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Disclaimer
This course is theoretical content. Anyone who decides to practice any of the techniques
does so on the understanding that they are mentally and medically fit to do so. None of
the techniques described are inherently dangerous but each person should consider their
own safety prior to attempting any of the material described.
Preface
Lucid dreaming is a skill. Like any skill, there are some people who are naturally better at
it than others but anyone can learn how to do this regularly. This course is designed to get
you into the best possible position to become lucid. Starting with the science, moving
through methods and finishing with some applied procedure all aspects of dream entry
and navigation are covered.
Completion time of the course is approximately 6 weeks, taking the first two weeks to
familiarise yourself with the science and methodology, whilst keeping a dream diary
concurrently. This will give you a great start to get lucid within the following month with
the remaining outlined course work. Lucidity can be achieved at any time during the
course but we normally see results around the fourth week as long as focus and effort is
well maintained.
A further advanced section is also present but I urge you to steer clear of this until you
have a little more experience under your belt as things can get pretty intense here.
No one can give you the lucid experience apart from you. This ultimately will be down to
your own determination and resolve. This guide will serve you well if you take the time
to really understand the fundamental principles involved and work with the outlined
methods with intent and effort.
Dream World is like any other destination, it takes time to get there, but like any other
journey, dont just look to the destination, let the journey itself be just as fun. Its just a
question of perspective so before you start lucid dreaming, think how you can start to live
more lucidly in your waking life and begin to feel the experience already!
Contents
1) Is This a Dream?
2) Hybrid Induction Theory
3) Lucid Dreams are real
4) What is Reality?
5) Sleep and Dreams
6) Science of Sleep
7) Becoming Lucid
8) Reality Checking
9) Calm before the Storm
10) Induction Methods
11) Dream World Rules
12) Looking Glass Creatures
13) Getting Around Dream World
14) Taking Flight
Advanced Practice
own subconscious self? Perhaps they are other dreamers, some awake, some still
sleeping. This is a question only you can answer for yourself and experience will be the
key to this question. It is time to begin your journey..Rise up Dream warrior!
Intro
Why is it that when we dream, we dont recognise that we are dreaming?
Why do we just accept the strange scenarios like a pink cat.oh and it talks?
It is as if a fundamental part of our minds are missing during dreaming.
A lucid dream occurs when we realise we are dreaming and consciously navigate the
dreamscape. This can happen spontaneously from time to time but induction techniques
can be learned to consistently achieve this state.
The Dilemma
There are a number of induction techniques that can be used to achieve lucid dreams.
These mostly rely on memory conditioning.
To most peoples experience this seems a little bit of a task as memory is seriously
impaired during sleep, hence we have such poor dream recall. This is due to an
evolutionary function that allows the body to make sense of and consolidate recent
memories without deleting them.
In order to achieve this, new memories during the sleep process need to be hindered as
the nature of memory is such that making new memories often requires the deletion of
old memories. This of course is a simplified model of a more complex process but the
point remains, memory in sleep is impaired.
So despite having achieved good success myself with memory based inductions I could
not help but to read about countless aborted efforts of many other wannabe dream
walkers. There had to be a better way.
The Science
So I asked myself when else does the mind just accept things at face value?
The answer is when we are hypnotised.
There had to be a relationship. What do the hypnotised mind and dreaming mind have in
common?
There are many definitions of hypnosis - but they all essentially subscribe to the same
idea that the part of the mind that monitors our reality, the Critical Function, is
effectively off line.
Here is a brief explanation of the critical function that Ive written up using my own
model. I call this the model the Critical Loop. This is crucial so make sure you
understand.
The Critical Loop above can best be described as starting with an experience in our lives.
This event is then turned into a memory which is then passed through the learning centre
where the event is analysed so as the mind is ready for the next time the same event is
encountered. This is referred to as an expectation.
On a subsequent occasion, when the same event is encountered again, the experience is
made into a memory and compared to the expectation of this event (from previous
experience). If the experience is similar to previous experiences then the event goes
unnoticed. If the event is dissimilar to the previous experience then the expectation of the
experience is modified by the intervention of a conscious consideration.
This means that most of what we do from day to day goes unnoticed until something
strange (expectation and experience out of sync) event occurs, in which case we
immediately become acutely aware of the situation.
So, for example we (from previous experience) expect a pineapple to taste sweet until we
eat a bitter one at which point we then make a memory of this. This causes the mind to
become conscious in its consideration of the matter and it now modifies our expectations
of future pineapples to be possibly bitter.
Our brain continuously monitors our world in this fashion, observing our experiences and
when necessary consciously adjusting our expectations accordingly - this is known as the
Critical Function.
So I asked, what part of the loop is missing in sleep, what brings the critical function off
line?
The answer was painfully obvious - Memory!!
So a reduced memory means the loop is off line and a shorter loop now comes into play.
Looking at this shorter loop we can see how experience and expectation become
uncritically interchangeable - so a talking pink cat becomes acceptable and hence we do
not realise that we are dreaming.
Memory techniques rely on familiarising oneself with ones personal dream signs (these
are people, places etc peculiar to our individual dreams). By becoming familiar with
these and making an effort to remember to recognise them when were dreaming we can
trigger lucidity. However common experience would seem to be that lucidity, though
achieved through this method, rarely occurs by actually remembering a dream sign but
more so by being alerted to the oddness of something else in the dream.
So according to my model - it would seem that the forcing of memory is, in effect
actually bringing the critical function back on line rather than actual relying on memory
to recognise a dream sign to become lucid. So it is a critical mindset that ultimately
triggers lucidity, fired up by the forcing of memory into the equation.
The Proposal
No denying the effectiveness of memory based technique but I wanted to bring the
critical mind online in a more predictable way. So after countless exercises and theories I
have opened the floor to encourage a more multi dimensional approach to becoming
lucid, employing a number of different methods, while all ultimately subscribing to the
Critical Mindset Notion, the very essence of becoming lucid.
To give you an idea - we are taking in approximately 2 million pieces of information per
second of which only approximately 150 pieces are actually sent upstairs to the conscious
mind, the Reality Generator, to make up what is known as the Mental Construct.
Everybody has different beliefs, needs and desires and it is these peculiarities that
ultimately determine what information is most relevant to make up the mental construct.
So for example a lady crossing the road with her child sees the oncoming traffic as
something to be careful of and is taking caution. A teenager at the same street likes fast
cars. A nice Ferrari passes them both. Ask them both 5 minutes later what colour the
Ferrari was and there will be only one answer, you guessed it, the teenager!
The thought simply didnt register for the lady. So the car did pass in his reality but not in
hers. We will refer to the event that did happen is physical space and time (the car
passed) as Consensual Reality and what happened for the individuals as Subjective
Reality. We can see therefore that the two are not always concurrent.
So we now know that the information comes in as electrical information but what gives
the information context?
Let me elaborate - I see a glass on the table, whereby a baby sees an image of something
transparent. I dont have to think about it to know that it is a glass because I already have
a working model in my mind of what a glass is. It has a contextual meaning in my mind
because I have experienced it in my reality previously. My mind can record this event
and cross reference it to many more events, so I know for example without thinking that
it carries water and can smash if I drop it. I have a name for it, a glass. Our minds are
continuously considering experiences and modifying them to create our reality.
When the mind has an experience of an event, it can store it and all the intertwining
relevant data about the subject e.g. the glass . This model can be referred to as a schema.
So to put all this together, information is presented to us through our senses. This vast
information is prioritised and the most relevant information is then passed from the
Sorting Office on to the Reality Generator to make up the Mental Construct. This
information is then rapidly analysed and contextualised to create a formal understanding
of the event which can be used for future reference. This mental construct is what most
people casually refer to as reality.
