Lucid dreaming is a state of conscious dreaming where the dreamer can exercise full control over the happenings of the dream.
For centuries, people have been fascinated by the ideas of dreams, the reasons behind the dreams, and possible connotations that the dreams apply.
With time, scientific advancement revealed dreams to be simple manifestations created by our subconscious brain and are stimulated by REM (Rapid Eye Movements) during deep sleep.
The images and scenarios that we can dream of are beyond any finite limit. There are endless possibilities that one can dream of, depending upon one’s creative limitation.
From dreams filled with positive emotions and happy feelings to dreams full of nightmares and anxious scenarios, dreams stand reflective of our psychological and emotional state.
We are not always aware of what we dream of, that are categorized as unconscious dreams. These dreams appear as realistic, tangible, and palpable that we misidentify them as our real life.
On the contrary, sometimes, we become aware of the dream being an imaginative scenario, which can lead to exercising certain of control over what we are dreaming. Such situations are identified as lucid dreaming.
Explaining Lucid Dreaming
Lucid dreaming is comparatively a new concept, but the phenomenon of lucid dreaming has been around for centuries. Across the millennia, People have reported of having conscious and ‘awake’ dreams.
Multiple surveys and studies conducted across the globe have also noticed that more than half of the people around glove have experienced lucid dreams, at least once in their lives.
Now the question arises: What makes lucid dreams different from regular dreams? The most traceable difference between lucid dreams and non-lucid dreams lies in the fact that lucid dreamers are in control of what they dream and how they dream it.
Unlike regular dreams, the events of the dream are not wholly controlled by their unconscious mind. In contrast, their conscious self-play an active role in governing the events of the dream.
Just like the regular dreams, these dreams appear vivid and realistic, but in lucid dreaming, the dreamer has the power to manipulate the dream as per his or her will.
One significant distinction between lucid and non-lucid or regular dreaming is the ability to recall the dream. Typically after five to ten minutes of waking up from sleep, we usually forget what we were dreaming of, and it is hard to recall the dream with vivid details.
On the other hand, since lucid dreaming is mostly an induced process by the individuals, and their consciousness plays an active part in governing the dream, lucid dreamers can easily recall their dream with vivid details.
Lucid dreaming allows you to fear your fears and phobias. You can manifest or induce any situation you want.
You can take on a zombie apocalypse, meet your favorite celebrity, become your dream hero, and save the town, fly in the air, or break large boulders. The only limit to form and type of situations in your lucid dreams is your imagination.
Spontaneous Vs. Induced Lucid Dreaming
Spontaneous lucid dreaming is an infrequent process where around 50% of the individuals around the globe experience frequent lucid dreams.
Neuropsychology is still struggling to provide with a definite answer as to why and how lucid dream occurs.
Brain activity traced in the lucid dreamers has reflected that the prefrontal cortex of the brain is highly active during lucid dreaming.
The prefrontal cortex of the brain is responsible for decision making, task management, and memory recalling that allows the lucid dreamers to retain control over their dreams.
Spontaneous lucid dreaming has also been observed among individuals with a highly stressful life, habitual overthinking, and hinging on to the negative events of their lives.
On the contrary, induced lucid dreaming is an active process of falling into a lucid dream using various practices and techniques.
The type mentioned above of spontaneous lucid dreaming is often called Dream Initiated Lucid Dreaming (DILD), where the person slips into a lucid dream from a regular dream.
On the other hand, Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming (WILD) is an active and voluntary form of lucid dreaming where the dreamer consciously slips into a dream-like state with his body in the sleep state, but the conscious mind remains awake and active throughout the dream.
Inducing Lucid Dreaming In Fifteen Minutes
It is not easy to induce a lucid dream and takes years of practice for regular lucid dreamers to fall into lucid dreaming easily.
However, several techniques and practices can be successfully employed to fall into a lucid dream in time as less as fifteen minutes.
Following are some of the activities and techniques that can help you initiate a lucid dream that is vivid, clear, and real.
