Gay Hypnosis - Law of Attraction - Mind Control and Lucid Dreaming

Gay Hypnosis, Law of Attraction, Mind Control and Lucid Dreaming Study and Research work by Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D. © September 2015 – Satsang Ebook Publishers, Ghent, Belgium

Foreword: How the brain works? Every animal you can think of -- mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians -has a brain. But the human brain is unique. Although it's not the largest, it gives us the power to speak, imagine and problem solve. It is truly an amazing organ. The brain performs an incredible number of tasks including the following:    

It controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. It accepts a flood of information about the world around you from your various senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching). It handles your physical movement when walking, talking, standing or sitting. It lets you think, dream, reason and experience emotions.

All of these tasks are coordinated, controlled and regulated by an organ that is about the size of a small head of cauliflower. Your brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves make up a complex, integrated information-processing and control system known as your central nervous system. In tandem, they regulate all the conscious and unconscious facets of your life. The scientific study of the brain and nervous system is called neuroscience or neurobiology. Because the field of neuroscience is so vast -and the brain and nervous system are so complex -- this article will start with the basics and give you an overview of this complicated organ. We'll examine the structures of the brain and how each section controls our daily functions, including motor control, visual processing, auditory processing, sensation, learning, memory and emotions.

The Law of Attraction Hypnosis is also the technique for the exploration of the unconscious, which chronologically in the history of analysis was the first one used. It is common knowledge that it was through hypnosis that first Breuer then Freud found the origin of certain neurotic symptoms, which started the research and practice of certain neurotic symptoms, which started the research and practice of psychoanalysis. In hypnosis the waking consciousness is abolished; therefore, the unconscious can freely emerge; but this technique has serious inconveniences. It tends unduly to dissociate the patient, to make him “too passive” and dependent upon the therapist-hypnotizer (I am not talking here about self-hypnotism similar to the techniques of concentration and meditation), and very extensively responsive to his suggestions, even if they are unconscious ones. Moreover, hypnosis along the opinion of Dr. Roberto Assagioli, MD, and subject to the exception mentioned below, is not necessary. Allied in a sense to hypnosis is narco-analysis, which has been and is used as a kind of shortcut. This too has similar drawbacks to hypnosis. Therefore, apart from exceptional cases, such as those of spontaneous hypnosis (a hallucinatory state that is achieved in deep relaxation without any suggestions on the part of the therapist), the kind of work is not adopted in psychosynthesis. However, Assagioli mentions that he does not consider that hypnosis should be excluded completely in all psychotherapy. It is clearly apparent from experience that hypnosis can be usefully applied for anaesthesia, in dental practice and in minor surgical operations, especially when the heart condition or other physical conditions are against the use of the ordinary means of anaesthesia or when those means can be applied only in minimum quantities. 2

As such we think the use of hypnosis is fully justified, but not in a particular field of psychotherapy and especially psychosynthesis. An exception, at last, in the field of psychotherapy would be its use for urgent symptoms such as continuous vomiting during the early gestation period or compulsive hiccups. It simply says that you attract into your life whatever you think about. Your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest. But the Law of Attraction gives rise to some tough questions that don’t seem to have good answers. I would say, however, that these problems aren’t caused by the Law of Attraction itself but rather by the Law of Attraction as applied to objective reality. Here are some of those problematic questions (all are generalizations of ones I received via email):    

What happens when people put out conflicting intentions, like two people intending to get the same promotion when only one position is available? Do children, babies, and/or animals put out intentions? If a child is abused, does that mean the child intended it in some way? If I intend for my relationship to improve, but my spouse doesn’t seem to care, what will happen?

These questions seem to weaken the plausibility of the Law of Attraction. Sometimes people answer them by going pretty far out. For example, it’s been said that a young child experiences abuse because s/he intended it or earned it during a past life. Well, sure… we can explain just about anything if we bring past lives into the equation, but IMO that’s a cop-out. On the other hand, objective reality without the Law of Attraction doesn’t provide satisfactory answers either — supposedly some kids are just born unlucky. That’s a cop-out too. I’ve never been satisfied by others’ answers to these questions, and they’re pretty important questions if the Law of Attraction is to be believed. Some books hint at the solution but never really nail it. That nail, however, can be found in the concept of subjective reality. You keep your finger on the universal pulse - You're a tuned in and receptive gay man - You get the whole Law of Attraction idea - yes you've seen 'What the Bleep' and 'The secret'. You even find yourself chatting nonchalantly about the basics of quantum physics and its relationship to the whole law of attraction thing. You keep your finger on the universal pulse - You're a tuned in and receptive gay man - You get the whole Law of Attraction idea - yes you've 3

seen 'What the Bleep' and 'The secret'. You even find yourself chatting nonchalantly about the basics of quantum physics and its relationship to the whole law of attraction thing. Ok so maybe that bit about the nucleus popping in and out of existence may have thrown you a tad, but you've decided that you're pretty much on the same page. Well, you're not alone in this breathing, popping in and out (yet unified) gay universe of ours! Maybe we're finally 'getting' what sages and avatars having been saying in different forms for millennia - that we actually sculpt out the tangible day to day reality of our lives - and the precision tools we use are our thoughts and emotions. Of course as a community we're all too often the victims of our own negative kind of 'mass gay hypnosis' - one minute we're the victims of homophobia from the straight world, then we come out and immediately enter a culture which I believe hypnotises us into perceptions of ourselves which are equally - if not more - damaging. How can real liberation and self acceptance be dependent on your current level of muscle definition or just being plain 'out of it'? Our community is now more than ever suffering the dire consequences of what boils down to good old internalised homophobia. "In order to be acceptable I must present a Hyper - Perfected image of myself in whatever way I can". The nature of the presenting issues in my practice has changed radically in the 15 years I've worked in the psychological world above all in psychosynthesis, and since 2010 in atheism and humanism as well. I have met various people with different symptoms: Body Dysmorphia, Narcissistic Disorder, Exercise Addiction, Bulimia, Perfectionism, Control Issues, Fear of Intimacy, Performance Anxiety, Depression, Social Anxiety, Substance Abuse, Gambling, Debt, Sex Addiction, Relationship Avoidance are at epidemic proportions. This list is now just the norm - it's the tip of the iceberg - and these ones are definitely NOT melting. No gay climate change going on here unfortunately! 4

More than ever our community needs to face these challenges head on - both at the cultural and individual level. The Obvious question - But How? The positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman in his recent Australian lecture tour talked about being either 'Yes' or a No'. He implied that it all sort of comes down to this simple binary decision. Are we saying yes or no at any point to the good feelings of Self acceptance, happiness, joy, wealth, abundance, freedom, success, self esteem and love? In the Secret they describe thoughts and emotions being essentially either 'good or bad'. On or Off track as it were. I think this idea is effectively the same thing Seligman is alluding to. Which leads to the BIG question - "How can we as gay men learn to say yes to good feelings and self perceptions and no to the bad?" The rise in consciousness brought about by these inspirational movies have really changed the way clients approach the change process. Previously there was quite simply no general understanding of the kind of truths explored in these movies. Nowadays clients have a very different dilemma. "I understand that I have limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns and I accept that these are shaping my future, but how do a really apply these principles on a daily basis? How do I persist or stay conscious long enough to allow change to manifest? This is where the sticking point lies. A lot of people 'get it' on an academic level and even play around with talking more positively to themselves (when they remember) - but when did you last put aside the time to really 'make yourself still' and focus your attention on what you want. And did you really get that strong feeling of 'having already achieved your goal' even when you did? I think we're taught in our culture to almost pathologically avoid any moments of real 'stillness' - we're too busy chasing something to ever allow a pause to occur. But let's assume we actually do get the stillness thing together - then there's the fact that we need to stick at this long enough for the seeds of change to germinate and push through all that resistance and get to the surface. Most 5

people have given up in the meantime putting the whole thing down to being merely the latest new age fad. My experience shows me that this is where the real power of 'Gay hypnosis' comes into its own. There's a scene in the movie 'The Secret' where a guy is imagining driving his dream car - he's on his couch but in his mind he's totally absorbed in his internal reality. He can smell the leather upholstery and feel the wind in his hair and the torque as he takes the next bend in his convertible. The Secret is a 2006 film produced by Prime Time Productions consisting of a series of interviews designed to demonstrate everything one wants or needs can be satisfied by believing in an outcome, repeatedly thinking about it, and maintaining positive emotional states to "attract" the desired outcome. The censored version of the film and the subsequent publication of the book of the same name attracted interest from media figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Larry King as well as criticism from the mainstream press. The Secret, described as a self-help film, uses a documentary format to present a concept titled "law of attraction". As described in the film, the "Law of Attraction" hypothesis posits that feelings and thoughts can attract events, feelings, and experiences, from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. The film also suggests that there has been a strong tendency by those in positions of power to keep this central principle hidden from the public. Hypnosis or self-hypnosis as you probably already know is something we all experience every day as our brains are also constantly shifting gear. Hypnosis on a practical level opens up a direct pathway to the subconscious part of the brain / mind. This is the part of the brain that produces dreams during sleep. On a more basic level it's also a kind of store house of memories, and experiences together with all the associated emotions, beliefs and behaviours. The subconscious is also where our childhood fears and self hatred are maintained. It's where the imprint of homophobia got stamped. This can often be at odds with our conscious selves - where we may believe that we are now very comfortable and at ease with our sexuality - genuinely 'Out and Proud'. 6

The crux of the matter is that this can indeed be the case at a conscious level but the subconscious is often still operating on the beliefs and self perceptions of a very young child - who will have had a very different take on the whole thing. I think we often forget just how afraid, isolated and ashamed 'gay kids' feel. Gay Hypnosis offers a real chance to change these feelings of unworthiness even self hatred at a deep unconscious level. The conscious mind makes analytical judgements - it tells us that the world of dreams we have at night is not 'real' whereas the chair we're currently sitting on 'is real'. The key thing here is that the subconscious mind is totally different. It does NOT distinguish between the two. An imagined chair is as real as the tangible one you're sitting on now. Quantum physics is telling us the same thing. Self Hypnosis is I believe the most significant tool any gay man can use to create lasting and effective change. In particular the use of Self Hypnoiss Audios / CDs seems to work very powerfully because they offer a structure to easily see and feel what's required to manifest the shift. Self Hypnosis Audios are best used on a semi regular basis initially - as the positive hypnotic suggestion embedded in the audios start to compound themselves and plant the seeds of change. Of course the other significant aspect here is the use of guided imagery where the subconscious is fully engaged in creating a very different possibility - for example actually seeing yourself as Confident, or Fit and Healthy, as non Smoker, Relaxed and at peace, Wealthy and Successful. This really is the key - and it answers that questions 'How do I actually put this Law of Attraction stuff into practice for myself as a gay man?" Self Hypnosis is the perfect structure for creating the stillness and focusing the attention on what you want. It automatically creates the new feelings of 'already having confidence, happiness, abundance, self acceptance and so on As we are now realising - it is this process of seeing and feeling what we desire in our internal reality - that automatically magnetises the same reality towards us on the outside. Gay men have, I believe, always been talented in terms of compassion, empathy, responding to injustice in all its forms. I think it's now essential that we use these skills (born out of our own past suffering of course) to very practical use. We need to attend to our own selves - creating our own healing and freedom before we can offer it effectively to others. Forget the abs and spray on tan - that resentful gay victim thing really is the look to avoid! 7

Mind Control Generalised The more one researches mind control, the more one will come to the conclusion that there is a coordinated script that has been in place for a very long time with the goal to turn the human race into non-thinking automatons as the world religions always have done. For as long as man has pursued power over the masses, mind control has been orchestrated by those who study human behaviour in order to bend large populations to the will of a small “elite” group. Today, we have entered a perilous phase where mind control has taken on a physical, scientific dimension that threatens to become a permanent state if we do not become aware of the tools at the disposal of the technocratic dictatorship unfolding on a worldwide scale. Modern mind control is both technological and psychological. Tests show that simply by exposing the methods of mind control, the effects can be reduced or eliminated, at least for mind control advertising and propaganda. More difficult to counter are the physical intrusions, which the military-industrial complex continues to develop and improve upon. 1. Education — This is the most obvious, yet still remains the most insidious. It has always been a would-be dictator’s ultimate fantasy to “educate” naturally impressionable children, thus it has been a central component to Communist and Fascist tyrannies throughout history. No one has been more instrumental in exposing the agenda of modern education than the American Charlotte Iserbyt — one can begin research into this area by downloading a free PDF of her book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, which lays bare the role of Globalist foundations in shaping a future intended to produce servile drones lorded over by a fully educated, aware elite class. 2. Advertising and Propaganda — Edward Bernays has been cited as the inventor of the consumerist culture that was designed primarily to target people’s self-image (or lack thereof) in order to turn a want into a need. This was initially envisioned for products such as cigarettes, for example. However, Bernays also noted in his 1928 book, Propaganda, that “propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.” This can be seen most clearly in the modern police state and the growing citizen snitch culture, wrapped up in the pseudo-patriotic War on Terror. The increasing consolidation of media has enabled the entire corporate structure to merge with government, which now utilizes the concept of propaganda placement. Media; print, movies, television, and cable news can now work seamlessly to integrate an overall message which seems to 8

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have the ring of truth because it comes from so many sources, simultaneously. When one becomes attuned to identifying the main “message,” one will see this imprinting everywhere. And this is not even to mention subliminal messaging. Predictive Programming — Many still deny that predictive programming is real. I would invite anyone to examine the range of documentation put together by Alan Watt and come to any other conclusion. Predictive programming has its origins in predominately elitist Hollywood, where the big screen can offer a big vision of where society is headed. Just look back at the books and movies which you thought were far-fetched, or “science fiction” and take a close look around at society today. For a detailed breakdown of specific examples, Vigilant Citizen is a great resource that will probably make you look at “entertainment” in a completely different light. Sports, Politics, Religion — Some might take offense at seeing religion, or even politics, put alongside sports as a method of mind control. The central theme is the same throughout: divide and conquer. The techniques are quite simple: short circuit the natural tendency of people to cooperate for their survival, and teach them to form teams bent on domination and winning. Sports has always had a role as a key distraction that corrals tribal tendencies into a non-important event, which in modern America has reached ridiculous proportions where protests will break out over a sport celebrity leaving their city, but essential human issues such as liberty are giggled away as inconsequential. Political discourse is strictly in a left-right paradigm of easily controlled opposition, while religion is the backdrop of nearly every war throughout history. Food, Water, and Air — Additives, toxins, and other food poisons literally alter brain chemistry to create docility and apathy. Fluoride in drinking water has been proven to lower IQ; Aspartame and MSG are excitotoxins which excite brain cells until they die; and easy access to the fast food that contains these poisons generally has created a population that lacks focus and motivation for any type of active lifestyle. Most of the modern world is perfectly groomed for passive receptiveness — and acceptance — of the dictatorial elite. And if you choose to diligently watch your diet, they are fully prepared to spray the population from the above. Drugs — This can be any addictive substance, but the mission of mind controllers is to be sure you are addicted to something. One major arm of the modern mind control agenda is psychiatry, which aims to define all people by their disorders, as opposed to their human potential. This was foreshadowed in books such as Brave New World. Today, it has been taken to even further extremes as a medical tyranny has taken hold where 9

nearly everyone has some sort of disorder — particularly those who question authority. The use of nerve drugs in the military has led to record numbers of suicides. Worst of all, the modern drug state now has over 25% of U.S. children on mind-numbing medication. 7. Military testing — The military has a long history as the testing ground for mind control. The military mind is perhaps the most malleable, as those who pursue life in the military generally resonate to the structures of hierarchy, control, and the need for unchallenged obedience to a mission. For the increasing number of military personal questioning their indoctrination, a recent story highlighted DARPA’s plans for trans-cranial mind control helmets that will keep them focused. 8. Electromagnetic spectrum — An electromagnetic soup envelops us all, charged by modern devices of convenience which have been shown to have a direct impact on brain function. In a tacit admission of what is possible, one researcher has been working with a “god helmet” to induce visions by altering the electromagnetic field of the brain. Our modern soup has us passively bathed by potentially mind-altering waves, while a wide range of possibilities such as cell phone towers is now available to the would-be mind controller for more direct intervention. 9. Television, Computer, and “flicker rate”— It’s bad enough that what is “programmed” on your TV (accessed via remote “control”) is engineered; it is all made easier by literally lulling you to sleep, making it a psychosocial weapon. Flicker rate tests show that alpha brain waves are altered, producing a type of hypnosis — which doesn’t portend well for the latest revelation that lights can transmit coded Internet data by “flickering faster than the eye can see.” The computer’s flicker rate is less, but through video games, social networks, and a basic structure which overloads the brain with information, the rapid pace of modern communication induces an ADHD state. A study of video games revealed that extended play can result in lower blood flow to the brain, sapping emotional control. Furthermore, role-playing games of lifelike war and police state scenarios serve to desensitize a connection to reality. One look at the WikiLeaks video Collateral Murder should be familiar to anyone who has seen a game like Call of Duty. 10.Nanobots — From science fiction horror, directly to the modern brain; the nanobots are on the way. Direct brain modification already has been packaged as “neuroengineering.” A Wired article from early 2009 highlighted that direct brain manipulation via fiber optics is a bit messy, but once installed “it could make someone happy with the press of a button.” Nanobots take the process to an automated level, rewiring the brain molecule by molecule. Worse, these mini droids can self-replicate, 10

forcing one to wonder how this genie would ever get back in the bottle once unleashed. Expected date of arrival? Early 2020s. A concerted effort is underway to manage and predict human behavior so that the social scientists and the dictatorial elite can control the masses and protect themselves from the fallout of a fully awake free humanity. Only by waking up to their attempts to put us to sleep do we stand a chance of preserving our free will.

Do We Need the God Helmet or Module in the Brain? As we learn more about what happens in the brain during a religious experience, is it possible that we'll ever be able to create them ourselves? Could we flip a switch and see the face of God? No more meditation, prayer or fasting? A scientist named Michael Persinger thinks it's possible. e's Per Persinger has gained attention for his work with the "God Helmet," headgear so named because it may induce a person to feel the presence of God. The God Helmet includes electrodes that Persinger uses to alter the electromagnetic field at the temporal lobes. Persinger claims he can create a religious experience for anyone by disrupting the brain with regular electric pulses. This will cause the left temporal lobe to explain the activity in the right side of the brain as a sensed presence. The sensed presence could be anything from God to demons, and when not told what the experiment involved, about 80 percent of God Helmet wearers reported sensing something nearby. Will it work for everyone? Richard Dawkins, famous for his criticism of religion, reported only slight dizziness and twitching in the legs after some time in the God Helmet. Persinger says that some people may just be more genetically predisposed to sensing God or another higher power, and they may not need a God Helmet to do so According to Persinger, naturally occurring electromagnetic fields can also cause religious experiences, particularly in those with this predisposition to sensing God. For example, powerful meteor showers were occurring when Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints, was visited by the angel Moroni, and when Charles Taze Russell formed the Jehovah's Witnesses. But is there any advantage to being genetically open to God? Scientists are trying to discern if there's an evolutionary reason for why our brains are so receptive to religious experiences. Religion might be a side effect of a developing brain; our brains needed ways to explain the world around us, so they may have created a belief system that could serve as kind of default place 11

to turn in the case of questions. Religion could serve that purpose to early man, with its somewhat supernatural stories to explain cause-and-effect. But now, religion is an expensive trait to carry forward; it involves time and sacrifice, such as fasting. And now, there are scientific methods to explaining the world. Shouldn't religion have died by now? Atheists may, of course, say yes, but as one anthropologist points out, even some atheists cross their fingers when a plane experiences turbulence. This may indicate that our brain will always seek out some sort of transcendental hope or otherworldly protection, even if it's not called God. And some evolutionary biologists argue that there are important individual and collective benefits to a mind hardwired for religion Individually, people who believe that someone bigger than themselves is watching them may make better choices in terms of their evolutionary fitness; they may be less likely to drink or engage in other dangerous behaviours if they feel something or someone higher than them may disapprove. But the real benefit may come down to a facet of Darwinism that doesn't get much attention anymore: survival of entire groups. One study evaluated the success of various communes in 19th-century America. The communes with a secular ideology were four times as likely to disband in any given year But in religious communes, such as modern-day kibbutzim in Israel, those subject to the strongest religious rules have been shown to be the most altruistic and cooperative of the bunch. In tests that examine an individual's generosity when the entire group is at stake, those living in these types of communities of faith are more likely to pool resources, which promotes the survival of the collective. Religion in that sense is a way for people to work together, to have an interest in an entire group's survival due to shared beliefs. While scientists in the field of neuro-theology continue to examine these types of issues, head on over to the next page for more interesting articles on the brain.

The Brain During Religious Experiences Because of the work connecting temporal lobe epilepsy and spiritual experiences, scientists previously believed that the temporal lobe was the only part of the brain involved in religious feelings. Recent imaging studies, however, have shown that many parts of the brain are activated during a religious experience. At the forefront of these imaging studies is Andrew Newberg, a doctor at the University of Pennsylvania. Newberg used single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, imaging to take pictures of the brain during religious 12

activity. SPECT provides a picture of blood flow in the brain at a given moment, so more blood flow indicates more activity. One of Newberg's studies examined the brains of Tibetan Buddhist monks as they meditated. The monks indicated to Newberg that they were beginning to enter a meditative state by pulling on a piece of string. At that moment, Newberg injected radioactive dye via an intravenous line and imaged the brain. Newberg found increased activity in the frontal lobe, which deals with concentration; the monks obviously were concentrating on the activity. But Newberg also found an immense decrease of activity in the parietal lobe. The parietal lobe, among other things, orients a person in a three-dimensional space. This lobe helps you look around to determine that you're 15 feet (4.6 meters) away from a bathroom, 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from a door and so on. Newberg hypothesizes that the decreased activity in the brains of the meditating monks indicates that they lose their ability to differentiate where they end and something else begins. In other words, they become at one with the universe, a state often described in a moment of transcendence. And it seems to matter little to whom or what that religious activity is directed toward, for Newberg found similar brain activity in the brains of praying nuns. Though the nuns were praying to God, rather than meditating like the monks, they showed increased activity in the frontal lobe as they began focusing their minds. There was also a decrease of activity in the parietal lobe, seemingly indicating that the nuns lost their sense of self in relation to the real world and were able to achieve communion with God. There were, however, slight differences in the brain activity of one religious group: Pentecostal Christians who speak in tongues. The Pentecostals actually experienced a decrease in frontal lobe activity; instead of focusing their attention as the nuns and monks did, they paid less attention to the task at hand. Even though they spoke in tongues, the language center of the brain wasn't activated. This brain activity is fairly consistent with descriptions of what speaking in tongues is like -- you lose control of yourself as a person, and God speaks through you. While Newberg's work has been supported by other scientists conducting imaging studies, some have a problem with the basis of the experiment. Critics of Newberg's work argue that you can't reduce all religious behaviors to just meditating or praying. Religion encompasses more than that. What, for example, might happen in the brain of someone doing charity work for the poor? What happens when someone makes a moral choice based on his or her belief system? 13

Newberg's work as of yet is focused on individual, private experiences, as opposed to the relationships and experiences that happen between other people. Others are more concerned with the implications of the study. If religion is just an activation of certain parts of the brain, does that mean God or any higher power is just in our heads? That's not necessarily what scientists are trying to prove or disprove. After all, if we are wired to believe in God, then it's not a far leap to believe that God is the one who wired humans that way. But if we have this structure, is there any way to tinker with it so that we can have mystical experiences all the time? And is there any benefit to this brain structure in the first place? Go on to the next page to find out.