With our mind asleep and body asleep there is significantly reduced activity in the mind
but it is not entirely switched off. The mind continues to monitor the limited sensory
input from our surroundings ensuring we are not in any danger. If the sensory input goes
above a certain threshold, we awake. So for example if there was a whisper in the room,
our ears still take the information in, they just do not trigger the waking response until the
whisper becomes loud enough, perhaps a shout in some cases!
For the most part of sleep, the Reality Generator is switched off and only switches on for
brief periods during the sleep period. These episodes are known as dreams and are
created by the Reality Generator drawing on the reserve information from the Sorting
Office. The reserve information is all that data that has been accumulated during the
lifetime of the individual and hence we dream mostly of past experiences and desires but
with no particular order.
As there is reduced sensory input i.e. we arent hearing or seeing much, the motivation
for the dreamscape is driven, not by the local information input (what were seeing or
hearing in bed) but by our emotional state at that time. The dream images and themes are
therefore frequently constructed from associated memories and experiences of a similar
emotional frame of reference. So for example, when we are stressed we may dream of
being late for work, when we are free, we may dream of flying.
What is most peculiar about this process is that when the Reality Generator
forms the dreamscape, it does not represent a map of a physical space and
time occupied by a physical self (as in waking state) but a map of a non
physical reality. What is even more curious is that the part of the mind that
probes our reality does not ordinarily know this. So to the dreaming mind, a
wall feels solid and a pinch feels like..a pinch! However as we will see
when we become lucid we can become aware of this (there are ways of
knowing) and with experience we can navigate Dream World, knowing that
it is just a mental construct with no real physical boundaries. We can walk
through walls, fly, breathe under water and so on.
Morpheus tells Neo he must free his mind.nobody makes the first jump!
On this subject, I would say that this state of mind is also available through another
number of avenues. Meditation is a good way of guiding the body into this state and I
would encourage anyone to explore this balanced state of mind as an exercise prior to
engaging it in dream state. As a means to help stabilise the lucid dream state this is a
worth while venture.
To enter this state, I myself use meditation as well as sound technology, which we will
explore later. I also recommend trying weekly floatation tank sessions. These are sensory
deprivation centres that are becoming increasingly more popular for entering deep states
of relaxation. The body is deeply relaxed, while the conscious mind is gently stimulated
above the sleep threshold as you simply float in a tank of salt balanced water.
In order to achieve this state of lucidity we need to consider that unlike waking life we do
not have our conscious minds to make the connection between our dreaming minds and
the dream event to become lucid. Our subconscious minds ultimately make this
connection and as we discussed previously we need to create a state of alertness in the
dreaming mind so as to stimulate the critical faculties as much as possible to recognise
that we are dreaming.
One of the most important requirements for this state is good dream recall. As previously
discussed, memory of dreams is seriously limited and as such we need to stimulate our
mental faculties to become more aware of dream events and stimulate the subconscious
mind to take our dreams seriously and be more alert during dreaming.
The pushing of memory into the dream event stimulates the critical mindset that we need
to become lucid. This can be enough of a trigger to stimulate a lucid event for some
people, though when combined with specific inductions to really peak the memory
process, the chances of achieving lucidity are greatly increased.
No matter how clear your dreams may seem upon waking during the night, youll have
almost forgotten them completely by the time you again awake in the morning.
A dream diary is the most common way of recording your dreams. A dream diary is a
journal, kept beside your bed for recording and analysing your dreams. This is an
essential tool so respect it and enjoy it.
By writing in a dream journal/diary, you are literally turning your dreams inside out,
dragging them through a waking conscious mind to analyse. This has the effect of
cementing the dreams in your memory, thereby familiarising you with your dreams.
Furthermore, it has the effect of letting the subconscious mind know that dreams are
important.
A final duty of the dream journal is to help identify your own personal dream signs.
When journaling, note anything strange, anything that wouldnt normally happen in the
waking world. If you find these strange events recur in your dreams, then they are your
personal dream signs. These can broadly be defined as
Form - this is anything that seems physically odd, for example a purple cow.
Context - this is anything or anyone, that seems out of place. For example, Einstein is in
your living room.
Inner Awareness - anything that feels strange. For example emotions can run pretty wild
in dreams, so uncontrollable laughing or shouting could be a dream oddity.
Action - any action that seems odd. For example, flying car
To use the journal, it is best to start practicing at night to catch a dream or two and first
thing in the morning too. The idea is to learn to catch 2 or 3 dreams a night. Spend some
time practicing this, even if it is a bit of a task at first.
In time you can gradually reduce this to one a night and eventually, only the interesting
dreams need to be recorded. It really is a very important activity to continue, even for
experienced lucid dreamers, as it constantly reminds the subconscious of the relevance of
dreams.
Upon waking, dont allow your mind to drift immediately attempt to focus on what
you had just been dreaming, and write it down in your dream journal. Contemplate what
you just experienced and attempt to put events in order. Often reliving the dream
backwards will help: after remembering an event, ask yourself, What was I doing before
that?
Although it is best to record absolutely everything you can, realistically you may not
want to reiterate the epic novel that is your dream at 4:00 a.m.; instead, write down key
points, such as what you were doing, where you were, and who was around you. This can
be fleshed out later. A pen with a built in light on it can be a great asset to make night
time notes.
Always write in present tense as this allows the mind to connect with the event more
intimately.
I now practice by simply waking up 10 minutes before getting out of bed. After turning
off my alarm, reality checking and lying down in the same position again, I recall my
dream and recycle it in my mind a few times before getting up.
This activity normally gives me enough recall to get up and write up my dream at a
morning break or lunch time.
After writing up the journal, it is a good idea to do a brief analysis of the dream to make
some notes. I recommend writing the narrative of the dream on the right hand page and
the notes on the left.
Making a title for the dream is a good exercise and can be fun. Date the dream and note
whether it was lucid or not. Follow the outline below for some details.
Furthermore, I would recommend making a list of your most frequent dream signs at the
back of the journal as well as a list of your ongoing missions, you intend to achieve in
Dream World. You can tick these off and date them as you do as an exercise. I personally
like to bookend my missions by writing down the mission at the start of the night in a 3
step action, for example
12 th April Mission
Assume meditative position
Form an energy ball in my hands
Fire the energy ball
I then will write up event in my diary afterwards e.g.
When lucid, I assume the meditative position and am forming the energy ball in my
hands. It is blue and I can feel it sparking in my fingers. It is glowing brilliant light and
making a slight buzzing sound. I fire it and it explodes into a beautiful splash of light.
Title (Date)
Dream Signs
A list of your dream signs from the
narrative is written here. I score them a 0,
if I didnt pay any attention to them and a
1 if I noticed something odd about the
event, but did not become lucid. Keeping a
score here can be a simple but effective
exercise
Narrative
The dream narrative is written here,
putting in as much detail as you can recall
Senses
Apart from your audiovisual memories,
record any physical touches, tastes or
smells you can recall. These are a little
more rare in dreams our awareness is low
Thoughts
Record any thoughts you remember
having about events. This exercise can be
a great way to stimulate your thinking,
critical mind to come on line in dreams
Comment
Making a personal comment on your
progress and insight is a good exercise
At this point I also recommend performing what I refer to as a Cognitive Check. This
is a simple mental self check to make sure we have the right mindset on us to get the
most out of our dream.
A simple mental rehearsal of something simple like the following example will do 2+2=4, 4x3=12, 5x12= 60 and so on.
Next we say to ourselves My name is (your name) and my mission is .. (one should
have a mission or two planned before induction, a list in your dream diary is a good
idea).
This works on two levels, firstly it helps to focus the intention to become lucid by
giving the mind a goal beyond a goal. The mind is far more attentive to this kind of
agenda.
