
- Another way is to take a nap for a short hour. Then, wake up and do activities that would keep your mind busy for about half an hour. Afterwards, go back to sleep. It would be easier to be concious in dreams because your brain is more awake.
- For 4 days in a week set your alarm clock to ring early. For the other 3 days don't set it. The days must follow the pattern early, late, early, late. On early days, you MUST wake up. Continue this process for 2 weeks or so. On the third week, don't set your alarm clock on any of the days. Your brain would be accustomed to waking up on the early days and become concious in dreams.

Remember: Try not to freak out or get too excited when you realize you are dreaming because then you will wake up. When you are a little bit concious, do reality checks.

The most common lucid dreaming activity is flying. You can actually feel the activities you are doing in lucid dreams. That is why it is most important to train your brain to recall with your senses. When you first lucid dream it might be a bit creepy. When I tried lucid dreaming, I was in a dream where I was talking with two people and then suddenly the people morphed into each other and then kept morphing into different things. Turns out, this is one of the first stages of sleeping. Also, keep in mind that what you do in your dream is all in your mind. It is similar to imagination.
Have fun with this and try to lucid dream! Also, find other techniques if these don't work for you.

Here are my sources:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/dreams/lucid-dreaming.htm
http://www.consciousdreaming.com/lucid-dreaming/how-to-lucid-dream.htm

http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html