Lucid dreams: how to learn to dream lucidly, techniques and guide
Introduction
Lucid dreams fascinate many people, but few know the techniques for actually having one. In this article, we’ll give you a broad overview of the key topics around lucid dreaming. By the end, you’ll know how you can learn to lucid dream, what aids such as dream herbs, techniques and potential risks are involved.
We’ll also cover the psychology and share further resources and materials to help you learn lucid dreaming.
Contents
- What is lucid dreaming?
- Learning to lucid dream
- Guayusa dream herb for lucid dreaming
- Experiences with lucid dreaming
- Risks of lucid dreaming
- Learn more about lucid dreaming
- Conclusion on lucid dreaming
1. What is lucid dreaming?
Lucid dreaming, also known as conscious dreaming, is the ability to consciously observe or even control your dreams. When you’re lucid dreaming, you’re aware of what is happening (you’re dreaming), where you are (for example, in your bed) and how you can control your dream.
Everything you see, smell, hear or taste feels completely real.
Your brain becomes active while you dream without waking you from the dream. At that moment, you realise that you are inside your own mind. Unlike an ordinary dream, you don’t feel detached or out of control; instead, you actively take part in the dream.
There is nothing mystical or paranormal about it; it is an inward journey and an experience. It is also interesting to know that, unlike an ordinary dream, you can wake yourself from a lucid dream at any time.
Science distinguishes between primary and secondary consciousness. Primary consciousness enables basic perception of and response to the environment, which happens “subconsciously”. Secondary consciousness allows us to become aware of our own consciousness and includes rational thought and willpower. Lucid dreaming therefore brings conscious action into a state that is usually unconscious.
1.1 Definition of lucid dreaming
A concise definition of lucid dreaming could therefore be:
“Lucid dreaming is becoming aware that you are dreaming, including controlling the actions that take place in the dream, and being able to end the dream at any time and remember it.”
1.2 Benefits
Here are some of the benefits of this ability, followed by a more detailed explanation:
- Shape the dream world as you wish. This boosts creativity and brain performance, which may have positive effects on intelligence.
- Enjoy fun activities such as flying, teleporting, wearing cool outfits and enjoying delicious food and drinks at the snap of your fingers.
- You can learn while you sleep – something others only have time for during the day.
- It strengthens self-awareness, self-control and personality.
- You may be able to resolve inner conflicts.
Effects on intelligence
Lucid dreaming involves actively using your brain’s capabilities. Create a world as you imagine it: build a house, develop something, do research, fly, float or dive – anything is possible and engages your mind.
You may even be able to learn in a conscious dream, or deepen what you have already learnt and experienced. It has been found that lucid dreaming strengthens the connections between the prefrontal cortex and the temporal lobes.
The prefrontal cortex is associated with integrating and retaining information, taking appropriate actions and responding to emotions. The temporal lobes are responsible for perceiving sounds and visual impressions, as well as processing facts. If these two areas of the brain work together more effectively, information may be taken in, stored and used to guide actions more efficiently.
Lucid dreaming certainly won’t turn you into Einstein, but it may still have an effect on your intelligence.
Psychology and psychotherapy
In psychology, and particularly psychotherapy, learning to lucid dream is an innovative and promising approach. It has been found to be helpful, especially for recurring nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A statistically significant improvement in sleep quality has not, however, been demonstrated in psychological studies of lucid dreaming.
Personality and personal development
For people who tend to be shy, reserved or insecure in everyday life, regular lucid dreams may be a great help. By continually practising and experiencing dreams in which you make your own choices, you can reflect on experiences and reshape them.
These new experiences may help shape your personality positively. For example, you can consciously relive a situation and act or respond differently – something that would otherwise never be possible.
This psychological approach may also help strengthen self-confidence and resolve inner conflicts.
1.3 Drawbacks of lucid dreaming
No official drawbacks of lucid dreaming are known. However, there may be consequences, which we discuss in more detail below in the section on risks.
2. Learning to lucid dream
In this section, we’ll share methods, techniques and instructions to help you learn to lucid dream.