Secondly it makes sure we have our wits about us so as not to get swept up in the
dream imagery and fall back to sleep or get over stimulated and wake up.
Not all dreams have the same level of lucidity and we dont always get the best value
out of our experiences due to our wandering minds. We will further explore
maintaining lucidity after the inductions have been covered. A lot can be said on this
subject and for the advanced dreamer, will be a topic of huge consideration!
principle called The Observer Effect. If one was walking down the street and minding
ones own business and then stopped to be told to carry on about our business but
that we were being observed for an experiment. The experiment requires us to just
carry on as though the other person wasnt even there, to just ignore them.
Needless to say we would immediately become quite self conscious and start to act a
little differently, aware that we are being observed. This, in turn may in avertedly
influence the outcome of the experiment. The effect of the introduction of an observer
into this experiment is referred to as The Observer Effect.
The observer effect can be applied to any kind of scenario and in the case of the mind, I
would speculate that by letting the mind know that we are watching it, we are influencing
it to become self conscious and start to almost hide its thoughts. This creates the less
thoughts state of mind, gradually quietening the babbling brook of thoughts that
normally flow by.
On this subject, I am always glad to hear some thoughts but I am happy with my own
theory so far.
We will be incorporating our meditative, mind quietening as part of our induction but
I also urge you to try to take ten minutes a day to practice this.
Practice this as follows:
Sit or lie down, alternatively sit cross legged with your hands resting on your legs.
Sitting has the advantage of not allowing you fall asleep.
Close your eyes and relax
Start to take three deep breaths. Breathe deeply into your belly, NOT INTO YOUR RIB
CAGE as is commonly believed in Western culture.
Breathe in through your nose slowly and deeply, for up to 8 seconds and then out
through your mouth with gently pursed lips, like blowing out a candle, for a similar
period of time. The pursing of the lips here helps to reduce air flow and subtly keeps you
from nodding off to sleep
A gentle humming motion, like a VVVVVV motion with your teeth and lower lip can be
made here at the same time as breathing out. If one feels a little self conscious of this,
gentle meditative music can be played at the same time to relieve this for a while. There
will be further discussion on this extensive topic (sound technology) later
Continue breathing like this while telling yourself on every exhale to relax completely
Really feel your entire body relax on every exhale, like the air going out of a huge tire,
visualise a similar image if it helps
You can also visualise your inhaling as warm glowing energy being taken in and your
exhale as cold, blue, stale air being passed out
5 to 10 minutes of this practice should yield a very relaxed state of mind (with time and
experience this can be almost instantly achieved with a minutes breathing and positive
intention to become deeply relaxed)
Now you can allow your breathing to become shallow and only through your nose,
gradually allowing it to become faint enough for you to barely notice it
Falling asleep is a real temptation so beware - gently stimulate the mind with thoughts
but dont allow your mind to wander off the subject; this is also a real temptation
Now you can commence telling your subconscious what you want
Allow your mind to settle, your thoughts can be like dust just falling away
Do not give the thoughts any energy; just watch them in a detached fashion
Dont judge the thoughts, just let them pass. If you do find yourself tangled up in a
thought, dont wrestle with it, just allow it to pass and then allow your mind to clear
again
Gradually you will start to notice the gaps in your thinking, until hopefully you will soon
start to experience pure silence.
Inductions
1) Reflection Intention
Principle: The idea here is to form a habit that will ultimately follow you into the dream
state. German scientist, Dr Paul Tholey is credited with this method, he is worth a
Google.
Method: Practice reality checking several times a day, asking yourself if this is a dream
and really meaning it. The habit will hopefully carry over into your dreaming life
where you will test your reality and prove to be dreaming.
Doing the reality checks when you see your dream signs and first thing when you wake
up in the morning will stack the odds more favourably.
Furthermore when a test proves negative, take it as an opportunity to practice some
visualisation. It is a good habit at least once a day to practice what it would be like to
become lucid.
Here is how to practice Imagine you are in a dream
Look around you as you go about your business and then recognise one of your dream
signs
Now imagine youve just realised that this is a dream, becoming lucid
Imagine yourself reality checking positive to be sure youre dreaming
Perform a cognitive check
Allow yourself to feel that euphoria as you imagine how this would feel, becoming
lucid
Now imagine yourself carrying out your dream mission, maybe feel yourself flying
away
When finished tell yourself firmly The next time I am dreaming, I will remember to
realise that I am dreaming
Comment: This is a well worth investment of your time to familiarise yourself with some
basic visualisation techniques as you can actually see the dreamscape around you.
Although people have reported success with this method, success is probably limited but
it is a good training ground to get going, when first getting into lucid dreaming.
2) Autosuggestion
Principle: Autosuggestion or self hypnosis works on the basis that we can communicate
directly to the subconscious and ask it directly to follow our instructions. A little time out
and a few simple rules is all is needed to carry out this method. This is best carried out as
a relaxed, laid back method. Forcing the suggestion is not as effective so relaxation is key
here.
Hypnosis works on the basis of the mind being uncritical in nature. The critical function
is offline. Therefore it is willing to just accept anything you tell it.
There is a lot of theory on this subject and some may feel it is shrouded in mystery and
maybe even fear but rest assured it is simple, effective and easy to practice.
Method: A simple rule of thumb here will give a good start - Breathing is the key to
relaxation, relaxation is the key to suggestibility, suggestibility is the key to hypnosis.
This method can be employed during the day, before going to bed or in the middle of
the night.
On this basis we want to relax our minds by using the exercise already described for
meditation
When completely relaxed, you can commence telling your subconscious what you want
When speaking to the subconscious, always speak in the present tense e.g. I am more
than my physical body
Avoid using negative language as the subconscious cant process a negative e.g.
Dont think of a pink elephant . What did you just think of?!
Use visualisation where possible as the subconscious can understand this better than
words
Be enthusiastic and believe what you are saying as much as possible
Be realistic in your request, for example I am running better and approaching my
goal more and more every day will be better responded to than I can run a
marathon
Repetition is the key - repeat the gesture a number of times to really focus the intention
For the purpose of our dream induction we can use the following script:
Have a previous dream recalled
When sufficiently relaxed say to yourself My dreams are important to me, I am
becoming more aware in my dreams, I can realise when I am dreaming
Really feel the words
Feel sincere and positive as you carry on repeating this action for 5 minutes or repeat
script 5 times
Firmly resign to your self The next time I am dreaming I will remember to recognise
that I am dreaming
Comment: This can be an effective method to be come lucid and is certainly creating a
positive intention to become lucid. Combined with good journaling activity and some day
time reality checks this can trigger lucidity but I would say that it has limited results
unless used as a WBTB method which we will explore later.
Furthermore, the use of autosuggestion to create an intention to remember your dreams
when first starting out on diary keeping can be a great help. A simple 10 minute session
at night time to intend to remember your dreams can be a great help to focus your mind
on this subject.
The ultra relaxed state (MABA), achieved in this and the autosuggestion state is a bit of a
mental tightrope act. Falling asleep is a real temptation and though ultimately this is
exactly what we want, make sure to set your intention to become lucid properly before
allowing yourself to nod off. Furthermore the temptation to drift off into another subject
in your mind will also be real threat, just allow the thoughts to pass as you resume your
intention to become lucid, dont try to force the other thoughts out, just allow them to
untangle as you focus your attention again on your intention to become lucid.
With practice the workload of these techniques will reduce significantly until it is almost
possible to just set your intention to become lucid. This will vary for everyone so dont
rush.