Brainwashing, and Mind Control Techniques The term "brainwashing" came into common language through the work of American journalist Edward Hunter who was an expert of Oriental issues; the very word being the direct translation of Chinese "hsi-nao". By "hsi-nao" the Chinese meant certain techniques in dealing with adversaries and/or training of officials. To the Western usage the term "brainwashing" spread in the 1950s through several publications depicting the treatment of American soldiers at Chinese prison camp during the Korean War 1950-1953. Below is a list of the usual brainwashing/mind control techniques used in schools, hospitals, army, religious cults, totalitarian states; with political prisoners and dissidents, mentally insane, some versions of psychoterapy, etc., etc. "Indoctrination" is a more slight and more subliminal form of brainwashing (e.g. commercials). However, these concepts are nothing short of controversial and open to various interpretations, which should be kept in mind while perusing the Web sources below. Judging by the extremely diverse material on the subject found from the Net, the funny thing about the term "brainwashing" itself is that it can be handily appropriated by just anyone -- whether they were right-wing or left-wing, religious people or anti-cultists -- to support their claims of their opponents (supposedly using these "brainwashing" techniques) being miserable, no-good wretches. I became not a little bit cynical after wallowing through tons of Web pages by religious bigots, downright wackos (most usual was the claim of government having secret mind control experiments with microwaves) and socalled (American right-wing fascist/racist) patriots, but tried to put here those that I found useful or at least interesting myself. (In other words, after browsing an otherwise decent and respectable-looking page for a while you might start smelling a rat.) I can't guarantee the information found from some of these pages 14

is totally unprejudiced or scientifically verifiable under sceptical observation. So, it's up to you to decide whether to believe them or not. 1) HYPNOSIS (Collectively or Solo) - Inducing a high state of suggestibility, often thinly disguised as relaxation or meditation, the techniques being the same. If one is used to meditation, self-hypnosis becomes easier. (Read my Ebooks.) a. Repetitive Music (most likely with a beat close to the human heart 45 to 72 beats per minute). Most likely used during "study sessions" as the teacher will say the music helps you relax and concentrate better! b. Voice Roll -- A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect. c. Room "Feel" - The way a room feels is essential to hypnotizing unknowing subjects. It needs special lighting, florescent lights are best because they aren't too dim, but aren't too harsh. Also, Room Temp helps a bit, usually a little cooler than normal room temperature. You need to have the unknowing subjects very relaxed, perhaps even close to falling asleep. 2) PEER GROUP PRESSURE - Suppressing doubt and resistance to new ideas by exploiting the need to belong. 3) "LOVE BOMBING" - Creating a sense of family through physical touch, thought & feeling sharing and emotional bonding. 4) REJECTION OF OLD VALUES - Accelerating acceptance of new lifestyle by constantly denouncing former beliefs and values. 5) CONFUSING DOCTRINE - Encouraging blind acceptance and rejection of logic through complex lectures on an incomprehensible doctrine. 6) METACOMMUNICATION - Implanting subliminal messages by stressing certain key words or phrases in long, confusing lectures. 7) REMOVAL OF PRIVACY - Achieving loss of ability to evaluate logically by preventing private contemplation. 15

8) DISINHIBITION - Encouraging child-like obedience by orchestrating childlike behaviour 9) UNCOMPROMISING RULES - Inducing regression and disorientation by soliciting agreement to seemingly simple rules which regulate mealtimes, bathroom breaks and use of medications. 10) VERBAL ABUSE - Desensitizing through bombardment with foul and abusive language. (Physical abuse, such as torture, is the more extreme form of this.) 11) SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND FATIGUE - Creating disorientation and vulnerability by prolonging mental an physical activity and withholding adequate rest and sleep. 12) DRESS CODES - Removing individuality by demanding conformity to the group dress code. 13) CHANTING OR SINGING - Eliminating non-cult ideas through group repetition of mind-narrowing chants or phrases. 14) CONFESSION - Encouraging the destruction of individual ego through confession of personal weaknesses and innermost feelings of doubt. 15) FINANCIAL COMMITMENT - Achieving increased dependence on the group by 'burning bridges' to the past, through the donation of assets. 16) FINGER POINTING - Creating a false sense of righteousness by pointing to the shortcomings of the outside world. 17) ISOLATION - Inducing loss of reality by physical separation from family, friends, society and rational references. 18) CONTROLLED APPROVAL - Maintaining vulnerability and confusion by alternately rewarding and punishing similar actions. 19) CHANGE OF DIET - Creating disorientation and increased susceptibility to emotional arousal by depriving the nervous system of necessary nutrients through the use of special diets and/or fasting. Also applying drugs for these purposes fall in this category. 20) GAMES - Inducing dependence on the group by introducing games with obscure rules. 16

21) NO QUESTIONS - Accomplishing automatic acceptance of beliefs by discouraging questions. 22) GUILT - Reinforcing the need for 'salvation' by exaggerating the sins of the former lifestyles. 23) FEAR - Maintaining loyalty and obedience to the group by threatening soul, life or limb for the slightest 'negative' thought, word or deed. Three Principles of Re-Education 1) REPETITION - Going through the same subject over and over again until it is known by heart. 2) ACTIVITY PEDAGOGICS - The subjects are never left alone nor give any private time of their own, they are always in activity. 3) CRITICISM AND SELF-CRITICISM - The subjects are supposed to feel uncertain; under the constant threat of being humiliated and despised. In the Korean War the "criticism and self-criticism" sessions held for the American prisoners of war by the Chinese clearly had deeper effects than the POWs could initially comprehend, and when they found out, it was too late. In the beginning many prisoners found this whole procedure just childish, and were inclined to take it merely as something of a joke, but without them being able to realize it, the situation of being subjected constantly to the criticism of one's comrades became humiliating. That a grown-up person should publicly discuss one's habits or inclinations -some of them of very private nature -- confess one's faults, receive strong criticism for insignificant mis-demeanours, will not be indeed in the course of time anything to be considered childish or playful: it simply will be experienced as insulting. This continuing feeling of humiliation became crucial in the gradual psychological break-up of the prisoners' personalities. Furthermore, this ongoing process of "criticism and self-criticism" was bound to cause mistrust for one's own comrades: it was the tactics of "divide and conquer" as the ancient Romans would have called it. ("Criticism and self-criticism" were also widely applied during China's "Cultural Revolution" starting in 1966, as a method of "reeducation".)

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Gay Sex and Masochism Definition The essential feature of sexual masochism is the feeling of sexual arousal or excitement resulting from receiving pain, suffering, or humiliation. The pain, suffering, or humiliation is real and not imagined and can be physical or psychological in nature. A person with a diagnosis of sexual masochism is sometimes called a masochist. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , also known as the DSM , is used by mental health professionals to diagnose specific mental disorders. In the 2000 edition of this manual (the Fourth Edition Text Revision also known as DSM-IV-TR ) sexual masochism is one of several paraphilias . Paraphilias are intense and recurrent sexually arousing urges, fantasies, or behaviours. Description In addition to the sexual pleasure or excitement derived from receiving pain and humiliation, an individual with sexual masochism often experiences significant impairment or distress in functioning due to masochistic behaviours or fantasies. With regard to actual masochistic behaviour, the person may be receiving the pain, suffering, or humiliation at the hands of another person. This partner may have a diagnosis of sexual sadism but this is not necessarily the case. Such behaviour involving a partner is sometimes referred to as sadomasochism. Masochistic acts include being physically restrained through the use of handcuffs, cages, chains, and ropes. Other acts and fantasies related to sexual masochism include receiving punishment or pain by means of paddling, spanking, whipping, burning, beating, electrical shocks, cutting, rape, and mutilation. Psychological humiliation and degradation can also be involved. Masochistic behaviour can also occur in the context of a role-playing fantasy. For example, a sadist can play the role of teacher or master and a masochist can play the role of student or slave. The person with sexual masochism may also be inflicting the pain or suffering on himself or herself. This can be done through self-mutilation, cutting, or burning.

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The masochistic acts experienced or fantasized by the person sometimes reflect a sexual or psychological submission on the part of the masochist. These acts can range from relatively safe behaviours to very physically and psychologically dangerous behaviour. The DSM lists one particularly dangerous and deadly form of sexual masochism called hypoxyphilia. People with hypoxyphilia experience sexual arousal by being deprived of oxygen. The deprivation can be caused by chest compression, noose, plastic bag, mask, or other means and can be administered by another person or be self-inflicted. Causes and Symptoms Causes There is no universally accepted cause or theory explaining the origin of sexual masochism, or sadomasochism in general. However, there are some theories that attempt to explain the presence of sexual paraphilias in general. One theory is based on learning theory that paraphilias originate because inappropriate sexual fantasies are suppressed. Because they are not acted upon initially, the urge to carry out the fantasies increases and when they are finally acted upon, a person is in a state of considerable distress and/or arousal. In the case of sexual masochism, masochistic behaviour becomes associated with and inextricably linked to sexual behaviour. There is also a belief that masochistic individuals truly want to be in the dominating role. This causes them to become conflicted and thus submissive to others. Another theory suggests that people seek out sadomasochistic behaviour as a means of escape. They get to act out fantasies and become new and different people. Symptoms Individuals with sexual masochism experience sexual excitement from physically or psychologically receiving pain, suffering, and/or humiliation. They may be receiving the pain, suffering, or humiliation at the hands of another person, who may or may not be a sadist, or they may be administering the pain, suffering, or humiliation themselves.

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They experience distressed or impaired functioning because of the masochistic behaviours, urges, and fantasies. This distress or impairment can impact functioning in social, occupational, or other contexts. Demographics Although masochistic sexual fantasies often begin in childhood, the onset of sexual masochism typically occurs during early adulthood. When actual masochistic behaviour begins, it will often continue on a chronic course for people with this disorder, especially when no treatment is sought. Sadomasochism involving consenting partners is not considered rare or unusual in Europe and the United States. It often occurs outside of the realm of a mental disorder. More people consider themselves masochistic than sadistic. Sexual masochism is slightly more prevalent in males than in females. Death due to hypoxyphilia is a relatively rare phenomenon. Data indicate that less than two people per million in the United States and other countries die from hypoxyphilia. Diagnosis The DSM criteria for sexual masochism include recurrent intense sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviours involving real acts in which the individual with the disorder is receiving psychological or physical suffering, pain, and humiliation. The suffering, pain, and humiliation cause the person with sexual masochism to be sexually aroused. The fantasies, urges, or behaviours must be present for at least six months. The diagnostic criteria also require that the person has experienced significant distress or impairment because of these behaviours, urges, or fantasies. The distress and impairment can be present in social, occupational, or other functioning. Sexual masochism must be differentiated from normal sexual arousal, behaviour, and experimentation. It should also be differentiated from sadomasochistic behaviour involving mild pain and/or the simulation of more dangerous pain. When this is the case, a diagnosis of sexual masochism is not necessarily warranted. Sexual masochism must also be differentiated from self-defeating or selfmutilating behaviour that is performed for reasons other than sexual arousal. 20

Individuals with sexual masochism often have other sexual disorders or paraphilias. Some individuals, especially males, have diagnoses of both sexual sadism and sexual masochism. Treatments Behaviour therapy is often used to treat paraphilias. This can include management and conditioning of arousal patterns and masturbation. Therapies involving cognitive restructuring and social skills training are also utilized. Medication is also used to reduce fantasies and behaviour relating to paraphilias. This is especially true of people who exhibit severely dangerous masochistic behaviours. Treatment can also be complicated by health problems relating to sexual behaviour. Sexually transmitted diseases and other medical problems, especially when the sadomasochistic behaviour involves the release of blood, can be present. Also, people participating in hypoxyphilia and other dangerous behaviours can suffer extreme pain and even death. Prognosis Because of the chronic course of sexual masochism and the uncertainty of its causes, treatment is often difficult. The fact that many masochistic fantasies are socially unacceptable or unusual leads some people who may have the disorder not to seek or continue treatment. Treating a paraphilia is often a sensitive subject for many mental health professionals. Severe or difficult cases of sexual masochism should be referred to professionals who have experience treating such cases. Prevention Because it is sometimes unclear whether sadomasochistic behaviour is within the realm of normal experimentation or indicative of a diagnosis of sexual masochism, prevention is a tricky issue. Often, prevention refers to managing sadomasochistic behaviour so it primarily involves only the simulation of severe pain and it always involves consenting partners familiar with each other's limitations. Also, because fantasies and urges originating in childhood or adolescence may form the basis for sadomasochistic behaviour in adulthood, prevention is made 21

difficult. People may be very unwilling to divulge their urges and discuss their sadistic fantasies as part of treatment.

Dreams along Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologist Dreams we already know, are the perceived experiences of images, sounds, or other sensations during sleep, or the envisioning of events and potentials during normal consciousness. Many of the events of dreams are impossible or unlikely to occur in physical reality, and are often outside the deliberate control of the dreamer. In the late 19th century, psychotherapist Sigmund Freud developed a theory that the content of dreams is driven by unconscious wish fulfilment. Freud called dreams the "royal road to the unconscious." He theorized that the content of dreams reflects the dreamer's unconscious mind and specifically that dream content is shaped by unconscious wish fulfilment. He argued that important unconscious desires often relate to early childhood memories and experiences. Freud's theory describes dreams as having both manifest and latent content. Latent content relates to deep unconscious wishes or fantasies while manifest content is superficial and meaningless. Manifest content often masks or obscures latent content. In his early work, Sigmund Freud argued that the vast majority of latent dream content is sexual in nature, but he later moved away from this categorical position. In Beyond the Pleasure Principle he considered how trauma or aggression could influence dream content. He also discussed supernatural origins in Dreams and Occultism, a lecture published in New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Carl Gustav Jung rejected many of Freud's theories. Jung expanded on Freud's idea that dream content relates to the dreamer's unconscious desires. He described dreams as messages to the dreamer and argued that dreamers should pay attention for their own good. He came to believe that dreams present the dreamer with revelations that can uncover and help to resolve emotional or religious problems and fears. Jung wrote that recurring dreams show up repeatedly to demand attention, suggesting that the dreamer is neglecting an issue related to the dream. He believed that many of the symbols or images from these dreams return with each dream. Jung believed that memories formed throughout the day also play a role in dreaming. These memories leave impressions for the unconscious to deal with when the ego is at rest. The unconscious mind re-enacts these glimpses of the 22

past in the form of a dream. Jung called this a day residue. Jung also argued that dreaming is not a purely individual concern, that all dreams are part of "one great web of psychological factors." Fritz Perls presented his theory of dreams as part of the holistic nature of Gestalt therapy. Dreams are seen as projections of parts of the self that have been ignored, rejected, or suppressed. Jung argued that one could consider every person in the dream to represent an aspect of the dreamer, which he called the subjective approach to dreams. Perls expanded this point of view to say that even inanimate objects in the dream may represent aspects of the dreamer. The dreamer may, therefore, be asked to imagine being an object in the dream and to describe it, in order to bring into awareness the characteristics of the object that correspond with the dreamer's personality. Dreams are a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. Jung believed that everything that eventually emerges into consciousness originates in the unconscious; i.e., the unformed archetypes achieve form as we experience them in our outer lives and in our dreams. It is not sufficient to look at the events of our lives causally, we also have to look at them from a teleological point-ofview. That is, not only are we pushed forward by our past actions, we are also pulled forward by the actions we need to take, many of which are contained within us as archetypes. Because dreams are the most common and most normal expression of the unconscious psyche, they provide the bulk of the material for its investigation.1 In his practice as a psychoanalyst, dreams were readily available as the primary raw materials Jung used to explore the unconscious. As we discussed in chapter 1, it was Freud's insistence on the significance of dreams that first attracted Jung to psychoanalysis. Jung's discovery of mythological referents in dreams led to his concept of the collective unconscious and its building blocks —the archetypes. Jung was driven ineluctably to his model by the simple fact of his insistence on honouring the dream and reporting what he found. The idea that there was a collective underpinning to the psyche that interacts with consciousness, and which we can observe in dreams, isolated Jung from his peers. This was much like Jung's experience with his fellow students in college with respect to psychic phenomena. It is always easier to dismiss strange results 1

Carl Jung, The Collected Works, Volume 8: The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. Translated from the German by R.F.C. Hull (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

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than to look at such material in a totally fresh light. In the previous chapter, we have seen that psychological reality is a good deal more complex than supposed common sense would imagine it to be. We have seen that animals (including human animals like you and me) are born with the ability to access behaviours and images that have evolved across the vast history of their species (and all the species that preceded them). And these aren't just piled up haphazardly in some dusty attic of "racial memory," they are organized so carefully that they can be activated at predetermined points in our development. Jung called these inherited behaviours and images archetypes, and I have suggested the alternative term of cognitive invariants. He stressed that these archetypes are formless until they are activated in our Jives (i.e., the imprinting process that Konrad Lorenz documented so carefully). Though we don't fully understand how this mechanism operates, it is clearly highly efficient, as it means that a given archetype (say the archetype of the mother) can operate over a wide variety of cultures in a wide variety of times and places. (Since the archetype seems essentially formless, one possibility is that an archetype is stored as some sort of numeric algorithm, but that is no more than speculation at this early point in understanding the nature of the mind.) . . . It is only our conscious mind that does not know; the unconscious seems already informed, and to have submitted the case to a careful prognostic examination, more or less in the way consciousness would have done if it had known the relevant facts. But, precisely because they were subliminal, they could be perceived by the unconscious and submitted to a sort of examination that anticipates their ultimate result.2 As we discussed earlier, Jung pictures consciousness as a tiny area on the tip of the pyramid of the unconscious. Just past the boundary of consciousness lies the personal unconscious, filled with memories of images and behaviors we have acquired during our lifetime. Past the domain of the personal unconscious we pass into the more accessible regions of the collective unconscious, such as tribal, or cultural memories. Past that, we can penetrate further into racial memories, and even memories of earlier species. Is this really possible? Or is this just mystical nonsense, as Jung's critics would have it? To answer those

2

Carl Jung, The Collected Works, Volume 8: The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. Translated from the German by R.F.C. Hull (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

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questions, we have to look into the current state of scientific knowledge about dreams. DO OTHER SPECIES DREAM? Dream research has indicated that dreaming is hardly confined to humans. Even an animal as primitive as an opossum, which has changed little in sixty-five million years, dreams. With the exception of the spiny anteater, a very primitive mammal, all mammals dream. Birds also dream, though they spend less time each day dreaming than mammals. Even reptiles sometimes exhibit symptoms of dreaming. Of course, we can't ask a cat or a dog if they dream. But researchers have found that humans have episodes of. REM sleep (rapid eye movement) at roughly 90to 100-minute intervals during a normal night. In total, we spend about 11/2 to 2 hours a night in these REM periods. These cycles are not limited to sleep; we go through the same ultradian (more than once a day) cycles throughout the day, but we are less aware of them. When subjects are awakened during REM sleep, they normally report dreams. These subjects may also dream during non-REM sleep, but this dreaming seems more confused and fragmented. Other mammals experience similar periodic episodes of REM sleep. There seems to be little difference in the total amount of REM sleep, regardless of how developed or how primitive the mammal. It has been found, however, that carnivores do dream more than their prey. In all species, the newborn dream much more than adults. This means a newborn human baby sleeps two thirds of the time, and half of that sleep is REM sleep. This is a total of about eight hours of dreaming a day, or four to live times as much as an adult dreams. But do animals really dream, in the same sense that we dream? All evidence seem to indicate that they do. Animal lovers have observed their favourite creatures sniffing, whining, yelping, miaowing, wagging or flapping their tails, moving paws, sucking, licking chops, breathing heavily and evincing a gamut of emotions that suggest dreaming. It is hard not to conclude that the animals are dreaming during such periods, especially as all the physiological measurements (Theta waves in an EEG, rapid oxygen metabolism, etc.) are consistent with similar measurements during human dreaming, once we adjust for differences between species.' 3 3

Gay Gaer Luce and Julius Segal, Sleep (New York: Lancer Books, 1967), page 196.

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THE EFFECT OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION An episode of "Star Trek —the Next Generation" called "Night Terrors," frighteningly dramatized the effects of sleep deprivation. The Starship Enterprise discovered another Federation Starship with a lone survivor. All of the other crew members had committed either murder or suicide in particularly horrible ways. As the crew of the Enterprise investigated this tragedy, they themselves began behaving atypically: snapping at each other, drifting off into reveries, hearing or seeing things that weren't there. This was just the way the other Starship crew had behaved in the last days before their tragic end. Gradually the crew of the Enterprise came to discover that no one was able to dream anymore because something had upset their REM cycles. Thankfully, they found a way to restore their REM sleep. Once again, as in all good "Star Trek" adventures, disaster had been averted at the last moment. At the end of the episode, the crew were all lying down to sleep again, knowing this time they could dream. Scientific study supports this fictional portrayal. In experiments where volunteers tried to stay awake as long as possible, they became disoriented in both time and space, hallucinated, lost motor abilities and eventually evidenced psychotic symptoms, including paranoia. And, at some point, it became impossible to keep subjects from dreaming; they would spontaneously fall into tiny, split second periods of REM sleep without realizing they were doing so. When the experimental subjects finally get a chance to sleep, they fall immediately into an especially excited dream sleep, and stay there until they wake. Up to a certain point of sleep deprivation, the period of REM sleep roughly corresponds to the amount they missed during their sleepless period. In attempts to find out what happens when dream deprivation is pushed still further, dream researchers have experimented with animals, often taking the period of sleeplessness far beyond the limits of human endurance. Like humans, animals kept from dreaming long enough, become disoriented, lose motor abilities, and eventually exhibit symptoms which, for their particular species, could be considered psychotic. WHY DO WE DREAM? Let's summarize what we have discussed about dreams to this point. With one exception all mammals experience REM sleep, hence dreams. Birds also 26

dream, but less often than mammals, and reptiles sometimes appear to be dreaming, though this isn't common. Deprived of sleep, humans and other animals become disoriented and eventually psychotic. Remember Paul MacLean's triune brain model, discussed in the previous chapter. MacLean demonstrates that the human brain contains a sub-brain similar to that of the reptiles, a second sub-brain at the level of development of mammals, and a final sub-brain shared only with other primates. Further, the reptile brain appeared at a time when species had become complex enough to need to deal with instinctual group behaviour such as territoriality, ritual, and the establishment of social hierarchies. The mammal brain appeared when there was a necessity for an internal mechanism to govern social awareness and relationships. Finally, the primate brain appeared when higher brain functions were needed to deal with an increasingly visual orientation, and the beginnings of language. From the above discussion, it seems likely that dreams must have been one mechanism for dealing with increasingly more complex social behaviour. We could imagine that the early proto-dreams of the reptiles, which appeared sometime between 150 and 250 million years ago, were probably cold-blooded and unemotional. The rich emotional landscape we associate with dreams must have been largely in place as mammals appeared ten to twenty million years ago; those mammalian dreams must have dealt increasingly with complex social and emotional issues. Finally, in primates, especially humans, dreams should have become increasingly visual and have evidenced at least a primitive language — a symbolic language, perhaps? If this scenario is accurate, we then have to ask, "What purpose do dreams perform in helping people deal with complex social behaviour?" In his book, Consciousness Regained, Nicholas Humphrey, an experimental psychologist specializing in animal behaviour, offers a start at an answer. He begins with a central feature of dreams that is far too often ignored— our dream experience is every bit as real to us as our daytime experience! Now it is true that dreams take place in a phantasmagorical landscape where daytime rules cease to apply— except one: with few exceptions, our dreams evoke the same feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, lust, hunger, thirst, exultation, awe, as similar experiences do in everyday life. In other words, dreams centre on emotional accuracy, not physical accuracy. It is only afterward, in the cold light of day, that we condemn dreams as nonsensical. While they are taking place, they can be all too real, as anyone would acknowledge who has ever awakened in a cold sweat from a nightmare. 27

This feature of dreams accords well with the evolutionary development of dreams we have traced above—that the first true dreamers were mammals, and that the mammalian brain deals with emotional issues. We learn largely from doing. Since we experience dreams as real, Humphrey points out that we should be able to learn from our dreams in much the same way that we learn from our daytime experience. He argues that dreaming provides an opportunity to try out behaviour in advance, so that when necessity calls for new behaviour, we will already have perfected that behaviour. Since children have a greater need to learn future behaviours than adults, children should, therefore, dream more than adults. And, in fact, in all species, the newborn dream much more than adults; a newborn human baby experiences REM dreaming about eight hours of dreaming a day, four to five times as much as an adult dreams. It is almost as if the babies were dreaming themselves into existence. Humphrey suggests four categories into which we might expect children's dreams to fall: 1) Experiences which [they do] not know of already, and especially those which [they] as particular individuals might otherwise never get to know. 2) Experiences which [they] will not get to know of in reality until [they have] grown older. 3) Experiences which [they] observe other people to be going through and which are characteristic of the community. 4) Experiences which, whether [they have] had occasion to observe them or not, are characteristic of human beings in general.4 In his list, Humphrey concentrates on those experiences that a child has not yet had in actuality. However, as a child grows into an adult, there should become a greater need to incorporate actual life experiences into the learn ing process of dreams. Accordingly, I would suggest adding at least two additional categories to his list: 5. Experiences from our daytime life which went well. 6. Experiences from our daytime life which didn't go so well. In the former case, our dreams can repeat and even improve upon our actual actions in order to use them again profitably in the future. In the Jatter case, dreams can try out alternative actions until something final’s works 4

Nicholas Humphrey, Consciousness Regained, p.89

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successfully. All six of these types of dream experience would allow not only children, but all of us, to perfect and extend the repertoire of instinctual behaviours available to us at birth, as well as the new behaviours we learn over the course of life. If Humphrey's theory is correct, then dreams should leave actual traces in the structure of our brains, so that they can be called upon when necessary in our daily life, just as instincts are called upon. In Dreams and the Growth of Personality, psychologist Ernest Lawrence Rossi summarizes research evidence supporting a similar view, especially that of Michel Jouvet: In 1975, French neurophysiologist Michel Jouvet theorized that dreams (which he terms paradoxical sleep) release genetic programs . . . which serve to reorganize the brain. His extensive research with cats serves to bolster this theory. 5 Animals less developed than reptiles proceed almost entirely from instinct. Preprogrammed behaviour kicks in to fit almost any situation. But fixed behavior patterns don't deal very well with change; the individual animal needs more freedom of behaviour. In that light, the increased complexity of the reptiles evolved to provide the individual reptile with a wider range of possible behaviours beyond those it had hard-wired at birth. Primitive dreaming would have then been tied hand-in-hand with a more complex consciousness that allowed individual adaption to the environment. In this viewpoint, dreams are a central part of a total system of consciousness, rather than some vestigial anomaly. A wide variety of future behaviors could be tried out during dreams. Dreams with unresolved conclusions would be repeated with variations until some resolution occurred. Dreams that led to unsatisfactory conclusions would occur less often than those which successfully dealt with problems. Every variation of those that seemed to work would likely occur over time. The complex social and emotional lives of mammals would then be seen as a reflection of increased complexity both in consciousness and in dreaming. It wouldn't be a case of which caused which, as much as a reciprocal relationship: increased complexity of consciousness and dreaming leading to increased

Ernest Lawrence Rossi, “Dreams and the Growth of the Personality (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1985), pp. 203-206. 5

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complexity of behaviour, which in turn leads to increased complexity of consciousness and dreaming, ad infinitum. Earlier in this chapter, I speculated that, with the appearance of the neocortex, dreams should have improved upon the emotional complexity available to mammalian dreams. Primate dreams should have become increasingly better at modeling outer reality, especially visual reality. They should have begun to reflect upon experience, rather than just experience directly. Finally, like primate consciousness, dreams should have developed a primitive language, probably a symbolic language. With the expanded development of the neocortex in humans, all of these characteristics should have been correspondingly elaborated in human dreaming. And, of course, that is exactly what we do experience in our dreams:  a striking visual landscape that improves upon that available in daytime life, because a dream can use any image or color necessary to paint the emotional picture the dream wants to construct;  all levels of reflection: from dreams in which the dreamer is not present, but merely an outside observer; to dreams where the dreamer is deeply engaged in the drama of the dream; even to lucid dreams where dreamers become aware that they are dreaming, while they are dreaming, and may even alter the dream while they continue to dream;  a symbolic language so developed that it can be interpreted successfully on any number of levels, from the reductionistic Freudian approach, to the expansion of Jungian dream analysis, to the variety of eclectic techniques now used by different schools of dream interpretation. What is so fascinating is that it is almost impossible to find an approach to a dream which doesn't yield psychic gold to the dream explorer. In other words, the characteristics of human dreams exactly match what we would expect from examining the history of the brain's development. In the light of that history, Jung's contention that our dreams can access information acquired not in our lifetimes, but in the lifetime of our species, becomes much less far-fetched. His model of conscious and unconscious, interacting in dreams, becomes a reasonable description of the reality which closely matches scientific knowledge at this point in time. Accordingly, I will assume that Jung's respect for dreams needs no further defense and will spend the rest of this chapter unashamedly discussing the 30

practical significance of dreams. My examination will barely skim the surface of dream work, but I hope it will at least encourage readers to pay closer attention to their own dreams. DREAMS AND CONSCIOUSNESS Deeds were never invented, they were done. Thoughts, on the other hand, are a relatively late discovery. . . . First [man] was moved to deeds by unconscious factors, and only a long time afterwards did he begin to reflect upon the causes that had moved him; then it took him a very long time indeed to arrive at the preposterous idea that he must have moved himself — his mind being unable to see any other motivating force than his own.6 As we have seen, consciousness is a very recent phenomenon. For millions of years, animals, and even humans, have managed to be bom, live, and die without the full awareness of self we think of as consciousness. We can feel joy and sadness, hope and fear, without being conscious of ourselves experiencing those emotions. The lack of consciousness doesn't create robots, moving inexorably to a pre-defined plan; the dynamics of the unconscious are much more complex than that. Although archetypes necessary to our development are already in place when we are born, nevertheless no two humans (or other animals) have ever experienced those inherited behaviors and images in an identical way. Despite the fact that unconscious forces underlie our behavior, our lives are filled with choices (though we remain unconscious of many of those choices). However, it is nonetheless true that consciousness does definitely bring something new to the game of life. The reason why consciousness exists, and why there is an urge to widen and deepen it, is very simple: without consciousness things go less well. This is obviously the reason why Mother Nature deigned to produce consciousness, that most remarkable of all nature's curiosities.7 Whether or not consciousness is nature's crowning achievement, it is certainly its newest novelty. No one respected consciousness, and the individual's heroic attempts to increase that consciousness, more than Jung. 6

Carl Gustav Jung, Collected Works, Volume 18.

