QUICK TIP: The easiest way to remember your dreams and increase your overall dream activity is to set your alarm to wake you up 5 to 6 hours into your sleep and go back to sleep. That's it. This takes advantage of your body's natural sleep cycle. See "Decoding the Sleep Cycle" section below for more information.
INTRODUCTION
I wasn't a big lucid dreamer, but then one night... I met an angel in a dream which changed my life forever... I read everything I could about lucid dreaming and practiced a lot. The most important thing I learned was when's the best time to practice. Here is what has worked out for me the best. =D Last updated July 2, 2023
INDEX
Decoding the Sleep Cycle
What Is Lucid Dreaming And Astral Projection
Lucid Dreaming: Alarm Method
Astral Projection: Alarm Method
More Tips
The Signs
My Favorite Books
Overall
DECODING THE SLEEP CYCLE
The very first thing your body tries to do when you go to sleep is knock out to stage 4 deep sleep. So this is why trying to lucid dream when you first go to bed is the worst time to practice.
But as the night progresses, your deep sleep keeps getting shorter and shorter while your R.E.M. sleep (where dreams happen) keeps getting longer and longer. It's almost as if during the first half of your sleep, your body is resting and during the second half, your mind is resting (through dreaming).
So the best time to practice is anytime after the first 4 to 5 hours of sleep once your body is fully rested. If you wake up at this time and go back to sleep, you will most likely go straight into a dream, but because you were just awake, it'll be much easier to realize that you are dreaming. This alone has greatly increased the amount of dreams I can remember and lucid dreams as well.
Also try to practice on a night when you can sleep in the next day. Like on a Friday or Saturday night if you don't work weekends.
Practicing at the right time is the bulk of the work!
WHAT IS LUCID DREAMING AND ASTRAL PROJECTION
Lucid dreaming is when you are dreaming and you realize that you are dreaming! Once you realize you are dreaming, you can do whatever you want in your dream like levitating, flying around, copying yourself, going to outer space, the possibilities are endless! It's usually a super fun and exhilarating experience.
Astral projection is when you're awake and you consciously feel your dream/astral/energy body separating from your physical body. It's a very bizarre experience. Your astral body is apparently always "tethered" to your physical body through the "silver cord" which some people say is actually a worm hole emanating from your pineal gland. You can't loose your astral body. If anything ever happens, you simply snap back through the silver cord, pop back into your body and wake up instantaneously. You can apparently travel through time and space and visit all sorts of people and places in an astral projection.
I've had so many awesome lucid dreaming and astral projecting experiences. I've dreamt about several of my past lives and have had all sorts of wild adventures like riding a polar bear and going to outer space. I've astral projected and flown to different places. One time I even felt like I dreamt 40 years worth of a past life in one night! Just all sorts of awesome and memorable experiences. Be sure to check out all my wild stories on my journal!
LUCID DREAMING: ALARM METHOD
-Go to sleep.
-Set an alarm to wake you up 5 or 6 hours into your sleep.
-Go back to sleep.
That's it! That's all of takes. See the "Decoding the Sleep Cycle" section above to find out why this works so well.
ASTRAL PROJECTION: ALARM METHOD
-Go to sleep.
-Set an alarm to wake you up 5 or 6 hours into your sleep.
-Go back to sleep facing up (in bed, recliner or zero gravity chair).
-Relax, release all the tensions in you body.
-Stay completely still and try keep your mind awake.
I try to keep by mind awake by focusing on what I feel in my body, my breathing or stating soothing phrases in my mind like:
"Let your body and your brain go to sleep like they do every night. It's okay. But your mind doesn't have to go to sleep. Your mind exists outside your body. Your mind can stay right here and observe how your body falls asleep naturally...
...So let go of all the tensions in your face, in your neck and your entire body.
...Let your body change position if it wants to. Yes go ahead, scratch your head and that itch on your nose. Just let your body do whatever it usually does as it falls asleep. But your mind doesn't have to go to sleep..."
It's okay to take care of your itching and scratching :) and finding the position your body is most comfortable with, but the goal is to eventually lay super still. It usually takes me about 45 minutes of being completely still before I start experiencing an astral projection.
What's happening is that your tricking your body into thinking that you actually fell asleep by remaining super still, so your body naturally starts the transition into sleep experience! ^_^*
In the beginning it's common to end up falling asleep facing up, but the more you practice, the better you get at keeping your mind awake. It's also common that you end up falling asleep but wake up right before you astral project. That's happened to me several times.
Don't be discouraged! Just keep practicing and you will eventually have an astral projection this way.
MORE TIPS
-You can also try waking up 4 hours before you usually wake up, then set an alarm to wake you up every hour and a half after that. This way you can try to astral project at least three times before you really wake up!
-Don't want to set an alarm? Try drinking lots of water instead before you go to bed.
-Having a dark and cool room. Consider getting blackout curtains, a sleep mask, or even covering your windows with aluminum foil so that you can sleep in longer.
THE SIGNS
So this is what happens. You're laying down, relaxing and all of sudden:
image from the International Academy of Consciousness
-you feel a sort of numbness or buzzing in your skin -you hear all sorts of strange sounds, like going through all sorts of random radio stations really fast or lots of chatter you really can't make out -your body is frozen and you can only move your eyes ("sleep paralysis") -you feel or hear other people or animals in your room -your body feels like turns all liquidy like water and parts of you start floating -your mind is spacing in and out of sleep
It's all super bizarre! These have got to be the weirdest things I've ever felt. And that's normal, it's just that we usually don't feel any of this stuff because our mind goes to sleep first before our body does. Overall, remember, the number one rule is to stay calm and let your experience play it's course. You'll be astral projecting before you know it!
The bottom line is, you want to be as comfortable as possible and as still for as long as possible without letting your mind fall asleep. The dream body numbness it's not the kind of numbness you get when your blood isn't circulating in that part of your body!! You don't want to do that. Also, if a part of you is ever uncomfortable, like an itch in your nose, do what you have to do to get comfortable, but then try to keep still.
I once even had sleep paralysis and felt like a tiger creeped into my room and was breathing right on my face. Totally freaked me out but I eventually remembered to stay calm, waited for the experience to pass and the astral projection started shortly afterwards.
MY FAVORITE BOOKS
These are my favorite books on lucid dreaming and astral projecting:
Bob Monroe's books are some of the trippiest, most fulfilling books I've ever read!!! ^_^; It's best when you read them in order.
Dr. Stephen LaBerge: lucid dreaming (book & cd), more books, website
OVERALL
I hope you found the information on this page exciting and useful! Feel free to send me any questions you may have. I welcome your comments and awesome dream experiences! Happy travels and Godspeed!! ^_^