Get out of bed for at least 45 minutes (must actually get out of the bed)
Go to the toilet if needed
Walk around and wake yourself up properly, a splash of cold water may help
A very light snack may be eaten, like a biscuit
Spend 30 minutes or so working your mind around the subject of Lucid Dreaming by
reading, writing in your diary or going on a web site to do some research (TV is not
recommended as this will trigger the brain into Alpha (non critical) mode)
Keep lighting low - this will prevent too much serotonin build up
Get exited!!! This I cant stress enough, know that when you are going back to bed
that you have a big adventure to look forward to. Try to physically feel the adrenaline
in your stomach. This is a really good tool, so use it!
Go back to bed and practice MILD
Getting back to sleep here can be a bit of a chore so try to allow yourself a late
morning in bed as well in case you struggle getting back to sleep
A comfortable sleeping position, warm bed clothes, bed socks and an eye mask can be a
great help here, especially the eye mask to reduce light change distractions
A dark room will be best here as any light can stimulate wakefulness
Lying extremely still and not responding to the mind cues to roll over can be a clever
way of tricking your body into falling asleep here
Keeping your eyes extremely still has a similar effect, tricking the body to sleep
A rather curious condition known as Sleep Paralysis can occur here. This is
something that happens every night to our bodies when we are asleep. The brain stem
releases a polarising neural discharge down the spinal chord that causes the body to
become paralysed excluding the involuntary muscles (breathing, heart etc). During
any mind awake body asleep process, this state can be entered while still awake. This
can leave the dreamer in a rather alarming state of temporary paralysis, while still
awake.
This is easily tackled by just shifting your breathing to a deeper longer breath and
gradually allowing life to shift back into your body, without panicking. In fact, it can
be a good time to try a direct transition if one knows how so dont see it as so much of a
problem as a possible opportunity for some very interesting experiences.
Comment: No mistaking, this method is fundamental to anyone who really wants to get
lucid. Stick with it, try combining it with different methods, but it is an essential practice.
If one has a nine to five job, try weekends or just make a sacrifice on a week day. A few
days solid sleep in advance can reduce next day fatigue so dont miss out on this method.
5) Binaural Beats
Principle: This is a concept under much scientific development at the moment and well
worth doing a little research on.
The principle is that when 2 different sound frequencies (pure tones) are played in an ear
each, say right ear 400Hz and left ear 408 Hz, for example, the brain will vibrate at the
intermediate frequency as a kind of illusory beat.
This is loosely due to the Law of Conservation of Energy and was first pointed out by
German scientist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove in 1839. This is now being used extensively by
mediators and dreamers alike as it has wonderful advantages to help focus conscious
activity.
Weve already seen that in REM sleep and dreaming that there is a high incidence of
alpha and theta brainwave activity. The theta frequency (4-8Hz) is very prevalent in lucid
dreaming so by focusing the brain at 8 Hz, the conscious state most prevalent in lucid
dreaming is kept sustained.
Mediation employs a similar method, by using a vocal exercise (mantra), vibrating the
vocal cords at the 4-8 Hz frequency to cause the brain to perform a similar duty, hence
shifting to theta state.
Spending sessions with binaural acoustics on your ears for, 10 - 20 minutes a day is an
effective way of achieving the a light MABA state as a training exercise for future
activity so maybe consider a few sessions a week here.
Method: Beats can be downloaded from a number of sources
Play during the day, bed time or WBTB for best results
Headphones are essential for best results
Day time training with beats can be used for visualisation, relaxation and self hypnosis
training
Combine with other methods and experiment for best results
Comment: This is an area well worth a look, but beware as there are many sites selling a
lot of garbage - Get Lucid Immediately type sites. The only person that can get you
lucid is you, these are training products with, at best varying results so please do not look
for quick solutions with these, they simply dont exist .yet!
6) Light Cue
Principle: This is simply one of the best methods to become lucid, make no mistake.
Developed by Steve La Berge, the principle here is that a sleep mask with little red neon
lights is worn over the eyes.
The movement of the eyes at the onset of REM sleep is then detected by a retinal sensor
(built in to the mask). This in turn triggers the mask lights to turn on and off for a brief
period (variable, think of an average time of 7 seconds)
This light cue is shone through the eyelids and picked up by the sleeping mind, which in
turn is incorporated into the dream as an event.
It can appear as many things, e.g. a flash light or a UFO. Ive used this for years and
have had many strange encounters.
The appearance of the light in the plot is usually enough to alert the sleeping mind to
presence of something weird happening in the dream and cause the person to become
lucid.
Products: Look online, the Nova Dreamer and REM Dreamer are both well worth
looking at, the latter having a clever two way system to speak back to the device makes it
a better (and cheaper) buy.
Comment: Simply super induction method that can be just as much fun for an
experienced dreamer. This is not a short cut, MILD will be needed and preferably WBTB
to make it effective.
At 200 Euros approx this is in my opinion and experience, a great investment.
Hit Method
Hybrid Induction is probably best referred to as a philosophy. It is simply states that all
methods have relevance as long as we have understanding of how they work as opposed
to just grinding away aimlessly, with outdated practices.
For this, I encourage the use of the critical loop theory, I opened with. This is a great
fundamental rule of thumb for lucid dream practice and has helped me explore some very
advanced induction work which we will be exploring in the advanced section. The
neuromodulation approach that will be discussed in the advanced module is not exclusive
and the methods advocated in this section can and should be employed even when one is
introduced to the advanced principles. Even an expert martial artist still recognizes the
fundamental need to practice basics even when a high level of skill has been achieved.
The floor is open here as this is the purpose of my teaching; we are all constantly learning
and adjusting. The Hybrid Induction Theory is exactly that, a hybrid, constantly evolving
and open to any oneironaut to offer his/her insight to bring us all a step closer to the lucid
experience.
Hybrid practice is whatever you make it, mix and match the various techniques to
whatever works best for you.
Persist and believe and you will achieve!
example, we know its going to feel wet on our clothes if we jump in.
This begs the question, what about if we have not experienced something previously,
how is there a schema for that, like, for example flying?
The reality generator extrapolates and creates a scenario, based on what it knows about
similar events and what it thinks the event might actually be like. So for example, Ive
never actually walked on the Moon (at least not in physical reality) but I know what it
looks like from photos and I would think the ground is dusty, maybe a little soft and there
is no gravity with little light. So my reality generator takes previous experiences similar
to these factors and creates what it thinks the moon would be like and actually does a
great job as it is, in effect creating your own personal fantasy Moon!
This is also the reason things seem very intense or vivid in dreams. As the mind
constructs scenarios without direct influence from limiting physical factors, very clear
images can be created. So for example, the colour of the sea in the dreamscape is
determined not by the presence or absence of sunlight but by your own mind so it can be
the bluest sea in the world, better still in your imagination. Furthermore, there is no
background interruptions from physical realities so a song will sound crystal clear, rather
than, for example being interrupted by the background sound of traffic going by.
Putting this together for martial arts training it is simply a matter of putting this
knowledge into play and recognising that if one can create ones own reality, then martial
arts scenarios are simply just a question of putting your own experience together and we
will explore some of the tools to do this in the next lessons.
However, there are, without a doubt varying levels of lucidity and I cannot stress this
enough. Many clearly inexperienced web bloggers casually seem to ignore this so dont
worry if your dream does not meet the classic criteria - you may still be lucid, so long as
you know you are dreaming.
I would briefly describe levels of lucidity in terms of duration, vividness, sensory
awareness, ability to control the dream, cognitive function and control of emotion.
Only experience will give you insight but I would say a 2 minute, hazy, difficult to control
dream is the very definition of a beginners dream.
More advanced dreamers can dream for up to an hour (some beyond). Definition is
intense with heightened sensory awareness and cognitive function is as in waking life.
Put the time in for the results and you will receive.
Experience and experimentation will reveal a limitless world if you open yourself up to
it, so be ready to experience just about anything!
