Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams (The MILD Technique)

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🌙 Written by Stefan Zugor, international lucid dreaming expert and teacher. Learn how to lucid dream in 7 days or less.

Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreams or MILD for short is a induction technique created by Dr Steven Laberge (author of this book). The technique is aimed at beginners, and helps to become self aware in your dreams. Let’s look at how to do it!

What is the MILD technique?

A MILD dream involves repeating a ‘mantra’ or affirmation to yourself several times before you go to sleep in the hope that you’ll still have it in your mind when you go to sleep. The technique involves repeating things such as the following to yourself:

  • ‘Next time I go to sleep, I’ll have a Lucid Dream’
  • ‘My next Lucid Dream will happen tonight’
  • ‘When I dream, I’ll realize I’m dreaming’
  • ‘Lucid Dreams happen easily when I sleep’
  • And so on..

These types of lucid affirmations can vary and it’s probably best to just find what works for you and then adapt and optimize that for yourself. The examples above can be used to get started however. These affirmations are repeated several times during the day and can also be repeated if you should wake up in the middle of the night as well.

This works a lot better when combined with the other basics of Lucid Dreaming such as reality checks, dream journals etc, and should be attempted in conjunction with these other techniques.

Check out my video about the MILD lucid dreaming technique:

So in this article, we’ll explain it as a collection of 4 techniques, which when practiced together greatly increase the chances of a beginner becoming Lucid in their dreams. Even if you’re not a beginner and in fact know a lot about Lucid awareness, this technique (collection of techniques) is still a great help to you.

How to perform the MILD technique

Step #1 – Dream recall; Remembering your dreams

So this is the building block for MILD dreams, actually recording them and remembering them. This is important for ANY lucid induction technique, but more so for the MILD technique. You should be doing this anyway, but as part of this technique it’s essential.

We have a lot of information on remembering your dreams and have actually got a whole page about it, complete with an example dream diary entry and the best practices for recording your dreams, go check it our here.

Step #2 – Reality Checks

Asking yourself whether you’re dreaming and then performing some sort of test to make sure you’re indeed dreaming or awake.

This is essential, and it’s worth spending a fair amount of time on this step, and although it’s very possible to do it without reality checks, doing it WITH them makes it a lot easier and more likely. Here are some examples of reality checks you can do every time you have a drink during the day (That’s a good time to do it)..

Example reality check 1- Trying to push your finger through your palm

Ask yourself, ‘Am I dreaming?’ while trying to push your finger through the palm of your other hand. In the dream, the finger goes through, in reality of course, it doesn’t. You’ll always get the exact same feeling of resistance in reality but in the dream it certainly feels different

Example reality check 2 – Trying to breath through your nose while you’re pinching it

Again, start by asking if you’re dreaming only this time you’re going to pinch your nose together and try to breath through it. In the dream of course, you don’t need to breath and although you’re still breathing in reality while you’re sleeping, in the actual dream you can easily breath while your nose is being pinched.

Step #3 – Lucid affirmations

This is the part where you chant out loud (or in your head) some lucid affirmations, some statements which you must really believe in. You could say anything in these affirmations as long as they’re positive and refer to you being able to lucid dream tonight. Here are some examples:

  • ‘Tonight when I sleep, I’ll have a Lucid Dream’
  • ‘When I have a dream, I’ll realize I’m dreaming’
  • ‘I find lucid dreams easy to achieve’

And so on. It’s important to really believe in thee as you say them or think them, otherwise it won’t work as well. You need to convince yourself that you believe in yourself and in these lucid affirmations in order for the MILD technique to work.

Step #4 – Visualize your dream

This is where you’ll be able to ‘create’ the dream you’d like to have as well.

So the affirmations can be said any time throughout the day (the more often, the better) and also should be said or thought just before you go to bed, as you’re laying down. Now what you’re going to do though, is to visualize your dream.

See the world unfold in your mind and see the shapes, places and people you would like form in your minds eye. At this stage, you’re ALMOST mixing the MILD technique with the WILD technique, because you’re strongly visualizing the dream but you’re not really doing a WILD (Wake induced lucid dream) because you’re going to go to sleep before you enter the dream.

You’re just training your mind and in a sense you’re practicing the type of thing you’ll be doing in an actual Lucid Dream. For this reason, during this stage while you’re visualizing it, try to really imagine what it would be like to walk around in a dream, to control it and to feel any sensation you wish. Imagine the story unfolding and do the things you would do if it were really a Lucid Dream.

FAQs about the MILD

Here are some tips for using the MILD method to induce a lucid dream, just some things that we’ve found helpful when using this technique that will probably help you. It’s also got some basic FAQ about the Mnemonic induced lucid dream technique, enjoy!

Tips for the technique itself

  1. The visualization process is NOT meant to be a WILD. You’re just doing that to condition your mind and to make sure that it’s ‘on your mind’ as you fall asleep. That’s all. Don’t try and enter the dream like this, although you could, it’s a different technique entirely.
  2. Reality checks are important and should be used in conjunction with ANY induction technique you try.
  3. Try to really BELIEVE the affirmations you say. This can make the difference between having success or not.

Does the MILD technique work?

The MILD technique for lucid dreaming DOES work when you follow the steps, but because it’s reliant on something happening randomly in the dream it can’t give you INSTANT lucid dreams, whenever you want.

It must be built into your habits to make it more LIKELY you’ll lucid dream. As with any technique it’s important to practice it regularly and not to rely on just one thing to make you lucid.

The best lucid dreaming technique?

I have created a technique which is very effective, brand new for 2019 actually. It’s called the 90ILD technique and it let’s you lucid dream in 5 minutes or less. Check it out!

FAQS about the technique

  • Is the MILD easy? Well, yes and no. It’s designed for beginners but even then it takes a certain amount of effort and focus. It all depends on the individual.
  • Can you use this WITH other techniques? Of course. That’s what we’d advise actually, and it’s all about finding what works for you. If you start visualizing your dream trying to do a MILD, and you just full on enter a lucid dream (basically performing a Wake induced lucid dream) then GO WITH IT!
  • Who invented the MILD technique? We mentioned this at the start, but just in case you missed it, Dr Steven Laberge.
  • Is this the easiest induction technique? Well, again it all depends on you. Some people find this the easiest, some find others the easiest.

Useful tools and other techniques

Here are some other lucid dreaming techniques you might want to try: 

If you’re really serious about learning to control your dreams and you REALLY want it to happen, you need to build up the HABITS you’ll need to lucid dream. These are very important, and learning the wrong things will mean you’ll waste HOURS. 

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