A lucid dream is one in which the subject is aware that he or she is dreaming and can even choose to influence the content or events of the dream..

Lucid dreaming and healing is an especially powerful combination, and many people learn to fill their dreams with positive visual imagery, since this is known to lead to improved physical health. It takes some practice to learn lucid dreaming, but, once it is mastered, many people have up to four or five lucid dreams every night. Scientists have found that it is easier to learn lucid dreaming when napping, rather than during nighttime sleep, although this is a recent discovery and many people have learned to lucid dream purely through presleep programming at night.

How to teach yourself lucid dreaming

Dr. Stephen LaBerge, a leading researcher and writer on lucid dreaming, teaches the MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams) technique of lucid dreaming. This technique is practiced after waking from a dream, but before returning to sleep. It has four steps:

1. Set up a dream memory. Before you go to sleep, program yourself to remember your dreams..

2. Focus your intent. When you wake from a dream and have noted down a few keywords to help you remember it, focus your intent on remembering that you are dreaming, the next time you do so. Say to yourself, "The next time I dream, I will remember that I am dreaming, but will not wake up." Repeat this to yourself over and over again, like a mantra, as you fall asleep. If you find your mind wandering, gently bring your focus back to the mantra.

3. Visualize yourself becoming lucid. As you continue to say the words over in your mind, imagine that you are back in the dream you have just had or - if you cannot recall that dream - any other memorable dream. Visualize yourself recognizing that you are dreaming and looking for confirmation that it is a dream. You might be doing something normally impossible (such as flying), meeting somebody deceased, witnessing extraordinary occurrences, and so on. Once you have confirmed that you are dreaming, say to yourself, "I'm dreaming," then continue your visualization.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you fall asleep. It may take some time before you actually have a lucid dream, but with practice you can use this technique to make all your dreams lucid, if you choose.

From: Dreams, Transform your life through the power of your dreams, Andy Baggott, page 116-117

Thank you for the instructions how to teach ourselves lucid dreaming.
I have never tried it, but now I will give it a go.

At this moment I just need a good cup of coffee to keep me awake

Thanks for the reminder, Teo. It's been a while since I have done any lucid dreaming and it's time to get back into it. The first time around it was a gift during a period of change in my spiritual life. And I had some particularly vivid dreams during that time. It was an incredible experience. I guess this time I will have to make a conscious effort.

Thank you for this post Teo.
I have never tried lucid dreaming, but like Inda I will try it.

Love,
Sue

Thank you Teo.

Like Inda and Sue I have never done lucid dreaming. Thank you for posting the technique. I will also try to do it.

Love
Vicky

The first time I took note of being able to dream lucidly was when I was child and some still argued whether you dream in color or not. I was reasonably certain that I did, but soon after that had a dream that involved discovering that a black and white television set had a little switch on it which if you turned it would render color images.

I remember waking up thrilled. I had proven my point. If someone else only dreamed in black and white it certainly didn't apply to me.

There is form of Yoga that deals specifically with lucid dreaming. Teo has a copy of the W.Y.Evans Wentz transaltion of Yoga and Secret doctrines. That is one of them. Sleep is a third of our lives. The Tibetans make the suggestion that lucid dreaming is best when we sleep without too much disturbing our peace of mind. It is much harder to dream lucidly during legal battles and such.

As important as dreaming lucidly while we sleep according to the Tibetans is to be able to sustain that sense of insight into the next day. Is the waking state not something of a dream state too? That is certainly part of the point of learning to dream lucidly: to be awake lucidly too!