So, if you want something to happen in a dream, simply intend for that experience to be
and really mean it, no hesitation. I call this the Intention Experience Principle of Dream
World.
On this matter, one might ask how much can we influence the dream, can we make
anything happen?
The simple answer is that everyone has the ability to influence the dream at some level,
some more than others. Experience and practice will open all sorts of new abilities so
experiment and see but the fact remains that the dream will still be largely constructed on
a more subconscious level. I might for example intend there to be a group of fans waiting
in the room for me, but the specific looks and personalities etc of the fans would be a
huge amount of detail to paint in my mind so the dream will normally fill in most of these
details for me.
I will briefly consider a technique here, known as Dream Incubation. The idea is to have
the dream you want, for example I might want to have a dream about skiing and I would
simply intend for this to happen. Some dreamers recommend putting a note under their
pillow with the desired dream written on it. This has no magic effect; it is simply a ritual
to prompt the mind to dream this subject. It can be effective though, so try think of other
ways to ritualise a subject into a dream and you could get some interesting results.
possible connection but I remain open mined and cautious always especially when
engaging some of the more elaborate scenarios in Dream World.
I was for the longest time, of the belief that the dream was effectively no more than a
construction of my own subconscious self. This kind of deterministic thinking is a
reflection of a more pre quantum physical notion of the world around us. With the world
of quantum physics starting to unfold a far more complex fabric at the source of our
reality than we could As for your physical body in bed - I have not seen any evidence to
suggest such a have anticipated, we need to consider a more open minded consideration
of just what exactly the nature of our universe is.
I could write a book on this particular topic but a colleague of mine Robert Waggoner
already has, Lucid dreaming - Gateway to The Inner Self. It is a fabulous insight into this
topic and I can only recommend it whole heartedly.
As for my own personal experiences, I will briefly share with you one of my first ever
really bizarre experience in Dream World. It was a very vivid dream and I had just landed
after flying down a street from my old home town. After briefly engaging a couple of
teenagers and trying out their skateboard (and successfully flipping the board for a 360
shove it spin!), I met another DC who was parking his bike close by. After a brief but
rather hostile vocal exchange, instigated by him it was on, he wanted to fight! I was
beside myself, like this dream character wants to fight? So all of a sudden, here I am
throwing fists at this guy all the meanwhile telling him that this is my dream and he is
going to get beat but hes having none of it and just keeps coming as I dish it out. I awoke
shortly after and laid in my bed asking myself what exactly had just happened. A
construct of my own mind or perhaps something more, all I knew was that my journey
had taken a turn and it was time to go deeper.
On closing this subject, I might just say get stuck in and enjoy it by all means but be
mindful; no enemy is more fierce than the enemy of the mind!
A point about nightmares is worth making here too. This is something people can be
apprehensive about, a lucid nightmare. On this, I would say, the difference between
dream and a lucid dream is that, when lucid you are aware that no physical harm can
actually come to you so just fly away, change the scene, use your magic powers or
perhaps try having a conversation with your adversary and you can actually turn some
nightmares into pretty wonderful experiences!
fists, with intention of where I want to go. It really is just a matter of whatever you
believe would work, actually works as long as your intention is genuine. Another trick is
to imagine something else can fly, for example a magic carpet or skateboard. It is even
possible to get a flying lesson off one of your dream characters. Just experiment and have
fun!
Flying really is easy in dreams, sometimes just the knowledge of the fact that your body is
not governed by the laws of gravity will cause you to spontaneously float into the air. My
footsteps, getting lighter is one of my personal lucid dream triggers.
Other dream powers such as causing lighting to pour out of your hands can take a little
more imagination and practice, just remember intention is key.
On the subject of getting around, flying is not the only option. One could try teleporting
yourself, a la Star Trek. A method, I really like, is to find a door and intend whatever or
whoever to be on the other side and then open it to find just that.
Another method I use is to intend a vortex to open up near me and simply step in,
intending my destination
In this regard the dreamscape seems to respond better to scenarios rather than direct
requests. For example if I wanted to find a friend of mine, I would intend for him to be
there if I called him on my phone and asked to meet him in a building, I am flying
towards and most likely the dream would happily oblige. Simply expecting him to be
there when I turn around may not give me the response, so use your imagination; the
dream prefers it this way.
A final point here - waking up. As we can extend a degree of control in DW, we can use
this intention to wake our physical selves up by simply intending for it to happen. Simply
state to yourself that you want to wake up and voilla, youre awake.
Ive never once got stuck in a dream I couldnt wake from. I once could hear my alarm in
my room in the dream and actually had to decide to wake my physical self up to alert my
waking body, sometimes the experience really is deep.
Weeks 1 -2
Skills
Comment
Practice
during day
or last thing
at night
Reality
Checking
Reflection
Intention
Weeks 2-4
Skills
Comment
Practice last
thing at
night, less
during the
day
Autosuggestion
MILD
Weeks 4-6
Skills
Comment
Practice at
night only
WBTB
HIT
Can WBTB
after 3 regular
nights sleep
If not yet lucid, this is what you are waiting for, this is
where most people will have their first experience so
persist and you will achieve, have fun!
Advanced Practice
Lesson 15)
Wake up Neo!
Ironically, for the methods outlined in this section, we will not be waking up in our
dreams; in fact we will be entering the dream directly. Its time for direct transition
training; this is when lucid dreaming truly starts to step up a gear. This is the only type of
transition I do nowadays as it is more predictable in outcome, longer lasting with a far
more memorable and visceral dream content. It can be harder to learn and no doubt quite
scary to practice at first but it is the way of the true Dream Warrior and also how the
Buddhist Monks as well as the Native American Shamen transition.
A WILD or direct transition, as discussed previously is when we carry our consciousness
directly into the dream without losing the thread as the body falls asleep. The idea, in
effect is to literally trick the body into falling asleep whilst maintaining a thin thread of
conscious mind activity.
For this particular procedure, there are, like most lucid dream practices, a number of
theories and methods, each with varying results of success. I am rather passionate about
the method I use and will be dealing with this method as it is simply the most
scientifically plausible as well as offering the best results, hands down.
The basic premise of what I teach here is based on the traditional practice of preserving
the consciousness as the body falls asleep but incorporates the use of neuromodulation.
By recognising our waking state versus our sleep state as essentially being controlled by
neurochemical activity in the brain, we are simply going to employ the use of drug free,
non prescription dietary supplements to adjust the activity in the brain at certain times so
as to compound and hijack the REM state to supercharge the brain to enter the state
directly.
Many people will react to this idea as being somewhat radical and immediately assume
some sort of drug role play but this is simply a rather nave understanding of how we
normally conduct our neurochemical management.
Everything we eat affects the neurochemical pathways at some level. The procedure we
use to induce lucid dreaming does not introduce any foreign activity into the equation of
regular dreaming; on the contrary we are simply adjusting the dream event to make it
more intense by pushing certain neuromodular vehicles a little faster.
The supplements used are non prescription, dietary supplements that are otherwise used
safely by healthy individuals to enhance their own lifestyles helping the aging,
degenerating body to outwit the forces of nature with a little more favour.
The dose of these supplements employed for lucid dreaming is less than the
recommended daily dose and is used far less frequently, so there really is very little risk if
properly managed and maintained. One should even reap the benefits of these particular
substances in the same way as one would any other health supplement.
Needless to say, anyone should consult a physician or at least be mindful of their own
medical circumstances prior to consuming any products. Pregnant women certainly
should not be looking to consider participating in this exercise under any circumstances.
Those with pre-existing medical conditions should exercise a similar stance until they
have thoroughly investigated their own circumstances.
