I wasn't a big lucid dreamer, but then one night... I met an angel in a dream. 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's what's worked out for me the best. =D Last updated May 9, 2020.
image: "Forgotten" photo shoot by Von Wong
What is Lucid Dreaming / 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 experiences lucid dreaming and astral projecting. 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!
METHOD 1: The Natural Way
-Go to sleep.
-Set an alarm to wake you up 5 or 6 hours into your sleep.
-Go back to sleep facing up.
-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 you naturally start having 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 setting your alarm every morning you try and you will eventually have an astral projection this way. Simply waking up 5 or 6 hours into your sleep is enough to increase your lucid dreaming ability over time!
METHOD 2: The Galantamine Shortcut
Try this if you just want a taste of what lucid dreaming is like but don't want to put all the effort into it just yet.
-Go to sleep.
-Wake up 5 to 6 hours before you usually wake up.
-Take a galantamine pill and go back to sleep.
Available online here: 4mg at Amazon, 8mg at Smart Nutrition. It might be gentler to start with the 4mg one from Amazon. If you're not getting results, then take two. After practicing for a while and you feel 8mg is better for you, then consider switching over to the 8mg from Smart Nutrition. 4mg is enough for most people.
It takes 48 hours to completely flush galantamine out of your body so only take another one if it's been at least 48hrs since your last one.
If you want to ease yourself more into it, consider starting with a quarter of the amount. If that doesn't work, try half the amount the next time you try some other day and just keep adding quarter amounts until you find the minimum amount you're body needs to stay awake.
Please note, one of the common side effects of taking galantamine is having sleep paralysis which is when your body temporarily freezes and you can't move. You might start hallucinating and even feel other people in your room. This might be a little scary at times but it's completely normal. What's happening it's that you're in a pseudo-dream state and mistaking dream portions for reality. All you have to do is stay calm and wait a few minutes for the experience to pass. More information on the "Signs" section below.
Overall, I don't recommend to using method 2 as a long term practice because if you love lucid dreaming that much, all you have to do is practice method 1. It's that simple! Lucid dreaming is like playing a guitar. You don't need supplements. You just need practice! ={D
So that's it. That's all it takes! This works best on a night when you can sleep in the next day. Like on a Friday or Saturday night if you don't work weekends. Keep reading for more tips and information on how it all works!
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 method 1 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 dim, dark, cool room. Consider getting blackout curtains or covering your windows and all the major openings where light creeps back into your room with aluminum foil so that you can sleep in longer. :)
HOW IT WORKS
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 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. This is the time when your body is the most relaxed and your mind is teetering between R.E.M. sleep and waking up.
Practicing at the right time is the bulk of the work! Just practicing the recliner method above will get you results!
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 hearing all sorts of strange sounds, like going through all sorts of random radio stations really fast -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 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 lucid dreaming before you know it!
The bottom line is, you want to be as comfortable as possible, 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 you're putting pressure on a certain part of your body that's preventing your blood from circulating!! 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.
The sounds are super strange too! You may hear like you're going through all sorts of radio stations really fast or you might hear chattering you really can't make out.
I once even had sleep paralysis and felt a tiger creeping into my room and breathing right on my face. Totally freaked me out but I finally remembered to stay calm, waited for the experience to pass and the lucid dream 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
Carlos CastaƱeda: amazon, 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 below! Happy travels and Godspeed!! ^_^