"After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
-Morpheus
Lucid dreaming is by far one of the most undervalued abilities that we have as human beings. It does take a little practice, as well as a little know how, in order to start achieving success but it really doesn’t take long to learn and these experiences can honestly be remarkable. I can confidently promise that pretty much anyone out there can start having lucid dreams within just a couple weeks, and with the techniques I’m about to show you, even just a few days.
First off, what is lucid dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is the act of becoming conscious while you dream, or awake while in a state of dreaming. In these dreams, you enter into a kind of simulation experience that is guided solely by your own mind and imagination so the sky is the limit.
In my own lucid dreams, I've learned to control the dreamscape, fly on command, converse with older versions of myself (weird, I know) and manipulate my dreams in ways that have been truly unforgettable. I’ve learned fascinating things about my mind and how deeply complex our human psychology actually is.
Since lucid dreaming has contributed such drastic changes in my perception of life and who I am as a person, I can’t help but feel this anxious excitement to help others journey deeper into the world of their dreams, and lucid dreaming honestly is the best vehicle to take you there. It is not just an entertaining thing to try; it can offer physical, emotional and spiritual benefits that are absolutely mind-blowing. I promise you that.
"Lucid dreaming has considerable potential for promoting personal growth and self-development, enhancing self-confidence, improving mental and physical health, facilitating creative problem solving and helping you to progress on the path to self-mastery."
-Stephen LaBerge, PhD (Psychophysiologist and a leader in the scientific study of lucid dreaming)
What it’s like to lucid dream:
What a lot of people don’t realize about lucid dreaming is that all five of your senses cooperate in these dreams to create a perception of reality that is just as convincing as what you experience in your waking life, making such dreams as real to you as reality itself…. I mean besides the fact that there are no limits ; )
I personally have had several lucid dreams where I had to remind myself more than just once that the dream was just a dream because it felt so real. I’ve conversed with friends who were so accurately represented by my subconscious mind that I’ve literally stopped and wondered, is this really him or her?
There is a feeling of realness that lucid dreaming allows you to access within your imagination, which is unlike anything you will experience elsewhere. Your internal imagination becomes the captain of your reality and your own creativity is the only limit. You can fly, visit a country of your choice, or even talk to a loved one who has passed away. Personally, I think lucid dreaming is best practiced for meaningful engagement. Yes, it’s entertaining… but you may as well bring back a meaningful experience.
(For the skeptic…) Yes, lucid dreaming is a real verifiable practice:
A couple years ago, at the Max Planck institute in Germany, the veracity of lucid dreaming was proven (yet again) as a scientific fact and demonstrated to be both reproducible and testable. In this study, researchers asked well-practiced lucid dreamers to undergo some specialized brain scans as an attempt to verify that these individuals could actually attain consciousness while sleeping/ dreaming.
Prior to the lucid dreamers going to sleep, the researchers had their participants perform the basic task of alternating their fist clenching from left to right. They analyzed and documented the regions that these basic exercises elicited on their brain scans and then asked the dreamers to communicate back to them from their beds as soon as soon as they had successfully initiated a lucid dream during sleep. To verify, they were asked to perform the same basic exercise of clenching their fists from left to right while dreaming. Fascinatingly the dreamers successfully activated the exact same regions of the brain when they clenched from left hand to right during dream sleep as they did while awake.
Anyway, moving on…
So, how do I have lucid dreams?
There are all kinds of methods that people use in order to have lucid dreams but I’ve found that certain techniques circulating on the Internet are honestly a waste of time… yet other techniques offer much quicker and better results. Everyone sleeps/ dreams a bit differently but there are a few strategies that are universally more effective than others.
From what I’ve observed and experienced, the quickest results tend to come from lucid dreaming supplements, so I’m going to focus more on that topic than the other techniques in this particular entry, but just keep in mind that other techniques may be helpful to practice collectively in order to achieve optimal results.
