5 Easy Steps to Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is something most people can learn to do. The key is priming your mind. The best lucid dreamers practice what you might call “reality skepticism” in their day-to-day lives. They use any unexpected event-a black cat crossing their path, a non-sequitur comment-as an occasion to ask, “Am I dreaming?” The idea is that eventually this habit trickles down into the dream itself. So there you are down in the dream world when along comes a ten-storey belly-dancing Ouija board. A light goes on in the back of your head. “That Ouija board is far too large and attractively jiggly-I must be dreaming!” And so it goes.

Here are a few key steps:

1. Prime your memory during the day by asking, “Am I dreaming now?”
2. On the big night, set your alarm to go off an hour earlier than normal-our most vivid dreams happen in the early morning.
3. Once the alarm wakes you, try to remember as many details as possible from the dream you just exited.
4. Focus your intention by repeating to yourself, “The next time I’m dreaming, I will remember to recognize I’m dreaming.” Picture yourself back in that same dream, only now becoming lucid.
5. Return to sleep and expect the best. Don’t forget to record the results in a notebook when the dream is over.