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Carl Gustav Jung, Collected Works, Volume .8

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The individuation process, which he carefully studied, each aspect of which we will discuss in this book, is the process of extending consciousness. But all consciousness emerges out of the unconscious, the ultimate mother of all that lives. And dreams stand at that magical boundary between consciousness and the unconscious. Because of this, major changes in our lives are mirrored in symbolic form in our dreams long before they are evidenced in outer life. This sometimes only becomes clear after the fact, when a long series of dreams can be examined. Frequently, in the period immediately before a major change is going to take place, a single dream will appear which depicts symbolically the entire course of a person's later development. The dream is so rich with meaning that it is impossible to fully understand at the time it first occurs. Later, smaller dreams pick up the individual strands of the changes that are coming. Slowing, ineluctably, they evolve as consciousness grows. Every conscious shift, every conscious resistance can be followed in the cycle of dreams: “We dream a world into being that dreams us into being.” 8 Since there is an ongoing dynamic relationship between consciousness and the unconscious, it is natural that they would react to each other. 1f our conscious attitude becomes manifestly unhealthy from the viewpoint of the total organism, the unconscious will compensate. To consider a physical example, if the body detects a need for a trace element that has been missing from our diet, we tend to grow hungry for some food containing that missing chemical. Of course, living as so many of us do on hurriedly grabbed fast foods, we are not as aware of our body's messages as we would be if we were still living closer to nature. But all of us have, at some time or another in our lives, suddenly developed a craving for food not normally in our diet — a vegetable perhaps, even if we would ordinarily shun that vegetable. This process appears to go on not only physically but within our psyche. lust as the body is constantly working to promote health and wholeness, so is our psyche. Accordingly, Jung feit that the primary function of dreams was to serve as an unconscious compensation to our conscious attitude. Of course, he means adult dreams, since there is no need for compensation until there is some consciousness to compensate for. Thus, Jung's view complements that of Humphrey presented in the last chapter, rather than contradicting it. In children, dreams are 8

Richard Grossinger, in “Dreams are Wiser than Men.”

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largely the playgrounds where future behaviour and attitudes are tried out. As with adults, they are also the school where we learn appropriate modes of behaviour and unlearn modes that don't work. As we become adults, there is less need for learning future behaviour, more need to develop our full potential. In this regard there are three possibilities. If the conscious attitude to the life situation is in large degree one-sided, then the dream takes the opposite side. If the conscious has a position fairly near the "middle," the dream is satisfied with variations. If the conscious attitude is "correct" (adequate), then the dream coincides with and emphasizes this tendency, though without forfeiting its peculiar autonomy." 9 For example, if people become a little too cocky, a little too sure that they have "the world by the tail," they are likely to dream of getting their comeuppance. If they underrate someone, their dreams might present the despised person as an exalted figure, even a god. Unfortunately, things are rarely that obvious. Our conscious attitudes are more likely to be a complex mixture—some attitudes right on the money, some wildly out of line. Nor does life stand pat: attitudes which have been fine in the past may be inadequate in the present. Finally, there are few situations in life which don't require us to be able to hold both sides of an issue in mind, in order to judge the situation fairly. Life isn't easy. THE UNCONSCIOUS NATURE OF DREAMS The dream . . . cannot produce a definite thought unless it should cease to be a dream. . . . The dream . . . manifests the fringe of consciousness, like the faint glimmer of the stars during a total eclipse of the sun.10 Since dreams exist at the boundary between consciousness and the unconscious, once we record and interact with our dreams, a bridge begins to form between those two regions. With more rapid access between conscious and unconscious, growth and change accelerates. Once we become aware of our dreams, they react to our awareness. Then we observe their reaction and react in turn. Some psychologists have theorized that dreams are not intended to be examined that way, and that doing so may cause damage to the psyche. In 9

Carl Gustaf Jung, Collected Works, Volume 8.

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Carl Gustaf Jung, Collected Works, Volume 18.

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my experience, we don't have to worry that we will damage the natural process of growth. The unconscious seems to take care of that automatically. If the dreamer is not ready for some new piece of self-knowledge, he or she can examine the dreams and never notice the critical element. It goes by as if he or she had never seen it at all. This is because the unconscious is just that: not conscious; i.e., that which we are not yet able to be conscious of. Years ago, a friend attended a weekly dream group, led by a wonderfully elf in Jungian analyst, who call Theodore here. One night he presented a recent dream of his own to the group. My friend had an insight into the dream, and was able to help Theodore understand what the dream was about. The explanation clicked immediately with Theodore. He knew it was important and repeated the explanation over to himself several times. Later in the evening, he asked my friend if he would tell him again what he had said about the dream. He had forgotten it completely. As soon as he heard the explanation, he said, "of course, of course," and repeated it out loud to himself. Still later in the evening, with some embarrassment, he again asked my friend if he would mind repeating the explanation. Finally, as everyone was starting to leave at the end of the evening, Theodore plaintively asked him if he would mind going over it one final time. Clearly, if something is unconscious, it is very hard to make it conscious. WORKING WITH YOUR DREAMS No amount of skepticism and criticism has yet enabled me to regard dreams as negligible occurrences. Often enough they appear senseless, but it is obviously we who Jack the sense and ingenuity to read the enigmatic message. . . . 11

Honour your dreams. It is more important to record them and review them than it is to figure out what they mean. Dreams are so filled with meaning that it is unlikely you can ever fully exhaust the meaning of even a single dream. That is an inevitable result of their coming from the unconscious. Any dream presents material that you are able to be consciously aware of, material at the edge of consciousness, and also material so far from consciousness that you may never become aware why it is present in the dream. Any person or object in a dream may represent either that actual person or object, or may be used as a symbol of some quality within your own 11

Carl Gustav Jung, The Collected Works, Volume 16: The Practice of Psychotherapy.

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personality. But normally you should assume the latter in working on your dreams, since dreams usually speak in symbolic terms. When you have dealt with enough dreams, you will often get a feeling for when they are speaking objectively rather than symbolically. Pick out people and objects in your dreams and consider them as symbols. That is, look at everything you associate with that person or object. Try to determine which associations have the strongest significance for you first, but don't ignore any associations you may have. You are not trying to reduce the dream to a single explanation; rather you are trying to "amplify" it until it starts to resonate inside you in a powerful way. Remember that true dreams began with our mammalian ancestors, and are rooted in emotion. Accordingly, trust your emotions in judging when you are on the right track. Don't let your rational mind force you to a conclusion that your feelings disagree with. It is helpful to have a good dictionary to look up the etymology of the word for an object or action in your dream. This is not in contradiction to what I have said about trusting emotions over thoughts in dealing with dreams: you are not looking for a single unique definition of your dream symbol; you are looking for the historical development of a symbol. Words are true symbols, carrying their whole history within themselves. If this sounds strange, just try it for a while and see if it doesn't frequently illuminate a dream that otherwise seemed inexplicable. The first time a dream occurs, it may seem superficial and banally repetitive. The second time may be a month later or even forty years later. Existentially it is the same dream. . . . As the process continues, the dream may finally be as brief as to achieve its utterance in a single note, a hiatus between the dreamer and semi-shrouded form, a face linked with a sound and then darkness. It is almost impossible to transcribe such a dream in language; it is a hieroglyph.12 Again because of the symbolic language of dreams, they frequently speak in puns. For example, pioneer dream researcher Dr. Henry Reed once did a study of shoe dreams. He found that they most often occurred at critical transitional points in a person's life, when we need to reexamine our "standpoint," our basic view of life. That is, our shoes are the point where we stand on the earth; hence, our "standpoint." If that sounds like a ridiculous pun, try it when you have a shoe dream. 12

Grossinger, in “Dreams are Wiser than Men.”

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Take another example (just as an example, don't assume that you can plug in a canned definition for a dream symbol): a common dream motif is to find yourself without any clothes. Play with that a little. You're naked, bare, exposed. Ah, that last one might ring a bell. Perhaps you have revealed too much and feel "exposed" in your life. But, of course, everything about the situation adds to the significance. Were you alone and naked in the dream? Surrounded by other people? Were you embarrassed in the dream? Or did you feel relaxed and comfortable in your exposure? A patient once dreamed of digging up turnips from the earth of an alien planet. As we discussed the dream, he realized that "turnips" were a pun for "turn-ups," i.e., that which he was turning up from the ground of the unconscious in his dreams. Puns occur so frequently in dreams that it is important to look for them constantly. However, every person has his or her own dream vocabulary, and people vary widely in the type and frequency of puns. Remember Jung's discovery that dreams often repeat mythological themes. If some element in your dream reminds you of a myth (or fairy tale), read that myth and see if it doesn't help explicate your dream. Sometimes the structure of a dream will be so similar to a particular myth that this will be obvious. In those cases, it is helpful to carefully compare your dream with the myth in order to see how your personal version varies. The myth will give you a feeling for the general problem you're dealing with. Your personal variations will tell you a great deal about your unique angle on the problem. Famed family therapist Carl Whitaker drew on this function of the unconscious in working with new patients. One of his favourite tools was to sit with a family and tell them "fractured fairy tales." At first, the family members thought they were hearing a traditional story, but somehow things became more and more distorted as Whitaker talked. Whitaker trusted his unconscious to pick the right tale and to restructure it to fit the situation. What came out was always the story of the family he was treating, though so buried in metaphor that it affected the family members unconsciously rather than consciously. Trust yourself when you feel a dream is significant; if a dream feels important, it usually is. However, the opposite is not so clear. Sometimes a very important dream will seem unimportant because you don't yet want to face the issue dealt with in the dream. In those cases, give yourself a break and don't force yourself to face the issue yet if you don't feel comfortable. However, be aware that you may want to review earlier dreams at some later point. When you do, you may be shocked at just how important seemingly innocuous dreams really were. 36

For example, when a therapist was first discovering Jungian psychology, he became a "true believer," like many another convert to a "new faith." At that time, he dreamed that he was a salesman for Fundamentalist, psychoanalytic records. It would be hard to think of a better picture of a distorted conscious attitude. But, at the time, he didn't have the slightest idea what that dream was about. Try unusual ways to connect with the dream. You can close your eyes and try to go back into the dream. If successful, return to some part of the dream that confused you and continue the dream. This is basically the technique Jung originated (at least in the modern Western world), which he called active imagination. This seems a singularly apt term because, unfortunately, most of us have been taught to disdain fantasy, daydreams, imagination itself, as idle wastes of time. The idea that imagination and fantasy can be active is quite alien to modern Western thought. There are many variations on the technique; for example, have a dialogue with the people or objects in your dream. One good way of doing this is to use the "two chair" technique pioneered by Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt psychotherapy. Place two chairs facing each other, then sit in one and imagine the person (or object) from your dream in the other chair. Say whatever comes to mind to that person. Then move to the other chair and pretend you are the other person (or object). Respond to yourself. Move back and forth between the two chairs to continue the dialogue. You will find this much easier to do than you might imagine. If you use this technique, try and record it on a tape recorder and later transcribe it into your journal. Or forget the tape recorder and have the dialogue on paper. Try and relax first. If you know how to meditate, do so for a moment to centre yourself. If you don't, here is an easy method. First sit comfortably and close your eyes. Become aware of your feet — pay no attention to the rest of your body. From there, move your awareness to the top of your head. Then to the middle of your chest. Move it around to other parts of your body until you feel comfortable about locating your awareness wherever you like. Then gently feel yourself as a whole. You will find that your breathing slows and deepens as you go through this process, which only takes a few moments. Then carry on the dialogue with a person (or object) from your dream as with the chair technique. Except in this case record the two sides of the dialogue on paper. I prefer doing this at a word processor. Others might find that too intrusive and prefer pen and paper. You might also draw, paint or sculpt your 37

dream. Contrary to expectation, this is frequently more effective if you have little or no artistic facility. Or try giving your dream a name, as if it were a short story or play. You can elaborate that process and divide the dream into acts, list the protagonists and the action, etc. This is often very useful as dreams lend themselves to such dramatic devices. In short, there are many, many ways to help work with your dreams. We will have more to say about specific aspects of dreams in later chapters. But the most important thing is to remember the dream and record it. Unless you do this, nothing else is possible. Dreams form a record of the individuation process. In the next chapter, we will begin a discussion of the starting point for that process: Jung's concept of psychological types. FINALLY One item that Carl Gustav Jung felt was a window into our subconscious and that could be used in analytical processes was the dream and dream psychology. Dreams are a representation in the sensory environments of our mind. They

reflect thoughts, feelings and awareness. They reflect our everyday lives in that they are expressing what has been occupying our minds in the day or two prior to the dream. One way a dream can be interpreted is by looking at how it relates to recent events in our life. Dreams occur naturally during a sleep phase known as REM sleep. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep occurs about every ninety minutes through out the night. These REM periods get progressively longer throughout the night, starting out about 5 - 10 minutes each at the beginning of the night - up until about 30-40 minutes by morning. In total - people dream about 100 minutes per night. People dream in order to help the brain grow by exciting neurons. This explains why all people and creatures dream, and babies dream up to about 8 hours per day. Researchers also believe that dreams play a role in memory- they strengthen connections between certain areas of the brain and allow other connections that hold less useful information to be released and forgotten. REM sleep also plays a role in releasing certain hormones in the brain and it has been found that reduced REM sleep seems to reduce depression. Recurring dreams reflect feelings and awareness that have not been successfully

resolved in our waking lives. Unresolved feelings often include the sudden loss of a loved one, or an abrupt end to a romantic relationship. We wish the situation could have ended differently, so we tend to replay it in our minds. 38

Lucid Dreaming as Part of Self-hypnosis Self-hypnosis is another powerful way to incubate lucid dreams. Like meditation, it draws on the same relaxation response that helps calm your body, reduce stress hormones, and focus your mind on affirmative thoughts. However, hypnotizing yourself is different from meditation because it uses auto suggestions to plant specific thoughts and affirmations. To use self hypnosis for lucid dreaming, use suggestions like: "I can remember my dreams clearly" and "The next scene will be a dream". In this way, you can use hypnosis to improve your recall, program your dreams and increase yourself awareness, teaching you to habitually recognize when you're dreaming - and thereby trigger lucidity. Self-hypnosis for lucid dreaming uses the power of relaxation and suggestion to make it easier for you to have lucid dreams. Self hypnosis for lucid dreaming is a little like a different type of meditation and it also uses techniques similar to what you’d use with Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams. Hypnotizing yourself is neither difficult nor weird, and it can actually be very helpful in learning how to have lucid dreams or in doing just about anything else well.

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How Self Hypnosis for Lucid Dreaming Works Did you know that you enter into a hypnotic state during the course of a normal day without even knowing it? When you end up on auto pilot driving home from work or are watching television intently and forgetting about everything else, you may be experiencing a hypnotic state. It’s basically a state of deep relaxation in the mind. What makes self hypnosis for lucid dreaming so helpful is that you’re more open to suggestions when you’re in a hypnotic state. Everyone can be hypnotized, but it takes a little longer for some people. Self hypnosis for lucid dreaming is all about placing the right suggestions in your mind. Basically, you’re using mnemonics like you do for Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams, but before you use your mnemonics, you’re inducing a more relaxed state of mind where you can really speak to your subconscious. Self hypnosis for lucid dreaming works because your subconscious takes suggestions that you’re giving it and acts on them without your lucid mind even needing to chime in later on. Steps for Self-hypnosis towards Lucid Dreaming The first step in self hypnosis for lucid dreaming is to get comfortable and relax. If you have trouble relaxing on your own, you might try Guided Relaxation techniques on some good CD or MP3 that helps you enter a calmer state of mind in half an hour. Eventually, you may be able to relax all on your own, but if you’re struggling to let go of your thoughts so you can use self hypnosis for lucid dreaming, Guided Relaxation can be a helpful learning tool. Next, you’ll want to visualize yourself at the top of a staircase that leads down into your mind. Walk down ten steps of the staircase, keeping your body still, and start to connect with your subconscious. Once you get connected with your deeper subconscious mind, repeat lucid dreaming related phrases in your mind over and over again. The phrase you use will probably depend on where you’re at with lucid dreaming. You could tell yourself you’ll remember your dreams, you’ll become lucid during your dreams, or you’ll be able to control your dreams, depending on what you’ve already accomplished with lucid dreaming. Once you learn self hypnosis for lucid dreaming, you can use it for other things, too. Place other positive sentences into your subconscious, and see just how it can change your life. When I’m feeling particularly stressed, I’ll use self hypnosis to tell myself, “I am cool and collected.” It’s amazing how well and how quickly it can work! 40

Of course, you’ve got to eventually come out of yourself hypnosis for lucid dreaming. The whole time you should be at least somewhat aware of your body and surroundings, but you’ll need to slowly come out of your subconscious mind. Visualize yourself walking back up the steps to the top of your mind, open your eyes, and only stand up slowly. Using self-hypnosis for lucid dreaming isn’t for everyone without training and perseverance, but it can be a great technique to use. The power of suggestion is great, so you can definitely learn to have lucid dreams using this technique along with the many others listed on this blog.

In a Bird-eye view how to hypnotize Yourself Most people choose pre-recorded self-hypnosis audios, which contain soothing music and specific instructions to guide the experience. However, it is possible to hypnotize yourself like for meditation without audios, maybe even better: 1. Get Comfortable Find a comfortable place to sit or lie. Don't cross your arms or legs - have an open posture that is easy to stay in for the next 20 minutes. Allow your eyes to close naturally. Take three deep, slow breaths - releasing any tension and anxiety as you do. Observe the thoughts that enter your mind and gently release them without any interaction. Let yourself float. 41

2. Release Tension Focus on releasing physical tension throughout your body. Starting from your toes, visualize each muscle relaxing and melting into the furniture. It brings a pleasant, warm feeling of relaxation. Systematically release each muscle group, heightening the sense of relaxation every time. Spend extra time on your shoulders, upper back and jaw, which hold a lot of tension. Visualizing soothing water or a golden glow may help to free up the muscles. 3. Visualize Your Way Down Visualize yourself at the top of a staircase. This represents your consciousness. As you descend each stair one at a time, drift deeper and deeper into your soothing, relaxing trance state. Count the steps if you like, starting from 10. Try rolling your eyes gently back into your head and keep your body still. 4. Place Auto-Suggestions Once you reach the bottom of the staircase, you are ready to begin your auto suggestion script. Softly repeat one or more of the following phrases in your mind (choose whichever feels right for you):     

"I can remember my dreams" "I can have lucid dreams" "I can become conscious in my dreams" "I can realize when I am dreaming" "I can control my dreams"

Of course, you can introduce any type of auto suggestion. Just remember to make every phrase positive and in the present tense:    

"I am calm and relaxed" "I am strong and confident" "I am in control of my destiny" "I can have everything I want" 42

 "I am healthy and energetic" 5. Wake Up Gently Repeat your chosen affirmation as many times as you want. Revel in the feeling of deep relaxation. Visualize yourself achieving your goal. When you're ready, prepare to wake up from your trance. Tell yourself you will count to 10, and with each step you will slowly return to full awareness. Then count upwards as you climb the steps in your mind. Take a deep breath when you reach the top, then open your eyes. Sit for a moment if you like - and remember to stand up slowly. Final Thoughts Self-hypnosis is a deeply relaxing state. I believe everyone should try it. I used self hypnosis a lot when I was learning to lucid dream some years ago. I became very familiar with the hypnotist's voice on the various tapes (cassettes) in my possession. Even in the first few seconds of hearing his voice, my mind was triggered with a rush of thoughts about having more vivid dreams and becoming lucid. It became self-perpetuating. It's good to fall into a self hypnosis routine - perhaps by listening every night just before sleep or when you wake up early in the morning. Your mind will relate the feelings induced with relaxation and lucid dreaming. This is called anchoring and it's a good way of quickly inducing a feeling or state of mind. There is no better time to do this than when you are in bed ready to dream.

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Your Night Firstly, how to fall asleep Most people have trouble figuring out how to fall asleep at some point in their lives. You may struggle to find out how to fall asleep because of stress, your environment, or any number of physical problems. Some learn how to fall asleep properly only after months of trying, and others only struggle with how to fall asleep for a few days or weeks at a time. No matter where you are on this issue, learning how to fall asleep is vital to lucid dreaming – and to your health in general. There have been times in my life when I haven’t been able to learn how to fall asleep due to problems with stress and other issues in my life. In these times, I fall back on a few techniques I know to work. Here’s what I do when I can’t figure out how to fall asleep naturally: 1. Set a routine. Sometimes I struggle with how to fall asleep simply because I’ve gotten out of my routine. When I need to get back into it, I’ll start gradually, adjusting my bedtime and wake time to what I know will be sustainable throughout the routine of a week. Then, I stick with this routine until it’s easier to fall asleep. 44

2. Do something until you’re tired. I’m a big reader, so I’ll often read a book until I get sleepy. You can also do other soothing things, including, maybe listening to music or a book on CD, until you get sleepy. The key here is to do something – not in your bed but elsewhere – just until you’re tired. Then, go to bed, and don’t think about falling asleep – just do it. I’ve found I can’t do this with gripping mystery books, or I end up one-morechaptering myself to two in the morning. It’s also not a good idea to take your activity into the actual bed; since reserving the bed for sleep alone can help you fall asleep faster. 3. Get more exercise. If I’m having trouble figuring out how to fall asleep, it often comes back to my lack of regular exercise. You know how it is. How many times do you plan to work out for X minutes a day only to fall off your plan in a few weeks? When I fall out of a regular exercise routine, I have trouble sleeping, so it’s a good idea to exercise at least thirty minutes most days of the week if you’re having trouble sleeping. 4. Use guided relaxation. My mind often races so much that I have trouble falling asleep. When this happens, I use a guided relaxation to get to sleep. It uses brainwave entrainment to lull my brain into more sleepfriendly states. I like using an appropriate CD even when I just need a refreshment mid-day, since it can help me relax and become less stressed in general. 5. Take a warm shower or bath. I absolutely love warm showers, and they can help me when I’m struggling to figure out how to fall asleep. I’ll normally add some lavender essential oil available in shops to make it even more relaxing. The key here is to make sure you aren’t taking your bath too close to bedtime because if your body temperature rises, you will have trouble falling asleep. I like to take a twenty minute bath that ends about an hour before I need to fall asleep. If you’re struggling with how to fall asleep, why not try some of my most triedand-true techniques? These are the ones that work for me and many other people, but the important thing is that you figure out what works for you. Secondly, how to stay asleep Sometimes the problem isn’t how to get to sleep, it’s how to stay asleep! If you’re having trouble getting your body to learn – or re-learn – how to stay asleep, you may be constantly waking up in the night. Then, it can be even more difficult to get back to sleep. Learning how to stay asleep doesn’t have to be super hard, and it doesn’t have to involve medications for sleeping. Instead, take these simple tips to learn how to stay asleep after you get to sleep: 45

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Make your room darker. Sometimes when you’re struggling with how to stay asleep, your body is actually waking you up because you’re getting too much light in your room. Your body is programmed to be sleepy when it’s dark out and awake when it’s light, so making your room darker with dark curtains or even an eye mask can help you stay asleep better. Minimize noises. You may not realize how even small noises can wake you up at night. Sometimes, you may not even realize you’ve been woken up. If you want to learn how to stay asleep, earplugs can be a good idea. Another option is to use white noise in the background, which will drown out sudden noises that can cause you to wake up in the night. Use adapted music that make you sleep for the whole night. The kind of music is a great option and up to your choice if you’re constantly waking up. Use a brainwave entrainment CD that brings your brain into the right mode for sleep and keeps it there, taking you naturally through the ninety minute cycles you’re supposed to be in as you’re sleeping. Get enough exercise. Getting exercise is important for your health on many levels, but it’s particularly vital for ensuring that you can get to sleep and stay asleep. The current recommendation is thirty minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, but you should tailor your exercise to your current level of health. Exercise enough that you feel worn out afterwards, but don’t exercise within an hour or two of bed so that your body can cool down and calm your heart rate to go to sleep. Avoid red wine. For many people, red wine is a major culprit in fitful sleep. Alcohol in general can cause you to sleep more lightly, but if you’re wondering how to stay asleep, limiting red wine in particular can be a good idea. Turn down the thermostat. Sure, it’s a little more expensive to turn down the thermostat by a couple of degrees, but it’s also more beneficial for your body learning how to stay asleep. Your body temperature needs to lower for you to sleep comfortably, so turning down the thermostat by a couple of degrees can make a big difference. Relieve stress. One thing that makes many people wake up frequently is stress. How is your body supposed to learn how to stay asleep when your brain never shuts off because of stress? Exercise. Call a friend. Clean the house. Do what you need to do to control stress in your life, including saying no to activities that will put too much extra stress there. This alone can help many people in their quest to learn how to stay asleep! Check out Sleep Well and Tight. This e-book is a great option for learning about all sorts of things, from reasons people don’t sleep well to how to stay asleep. It’s particularly helpful because it talks about both natural methods for falling and staying asleep and medications you can use to solve more severe problems. 46

Thirdly, the Importance of Sleep Did you know that about sixty percent of people in the world are affected by lack of sleep and sleep disorders? Lots of times this is just because people don’t recognize the importance of sleep. They think it’s a better idea to spend more time working, hanging out with friends, or just wasting time than it is to sleep! If people only understood the importance of sleep, unnecessary sleep deprivation would certainly lessen, and people would be more aggressive in fighting sleep disorders. The importance of sleep can’t be overrated. It’s literally as important as eating and drinking for your health and overall wellbeing! Getting enough sleep simply makes your body function on an optimal level, and it’s important for the state of your mind and emotions, too. If you’ve ever wondered about just how important sleep is for you, here are some facts that will definitely highlight the importance of sleep for all areas of your life. 

