Last updated: February 20, 2020
If you'd like to add to your site, head over to this page for the HTML snippet.
For many people, it's something of a ritual. After they wake up, they turn to their partner, shake them awake, and say, "You won't believe the dream I had!" But for most of us, whether we have dreams of swashbuckling with pirates, solving murder mysteries with Sherlock Holmes, or accidentally arriving naked at our graduations, one thing remains constant: dreams are out of our control. They're something that happen to us rather than something that we make happen. Lucid dreaming flips that assumption on its head and, if you learn how to lucid dream tonight, the rest of your evening will start looking very interesting, indeed.
Lucid dreaming is the practice of becoming aware and conscious while you are dreaming. People who are able to lucid dream are able to take control of their dreams and create narratives for themselves rather than by being controlled by their dreams. Recommended book: A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming. Lucid dreamers go to sleep at night knowing that they have eight hours of adventures in store. When they tell people about their dreams, they are telling their friends about stories that they experienced as vividly as they experienced anything else in their waking life. If you're looking to learn how to lucid dream tonight, we've got the background information and tips you need to be successful.
More...
Table of Contents
Why would I want to lucid dream?
If you're looking for lucid dreaming tips, you'll probably also want a little motivation. Luckily, there are several good reasons why you might want to give lucid dreaming a try.
Chances are you've had some interesting dreams over the course of your life. But most of us never bother to really question the mechanics of dreaming itself. Why should you bother going to the time and effort of learning to dream better? You may think lucid dreaming is a waste of time--after all, you've probably never had any real issues with the way you get to sleep before. However, as practitioners of lucid dreaming are aware, it can have massive real-life benefits that are utterly transformative. With relatively little effort, lucid dreaming has the power to change your life forever--for the better.
Explore things you will never be able to experience in real life
Maybe you've always wanted to go to Japan, but you aren't able to afford the plane tickets. Maybe you want to try parachuting, but your physical condition prevents you from doing anything of the sort. If you are lucid dreaming, not only are these experiences possible, they are easy.
But the power of lucid dreaming goes well beyond that. Maybe if you save your money, you'll someday be able to afford tickets to Japan. However, you'll never be able to fly through the forest surrounded by a swarm of giant eagles. With lucid dreaming, impossible stunts like this become common-place. You'll be able to walk up buildings like Spider-Man and sail through outer-space without a space suit. With lucid dreaming, you'll be able to push at the boundaries of what it means to be human. You might find something even greater on the other side. Lucid dreaming tips will give you what it takes to start lucid dreaming tonight and make this fantasy world a reality.
Practice new skills and conquer your fears
Everyone has fears--it's nothing to be ashamed of, and most of us are happy enough to live with our fears. With lucid dreaming, you may find it easier than ever to conquer your fears rather than be conquered by them. If you learn how to lucid dream fast, your fears will soon be a thing of the past.
For example, many adults are afraid of public speaking. However, unless your job gives you frequent opportunities to public speak, this can be a difficult fear to overcome. It's something that only comes up occasionally, so you'll have no opportunity to overcome your fear by immersing yourself in it. Furthermore, most public speaking occasions have at least some element that is out of our control. Even if you practice your speech a hundred times, you can't prepare for folks in the audience ignoring you in favor of their phones.
Now imagining practicing your public speaking skills through lucid dreaming. You can practice every night rather than waiting for a special occasion. If you want, your entire audience can wear their underwear. You'll control the setting, the topic, your clothes--and if things go poorly, you can simply fly away from the venue mid-speech. Literally.
Take advantage of the time you usually waste sleeping
Every day has 24 hours, and you most likely spend eight of those asleep. That's a third of your life spent unconscious. In a sense, that third of your life is essentially wasted. If you live to be a healthy 30 years old, that means you will have spent 30 years of your life doing absolutely nothing.
If you are going to be spending 30 years of your life on something, you should make it count. You wouldn't want to spend 30 years watching TV or staring at the window. Why spend it lying in bed without a single thought in your mind? By mastering lucid dreaming and taking the nighttime hours back into your control, you can, in effect, extend your own lifespan. Consider learning how to lucid dream tonight so that you can start taking your life back into your own hands.
