Lucid Dreaming Basics For Beginners

Let’s go through the basics of lucid dreaming. This article will take you about 4 minutes to read on average, and by the end you’ll know what to start practicing to have a lucid dream.

Lucid Dreaming comes down to a few things, which don’t take that much effort to start doing. 

It’s all about conditioning your mind to learn a couple of new HABITS. It doesn’t have to be difficult to have your first lucid dream, you just need to practice a few things. Those things are:

Before you start

The things I’m going to share in this post are what’s known as the lucid dreaming fundamentals.

These are things I’ll constantly refer back to throughout most of the videos and posts I share. Whenever I mention ‘learning the basics’ or fundamentals, this is what I’m talking about.

The things I mention in this post are the ESSENTIAL things you need to practice and learn to lucid dream. 

You’d be AMAZED how many people try and lucid dream without trying or learning these things. Please, take the time to learn these skills and habits before you try anything else. Don’t try and skip these things and fast forward your progress, because it will come back and bite you later.

Lucid dreaming basics for beginners

You’re in for a very intense journey, as lucid dreaming can be wild. You’ll experience things you thought were impossible, and DO things you never believed you could do.

This all feels very real, and you wake up with the lovely memories of it! Let’s go through the beginner fundamentals you need to learn to lucid dream. Ready?

1: Write your dreams in a journal

To start remembering your dreams you’ll want to start writing them down as soon as you wake up. This will get your mind into the habit of recalling the dreams.

Writing your dreams in a dream journal

EVERYONE dreams EVERY night, it’s just a question of learning to remember them. Most people don’t spend much time trying to write their dreams down or remember them.

This is because for the most part, they either don’t need to, or don’t want to.

You’ve got to start forming a new habit of trying to remember your dreams every morning. By doing this, you’ll quickly see that you remember more and more dreams each time. It gets easier with each day and after a while, your chances of having a lucid dream are much higher.

  • Remember that the best way to create this new habit and get it to work is to just start doing it, tomorrow morning.
  • Make sure to write something down each morning, even if you can’t remember the dream.
  • If you can’t remember anything at all, just write ‘no dreams recalled’.
  • It’s important because it’s building the habit, and the connection in your mind.

2: Perform reality checks all day long

This is a very basic way to start having lucid dreams. Perform reality checks throughout the day and ask yourself whether you’re dreaming or not. 

A ‘reality check’ is where you ask yourself ‘am I dreaming?’, and then test that answer by doing something which has different results in the dream and in real life. Sounds a little confusing I know, but let me explain.

An example of a reality check would be to try and push your finger through the palm of your other hand. In real life, you will always feel the same tension and resistance, but in a dream the finger will go through your palm and you won’t feel it.

Find out what works best for you, but make it something which has different results in the dream and in real life. 

Finger through the palm reality check

3: Meditate every morning

Meditation has a strange reputation, but I’m not sure why. It’s actually very easy and has many proven benefits. 

Meditare

In fact, over 1000 studies have shown that meditation every morning for just ten minutes can reduce your risk of:

  • Cancer
  • Stress
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • And many more problems

But not only that, meditation can make you feel happier, calmer, and more peaceful. It also has a pretty BIG effect on your dreams and makes lucid dreaming 10X easier. 

In fact the effect it has on lucid dreams is like night and day. If you’ve been struggling to lucid dream and you’ve not tried meditating, you’re about to change the entire game. IT really does have that big an effect on your lucid dreams.

Lucid dreaming comes down to making your mins more self aware and able to focus on something. Meditation is literally JUST about practicing that focus and making yourself more self aware.

It’s super easy to learn as well, but it’s very important to meditate every morning. It’s better to meditate every day for 2 minutes than it is to meditate once a week for an hour. Consistency is key here. 

Here’s how you can meditate in simple steps:

  • Set a timer on your phone for 10 minutes (Ideally a relaxing or soft alarm tone)
  • Sit down cross legged with a straight back
  • Put your hands on your knees and relax all your muscles (But keep your back straight)
  • Close your eyes and focus on nothing except your breathe
  • Don’t try and breathe, just focus on being AWARE of your breathing
  • Any time you think about something or talk to yourself in your head, bring your focus back to your breath

This will be hard at first, but the first week will train your mind to meditate. Do it every day, even just for a few minutes and you’ll be amazed at how you feel. 

