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The word “lucid” means “aware” so Lucid dreaming is Conscious dreaming. Or simply put, lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer knows that he/she is dreaming(LOL I wrote dream 4 times in one sentence). Anyway, this is a really interesting skill because it allows you to get control over your dreams and harness their reality, power and vividness.

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Here are two interesting lucid dreaming experiences:

How to get the most out of this guide

I organized this guide in hierarchical levels. One thing connects to the next. So if you are new to this, its best to read it from beginning to end without jumping any sections. Also, to benefit the most out of this guide, take it slow and relax. The things I will present here will be dense and simple facts, you can easily read them in 15-20 minutes but you will probably end up being confused and not taking any action.

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That is one of the reasons why I decided to split up the guide in 3 days. Giving you bits of information each day and then giving you missions that will help you understand the lucid dreaming principles on a really deeper – intuitive level.

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Today we will be talking about :

• What is lucid dreaming? – In detail
• Whats the use of lucid dreaming ?
• Cool facts about lucid and normal dreaming
• What will it take to lucid dream

Next step:

What is Lucid Dreaming?

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This is a skill that you can learn and implement into your daily life and it involves learning how to:

• Remember dreams (we actually have more than 5 dreams each night but most of us just forget everything)
• Attain lucidity (realize that you are dreaming/or fall asleep without losing consciousness)
• Control dreams
  
• Prolong dreams

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Lucid dreams are vivid, detailed and real. However, the key deference between normal and lucid dreaming is the ability to control the dream, which is not absolute and increases proportionally with your experience and level of lucidity(How sure you are that you are dreaming?).

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The realization that you are dreaming

Here is one little exercise that will help you understand how this feels like:

Become aware about the space around you, notice the keyboard, look at your palms, explore them. Ask yourself “Might this be a dream?” and really consider the question. Now imagine that this is a actually a dream and you have just awoken inside it.

The feeling you are experiencing now is quite similar to how you will feel inside a lucid dream. AWARE.

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Feelings and Emotions

Dreaming produces the same emotions we have in real life. The part of our brain that controls the process of filtering emotions is not working while we sleep, this actually makes the emotions felt in our dreams more intense than the ones in real life.

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Is lucid dreaming safe?

Yes. Its absolutely safe. You can’t get hurt in any way, shape or form.

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Lucid Dreaming is NOT:

• Anything related to magic

Lucid dreaming is a skill based on science and how the brain works. We are the only species who can lucid dream because we are the only species with consciousness. So, no, this is not voodoo stuff related to dark spells, just a really really really vivid imagination.

• Anything related to your soul

People are sometimes afraid of not being able to wake up, and being trapped by the evil spirits, they say that doing things like this connects you to the realm of spirits and you must be guided personally by a guru who will protect your soul.

This is the same as thinking that  a hallucination is real and that the ghosts you saw were there to take your soul FOR REAL.

• Anything related to Cults/Illuminati stiff.

Many people think that lucid dreamers are weird people, they live in cults and have weakly meetings where they practice their voodoo powers. In truth, lucid dreamers are just like me and you, NORMAL people who want to get the most out of their dreams. They just found a way to tap into the power of the brain and use it to enrich their life.

Next step:

Lucid Dreaming Applications

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my lucid dreaming newsletter to receive the latest lucid dreaming challenges, techniques, methods and inventions via e-mail.

Or visit the lucidnap forum, where you can ask specific questions and get specific answers about lucid dreaming from me personally (the forum is still new so I will be answering everything personally)

Happy lucid dreams,

Alex McFadden

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This is a plan for the next 20 days.

1. Write at least one entry in your dream journal per day.
2. Continue forming the reality checking habit(you will notice that in few days it will get really easier and more automatic).
3. Get some experience in prolonging and controlling your dreams.

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Next step:

http://lucidnap.com/more

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Slowing Down

Lets say that you see a cake on your dining table and it looks delicious. You just want to eat it with one bite.  Realizing that you are lucid dreaming feels like you have seen the delicious cake but just 10 times more intense. So, newbies usually jump right on the cake and try to eat it as fast as possible. The result is always the same… they choke and wake up.

The first thing you should do when you realize that you are dreaming should be to slow down and explore the dream environment. Then you can eat the damn cake!

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Techniques for prolonging and stabilizing a lucid dream:

All techniques are based on one simple thing. They change your focus and force you to feel certain sensations. Plus when you are thinking about increasing lucidity and stabilizing dreams you are not thinking about other stuff that might have negative effect.

I have rated the prolongation techniques according to my experience(keep in mind that lucid dreaming is different for everyone, so they might give you different results)

Routines

Mixing those 4 techniques has given me incredible results. I start with rubbing my palms because it is really easy to perform, then when my level of awareness has increased I am ready to do the tornado spin + I am shouting: “increase lucidity” in the same time. I do them simultaneously because the tornado spin can sometimes make you experience a false awakening or loose awareness and slip back into a normal dream. And lastly I do the focus exercise to get extra edge.

When to use this techniques?

1) After you realize that you are dreaming

2) Randomly when you feel that the dream has lost vividness

3) When you feel that the dream is fading away.

*If you loose the visual sense try the hand rubbing technique, if that doesn’t work then try to imagine a object and explore it, focus all of your attention on it until the dream gets stable.

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False Awakenings

A common scenario:

The dreamer realizes that he is dreaming, he gets overexcited and wakes up thinking, “that sucked, okay its time to go to work”. After a while the dreamer actually wakes up again(third time) and realizes that he had a false awakening.