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Several studies, including one published in New York Times Science, show that decision making is seriously impaired even by a little bit of sleepiness – not even complete sleep deprivation. When you’re tired, you’re not able to think clearly or remain alert enough to make wise, correct decisions, which means you’ll be less effective in life in general, but particularly in job related situations. The National Highway Safety Administration estimates that falling asleep at the wheel is responsible for over 100,000 crashes a year! This doesn’t even include crashes that can be chalked up to slowed reaction times and poor decision making due to sleepiness, even if the driver doesn’t actually fall asleep. Sleeplessness and chronic sleepiness can interfere with learning in several ways. The importance of sleep for young children and students cannot be overstated! Without adequate sleep, students fall asleep in class, don’t pay attention because they’re not alert during school, or have trouble committing schoolwork to long-term memory, since much of this happens during sleep. Being awake for just seventeen solid hours decreases mental and physical performance as if you had a blood alcohol level of .05%. The immune system can actually stop functioning as well when you’re lacking in sleep. A lack of sleep will increase the likelihood that you’ll develop minor issues like colds and the flu by tamping down the immune system. Since your body uses sleep to suppress inflammation and other immune responses that can be harmful over time, sleeplessness actually 47

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makes you more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, and a whole host of other problems. Sleeplessness is also linked to weight gain. If you’ve wondered about the importance of sleep and are trying to lose weight, look no further! People who regularly get inadequate sleep (read: less than seven hours a night for most adults) are more likely to have crab cravings in the afternoons and might even have a slowed metabolism that can seriously increase weight gain.

Solving the Problem of Sleeplessness As you can see, the importance of sleep can’t be overestimated. When I learned about the importance of sleep, I decided I needed to do something about my frequent inability to sleep for more than four or five hours at a time. Luckily, when I was looking at the importance of sleep, I found “Sleep Well and Tight”, from Amazon. This is a great book that talks about the importance of sleep and then helps you figure out how to sleep better – naturally. It also goes over medication options, but it gives you a balanced view on natural supplements and medications that can help you sleep better. If you’ve just realized the importance of sleep and know you aren’t getting nearly enough, check out Sleep Well and Tight, where you’ll be able to figure out how to sleep longer and more soundly every night.

Introduction to Lucid Dreaming Techniques Becoming self-conscious during your dreams and taking control of them is one of the most fulfilling and fun things to do with your brain. With over a decade of lucid dreaming, I’ve used my dreams to talk with people who were important to me, to grieve fully and deeply so I could let go of someone I loved, to take on wild adventures I’d never get to have in real life, to have nightly vacations during really stressful times, and even to conquer my irrational fear of creepycrawly things (especially centipedes – so gross!). I still don’t like bugs, but now they don’t freak me out anymore because I used lucid dreaming techniques to overcome them in my dreams. When your lucid dreaming life becomes vivid and amazing, you’ll find you have more balance in your daily life, relieve stress more easily, and work through mental problems when you’re asleep. Contrary to what you might think, becoming conscious during your dreams doesn’t actually make you wake up tired unless you’re using majorly sleep depriving lucid dreaming techniques. In fact, on the nights I have lucid dreams – which is most nights these days! – I 48

wake up feeling more energized and illuminated than on nights when I sleep for ten hours without remembering my dreams. But enough about that! If you’re here, you’re probably already interested in learning about the best lucid dreaming techniques in the experience of myself and others. As you can see, there’s lots of information about lucid dreaming techniques in my Ebook just now. Before you dive into specific articles, let me lead you through the basics of some of the lucid dreaming techniques that work for most people, especially beginners. Lucid Dreaming Techniques to Try Okay, this isn’t really a technique, but here’s something you need to know before you start out: don’t beat yourself up! Some people have an easier time learning to use lucid dreaming techniques. For me, it took a couple of months before I was experiencing even one lucid dream every seven or eight days. I have friends who would be considered very “artistic” and “imaginative” by most people, and it tends to take them less time to learn some of these lucid dreaming techniques. Also, people who grew up playing video games (and I have LOTS of adult friends who play them still) have been scientifically proven to have an easier time with some lucid dreaming techniques than others do. Does that mean that if you’re an accountant who’s never touched a joystick in her life you won’t be able to dream lucidly? Nope. Not at all! Everyone has an imagination, and everyone dreams. Therefore, everyone can learn to have lucid dreams. It might just take you a while, and that’s okay because this isn’t a competition. With that out of the way, I’ll take you through some of the best lucid dreaming techniques from my perspective: 

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Keep a dream journal. This is one of the more essential lucid dreaming techniques when you’re just starting out. It helps you find patterns in your dreams, which can help you figure out when it’s best for you to do reality checks. Wake Back to Bed makes other lucid dreaming techniques more effective. When you get 4.5 to 6 hours of sleep, wake up, and go back to sleep, you’re much more likely to fall almost straight into a lucid dream because your brain is active but your body is still ready for more sleep. This is absolutely one of the most-performed lucid dreaming techniques for beginning lucid dreamers, and, in fact, I still use it most nights, especially if I really want a lucid dream that night. 49

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Try different triggers. There are all sorts of triggers you can use to do a reality check and wake your consciousness in a dream. As a heavy reader, mine is usually letters or words, since they tend to factor heavily into my dreams. For you, sex or other symbols might work better. The best lucid dreaming techniques are the ones that work for you. Figure out how to set your intentions. Setting your intentions is one of the greatest lucid dreaming techniques out there. You need to really intend – consciously and sub-consciously – to have a lucid dream. I like reward induced lucid dreaming, which is more effective than punishment for me. However, if punishment sets your intentions more, it might work for you. Another of the best lucid dreaming techniques is mnemonic induced lucid dreaming, where you repeat a phrase that makes sure you intend to become conscious during your dreams. This one I don’t have to use as much anymore, but it was invaluable to me when I was starting out.

Again, remember that the best lucid dreaming techniques are the ones that work for you. Don’t worry about it if you have trouble dreaming lucidly for a while. Many, many people do, but later go on to have lucid dreams on a very regular basis. It’s about discipline, yes, but also about figuring out how your mind works so you can assist it to the best of your ability. So are you ready to get started? Jump right in! The many topics of lucid dreaming techniques in this Ebook will help you to figure out how to induce lucid dreams and, later, completely control what you’re dreaming about.

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Various Techniques Induction Technique (Finger Induced Lucid Dreams) FILD is a great induction technique I like to use when I’m lazy. It’s short for Finger Induced Lucid Dreams. FILD is nice when you’re all out of chocolates for RILD, or for some reason your brain is just too stubborn for PILD. Before you attempt FILD, however, make sure you’ve already developed a habit of performing reality checks. Finger Induced Lucid Dreams are difficult to bring about if you haven’t been practicing your reality checks on a regular basis. Another benefit of FILD is its capacity to almost immediately induce a lucid dream on demand. This is why it’s so attractive as a lucid dreaming induction technique. The downside to this, though, is that FILD is only effective when you’re really tired, or are drifting heavily back to sleep. How FILD works Find some way to wake yourself up after several hours of sleep, so that when you wake up, you feel extremely tired and want to go straight back to sleep. During this short waking period, the first thought that comes to mind should be performing the FILD technique. Fall back to sleep as normal, but as you’re drifting back to sleep, move the index finger and middle finger of one hand ever so slightly as if you’re pressing gently down on two piano keys. This gentle pressing motion should be so subtle that you should only try to be moving your fingers up and down one millimetre at most. The only thing you should feel is the soft tugging of your finger muscles. Once 20 to 30 seconds have passed, perform a reality check. A good reality check to use during this time is the breathing test — pinch your nostrils shut and try to breathe in through your nose. Once you’re in the dreamscape, you’ll want to implement stabilization techniques to keep your lucidity. And when you want to fly around or control the environment around you, don’t forget to perform some really nifty dream control techniques. Writing Induced Lucid Dreams Before I explain this extremely effective induction technique, I’d first like to give my readers some helpful information on what led to my discovery of this method. While browsing through the appendix of a popular lucid dreaming book by Stephen Laberge, I came across a list of exercises for increasing one’s 51

willpower. One of these exercises was to write “I’ll write a useless exercise” 100 times. A vivid childhood memory flooded my mind after reading this list of exercises. My dad used to always punish me by repeatedly writing lines of text whenever I would do something wrong, in order to learn from my errors. Nevertheless, as soon as I completed writing a list that was 500 lines long, which consisted of “I will never forget the front door key”, I always remembered to carry it in my pocket each and every time before leaving for school. In psychological terms, repetition is the best method for memorizing important things, and learning in general — the effectiveness of writing down whatever it is that you want to learn as opposed to thinking it or speaking it, especially over and over and over again, can work all sorts of wonders. So… I theorized that if I were to write down my induction mantra over and over and over again, each line being exactly the same, then I would definitely remember it a lot more — even during my dreams. The first night I tried out this writing induced technique, I wrote down the words, “Every single night I will know that I am dreaming, and I will be able to recall my dreams” about forty times. That same night, I was able to induce a single lucid dream. For my second attempt, I wrote down the above sentence eighty times — and I was able to experience a whopping three lucid dreams that night. During the third night of my experiment, I did the same thing before bed, but 120 times. Like the previous night, I also had three lucid dreams, but these were extremely vivid. During the times that I was lucid, I just had a gut feeling that I was dreaming. I never performed any reality checks, and I didn’t have to look out for any weird dream phenomena. I think this was a direct result of the intentions of the mantra that I scribbled down. If you’re going to try Writing Induced Lucid Dreams, here’s a list of items that you need before getting started: 1. A journal or notebook used exclusively for this technique. 2. A pen. 3. Your own mantra. 52

Some examples of a mantra that you can use are: A. When I see my hands tonight, I will question my lucidity. B. I’ll recall all of my dreams and know that I am lucid during my dreams. C. Tonight I will know that I am dreaming and will recall my dreams afterwards. Here are the instructions for Writing Induced Lucid Dreams: 1. Take out your journal and get rid of any distractions. This needs to be a physical notebook that you can physically write in using handwritten notes — this technique will not work if you are using an electronic notebook to type out your mantra. 2. Choose a mantra and establish a number for how many repetitions that you’ll write down. This will become more difficult when you start experiencing cramps in your hand. 3. Make sure to concentrate on the line being written, when you’re writing it down. It’s good to read what you’re writing as you’re writing it at the same time. 4. Reach the previously set number you established for yourself, and close your journal – you will begin your line count back at zero the next time you use this method. I never need to perform any reality checks when I use this writing induced technique, nor do I ever have to verify the validity of my mantras before going to bed. However, this doesn’t mean that this technique will be successful for you if you don’t use any reality checks – it may not even work for you. Anyway, I find this to be a highly effective technique, and you can also use this technique for setting dream intentions – such as practicing sports or doing specific things during your lucid dreams. For example, you could change your mantra to “I will practice basketball when I’m lucid tonight.” You can also intend to exercise increasing amounts of dream control in your lucid dreams. Thirst Induced Lucid Dreams Thirst Induced Lucid Dreams, or TILD, can be an effective way to bring yourself into a lucid dream, although there are certainly precautions to take with this type of lucid dreaming method. My advice would be to use TILD only when you are really having trouble inducing a lucid dream. Maybe you’re just getting 53

started with these techniques, or maybe you’re just blocked from becoming lucid for some reason. In these cases, TILD can be quite helpful. However, don’t use this technique too often, or your body will end up regretting what your mind needs to get into a lucid dream! How it works The basic idea of TILD is that you induce a lucid dream by becoming really thirsty. Have you ever fallen asleep so thirsty that all you could do was dream about drinking something? That’s the idea here. TILD is both a motivator and a good way to start a reality check when you’re actually in a dream. The motivation starts because you’re going to basically dehydrate yourself before bed. Don’t drink anything for several hours before bed, so that you become really thirsty. Some people will also eat spicy items before bed, like chilli peppers, or salty crackers that make them feel even thirstier. Don’t do anything to quench your thirst when you fall asleep at first. You’ll want to sleep about five or six hours so you can get out of the delta phase. Then, make yourself wake up. You might need a bathroom break. At any rate, you should fill a glass with cold water and set it beside your bed. Don’t drink any, but just think about how good it would taste to drink the water. Since you know you aren’t drinking anything in real life, you’ll want to do a reality check whenever you find yourself drinking something. Chances are likely that this will be one of the first things your mind gives you in a dream. Do a reality check when you’re drinking to see if you’re dreaming, and you’ll be able to become lucid during your dream. TILD offers you more motivation to become lucid, particularly if you tell yourself you’ll have to repeat the technique if you don’t succeed at becoming lucid during your dreams. It also makes for a great reality check, since you’re almost guaranteed to dream about drinking when you’re super thirsty. Concerns with TILD TILD can be a helpful technique for healthy people who don’t mind using more extreme lucid dreaming techniques. If you’re really having trouble becoming lucid, this can be more effective than either Reward Induced or Punishment Induced Lucid Dreaming. 54

However, people with certain health conditions should certainly avoid using the TILD technique. Pregnant women, for instance, need to stay hydrated for the sake of their babies, so they should never intentionally dehydrate themselves. Those with certain other health conditions may also find that they need to use a technique besides TILD to induce lucid dreaming. Luckily, there are many to choose from, so you can certainly find something that will suit your needs. My experience with TILD Personally, TILD isn’t one of my favourite ways to induce lucid dreams simply because it’s so uncomfortable. However, I’ve used it a couple times just to get a feel for how it works, and I’ll tell you that it’s certainly very effective. Keeping your body from hydration will almost guarantee you to dream about it, so you can be motivated to experience lucid dreams and can more easily recognize dreams when you’re actually having them! When I usually perform TILD, I like to combine it with RILD and let myself drink that tall glass of water as soon as I wake up from a TILD lucid dream.

Reward Induced Lucid Dreams (or RILD) Reward Induced Lucid Dreams, or RILD, are all about motivation. With RILD, your goal isn’t to set up some symbol that makes you become lucid during a dream. Instead, you’ll actually want to combine RILD with other techniques, such as LILD that can help you do frequent reality checks and realize ever more frequently that you are, in fact, dreaming. Basically, you’re going to set out by setting an intention in your mind to remember that you’re dreaming whenever you find yourself in a dream. Whether you’re having a Dream Initiated Lucid Dream or are trying Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming, this technique can work for you. Remember, your intentions are very meaningful when it comes to lucid dreaming. Intending to understand you’re dreaming is the first step to becoming lucid, and after that, you can use your intentions to actually change your dreams. How RILD works RILD works by simply rewarding yourself when you remember that you are dreaming so that you can have a lucid dream. Rewarding yourself here is a little like rewarding a little kid or a pet. You need to reward yourself immediately after waking from a lucid dream.

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What does your reward need to look like? It depends on what you like! Some people keep a special drink or type of food by the bed and treat themselves to a sip or nibble upon waking from a lucid dream. Others might read a beautiful poem on waking, give themselves a foot rub, or do other pleasurable things that are rewarding for them. Your reward may not look like anyone else’s, and that’s okay. I’m a chocolate lover, so I keep dark chocolate squares by my bedside and use them for RILD. As you progress and become better at lucid dreaming, you might not need to use rewards as often. This is a good thing for me and my waistline! At first, though, rewarding yourself externally can help your mind lock the intention to become lucid during dreams into place. Using rewards will help you train yourself, essentially, to become lucid during your dreams. For this reason, RILD is great for people who are beginners at lucid dreaming or who just need a little extra boost at some time. In-dream rewards can work, too As you advance in lucid dreaming techniques, you may be able to use a form of RILD inside your dream, too. This works particularly well if you’re using lucid dreaming to overcome a fear or solve a problem. When you’re using lucid dreaming in this way, you’ll manipulate your dreams so you can be exposed to problems or fears. When you solve the problem or take a step toward totally overcoming the fear, you should reward yourself. Once you are a master of your own dreams, you can actually reward yourself within your dream. Whenever I solve a problem within a dream, which happens quite frequently now, I take myself on a mini vacation to a place I’ve always wanted to go. Sometimes it’s a tropical forest, or a sunny beach, or a place full of history. I know when I’m working through a difficult problem in my dreams that I’ll be rewarded later on for my efforts, so it can keep me going. Sometimes I wake up before I get to reward myself. If this happens and I probably won’t be able to get into another lucid dream for the night, I reward myself with my standby chocolate. Through the years, though, it’s become less and less important, as I find in-dream rewards even more fulfilling that that smooth, dark chocolate!

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Punishment Induced Lucid Dreams (PILD) Punishment Induced Lucid Dreams seem a little strange, but PILD can actually be helpful, particularly for beginners who are having trouble becoming lucid at first. As with Reward Induced Lucid Dreams (RILD), you’ll probably find that you use PILD less often as you become more adept at becoming lucid in your dreams. However, at first, it may be a helpful technique. How it works Basically, you need to combine PILD with the stated, spoken intention to become lucid during your dreams. When it comes to dreaming, punishments and rewards are all about your intentions. The harder you intend to become lucid, so to speak, the more likely you are to do so. So, before you go to bed – actually, all throughout the day – tell yourself that you will succeed at becoming lucid during your dreams. If you don’t, remind yourself that you’ll be punished when you wake up in the morning. It sounds brutal, but your punishment doesn’t have to be severe, simply uncomfortable or annoying. PILD, like Reward Induced Lucid Dreams or just RILD, is a little like training a pet or a little kid. You have to carry through on your threats, and you have to punish swiftly after the offense has happened. That means first thing in the morning if you know you failed to become lucid during a dream in the night, you’ll carry out your intended punishment. This should also be the case if you don’t remember your dreams at all! In fact, you can use PILD before you’re even trying to dream lucidly if you’re just starting out by honing your dream recall. Instead of being punished for failing to become lucid during a dream, you can punish yourself for failing to recall a dream. Remember, you, and every other person on the planet, dreams every night – or every time you go to sleep for an extended amount of time! – so if you can’t remember any of your dreams, you may need to shock your mind into intending to do so more strongly. Types of punishment to use As I’ve already said, your punishments shouldn’t be too harsh or severe. We’re not ascetics here, after all! Instead, your goal is to make yourself uncomfortable. This discomfort should be strong enough that you really don’t want to experience it. 57

Something that I like to use for punishment is a cold shower. I detest taking cold showers! But when I was learning lucid dreaming, PILD worked for me to develop stronger intentions to become lucid during dreams. If I didn’t become lucid during my dreams at night, I’d make myself take a cold shower in the morning. Let me tell you, this technique worked pretty quickly for me! I didn’t look forward to those cold showers, so I quickly became more focused about becoming lucid during my dreams. Some other punishments you might look at include eating something for breakfast that you don’t enjoy, touching your tongue to a nine volt battery, or making yourself miss out on something that you enjoy doing, eating, or drinking early in the day. Combining with RILD As you’d train a dog or teach a child using both punishments and rewards, it may be a good idea to train yourself to dream lucidly using both PILD and RILD (Reward Induced Lucid Dreams). When you fail to become lucid, punish yourself in an uncomfortable way. When you succeed at becoming lucid, reward yourself! The combination of punishment and reward will steer your mind from unwanted behaviour and towards necessary behaviour for lucid dreaming. While I tried using just Reward Induced Lucid Dreams when I was starting out with lucid dreaming, I quickly found that RILD combined with PILD was much more efficient and effective! Within just a few weeks, I was starting to regularly become lucid during my dreams because my mind wanted both to avoid punishment and to get rewarded.

Letter Induced Lucid Dreams Letter Induced Lucid Dreams, or LILD, can be an excellent technique to begin experiencing lucid dreams. Like most lucid dreams, these are Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams, or DILD. This simply means you’re already asleep when you become lucid in your dream. If you want to start lucid dreaming so you can take control of your dreams and experience a new level of self-consciousness, letter induced lucid dreams are a great way to go about it. Here’s a bit about how this technique works.

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My experience with LILD LILD were some of the first lucid dreams I experienced because they’re quite easy to get started with. Now, letters are still one of the best ways I know to induce lucidity when I’m already dreaming. The key here is that you have to make a habit of reality checking when you’re looking at certain letters. Since I spend lots of time reading and writing, I do plenty of reality checks during the day. Once I made this habit, I found it was actually pretty easy to start lucid dreaming by using the LILD technique. LILD is still one of my favorite ways to begin lucid dreaming, although now I use other techniques, too. Here’s how it works LILD is basically a symbol-induced type of dream. After all, what are letters other than symbols? When you practice letter induced lucid dreams, you start training your mind to check reality every time you encounter a certain symbol. I like to use actual letters because I’m around words a lot, but you can also use other symbols, or even concrete things. For instance, I have a friend who uses his cat instead of a letter because he sees her several times during the day and she often pops up in his dreams. Basically, you’re going to pick your symbol. It can be a specific letter, word, or being that you encounter during the day and that might also tend to pop up in your dreams. Not sure what symbols recur in your dreams? Start keeping a dream journal and recalling as much of your dreams as possible! Since our dreams are made up of mostly things we know and think about during the day, chances are likely that you’ve got some recurring symbols in your dreams like most people do. Once you’ve chosen your symbol, start training yourself to do a reality check each time you encounter that symbol during the day. If my symbol is the letter A, I’ll remember to do a reality check each time I see A during the day. I prefer to use capital letters, but you can use whatever you like. Then, at night, I’ll wake myself up after five or six hours and stay up for an hour. During that hour of wakefulness, I’ll concentrate on the letter A, remembering that whenever I see it, I’m supposed to do a reality check. Once my brain is trained to check reality, almost automatically, when it sees a capital A, I’ll normally remember to do a reality check in my dream when I encounter this same letter. You might think, “When is an A ever going to come into your dream?” But you’d be surprised! When you’re intentionally trying lucid dreaming, LILD is a 59

great way to start because the symbol or letter you choose will often automatically appear in your dream. You’ve been concentrating on that symbol for so long during the day, that it automatically becomes incorporated into your dream life. Then, when you do a reality check upon encountering your symbol, you can have LILD and start experiencing lucid dreaming at its best. Sexual Induced Dreams Sexual Induced Lucid Dreams – SILD – are some of the most enjoyable types of lucid dreams. If you’re like a lot of adults, you probably already have lots of sex-related dreams. SILD is an ideal lucid dreaming technique to use if this is the case. And actually, there are certain ways you can make yourself have sexrelated dreams more often, which means you can use this technique to become lucid even more frequently. How it works Like many other lucid dreaming methods, SILD is primarily a way to start recognizing that you are in a dream. In this case, instead of using a letter or another symbol to note that you need to perform a reality check, you use sexrelated things to remind you to do one. With SILD, most people will do a reality check when they think of or see their significant other or partner, or when they think of or experience sexual acts. Once you start doing reality checks throughout the day, whenever you think of something or someone you relate to sex, you’ll start doing the same thing in your dreams. Each time you encounter this act, symbol, or person in your dreams, you’ll remember to do a reality check. Once this becomes a habit, you’ll find that you start lucid dreaming more often than ever before. Getting sex into your dreams One of the best ways I know of to have more sex-related dreams is to refrain from having sex in real life, whether because of will, necessity, or circumstances. Since this isn’t a great way to live, though, you don’t have to resort to these extremes to have sex-related lucid dreams. Instead, you can give your body what it needs to boost your libido-forming hormones. When your libido is up, you’re much more likely to dream about sex, whether you’re getting any in real life or not! One way to up your libido is to take melatonin, serotonin, or tryptophan supplements. Now, of course, you’ll want to check with your healthcare 60

provider to ensure that these supplements are safe for you, but for the most part, they’re generally thought to be safe. Melatonin is actually used to help induce sleep, since it’s one of the hormones your body produces around bedtime. You may need to play around with it, since it might make you sleep longer than you want to and actually hurt your lucid dreaming progress even when using SILD. Serotonin is the feel-good hormone, one that your body releases during sex and other pleasurable activities. Tryptophan is converted in the body into niacin, which helps increase the production of sex-related hormones. Having a body full of sex hormones is a sure recipe for inducing sex-related lucid dreams. Another option is to eat chocolate, which is a well-known aphrodisiac on a chemical level. Chocolate offers phenylalanine, a compound that is eventually converted into another feel-good hormone, dopamine. Also, chocolate is highly recommended for lucid dreaming, anyway, because it contains choline, which can help induce more dreams than usual, and caffeine, which helps with dream recall. Using SILD To use SILD, you’ll simply start reality checking with every sex-thought you have. Once you use these chemicals to bring sex into your dreams more often, you’ll be able to use SILD all the time. Using SILD is one of the most pleasurable ways to induce lucid dreams. Since you’re using SILD, you’ll already be in the middle of something pleasurable in your dream when you become lucid and start to be able to manipulate the dream. Just imagine what you’ll be able to come up with when SILD starts to work for you. Urinate Induced Lucid Dreams Urinate Induced Lucid Dreams, or UILD, can be an interesting technique to induce lucid dreams. As you grow more proficient at becoming lucid during your dreams, you may not need to use such extreme techniques as this one and Thirst Induced Lucid Dreams. However, this can be a great way to start lucid dreaming or to get back into it if you’re having trouble. One reason I like Urinate Induced Lucid Dreams is that it can be performed by people who can’t use the Thirst Induced Lucid Dreams technique for health reasons. If you can’t dehydrate yourself, then over-hydrate yourself and use UILD to jumpstart your lucid dreams. 61

