Top Five Ways to Induce Lucid Dreaming

1. REALITY CHECK

One of the fundamentals of learning to lucid dream is the reality check. While a successful reality check may induce lucid dreaming on its own, it is also an integral part of many other lucid dreaming techniques. Thus, it is a good place to begin when first attempting to enter a lucid dream.

The idea behind the reality check is that by noticing discrepancies between the reality in your waking life and that in a dream, you will be able to become aware that you are dreaming and thus take control.

Here are a few popular reality check methods for inducing a lucid dream:

Draw a large dot or symbol on your hand. Look down at it periodically throughout the day, each time asking yourself: “Am I awake or dreaming?” Make this a habit. Eventually, this question will pop up within a dream, allowing you to become aware and enter a lucid dream. Plug your nose and close your mouth. Can you still breath? Perhaps you are dreaming. Look at a clock. Are the numbers garbled (if digital)? Does the passage of time seem out of whack? These are good indicators of being in a dream. Try to run. Being unable to run, or finding that you run at a sluggish pace, or as if you are wading through water is a classic sign of dreaming. Try poking your finger through your wrist. If you find that you can pass parts of your body through yourself, this may be a good cue to begin lucid dreaming.

Set yourself a timer or simply remember to do one or more of these reality checks throughout the day, even when it seems that you are awake. Once these become ingrained in your normal, routine behavior, you’ll learn to run these reality checks while you are dreaming, thus making it easier for you induce lucid dreams.