Having lucid dreams takes learning a few basic techniques and cultivating a specific mindset. Some persons will require more time or effort in developing their induction abilities than others. Persistence and optimism can be helpful, and your inspiration and motivation may also play a role. Here are the most tried-and-true ways to induce lucid dreams.
Improve your dream recall
The first step in preparing to lucid dream is to increase your dream recall. To quote Lucidity institute, “…if you don’t recall your dreams, even if you do have a lucid dream, you won’t remember it!” Dream journaling is instrumental for most practicing lucid dreamers, and is highly recommended for reasons that extend even beyond the purpose of induction.
Remember to Notice Dreamsigns
A key skill in lucid dreaming is learning to identify dreamsigns: signs that you are dreaming. Usually you will become lucid by critically reflecting on something unusual or dream-like within the dream, realizing that the explanation is that you are dreaming. The more familiar you are with your dreams, the better you will be at recognizing them. Additionally, many practicing lucid dreamers notice that they dream of recurring dreamsigns from time to time, such as certain people, places, or events (eg, dreaming you are unprepared for an exam). Recurring dreamsigns are useful because you can expect to dream about them again at some point in the future, and therefore prepare your mind to recognize them. Make a list of all your recurring dreamsigns from your dream journal. Then train yourself to recognize you are dreaming the next time a dreamsign appears in your dreams via mental rehearsal and other intention-setting techniques.
Learn more on improving dreamsign awareness here.
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)
MILD is a memory-based technique developed by Stephen LaBerge that takes advantage of state-dependent learning and integrates several induction skills (e.g. recall, reflection, imagery rehearsal and intention setting). MILD trains your prospective memory, which is your ability to remember to do things in the future. After all, in order to have a lucid dream, you need to remember in the future to recognize that you are dreaming.
See MILD instructions and watch my MILD Series on Youtube.
Am I awake? Noticing potential dreamsigns
As a part of MILD technique, train yourself to remember to notice your state throughout the day, ideally when encountering something dream-like.
With a critical mindset, reflect on your present state and identify if any dreamsigns are present that would indicate you are dreaming. The more you practice reflecting on your present state, the more this mindset will be accessible to you when you truly are dreaming.
Rereading State Test
While reflecting on your state of consciousness in the daytime helps to optimize your mindset for lucidity, it still has limitations. This is because the belief that you are awake is a deeply rooted assumption. Moreover, dreams often share features of waking consciousness, so it can be hard to accurately discern your state.
For example, you may notice a potential dreamsign that is improbable in waking life, but not impossible. Or you may be so certain that you are awake, but this is how you think in dreams without getting lucid. In such cases, state tests are useful.
State testing—commonly referred to as reality checking—is a way of discerning your current state by attempting to evoke a specific sort of dreamsign, such as attempting to levitate. These are practiced during the daytime when questioning your state, or when you believe you are awake because you don't notice any dreamsigns.
You may have heard of many types of reality tests before, but most are not reliable and often result in false negatives. The reality test that is recommended as the most reliable is the Rereading State Test. The task is to read some printed text, look away at something else, then read it again to determine if the words or numbers change, as often happens when one tries to reread in dreams. In fact, LaBerge tested the stability of printed text in dreams on 46 lucid dreamers. They reported that the text changed upon second glance in two or less attempts 95% of the time.
Research has not shown that state tests alone induce lucid dreaming. It is not recommended to rely solely on state tests to induce lucid dreaming. Instead, use the Rereading State Test as part of an integrated repertoire of MILD skills that will make up a strong mindset for remembering when you are dreaming.
More background on the Rereading State Test here.
Wake-Initated Lucid Dreams (WILD)
WILDs differ from the more common Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream (DILD), which is when you become lucid while the dream is already in progress–perhaps by suddenly recognizing a dreamsign or by performing a state test. In a WILD, you maintain explicit awareness of your current state through the waking to dreaming transition. In other words, you are lucid as soon as you begin to dream.
WILD techniques are an alternative means of inducing lucid dreams, relying on focused and sustained, meditative awareness as one transitions from the waking to dreaming state. As you relax and fall asleep, common techniques to WILD include repeating a mantra ("I will remember I am dreaming), counting, watching hypnagogic imagery form, or performing a body scan, such as the 61-point relaxation technique.
Mindfulness meditation skills can be particularly useful for WILDs by helping you observe yourself fall asleep with an open, relaxed yet alert, awareness. If you are able stay aware while falling asleep, you will transition to being entirely embedded within the lucid dream state.
WILD is thought of as an advanced induction technique, which has some truth to it. However, WILDs aren't that hard to learn with the right mindset. In fact, WILDs were a way for me to succeed at lucid dreaming more often compared to when I was solely relying on prospective memory techniques.
Here are some advanced tips to overcome common WILD struggles. Also check out my Youtube playlist on WILDs.
Sleep Interruption
A certain degree of wakefulness during the sleep cycle seems to make lucidity in dreams easier to achieve. Lucidity Institute conducted several tests to explore whether sleep interruption can increase the probability of lucid dreaming. Since lucid dreams tend to occur in a more highly activated phase of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep–the sleep stage most associated with vivid dreaming, they reasoned that increasing wakefulness during the sleep cycle would promote lucid dreams. They found that interrupting sleep for 30 to 60 minutes and then returning to bed for an early morning nap was more associated with lucid dreaming. Some people refer to this technique as wake-back-to-bed (WBTB). This has been confirmed by later researchers. Sleep Interruption should be combined with mental set in order to work.
To practice sleep interruption:
1) Set your alarm to awaken you after approximately your 3rd or 4th REM period, or you may find you awaken naturally in the middle of the night. (Pro Tip: If you're a short sleeper, or prone to insomnia, consider waking after your 3rd REM period instead).
2) When you wake up, get out of bed and stay up for 30 minutes engaged in a quiet wakeful activity, such as dream journaling or reading.
3) Return to sleep while practicing MILD.
How do you time your REM periods? A good rule of thumb to remember is that most people transition through REM sleep about every 90 minutes.
Other Strategies
There are other adjunctive strategies to mental set, such as biofeedback-assisted induction or herbal supplements, to up your chances of remembering when you are dreaming. The most important thing to keep in mind is that products you may hear about on the web, if they even have merit, are useless without training in the proper mental set for induction anyway. There is more to learning lucid dreaming than is summarized in the above techniques. Learn more by reading Stephen LaBerge’s classic guide to lucid dreaming, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1990). You can also read my book, Learn to Lucid Dream, for concise, modernized instruction and subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Citations
Kahan, T. & LaBerge, S. (2011). Dreaming and Waking: Similarities and Differences Revisited. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(3), 494-514. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.09.002. LaBerge, S. (1990). Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep. In Bootzen, R.R., Kihlstrom, J.F. & Schacter, D.L., (Eds.) Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, pp. 109-126. LaBerge, S., Phillips, L., & Levitan (1996). An hour of wakefulness before morning naps makes lucidity more likely. Nightlight, 6(3). LaBerge and Rheingold (1990). Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballantine Books. LaBerge, S., Steiner, R. and Giguère, B. (1996). “To sleep, perchance to read” Nightlight 8(1&2): 17-21.