Here’s how it works UILD is a good way to get into the habit of doing reality checks. We all use the restroom at least three or four times throughout the day. Start by doing a reality check every time you use the restroom, wherever you are. Then, before you go to bed, load up on water so that you have to urinate during the night. Oftentimes, when you do this, you’ll actually dream of relieving yourself quite frequently. This way, you can remember to perform a reality check when you use the restroom in your dream. Another advantage of UILD is that it can automatically wake you up after the five or six hours you need to sleep off delta sleep. If you have to get up and go to the bathroom, then just do so. Before you go back to bed, though, drink some more water and stay up for a while. Staying up after a few hours of sleep and then sleeping for another hour or two is one of the best ways to induce lucid dreams, after all, as it coincides with the WBTB (Wake Back to Bed) technique. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have to go to the restroom again within an hour of drinking lots more water. Hopefully, you’ll dream about using the restroom and will remember to do a reality check when you’re dreaming about it. Once you recognize the fact that you’re in a dream, you can use UILD to become lucid and begin manipulating the dream world around you. Some potential setbacks Over-hydration can actually be a health risk for a few people with certain conditions. Disorders of the kidneys, for instance, can cause electrolytes in your body to drop, which puts you at risk for an over-balance of water in the body. If you know you’re at risk for over-hydration, be extra careful when using this technique. Some people, such as pregnant women or those with bladder problems, might be able to use the UILD technique without even drinking excessive amounts of water. If you already have to urinate frequently during the night, just start training yourself to do a reality check every time you urinate. Chances are that urination will factor into your dreams frequently, so you don’t need to do more than just train your mind to recognize and respond to this fact in order to successfully perform UILD. Of course, one of the major risks with UILD is actually urinating! Often times, when children wet the bed it’s because their bodies have less control over their bladders, and because they dream of wetting the bed or relieving themselves in 62

some way. If an adult bladder is over-full, the same problem can occur. If UILD could get you into an embarrassing situation, you may want to try a different technique. Is it effective? The truth is that UILD is effective for some people, particularly those who always find themselves using the toilet or WC in their dreams, anyway. Anyone can try this technique, though. You might be surprised and find that it’s the one that works best for you to start lucid dreaming. Chakra Induced Lucid Dreams (CILD) Chakra Induced Lucid Dreams, CILD, can be an effective way to start Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams. With a CILD, you aren’t actually relying on a symbol to become lucid once you’re already dreaming. Instead, you actually start out in a lucid dream because you’re slipping into sleep while remaining conscious. It sounds strange, I know, and it’s a hard practice to grasp for some. However, it’s also a very effective way to start lucid dreaming. Here’s what chakras are and how CILD works. What are chakras, anyway? In traditional Indiana and yogic medicine, chakras are essentially centers of energy in the body. The seven chakras run from the top of the head to the feet and represent places where energy comes from in the body. Each chakra, according to yogis, is related to certain functions of the body. The Saharara, the Crown Chakra, for instance, is associated with pure consciousness. The Manipura, the Solar Plexus Chakra, is associated with metabolic and digestive activities. How CILD works There are a couple of different chakras associated with dreaming and lucid dreaming in particular. The Throat Chakra, Vishuddha, is associated with sleep, waking, and the frequency of dreams. The Ajna, the Brow Chakra, which is also known as the Third Eye, is linked with visions, sleeping, and waking, as well. In one type of CILD, you simply focus your physical eyes on your brow, where your Third Eye resides. This technique works best if you’ve been asleep for five or six hours already so you can get through delta sleep. Wake up after this amount of time, and then settle comfortably by looking up with your physical 63

eyes to your third eye until you fall asleep. You should fall asleep within about three minutes, but if not, you can un-focus your eyes and try again. As you’re falling asleep, visualize that you’re having a lucid dream. This method may put you into a Wake Initiated Lucid Dream, where you essentially step straight from the “real world” into the dream world without ever losing consciousness. Even if you don’t experience lucid dreams when first using this technique, you may end up experiencing out-of-body dreams when you have a false awakening, which can be very exciting. When they first use CILD, some people simply experience dreams that are more vivid or real than usual. Some add in other yogic techniques to this basic practice of CILD. For instance, you might use the throat chakra by practicing yogic breathing and repeating “ah”, the seed-syllable associated with the throat chakra. Sometimes, they do both yogic breathing as well as visualization before bed and upon waking early in the morning to experience lucid dreams. These visualization techniques can help build up your intentions to have a lucid dream. They should always be combined with a repeated resolution or phrase that says you intend to have a lucid dream. When combined in this way, visualization, yogic breathing, and repetition can lead you into some very wonderful lucid dreams. Does it work for everyone? CILD doesn’t work for everyone, as most lucid dreaming techniques are different for each person. You may need to work for a while to get the breathing pattern down, and you also need to concentrate hard as you’re visualizing. However, this technique can be learned with repeated practice. One thing I really like about CILD is that it has benefits even if it doesn’t induce lucid dreaming right away. Like many yogic practices, CILD focuses on letting go and relaxing the body and mind. Incorporating this CILD practice into your everyday life may leave you feeling centered and calmer, even if it doesn’t work to get you dreaming lucidly right away. Clock Induced Lucid Dreams CLILD, or Clock Induced Lucid Dreams, are dreams where you use a clock to induce lucidity. There are a couple of different ways to induce dreams using clocks. One is a very traditional option for lucid dreaming, and the other 64

involves setting your cell phone alarm clock. Here’s what you need to know about CILD, which is a solid induction technique that might work for you. Traditional Clock Checking CLILD is arguably one of the oldest techniques in the book – at least as long as digital clocks have been around! Analog clocks tend to move in a pretty predictable way in lucid dreams, but digital clocks, for some reason, don’t. In many of the traditional lucid dreaming books, they’ll tell you to use your digital clock for a reality check if you find one near you. Basically, you just look at the clock, look away, and look back to the clock. If the time has changed unexpectedly, you’re in a dream, and you can use CILD to become lucid. Clocks are a pretty common dream symbol, too, so even analog clocks can be used for CLILD in the right way. If you find yourself dreaming lots of dreams in which clocks play a big part, you can start training yourself to do a reality check whenever you see clocks. There was a time in my life when I was stressed about time, so clocks would always be a part of my dreams, it seemed like. So, I decided to use that to my advantage with CLILD. Every time I saw a clock during the day, I’d do a reality check. In just a couple of weeks, I’d trained myself well enough that I was reality checking when clocks were featured in my dreams. It was a big breakthrough for me, and I was able to use CLILD become lucid more often as well as to start learning dream control methods that allowed me to make my dreams less stressful and more soothing. Newer Methods Lucid dreaming techniques are always evolving with dreamers. Recently, people have started using their cell phones for CLILD. Rightly, this can be either called Clock or Cell phone Induced Lucid Dreaming. Some dreamers are starting to use their cell phones, set on vibrate, to wake them during the night, so that they can then fall back to sleep and have a more lucid dream. This is the same thing as using an alarm clock to wake you. However, for those who have trouble going back to sleep, it may work better because the vibrations may not wake you all the way. If vibrations don’t wake you up at all, you can also attach your cell phone to your body in some way when you go to bed. Your cell phone can be set to vibrate, and you’ll feel the vibration during REM sleep if you time it correctly. 65

For a few days before you try it, you’ll want to set your cell alarm clock to vibrate in the same spot during the day so that CLILD will work at night. Every time it goes off, perform a reality check. Then, it will be a dream signal in your dreams. Apparently, new research shows that visual and tactile cues are better than audible cues for inducing lucid dreaming, so the vibration technique using CILD can work really well for you! Unfortunately, I use my cell phone on vibrate to actually wake me up in the morning, so this technique doesn’t work for me because my vibrating cell just wakes me up. Lots of people have had success with this high-tech method of CLILD, though, simply using their cell’s alarm clock to induce lucid dreaming at the right time during REM sleep each night. Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams (MILD) MILD, or Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams, are commonly combined with other lucid dreaming induction techniques. Mnemonics simply set you up to realize you’re dreaming, but they can be used with all sorts of other cues and techniques to help you understand that you are lucid. MILD combines particularly well with Punishment and Reward Induced Lucid Dreaming, as well as with many reality check techniques. What is MILD? With MILD, you’re basically giving yourself the set intention of realizing you’re dreaming. Intentions are incredibly important for lucid dreaming, so MILD is a great technique for beginners to learn, though more advanced dreamers still use it. This type of induction technique is really simple to use, since you’ll just be using a repeated phrase or mantra before bed every night. Repetition works in interesting ways in the brain. It helps take items of knowledge from the short to the long-term memory, and it can also work on the intentions, to set them in place so you know you need to follow through. Using MILD To start using MILD, you’ll first have to come up with your mnemonic, which is just a short phrase or mantra you can repeat to yourself about lucid dreaming and your intentions. You should be able to repeat the phrase within the space of a breath, since you’ll repeat it over and over. You also want to avoid the actual phrase “lucid dreaming” and instead use simpler language like “I’ll be aware 66

I’m dreaming.” One other tip is to mention time – as in, this will happen the next time you’re dreaming – and to remember to say what “will” happen, not what you “wish” or “want” to happen. A few common MILD phrases to borrow are:   

Next time I dream, I’ll realize I’m dreaming. Tonight, I’ll be aware I’m dreaming. In this next dream, I’m aware I’m in a dream.

Make sure the phrase you use fits you and feels comfortable, though. You can say your mantra out loud with MILD, or you can repeat it in your head. Keep repeating it as long as you can – hopefully until you fall asleep. It should ideally be the last thing you think of as you’re drifting into sleep. If you have trouble falling asleep while repeating a phrase, though, you can say it for a while, and then just focus on getting to sleep quickly. MILD is also a great visualization technique. Try to imagine yourself becoming lucid during a dream as you’re repeating your mantra. Many first-timers have trouble with this, as they don’t know exactly what becoming lucid feels like. Just try your best as you use MILD, and then make your visualization more specific after you’ve had a lucid dream. It’s best to use MILD after you’ve already been asleep for a while. Set a soft alarm to wake up you after about four and a half to six hours of sleep, and then fall back to sleep using your mantra. At this point, you’ll be more likely to drop right into REM sleep, prime time for lucid dreaming. You can also try combining MILD with WILD, though many beginning lucid dreamers have difficulty using WILD. My Experience with MILD When I was starting out in lucid dreaming, MILD was one of my go-to techniques. Sometimes when I’m experiencing difficulty becoming lucid for a couple of night in a row, as sometimes happens, I’ll go back to this method. Just remember that your intentions are vital. You have to really will yourself to become lucid when you’re dreaming, and it can make all the difference in the world!

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Totem Induced Lucid Dreams (TILD) Totem Induced Lucid Dreams, TILD, suddenly became the subject of more inquiry after the excellent, interesting movie Inception was released in theaters. The problem here is that there are a couple of different ways to understand TILD, and they’re really totally different. Here’s what you need to know about TILD. TILD Inception Style In Inception, TILD wasn’t really a way to induce lucid dreaming. Instead, it was a way to check if you were in your own dream or in someone else’s dream. In this case, a totem was a special object that had something off about it. Only the owner of the object would know how it felt to handle or was supposed to function. Some examples of totems from Inception are a weighted dice and a chess bishop that was hollowed out so it was lighter than it looked. Since only the owners of these items ever handled them, only their owners knew how they were supposed to feel or work. In Inception, when a person found themselves in a dream, they could pull out their totem. In their own dream, the totem would function or feel like it would in real life. For instance, the weighted dice would roll the same number like it would in real life. In someone else’s dream world, though, the totem would function or feel like it was totally normal, which was how the dreamer knew they were actually in someone else’s dream world. TILD is interesting when used in this way, and it can actually work if you are trying to get into another person’s dream. This is a very advanced technique, though, and you may not want to try it until you’ve been lucid dreaming for a while. TILD for Reality Checks Reality checks, as you may have heard elsewhere on this blog or in other lucid dreaming articles, are vital to becoming lucid in dreams. Once you realize that what you’re experiencing can’t be reality, you can become lucid by realizing you’re dreaming. In this case, TILD can use just about any object. Essentially, with TILD, you want to choose a small object you can keep with you at all times. Throughout the day, whenever you see or touch this object, do a 68

reality check. Then, in your dreams, you’re likely to pull out that item and use it for a reality check, so you can have a TILD. Another way to do TILDs is to use the totem itself for reality checking. If it’s something you always wear, you could do a reality check when you realize you aren’t wearing it in a dream, which is common. You could also choose a totem for TILD with some sort of writing on it. Chances are likely that in your dream, the totem will have different or strange writing on it rather than what you know is actually there. With TILD, you can use more advanced techniques like summoning your totem. Some people imbue their totems with the power to change their dreams when they find themselves lucid dreaming. However, this can be a difficult technique. You might not always find that you enter a dream state with your totem on your dream body, and summoning a dream object is an advanced dream control technique that you might have to work on for a while! I’ve tried TILD before, and it’s an interesting technique that definitely has some advantages. Remembering to do reality checks throughout the day when you encounter your totem is incredibly helpful in learning to become lucid during your dreams. Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams DILD, or Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams, are the most common types of lucid dreams, particularly for beginners. They stand in contrast to WILD – Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams – where you go directly from waking to dreaming without losing consciousness. In DILD, you do lose consciousness, fall asleep normally, and then realize you’re in a dream so you can become lucid only later. Some people can actually enter DILD’s without any training or practice at all first. You may have experienced this during naps or when you have to wake up at night and go back to bed, particularly. This is because during these times, your consciousness is closer to the surface, so to speak, even though you’re sleeping. People who have really weird, vivid, memorable dreams are also more likely to experience DILD without trying. The great thing about DILD is that anyone can learn to have these types of dreams with the right kind of training. It takes some people longer than others, but, seriously, anyone can do it. Once you’ve mastered DILD, the art of simply becoming lucid during your dreams, you can start having control over your dreams. This allows you to use dreams for problems solving, stress relief, or having any adventure you can imagine! 69

A Few Tips for DILD There are lots and lots of techniques for starting to have DILD’s. Different techniques work well for different people, so what works for me may not work for you. However, there are a few overarching techniques that you need to learn to make it more likely that you’ll become lucid during a dream. Here are just a few things to start with: 1. Start with a Dream Journal: A dream journal is just what it sounds like – a journal where you write down the content of your dreams. Having a dream journal can make you remember dreams more often. It’s also useful for finding symbols and items in your dreams that you can use for reality checks when you start working on more advanced lucid dreaming techniques. 2. Understand Reality Checks: Reality checks are the best way to become conscious during a dream. Basically, you start asking yourself, “Is this real?” If something isn’t real but you’re still seeing or experiencing it, you’ll know you’re dreaming. Common reality checks involve writing and clocks. When you might be dreaming, look at a piece of paper with some writing on it. Look away, and look back. When you look back it will probably say something different or be unreadable altogether. Digital clocks also tend to change time in strange ways during dreams. The best way to make reality checks a part of your dreams is to do them during the day frequently, either when you’re in places or see people and items that are in your dreams, or just at set intervals when you can look at a digital watch or read something. It may seem strange to do reality checks during the day, but this is the way to train your brain to have DILD lucid dreams, because you’ll soon subconsciously be performing reality checks in your dreams, too! 3. Other Dreaming Techniques: There are lots of other lucid dreaming techniques outlined here and in other places. Different techniques, such as CAT and WBTB can make DILD more effective and frequent. Learn about these techniques and try them, one or two at a time, to see which ones work best for your brain and the way it functions. Learning to have DILD’s isn’t terribly difficult, but for some it will take time and discipline. It was a couple of months before I was regularly having a DILD. Don’t give up, but keep pressing on, trying different things to see what works best for you.

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Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILD) WILD, or Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams, mean that you essentially move right from actual consciousness into a dream, maintaining consciousness the entire time. Having a WILD can be tough for beginning lucid dreamers, so it’s recommended that you try Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams – DILD – first. Sometimes, WILD is even a little scary, since weird things happen when you stay conscious through the entire process of falling asleep. However, WILD’s can be very rewarding. Since you’re going straight from one type of lucidity to another, you’ll be able to control your dreams more quickly, and you may find that you spend more time in dreaming lucidly. Plus, it’s just interesting to actually experience what your body will go through when you’re initiating lucid dreaming straight from a state of wakefulness. How to Have a WILD It’s easier to practice WILD, usually, if you have experience with meditation techniques, as these techniques can help you more easily get into a lucid dreaming state. However, you don’t have to have any pre-known skills to help you practice this lucid dreaming induction technique. Basically, you should probably start by waking up and going back to bed when it’s time for REM sleep to happen. Wake after about four and a half to six hours of sleep, stay awake for a while, and then go back to sleep. You may need to experiment with when you wake up and how long you stay awake, as your mind and body will work differently from everyone else’s, giving you varied preferences. The key here is to trick your body into falling asleep without making your mind go to sleep, too. Keep your mind clear while practicing WILD, since thinking too much can actually make you stay fully awake. Lie in a comfortable position with your body totally still, and your body will slip into sleep while you maintain consciousness. Often times, the scary part comes when you’re on the line between sleep and waking, as you’ll often experience hallucinations of different sorts. However, keep your mind clear and stay calm through these, as well as the body spasms that are likely to occur. When your body goes numb, you’ll probably be able to move your dream body while leaving your physical body in place. You can actively take part in forming the dream scenario if you’re experienced in such techniques, or you can use 71

WILD to just let the dream form. Eventually, you’ll need to actually enter the dream state and do reality checks. Keep in mind that when you are in a WILD, you may experience a false awakening. This is common. If you think you’ve woken up, remember to do a reality check, which can help you see if you’ve actually woken up or if you’re only dreaming that you’ve woken up. If you have a false awakening, you may be able to start practicing dream control techniques. WILD can be combined with many other techniques. In fact, it may be best if you have a few particular dream symbols that you use to prompt for reality checks, as this can help you know that you’re dreaming. You’d be surprised how it can be difficult to understand that you’re dreaming even when you’ve maintained consciousness between waking and sleep! In my experience, WILD is much harder than DILD. It’s best to already know something about lucid dreaming before attempting WILD, or you’re likely to just get frustrated and give up. Start out with DILD and learning to do reality checks. As you start to have lucid dreams more often, you can implement WILD techniques to see what works for you. If you’re having lucid dreams through other induction techniques, but are still having trouble with WILD, give this daydreaming exercise some practice. Cycle Adjustment Technique (CAT) The Cycle Adjustment Technique, or CAT, is one of my favorite lucid dreaming techniques for beginners because it’s simply really easy. You do have to be committed to learning how to dream lucidly with this type of technique, though, because it can be easy to give up on. It involves lots of discipline, but if you have plenty of that, it will dramatically and simply increase your chances of having lucid dreams. CAT is just what it sounds like – adjusting your cycle to make it more conducive to frequent lucid dreams. It will actually give you up to four lucid dreams a week – about one every other night. Your goal here is to make your brain more active during the early-morning REM cycles, which can lead to more vivid dreams and lucidity during dreaming. How CAT Works Your body has natural cycles, called circadian rhythms, that make it easier to sleep when it’s dark and stay awake when it’s light. But you also have learned 72

rhythms. If you’re like most people, you don’t sleep the entire time it’s dark, or you might wake up long after it’s light out. You’ve learned these cycles and can adjust them at will. In fact, it takes a surprisingly short time to adjust your body from one type of cycle to the next. Shift workers who go from an afternoons shift to a nights shift, for instance, can get their bodies switched over in the space of a couple of weeks, and CAT doesn’t ask you to make nearly such a dramatic shift! Basically, you’re going to spend one week waking up ninety minutes earlier than usual. It sounds tough if you aren’t a morning person, but it’s really not much. If you’re concerned about not getting enough sleep during CAT, put yourself to bed a little earlier than usual during this week, but be consistent about sleep and wake times. It’s very important when practicing CAT that you actually get up ninety minutes early, so practice putting your feet on the floor as soon as the alarm goes off, or you’ll “snooze button” yourself back into oblivion! After a week, start getting up ninety minutes early just every other day. Your body now expects to get up earlier. This means that on the days you’re sleeping in later, your brain will be more active ninety minutes before you wake up, which makes it much easier to become lucid while having early morning dreams. Some Tips for CAT Here are just a few things to know about CAT that might help you out: 1. CAT can be combined with other lucid dreaming techniques, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use it with MILD and specific reality check cues, particularly. 2. Every day you go to bed, set your intention to wake up at the earlier time. This way, your subconscious will start rousing your brain that early, even on days you’re going to sleep in. 3. On the days you wake up early, do anything except go back to sleep. Also, prepare your mind for the other days by doing frequent reality checks during these early morning hours. 4. If you wake up early on a sleeping-in day, try to get back to sleep or use WILD to induce a dreaming state. You can also use MILD and binaural beats to get into a dream state. CAT is a great technique for beginners, but many experienced lucid dreamers also find it helpful. There’s no pressure to have a lucid dream every night, which 73

can take a while to learn, anyway. Also, you can use CAT for as long as it works for you. Just keep up the discipline and get up early every other day, and you’re likely to consistently have lucid dreams on the in-between days. Wake Back to Bed Technique (WBTB) WBTB, or Wake Back to Bed, is one of the most popular lucid dreaming techniques for beginners and advanced lucid dreamers alike. It’s easy to combine with other lucid dreaming techniques, particularly WILD (Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams) and MILD (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams), and it’s similar to the Cycle Adjustment Technique. Here’s how this method works and how it can work for you. How Your Body Works Throughout the night, your body alternates with REM sleep, when you’re more likely to dream and much more likely to become lucid during your dreams. But you spend much of the night, in fact, in deeper forms of sleep, where your brain is too deep into unconsciousness to dream, let alone become lucid. However, with WBTB, you’re essentially trying to wake your body and brain up at the beginning of a REM cycle. The longest REM cycles tend to happen after between four and a half and six hours of sleep. When you use WBTB, you’re trying to catch this cycle, wake up, and go back to sleep, falling right into REM. Since you’ve just been conscious and will probably fall back to sleep so easily, lucid dreaming is easier to achieve. How to Practice WBTB Go to bed when you normally would, but set your alarm clock to allow you about six hours of sleep. When you wake up, you want to stay awake and alert for between twenty and sixty minutes. Make your feet hit the floor, and actually get out of bed for this part, or WBTB isn’t going to work! During this waking period, try to occupy your brain with lucid-dreaming related things. Skim forums about lucid dreaming, or read some of the latest books about it. After your time is up, go back to bed, and start relaxing. You can start winding down your brain by using MILD, visualizing about your next dream, or listening to a calming recording. WBTB will be best if you can get back to sleep relatively quickly. That’s it for the WBTB technique! When you fall back to sleep, you’ll go straight to REM, and you can be in and out of lucidity – or even have one long 74

lucid dream! – for up to about two hours before you go back into a deeper mode of sleep. It’s best to set your alarm to really wake you up within two hours, or you risk waking during one of these deeper sleep phases, which can leave you feeling pretty groggy for hours afterwards! Some Tips for WBTB 1. Make sure you’re still getting enough sleep to get through the day when you’re using WBTB. Some people only practice it on the weekends. If you want lots of lucid dreams throughout the week, you may need to go to bed a little earlier or squish up you morning routine so you can sleep a little later to make it happen. 2. If it doesn’t work in the first week or so, vary the time cycles for your WBTB practice. Wake up a little earlier to see if that works better for you, particularly if you only get six or a little more hours of sleep per night. You may also want to play around with how long you stay awake. I find that I can’t keep myself up for more than half an hour because my brain gets too active after that, and it takes way too long to get back to sleep. 3. Don’t be afraid to combine WBTB with other techniques. Many use MILD, as was previously mentioned, but you can also use stimulants like chocolate during your waking period, as the caffeine kick can enhance lucid dreaming, or you can use specific visualization techniques to try WILD if you’re a more experienced lucid dreamer.

Dream Journal or Shadow Book Creating a dream journal or shadow book is the primary step to take before you can begin intentionally having lucid dreams. If you’re not a regular journal writer, this might seem unnecessary to you. However, for reasons we’ll talk about here, it’s really an integral step in learning to have and control lucid dreams. Why keep a dream journal? A dream journal is important for several reasons. Even people who aren’t striving toward lucid dreaming may choose to use a dream journal as a way to help with dream interpretation. Your dreams are, after all, one of the ways your brain tends to work things out. If you can remember your dreams, you may be able to use various dream interpretation techniques to figure out what they mean.

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Keeping a dream journal is particularly important for learning lucid dreaming techniques, as well. This is because you must start to remember what occurs repeatedly in your dreams before you can train yourself to do reality checks. Checking reality is the way you “wake yourself up” inside a dream. You realize that you’re dreaming, and once you’re conscious of that fact, you’re already having a lucid dream. One way to start reality checks is to do them when waking or asleep whenever you encounter people, places, or things that occur frequently in your dreams. A dream journal helps you figure out just what occurs so frequently during your dreams. You’ll probably start to see patterns. Even if you don’t have the same recurring dream, a dream journal will help you pick up on places, people, and things that occur in many different dreams. Plus, it can just be fun to keep a dream journal. Once you start incorporating advanced lucid dreaming techniques into your journal entries, your dreams will become vivid, almost magical. I personally love reviewing my dream journal and reliving certain exciting dreams once in a while. Starting a dream journal You don’t need a fancy special book for a dream journal, but you should like your journal. Spend some time in a bookstore picking out a roomy journal that you like. Some people prefer line-free journals. I like mine to be ruled, but that’s totally up to you. It may depend on whether you tend to write more or draw more in your journal, since both techniques are acceptable. Basically, your dream journal will simply be a place where you’ll record any details of your dreams you can remember. When practicing lucid dreaming techniques, you’ll probably intentionally wake up during the night at least once or twice. As soon as you wake, focus on the dream you were having, and jot down either a full description or short-hand notes you can go back to later on. You want to get as detailed as you can here, and you always should try to give your dreams a memorable title so you can go back and read them again if you want. Oh, and don’t forget to list the date. You might end up with two or three separate dreams under each date, but try to keep individual dreams separated. One thing to note here is to leave a blank page at the end of each dream description. This will be space for you to practice various dream interpretation work. There are lots of ways to do dream work, and you can look at those as you study up on more advanced lucid dreaming techniques. 76

Using your dream journal or shadow book Some experts recommend that you not intentionally try lucid dreaming techniques until you can remember at least one dream every night. It’s not a big deal if you miss a night here and there, but the more aware of your dreams you are to start, the easier various lucid dreaming techniques will be for you. Keep your dream journal close to your bed so that you can write down your dreams immediately, and you might be amazed at what you find out about yourself. Reality Checking Reality checks are one of the most helpful tools you can develop if you’re trying to understand and practice lucid dreaming. Just think about it! How could you possibly be lucid in a dream unless you test reality to know that you are, indeed, in a dream? What are reality checks? You’ve probably been told before that you need a “reality check.” It’s a phrase we often use for bratty teenagers who need to get with “the real world.” In this sense, reality checks are simply an awakening to reality – to the way things truly are. When you’re practicing lucid dreaming, reality checks are similar. You’re simply asking your mind to see if the state of consciousness you’re currently in is physically or mentally induced. Once you find out that you’re in a mentally induced state, you can come alive to the fact that you’re in a dream. By that point, you’re lucid enough to have a real lucid dream and to start becoming active in your own personal dream world. Reality checks can be difficult When I first started to learn about lucid dreaming, reality checks were difficult. This is because it’s hard to remember to use a reality check when you’re in a dream, particularly when the dreams start out like mine do, as very realistic. I would simply think I’m in reality and let myself float along, unaware that I could become lucid and really begin experiencing my dream world.