This is a largely misunderstood area of the science of lucid dreaming and many wannabe
lucid dreamers get left behind as a result, often spending much time and effort on training
more traditional methods only to yield infrequent low end results. I can personally
successfully transition with a 95 % hit rate up to 3 times a week for up to an hour with
this method, other experts have reported up to 2 hour sessions. The effectiveness of this
method is simply unparalleled.
The method I employ is essentially the WILD method that I referred to previously but I
will be describing it here with the employment of supplements. The procedure and
process will essentially be the same as a normal WILD, just a little more predictable in its
outcome. I will first outline the WILD or direct transition method and then show you how
supplements can be used to boost transitions to being almost 100% effective. Not
everyone will want to try supplements but just to give you some perspective - Most non
supplement dreamers report 90% DILDs and 10 % WILDs. With supplements it is closer
to 90% WILDs and 10 % DILDs. Be open minded on this concept, it is simply the best
approach and cannot be ignored if one is serious about getting deep on the subject.
Lesson 16)
Getting WILD
The only difference is that we do not typically stay awake for 45 mins but typically try
not to wake up too much and try to get back to bed within 5 minutes, avoiding any
intense activity or light (just enough time to make the toilet is enough). Now we go back
and lie in bed and gently follow the transition procedure below. It will normally take
about 60 to 90 mins to transition (I'm closer to 45 mins with supplements). The time
spent waiting to transition is important to fill with some sort of routine and I will show
you the routine I use. However always just allow whatever is happening to just happen.
So for example if you are halfway through some part of your routine but suddenly happen
to start transitioning, then just go with it, just stop the remainder of the routine and let the
transition process take over. It's a lot like surfing, just waiting for the right (sleep) wave
and just going with it.
In a direct transition there are two typical outcomes and these need to be considered
before I describe the method. The essential principle involved is to achieve a state of
consciousness whereby the mind is awake and the body is asleep, the MABA state.
Normally the mind falls asleep first and the body afterwards, once it is sure the mind is
asleep. The body speaks to the mind continuously and in the case of sleep it has a specific
technique to ask the mind if it is still awake or not. It does this by sending an impulse to
the mind to turn the body over. This triggers us to turn over in our bed. This goes on until
the mind stops responding at which point the mind no longer responds. At this point the
body knows it is time to fall asleep. However we can use this concept to trick the body
into falling asleep while preserving the mind awake. The trick is simple to not respond to
the bodys requests to turn over, in effect telling the body that the mind is already asleep.
Just lie still and dont answer the question by the bodys requests even as intense as they
can sometimes get and the body will start to switch off gradually
Another technique to trick the body into falling asleep is to keep the eyes still to trick the
body as the eyes also let the body know if the mind is still awake or not. The use of a
sleep mask is a very good idea here as it allows the eyes to slip out of focus. There are a
lot of methods of visualisation being explored but I would say what is crucial to
understand in the case of LD inductions is that you are going to be visualising in your
minds eye not your physical eyes so avoid the temptation to try to visualise through your
own physical eyes. The trick is to just allow your eyes to completely relax, not focusing
on anything in particular and then just casually hold them there after a minute or so. I
call this technique anchoring the eyes. Like your breathing in the later stages of
relaxation, the trick is to finish in a state whereby you are casually detached from your
eyes, aware of their presence but not trying to control them. I call the kind of
visualisation used here passive visualisation as I am not trying to force the event.
When this state is entered, the consciousness has limited information as to the
whereabouts of the physical body and starts to speculate and reconstruct the body in a
mental plane. The reason this happens is that the body normally communicates to the
mind through the 5 senses continuously letting the mind know its whereabouts. During
sleep the amount of information being received is limited. Furthermore the stimulus
threshold from the senses is increased by various biological triggers as the body starts to
fall asleep.
The overall effect is that the mind starts to lose its whereabouts as to the location of the
body in space and time. Because of this the mind starts to speculate and recreate where it
thinks the body is, effectively creating a new mental construct of the body based not on
what it perceives but what it thinks the body might be doing is it normally does in a
dream. Morpheus refers to this as the residual self image. What is key to understand
here is that the mind cannot differentiate between physical input and imagined input
(remember the reality generator cannot tell where the info comes from). So when the
mind recreates the body in sleep, for example in dreams, it believes this to actually be the
body.
As the eyes are generally closed, it will also recreate what it believes to be its physical
surroundings in a mental plane. So we literally end up consciously aware as a mental
construct in a mental plane. When the mind reconstructs the body, it typically
reconstructs it in clothes that we are wearing in bed as it has a conscious memory of this
event and this memory has not been broken up by sleep as in DILDs. The location we end
up in the dream too can therefore often be our bedroom, which is reconstructed by the
mind from memory. Think about it, the mind is reconstructing the body in what it
believes to be the bodys actual location in space and time based on recent events, still
consciously perceived.
However this is not always the case. Often during transition we can use a technique to
visualise somewhere else. We may then step into this location; using a technique I call
Jumping. We literally imagine the location and as the vision starts to form, I simply put
my hands forward and pull myself into the vision. I will go into more detail on this
shortly.
Just before I go into the transition method I will briefly outline some sensations that
occur during transition. These really can vary so much and every author will have a
different description of what these are and why they occur so I hope we can all remain
open minded on this as this is really when lucid dreaming can start to feel very strange.
The list below is an outline of some of the more common experiences and is not
exhaustive. The list is probably closer to my own experience and is laid out more or less
in the order that I experience them. Once more this will vary for every one.
Type 1) White lights, either just generic brightness or more precise images floating
around. Your eyes are closed so these are in your mental visual filed but it is pretty hard
to tell the difference
Type 2) Geometric shapes. These typically follow the lights and can be very vivid. Again
they are in your mental/visual field and can be very real. Some float around, some can
form larger patterns
Type 3) Noises. These can vary from hissing noises in your ears to more intense
rumbling, vibration type noises.
Type 4) Voices. These can be pretty intense and I have found these among the more
interesting transition experiences. They do not always make sense and I find it hard to
concentrate on them as they tend to occur when Im pretty much passed out but still
conscious.
Type 5) Vibrations of fizzing in my body. In my experience this can feel like you are a can
of coke or even like your being shaken like a can. If someone else was to observe you in
the room they would not witness you being shaken but you will feel it like a very real
event. This one tends to occur a little later in transition but tends to spark me back into
conscious awareness pretty sharply.
Type 6) Floating and sinking. This is when it starts to get pretty intense by any stretch of
the imagination. Literally one feels themselves floating into the air and or back down
through the bed into the floor. It is common to get pulled up by a limb or two. I have been
pulled by my ankles into the air and been suspended off the ceiling during transition. I
could literally feel the weight of my body loading down on my head as I was suspended.
It was a pretty intense transition.
Type7) Seeing images of your own bedroom. Though your eyes are closed, an image of
your bedroom literally forms and you can see it in the dark but pretty vividly. Not
everything is exactly in the right order so its pretty bizarre. I once had a load of pictures
on one wall that I do not have in my room. Weird, no doubt but it was a fun to see.
Type 8) Feeling yourself or your bed darting around the room. This literally feels like
your bed just takes off like a rocket and shoots across the room. Make no mistake, this
one is pretty intense but do not let that wake you up, just ride it out.
Type 9) Images of random events and/or locations. This normally occurs later in the
transition and when vivid enough, I use this as my exit point into the dream. This is the
Jump technique I referred to earlier.
To do this I either wait for an image to form or else just fire one here and there at my
mind until one sticks. Then I push my hands forward into the dream image and
visually investigate them. Then I rub them together as I visually follow them up to my
shoulders and then chest. Then I look down along my body to my feet, trying to take in
any sounds and smells as I touch my tongue off the tip of my mouth and look up again
and try feeling my feet on the ground. Again bare feet are an advantage here. This
jump technique is essentially the same as allowing the dream to unfold naturally but I
find it quicker and more effective as well as allowing me to exit to more interesting
locations than my bedroom.
