"Power in the Skies" by kelsey_lovefusionphoto

The first thing many dreamers do upon experiencing their first lucid dream is to fly. I know flying was the first thing on my agenda once I learned to lucid dream. In this article I’ll describe what dream flying feels like and go through a few techniques on how to efficiently fly in your dreams.

What does it feel like to fly in your dreams?

It is difficult to say exactly what flying feels like to each person. Since none of us have actually flown in waking life (unless someone here has used a jet pack before) it is impossible to pin the sensation down. However, I can describe what flying has felt like to me in comparison to things I have experienced in waking life (such as parachuting, diving from high distances, being in cars at high speeds with the windows open, etc.).

Flying in dreams feels as close to the true experience of speed. I feel wind on my face, the sensation of speed in my gut, as well as seeing the ground below move at what I’d imagine to be a realistic pace in comparison to the velocity at which my dream self is moving. It feels absolutely amazing (which is probably why it’s the first thing people try in a lucid dream).

Learning how to fly

Lucid dream activities have a learning curve just as waking life activities. You aren’t going to be a master at anything at your first attempt—practice makes perfect. However, you should never perceive anything as impossible in a lucid dream otherwise you’ll create a self-fulfilling prophecy (by thinking it’s impossible you will make it impossible).

Start small. Try hopping and floating for short periods of time. With each hop try to prolong your airtime. Do not be afraid of going to high—hitting the ground will not hurt (unless you think it will!).

After hopping, try to levitate without needing to touch the ground. Once you master this, combine it with what you learned practicing the hop technique. You should now be able to take off and keep yourself in the air as long as you like!

Next you can try to increase your speed. Think of Superman or Neo from The Matrix. Think of yourself as a rocket that can shoot through the air faster than the speed of sound. Just thinking about increasing my speed causes the speed to increase. I find this to be extremely fun and a great way to navigate dream world terrain.

The best advice I have to you is to truly believe you can fly. Think of Peter Pan first trying to learn to fly. If you have any doubts in your abilities, those doubts may manifest themselves and hinder your efforts. Remember, in dreams there are no limits.

Are you dreaming or are you awake? If you aren’t sure the answer to this question then it’s time to do a reality check. But what is a reality check and how exactly should you go about performing one?

A reality check (or reality test) is an action we perform, while awake or asleep, to gauge which state of consciousness we are currently in. The action should always have a distinct effect in the waking state and dream state. The goal for lucid dreamers is to use reality checks as means of becoming lucid whilst dreaming. Reality checks also help to keep grasp of reality (i.e. not attempting to do something in the waking state which you’d normally do in a dream without consequence).

Reality checks should be done in waking life at regular intervals, thus creating a habit which should carry over to the dream state.

Here are a few examples of reality checks:

• Look at a clock and observe the time. Now look away and look back. Did the time change?
• Count the number of fingers on your or somebody’s hands. Look away and count them again. Do you reach the same number each time?
• Hop in place. Note the feeling of gravity. Do you return to the ground each time?
• Close one eye and look downward. You should see your nose if you are indeed awake.
• Flip a light switch on and off. It should work each time in waking life (if the bulb hasn’t burnt out).
• While reading text, look away and look back at the same line of text. Has it changed or become distorted?

Once you get into the habit of making reality checks you should be able to notice when things are askew in dreams and come to the conclusion that you must be dreaming, thus bringing about lucidity.

Before I got into the habit of performing reality checks I’d often make false assumptions while dreaming to explain ridiculous situations. For example, I recall one dream where I was in a convenience store purchasing something. While at the cash register, I looked away and then looked back at the cashier (who now had a parrot on his shoulder). Instead of concluding that such a situation should only happen in a dream and questioning it further, I exclaimed, “wow, they must be having a sale at the pet shop next door!” Other times I’d make even more far-fetched explanations for the impossible.

I’ve had pretty good success becoming lucid since I began practicing reality checks. Most of the time I focus on one inanimate object, look away, then reexamine it to make sure nothing drastic has changed. I now do the same while dreaming and often spot when things are awry and then become lucid.

There are many reality checking techniques lucid dreamers use. Feel free to invent ones and see if they work for you. Just remember to use different ones as your brain can grow accustomed to predictable results and replicate the waking state result while dreaming, thus nullifying your reality check.

Dream Initiation of Lucid Dreams (DILD)

Well, by definition DILD is a method of attaining lucidity while dreaming. Unlike the other methods laid out here, the DILD method relies on the dreamer going into the dream with no intention of becoming lucid and somehow becoming lucid while asleep. This happens fairly often to me but it is not very predictable when I will have a lucid dream if no active steps are taken before going to sleep.