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Luckily, there are a few simple ways to start building the habit of checking reality. The best and quickest way to train yourself to remember to do reality checks during a dream is to train yourself to do them regularly when you’re quite sure you’re awake. This might seem silly. “Why would I want to do a reality check when I know without doubt that I’m not dreaming?” you might ask. Well, the basic premise here is that you simply want to train yourself to do reality checks so that you’ll remember to do them in a dream. Look, unless you remember to do reality checks when you’re dreaming, you’ll be unable to experience the true state of lucid dreaming. You can’t wake yourself up if you’re assuming everything in your dream is real or, worse, if you’re simply failing to question your dreams at all! Techniques to remember to check reality Luckily, there are a few ways to make reality checks easier when you’re in a dream. One popular option is to start checking reality regularly during your waking hours. Now, this doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily check every hour on the hour. A better option, instead, is to let certain stimuli lead you to a check of reality. One way to do this is to figure out what stimuli often come up in your dreams. I, for instance, often see my best friend and my cat in my dreams. I also am often driving during my dreams. So now, whenever I see my best friend or my cat after a period of separation, I do a mental reality check. I also do this whenever I get into my car. Come up with your own list of a few things, places, or activities that appear often in your dreams, and do reality checks for those things when you’re awake. Then, when they come up again in a dream, you’re more likely to automatically do a reality check. How to do reality checks It’s a good habit to use the same reality checks every time. One popular test is to find something with writing on it. Read it once; look away, and then read it again. If the writing has changed or become unreadable, you must be dreaming. Digital clocks will also tell you if you’re dreaming, as they won’t behave properly in the dream world.

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By using reality checks, you’ll be able to see if you’re dreaming or in the waking world. Once you find that you’re dreaming and are lucid enough to even do a reality check, you’re in a lucid dream and will be able to do amazing things!

Dream Controlling Dream Control in General Dream Control is linked with lucid dreaming, although one doesn’t have to be there without the other. It’s common to think that you have to be lucid during your dream to have dream control, but this is actually not the case. In fact, some people have frequent dreams where they can impact the direction, plot, and setting of the dream without realizing they’re dreaming. Only after they’re awake do they realize that they controlled what parts of the dream they remember. However, dream control is certainly more common for lucid dreamers, particularly since it’s one of the goals of lucid dreaming. Being able to control your dreams is great on many levels. There are plenty of benefits to dream control, and there are several different ways you can gain control of your dreams.

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Benefits of Dream Control There are tons of theories out there about what dreams are really for. Most scientists and psychologists seem to agree, though, that when you’re in REM sleep and dreaming, as you experience it every night, you’re basically processing what you went through during the day. This is why dreams often hold symbols of things that have happened recently. When you can practice dream control, though, you can use this processing ability and take it to a whole new level. For instance, you can use your dreams to work through problems. Dream control allows you to actually think through and try out solutions to interpersonal or professional problems during your dreams, so you’re leveraging extra time you have while asleep to work on these problems. For many, dream control is a form of imaginative stress relief. Once you can control your dreams, you can go anywhere and do anything you want. It’s a really cheap vacation, essentially. You can fly, have superhuman powers, go to Tahiti, or even have a famous actor or actress fall in love with you. These fantasy scenarios can just be fun, but they can also balance your mind and help you blow off some steam. One other common benefit of dream control is that it can allow you to face your fears in a safe environment. When you’re lucid enough to realize you’re dreaming, you understand that the things you’re afraid of really can’t hurt you. Turn small spiders into big ones, and watch yourself get close to them without fear. It’s a great way to conquer phobias and minor fears in real life! Methods of Dream Control The first step to having control of your dreams is to induce lucid dreaming. There are many ways to do this, but the best is simply to train yourself to do reality checks during the day and during dreams. Eventually, you’ll realize things in your dream can’t be real, and you’ll become lucid while you’re dreaming. Controlling your dream once you’re lucid inside it is as simple, really, as thinking about what you want to dream up. Once you know you’re in a dream, you can direct your imagination to take hold. Of course, it’s a little more complicated than this when you want to do things like time travel or fly, but this is the basic idea.

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One thing many experts recommend is turning around in your dreams. Close the eyes of your dream body, and expect what you want to see to be there when you turn and open your eyes. Do a complete rotation, open your eyes, and the thing you want to see should be there. This works for changing clothes, changing locations, bringing specific objects into a dream, and even bringing specific people into a dream. As you get better at lucid dreaming, dream control will come more naturally, too. Flying and how to fly in Lucid Dreaming Flying or even drowning in dreams is pretty common even in non-lucid dreams. Lots of people relish in the feeling of freedom and weightlessness that you get when you fly in a dream and can’t experience anywhere else except in a rocket ship! If you want to fly in your dreams, there are a few specific things you need to do to exert this sort of dream control. Here’s what you need to know. Essentials for Dream Control Dream control is essentially believing in and understanding that you can do whatever you want in your dreams. Of course, the first step is to become lucid. After that, you’ll need to understand that you can do whatever you want in your dreams. Believing and imagining what you want to happen in your dreams, as well as thinking about specific people, places, and things you want to experience in your dreams as you’re falling asleep, are great ways to start gaining control over your lucid dreams. Steps for Flying in Your Dreams Many times, you can fly in your dreams by becoming lucid during a flying dream. Since flying is an impossibility in real life, when you find yourself flying in a dream, it’s a great time to do a reality check. Becoming lucid during a flying dream often allows you to simply take control of how and where you fly in that dream. If you become lucid in a dream where you aren’t already flying, you can start telling yourself a story involving flying. Storytelling and visualization are great ways to start moving toward actually flying. As you’re telling yourself a story, your dream will most likely start to follow after the story that’s found in your mind. As you’re dreaming, you can start to fly, as well, by starting to move in that direction. For instance, you can start by jumping just a little ways off the ground, and each time you jump, allow your dream body to get higher and 81

higher. Visualize yourself becoming lighter and lighter as you go, and eventually you can start to become weightless and fly. Another option is to visualize that you have wings. Then it would just make sense that you can fly. This is a good technique to use as you’re falling asleep. Picture that you have wings as you’re falling to sleep, and you’ll be more likely to have them – and be able to use them! – in your dreams. Other options for this technique include visualizing that you have a jetpack or a flying bike, or you can picture yourself jumping off of the Empire State Building or a diving board in the sky. Visualization as you’re falling asleep can be a great option, as well. If your goal is really to fly in your lucid dreams, you can paper your ceiling with posters and photos of flying. If you’re stimulated by the written word, you might also want to put up some quotes about flying. Since your dreams tend to mimic what you see when you’re awake, this can help you be more likely to fly in your dreams. Finally, using MILD, or mnemonics, can help you increase your odds of flying during a dream. Come up with a phrase you can tell yourself as you’re falling asleep, such as “I will fly in my dream tonight.” Say it over and over to yourself as you’re falling asleep. This sets your intentions toward flying in your dreams, and intentions can make all the difference when it comes to flying and doing just about anything else in your dreams.

How to Teleport in Lucid Dreaming? Teleporting in lucid dreams can be one of the most fun things you can do. It’s great for relaxation, particularly, since you can explore places you’ve never been to. Tough week? Check into a beach resort in your dream, and enjoy a drink on the white, sandy beach. Need a mental challenge? Climb a mountain in your dream. There are tons of different ways to teleport once you’ve become lucid in your dream. The main thing to remember here is that when you start becoming lucid, you may want to just observe a couple of dreams to learn to keep your lucidity. Sometimes trying to take control of your dreams too early can cause you to actually wake up. The second thing to remember is that in dreams, you have to believe and know that you can go places, do things, and see people – whatever you want! If you can believe it, you can dream it.

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Techniques for Teleportation Like other dream control techniques, teleportation techniques work differently for different people. Some are fairly common, and others are totally unique and creative. Starting with some of the more traditional methods is a good idea, but you might be able to modify them to work better for you. With experience, you might come up with totally new ways to teleport, too. Here are three of the most common ways to teleport while dreaming: 1. Spin in a Circle. Many times, people find they can make people, things, and new places appear in their dreams by spinning in a circle. Once you can control your dream body, simply start picturing where you want to teleport to as you’re spinning in a circle. Most people find it’s best to leave their eyes open and to spin quickly so they lose track of the landscape like they would in real life. Some people need to close their eyes, but you’re more likely to lose your lucidity this way, so you might try spinning with your eyes open first.When you get done spinning, you simply expect to find the new landscape there. Remember, you have to really know and expect that you’re going to be in the place you’ve imagined. 2. Use Images to Jump Into. Have you ever watched the silly kids’ show Blue’s Clues? In the show, the characters can jump into paintings and become a part of them. It’s not a new concept, and it’s been around in the imagination for ages. It’s also one of the simplest ways to jump from one place to another in a lucid dream. First, you need to find or imagine a postcard, poster, photo, window, or even computer screen that features a picture of the place you want to go. (You might even get a postcard to look at as you’re falling asleep, if this type of visualization seems to work well for you.) Then, simply start pushing, walking, or falling into the picture, and you can end up inside of it, in the place you want to be. 3. Open a Door. Another common way to teleport is to simply walk through a door. Many experienced lucid dreamers find this is the simplest way to teleport, as well as the quickest. Simply imagine that there’s a door in front of you – an ordinary door or something special, it’s up to you. Spend a second believing that you’ll find the place you want to go behind the door. When you open the door, your new place will be there, and you can simply walk into it. This tends to be a bit quicker than spinning in a circle, and it may also lead to less destabilizing of your dream. If you’re having trouble imagining a door, simply expect it to be behind you, and turn around to see it magically appear. 83

How to Mind Control Mind control of other characters in your lucid dreams can be a great way to manipulate the course of your lucid dreams. There are several different ways to control other characters in your dreams. Some are more like regular manipulation that lets you still interact with the characters on more of a normal level. Other methods, though, involve total mind control – as you’d get with a magic spell or something that allowed you to get a person to do exactly what you want. As with any other dream control method, mind control of other dream characters basically involves believing you can control the actions, thoughts, or words of other characters. It isn’t rocket science, and different people will use different techniques to make it happen. Just remember, though, that when you’re lucid dreaming, you’re totally in control and can do pretty much whatever you want – even act through other characters when it pleases you. Mind Control Techniques There are as many mind control techniques as there are dreamers who practice this form of dream control. However, these three basic techniques can get you started. If one doesn’t work, just try another one. You can even modify the existing methods to work for your needs exactly. Here are just three ways to mind control other characters in your dreams: 1. Just know what the characters are going to do before they do it. Some dreamers find that it’s a little like watching a movie that they’ve seen before, where they already know what other characters are going to do. The difference is that they’re making up the plot line and the actions of other characters to suit themselves! You, too, can practice this sort of soft mind control. Just start interacting with other characters in your dream and knowing what they’re going to do before they do it. You’ll find that they’ll do whatever it is you thought they would. 2. Actually tell dream characters what to do, assuming they’ll follow your instructions. Tell a character to kiss you or fly you to the moon – whatever. Just fully expect that they’re going to follow your instructions, and they will. This can be a little less fun because it seems more direct, but it can work if you’re having trouble with mind control techniques at first. It still gives you a way to control your dream characters, so it’s definitely an option to try. 3. Control them with magic. Many video game players and fantasy readers, in particular, find that it’s easier to make things happen in their dreams 84

through magic. If you want to mind control someone, cast a mind control spell on them like you might in a video game. You can cast a spell with words, looks, actions, or a magic wand you’ve created as a dream object – whatever works for you best. One problem here is that you might have to work around your preconceived video game and fantasy ideas of what mind control looks like if you want something different. For instance, some mind control spells let you see through the eyes of the other character and perform actions for them, and others make the characters puppet-like. You can use these effects if you want, but don’t be afraid to let your imagination break outside the box of what mind control looks like through magic. Controlling other characters can help you mold the plot of your lucid dream. Sometimes you might need to actually populate your dream world with characters intentionally, but people often find the characters are already there, just waiting to be interacted with in their dreams.

How to Shapeshift? Shapeshifting in lucid dreams is one of the ways in which you can have a great time with your dreams. It’s also one way to conquer your fears, since you can become what you fear or the enemy of what you fear and lessen your fear of it. Another reason to shapeshift is to make things like flying and breathing underwater simpler and more natural in your dreams. As with other types of lucid dreaming adventures, lucid dreamers from around the world have formed various opinions on how to make shapeshifting easier in your dreams. The first step, of course, is to become lucid during your dreams. There are many ways to do this, but it’s best to have some experience doing it before you try to shapeshift, as dream control is simpler once you’ve established a solid ability to induce lucid dreams. Also, you need to believe that you have the ability to do whatever you want in your lucid dreams, including shapeshift. Willing and believing that something will happen is essential to controlling your dreams, no matter what you want to do. Popular Ways to Shapeshift While there are as many methods for shapeshifting as there are lucid dreamers who try to turn into something else during their dreams, there are a few methods that are more popular than others. You might start with these methods, and then 85

find that a modified version of one of them works best for you. In the process of working on shapeshifting, you might even discover that you come up with a totally unique method that’s all your own. Here are three popular techniques for shapeshifting in lucid dreams: 

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Make a Mirror. One of the main tools people use for shapeshifting in lucid dreams is a mirror. One option is to look into a mirror, change your body shape in a mirror, and then jump or walk through the mirror. When you come out on the other side, you’ll be the thing you’ve shapeshifted into. Some people like to use the mirror kind of like an artist’s canvas. They’ll use their hand – or other tools, if necessary – to paint or sculpt themselves a new shape in the mirror. When they get done, they’ll be the shape they’ve come up with in the mirror. Your body can be like paint or like dough in this case, depending on what you prefer. Potions and Magic Items. Sometimes you can use an outside influence to change. Imagine that on a table or in the next room there’s a pill or potion that can magically transform you into what it is that you want to be. This can help you believe more fully that you’ll become what you want to be. It’s a helpful technique for beginners who don’t like the mirror method, particularly. Just Do It. Some people find it helpful to simply become what they want to be. For some, this means envisioning changes in all the major parts of the body section by section. For others, it means simply knowing that you’re going to become something and then becoming it. For instance, you might say “I’m going to become a cardinal,” and then jump into the air so you start flying and automatically become a cardinal.

One of the problems with shapeshifting for some, however, is that it can also lead to a change of scenery. You might have to become more adept at it before you can keep this from happening. You can always shapeshift, as well, and then practice teleporting back to where you want to be, though this may be too much dream control at first. How to change the scenery? Changing the scenery in your lucid dreams is a little bit like teleporting, but it’s also different for some people. Sometimes, you want to stay in the same place but want to change the weather or the season. Other times, you want to morph the scenery into something fantastic or alien, and it may be easier to actively change the scenery rather than to attempt to teleport to a place you’ve never been or know isn’t actually real. 86

As with everything else in dream control, you simply need to know that you can change the scenery. Don’t believe you can do it! Just expect it to happen. Expectations are everything in lucid dreaming, so once you become lucid, start working on expecting things to happen and then just watching them happen.

Basic Ways to Change the Scenery There are hundreds of ways to cause scenery to change in lucid dreams, and every dreamer has a unique way to do it. However, a few basic techniques have shown themselves to be helpful to many lucid dreamers over time when they want to change the scenery. Here are a few of the most popular and most effective scenery changing techniques out there – I’ve personally tested all of these. 1. Spin. Spinning in lucid dreams is one of the most valuable tricks for some people. For some, it causes the dream to become unstable and causes them to wake up. Others, though, find that the physical sensation of spinning gives them more control. Spin in a complete circle while you imagine the scenery changes you want to happen. When you’re done spinning, expect the scenery to be different, and it will. 2. Imagine New Scenery. Using your imagination within a lucid dream is helpful. Some people like to close their eyes and imagine the scene they want to be there when they open them, expecting that scene to be there. Others find that it’s helpful to describe the scenery they want to change in words, which can make the imagination work in more detail. Some people find they cannot close their eyes, as it makes the dream unstable or causes them to wake up. 3. Flip a Switch. When you want to turn things from night to day, which can be one of the toughest things for some to master, imagine a switch that can turn on the sun or the moon – or turn them off again. You can actually use switches for all sorts of things, like making water run or stop running. 4. Use a Watch. If you’re doing landscape changes that could happen in time – as in seasonal changes, changing night to day or day to night, or even making a canyon – you might want to fast-forward time. Simply look at a clock or watch, and make the numbers go faster. You could also look at a calendar and make the days go faster if you’re doing major changes. Sometimes this feels more natural, since time would have changed the landscape, anyway. 5. Walk Through a Door. This is a method also used for teleportation, but it can work for simply changing the scenery, as well. With this method, you just envision a door and know that the scenery you need to find is behind it. Walk through the door, and you’ll find the new scenery there. If you 87

aren’t able to spontaneously conjure up a door at first, and if there aren’t any doors in your immediate vicinity, then expect a door to appear behind you when you turn around, and it’ll be there. These are certainly some very effective techniques to change the scenery in a lucid dream. Experiment with these five options until you figure out what works best. As always, use your own imagination and preferences to make sure you’re using techniques that work for you.

How to create Dream Objects? Creating dream objects can be both fun and helpful in the dream world. Some dream objects, like potions and magic wands, can be helpful in making other things happen in your dream world, such as changing the scenery or making teleportation possible. Other times, dream objects are just for fun. There are several different ways to work with dream objects, and they’re similar to changing the scenery in your dream or even transforming yourself into something or someone else. The first thing you need to know about any dream control technique is that you have to believe something will happen. You need to tell yourself “I will be holding X when I open my eyes” not “I hope I’m holding X when I open my eyes.” There’s a big difference, and the dream world will definitely react more easily when you know things are happening in your dreams. While you don’t need dream objects to make things happen, they can be helpful. These types of objects can further assist you in making yourself believe that things are going to happen in your dream. For instance, when you have a magic wand as one of your dream objects, you know that magic will cause the necessary changes to happen in your physiognomy or your landscape so that you can make your dreams come true, literally! Tips for Creating Dream Objects Creating dream objects is similar to changing the scenery for many people. Techniques are often similar, and they often involve many of the same basic ideas. As with any other dream control technique, though, creating dream objects can depend very much on your personality and what you prefer to do in your dreams. You might work better with word-based techniques or visionbased techniques, depending on who you are as a person.

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Here are some of the top techniques I’ve used to create dream objects: 1. Simply imagine that it’s in your hands. When you open your eyes, believe it will be there, and it will be there. You can do the same thing with objects on your head, on your feet, or pretty much anywhere else. This is a good technique to use if you already know you can have some control over your dreams. 2. Put the object in the next room. This is slightly more helpful for some people than simply having an object appear in their hands. Say to yourself, “When I walk into the next room, there will be X on the table.” Objects can more easily pop up in another room, sometimes, especially if you’re in a place where that object “makes sense.” 3. Keep objects around in your dreams. You can “store” objects in your dreams after they pop up naturally or you’ve already made them. Simply leave an object in a place – this can work for dream companions and people, too, sometimes – and know that it will be there when you return to that particular location. If you don’t automatically end up in that place in your dream, you can teleport to that place. This is a helpful technique if teleporting is easier for you than creating objects from scratch. These techniques are certainly not the only ways to create objects in your dream, but they are some of the most common. You might also choose to give objects certain powers. This is easiest, for some, with objects we already associate with power, such as magic wands. However, you can also imbue everyday objects, like your real-life favourite baseball cap, with special powers that can help it make your dreams more fun and interesting.

How to become Invincible? One of the best things about lucid dreaming is that you can become invincible. It’s great when you’re using your dreams as tools to fight your worst fears, which can be a great way to get over a phobia. Play around with invincibility, and you can also have some great superhero dreams that will leave you feeling thoroughly empowered when you wake up. Invincibility is similar to other things in your lucid dreams, in that as long as you can believe you’re invincible, you can become invincible. For some lucid dreamers, this is all it takes to become invincible or fly or whatever. Newer dreamers, though, might need to use some popular techniques to help them become invincible in dreams.

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Keep in mind that whatever you do, you may need to start out small. Test your invincibility as you go, and as you do, you’ll start to believe it more, which gives you even more power to be invincible against your worst nightmares.

Techniques to Become Invincible Of course, there are as many ways to become invincible in dreams as there are dreamers who want to become invincible. The key to successfully controlling your dreams is being creative and imaginative. Figure out what works for you, and stick with it. These techniques have been used by lots of other dreamers, though, so you might start here to see what works for you. 1. Give yourself a cloak or suit of invincibility. Creating dream objects is a great way to make yourself invincible or do just about anything else in your dream. Just imagine that there’s a special piece of invincibility equipment in the next room, and then go get it. (This often works for me, as I can just walk into the next room and it’ll be there.) It can be anything you want – even just a piece of jewellery. Once you put it on, know that you’re going to become invincible, and then enjoy fighting all your dream monsters as an invincible superhero. 2. Just become invincible, and test it slowly. Telling yourself that you’re invincible now in your dream will work, as long as you can believe that you’ll be invincible. First, try something like shooting yourself in the foot that you know wouldn’t be fatal anyway. If that works, then try jumping off a building or doing something equally crazy that will let you see if you’re invincible. Just a couple of tests will tell you if this method works for you or if you actually need to start by creating a dream object of invincibility. 3. Use video game methods. Video gamers normally have an easier time with dream control because they’re so used to controlling dream-like situations in video games. If you’re a gamer, this technique for invincibility will probably be most useful for you. Imagine a life bar in the corner of your dream perspective that gives you 9999 hit points. Just imagine that no matter what happens to you, that hit points bar stays the same, so you never actually take any damage. Of course, this can work for non-gamers, too, but it seems to work particularly well for people who have at least played a few video games. There are all sorts of other ways to become invincible while you’re practicing other superhuman powers, like superhuman jumping or superhuman speed. It makes your dreams so much more interesting when nothing can hurt you. Once you become invincible, try facing some of your worst fears, whether it’s spiders 90

or heights or whatever. You’ll find that if you can beat your fears in your dreams, it will be much easier to fight them and overcome them in real life.

Swimming with Infinite Oxygen Want to learn how to swim with infinite oxygen? Knowing how to swim with infinite oxygen is a great way to confront new dream monsters or to explore oceans untouched by humans ever before. Plus, it’s not that hard to swim with infinite oxygen in your dreams. Learning how to swim with infinite oxygen in your lucid dreams is like using any other dream control technique. You need to make sure you understand that you’re totally in control of your lucid dreams, and once you have this understanding, you can do just about anything you want, including swimming for hours without needing to surface for air. As with most control techniques, it’s a good idea to test the waters first. I’d start out by learning to swim with infinite oxygen in a smaller lake, for instance, before I moved into the ocean depths where my subconscious would know that pressure might also present a problem. Techniques to Swim with Infinite Oxygen There are as many techniques to swim with infinite oxygen as there are lucid dreamers who are interested in this form of dream control. As with other dream control techniques, though, some are more common than others. These three techniques are some of the most common, but you can feel free to modify them to suit your own needs however you want. 91

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Create a dive suit that gives you unlimited oxygen. You can swim with unlimited oxygen if you have a suit that will let you do it. Sometimes creating dream objects can help make something easier, and this is definitely one of those cases. My suggestion would be to think about what your dive suit will be like when you’re awake. Then, in your dream, you can just pull up your vision and put it on right away. I’d suggest either using dive tanks that automatically refill themselves or never run empty in the first place or using a specialized dive suit that pulls your oxygen from the surrounding environment. Speaking of pulling oxygen from the surrounding environment, one of the best ways to swim with infinite oxygen is to become a fish. Do a potionbased transformation, or look in the mirror, and give yourself gills. You can swim even faster with fins. Of course, you could also transform into a magical creature like a mermaid that doesn’t need to have ugly gills to breathe in the water and on land. One other option is a video game fix. In most games where you can get your humanoid character underwater, you’ll have a breath bar that will show you how long your oxygen will hold out before you need to surface to take your next breath. Just put a breath bar in the upper corner of your dreamscape, and imagine that it has thousands of hours left on it. Technically, thousands of hours still isn’t knowing how to swim with infinite oxygen, but it’s close enough for all intents and purposes for lucid dreamers.

Of these three, my favourite technique is to just become a mermaid because I think it’s extra fun, but any of these options will work well for you if you just believe that it will work. Just remember: dream control is all about understanding that in your dreams, you’re the one with the power. You can do anything you want, including swim with infinite oxygen. So if you want to explore the underwater recesses of your dream world, use these techniques to swim with infinite oxygen. Just make sure you take a flashlight to see into all those cool underwater caves and coral reefs.

