Lucid Dreaming

A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she is dreaming. A lucid dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem extremely real and vivid, depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.

6 Ways To Control Your Dreams
-  Dream Journaling...keep a journal by the bed and write down everything you can remember from your dream.  Writing our dreams down as soon as we wake is one of the best ways to remember them; it also helps us decipher them since we’re able to reference them at any time. Craig Hamilton-Parker suggests an experiment for remembering our dreams in his book, The Hidden Meaning of Dreams. Hamilton-Parker recommends investing in a long-lasting, hardcover blank book and resolving to enter at least one dream in it every night for an entire month. Once you’ve got your journal, he suggests drawing a line down the middle of the page; on the left side of the line, write your dream. On the right side, give your interpretation of it.

When writing down your dreams, don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, or the sequence of events. Concentrate on getting it all on paper as fast as you can before it fades away.
When the month is up, look back through your dreams. You’ll be amazed at what you remembered and you’ll have a lot more insight into what’s influencing your dreams.
-  Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)...This technique, created by psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge, stresses the recognition of dreaming while it’s in process. Begin by making it a goal to wake yourself up when you notice that you’re dreaming and chronicle everything you can remember about the dream. As you’re falling back asleep, focus on re-entering your previous dream, but this time direct yourself to explore the dream instead of waking yourself up. Keep that awareness as you fall into REM sleep (the sleep stage during which lucid dreaming most commonly occurs). It might help to state aloud, “I am aware of my dream state,” as you drift off.  Look for indications—also called dream signs—that alert you to the fact that you’re dreaming. These could be anything that are out of the ordinary or would be impossible in real life (the previously-mentioned two-headed monster, for example). This technique can take a while to master, but with steady practice, you can learn to recognize dream signs while still in the dream state, thereby putting yourself in control of the situation.
-  Wake-Initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)...Those who use the WILD method to achieve lucid dreaming must learn to stay at least somewhat conscious (but not too conscious, since that might keep you awake) as your body moves into deep sleep. According to the Lucidity Institute, a group that promotes lucid dreaming research and theories, you must start with about five or six hours of sleep before attempting WILD.

Upon waking, stay up for anywhere from half an hour to an hour, and then try to fall back asleep while remaining conscious of what’s going on and thinking about your next dream. Many people enter a hypnagogic state (the period of grogginess preceding sleep) at this point, since their bodies have already passed through the previous sleep stages during the five- to six-hour period. As you’re getting closer to the REM stage, you might see strange colors or images behind your closed eyes or hear odd noises—this is part of falling into a dream state. If you can focus on these occurrences enough to know what they are without rousing yourself to complete consciousness, they will turn into dreams that you can manipulate.
-  Lucid Dreaming Induction Devices (LDID)...For those who can’t achieve lucid dreaming on their own, there are products on the market designed to help you enter the desired dream state. One example is the NovaDreamer, which was developed by Stephen LaBerge. It involves a mask that goes over your eyes that flashes lights or emits a sound when you fall into the REM stage of sleep. The REM-Dreamer is a similar product that claims to have better technology than LaBerge’s version. They’re both meant to serve as a reminder that you are actually dreaming, and, with practice, that semi-awareness will grant you the ability to direct the course of your dreams.
-  Lucid Dreaming Via Food...Though not as popular as the other methods listed, some believe that ingesting certain foods before going to bed will increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming. Some potential triggers are mustard, dairy, pickles, and popcorn. However, eating these foods too late at night might prevent someone from falling asleep altogether. Feel free to try it, especially if a pickle craving is actually keeping you awake at night. However, you might be better off attempting one of the other techniques first.

There are other similar methods suggested for lucid dreaming and many of them center on achieving a certain state of consciousness while altering sleeping patterns. What they all have in common is the need to stay focused and keep our stress levels down, as constant worry will only produce anxiety-ridden dreams. The ability to control our dreams requires effort, determination, and consistent application. However, all that hard work might just pay off when we dream about flying over the Great Pyramids or swimming with dolphins as opposed to our spouses cheating, showing up naked and late to work, or fighting mutant monkeys in space alongside Vin Diesel. (Actually, that last one sounds kind of cool …)
-  Give your dreams a title...If you wake up and don’t have time to journal, create a title for your dream and write that down instead. You should title dreams in your dream journal anyway, but this can be an effective way of remembering aspects of your dream without journaling right away.  If you wake up and don’t have time to journal, create a title for your dream and write that down instead. You should title dreams in your dream journal anyway, but this can be an effective way of remembering aspects of your dream without journaling right away.
-  Use Pictures Instead of Words...If the idea of journaling all your dreams is intimidating, try drawing them. If you’re better at images than words, this might be the best technique for you. Buy a sketchbook and keep it by your bed with a pencil nearby. When you wake up, draw images you saw in your dreams. They don’t have to be masterpieces of art, just stick figures or colors you remember.

Once you get all the images down, go back and try to connect them to reconstruct your dream. If you have time later on, look up the images in a dream journal to see what they might mean.
-  create a map...If the idea of journaling all your dreams is intimidating, try drawing them. If you’re better at images than words, this might be the best technique for you. Buy a sketchbook and keep it by your bed with a pencil nearby. When you wake up, draw images you saw in your dreams. They don’t have to be masterpieces of art, just stick figures or colors you remember.

Once you get all the images down, go back and try to connect them to reconstruct your dream. If you have time later on, look up the images in a dream journal to see what they might mean.
-  wake yourself up...In 1955, Eugene Aserinsky and Nathan Kleitman published a paper about rapid eye movements, or the REM phase of sleep. They found that REM sleep takes up about 20 percent of our nightly sleep and that dreams in this phase of sleep are some of the easiest ones to remember.
Try waking yourself up at different times of the night to remember more dreams. Set an alarm for early in the morning and when it goes off, challenge yourself to remember what you were dreaming.

Or, drink a glass of water before you go to bed. When you wake up to use the bathroom, see if you remember what you were dreaming. Once you get a feel for what time is the best for dream catching, you can make it a regular thing.
-  get yourself in the right mindset...Before going to bed, say aloud, “I will remember my dreams tonight.” When you wake up, lay still in bed for a couple of minutes, eyes closed, and try to remember. Once you start remembering, sit still a little longer and try to reach for more. To get yourself motivated to remember dreams, it may also be helpful to read a dream book before going to bed.

We all dream every night; we just don’t always remember them. If we make a conscious decision to remember our dreams and try a few new techniques, we’re bound to get a little closer to our own dream worlds.