2.1 Can anyone learn to lucid dream?
Experts such as Stephen LaBerge of Stanford University in the US believe that anyone can learn to lucid dream. It is said to take between 3 and 21 days to experience your first lucid dream. However, it may take longer, depending on how intensively you practise and how mindful you are in everyday life.
2.2 Lucid dreaming techniques
Here are some techniques that are intended to help you learn to lucid dream; we’ll describe them in more detail below:
- Meditation
- Dream yoga
- Dream-inducing plants – dream herbs
- Keeping a dream journal
- Reality check, for example using a totem and asking yourself: “Am I dreaming, or am I awake?”
- Sleep mantra – affirmation
Meditation
Many forms of meditation resemble the mental state experienced during lucid dreaming. So, to get better at one, it makes sense to practise the other too. Alongside quiet seated meditation, you could listen to a guided meditation as you fall asleep. For example, you’ll find a guided meditation on HigherMind.
Dream yoga
Another option similar to meditation is dream yoga. Like guided meditation, it is practised before – or, more precisely, while – falling asleep. You visualise the body’s energy points and mentally project coloured light into those areas.
This technique is said to be very difficult to master without guidance from a yoga teacher.
Dream-inducing plants – dream herbs
Dream herbs are known in many ancient shamanic cultures. Many come from South America, Central America and Africa. Examples include Calea zacatechichi, Silene capensis, African dream bean, Uvuma omhlope, African dream root and guayusa tea.
One example of a locally native plant is mountain avens (known in German as Silberwurz). Find out more about dream herbs, their effects, preparation and dosage in our article “The best dream herbs for lucid dreaming, including how to prepare them”.
We’ll explain later how you can use guayusa as a dream herb for lucid dreaming.
Dream journal
A dream journal trains your mind to engage with what you have dreamt and to remember your dreams in the first place. You could use an app or a physical dream journal, like this one.
Each morning, try to remember at least one dream from the night before and write it down.
Reality check
Do you know the film Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio? In it, Leonardo has a so-called totem: an object only he knows about. When he uses it, the totem reminds him that he is not dreaming – as long as it behaves as it would in the real world. If the totem suddenly works differently, perhaps because Leonardo imagines how it should work, he knows that he is still in a lucid dream.
You can add another reality check to your daily routine. Ask yourself several times a day: “Am I dreaming, or am I awake?” As you do this, imagine slowly starting to float or your totem doing something that would not normally be possible.
Sleep mantra
In the 1980s, Stephan LaBerg identified a simple and effective way to connect more closely with the dream world. Repeating a simple sentence before falling asleep may help you remember your dreams and enter them. For example, tell yourself: “When I’m dreaming, I’ll realise that I’m dreaming and can shape the dream!”
2.3 A guide to lucid dreaming
Try to practise the techniques above as often and regularly as possible. It’s best to do a reality check several times a day. Don’t set an alarm for this; instead, train your mind to remember to do the checks on its own.
Don’t overdo it at first by trying to put every technique into practice in one day. It usually takes us 30 to 60 days to establish a habit.
Choose 2 to 3 techniques and focus on those.
In practice, this might mean choosing a totem and asking yourself several times throughout the day whether you are awake or asleep. Keep a dream journal and repeat your sleep mantra before bed or several times during the day.
You can then combine these three techniques with one of the following methods.
MILD technique
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD) is a technique similar to using a sleep mantra. An affirmation is meant to train your mind for a specific situation. As you fall asleep, for example, you might say: “When I wake up, I will remember my dreams!”
You can also use this technique during the day, repeating to yourself: “I will have a lucid dream tonight!” This shifts your focus towards your goal and may make you more receptive to this new state.
DILD technique
Dream-Initiated Lucid Dreaming (DILD) means moving from an ordinary, unconscious dream into a conscious, lucid one. For beginners, this is the most likely way to experience lucid dreams.
To use this technique, it is important to learn and practise the lucid dreaming techniques described above. Reality checks and remembering your dreams by keeping a dream journal are particularly important. You can use the MILD technique to support this.
