Hello everyone. I'm Daniel Love, The Lucid Guide.
Today, we're going to explore
five essential techniques to help you prolong your lucid dreams.
Whether you're an experienced lucid dreamer or completely new to the subject,
extending the length of a lucid dream is one of the most important skills to develop.
After all, there's very little point investing effort into instigating a lucid dream
only to lose it shortly afterwards.
Early awakening is one of the most common problems for lucid dreamers,
so consider these skills a vital part of your dreamer's toolbox.
Not only will these techniques help expand your time
spent in the dreamworld, and therefore your ability to explore and experiment --
they will also aid in the quality of your sleep; and some involve
transferable skills that can enhance your experience of the waking world.
So, without further ado, let's get started.
Number 5: Emotional stability.
One of the most important skills any lucid dreamer can develop
is that of a calm and stable mind -- one that is not prone to emotional instability,
nor is easily shocked. Often, the strong burst of emotion and surprise that accompany
the realisation that you are dreaming
is enough to jolt you quickly out of sleep.
Or worse, it can muddy and confuse your mind,
allowing your dream to slip back out of lucidity.
There really is very little that is more frustrating.
Dreams are an emotional realm,
and we're all familiar with those dreams in which our emotions
spiral out of control to the point where we wake up with a start.
The first step towards avoiding this is to learn to genuinely expect lucidity.
After all, one cannot easily be surprised by something that is expected.
So, each night before bed, assume with as much conviction as you can muster
that your very next experience will be a lucid dream.
Now, this isn't the same as wishing or wanting --
this is expecting. It should invoke no more surprise or be
any more out-of-the-ordinary than breakfast the following day.
This of course becomes easier with each lucid dream --
but even those of you who have yet to experience lucidity
should be mentally prepared by developing a firm expectation
that lucidity is possible, and inevitable.
As a side-effect, this mindset will also promote lucid dreams.
Secondly, during your waking hours, become more mindful of your emotional states.
If possible, carry a small notebook, or use your phone, to record any
strong emotions during your day-to-day life.
You should already be performing a reality test whenever a strong emotion arises,
which will greatly help in your ability to be more reflective and in control.
However, also make a note of the emotion you experienced,
and anything that triggered that feeling.
This will help engage the logical and analytical areas of your mind --
which should, with practice,
give you the ability to maintain a level of calm control
during any waves of emotion.
This will also slowly develop a triggering connection
between the areas of your brain dedicated to emotion
and those related to more analytical thinking.
This is important because we know that while our rational mind is subdued during sleep,
or emotions are not. So anything we can do to use our emotions to trigger thoughtful,
reflective thinking will create a brain more prone to lucidity.
I'll shortly be releasing a video that covers a mental exercise for exactly this purpose,
so be sure to subscribe, so you'll not miss out.
Number 4: Engage the dreamworld.
This is possibly the most popular and well-known
of all dream-prolonging techniques.
It was made popular by Dr Stephen LaBerge
when he noticed the dream-extending effect of rapidly spinning your dream body
when you feel you may be close to waking.
The principle behind this technique is straightforward:
By engaging more fully with the environment of the dream,
including your dream body,
we commit our mind's attention towards it --
and therefore, we are less likely to become distracted and drawn out of sleep
by the comparatively subtle sensations from our sleeping body.
This can be done in all manner of ways. The most-commonly suggested are
rapidly spinning your dream body; rubbing your hands together;
touching and engaging your physical senses with the dream environment.
It almost doesn't matter what physical activities you partake in, as long as they create
a strong physical sensation within the dream.
I personally find using my hands to engage with the dream environment
the most straightforward and effective. Why not give it a try now?
Stroke and caress the environment around you.
Rub your desk, feel the texture of your keyboard and mouse --
and while you're doing so, perhaps you could feel the sensation of moving your mouse
over to the "Like" button and giving it a click.
Number 3: Singing.
This is my absolute favourite technique for prolonging a dream.
And while it is based partly on the same sensory principle as the previous technique,
it also has the added benefit of aiding in mental focus
and maintaining a lucid awareness.
It is a simple enough concept: you simply engage with your dreaming world through the medium of song.