Anyway, here are a few tips I’d like to share as someone who has been actively lucid dreaming for over 10 years now. These are the techniques that have worked best for me as well as for the community of lucid dreamers I’ve been able to engage with over the last several years. First I share a bit about dream journaling and then I explain a bit about lucid dreaming supplements and something called Dream Leaf in particular.
Dream Journaling for lucid dreams
This is by far one of the most important things you need to do if you are seeking success with lucid dream induction, and the reason why is because it thins the line between your conscious awareness and your dreams. Just by engaging with your dreams, you become more familiar with the territory of the dreamscape and increase your likelihood to achieve lucidity. What’s most important is that you engage deeply with your dreams. Sometimes just thinking about your dreams more can promote lucid dreaming experiences, as simple as that might sound. I cannot even count how many times I’ve introduced people to the idea of lucid dreaming and then had them tell me days later how they just happened to have their first lucid dream.
But, I also think dream journaling is really important because it can be so valuable to go back and read about the dreams you have had in the past. You’d be surprised how quickly the memories of your dreams can escape your mind… so writing them down is vital if you want to keep those experiences in your conscious memory. Trust me on this. I’ve lost access to some very special dreams that I never thought I’d let slip from my mind. It’s always worth the effort to record your dreams.
(*Side note about dream journaling)
I personally have found that many of my dreams become more meaningful to me as I read them years later. In a very odd and unusual way, dreams tend to offer you intuitive messages that often stem from what’s going on internally. As I’ve developed more familiarity with the way my dreams speak to me personally, I’ve honestly found it amazing how accurately my dreaming intuition has been with respect to important topics in my own life.
Just remember that dreams do not speak with the same language as we are used to using in waking life. They do not express themselves directly. They are metaphorical expressions of what’s going on internally. In order to gather meaning, read back on your dreams like a piece of fiction… fiction with a subtext, and an underlying narrative that the author (your subconscious mind) is trying to bring to your conscious attention. Look at the themes, identify the symbols and pull out their meaning to you personally.
Oh, and please throw away your dream dictionaries… I’m a big believer that meaning in dreams is entirely subjective to each dreamer. A fish to you probably doesn’t mean the same thing as it does to me. Yes, from time to time, there are some archetype symbols that may appear in dreams but it is better to practice looking at each aspect of your dream as the author rather than allowing some external influence to tell you what a certain symbol means to you.
The Dream Atlas is a great resource for engaging more deeply with your dreams. It successfully funded on Kickstarter last year and helps dreamers journal their dreams as well as analyze and interpret them. If you're interested. Check it out.
Lucid dreaming supplements
Even many of the more advanced lucid dreamers don’t know about this but there are actually quite a few natural supplements that can help you have lucid dreams… and quickly. For many people, the supplement approach can cause lucid experiences within 24 – 48 hours. This is often but not always the case. Supplements will open the door to lucidity, but you still need to turn the knob and walk in if that makes sense.
It’s important to realize that the neuro-environment within your brain needs to be ideal in order to lucid dream. Putting the wrong things in your body can greatly disrupt your lucid dreaming ability (sorry cannabis/ alcohol users, but YES – marijuana and alcohol do not mesh well with the practice of lucid dreaming). But on the other hand, putting the right things in your body AT THE RIGHT TIME especially can greatly increase your likelihood of success.
Dream Leaf
Dream Leaf is a blend of dietary supplements that helps awaken conscious thought processes during dream sleep. This supplement promotes lucid dreaming both directly and indirectly and comes in two parts for this very reason. There is a blue pill and a red pill, each contain totally different ingredients, and have entirely separate functions in the brain for lucid dream induction. But when combined together and used properly, Dream Leaf can take your dreams to an entirely new level.
Some of my very favorite lucid dreams have occurred while using Dream Leaf. I find that it provides an extra layer of control within my lucid dreams, where I’m able to get a lot more creative and manipulate the dreamscape in ways that might typically wake me up.