Do reality checks several times a day. It helps to tie them to activities you already do, such as opening a door, putting on or taking off your shoes, or having a drink. Check your reality at those moments!
WILD technique
With the WILD technique (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream), you transition directly from being awake into a lucid dream. Dream yoga can be considered a form of this technique. It is more suitable for experienced dreamers.
You need a good sense of your mind and body. The idea is to lie still, close your eyes and simply notice what appears in your mind’s eye. The aim is neither to move nor to fall asleep straight away, but to gradually build and shape the dream until you are fully in the dream state.
The WILD technique is less suited to the evening and more suited to the afternoon or another time when you are not planning to sleep for several hours. The reason given is that we only dream during so-called REM phases. These generally occur after deep sleep, or during a power nap! In these phases, the brain’s electrical activity oscillates in the theta and alpha ranges, rather than the beta and gamma ranges associated with wakefulness.
Alpha waves are particularly interesting because this range is associated with concentration, mindfulness, attention and relaxation.
WBTB technique
The Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) technique is similar to false awakening, as an external factor prompts you to wake up.
The difference is that after waking, you deliberately fall asleep again to enter a lucid dream directly. This technique is often combined with an additional external stimulus, such as a dream herb. This increases the likelihood of a lucid dream, gives you more experience and helps you learn lucid dreaming more quickly.
False awakening
“False awakening” is more of a variation you may experience anyway. These are the times when you think you are already awake and have started your day, but you are actually still asleep and dreaming.
You can use these dreams to enter the dream and take control, as with the DILD technique. They often occur after your alarm has gone off, when you have turned over and gone back to sleep. During this time, our brains are particularly active in the alpha and theta ranges.
To make use of these dreams, it is important to have a reality-check routine. In this case, do it EVERY time before you get up! To stop your brain from tricking you, build an unshakeable routine that includes a reality check before you get out of bed.
This way, you can use the last few minutes before getting up to shape one or more lucid dreams.
3. Guayusa dream herb for lucid dreaming
As mentioned above, you can turn to dream herbs to intensify lucid dreams or increase the likelihood of having one.
Dream herbs have a tradition going back thousands of years. Guayusa, however, has established itself as the number one dream herb. From a rational perspective, this is linked to the active compounds in the guayusa plant, particularly the compound L-theanine. Looking at the tradition surrounding guayusa, guayusa trees are sacred plants that contain the energies of ancestors. Anyone who drinks guayusa receives the ancestors’ energy, wisdom and clarity, as well as the ability to contact and communicate with them in dreams. To learn more about the Kichwa people and their history, read this detailed article about the myths and legends surrounding guayusa’s origins.
3.1 Scientific rationale for its effects
Here, though, we’ll look at the scientifically explainable effects of guayusa as a dream herb.
L-theanine is a well-known amino acid, but it is exceptionally rare. Only two plants and one fungus contain L-theanine. No dream herb other than guayusa contains this compound.
Studies have found that L-theanine increases alpha-wave activity in the brain. As mentioned above, these alpha waves are associated with feeling more focused, relaxed, alert and mindful. This is what makes guayusa a valuable dream herb to support lucid dreaming!
To experience the full effect of this dream herb, it is best to prepare a traditional guayusa tea. To do so, simmer the leaves of our PURE Guayusa, DARK Guayusa or PURE-POWDER over constant heat for about 20 to 30 minutes, until you have a strong, very dark brew.
Traditionally, this intense dream-herb drink is consumed just before bed. Many lucid dreamers also like to use the WBTB technique: they set an alarm for about 5 hours after going to bed, drink their prepared guayusa tea, then lie back down.
On an empty stomach, guayusa takes effect within 10 to 15 minutes and keeps your mind from entering another deep-sleep phase.
Find out more about guayusa as a dream herb – though it is, of course, used for much more than that – in this article on the effects of guayusa and our general article, “What is guayusa?”.
As a sneak peek: guayusa is the world’s most caffeinated drink, yet its effects are gentler than those of other caffeinated drinks. It is therefore popular as a natural energy drink and coffee alternative.