As you move through the dream, sing loudly and at the top of your voice.
Any tune will do, and it doesn't matter if you can't sing.
In fact, you may discover, as I did,
that my ability to sing was dramatically improved in dreamland.
As before, this keeps your sensory focus on the dreamworld itself.
It creates a calming and playful emotional state.
It also allows you to continually remind yourself, verbally, that you are dreaming.
So be sure to sing phrases such as
"I am dreaming" -- and also try to sing any goals or experiments you wish to try within the dream.
Basically, your song will be a reminder of your dreaming state
and anything you wish to achieve.
One fascinating side-effect of this particular technique
is that, often, should you choose a popular song as the basis of your tune,
the dreamworld will supply you with a soundtrack.
Number 2: REM rebound.
This particular technique takes a more physiological approach
towards dream extention,
and focuses on the body's natural inclination towards balance.
It's not suited towards nightly use, but can offer a big boost in dream length
for those nights you may want to invest in some quality dreaming adventuring.
It has long been known that if our sleep has been shortened or disturbed during one night's,
then our brain will try to redress this balance by increasing REM on the following night's sleep.
In fact, you may have already experienced this REM rebound naturally,
often under the guise of the vivid and long dreams regularly experienced in the morning
after a night of consuming alcohol.
Alcohol acts as a short-acting REM suppressant;
and because it leaves the body before sleep is complete,
our brain attempts to make up for this lost REM in the earlier stages of the night
by increasing it in the final hours of sleep.
This is why, after a night of partying, you often have very peculiar and long dreams.
Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that you start drinking before bedtime.
However, there are certain supplements that may have similar effects.
It has been suggested that taking the supplement 5-HTP before sleep
will create a similar REM rebound effect.
However, the evidence for this is still somewhat insubstantial,
and my own experiments in these regards have proven inconclusive.
However, it's worth a try.
You can create your own REM rebound by waking an hour or two early
on the morning prior to a lucid dreaming attempt.
This will cut down your time spent in REM, and your brain will attempt to make up for this loss
by increasing the length of REM during the following night's sleep.
Of course, don't go too crazy with this.
There's always a very fine balance between cutting down your sleep to cause REM rebound
and leaving your mind just far too fuzzy to ever enter a lucid dream.
Number 1: Silence and darkness.
The final technique on this list is almost so obvious that it's barely ever mentioned.
However, the very simplicity and seemingly self-evident nature of this practice
often means that many overlook just how important it is.
I am, of course, referring to the need to sleep in a dark, silent and undisturbed environment.
No matter which dream-prolonging technique you practice,
none will be able to fight the dream-shattering power of a slamming door,
the sound of morning traffic,
nor the sun shining through your window.
Unfortunately, in our modern world, it is increasingly difficult
to maintain a perfectly dark and silent sleeping space.
So, without question, there are two accessories that every dream explorer must invest in,
namely earplugs and a sleep mask.
Without these, you will always be at the mercy of chance,
and there is nothing as frustrating as finding yourself in the middle of a lucid dream,
just about to perform some long-awaited goal,
only to be woken up by a distraction from the waking world.
So do yourself a big favour,
and get yourself these vital pieces of dream exploration equipment.
So that's five effective techniques for prolonging a lucid dream.
They're vitally important to maintaining a healthy and developing lucid dreaming system.
If you'd like to help prolong the life of this channel, then please don't forget to click on the "Like" button and share the video.
Every time you guys do your bit to help me out, it puts a huge smile on my face,
and it's all the inspiration I need to keep creating new content.
It can be hard work at times, so your support is really appreciated.
Also, if you have any methods for prolonging lucid dreams,
or you have any interesting experiences to share,
drop them in the comments below -- because we can all learn something from one another.
As always, I'll do my very best to answer any questions as quickly as is humanly possible.
And if you're new to the channel and you've got this far through, well done!
Please don't forget to click on that "Subscribe" button, and you'll be kept fully up to date with all future videos.
Remember, you can also help support my work through Patreon, and the link is in the description.
And an absolute massive thank you to everyone who's already done that!
So that's it for today. Thank you for joining me.
I'm Daniel Love, The Lucid Guide,
and until next time, sweet dreams!