Thats why you should do a reality check each time you wake up.

Next Step:

Controlling your lucid dreams

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Lucid Dreaming Control Tips:

Lucid dreaming control is learned mainly through trial and error. However there are few simple tips I can give you that will help you get started on the right foot.

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1. Learning Curve

Lucid dreaming is a skill, just like the piano. You can’t expect to play Beethoven on the first try but with practice, you can.

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2. Increased Lucidity = Increased Control

Do your dream prolongation routine every time you realize that you are dreaming, the more aware you are that you are dreaming, the better control you will have.

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3. Do a warm-up before you start practicing

This means that you will need to start slow and gradually increase towards the challenging stuff.

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4. Know your boundaries

Discover your boundaries and don’t try to control more than you can handle. If something is not working just let it go and try again when you feel ready.

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5. Belief

“Whether you believe you can or can’t do something you are right!” - Henry Ford

I would say that this is the number one rule in lucid dreaming control. If you believe that your dream characters are lifeless and dull they will be, if you believe that you can’t fly you won’t.

And if you believe that you are in control of the dream, then you are in control and you can do anything.

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6. Imagination

I noticed that dreams are easily controlled by imagination. Instead of trying to do something like you would in the real world, just imagine doing it.

Next Step:

MISSION

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A solid habit can be formed in 21 days, A rock solid habit takes longer time, like 90 days. However, experiencing your first lucid dream doesn’t usually take 21 days of consistent reality checking. We are aiming for 3-7.

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Note: after 21 days of severe reality checking I had averagely one lucid/night and a friend had even better results.

See you tomorrow ! On DAY 3

PS. You can download the 3 day lucid dreaming challenge by subscribing to the NapLetter.

CMON STOP READING !!! (no really… I can see you!)

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Now there are few tools that can help you with this:

• Setting your intention
• Using fake dream signs
• Using reminders and symbols to create a reality checking habit

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For example, lets say that one of your dream signs is seeing your mom. The way you create a habit for this dream sign is to perform a reality check each time you see your mom. After some time, seeing your mom will automatically trigger the idea of doing a reality check, so when you are in a dream and you see your mother the same thing will happen. ALAKAZAM, you will soon become lucid.

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Setting your intention to do a reality check when you notice a dream sign

Have you ever sad something like: “the next time I see Simon, I will tell him about what happened last night”. This is exactly what this method is all about, saying: “the next time I notice this dream sign, I will do a reality check”

This can be used for dream signs that never happen in your real life like: flying, teleporting trough time and space, seeing blue pigs and e.t.c. basically things that could never happen in the real world.

To make this even better try to visualize this future situation. Go through it 3-4 times and then let it go and be certain that your mind got the message.

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Fake Dream Signs

If you don’t know your personal dream signs, you can use a list of usual things that happen every day. Note: you will want to replace them as soon as possible, because unique dream signs give better results.

Here is a list of 7 fake dream signs:

• Entering the bathroom
• Entering or leaving your house
• Entering or leaving work or school
• Flying
• Sex with strangers
• Seeing someone important to you
• Instantly after getting out of bed (huge one since there are many “false awakenings” in dreams)

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Symbols and Reminders

A common problem with creating new habits is that you simply forget what you need to do. And in order to make sure that you remember to do a reality check on a certain dream sign, you will need to create lucid dreaming reminders.

A lucid dreaming reminder can be a computer screen saver that says : ” Do a reality check NOW”, or a note on your bathroom door with the same message.

A symbol can be your dream journal or a specially picked rock named “The Lucidity Rock” which you can carry around in your pocket. This rock will remind you to do a reality check and more importantly it will remind you of all your lucid dreaming goals.

This is the time to be creative!

Next Step:

MISSION

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1) Questioning reality

Questioning reality simply means asking the question: “Am I dreaming?” or “Is this a dream?”.

Why would I question reality if I am totally sure that this is not a dream?

The spooky fact is that 99.9% of the times when you are dreaming you are actually assuming that you are in the real world. Like, right now, this is weird right? Is there a chance that this is a dream? This post might not be real.

That’s what I’m talking about. Now it is time to do a reality check technique.

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2) Reality Check techniques

There are many different reality checking techniques, however the one that works best for me is the nose check.

This check consists of pinching your nose and then trying to breathe in. If you are in a dream, you will be able to breathe.

If you want a different way to test reality read this : reality checking techniques

Next Step

Programing Your Subconscious

1. Falling asleep while keeping consciousness
2. Falling asleep, losing consciousness and then bringing your consciousness back by realizing that you are dreaming.

In this tutorial we will be focused mainly on the second method, however I will also provide links for the other methods in the future.

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Setting Your Intention

IF you really intend to have a lucid dream then your mind will give it to you. Doing things like dream journaling, reading articles about lucid dreaming or simply thinking about lucid dreaming will increase your desire/intent to have a lucid dream and therefore it will increase your chances for experiencing a lucid dream.

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Creating a Reality Checking Habit

- “Dreams are real as reality itself. In order to bring awareness to your dreams we  have to bring awareness in our walking life.”

The logical/conscious part of our brain is partially shut down while we are sleeping, in order to activate it we ask the question: “Am I Dreaming?” and then we test to see if we are dreaming or not.

To make sure we ask this question, we will program our subconscious mind to act in a certain way when certain thing happens. For example, we can program ourselves to do a reality check each time we see some close friend.

Next Step:

Reality Checking