Get in touch with your creative side
Are you a painter, a poet, a musician, or a singer? Would you like to be? Many people find that lucid dreaming helps to improve their creative practices and increase their creative output. Part of this is due to the fact that the rules of physics as we know them do not exist in the dream world. If you want to practice painting by making a mural on the side of the Empire State Building, you can do so effortlessly.
Better yet, there are no consequences in the dream world. You can never spend too much money on oil paints, and you can try new techniques without worrying you're wasting your materials. Others find that the act of dreaming itself is enough to help them see the world in a new way. They can create stories and explore the consequences of different choices and, when they wake up, they can explore the contents of their dreams through song, poetry, or art.
Dreaming also allows you to practice the skills associated with art creation even if you have very little time in the waking world. You can practice the guitar for hours on end and, when you wake up, you might find that your hands are able to stretch across the frets just a little bit more easily. When you're thinking of how to lucid dream tonight, the chance to improve your creative output should be a big motivator.
Put an end to disturbing dreams
Unfortunately, for some people, sleeping can be a form of anxiety. People suffering from PTSD or who have otherwise been through trauma may find that they suffer through nightmares reminding them of what they've been through. Luckily, a few lucid dreaming tips can help alleviate some of the pain that often accompanies nightmares.
But you don't need to have gone through something traumatic to occasionally suffer through unpleasant dreams. During stressful times, you may dream of your teeth or hair falling out. Lucid dreaming allows you to bypass much of this stress and simply enjoy your dreaming. You may find that you get a much better night's sleep once you know that your dreams will be anxiety free. Once you start learning how to lucid dream tonight, prepare for a world in which you are happier and better rested.
Can anyone lucid dream?
Anyone and everyone can find the ability to lucid dream if they follow a few key lucid dreaming tips. As with anything, some will find it comes very naturally while others will have to work a little harder. If you already remember some of your dreams or have naturally become conscious while dreaming before, the transition to regularly lucid dreaming should come with very little effort. Regardless of your past or background, we are here to give you what you need to find out how to lucid dream fast.
Steps on how to lucid dream tonight
You might think that getting started with lucid dreaming will be a bit of an ordeal. However, it's something that you can get started with immediately. Chances are that you already have things around your house that will help ease your path into lucid dreaming. You don't need months of mindfulness courses or hours and hours of a sleep study. Instead, just follow these simple steps to find out how to lucid dream tonight.
1. Listen to music as you go to sleep.
One of the keys to lucid dreaming is keeping part of your brain conscious while the rest of your body goes into sleep mode. If you are lucid dreaming correctly, the transition between sleeping and waking should be much fuzzier than it usually is. Some people panic in the early stages of lucid dreaming because they find their body has gone to sleep while their mind is still awake. It can create the illusion of an out-of-body experience to people who aren't used to it.
One thing that can make this transition easier is listening to music or ambient noises while you are going to sleep. Focusing on gentle, relaxing music can have an almost hypnotic effect on your body. Try listening to classical music or something similarly relaxing to have the best effect. Noise machines like the ones used to help infants sleep can also ease the passage into a lucid dream. You may find that if you have the sound of something like a heart beat to concentrate on, your mind will stay focused and alert even as your body slips into sleep.
2. Use scents to help keep the conscious part of your brain awake.
As we said above, if you're looking for advice on how to lucid dream fast, the most important step you can take is maintaining a conscious mind even as your body goes to sleep. In order to do this, you'll want to have something calming that you can focus your mind on. If music proves too distracting for you, considering using scent to aid your path into lucid dreaming.
If you have any essential oils on hand, consider putting a drop or two on your wrists or into an aromatherapy diffuser. Lavender is especially popular among lucid dreaming enthusiasts, but it's most important that you pick a scent that you enjoy. Try to find something that will relax you and help create a positive atmosphere as you slip into your dreams. It's even better if the scent is something you associate strongly with your waking life; it will help your brain maintain its grip on consciousness and lucidity.