A good example of a DILD that happened to me was one in which I was walking through a park having a conversation with an old man. I was not lucid at the time but the man asked me how it felt to be dreaming, at which point I became lucid and instantly had some control over the situation and replied “I know I am dreaming but how do you feel knowing you don’t exist?” This stumped the old man but then he smiled and replied “I feel fine. The same way you will feel when you are awake. How do you know you truly exist?” This indeed was an interesting lucid dream and one that caught me by surprise.

Pros: Great way to become lucid.
Cons: No way to practice. Unreliable.
Best for: Those not trying to LD.

Despite DILD being a common method of attaining lucidity, there aren’t any reliable techniques to achieve lucid dreams using this method. Spend your time practicing other methods but hope for a DILD when those fail.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

The MILD technique, developed by Stephen LaBerge, involves setting an intention to carry out while dreaming in order to recognize one is dreaming or to notice a dream sign. The MILD method requires the dreamer to make a habit of doing something during waking life in order to carry the same habit into the dream state. The goal is to realize something is askew while in the dream and come to the conclusion that you must be dreaming.

A classic and proven MILD technique is to count yours and other people’s fingers while awake. If you do this often you will get into the habit of reaching the same number each time as well as have a good idea of what normal fingers look like. Once dreaming you may attempt to do the same thing but run into an issue (e.g. missing or too many digits, odd looking hands, hands that change after you look away), then you’ll realize you are asleep.

Another MILD technique involves paying close detail to common objects (such as a watch or clock) while awake. Make sure you look twice at these objects each time you observe them. Once in a dream, you may do the same but realize that the object seems distorted or changes once you look away (time rapidly changing) and hopefully conclude that you must be dreaming.

One technique I use often is to repeat the following phrase in my head “I will recognize I am asleep and remember my dream.” I repeat this mentally a few times during the day and repeatedly before I go to bed. I find that it helps me attain lucidity when practiced. A variation of this technique is laid out in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming byStephen LaBerge.

Pros: Simple. Easy for beginners.
Cons: Can be a bit boring.
Best for: People with good prospective memory.

Using the MILD method can have very positive results. I find that the MILD method is the easiest for beginners since you can practice it all the time in waking life and hopefully attain a lucid dream within a few weeks or even days of starting.

Wake Initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)

The WILD method is my personal favorite method of initiating lucid dreams. The WILD method is when you fall asleep while keeping your consciousness and go straight into a dream. This is often achieved by using relaxation and meditation techniques to relax your body and seamlessly transition into a sleep state while keeping your mind focused on entering the dream world.

For WILDs to occur, you are going to want to keep your body as relaxed as possible. Now tense and relax your body, starting from your shoulders and working downwards, then back up to your face. Doing this (or a similar relaxation, meditation, or trance technique) should make your body feel slightly heavy and relaxed.

There are many different ways to induce WILDs, but they all involve simultaneously attempting to keep the mind aware while attempting to have the body fall asleep.

I find that WILDs are easiest to achieve right before an afternoon nap or after waking up earlier than expected. This has to do with sleep cycles, as REM periods can continue immediately when falling asleep if a REM period was missed or stopped abruptly the night before.

The WILD method tends to give me the most vivid lucid dreams, nearly as real as waking life. Some of the WILDs have even seemed realer than real life (if that makes any sense), since I’ve been able to control nearly every element of the dream.

However, there are some risks involved with attempting to use the WILD method.

Sleep Paralysis (SP) is the most common issue I have had to deal with when using this method. SP occurs when your body is asleep but your mind is awake. SP is when you feel completely paralyzed (you literally cannot move) but your consciousness is fully intact. But wait, doesn’t that happen every night? Indeed it does, but we normally are not aware of it when it happens. SP can last anywhere from a few seconds to minutes (I’ve had what seemed like a 15 minute episode) and can be the most frightening experience of your life. I usually hallucinate when in SP, sometimes about demons standing beside my bed and attacking me or I feel like I’m falling into an infinitely deep pit. Despite having some bad experiences with SP, I’ve learned to focus my energy on positive thoughts and use SP to launch straight to a lucid dream. I actually enjoy SP now as it is a full-proof method to enter a LD or an astral projection episode (arguably the same as lucid dreaming but I’ll discuss that further in another article).

Pros: Vivid lucid dreams, induced at will.
Cons: Difficult to master. Sleep Paralysis and other scary things can happen.
Best for: Experienced dreamers.

Despite the scary stuff that may happen, this is the most effective method of attaining lucid dreams. If you really practice the WILD method you will be able to enter a lucid dream whenever you desire.

So there you have it. These 3 methods are the most common ways people experience lucid dreaming. These, of course, are not the only methods available but I find them to be the fairly easy to pull off (well not DILD) and proven to work. If you choose to try the WILD method, whatever you do don’t let Sleep Paralysis scare you! Only think positive thoughts and don’t let your fears come out of else you will have a bad experience. Maybe a few scary SP experiences are necessary for you to learn how to control your mind, but I digress.