A few other firsthand experiences with the Dream Leaf effect
Below are legitimate reviews from other users of Dream Leaf, many of which were successfully able to experience their first lucid dream ever. More reviews can be found on Amazon here. Other's can be found on the Dream Leaf product page as well.
Robert
"During the nights that I've taken Dream Leaf, I've found that my dreams become weirdly realistic. I've had 4 - 5 flying dreams that were totally self-induced and completely lucid."
Caitlin
"I’ve tried Dream Leaf about 10 times now and have honestly had surprising results... several lucid dreams, which are very rare for me to experience."
Juan
"The lucid dreams I've had with Dream Leaf have been amazing ... I have total control, just desire and the world turns ... I've flown, visited many places, created islands of fantasy… piloted a plane, and this with my first bottle."
J Miller
"I bought a bottle about 6 months ago and never tried it until last night. I followed the instructions on the bottle, took the blue pill at 11 and the red pill at 3. I honestly didn't think it'd work the first time because lucidity is quite rare for me, plus who knows if this stuff is really good at doing what it says anyway. I was prepared to be disappointed. but I wasn't (disappointed, that is)."
"I became aware that I was dreaming at around 5 am. I know this because after a few moments of taking in the realization that I was aware in my dream I awoke as I always do when achieving lucidity. However, I was able to stay longer than I have in years. I'll definitely be trying this again, probably every weekend. Definitely worth giving a bottle a try."
How the blue pill works
The blue pill functions kind of like a bow and arrow. It’s like pulling the arrow back, and by creating tension it propels your dreams toward to your target – lucidity.
The blue pill contains ingredients that fuel deep sleep for the first 4 hours of the night and simultaneously inhibits your REM sleep. And although our deep sleep has little to do with lucid dreaming (because lucid dreams tend to take place during REM) promoting lengthened deep sleep early in the night causes your body to accelerate its REM cycle in order to balance out the REM to deep sleep ratio during the morning hours, which is when lucid dreaming is most likely to occur. Doing this tends to make your dreams vivid and realistic, often adding a heightened level of conscious awareness in your dreams and triggering a sense of lucidity.
How the red pill works
The red pill functions more like a rocket, fueled by the neurotransmitters involved in your conscious thought processes. By increasing the level of certain neurotransmitters, you can greatly increase your success with lucid dreaming. This pill also promotes an accelerated REM cycle to piggyback on the effects of the blue pill.
It's important to note that one of the most significant roles for lucid dreaming supplementation is to increase your acetylcholine levels while you dream. And the reason why is because acetylcholine is what connects your thoughts to your memories of reality. Because as soon as we fall asleep, our ACh levels tend to breakdown rapidly which is what causes us to become unconscious in our dreams.
Higher acetylcholine = the better your chances of having a lucid dream.
Dream Leaf successfully increases your level of the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine in two ways; one is by blocking the enzyme that typically causes ACh to breakdown and the other is by promoting the production of ACh directly.
For more information on this just visit the How it works page.
As I mentioned earlier, some of my most incredible lucid dreaming experiences have occurred while using Dream Leaf. Yet there are a variety of other ways to have lucid dreams. I’ve found that supplements provide you with a quick and easy opportunity to experience lucid dreaming more quickly, and it definitely adds a level of control that enhances the lucid dreaming experience as well. But you may as well experiment on yourself with what techniques work best for you. From what I’ve been able to observe, lucid dreaming supplements and dream journaling are the two most effective ways to have lucid dreams in a short amount of time.
A couple other lucid dreaming techniques:
Below are 2 other lucid dreaming techniques that I personally can endorse as well. Linked to these are a couple of other articles that explain how to use and have success with each:
Oh, and if you want to know what it’s like…
If you haven’t yet had a lucid dream, I hope you’re excited. If your journey ends up being as meaningful as mine has been, you have a lot to look forward to. Below is a little write up I put together on my very first lucid dream just to give you a little taste. I pulled this out of an old dream journal of mine and did my best to describe this particular dream as accurately as possible.