The Internet is literally swarming with different techniques for lucid dreaming. Some work, while others can be a waste of time. Here’s a quick guide to some of the lucid dreaming techniques I've had consistent success with over the last 7 years. I too have binged on the various blogs, books, and videos that have been dedicated to the topic of lucid dreaming techniques.
In this article, I hope to save you just a little bit of time by pointing you in the right direction, as far as where to spend your time while attempting to have a lucid dream. It's no doubt that everyone dreams a little differently but I can assure you that there are certain techniques for lucid dreaming that are more effective than others. And here they are:
The top 5 techniques for lucid dreaming:
1) Lucid dreaming supplements and eating right:
You might be surprised to learn how much your diet actually affects the way you dream. Everyone has heard how cheese gives you bad dreams and how bananas make you have vivid dreams, but there are actual physiological reasons for why this happens.
In fact, certain dietary supplements, such as Huperzine-A and Choline Bitartrate (along with several others) can truly work miracles for people seeking to achieve a lucid state in their dreams. In fact, nothing has helped me to have quite as astonishing of lucid dreams as dietary supplements. They help by creating an optimal neuro-environment for conscious/ controlled dreaming.
(Hundreds of people have experienced their first lucid dream experiences through our lucid dreaming supplement - Dream Leaf. It combines 5 of the most effective lucid dreaming ingredients into a synergistic blend of dream inductors. Feel free to check it out.)
2) Reality checks:
The best way to become conscious in a dream is to recognize that what you are perceiving during the dream is only your imagination, and the easiest way to expose your imagination is by comparing it to your recollection of reality. Through out my years as a lucid dreamer, a vast majority of my conscious awareness was initiated by a thought of, “is this real?” Once you get your mind into the habit of questioning reality on a frequent basis, you’re much more likely to become conscious in your dreams. Drawing something very small on your hand each day and then reminding yourself to look at the image and ask, “am I dreaming?" can work wonders.
3) Dream Journaling:
Recording your dreams in a journal can be super useful in your attempts to lucid dream, for several reasons. One is that when you start recording your dreams on a consistent basis, you begin exercising more consciousness in the area of your dream life, which is very much a part of your life as your know it. And by exercising higher levels of consciousness toward your dreams, even just in waking life, it actually makes your more likely to become conscious in your dreams.
The other reason dream journaling can be so helpful though is because you will undoubtedly begin to notice patterns in your dreams, which will help you to get better at your reality checks. You will slowly start to develop a better ability to know when to ask, “am I dreaming?” and also develop a higher awareness of what your dream signs are.
4) Reading before bed and avoiding LCD screens later in the night:
This one sounds almost too simple, but I cannot emphasize enough how much this has helped me to achieve lucidity in my dreams. A big part of the reason we become so gullible to our imagination in our dreams is because we get so easily distracted. And one of the best ways to improve your focus is by reading before bed. If you read before you go to bed for even as little as 15 minutes, your dreams tend to be much more vivid, which makes it much more likely for you to become conscious while you’re in a dream state.
Once again, be sure to avoid LCD screens later in the night. It's not good for your dreams.
5) Waking up and going back to bed (WBTB):
There’s a thin line between your waking life and your dreaming life and both territories have certain properties that are very different from one another. This of course is why reality checks are so significant for lucid dreaming. But, if you quickly cross over the line between consciousness and unconsciousness several times during the night (possibly just by setting several alarms to go off periodically) it can, often times, give you a better chance of becoming conscious while you enter into your dream.
Wrapping it up:
Anyway, in summary, there is a HUGE list of other techniques out there, and there is no doubt that some of them might work for you. These are just five techniques for lucid dreaming that have helped me to achieve lucidity in my dreams on a consistent basis over the last 7 years.
Overall, the three most important factors for lucid dreaming, in my opinion - are eating right, sleeping right, and thinking right. This list has helped to have some of the most incredible dream experiences of my life, and it seems to have worked consistently with others as well.