3. Create a routine that will help prepare you to lucid dream.
You might already know that it's not particularly healthy to stay up until 3 a.m. one night and go to bed at 9 p.m. the next. However, in addition to being unhealthy, it's also not particularly good for lucid dreaming. One of the best things you can do to improve your lucid dreaming experience is to create a bedtime routine and stick to it as exactly as you can. If you take your contact lenses out before you brush your teeth, try to do that every night. If you need to put lotion on your arms before you go to bed, try to do that in the same place in your routine every night.
Once your life is full of these routines, it will become easier to recognize when you are dreaming. If, every single night, the last thing you do before sleeping is to turn on your fan, you'll eventually feel that something is slightly "off" when you don't do it. Recognizing moments that are slightly amiss will help you achieve lucidity during your dreams.
4. Set concrete goals for your dreams.
At the start of this article, we listed several reasons why you might want to consider lucid dreaming. If you're looking to find out how to lucid dream fast, you should pick one or two of these and make them your goal. It is well documented that people with concrete motivation are able to achieve their goals faster than people without any particular motivation. Deciding that you want to get better at lucid dreaming so that you can become more creative will motivate your subconscious mind to help you achieve your goals.
And really, when we're talking about lucid dreaming, that's the biggest enemy you're up against- your subconscious. Why not try to get it on your side?
5. Keep a dream journal.
A key trick to becoming lucid in your dreams is to recognize that you are dreaming. Often, lucid dreamers find that they are unable to control their dreams until their dream-self becomes aware that they are in a dream. At that point, they are able to take over the dream and change it.
But how do you become aware that you are dreaming? One essential step is to become familiar with common patterns in your ordinary dreams. If you often dream about spiders, then your dream-self might become suspicious the next time a spider appears.
To make this more likely to happen, anyone looking to lucid dream should start keeping a dream journal. If you can make it happen, the first thing you should do every morning is write down what your dreams were about in as much detail as you can. The more consistently you do this, the more you'll begin to notice about your dreams--and the more likely you are to recognize when you're dreaming.
6. Set a gentle alarm to wake yourself up.
If you're trying lucid dreaming on a night when you can afford to lose a little sleep, consider setting an alarm to go off at 45-minute intervals throughout the night. Interrupting your sleep will help break the grip that sleep has over your mind. It will help you to maintain consciousness as you go back to sleep. Have you ever had one of those moments where you're just waking up, but you aren't quite sure if you're awake or asleep yet? That's the kind of moment we're looking to create.
However, using your phone alarm is more likely to jar you out of sleep than to ease you in an out of it. Consider using a light alarm to make the transition from sleeping to waking less abrupt.
7. Get a set of lucid dreaming clothes.
As we've said, part of being a successful lucid dreamer is to create rituals that will allow you to know if you're sleeping or waking. One thing many people find helpful is to wear the same set of clothes to bed every night. That way, if you find yourself in bed wearing a white t-shirt instead of a black bathrobe, you'll know you're most likely dreaming. Wearing an eye mask while you're drifting to sleep can serve the dual purpose of being part of this ritual and helping create a more peaceful environment as you doze off.
8. Create a set of reality checks for yourself.
One of the most important things you can do to help yourself lucid dream is to start performing reality checks throughout the day. In other words, do some tests to make sure you are awake and not asleep. Go ahead, do one right now--why not try to fly?
If you didn't manage to take off, you're probably awake. If you did--congratulations, you're lucid dreaming!
Reality checks are important because, if you get in the habit of doing a reality check, your dream-self may also start to do these checks. It may feel a little silly at first, but it's probably the number one thing you can do to improve your success with lucid dreaming. Who knows--maybe next time you try to fly, you'll manage to take off.
Time to get started!
Hopefully, you've found this guide to lucid dreaming to be a good introduction to the practice. You should already have a grasp on the basics and, as far as we're concerned, there's no better time than today to get started. So go ahead. Turn on some music. Set your alarm and get ready to fly!
[mc4wp_form id="5531"]