it's getting late after a long day at work you spent the afternoon relaxing at home you read
a couple chapters of a book you ordered takeout from your favorite place and now you're winding
down for the night the moment you climb into bed your body melts into the sheets your eyelids
grow heavy the world begins to drift away until suddenly you're awake again your eyes fly open
you look around you're lying in bed but this isn't your room anymore you're in the middle of an open
field you see castles shimmering in the distant mountains colorful planets loom larger than the
Sun over your head and you sit there wondering where am I you have entered a lucid dream like
any other dream a lucid dream as a collection of images sensations and emotions created by your
subconscious mind but here's the catch in a lucid dream your conscious is still awake normally when
you fall asleep you're conscious clocks out for the day every once in a while that part of your
brain wakes up when that happens your subconscious will keep dreaming even though your conscious is
awake and aware many people experience lucid dreams by accident there are however several
different ways to induce a lucid dream each technique capitalizes on a unique aspect of
your subconscious no matter what technique you're using there's one skill you need to know it's
called dream recall in simple terms dream recall is your ability to remember the content of your
dreams let's say you dreamt of the most amazing theme-park you and a few of your friends spent
the night twisting and looping on the scariest roller coasters you dropped miles and miles on
a sky tower that climbed into space so you wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and
flutter in but within minutes that smile fades away that flutter disappears you try to remember
just one of those rights what color was it what did it feel like every little detail seems to
slip through your fingers most people experience this on a regular basis according to Scientific
American the average person forgets about 50% of their dream when they wake up after 10 minutes
that number climbs to 90% until suddenly you can't remember a single thing it's like that
wonderful dream never even happened Oh dream environments will continue to fade unless you
practice remembering your dreams journaling is one of the best ways to stimulate this part of your
memory in a matter of weeks you can retain the stories people and places in your dreams all you
have to do is write them down every morning after you wake up scribble down a few notes about your
dream what were you doing who did you see maybe you remember one of those crazy rollercoasters
you envision yourself doing corkscrew over an active volcano or free-falling to the center of
the earth every random detail is worth writing down because those disconnected ideas paint a
larger picture slowly unveiling complex ideas and stories dream recall is like connecting the dots
at first you're staring at a bunch of individual points which really don't look like anything over
time journaling connects those dots soon an image will leap off the paper and you'll experience
your dreams like never before by improving your dream recall you can develop a sturdy foundation
for lucid dreaming but how do you stimulate a lucid dream we're going to explore an incredible
technique called finger induced lucid dreaming or filled it's one of the fastest and more efficient
strategies out there whether you want to float through deep space walk with sea creatures at the
bottom of the ocean or leap over mountain tops in a single bound filled will transform the way you
dream in minutes you can wake up your conscious mind and freely explore the spellbinding world of
lucid dreaming filled is a little different than most lucid dreaming techniques because it focuses
on a specific portion of your sleep cycle the average cycle lasts around seven to eight hours
during that time you experience different depths of sleep from shallow and restless to deep and
peaceful before you can enter a deep slumber your body enters REM sleep I'm sure you have
heard this term before but few people understand what REM sleep actually is REM stands for rapid
eye movement according to a 2010 study in the journal trends in cognitive science REM sleep
is a brief period of high brain frequency in which your eyes quickly move site-to-site like
a ball bouncing from one corner to the other a REM cycle is not a state of deep restful sleep
in fact it's the opposite during REM sleep your body is extremely active it's almost like you're
still awake your respiration and heart rate speed up and your brain performs a variety of
important cognitive tasks like storing long-term memories from the same 2010 study one section of
your brain goes haywire during REM sleep your thalamus is a small structure that sends motor
and sensory signals across the brain your thalamus is an active throughout most of your sleep cycle
during REM sleep it springs into action your thalamus begins transmitting sensory signals
like colors sounds and even complex images these sensory signals populate your dreams with a vivid
imagery and create the environments you explore in your sleep your thalamus also transmits motor
signals these signals let you walk run and jump in your dreams the majority of your body is unable
to move during REM sleep that's why these motor signals don't translate into physical movement
your brain is sending out the right information but it never reaches your body of course your
thalamus doesn't create your dreams alone another major contributor is your amygdala your amygdala
processes emotions in your brain like your thalamus it becomes especially active during
REM sleep that's why your dreams carry such powerful emotions you may experience sadness
love or anger even if the images are fake the emotions in your dreams are very real you enter
REM sleep about five times per night the first cycle occurs somewhere in the first 90 minutes
after you fall asleep but it only lasts around 10 minutes you may be wondering how can I experience
a stunning dreamscape in just 10 minutes the good news is you don't have to each REM cycle
is a little bit longer than the one before so your fifth and final cycle lasts around
an hour this cycle is the perfect opportunity for lucid dream the fill technique concentrates
on this final episode of REM sleep but it starts about six hours into your sleep cycle if you go
to bed around midnight that's around 6:00 in the morning to actually use the filled technique you
have to wake up two to three hours earlier than you normally do otherwise you'll miss your final
REM cycle and your chance for a vivid lucid dream the first step of finger induced lucid dreaming
is setting that alarm unlike most lucid dreaming techniques you don't have to do anything special
before bed simply set your alarm two hours earlier than normal place that alarm somewhere nearby then
fall asleep naturally for step two let's jump ahead six hours your alarm wakes you up in the
middle of the night you're groggy you're exhausted you're tempted to smack your alarm and head right
back to bed but the next two steps are critical for your lucid dream everything you do will affect
your ability to immerse yourself inside this dream world without moving too much turn off your
alarm don't walk to the bathroom don't go to the kitchen for a snack instead shift your body into
a comfortable position relax your arms and legs and slowly sink into your mattress now it's time
for step 3 take a few deep breath through your nose feel the blankets draped over your body and
place one hand on a flat surface it could be your pillow your mattress or the ground if you're close
enough begin moving your index and middle fingers up and down imagine yourself gently pressing the
keys of a piano alternating between the same two notes left right left right over and over keep
the rest of your body perfectly still and let your fingers play the closer you are to falling asleep
the less you'll notice your fingers moving until you barely notice them at all just like that you
may find yourself waking up inside a lucid dream the science behind this technique is simple you
move your fingers back and forth to keep your mind awake and aware while your body is falling asleep
this small movement stimulates your conscious brain that way you can easily transition into
a state of lucidity the final step is the same for almost every technique whether you're using
mnemonics visualization or meditation you always need a reality check reality checks are small
gestures that distinguish dreams from reality imagine biting your tongue everyone knows what
that feels like the initial shock of clamping down your teeth the lingering ache on the surface of
your tongue in a dream biting your tongue doesn't hurt because you're not actually biting anything
remember your thalamus is sending motor signals across your brain however your body is asleep it
can't move you imagine yourself biting your tongue but the muscles in your jaw stand perfectly still
biting your tongue makes a great reality check it's subtle and small but you know exactly what
it feels like if it hurts you're awake if it doesn't you have entered the world of a lucid
dream just don't get too excited keep yourself level-headed and calm so you can experience lucid
dreaming at its fullest with a bit of practice you can transform your environment and bark on
mind-blowing adventures and discover the shocking mysteries of your subconscious mind thank you for
watching top think and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way