For most people, dreams are mysterious ‘mini movies’ that play in their minds while they’re sound asleep, seemingly without their control, with some being rather pleasant, and others, not so much. However, we now know that it is actually possible to make dream control a complete reality, bringing about what is known as lucid dreaming.

But, what does the term truly mean and how does it work, and what, if any, are the benefits, and is it really possible for anyone to achieve this means of making our nightly journeys into the world of dreaming our own continual series of fascinating adventures? Read on for the answers to these common questions about the art of dream control or lucid dreaming.

Exactly What is Dream Control?

Dream control, using lucid dreaming, means that not only are you fully aware that you are dreaming, but that you’re also able to control what happens during the dream. While totally asleep, you realize that what seems to be going on is actually a dream and you are solely in control of the events that play out as well as the final outcome.

There are people who do suffer from nightmares and frequently. This method is powerful and simple, and just the method they may need to relieve themselves of these disturbingly bad and distressing dreams.

Common Ways of Inducing Lucid Dreaming

A rather effective method known for achieving lucid dreaming involves the use of binaural audio, which entails listening to two different frequencies at the same time in order to synchronize the brain waves, bringing about a deep sense of relaxation, as well as a state in which lucid dreaming is possible known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Before this use of modern technology was discovered and available on CDs or DVDs for the purpose of dream control, self hypnosis and meditation were the most widely used techniques for lucid dreaming, although many people report finding it too difficult to achieve this state using these two particular means of dream control.

Many additional techniques, since then, have been developed as methods for inducing lucid dreaming by those experts in both fields of psychology and science. And regardless of any of the earlier methods used the basic purpose still remains the same. To train the mind while in the state of sleep to be aware of being in a dream. The state needed to begin lucid dreaming.

To do this, we must, of course, begin while we are wide awake, with the key being to remember to do or say something in a dream, which will trigger the recognition necessary within the mind and allow us to then control what happens next.

It’s often a simple matter of telling yourself, just before going to sleep, that you will be dreaming soon and in that dream you will remember to do or say something specific, and when that happens, you will instantly realize that it is a dream.

This particular method to dream control is referred to as MILD, or mnemonic induction of lucid dreams, which was discovered by scientist Dr. Stephen LaBerge. With this approach, your brain is then in complete control as to what occurs in the dream, meaning that nothing could or would come of harm to you as it’s simply all in the mind and you are only limited by your own imagination.

There are other means of accomplishing lucid dreaming and one would be to keep a journal or a dream diary, in which to record your dreams. By keeping this notebook (and a pen or pencil) nearby on the table by your bed you will be able to write down what you remember about the dream right after you wake up, when it is fresh in your mind. Do this for several nights and soon you will remember what you wrote and you will have a similar dream and then you will be able to control your dream and the activities in that dream.

Chase away the bad guys in nightmares, travel to whatever location you desire, go to your imagined hideaways, talk to famous people if you want, and basically be unshackled by worldly concerns. Through controlling your dreams, you can accomplish this, it gives you the ability to be in control of your nightly dream world and all that happens there.

There is one potential drawback to lucid dreaming, say the experts. As with life in general, it holds true that an opposite effect is, an actuality, when you get too much of a good thing. The natural dream state is when we find out things about ourselves, things which would normally have been hidden from us and may never have surfaced. This is the main reason for you to enjoy your lucid dreaming, but you should also take some time off from lucid dreaming to dream in a natural state. Just remember to take a break and enjoy.

Manifesting abundance is a phrase you are most likely familiar with to some degree or another. You have probably heard someone telling you about it before, usually a self help guru or new ager bringing the term up in connection with the ideal that all of us have the power to control our destiny and change our lives. Before you dismiss this idea, think about your own past. You may recall a parent or other relative telling you that you could do anything at all if you put your mental energy into it. As it happens, they were telling you the truth. You may even try to tell yourself that from time to time, but we tend to give other people plenty of great advice that we do not follow ourselves. It is the absolute truth though – you and only you bear responsibility for your life.

Somewhere, someone in our lives has told us that it is us, who are the master of our destiny. We are the ones who create our lives. We have it within us to manifest abundance. We are the only person that can manifest an abundant life for our self.

Your life is the way it is because of the way that you think. On some level, the things you are not happy with in your life are there as the result of your own thought patterns. You have the power to change these things, though you might not yet know that you have this ability. You have the power of manifesting – just believe in yourself. It is you alone who has made your world and you alone who can change it.

As depressing as it may seem at first to come to this realization, there is a big positive to this as well. Once you realize that this power lies with you, you realize that the power to change your life is already yours. All it takes is a change in the way you see and think about the world to manifest abundance.

Your mind and your thoughts are incredibly powerful, whether or not you already realize this. All you have to do is change your thinking and you can start changing your life for the better at once. For example, if you put all of your mental energy into worrying about your financial situation, what tends to come to you is more bills and more problems.

What you should do instead of dwelling on the negatives is to manifest abundance by focusing your mental energy on the good things you already have in your life, no matter how small they may seem. You have food on the table and a roof over your head; and this alone is something to be grateful for and to look on as abundance. Once you start to think this way, more good things will start to come to you.