4: Experiment with lucid dreaming techniques

An ‘induction technique’ is a routine or exercise you can do, which will give you a lucid dream. There are dozens of induction techniques, and some work better than others.

What’s important to remember when trying these techniques is that some will work for you while not for others.

Everyone’s different, so if a technique doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, just try a different one. Make sure to write your results and feelings in your dream diary as well, maybe at the back section.

It’s actually pretty important to be writing your thoughts down in the journal. By writing down which techniques worked for you and which ones didn’t, you can save yourself a LOT of time. You can easily look back after a few weeks and see which things work for you and which things don’t.

I like to have a section along side the nights dreams where I’ll write which techniques I used, how it went, and even what supplements I was using (if any). 

Once you’ve started the basics like reality checks and writing down your dreams, these techniques are how you’re going to actually have your first lucid dream.

I’ve written detailed guides on each technique. I also wrote a post explaining how the most common lucid dream techniques work. Read through them and try whichever one feels right for you. If it doesn’t work for you, try another one.

Remember, even if you don’t actually try and of the techniques mentioned above, you’ll still likely have a lucid dream. If you JUST write your dreams down every morning, and do your reality checks, there’s a great chance you’ll do a reality check in a dream and become lucid.

You’ll know when you’ve become lucid because the dream will feel very different, but at the same time, similar to waking life. You’ll feel like you’re in a new world, but one that you can control and explore. I’ve written a post that will help called ‘what lucid dreaming feels like‘. 

Do you HAVE to do these things to lucid dream?

The things mentioned in this post are pretty basic but also very important. I would say that you AT LEAST need to be writing your dreams down. Without doing that, it’s going to be very hard to progress. 

Also, nobody can remember their dreams perfectly, and certainly not after a week or so. It’s absolutely essential to write them down, otherwise you’ll lose those beautiful lucid dreaming memories that you’ve worked so hard to create.

It IS possibly to lucid dream without doing reality checks, but it’s going to take some practice. For example now I’m able to become lucid simply by intending to become lucid, and looking down at my hands.

Some would say that looking at your hands IS the reality check, but it’s not really. It’s more just a passing act of looking down WHILE realising I’m lucid. It’s a very quick and simple check but it’s not a reality check.

So in time, you can learn to lucid dream without needing to do reality checks, but it would probably take you a few months to reach that stage. Writing your dreams down is essential however.

In terms of the induction techniques, I’ll be honest: 

These days, I don’t really USE many induction techniques, if any at all. I tend to naturally become lucid simply because my mind is super self aware as a result of years of meditation and lucid dreaming. 

So I’m able to ‘naturally’ or randomly become lucid without needing to reality check or use a specific technique. That being said, for beginners, techniques are super helpful. I’d suggest starting with the most effective lucid dreaming technique which is my 90ILD method

What else do I need to know?

There isn’t much else you need to know to get started, but I will share a few tips and bits of information about lucid dreaming, which you might find interesting: 

  • Lucid dreaming can feel very real and scary at times but it can never harm you
  • The dreams you’ll experience will feel very real, and the memories will stay with you for a long time
  • It’s best to NOT lucid dream about ‘normal’ conversations because it’s hard to distinguish between real conversation memories and lucid dream conversations
  • It’s easy to LOSE lucidity if you’re not paying attention, so be alert all the time and do more reality checks WHILE lucid if you need to

There are also a few things you might want to read to learn more about this amazing state: 

Go BEYOND the basics

So to summarise, to have your very first lucid dream, do the following for a week or two:

  • Record your dreams
  • Perform reality checks
  • Believe in yourself
  • Practice Lucid induction techniques

Do those things every single day, no matter what. Beyond that, there are a few things you can look at or experiment with to go BEYOND the basics of lucid dreaming. Here are the top picks: 

It doesn’t have to be difficult, Many people have had their first lucid dream within about a week or so doing the things I outlined on this page. To take it one step further, have a look at our printable lucid dreaming bootcamp course, or try a supplement like DreamLeaf.