Ways to induce lucid dreams

[Palehorse]

I would be interested in any method of inducing lucid dreams on purpose. So far the ONLY thing I am aware of that *really* works is a perscription pain med called "tawin".

I had hurt my shoulder really bad and the doctor gave me a small perscription of them. EVERY TIME I took one, that night I would have vivid full color dreams without fail.

I don't recommend you go find this drug and try it, simply because the dreams were not that nice.

Any non-medicinal ways? I have tried concentrating before sleep, tried the brainwave entraining, all that stuff...

Ideas?

[ann]

Hello!

I have lucid dreams sometimes too. I don't really know the reason why, but sometimes I have some REALLY clear dreams!


Nice forum! Glad I discovered it, lots to read!

[elso]

For some people which includes myself is cheese. For some reason if eat an excessive amount of cheese shortly before sleep, I will get the very wild vivid dreams.

[Palehorse]

Originally Posted by elso

For some people which includes myself is cheese. For some reason if eat an excessive amount of cheese shortly before sleep, I will get the very wild vivid dreams.

psst... eating too much cheese causes constipation in a lot of people.

Thanks for the reply, but I just thought I would point that out in case someone decides to down a wheel of cheddar before bedtime.


Ok, now with the disclaimer out of the way, may I ask what "kind" of cheese?

[griffin07]

I used to smoke a dab of Lobelia also known as lettuce opium. A cup of tea works better I later discovered. A few months back I needed to get my sleeping schedule back on track so to speak and started occasionally using Melatonin.
I suggest reading up on it before using it to promote lucidity but it has that effect. It is akin to serotonin in some way. As with Turkey I believe cheese contains tryptophan. Trytophan is an amino acid. It breaks down into melatonin among other things. Other foods would be other concentrated proteins or any of the brain foods such as pecans. Hazelnuts and Kumquats are on the psychics food list and I can personally vouch that they enhance vigil. Brussel sprouts are great if you like the taste.
As for methods, just teaching yourself not to freak out when you recognize
you are dreaming.... such as seeing a pig fly or a green sky.

[Palehorse]

I tried Melatonin before, it did not seem to do anything at all. Stayed on it for a month to give it a good "day in court".

I remember melatonin was once touted as a "wonder drug" supposed to double your lifespan yada yada...

Not sure how much truth was in any of it, but the Melatonin craze seems to have died off.

[SophieW]

I recently read an article on dream journaling. There were many benefits listed. Among those is making dreams more lucid. It all made sense. I started my journal three nights ago. Has anyone used this method? If so, did they find it beneficial? Here is the article:

DivineCaroline :: Journaling Dreams

-Sophie

[day-dreamer]

My hausband while on the nicotine patches (as he was giving up the smokes) could recall extremely vivd dreams, some not that nice and some just extremely wierd (well wierd to me anyway).

I'm not saying go and get patches, but am sort of questioning if there is something in them that alters the brains natural chemicals to produce these more 'Lucid' dreams.

[Mayzie]

SophieW – The article on journaling dreams has got me totally psyched! I'm starting mine in the morning.

I'm not keen on using any chemicals to initiate lucid dreams. Even an herbal option. I fear it might alter the dream itself and the meaning would be irrelevant.

[Mandy]

This i don't encourage to try.. But a couple of years ago i was going through a hard time in life, i drank a lot, i mean about an average of about 100 units of alcohol a week, during this time i used to lucid dream.

It started off as sleep paralysis where i would panic and try to get out of it, but the more i studied it i realised i should just relax and go with it, i had some weird experiences.

After a while i had to obviously stop drinking so much and i havn't had another lucid dream since. I am quite upset about that!!