Furthermore, as from this minute, you need to stop shifting the blame to other people, because your life is the way it is because of the way you think. Yes, you may often think that you’d love to have plenty of money, or that you’d really enjoy being successful, but of course in this case you’re thinking about what you want rather than what you have and that’s what makes all the difference.

I would really like you to a least give the following experiments a chance so that they can prove to you that by changing the way you think, you can also change your life. First of all, stop wasting your time thinking about wanting money, and stop wasting your time worrying about paying your bills. Instead, begin thinking about just how much money you already have, and start thinking about just how easy it is for you to pay for everything you have.

You need to think and believe beyond all doubt that you have more than enough money already. You also need to make a conscious effort to pay attention to these thoughts or else you could find yourself becoming a victim of your old thoughts again. If you really want to begin manifesting abundance, then you need to begin thinking along the lines that you already have everything you want.

Since like attracts like, you have the power to bring in more good things to your life. Focus strongly on the things you already have that are good in your life. You are the only person who can improve your life by manifesting abundance in your life.

Many of us think of our dreams as something which is largely beyond our control ? they happen while we are asleep, after all and whether they are pleasant dreams or nightmares, we shrug and assume there is nothing to be done to direct the course of our dreams. However, it is entirely possible to have dream control thorough the technique known as lucid dreaming.

But just what is lucid dreaming anyway? How can you learn to use dream control? Most importantly, what are the benefits of using dream control? Let?s take a closer look at lucid dreaming and what dream control can accomplish in your life.

What Is Dream Control?

Dream control, (through the use of lucid dreaming), is your becoming aware of the fact you are in a dream state, and that you can actually control the happenings in your dream. As you are sound asleep, you recognize that the events you think are going on are actually dreams, and that you can control how the events transpire to even the ending.

Dream control can be a great help to people who suffer from recurring nightmares. The simple, yet powerful technique of lucid dreaming can enable these people to get a full night?s sleep.

Common Ways of Inducing Lucid Dreaming

Binaural audio is a very effective method of inducing lucid dreaming. Binaural audio consists of two slightly different frequencies simultaneously ? this brings about the necessary state of relaxation and the synchronization of the brain waves needed for lucid dreaming to occur; namely, REM sleep.

Prior to this technology being available for use through DVDs or CDs to help with dream control, meditation and self hypnosis were the popular methods to induce lucid dreaming, in spite of the fact, that numerous individuals complained about not being able to achieve the state of dream control through the use of these methods.

Other than these methods, many others have been used by psychologists and sleep researchers. However the mind is trained to assert dream control, the object is the same ? to enable the dreamer to realize that they are dreaming and to begin taking the reins of their dreams.

You need to begin this mental training, however while you are still awake. The goal is to set a cue which you will be able to perform in your dream which signals to you that you are in fact dreaming and that it is time to start taking the reins of your dream and directing it towards the outcomes you want.

This can be as simple as telling yourself that you will be dreaming and that you will do or say a certain thing in the dream; which will tell you that you are dreaming, setting off a state of lucid dreaming.

Dr. Stephen LaBerge discovered this method of dream control, which is considered mnemonic or mild way of bringing on lucid dreams. This method allows your mind to be in total control of what is going on in the dream, this also means that nothing will harm you, because it is just in your mind, and the only limits you have is your ability to imagine.

You can also achieve lucid dreaming by means of keeping a dream diary. You?ll write down everything you can remember about your dreams immediate after awakening; this will train you to start remembering your dreams and being able to start using dream control. You?ll find that after using this technique for a while, you?ll be able to ?replay? a recent dream ? except this time, you?ll be in control.

You can beat back those nightmares, go anywhere, do anything and talk to anyone you want in these dreams. There are no limits except for your imagination to your dreams once you have mastered the techniques of dream control.

One word of caution, however. There is such a thing as too much lucid dreaming. Psychologists and other experts tell us that your dreams are sometimes your subconscious mind?s way of telling you some important things. So give yourself some time off to have naturally occurring dreams in between your incredible lucid dreaming experiences.

Dreams that you have where you know they are dreams and control the final outcomes of the dream are called Lucid dreams. These are the type of dreams where you pick the subject or the person they are about and make the dream come out the way you want yet you feel like you are fully awake, similar to day dreaming.

There are no limits to what you can experience through Lucid dreams. You can be the star of a romantic fantasy novel, or high action adventure, you can control the outcome or change the endings to what makes you happiest.

The difference between normal dreams and lucid dreaming is that you control the lucid dream, where normal dreams may wander randomly from subject to subject. You may even have to pinch yourself because they can seem so real versus normal dreams that may be strange, abstract and sometimes scary.

In a dream, certain things will not seem right, like reading words, or colors may not be pronounced. There are simple tests many people do to see if they are really are having a lucid dream or are in a state like sleep walking, for example.

You may be having a fantasy about someone you want to be with. This may be impossible in real life, but of course anything is possible when you are lucid dreaming.

In a lucid dream, you can change the outcome if you don’t like how the dream is heading. If you imagine you are with your loved one that has passed, you might dream that they are still alive because you were able to get to them to warn them of their upcoming demise, for example. Controlling your dream for the desired outcome is part of lucid dreaming.