Prepare Your Brain In Advance
If you are relatively new to the concept of lucid dreaming, preparing your brain and stimulating your subconscious in advance is an essential step to lucid dream.
Before going to sleep, keep repeating to yourself that you are about to experience a lucid dream. Watch some relevant material on lucid dreaming as much as possible before you are about to sleep.
Ingrain it in your mind that your goal is to experience a lucid dream and keep on repeating the idea in your mind till you fall asleep. Your subconscious will retain your vision, and your chances to experience a lucid dream are likely to boost.
Meditate For Ten To Fifteen Minutes
Meditating for some time before falling asleep is one of the best techniques to induce lucid dreaming. Mediating will allow you to relax your senses and unwind the tension from your body.
Once you are both physically and mentally relax, it will be easier for you to move on to the next phase of lucid dreaming, which is to avoid unwanted distractions.
Relax Your Body And Avoid Distractions
The next important step is to relax your mind and body. Get rid of any possible distractions, e.g., loud noises, mobile phones, analog clocks, people, etc.
Make sure that there is no potential disturbance for the coming hours. Cancel off your meetings with your friends and make sure that you are not expecting any guests.
Switch off your phone or put it to silent to avoid getting distracted by any notifications. Use earplugs to block out any unwanted noises. Once you have gotten rid of any distractions, find a comfortable spot to lay down and relax.
Manage Your Thoughts
Once you have relaxed your body, the next important step is to manage your thoughts. Keep yourself focused on the idea of lucid dreaming instead of getting distracted by random thoughts.
You need to keep your thoughts tamed to lower your brain activity. To avoid getting distracted by your thoughts, try to focus on your breathing pattern.
Avoid Unnecessary Body Movements
After relaxing your mind and body, the next major step to induce lucid dreaming in under fifteen minutes is to keep your body still.
Avoid any unnecessary movements as they will break the momentum that you are trying to build for lucid dreaming. Laying still for about 10 minutes will trigger the sleep process, and you will soon start to feel numb and light.
Once you have completed the above steps successfully, vivid images will slowly start to appear in your mind. These images and hallucinations are precursors of lucid dreaming.
Gradually, the random images and visions will start forming a pattern, becoming more vivid, complete, and realistic.
Look For Reality Checks
Becoming conscious of the dream, being a dream is the critical step in identifying the lucid dreaming. To look for a reality check, pay attention to absurdities found in your images.
Look for something unrealistic or out of place, for example, dead coming alive, having different skin color, the abrupt shift in geographical surroundings, the odd number of fingers, performing unrealistic actions, e.g., walking on water, flying, jumping high.
Becoming aware of the absurdity of the dream will activate your consciousness, allowing you to take charge of the dream.
Maintaining A Healthy Sleeping Pattern
As mentioned earlier, inducing a lucid dream is not an easy process, and it takes years and years of practice. However, to effectively induce lucid dreaming, you need to maintain a healthy sleeping pattern.
Set up your circadian rhythms in a natural manner, sleeping at night and waking up with the sunrise. Sleep is induced by melanin, which is usually produced by the body at night.
Following natural circadian rhythms will allow the dreamer to form regular and healthy sleeping patterns to compel the brain into a quick and easy sleep, without having to wait for long hours to kick-start the lucid dreaming process.
Writing A Regular Dream Journal
Keep a dream journal next to your bed, to record what you have dreamt about. Waking up after your sleep and noting down the events that happen in your dream will help you effectively recall your dream.
Once your brain gets familiar with the practice, it will be easier for you to recall your dream with extraordinary vividness and details.
Conclusion
To conclude, lucid dreaming is a state of active dreaming, where the dreamer itself is in charge of the actions and events of the dream.
Naturally slipping into lucid dreaming is rare; however, lucid dreams can be actively induced following specific practices and activities.
Keeping a regular sleeping pattern, relaxing your body, avoiding distractions, keeping your thoughts and senses tamed, performing reality checks are some of the effective techniques to fall into lucid dreaming within fifteen minutes.
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