Type 10) Seeing your own self. This can happen by either an image of yourself forming in
front of you or by you actually stepping out of your own body.
As discussed previously, the mind tries to constantly keep an image of itself manifested to
reflect the whereabouts of the physical self. When we are in the out of body state, the
mind recognises this and often projects the images of two bodies, one being a
representation of the sleeping body. We can again use this concept as an exit strategy.
The strategy here is to try to separate the two bodies but this is easier said than done.
The mind is not easily willing to allow this to occur and often there will be an almost
pulling like action between the two bodies. The technique I personally use is to try to
float my dream body out of my sleeping body in a kind of 1...2...3 action and on the
third I try to roll to either side. Sometimes it might take a few goes to nail it but it tends
to work very well and with increasing confidence, better results can be achieved. There
is a lot written on techniques here and I urge anyone to look into a variety of methods
as experiences vary a lot here.
Type 11) The feeling of someone else in the bed beside you. This is one I have personally
experienced quite a lot and has increasingly put my beliefs to the wall as the level of
detail is pretty intense and the experiences Ive had have been pretty scary from time to
time. I simply hope that if one does experience this that is at a later stage in your dream
practice as it can be a bit of a heavy experience.
How can one even start to explain these events? There is such a thing as neural
discharge, whereby as the brain is going to sleep, it downloads images and sounds for a
brief period just as we enter sleep. These are call hypnogogic or hypnopompic
hallucinations. They are usually experienced as we fall asleep and we do not experience
them consciously. However due to the transition, this can be experienced first hand.
What about the vibrations and hissing?
I have been of the opinion that these are due to some sort of frantic communication
between the body and mind to seek each other out when the waking physical link is
broken and this just might explain it.
I could continue to speculate and I will certainly continue to look into these experiences
but I am experiencing increasingly strange phenomena in my own exploration and I
admit, my beliefs are constantly being challenged. I would simply say science has a role
to play here but so does the spiritual world. These experiences really could be evidence
of a gateway between this physical world and something, as of yet, still misunderstood.
Method: Set your alarm to wake after 4 hrs of sleep
Get up gently and go to toilet without waking up too much
Put your eye mask on, this is not essential but it helps
Lie down in your bed on your back and just settle your breathing as you allow yourself
to relax. Any previous breathing exercises may be employed here
Firmly set your intention to transition directly in about 60 mins
Spend 10 mins practicing MILD
Now I practice a form of transition rehearsal I call tuning. Essentially what I am
doing is preparing my body for the possible type of transition whereby I will feel and
see my mental body lift out of my physical body. To do this I imagine and really try to
feel my body being winched up by my waist into the air as I inhale, feeling my arms,
legs and head fall back towards the floor as I float into the air. As I exhale, I try to
imagine myself doing the exact opposite as I feel myself fall back into the bed buttocks
first as if I just fell backwards off a building, allowing my body to simply fold up as I
fall backwards. This is a mental activity but it feel very similar to how a transition
actually feels. Floating to the ceiling and falling back into the bed is a common feeling
as described in transitions so I want to be letting my mental body know I will not be
fighting this. This is like surfing, go with the direction of the waves, not against
After 5-10 minutes of this I am ready to turn over in my side
I now just wait and allow my mind to settle, practicing the quite mind method, that
should by now be second nature to you
The temptation at this point will be to either get wrapped up in random thoughts or to
start turning over in your bed. Either activity will alert the sleeping self to move away
from sleep and towards wakefulness. As we want to avoid this, the trick here is to be
disciplined and casually resist. Dont get frustrated, just let the notion pass casually.
Keep the eyes still and anchored
Think more along the lines of meditation rather than engaging an opponent in a fight
Now I just wait for the various transition experiences to occur and I am looking to exit
when the imagery becomes strong enough
I will exit by using the Jump or Body Separation technique, depending on what the
imagery forming looks like. I personally just let the dream show me the images rather
than force one but am having a lot of success recently with intending a particular exit
point and visualising it to jump into when my timing feels right
Now I perform my reality, cognitive and body check and if I am wearing shoes, I
generally take them off before setting off into the dream adventure
There is a supplement available for the more hardcore dreamers who want to fly more
frequently with Galantamine, This supplement is known as piracetam and it is classified
as a nootropic or brain food. Piracetam acts by causing the brain to use up the
acetylcholine at a faster level than naturally occurs. Therefore the higher level of
acetylcholine produced by taking Galantamine can be counteracted to reduce any
potential desensitisation.
A dose of up to 2400mg can be adequate to achieve this and this is the dose I take. As it
increases blood flow to the brain, a headache could potentially occur in some people. One
could take the dose over a longer period, say 3 800mg doses throughout the day to reduce
this effect.
Piracetam has virtually no side effects and as a matter of fact can, according to current
research actually make you smarter so this is a supplement well worth a look at. The only
drawback I find is that I have to import it from the US at a higher cost but I am very fond
of it in my practice and it allows me more frequent supplement based lucid dreams.
visits as well. I am currently looking into this rather peculiar type of transition as it has
certain resonance with the details of what some people might have experienced as alien
abduction. There is less of a warning before the impact of the dream and feels more like
someone creeping up on me more than a lucid dream transition that I can observe
gradually unfolding.
The supplement of choice here is Mucuna Pruriens. This is a naturally occurring plant
that contains L-dopa. This is a dopamine precursor that can be absorbed in the stomach
and pass through the blood brain barrier to increase the dopamine concentration of the
brain. Dopamine itself cannot be absorbed so the precursor instead must be used.
However as L-dopa is prone to being prematurely synthesised into dopamine before
crossing the blood brain barrier, it needs to be combined with another substance to
prevent this form occurring.
Parkinson's disease is condition whereby a reduction of dopamine production in the body
causes a deterioration of motor function in the body leading to restricted movement. Ldopa is needed in relatively high doses to treat this condition and therefore the premature
conversion needs to be counteracted. In this case a substance known as Carbidopa is used
to counteract this effect. The problem with Carbidopa is that it can have pretty noticeable
side effects and for our purpose as LD enthusiasts, it is best avoided. Fortunately Mucuna
Pruriens has a built in counteracting activity in the plant that can prevent the premature
synthesis without triggering any side effects. This makes it a safe and useful tool for lucid
dreaming.
Vitamin B6 is in the digestive tract will cause premature synthesis of L-dopa into
dopamine so if one is taking any other kind of supplement in their diet that may
predispose them to higher levels of B6, the effects of Mucuna Pruriens may be limited or
perhaps not noticeable at all.
Mucuna Pruriens is available either as a seed from or standardised extracts. The extracts
are preferable as the dosage can vary with the seeds. The extracts are available as a 10%,
30% and 50% form and I would recommend the 10%. The reason is simply that the
compounds that exist naturally in the Mucuna Pruriens to mimic the Carbidopa,
preventing premature synthesis of dopamine, lose their efficiency at the higher
percentages.
The dose used is 100-200mg taken at WBTB time, though there are some technicians that
take some before bed too to fire up the plasma concentration. As there is some evidence
to suggest that REM can be suppressed by larger plasma concentrations, I remain
apprehensive about this method though I am currently investigating it.
I have also recently been toying with a polyphenol called Epigallocatechin Gallate
(EGCG). This is available as Green Tea Extract (GTE) and it acts in a similar fashion to
Galantamine. It is a re uptake inhibitor, which means it prevents the breakdown of a
neurochemical to allow it to stay in the body longer. The chemical in this case is
dopamine. The overall effect is to allow higher levels of dopamine to be sustained during
the dream process.