4. Experiences with lucid dreaming
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations – this is a very detailed article and may feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new to the subject.
So far, lucid dreaming sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But let’s look at the positive and negative experiences people actually report, and whether it makes a difference.
4.1 Positive experiences
Most accounts you’ll find online are positive or neutral. People who stick with it and practise consistently describe lucid dreams as a major benefit.
The more neutral accounts describe some successes that do not recur consistently, leading people to stop following the routines after a while.
4.2 Negative experiences
Not many negative experiences are shared online. In the next section, we’ll look in more detail at the risks of lucid dreaming that experts have raised.
The negative experiences shared online usually involve nightmares and questions about how to prevent them. The main advice here is to maintain a positive mindset to help overcome your fear of having a nightmare.
5. Risks of lucid dreaming
Few risks associated with lucid dreaming have been scientifically studied and established. Here, we share concerns that researchers have raised in experiments involving participants.
Stephen LaBerg is a pioneer in lucid-dreaming research. He founded the Lucidity Institute and helps participants enter their dreams and become lucid using various techniques and devices.
The main risks associated with lucid dreaming are thought to be sleep disorders and psychological problems.
5.1 Psychological risks of lucid dreaming
It is worth reiterating that there is no evidence of fundamental risks, although concerns have been raised. In psychology, concerns about the risks of lucid dreaming relate almost exclusively to the idea that people with psychoses, such as personality disorders and schizophrenia, should not attempt self-therapy without psychological support.
This is attributed to the fact that, even in a lucid dream, you perceive yourself from a third-person perspective. This detached perception may carry the risk of experiencing lucid dreaming as real. An already unstable personality may then be exposed to an additional stressor.
However, it should be emphasised that studies have found positive effects in people without pre-existing conditions. In these cases, lucid dreaming strengthens personality and reinforces self-image.
5.2 Are sleep disorders a risk?
Brain activity during lucid dreams is higher than during ordinary dreams. However, the research findings are highly divergent and cannot clearly establish whether this extra brain activity is a drawback or even a risk. Participants report both feeling more refreshed and feeling slightly sleepier.
As with anything in life, the dose makes the poison. So don’t overdo lucid dreaming, to avoid potential risks from the outset!
6. Learn more about lucid dreaming
Lucid dreaming is such a wide-ranging subject that there is plenty more to learn. Below are our recommendations if you’d like to explore learning lucid dreaming in greater depth.
6.1 Books on lucid dreaming
There is now plenty of literature on the subject. We can recommend books by Andreas Schwarz: “Wie du luzides Träumen effektiv für den Alltag nutzt” (on using lucid dreaming in everyday life) and “Die Kunst des Klarträumens lernen” (on learning the art of lucid dreaming).
6.2 PDF guide to lucid dreaming
All of Andres Schwarz’s books are also available as e-books or PDFs. Unfortunately, we could not find a free PDF guide to learning lucid dreaming.
6.3 Films
Perhaps the best-known film is Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Other films include The Cell, Alice in Wonderland and Vanilla Sky.
6.4 YouTube
You can find plenty of free videos on YouTube. Bear in mind that many people giving advice on lucid dreaming have never experienced it themselves, even if they present extensive techniques. Do your own research and be patient with the subject. One channel we can personally recommend is HigherMind.
7. Conclusion on lucid dreaming
As a guayusa company, we’ve been exploring this subject since 2016 and are fascinated by its possibilities and by the traditions connected with it in many parts of the world.
Lucid dreaming is certainly not for everyone: it requires a good understanding of yourself and a long period of practice. However, the positive effects, benefits and fun can be substantial!
We think lucid dreaming, like meditation and biohacking, is part of the natural optimisation of our bodies, minds and spirits. We also see it as a counterpart – perhaps even a foundation – for future technological advances in human enhancement.
We hope you found this in-depth article on lucid dreaming useful. In our blog, you’ll find more articles on guayusa, biohacking, mindset, nutrition and sport. Until then, enjoy practising and learning to lucid dream.