Lucid dreaming is simply having the awareness that you are dreaming. When you experience a lucid dream, you know that what’s happening around you is happening within the “dream world.” Expert lucid dreamers can go beyond simple awareness and actually control the actions of themselves and others within the dream.
Learning to induce lucid dreams can be an incredible and adventurous way to explore the depths of your subconscious mind. While in the land of strange dreams, you can awaken your mind, but not your body, and explore your deepest internal world.
Imagine the most fascinating dream you’ve ever had. Maybe it’s one where you experience fame and fortune or perhaps it’s one where you explore exotic lands. Now imagine having awareness during that dream and then controlling your actions and even the actions of others.
Lucid dreaming is like writing, directing, and starring in your own movie.
Advantages of Lucid Dreaming
By being able to control your dream, you can consciously explore the deepest symbols of your subconscious. Lucid dreaming can give you a deeper sense of self-awareness than you’ve ever experienced before. It can open up your eyes to solutions to your biggest problems. Best of all, lucid dreaming can give you the peace that comes with the wisdom and faith of knowing yourself.
As well, here is a video of Lucid Dream Expert Andrew Holecek explaining even more outstanding advantages of lucid dreaming:
How to Have a Lucid Dream Tonight
Lucid dreaming isn’t easy. Learning to lucid dream takes practice. It’s a delicate and fragile tightrope between sleep and awake that is difficult to stay on. Yet, there have been incredible advances in technology and science that have given us a shortcut to the fascinating world of lucid dreaming.
That technology comes in the form of binaural beats. However, before we dive into what binaural beats are and how they can induce lucid dreams, we need to understand the stages of sleep.
Your sleeping brain
Your brain is constantly producing electrical impulses that travel in the form of brain waves. The faster these waves travel, the more awake and alert you are. The most alert form of these waves is Beta. When you’re in Beta, you’re awake, alert, and moving. Then, as you slow down and become more relaxed, you move into Alpha waves. If you’re asleep, you’re either in Theta or those waves have slowed down so much that you are in the deepest state — Delta.
As you sleep through the night, your brain cycles through Alpha, Theta, and Delta waves. When you dream, your brainwaves are moving in the Theta state — your mind is alert and actively creating, but you’re not physically or consciously aware of this.
If you are woken up during this state, you’ll remember your dream. If you wake up during Alpha, you’ll be alert and refreshed, but probably won’t remember your dreams. To experience lucid dreaming, you need to be in between Alpha and Theta — not too asleep, but not too awake.
What are binaural beats?
Back to binaural beats — binaural beats are rhythms, sounds, or music that you listen to, helping your brain move through the various cycles of sleep. They work by slightly altering the frequency you hear in each ear.
For example, if you hear 400hz in your left ear and then 410hz in your right ear, your brain will actually make up the 10hz in the left ear.
The 10hz your brain makes up is the “binaural beat.” By altering the frequencies, you can actually control the beats your brain creates. Those binaural beats can be used to help you achieve deep, restful sleep and they can help you wake up in a state that keeps you energized throughout the day.
Binaural beats can be used for insomnia, restlessness, anxiety, and even to induce lucid dreaming.
Experience Lucid Dreaming
By following the steps below, you can prepare yourself to achieve a lucid dream. Lucid dreaming binaural beats won’t immediately and automatically put you into a lucid state. It will take practice and patience. However, it is so much easier to induce the lucid dreaming state with binaural beats than it is to just attempt it on your own.
Step 1: Learn your sleep patterns
The first thing you need to do to have a lucid dream is to become familiar with your sleeping patterns. Lucid dreaming is all about awareness and the first step of that awareness is simply knowing how long it takes you to go to sleep and how long you stay in each sleep cycle. There are many apps that can help you track this, though Sleep Cycle by Northcube is probably the best.
Step 2: Record your dreams when you wake up
As soon as you wake up in the mornings, write down everything you can remember from your dreams. Some people use voice recorders or voice notes apps on their phones, while others actively keep a dream journal. Once you make this a habit, you’ll start to vividly remember your dreams more frequently. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t remember anything at first. Just make a promise to yourself to write something down upon the very first moment you wake up, every day.
Step 3: Perform ‘reality checks’
To become a lucid dreaming master, you need to be able to tell the difference between waking life and your dream world. Right now, when you dream, you accept it as reality. When you wake up, you realize that you were wrong and you were dreaming. Lucid dreaming means that while you are dreaming you are able to say, “I’m dreaming.”
To help this process along, you should perform reality checks throughout the day to prove to yourself that you are awake. Once you make these a habit, you’ll start using them in your dreams and realize that you’re dreaming.
Reality checks prove that you’re awake, so it could be jumping or trying to pass your hand through a solid object. If you jump and fall down normally, you’re awake. If you jump and then float down, you’ll know you’re dreaming. If you try to pass your hand through a solid object now, it won’t work — but in a dream, it just might!
Step 4: Try lucid dreaming during the day for the first few times
Lucid dreams tend to happen more easily during daytime naps. At night, your brain is more tired and less likely to stay in the appropriate state of mind. If you attempt lucid dreaming when you’re feeling pretty energetic, you might have more success.
Step 5: Set up for your lucid dreaming experience
You’ll need an eye mask, headphones, a device to play a youtube video, and a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Lay down and get comfortable. You can practice a short relaxation meditation to get more comfortable if you wish. Silence the notifications on your phone and put your headphones in.
Step 6: Play the binaural beats and have a lucid dream
Play the video below and put your eye mask on to block out the light. Allow the binaural beats to sync your brain into the brainwaves it needs for lucid dreaming. Just relax and let your mind wander as you listen to the lucid dreaming sounds.
Once you’re in a lucid state, you can explore and manipulate your surroundings. You’ll find yourself in the bizarre and exciting world of your subconscious mind. You’ll be in control at all times. You’ll awaken to a sense of awareness and peace. The fulfillment that comes with lucid dreaming is thrilling and worth practicing to achieve.
Have fun in your journey and awaken to a deeper sense of self-awareness.