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Super Human Speed Developing superhuman speed in your dreams can be fun. It can allow you to play out interesting story lines in which you’re the hero. It can also make you get from point A to point B faster, which means you can accomplish more within your dream. Whether you’re slow in real life and want to move faster, or you want to do more in your dream, you can develop anything in your dreams, including superhuman speed. Lots of people develop the ability to fly, so why not have the ability to run fast? Superhuman speed in your dreams can take on lots of different forms. Some people like to fly really fast, and for others, it’s all about running speed. Still others practice speed reading, which is a little different, or simply get tasks done more quickly so they can solve problems more easily in their dreams. Like all other types of dream control, superhuman speed in your dreams takes a bit of practice. It also means that you have to believe you can do it. This can be the hardest part, which is why some people grant themselves special objects to lend speed, which we’ll talk about in a second. This type of dream control can be difficult for some people to exert, but it’s still worth trying if you’re interested. Tips for Attaining Superhuman Speed You don’t have to run on a treadmill all day to get superhuman speed at night. All you have to do is let your imagination grant you the ability of moving really, really fast. For most people, this takes the form of either running or flying fast, and it really comes in handy when you have dreams where you’re fighting bad 93

guys and such. It can also work as a form of teleportation, of sorts, if you can run across the country or the world in just a few seconds. Here are some of the best ways to achieve superhuman speed in your dreams: 1. Don’t think too much! One of the biggest problems many analytical people, in particular, face during lucid dreaming and dream control is that they think too much. When you’re running as you’re awake, do you spend time telling your legs how to move? Once you’ve learned to do an action like running without thought, chances are likely that thinking about it will only make you screw up. The same thing goes for your dreams. If you think about your ability too much, it’ll be too much to concentrate on, and you’ll start to lose the threads of your dream or to simply get frustrated. 2. Focus on getting where you’re going. Some dreamers find that focusing on getting from point A to point B at superhuman speeds is the best way to develop speed. They’re not imagining so much that they’re running really fast as that they’re getting somewhere really fast. The running just comes naturally after that. 3. Give yourself special boosts. If you have a hard time with belief in your dreams, dream objects might help you out. If you can’t believe and know that you’re going to have superhuman speed in your dreams, then give yourself special shoes or a jet pack that give them to you. You could even drink a “magic potion” for speed if you want. Anything like this that you can know will work will succeed in making you speed up in your dreams. Remember, if you don’t get superhuman speed the first time you try, don’t give up. Keep trying, but don’t focus on it too hard. Just have fun with it, and let your imagination run wild with your lucid dreams!

Lucid Dreaming Magick Lucid dreaming magick is a great way to take control of your lucid dreams more easily and effectively. If you can’t believe that you can make things happen just by saying them in your dreams, then you can probably believe that you can make them happen by magic, particularly if you read fantasy or play fantasy video games. Let’s be honest, though. Who doesn’t have some sort of belief in magic? If it was real, then why wouldn’t it work? So, if you can just make magic real in your dreams, then you can make just about anything happen. 94

Lucid dreaming magick is one of the most intuitive and popular dream control techniques for many people. It seems to just come naturally for some. If you aren’t sure how lucid dreaming magick might work for you or how you can make it happen in your dreams, though, here are a few tips. Making the lucid dreaming magick Lucid dreaming magick can be used to accomplish any number of things in your lucid dreams. You can use lucid dreaming magick to fly or jump over tall buildings, to defeat scary dream characters, or to make yourself teleport to a new dreamscape. Lucid dreaming magick isn’t terribly hard to implement, either, and you may find that lucid dreaming magick quickly becomes one of your favorite lucid dreaming techniques. Magick objects. One way many people make lucid dreaming magick work is by creating magic objects to use for other purposes. You can just make an allpurpose magick wand, if you want, or you can have different types of objects for different purposes. For instance, maybe you can find a magick bird feather that makes you teleport to a certain type of dreamscape or a magick rock that gives you the power to fly. If you want to have magick objects available for you to use, the simplest thing to do is simply know that they’ll be in the next room, under another existing object, or in your pocket. When you go to get them, they’ll be there. When you want something very specific out of your magic object, it’s a good idea to spend some time picturing it to yourself before you go get it. You’ll find just what you wanted in the spot where you told yourself you’d find the magic object. However, you may also just want to find a magic wand but let your mind make up for itself what that looks like. Personally, I think this is more interesting and fun than telling your brain exactly what you want. Magick words. Of course, when most people thing about magick, they think about magic words. Your lucid dreaming magick doesn’t have to work with generic magick words like abracadabra, but it’s a good idea if you want to come up with your own magick words. You could have a more complicated magic language where different words bring on different effects, or you could just have one all-purpose magick word or phrase that does whatever you have in mind at the time. Magick potions. Lucid dreaming magic can often be brought on by magick potions and pills. Again, just picture that they’re in the next room or in your pocket or whatever, and they’ll be there. Then, you can use them to accomplish 95

whatever ends you have in mind. Magick potions can make you fly, turn into a giant, or become another creature. If you want to get really creative about it, you can mix up your own magic potions according to your recipes. What kind of magick do you believe in? Chances are that your lucid dreaming magic will match up well with magick you’ve read about or experienced through video games already!

Super Human Jumping Superhuman jumping can be super fun in your dreams. Whether you’re fighting bad guys or leaping tall buildings just for the fun of it, you can jump long and high in your dreams. Once you start lucid dreaming, you can do pretty much anything you want, and superhuman jumping shouldn’t be a problem. Like superhuman speed, most people find that if they concentrate too much, they’ll fail. You may also need to give yourself props to make the jumping simpler or, well, more believable. First, of course, you’ve got to be lucid dreaming. There are all sorts of ways to start lucid dreaming, and once you can exert dream control, you can start making yourself jump fifty miles long or fifty miles high – whatever you want! You also need to make sure that you believe you can jump. You really need to know that you can jump with superhuman power, since lucid dreaming is all about knowing you can do something. 96

While there are a few tried-and-true techniques to aid in superhuman jumping, people are constantly making up their own. Just use your imagination and creativity, both of which are key in lucid dreaming dream control success. Techniques for Superhuman Jumping Attaining your goal of superhuman jumping isn’t too hard if you use some of these tried and true techniques. Here are some of the best techniques various lucid dreamers have come up with to start jumping. 1. Simply start jumping. Believe that you can jump, and jump higher and higher with each jump. This can work if you can just know that you’ll achieve superhuman jumping. For some, it works so well that they can actually achieve their superhuman jump on the first try. This doesn’t always happen, so if you need to gradually work up to it, just do it! 2. If you want to jump onto or over something, look down at it after you jump. Let’s say you want to jump on top of a skyscraper. Obviously when you start jumping, you’ll be looking up at the skyscraper, but if you just keep looking up, you’ll never reach the top because you’re already subconsciously assuming you won’t jump high enough to see the top. After you’ve jumped, imagine looking down on the top of the building. Nine times out of ten, this has worked for me. 3. Give yourself a boost. Sometimes logical people, in particular, have a hard time believing they can do things like jump super high in their dreams. If you can’t believe it, then you won’t be able to do it. One of the best ways to make things more believable is to give yourself a boost. You could create a special pair of shoes to use in your dream, or even a jetpack that adds power to your jumps. Another option is to imagine that you’ve got a magic potion in your pocket that will allow you to jump insanely high for the next three hours. Things like this, because they make it more believable to me, have actually helped me to achieve my goal of jumping high and far in my lucid dreams. Like all other things you might want to control in your dreams, you may find totally new techniques for superhuman jumping that work for you. Sometimes one technique, like just starting to jump, will work, and other times, it won’t. For many lucid dreamers, starting out with a boost in the form of a dream potion or object is easier, and you can wean yourself off of it and end up jumping all on your own later on.

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How to Time Travel Who doesn’t dream about travelling through time as a kid? It’s a pretty common wish of the human race to want to travel in time – either into the past or into the future. It’s a pretty common theme in fiction, and sometimes it pops up in nonlucid dreams. One of the best parts about lucid dreaming, though, is that you can travel through time wherever and whenever you want! Time travel is about the same as teleportation or changing your landscape. You’re just changing your time as well as your space – or maybe you’re changing your time without changing your space. There are lots of different techniques that help with time travel. The most basic rule, though, is that you have to make sure you believe you can and will travel through time. This is the essential rule about doing anything in your dreams. If you can believe it and imagine it, then you can do it! You might find that traditional time travelling techniques don’t work well for you, but maybe they will. Start out by trying these techniques, and modify them to suit you. Just keep in mind that you will travel to other times when you’re in lucid dreams. Time Travel Techniques These time travel techniques are commonly used by lucid dreamers to help them travel in time. You might end up using other techniques to time travel, but these are just some ideas to get you started. 1. Build a time machine. Most people find that this is the easiest way to travel. Your machine can be full of bells and whistles, or it can just be a box. It could be a car or a plane, too. Whatever appeals to your imagination and seems believable to you will work! Building a time machine works because it adds believability to your dream and helps you make sure you can really know you’ll be traveling in time. Your time machine might take you places at random, but you could also make it so that you can program times in the past or future and go exactly where you want. 2. Walk through a door. This is a simplified method of the time machine. Simply imagine a doorway, and know that when you walk through it, you’ll be in another time. This is a lot like changing the landscape, but it’s also a more streamlined version of the time machine. 98

3. Speed up or reverse time. This can work with calendars or watches, particularly well. Imagine your time keeping piece, and then make time fast forward or reverse. Either one should work, though some people find it easier to fast forward than to reverse at first. You can actually watch time changing around you if you can maintain concentration. This technique works best for smaller blocks of time. You don’t want to tear off calendar pages all the way back to the stone ages, after all! 4. Think about the time period before you go to bed. This can help with almost anything you want to do in your lucid dreaming. If there’s a time period you’re particularly interested in, read about it when you use the Wake Back to Bed technique. You can also use posters of people, places, or events from that time period to meditate on as you fall asleep. This is a little less spectacular than time travel, since you’re more likely to just end up in a dream about the time period. However, it can work for getting you to the time period you want to experience.

How to shop time? Stopping time in dreams is an interesting technique that can allow for you to experience more time in a dream than you’re experiencing in real life. Stopping time – or slowing it down – can be a difficult technique for some to learn, but it’s certainly not impossible, since nothing is impossible in your dreams. There are a few solid techniques out there for stopping time in your dreams, and there are a few others that lucid dreamers are constantly creating even as we speak. You might come up with your own ideas for slowing or stopping time in your dreams. Theories of Time in Dreams This isn’t super-important, but I think it’s interesting, so I’ll throw it out there. Scientists think that for the most part, time passes a little more quickly in dreams than it does in the “real world.” So unless you learn to control your dreams, you’ll actually spend less time in your dreams than those same actions would take when you’re awake. Luckily, with lucid dreaming, you can learn to control time in your dreams. This means you can experience more time within your dreams than is passing in the real world. Those with extreme control of their dream world have said that they can experience months or even years of a dream life in a single night!

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Time Stopping Techniques There are several time stopping techniques that many people like using. Again, remember that this is a somewhat difficult technique to master. However, it can certainly be done, even by new lucid dreamers. Here are a few techniques you can start trying tonight. 1. Just say time is stopping. Making assertive statements in your dream is one great way to make things happen in your dream. One popular time stopping technique is to say “Stop Real Time Now” in your dream. This will make it seem like time stops outside your dream, but within your dream, time just keeps going. Thus, you can experience a lot of time within your dream before you can experience time outside of it. It may sound crazy at first, but this technique has actually worked for me on many occasions. 2. Slow down the clock. This is another popular option. You can start small, by just slowing time, and then you can build up to actually stopping time altogether. Look at an analogy watch or clock with hands, and envision that the hands are moving more slowly. Eventually, you can make them stop altogether. This technique is also great for speeding up time if you want to time travel or change the scenery from one season to the next. 3. Create a dream timer. Some people like building up techniques to use in their dreams. For instance, you might create a timer that tells you when your dream is over and it’s time to wake up. For some, this looks like a clock with a D for dreaming and an A for awake. You start out at D, and when you get to A, your dream is over. By getting used to using this timer, you may be able to slow it down so that you spend more time in your dreams, at least in your mind. It can take you from little dream scenes to full-on dream movies where you experience a lot more in the same amount of time. Stopping time in your dreams can be interesting, and it might take you some practice to get the hang of it. It’s still a technique I have to mess with sometimes. Try different types of techniques to see which works best for you, as different people prefer different techniques in this as in all other dream control topics.

Dream Stabilisation Dream stabilization is an essential technique for beginning lucid dreamers to learn. If you don’t learn dream stabilization, you’re likely to become frustrated 100

by constantly waking yourself up before you can really accomplish anything in your lucid dream. The reason beginners often have trouble with dream stabilization is that emotions get in the way. You perform a reality check, realize you’re dreaming, and become lucid for one of the first times ever. Then, you get excited and start trying to rush around the dream, fearing you’ll wake up. Remember that anything you believe in a dream will become true. So if you’re afraid and believe you’re going to wake up soon, then you probably will. Instead of taking this approach, it’s important to calm and focus your mind, believing that you have all the time in the world to do what you want in your dream. One thing to note if you’re a beginning lucid dreamer is that you should try dream stabilization techniques and get the hang of them before you start trying dream control techniques. I know, the point is to start controlling your dreams, and you want to jump to that. This, though, can just cause you more problems! The more control you try to take before you’re ready, the less stable your dreams will become, and the more likely you’ll be to wake up too soon. I, for instance, didn’t have any long lucid dreams until I’d been able to become lucid about six times. Finally, on the seventh lucid dream, I remembered what I’d learned about dream stabilization. I focused and relaxed, and I looked at my hands while rubbing them together. I talk about specific techniques in other dream stabilization blogs, but for now, just know that these techniques were what worked for me. Still, though, it took me a while to really get the hang of dream stabilization techniques. I spent a couple months’ worth of lucid dreams just working on keeping my dreams stable. After I really had these techniques down, I figured out how to start dream control. But I could only effectively control my dreams after I learned how to stabilize them. This will most likely be the case for you, too. Basics of Dream Stabilization Essentially, stabilizing your dreams involves physical movement within the dream or interacting with your environment. These are the most effective techniques for me, although there are a few others that are noted elsewhere on this blog. Techniques like rubbing your hands together, spinning around, and shaking your head can be helpful. Physical movements help you really place yourself in the 101

dream, and remembering to move yourself physically calms you down, too. These are my favourite types of techniques, but you can also just start walking around and interacting with your environment. The key to dream stabilization is to make yourself really inhabit the dream. This involves not taking control of the dream too soon, but rather, experiencing it for what it is. Sometimes, dream stabilization will be easier than others. Some days you’ll have a hard time getting your dreams to stabilize at all, and others, it will be easy and you can start taking control right away. In general, more experienced lucid dreamers are more confident in their ability to stabilize a dream, which means they can get their dreams stabilized more quickly and efficiently. If you’re beginning, the key is to believe in yourself and try out different techniques until you figure out what consistently works for you. Over time, you’ll probably use a few favourite dream stabilization techniques, and you’ll make your dreams more stable in no time flat.

How to remain lucid? Most beginning lucid dreamers have trouble figuring out how to stay lucid. This isn’t a failure on their part or anything. It’s totally normal. How to stay lucid has been a big question for lucid dreamers across history. Especially at the beginning, learning how to stay lucid is tough. Why is figuring out how to stay lucid so hard? The main reason is that when you enter into a dream and realize you’re lucid, your emotions can get in the way and essentially wake you up or shut off the lucid, thinking part of your brain. Also, when you first start becoming lucid, you’re likely to begin lucidity at a point where you’re close to real consciousness, anyway. You may already be waking up, so it can be hard to stay asleep and stay in your dreams. Some people have trouble learning how to stay lucid, though, even when they aren’t waking up. For instance, they might realize they’re lucid, stay lucid for a few seconds, and then get distracted and forget they’re dreaming, losing their lucidity. This is a less common problem, but it’s still a possibility. I’ll deal with these problems separately, since the ways you learn how to stay lucid in each situation are slightly different. How to Stay Lucid When You’re Waking Up If you’re constantly waking up right after you become lucid and are wondering how to stay lucid when you’re waking up, the first thing to do is relax and cut 102

yourself some slack. Basically, you’re probably already close to waking up by the time you achieve lucidity. As you become lucid more often, you’ll naturally start achieving lucidity earlier in your sleep cycle, allowing you to stay asleep for longer. Also, though, you can practice anchoring yourself in your dream, which can keep you asleep and lucid for longer. One of my favorite ways to anchor myself when I was learning how to stay lucid was to rub my hands together. The physical sensation of rubbing your hands together combined with the detail you can see when you’re closely examining your hands can make the whole dream seem more real. Another way to learn how to stay lucid is to simply focus hard on the dream. Sometimes this can draw you back down into the dream, preventing you from waking up. Check out the details of your surroundings, and notice as many details as you can. Start interacting with your dream environment in a calm, collected way as soon as possible. Standing in one spot wondering what to do next is almost guaranteed to help you lose lucidity! One final idea for those who are struggling with how to stay lucid when waking up is to simply go back to sleep. When you awaken, don’t move or open your eyes. Instead, try the WILD technique, and you may fall back into your lucid dream again. How to Stay Lucid When You’re Simply Losing Lucidity I’ve talked with some lucid dreamers who will become lucid only to forget they’re dreaming a minute later and to not remember the rest of the dream. The best way to overcome this is to do frequent reality checks after you’ve established lucidity. I also like waking up the part of my brain that thinks logically by doing math problems in my head, though math isn’t my strong suit. Continuing to perpetuate lucidity is the most basic technique on how to stay lucid when you keep losing lucidity. Don’t get distracted and forget that you’re in a dream. Instead, constantly check and re-check reality so you continue to understand you’re dreaming throughout the rest of your dream. How to Prolong your Lucid Dream? Wondering how to prolong lucid dreams? Even experienced lucid dreamers often wonder how to prolong lucid dreams, although beginners are the ones who are most likely to have pressing questions about how to prolong lucid dreams. 103

The truth is, the techniques that work for how to prolong lucid dreams vary greatly from one person to the next. In general, though, there are a few stabilization techniques that can make the dream come back into focus when you’re starting to lose it. These techniques are helpful at first in establishing your lucidity, but they’re also great for prolonging dreams when you’re starting to lose lucidity or wake up. If you’re concerned about how to prolong lucid dreams, you should have at least become lucid a few times. The first few times you become lucid, don’t fret about how to prolong lucid dreams. Instead, just enjoy what you’ve got. Chances are that your dreams will naturally become longer as you become lucid earlier. Once you’ve been lucid dreaming for a bit, though, and find yourself becoming lucid pretty regularly, you can use some of these techniques when you’re wondering how to prolong lucid dreams: Frequent Reality Checks When you first start lucid dreaming, it’s easy to lose lucidity because you simply get distracted and forget you’re dreaming. Then, the conscious part of your brain shuts down, and you go through your dream as you normally would. You might have more vivid dream recall, but you won’t remain lucid. The easiest way to combat this is to do frequent reality checks. At first, you should do them all the time. As you get more used to being lucid, you might have an easier time of it and have to do reality checks less often. For me, it still depends on the dream. Now, I can feel myself getting distracted, so I can know when to do a reality check. Beginners might need to do them every few seconds, though, just to make sure they don’t lose lucidity. Lucidity Commands One popular technique that comes up when I’m discussing how to prolong lucid dreams with other lucid dreamers is lucidity commands. In lucid dreams, just commanding something can often make it happen if you can believe in what you’re saying. So when you start to feel yourself losing lucidity or waking up, shout a command like “Stabilize lucidity now” or “Increase lucidity.” Commands like these can make your dream become more real. The more detail you can see, the more likely you are to remain lucid for longer. 104

Find the Details Another great technique that comes up in discussions on how to prolong lucid dreams is finding more detail in the environment. This can help ground you in the dream and make it seem more real, which tends to work in helping you remain lucid for longer. One popular option that I still use a lot is to stare at your hands and to notice them in as much detail as possible. They’re always there to notice, and they help solidly ground your dream body within the dream, too. You can do it with anything, though, including items in your environment and even dream characters you’re interacting with. These are just three options you can check out when you’re wondering how to prolong lucid dreams. However, you need to find what works for you. There are many other posts on stabilization techniques here that may help you keep your lucid dreams going for longer. Just remember there’s no pressure, and you need to relax when you’re lucid dreaming to get the best results!

Staying Calm Staying calm is one of the primary things to learn about remaining lucid in your dreams. It’s really easy when you first become lucid to lose control of yourself. Staying calm is difficult, but it will ensure that you remain lucid for longer. If you’re having trouble staying calm in lucid dreams, you may find that you wake up really easily. This can be a huge problem, particularly, if you are close to waking up, anyway. Staying calm will help you get a grip so you can practice other methods of increasing lucidity and lengthening your lucid dreams. If you’re struggling with staying calm, the first thing to remember is not to be too hard on yourself. It’s not at all unusual for beginning lucid dreamers to wake themselves up several night in a row because they’re simply having trouble staying calm. However, if you can learn a few simple techniques, you may be able to breathe – literally and with your dream body – and keep your mind calm enough to stay in your dream for longer. Once you start regularly having lucid dreams, these techniques are helpful for staying calm. They’re some that I used particularly when I was starting out as a lucid dreamer, but they come particularly in handy even these days when my emotions get a little out of control.

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Add calm to your Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming (MILD) mantras Practicing Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming is a great way to start out, and if you haven’t tried it yet, I’d highly suggest you do. When you’re repeating a mnemonic as you’re falling asleep, start asserting to yourself that you’ll not only wake up in your dreams but that you’re going to be staying calm when you do. Something like, “I will become lucid during my dreams, and I will stay calm and collected.” Remember that assertions and beliefs play a huge part in how your lucid dreams play out, so this can be really helpful. Focus on your hands Rubbing your hands together and focusing on every detail of them is one of the best ways to increase lucidity during a dream, but it can also help you stay calm. For me, it’s like, “Oh, these are my hands. They’re nothing new.” Instead of getting freaked out by crazy dream characters or unusual dreamscapes, I just let the normal sight of my hands calm me down. Once I’m calm, I can look up and start experiencing the dream. Do some mental math Most people don’t like doing math in their heads, and I’m one of them. However, it does help me stay calm by waking up the logical part of my brain and allowing that part to overcome the wilder, more emotional side that makes staying calm difficult. I like to use basic multiplication problems, which I still have to think through. If you’re a math whiz, you might actually need to do some more complex math to really get your brain to do more than move in everyday ruts that don’t require much actual thinking. Practice These are just three things that make staying calm a little easier. However, it will all get simpler and easier with practice over time. It’s easy to freak when you find yourself lucid in a dream, especially if it hasn’t happened to you often. As you get used to becoming lucid and are able to do them more often, though, you’ll automatically start staying calm more easily. This isn’t something beginners really like to hear because they want to get on to the good stuff right away, but it’s true. Practice is imperative here as in most other things in life!

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Rubbing your hands Rubbing your hands together is one of the most-used ways to increase lucidity and stabilize lucid dreams. Rubbing your hands doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s one of my personal favourite techniques. Sometimes you wonder what makes techniques like rubbing your hands work for some people and not others. It really has a lot to do with your personality and the way you think. I, for instance, am a very tactile person. I can’t walk through clothing racks without running my hands along all the textures, and in school, my favourite art projects always involved textured paper or clay instead of just crayons. This is why, I think, the rubbing your hands technique works so well for me. However, even if you’re more of a visual, spatial, or audible thinker, this technique may work for you for a couple of reasons. For one thing, rubbing your hands is a great way to establish that you have a dream body. For many people, this is an essential part of making a dream more lucid. Also, when you’re rubbing your hands together and looking at them, you can focus on the details of sensation and visualization. This can make the other details in your dream more vivid. As a general rule, the more vivid the dream, the long you’ll stay lucid and the more your lucidity level will increase. So, rubbing your hands is a great stabilization technique, but there are a few things you need to know if you’re going to try it. One is that the rubbing your hands technique doesn’t work for everyone. For some people, it will just seem to make them wake up every time. Some techniques are just like that. However, don’t be afraid to try things in lucid dreams just because of this, because you never know what’s going to work for you and what won’t until you try things out. If you try rubbing your hands and end up waking up while you’re doing it, then you just know that you have to try something else the next time. Another thing to know about rubbing your hands is that it will probably work better if you’re also looking at your hands. As I stated before, stabilization techniques are all about connecting you with your dream work and making details stand out in the entire dream world. While watching your hands rub against one another, let yourself feel them. Yes, you should be able to feel physical sensations in a really detailed lucid dream! 107

Also, notice the visual details while you’re rubbing your hands – the texture of your skin, the jewellery you’re wearing, the color of your nails, etc. When you look up from this exercise, you might find that you notice a lot more visual and tactile detail in the dreamscape around you. Noticing detail simply makes you more lucid so your mind can put more detail into your lucid dreams after this exercise. Something else to note about rubbing your hands is that you may need to repeat the action multiple times in the dream. Some dreams – particularly vivid ones, especially – stabilize very well, and you don’t have to re-stabilize them too often. Other dreams, however, need to be stabilized every few seconds if you want to keep them going. If the detail of the dream starts to fade, you might want to look down and start rubbing your hands again to re-stabilize it. Finally, there are alternative options to rubbing your hands. For instance, you can reach out and touch something in your dreamscape while you’re looking at it. Anything that helps you notice both your dream body and the vividness of the dream world or dreamscape can help increase lucidity.

Spinning around Spinning around is one of the most popular dream stabilization techniques, but it doesn’t work at all times or for all people. Personally, I prefer rubbing my hands together to spinning around, but that’s just because I’m more of a tactile than a kinetic person. If you’re the type of person who’s always on the go and experiences the world through movement, though, you might love spinning around as a stabilization technique. Remember, when it comes to stabilization techniques like spinning around, sometimes they can have the opposite effect. Spinning around works well for many people, and it can also be a method of dream control – particularly for teleportation. However, you need to know a bit about how it works so you can make the most of this technique. If spinning around sounds like a technique that might help you be more grounded in your dreams, causing you to stabilize your dreams more easily, you should try it. Essentially, next time your dream starts to become fuzzy, you can try spinning around to see if that makes things become clear again. The feeling of your dream body moving in your dreamscape is often enough to increase lucidity and lengthen your dream.