Is it physically possible to experience lucid dreams? Yes! There is a biological need for the body to sleep, to rest and prepare for another days activities, it is a relatively simple step for part of your mind to remain conscious while your body is resting.

Lucid dreaming needs some techniques which can be learnt by some practice and patience.

You can begin by doing some dream recall everyday. Each day try to recall the dreams that you had in the night. You need to remember them to the last possible detail. It’s a great idea to keep some paper and pen handy to record your dreams. In the beginning you may not recall all the details. That’s not a problem. However, with constant practice, you will find dreams repeating themselves. This will enable you to completely record your dream. Make this a habit and soon you will have all your dreams recorded and can refer to them when you want.

Lucid dreaming is a great tool for writers. You can actually dream about all the characters, the plot and the way you want your story line to move. You can use lucid dreaming for expressing all your dormant desires and manifesting them in reality.

Try to recall everything you can about your dream, go back to sleep and, if you can, return to where you were before you woke up and you will continue to dream. The dream will occur more than once, so you will have the opportunity to recall more each time it does occur. Recalling more each time you try.

If you happen to wake up in the wee hours of morning, which is the perfect time to have a lucid dream. It may feel as if you were really awake and thinking but it was in reality lucid dreaming.

Techniques, such as self-hypnosis can sometimes help you to recall vividly your lucid dreams, but many people find recalling lucid dreams easy to do.

Another shortcut worth mentioning is a recent development in sound technology called binaural beats. These special frequencies work by synchronizing the two hemispheres of the brain and almost instantly put your brainwaves into the state required for lucid dreaming to be possible.

So you want to be a lucid dreamer. Well that’s a good start, at least you know what you want to do; but how exactly do you go about it?

It can be helpful to know why you would like to be a lucid dreamer. What do you have to gain from the process? In order to find the profit in lucid dreaming we should begin with the normal dream process.

When you go to sleep, you get into bed, close your eyes for a certain length of time, and either dream or just see black for a few hours and then wake up! It isn’t very interesting now is it?

Average sleep has a purpose it prepares our minds and bodies to carry out the duties of the next day. However, consider the idea of managing your dreams consciously.

What if rather than being an active observer, you can be the one who can lead your dream to be whatever you want, rather than your dream leading you? This is what a lucid dreamer is; someone who is in total control of their dreams; able to explore new worlds that are not bound to the physical, societal and time-space laws of the real world.

This sounds great, but how can you become a lucid dreamer? There are two ways to reach this state – one is by having a DLID, or dream initiated lucid dream. These are instances where the dreamer has taught themselves to recognize that they are having a dream and start to assert control over the direction of their dream.

The second way is having a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD); where the dreamer goes from being awake, to being asleep with no change in consciousness. In other words, the dreamer enters their dream as if it were a door, rather than just “waking up” in a dream.

So how are these types of lucid dreaming induced?

Dream Recall

If you’d like to lucid dream, perhaps one of the most successful way of doing so is known as dream recall. Dream recall is simply the ability to remember one’s dreams. By remembering your dreams, you are able to recognize them when you are sleeping, because most likely, you will have the same dream, or at least aspects of it, more than once.

A dream journal is perhaps the best way to learn this skill. Use this to write down every detail of your dream that you can remember immediately after you wake. If you wait., it will become increasingly difficult to recall.

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

This is a technique that was developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge, one of the lead scientists studying lucid dreaming. The intent here is to simply tell yourself that you will remember something, like an object for example and then in the dream, when you see this object you will realize it is a dream.

Wake-Back-to-Bed (WBTB)

This technique is fairly simple. You set your alarm for just a few hours after you go to bed. When you wake, don’t just go back to sleep. Instead, stay awake for about an hour, then return to sleep.

According to Dr, LaBerge, this method has a 60% success rate. The idea here is to wake yourself in the midst of a REM cycle so that upon returning to sleep, lucid dreaming will be easy to achieve.

Cycle Adjustment Technique

This was created by Daniel Love, and what it is, is setting your alarm to wake you up an hour and a half before your normal time. Once you’ve adjusted to waking up early, alternate your alarm to wake you up normally and early. During times you are to wake up normally, you’re body will already be ready to wake up early, and therefore, you will be likely to be awake in your dream.

Wake-initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)

This technique involves maintaining mental alertness even as your body shuts down for sleep. Think of it as if you are in a movies theater, with the film soon to begin; your closed eyelids are like the black screen just before the movie starts.

You can also use this technique with tactics like counting, chanting or imagining yourself climbing stairs as you go to sleep. This method of achieving lucid dreaming is best done in the afternoon or other times when you are not terribly tired.

Technologies like strobe lights and dreaming masks can also help you to become a lucid dreamer.

Listening to binaural beat frequencies through a head set is the simplest and most consistent way to create a lucid dream.

These binaural sounds induce lucid dreaming by causing the hemispheres of your brain to synchronize, making your brainwaves reach the state required for lucid dreaming.

With self affirmations and self hypnosis combined with binaural sound, being a lucid dreamer is a goal which anyone can reach.