The dose I am personally using is a 15% polyphenol 375 mg pill. This works out at
approx 45 mg EGCG. I take one to two pills depending on whether or not I am mixing it
with Mucuna Pruriens or not. I would like to take 45mg EGCG with 100mg Mucuna
Pruriens or 90mg on its own.
Watch out for any caffeine content in the green tea product you use as this can trigger
insomnia in some cases. I am currently investigating caffeine as a stimulant to fire up the
cognitive function.
Both of these are supplements that I am very fond of but need I not remind you to take
care with these as well as any other supplements and be mindful of how you approach
them as we all react differently to any given substance. Even something as simple as a
nut can be tasty to one consumer and potentially lethal to another. It is best as always to
start with a very low dose and increase gradually to your own optimum level. The LDopa supplement approach is something I would normally only recommend to more
experienced dreamers and I cannot stress enough that any medical concerns should be
thoroughly investigated prior to the engagement of any supplement.
Side effects of either can include over stimulation, increased body temperature and
insomnia. This is invariably due to using higher doses and I would suggest that the
amount needed for OBE transitions should not likely trigger these effects and I have
always had interesting transitions with either or both of these.
Insomnia can occur with any of the supplements used and this can be counteracted by
using a little bit of melatonin. This is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland which in
turn is powered by serotonin. Normally it is increased by darkness, whereby light
stimulates the production of serotonin. This as outlined previously is what gives rise to
our regular sleep cycle. Both serotonin and melatonin are therefore key in maintaining the
sleep cycle and both suppress REM.
However a dose of 0.3 mg melatonin taken at WBTB time can help reduce the insomnia
instigated by the use of any other supplements without suppressing REM. This is easily
and cheaply available.
The modulation of noradrenaline can make the dreaming mind more alert which can aid
transition and moreover help the dreaming mind to be more alert during the dream. This
helps significantly with both recall of the waking world in dreams and the dream world in
waking afterwards. Needless to say, this is a veritable tightrope manoeuvre as too much
stimulation will lead to insomnia.
The supplement of choice to boost noradrenaline is Yohimbine. This is a mild MAOI and
acts by occupying alpha2 adrenal receptors in the brain, which prevents noradrenaline
from binding to the same receptors. The effect is to fool the brain into thinking the levels
of noradrenaline present are less than actually present which causes the brain to release
even more noradrenaline and flood the system.
This is a supplement I rarely use and I am currently investigating other methods including
small doses of caffeine. The problem with it is that if taken in too large a dose, it can
trigger an overflow of noradrenaline from the brain through the blood brain barrier into
the blood. The effect of this is something weve all felt from time to time; sweaty palms,
increased blood pressure with a feeling of butterflies in the stomach.
The dosage for LDing is 0.35-0.5mg and I combine this with a Galantamine/choline
trigger to transition at WBTB time. I also use a 0.3mg dose of melatonin in combination
with this to offset any potential insomnia. This is a bit of a tightrope walk although I have
to say that it is worth the effort as this is probably the closest the mind can get to the
waking mind.
Like Mucuna Pruriens, this is also a naturally occurring plant and can be bought either in
pure form or the standardised, synthesised form. The latter is preferable to allow better
control of the amount consumed.
This supplement is something that only very experienced technicians should be getting
involved with but I this is without a doubt when out of body exploration can become
more of a scientific pursuit than a hobby as the dreaming mind really has the mental
faculties needed to pursue the dream missions in an articulate way. Make no mistake, this
is advanced experience and a real step closer to the intellectual faculties of the waking
physical mind.
combination of this with lower doses of green tea extract and the GC jump modulator and
so far they seem to work synergistically though I would hesitate to experiment too much
on this front as insomnia can be a problem as well as occasional lucid nightmares.
I have summarised a basic combo strategy below.
Stage 1
The overall strategy here is to test and record the individual effect of each modulator on
your experience. This can seem like quite a task when you realise that some of the
modulators, taken by themselves will not fire up a lucid dream but may at best have an
effect on dreaming. I am talking of the dopamine and noradrenaline modulators. These
are best taken and tried with a WBTB MILD indirect transition to test their effects and
record the effect, lucid or not.
Stage 2
In the second stage we are going to attempt to induce a WILD and to enter this state
consistently. We will be looking here to work with the GC jump modulator and the 5 HTP
strategy. I would also advocate the use of GPC at this point too as it can really fire up the
REM drive. It is crucial here not to put yourself in danger of desensitising the nerve
endings and so either the use of Piracetam or time off between attempts (every 3 days
would be safe if not using Piracetam).
Stage 3
At this stage we can mix up the modulators to achieve some interesting experiences. Of
crucial importance here is to mix things up step by step. I would start with the 5 HTP
Galantamine/choline-GPC combo.
I would normally then try 5 HTP-GC-ECGC combo followed by the 5 HTP-GC-Mucuna
Pruriens combo.
I would now mix the EGCG and Mucuna for a 5 HTP-GC-Mucuna-EGCG combo and
evaluate the response of each of these combos before moving on to the Yohimbine.
To try this I would use 5 HTP-GC-Yohimbine and maybe a little EGCG with this at a
later stage.
Modulator Combos
Combo
Effect
GC 4-8mg/400-800mg
WBTB
Interesting transitions
GC 4-8mg/400-800mg
WBTB
ECGC 45-90mg
WBTB
5 HTP 100 mg bed time
GC 4-8mg/400-800mg
WBTB
Mucuna 100-200mg
WBTB
5 HTP 100 mg bed time
GC 4-8mg/400-800mg
WBTB
Interesting transitions
Increased dream control
GC 4-8mg/400-800mg
WBTB
Intense experiences
Yohimbine 0.3mg
WBTB
I cannot stress enough that one needs to be mindful of your pursuit of this activity.
Furthermore I might suggest that a good technique to increase your odds of lucidity as
well as offering more interesting experiences is to make sure to mix up your combos
from attempt o attempt so as to keep your mind on its toes. By varying the time between
attempts and mixing up the combos, we are psychologically as well as physically
reducing tolerance to the effect of our techniques.
So looking at this model, we can consider that the subconscious to be the animator of the
Dream World and that the subconscious can be in possession of knowledge that
conscious mind does not have, then surely the only question is how much does the
subconscious know and moreover, from where does it get the information?
Does it gather up the information from the meandering events of our conscious existence
or does the rabbit hole go deeper?
Is this well filled with past lives, a collective mind, perhaps even an ancient forgotten
realm, that just got washed away by the sands of time.
The only way we will know for sure is we take that step forward and take the red pill, to
step into Wonderland and see just how deep the rabbit hole actually goes!!
not physically connected are in effect eternal mirror images of each other when measured
independently at two entirely different locations. This has been tested and proved.
It is now abundantly clear that events in the universe are communicating not through the
time space physical model of our experience. A more sophisticated language is clearly
being employed and the search is on. As a matter of fact the visible matter that we see
around us only makes up a paltry 4% of the universe around us. The rest is made up of an
invisible material known as Dark Matter and Dark Energy. This has been both
mathematically implied to exist and can be observed by the bending of light from
celestial bodies.
In my model of understanding, the brain is somewhat like a mixing desk in a music
studio. We can tune it to certain frequencies to consciously engage events. Some of these
frequencies may be gateways to perceiving events in non local realities. The brain is a
tool and we can with more understanding hope to unlock these frequencies. This is the
reason I have chosen to employ neuromodulation as my primary modus operanda and I
am now looking at how we can tune this interface into the quantum events that may make
up other realities. The Dream World may just be one of these realities and I hope in time
we will see this not as some incidental trick of the mind but perhaps as the very thing we
all want to believe . A Proof of Life.