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Tips for Spinning Around Don’t start just spinning like a top, though! Before you try spinning around, read through these techniques, and try to keep them in mind when you’re having your next lucid dream: Go slowly. Spinning around like a top will probably make you wake up. At least, that’s what it does for most people I’ve talked to. In your dream, you mostly want to move with deliberation. If you start to lose clarity or can feel your physical body lying in bed, stop where you are, and do a slow, controlled 180. Eyes open or eyes closed? Some people find that spinning with their eyes closed will make them wake up every time, and others find that spinning with their eyes open has no effect at all. You might want to experiment with both. Even if it makes you wake up one way or the other, it’s fun to see what type of experience spinning is for you in a dream. For instance, some people can actually get a little dizzy, and others experience blurred vision like they would if they were spinning with their physical body. Spinning around can be done either way, and it’s your best bet to try each option before you decide what works best for you. When to spin. Some people who are very kinetic love spinning any time their dream starts to get a little fuzzy. It may totally work for you. For me, I prefer to only use spinning when I’m finding myself in a void of blackness, which means I’m definitely about to wake up. My advice would be to try spinning around a couple of times to simply stabilize a fuzzy dream. If it doesn’t work for you, use another technique, but try spinning around next time you wind up in a void. Many times, people will find that they’re transported to a new dreamscape this way, but at least you’re still in a lucid dream! Combine with other techniques. Spinning around can be even more effective if you combine it with other techniques. For instance, saying “Increase lucidity” while you’re spinning can set your intentions to boost your lucidity. You can also intentionally try to use spinning around as a way to change your dreamscape when you want to teleport, since sometimes changing the dreamscape can actually increase your lucidity, too.

Shaking your head Shaking your head can be a great stabilization technique when your dreams are starting to fade out, but it is also a technique that wakes some people up when 109

they’re ready to get out of a dream. Shaking your head is definitely a technique to try, particularly if you don’t like spinning around or if rubbing your hands together doesn’t work for you. Shaking your head is a kinetic technique. The reason, many lucid dreaming experts think, that things like shaking your head works is that you are more grounded in your dream when you’re starting to be able to feel your physical body lying on the bed. Shaking your head can be a valuable technique for some, so it’s worth learning to use. Before you start using the shaking your head technique, though, you should check out these tips for making the shaking your head technique more effective for you: Go slowly. As with the spinning around technique, you don’t want to just wildly move. That can be a good way to make your physical body move, thus making you wake up. When you’re starting to shake your head, go slowly and deliberately, as this will help you make the movement intentional and more effective. Experiment with your eyes. Some people prefer using kinetic movements like shaking your head with their eyes closed, but for many people, this can be a problem. Closing your eyes may make you more likely to wake up or to teleport in your dream. While teleportation isn’t a huge problem, waking up defeats the purpose of this dream stabilization technique. If you have trouble staying in your dream when shaking your head with your eyes closed, try it again with your eyes open, as this just might work for you. Use it with other techniques. Shaking your head is a great technique to combine with other dream stabilization techniques. I personally like combining it with the rubbing your hands together technique, which is one of my personal favorites. Other people I know, though, usually combine it with a speaking aloud technique where they say or shout, “Increase lucidity” or something similar. Combining this technique with others may make it more effective for you, particularly if you aren’t an overly kinetic person and if you prefer to use speaking or touching techniques, instead. In my experience… In my personal experience, the shaking your head technique can be particularly useful when I run out of other things to do. If a dream is fading very quickly, I’ll use it instead of rubbing my hands together, which tends to work a little more 110

slowly. However, if I find myself in a total void, I find that spinning around normally works a little better, so I prefer to use that technique instead, even though it’s not one of my favourites. I’ve talked to several lucid dreamers in forums and in real life that say they use the shaking your head technique in order to wake themselves up when it’s time to get out of a dream or when they’re no longer comfortable there. As you become more adept at dream control techniques, this may not be necessary, since you’ll be able to turn a bad dream into a good one. However, when you’re starting out and have less control over your dreams, it could save you some emotional turmoil by learning a technique that will wake you up. Shaking your head, which can double as a good dream stabilization technique can also be a good way to teach yourself to wake up, but it all depends on what works best for you.

Jumping Jumping can be a great way to stabilize your dreams when things start to get fuzzy or when you start to feel yourself waking up. Like spinning around and shaking your head, this kinetic technique is useful particularly for kinetic learners. When you practice jumping, you’re essentially grounding yourself further in the dream by making you feel your dream body rather than the physical body that’s lying in your bed. This particular technique can take all sorts of life of its own. You can jump through things or over things, or you can just do some small hops to get your dream body moving again. Jumping can also be a good way of interacting with the environment, which can be a very helpful stabilization technique. Whether you’re just phasing into a dream and starting to get it stabilized, or have been in the dream for a while and are starting to lose the details, this stabilization technique can be helpful. As with many other stabilization and dream control techniques, though, when you’re using this one, you might want to learn about a few tips about it before you start using it in your dreams. Here are a few things I’ve learned about the jumping stabilization technique in my own experience and by talking to other lucid dreamers who like using this technique to stabilize their dreams: Move deliberately. Any time you’re using any sort of kinetic technique, such as jumping, spinning around, or shaking your head, it’s normally best to move slowly and deliberately rather than quickly or wildly. While some people have 111

good luck with moving randomly and quickly, most lucid dreamers I’ve spoken with say that kinetic techniques like jumping work best for them when they’re moving intentionally. If they move too quickly or erratically, they can actually end up waking themselves up rather than increasing or prolonging lucidity. Experiment with different types of jumping. With the jumping technique, there are so many different options that you’ll probably have to play around to see what works best with you. Try launching yourself over a building for an exhilarating experience that might re-ground you in the dream. Another option is to jump some small hops in place while concentrating on your surroundings. This can simply put more feeling back into your dream body and help you stabilize the dream quickly. If you want to stabilize your dream while launching into a new dreamscape, you can also try jumping through a hole or a door while imagining a new dreamscape. It’s not a great idea to try this dream control technique when your dream is quickly de-stabilizing, but if you’re just starting to get a bit fuzzy around the edges, a new dreamscape can help you re-establish detail and stabilize your dream. Add in other techniques. As with most techniques, the jumping dream stabilization technique can actually be more effective when combined with other stabilization techniques, including shouting, “Increase lucidity.” This can just establish your intention to increase your lucidity and make almost any technique more effective. Be mindful. The key to making any stabilization technique work is to be mindful while you’re practicing it. Focus on really experiencing your dreamscape and being a part of your dream world, and any technique will become more effective than it would be otherwise. As with other stabilization techniques, jumping can be a great thing for many lucid dreamers to use. However, it may not work for everyone. But once you’ve started becoming lucid, you don’t need to worry about techniques potentially disrupting your dream further. Eventually, you’ll figure out which stabilization techniques work for you so you can stay more lucid for longer.

Falling backward Falling backwards is a popular dream stabilization technique. Like other kinetic techniques, such as spinning around and shaking your head, falling backwards must be done with intention, or you risk waking up! Falling backwards can be a 112

good way to transition into a new dreamscape when the one you’re in starts to destabilize or become fuzzy. While falling backwards is a technique I use often, it took me some time to learn to use it well. This technique needs to be used with caution, as it’s one that’s known for making you wake up or have a false awakening. Before you try falling backwards next time one of your dreams starts to destabilize, read through these tips and tricks for making it work better for you. What is a false awakening? First, let’s talk about how falling backwards is often associated with having a false awakening. Essentially, a false awakening is when you’re still in your dream but you think you’re actually awake. This type of awakening is common when you use stabilization techniques like falling backwards and spinning. You often find yourself right back in your bed without knowing what’s going on. It’s important that you always do a reality check or two when you wake up after falling backwards. Chances are likely that you actually won’t be awake but will still be in your dream. If your reality check tells you that you’re not actually awake, you can go back to your dream and start using dream control techniques to change your dreamscape from your bedroom to something else. Tips and tricks for falling backwards The most important thing to know about falling backwards is that you can’t just let go and let yourself fall willy-nilly. Instead, you have to make sure that you’re actually thinking of a new dreamscape to fall into. Now, sometimes this won’t work, and you’ll still end up in a false awakening. However, falling intentionally from your current dreamscape into something new will help you make sure that you don’t wake up. You may want to close your eyes when falling backwards. This seems to work best for most people, although with other kinetic techniques some people prefer having their eyes open while others prefer having their eyes closed. When falling backwards, close your eyes and focus on where you want to end up when you’re done falling backwards. As with all kinetic stabilization techniques, it’s important when falling backwards that you move intentionally. Don’t just throw yourself head over heels. It’s a good way, for one thing, to cause your physical body to flinch, which can wake you up faster than anything. Instead, you might want to prepare to fall backwards by doing something like crossing your arms over your chest or 113

locking them at your sides, as you might do in real life when falling back into a body of water. Falling backwards is a good technique to use for teleportation as well as for dream stabilization. If you want to teleport to a new dreamscape, you might try out this technique. Once you get the hang of it, you can use it for both cases – teleportation and dream stabilization, as needed. In fact, sometimes teleportation is one of the best ways to re-awaken the detail of your dream so that it becomes more stable and you become more grounded in your dreamscape. Falling backwards can be a disconcerting technique to use at first, particularly if you’re grounded enough in your dream to get the real sensation of falling backwards. However, it is a valuable technique to learn to teleport yourself while re-establishing your dream and keeping it more stable.

Interacting with the environment Interacting with the environment is the number one way to increase lucidity when you first become lucid during a dream. If you find yourself lucid and become a little scared or excited by it, it’s easy to quickly lose that lucidity and wake yourself up. However, if you start immediately interacting with your dream environment, you’re likely to increase your lucidity and make your dream stay stable for longer. 114

There are as many different ways to interact with the environment as there are lucid dreamers. However, if you think about what this might be like before your first (or next!) lucid dream, you’re more likely to put these principles into practice. A word of caution One thing that can stall the efforts of many lucid dreamers is the desire to start dream control techniques right away. This, though, can be pretty dangerous, actually. Starting to use dream control techniques too early can actually cause you to lose control of your dream more easily and to wake up more quickly. It’s a bit of a paradox, I know, but it’s true. Before you start using dream control techniques, it’s important that you first use dream stabilization techniques to really ground yourself in the dream. Once you get to the point that your dream is as vivid and detailed as the waking world, then you can start trying to control your dreams. This cautionary note mostly goes for dream control techniques that try to manipulate the environment, though. You can’t let your dreams be controlled by fear, or you’ll never try anything new. Things like trying to jump really high or fly are more about controlling your dream body, and these techniques may be more easily used in the beginning of your lucid dreaming experience without making you less lucid. Ways to interact with the dream environment Interacting with your dream environment will obviously depend on what that environment is like. However, these are a few basic things you should keep in mind next time you become lucid: Move. Standing in one spot is a great way to start feeling your physical body lying in bed, which makes you all the more likely to lose lucidity or even wake up. Instead of just standing there, make sure that you walk around in your environment. Jump. Run. Jog. Turn around slowly to see what’s all around you. Just start moving when you get into the dream. Notice details. One of the best ways to ground yourself in your dream by interacting with the environment is to notice details. Visual details can be helpful, but for most people, tactile details are best. Reach out and touch the ground or an object near you. Notice its texture and the heat or cold it’s putting off. Noticing these details can make the visual and auditory details of the rest of the dreamscape come to life. Remember, the more detailed and vivid your dream 115

world is, the more you’re going to become grounded in your dream and increase your lucidity. Talk with dream characters. Interacting with dream characters is one of the best parts about lucid dreaming, I think. At first, don’t try to bring up specific dream characters, but just see who is there in your dream. Walk up to friendly-looking characters and start interacting with them and seeing what they have to say. Talking with dream characters can ground you even more in your dream, engaging your mind in new ways so that your lucidity increases and your dream extends. Of these options, I’m most likely to touch items, which is what I’d do in real life because I’m a very tactile person. But talking with dream characters is also incredibly helpful for grounding me in the dreamscape and helping me boost lucidity.

Mathematics Doing mathematics has long been a popular way to increase lucidity in dreams. It works for a few different reasons. One is that basic math problems are already stored in your brain in an accessible location. You don’t have to think too hard to get math problems to work out in your dreamscape, but you also have to think a little bit. Plus, doing mathematics awakens that part of your brain that is the lucid part of you – the part that actively thinks and makes logical decisions. You can awaken this part of your brain by starting with essential math problems like two plus two. However, if you know advanced mathematics, you may need to work out some problems that you don’t necessarily know by heart. If you want to do more complicated mathematics problems in your lucid dreams, one of the best options is to simply pull a pencil and a piece of paper out of your pocket. If you want them to be there, then they’ll be there! Then, assign yourself a challenging mathematics problem to work out. As you’re working out the problem, you’ll find yourself becoming more and more lucid. In fact, many times when you look up from the completed problem, you’ll find that your environment has much more detail, which is a great sign of increased lucidity. Mathematics and lucid dreaming – a long history Mathematics and lucid dreaming have a long history together. In fact, some very intelligent people use lucid dreaming as a way to solve complex mathematical problems. When you’re in a dream, your brain can often make creative new connections that it would not have otherwise made. This means you can often 116

look at mathematics problems in new ways and can discern how to solve them, even if you have been stumped by the same or similar problems before. In “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming,” Stephen LaBerge writes about several very intelligent people who have used lucid dreams to work out the answers to long, complex mathematics problems. I’m not a math whiz myself, but sometimes I use my dreams to work out personal problems I can’t seem to find an answer to when I’m awake, so I definitely understand the concept. Tips for using mathematics for dream stabilization Using mathematics for dream stabilization is relatively easy. The type of mathematics you use will depend on what level you’re at as far as mathematical learning goes. One rule of thumb is not to just use problems you have memorized since you were a child, like 2+2=4. That type of problem might stir the logical part of your brain a little, but you’re really more relying on memory than on actual thought processing. What you want when you’re using mathematics during a lucid dream is to actually get your brain to think. When you first become lucid, you might find your logical faculties are a little sluggish. They were obviously awake enough to do a reality check and find that you were dreaming, but they might still be moving a little slowly. If I use mathematics as a form of dream stabilization, I’ll often simply use more difficult multiplication problems. I normally only use multiplication problems with one single-digit number and one double-digit number. That’s enough for me to have to think because I’m such a poor mathematician! Mathematics can work as a form of dream stabilization for just about anyone. However, you might have to use more difficult problems than I do. Some people who enjoy mathematics say that they prefer geometric problems to algebraic or simple math problems. In your dreams, the figures you use for geometry can be moved and manipulated right before your eyes, which can make geometry a great way to wake your logical faculties at the beginning of a dream. Shouting, increases lucidity One of the most popular ways to increase lucidity is to tell your brain to increase lucidity. This technique is similar to the MILD technique, in which you tell yourself things so that they’ll become true. In your dreams, whatever you say 117

can become reality. As long as you believe in that fact, saying or shouting ideas can help you make them into reality. Shouting, “Increase lucidity!” can be helpful no matter where you’re at in your dream. I like to shout it as soon as I become lucid. Often, when I first become lucid, the dream is still a little fuzzy around the edges – the details aren’t as sharp as they would be in real life, and I may not get auditory and tactile information as well as visual information. Telling my brain to increase lucidity is the simplest and most effective way I know to make the details become clear. Now, keep in mind that as with everything else when it comes to lucid dreaming, shouting to increase lucidity needs to be done with conviction and intention. You need to really know that you’re going to increase lucidity when you shout this phrase, and you need to focus on your surroundings as you shout it. One thing I like to do when using this stabilization technique is to focus on one particular thing in my environment – a tree, a dream character, anything, really. When I tell my brain to increase lucidity, I should begin to notice more detail in that particular thing. This process becomes even more effective if I can be touching the dream object or environment while I’m shouting, “Increase lucidity!” This allows me to bring details like texture and heat into focus as well, as the visual details of the object become clearer. If you don’t want to shout or feel that it might disturb your dream, you can always just say, “Increase lucidity.” It works nearly as well as long as you’re saying it with conviction. If shouting the phrase doesn’t work as well as you think it should, you can shout, “Increase lucidity now!” to add emphasis and make it seem more urgent. Often times, your dream will respond better to commands that are more urgent and immediate than to those that are less so. When to say it Some beginning lucid dreamers get confused about when they’re supposed to shout, “Increase lucidity!” The thing is that it really depends. For many people, this is an effective way to anchor themselves in the dream as soon as it begins. I personally like to use it as soon as I’ve become lucid, since normally lucidity isn’t totally clear at the beginning of the dream. Also, though, this can be a quick way to stabilize your dream any time things start to get a little fuzzy around the edges. Whenever you start to notice a lack of detail in your dream or begin to feel that you might wake up soon, shouting, 118

“Increase lucidity” or “Increase focus” can help you bring your dreams back into focus, increasing lucidity and probably prolonging your dream, too. Once your dream starts to get super de-stabilized, you may need to combine this technique with others. Luckily, it’s easy to combine with things like rubbing your hands together or spinning around. In fact, any time you’re using these other techniques, you should get in the habit of also saying or shouting, “Increase lucidity!” This only makes other techniques all the more effective, and it’s so simple, why wouldn’t you use it? Next time you’re in a lucid dream, start making a habit of using this simple stabilization technique.

Dreams Conclusion One of the best known and most widely used techniques for the exploration of the unconscious, extensively adopted by Freud and his followers, is that of dreams. While we will not enter into a discussion of Freud’s system of interpretation, we would point out that although dreams do give access to the unconscious of the subject, we have often found that they give access only to one part of it. In many subjects only one part of the unconscious is able or cares to express itself through dreams. There are many kinds of dreams: of very different type, quality and meaning. (We have made a classification of dreams which we hope to include in another Ebook.) In our practice we ask our readers to recount their dreams, and in this book we give them the needed instructions for the analysis of them, but we definitely point out the fact that dream interpretation is only one of the techniques and not the chief one.

Ten Reasons for Lucid Dreaming 1. You can do things that you simply cannot do in waking life. You can fly, you can have super powers, you can walk through walls. You can really do anything you can think of! 2. You can go on wild, mind blowing adventures. Your subconscious has no end to its creativity and weirdness. You can conjure up your own adventures or go along with what the dream creates for you. 3. You can experience what it is like to be different people. You can become anyone you want and live their lives. This is often a rather enlightening and interesting experience. 119

4. You can fulfill certain fantasies that you can’t in real life. Whether that involves other people or anything at all, you can live out these fantasies without real life consequences. 5. Self exploration is a fascinating aspect of lucid dreaming. You can interpret dreams while you are in them. Ask questions about yourself and ask for advice. Your subconscious mind is much more honest and much more powerful than your conscious mind. Often you can learn a lot about yourself by interacting with it. 6. Lucid dreaming can also be used in a creative sense. You can view paintings you can paint when awake, hear music you can write or even meet characters for your next story. 7. You can often find profound wisdom within dreams. There are some theories that state that the subconscious mind is connected with something a lot larger than just you. I have personally found this to be the case. You can delve very deep into yourself and beyond and get wise answers and advice. 8. Due to the lack of rules within dreams you can experience almost any concept. This could include something you are studying in school that has been tripping you up. You can use lucid dreams to interact with concepts and visualize them in a new and fascinating way. You can also experience spiritual concepts or learn about how your own mind works. 9. Lucid dreaming can teach you a lot about the subconscious itself. By exploring it and interacting with it you learn about a whole other aspect to your mind that you don’t often get to experience. This is enlightening in the fact that you can work with your subconscious rather than against it in your every day life. 10. The average person spends 1/3 of their lives sleeping. Reclaim those hours by taking up this night time hobby!

Another Hint – the Sleep Paralysis What sleep paralysis is Sleep paralysis is a naturally occurring process that protects you as you dream. It ensures that you do not act out your dreams and cause yourself harm. This occurs throughout your sleeping pattern, usually during the sleep-wake border. Sometimes you can wake up into sleep paralysis meaning that you cannot move your body. 120

Why it is feared It can be disconcerting waking up and not being able to move your body. But once you know that it is a natural occurrence, it becomes a lot less frightening. Sometimes, but not always, people can experience hallucinations in this state. These hallucinations can be very vivid and sometimes nightmarish. This occurs because sleep paralysis is a blending of the awake and dream state. People often believe these hallucinations to be real and often complain of an inability to breathe. This is because the body is breathing as though it is asleep which is not as deeply as when awake. Why not to fear it I have had many experiences of sleep paralysis and have grown to accept it as a natural process of the body. I do not worry about it occurring because I can recognize it for what it is and whatever hallucinations occur, I know to be not real. So do not be afraid of sleep paralysis or let it deter you from trying lucid dreaming. It can happen to anyone, regardless of their lucid dreaming ability. Although you are not breathing as deeply as normal, do not be afraid as this is how you breathe when asleep. The hallucinations are caused by your own panic and so are also preventable. Keeping calm is the key to both leaving sleep paralysis and avoiding nightmarish hallucinations. How to stop sleep paralysis To get out of sleep paralysis you need to tell the body that it is awake. Here is how: 1. Relax into the paralysis and do not fight it 2. Gently try to wiggle your fingers or toes 3. At the same time, move your eyes and look around the room 4. Try to move your lips and facial muscles 5. Focus on breathing as deeply as possible and do not let panic overrun you 6. Keep a positive attitude and stay relaxed. You could even try imagining something more pleasant, such as a beach or someone you love.

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The uses of sleep paralysis I do not recommend using sleep paralysis to have your first lucid dream. Instead read this if you are a beginner. However, sleep paralysis can be a gateway to both lucid dreams and also OBE’s. As your body is asleep and your mind is active, it is a lot easier to enter into dreams using the Wake Induced Lucid Dream method as discussed above. So do not fear sleep paralysis. Remain calm and remind your body that you are in fact awake, or if you feel comfortable, use sleep paralysis to become lucid. Dreams can and often do collapse but that doesn’t mean that you need to wake up. I have developed a technique that helps you to stay lucid between dreams. When you can tell that your dream is collapsing around you, immediately reaffirm that you are lucid by rubbing your hands together and saying “I am lucid”. I have also detailed it above. You’re going to need to hold onto this focus. Next, grab hold of something within the dream. This can be grass, a brick wall, a tree, anything you can get your hands on and really feel. As the dream fades around you, focus entirely on what you are holding. Everything will go black around you but with a bit of luck you can still feel what is in your hands. Keep hold of it and ask for another dream to form or just wait. Eventually another dream will form around you and you can step right into it. This is a strange state to be in, a very in between awake and asleep state so it can be very easy to wake up. This technique is effective only if you can remain focused and if you have some experience with lucid dreaming. Anyway, enjoy immensely

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I’d love to hear about everyone’s first lucid dream, or almost first lucid dream or really any beginner experiences. So please feel free to write us. Email: [email protected]

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About the Author

Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D. joined Sundial House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK team in 1971: Michael Eastcott and Nancy Magor. He represented together with Tilla Grenier (Brussels) the two French sections of the Meditation Group for the New Age, and Creative Meditation Group, also called the French Section. When Tilla Grenier died the two groups moved to Ghent, and was assisted by François Geldof for the distribution of the booklets of both groups. In 1970 De Coster was awarded with a certificate of Unity School of Christianity, Lee’s Summit, Missouri for his knowledge, the course being of a metaphysical character covering the fundamental principles of the teachings of Unity and their applications in redeeming the 124

mind and healing the body. As the studies were “extra muros” it lasted almost ten years.

Sundial House, Nevill Court, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK

Michal Eastcott also a prominent writer 125

Dr. Roberto Assagioli, M.D, founder of Psychosynthesis and the meditation groups.

Michal Eastcott and Nancy Magor in their early years 126

Tilla Grenier (right, black or blue dress) from Brussels General meeting at Sundial House

Dr. Roberto Assagioli, M.D at the centre, and left Jan van der Linden, in charge at that time of the two Dutch Meditation Group. Later he was for a number of years directed of the School for Esoteric Studies, New York, USA where I was also a student.

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At Sundial House, Wesak Festival probably, in front Michal Eastcott

At one of the Festivals at Sundial House

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At Sundial House

We may desire and will, but we shall do so vainly if we imagine or fear ourselves to be unable. Our imagination and our thought must tend in the same direction as our desire and will. Hypnosis has also uncovered much about the nature, capacity and depth of the unconscious in recent years, but this is not for the average seeker to pursue. We may need help occasionally in handling problems arising from the unconscious, but it remains our responsibility, our charge, and not to be handed over the dominance of others. The “I” should always remain the conscious director of its components parts.

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Contents Foreword: How the brain works? The Law of Attraction Mind Control Generalised Do we need the God Helmet or Module in the Brain? The Brain during religious experiences Brainwashing, and Mind Control Techniques Gay Sex and Masochism Causes and Symptoms a) Causes b) Symptoms Demographics; Diagnosis Treatments; Prognosis; Prevention Dreams along Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologist Lucid Dreaming as Part of Self-hypnosis How Self Hypnosis for Lucid Dreaming works; Steps for Selfhypnosis towards Lucid Dreaming In a Bird-eye view how to hypnotize yourself; 1. Get Comfortable 2. Release tension; 3. Visualize your way down; 4. Place autosuggestions 5.Wake up gently; Final thoughts Your Night; Firstly, how to fall asleep Secondly, how to stay asleep Thirdly, the importance of sleep Solving the Problem of Sleeplessness Introduction to Lucid Dreaming Techniques Lucid dreaming techniques to try Various Techniques; Induction Technique (FILD) Finger Induced Lucid Dreams. Thirst Induced Lucid Dreans (TILD) Reward Induced Lucid Dreams (RILD) Punishment Induced Lucid Dreams (PILD) Combining with Reward Induced Lucid Dreams (RILD) Letter Induced Lucid Dreams (LILD) Sexual Induced Lucid Dreams (SILD) Urinate Induced Lucid Dreams (UILD) Chakra Induced Lucid Dreams (CILD) Clock Induced Lucid Dreams (CLILD) Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams (MILD) Totem Induced Lucid Dreams (TILD) Dream Initiated Lucid Dreams (DILD) Wake Initiated Lucid Dreams (WILD° 134

1 2 8 11 12 14 18 19 20 21 22 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 47 48 48 49 51 53 55 57 58 58 60 61 63 64 66 68 69 71

Cycle Adjustment Technique (CAT) Wake Back to Bed Technique (WBTB) Dream Journal or Shadow Book Reality Checking Dream Controlling How to Teleport in Lucid Dreaming? How to Mind Control How to Shapeshift? Basic ways to change the scenery How to create dream objects? How to become invincible Techniques to become invincible Swimming with Infinite Oxygen Super human speed Lucid dreaming magick Super human jumping How to time travel How to shop time? Dream stabilization How to remain lucid? Staying calm Rubbing your hands Spinning around Shaking your head Jumping Falling backward Interacting with the environment Mathematics Dreams conclusion About the Author Contents © September 2015 – Satsang Ebook Publishers, Ghent, Belgium (Non commercial – Free download)

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