After studying the experiences of people who practice lucid dreaming, we have compiled a list of techniques that will help you control your dreams. Let us note right away that even if you train hard (4-5 times a week), lucid dreams will begin to occur. best case scenario after a few months. After all, even experienced oneironauts (as those who can control sleep are called) rarely see more than 15 controlled dreams per month. By the way, we have provided recommendations with the memoirs of some of these same oneironauts.

Our expert: Roman Buzunov (buzunov.ru), Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, doctor medical sciences, head of the sleep medicine department of the Barvikha clinical sanatorium (sleepnet.ru) and its scientific director for therapy, board member of the National Society for Somnology and Sleep Medicine.

“Modern science allows for the possibility of controlling dreams. To do this, it is necessary that a person’s consciousness does not turn off during sleep, which can be achieved through many months and even many years of training. However, science is not able to accurately differentiate between lucid and unconscious dreams, so we have to take the oneironauts at their word. I mean that no research equipment can determine what a person dreams and whether he really builds a chain of events himself. However, research conducted, among others, at Stanford and Harvard Universities, as well as the California Institute for Cooperative Research, show that when subjects dream, brain function is activated and close to the waking state. On this basis we can say that lucid dreaming exist. Science is also well aware of a similar phenomenon when a dream is introduced into waking life. This condition is observed in people suffering from narcolepsy - neurological disease, in which “waking dreams” are noted during awakening or falling asleep. On the one hand, a person feels that he is in his room in his bed, on the other hand, a snake is crawling along the ceiling.”

Remember your dreams

If you are one of the lucky few who can remember dreams in detail, consider that the first step towards lucid dreaming has been taken. Are there almost no memories left? You'll have to do some intense training.

Get a special notebook and every time you wake up, write down what you saw in your dream. For starters, these can be isolated moments or objects - even the smallest details matter. Over time, you will remember entire episodes. Even later - dreams in their entirety.

Alexey, 30 years old

Timur, 27 years old

Learn to be aware that you are dreaming

Without understanding that everything that is happening is a dream, you will not be able to control and change dreams. It turns out that doing this with an almost switched off consciousness is not easy. When a dozen dreams described (at least partially) appear in your notebook, analyze them and, on a separate sheet of paper, make a list of signs of sleep - objects, actions and situations that are repeated most often. This list needs to be regularly updated and re-read. Signs of dreams, if you remember them properly, will play the role of beacons informing that at that moment you are in a world imagined by your own consciousness. Moreover, one person has absolutely different dreams They often start the same way: for example, you are walking through the park with Nikita Dzhigurda and you are eating an ice cream. At such moments, you can very quickly realize that you are already dreaming.

I have been practicing lucid dreams for six years. I discovered that the list of sleep symptoms is limited and perhaps not expanding. I haven’t updated it for two years: it still has 19 features.

Vlad, 38 years old

Develop critical thinking

It will help you realize that you are in an imaginary world. You need to practice critical perception of the world even while you are awake so that state control works automatically. For example, while talking to a friend, try to take off (what if it’s a dream?). Or read what is written in the newspaper, turn away and delve into the text again. Since memory in a dream works in a limited mode, practitioners assure that in dreams letters and numbers almost always change, as soon as you look away from them.

Train your inner speech

Try as often as possible not just to think, but to pronounce thoughts in your mind. When the inner voice becomes as familiar as a stain on your jeans, it will be able to “wake up” during sleep. If you not only think, but also pronounce your desires, then influencing the course of events in a dream will become much easier.

Thanks to lucid dreams, I got rid of nightmares. First, I learned to wake up during scary moments. And then - just change the course of events. It’s enough just to say: “It would be great if the lion rushing after me turned into a kitten!” And he turns.

Masha, 26 years old

Practice self-hypnosis

During the day and, most importantly, before falling asleep, suggest to yourself that this night you want to become aware of the state of sleep. Also imagine that you are sleeping. Moreover, you need to fantasize, using several signs of sleep from the notebook. Decide that this night you want to perform a specific action - for example, take off.

Our memory is designed in such a way that, even if you fall asleep and do not understand that everything that is happening is unreal, you can still remember that you need to rise into the air. And you'll probably rise. Sooner or later your brain will understand that real life this is impossible, and then you will have every chance to ride the dream.

I can’t figure out the entire plot of the dream in advance. That is, I can, for example, in a waking state decide that I want to fly. But where I will do this and where I will fly, I have to decide in my sleep, changing the environment with the power of thought. I’m also able to change it with the help of a door: just decide where you want to be and enter it.

Max, 29 years old

Dream before bed

Immersed in fantasy, enter own dream can be done directly from the waking state. To do this, you need to lie down in bed, relax and, without straining, begin to dream with eyes closed. Superficially observe the images that appear in your eyes. Very soon they will begin to turn into coherent plots, and you, without realizing it, will gradually fall asleep. After hard training, you will be able to transfer what you were thinking about into your dreams, and become a good director.

I understood why almost everyone who begins to practice lucid dreaming, the first thing they do is fly. This is the simplest action you can do in your sleep!

Lida, 31 years old

Choose your time

Dreams that come early in the morning are easier to control, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, you, immersed in lucid dreams, are close to the waking state, and therefore, in order to concentrate, the brain needs to rest. Secondly, the last dreams are the longest and are remembered best. It’s easier to watch for them if you sleep, say, six hours, get up on your alarm clock, do something for an hour and a half, and then go back to bed. You need to sleep after a forced awakening for at least a couple of hours to catch at least one phase of REM sleep, which repeats approximately every 90 minutes and is characterized by rapid eye movements (hence the acronym). Most often, dreams come during this period. While you're doing your business, don't forget to tell yourself what you want to see. controlled sleep, and think about what exactly you want to see. You can also wake up, lie in bed and go back to sleep. True, in this case the opportunity to see lucid dream will be lower: you have every chance of not having time to be distracted from past dreams and will see their continuation. And the mindset to control what is happening may not have time to reach the brain.

I see detailed dreams when I sleep for about twelve hours. Apparently, I don’t have time to rest in 8 hours.

Peter, 38 years old

I decided to diversify the topic of the blog with one of my hobbies - psychology. I hope this will not be too burdensome for regular readers. After all, it’s not every day that you write about something. Therefore, today I will tell you a little about what lucid dreams are and how you can learn to control your dreams.

Lucid dreaming- this is a state of consciousness in which a person understands that he is seeing a dream and can, to a certain extent, control it. This phenomenon was officially confirmed by scientists in the 19th century. Now many researchers are working in this direction, but Japanese scientists have achieved the greatest success.

Application

The big advantage of lucid dreams is that you can participate in events and perform actions that are impossible in real life (for example: flying, transformation, etc.). A person is able to analyze his actions in this kind of dreams and benefit from this analysis in the formation of his personality outside of sleep. Learning to control your actions in lucid dreams is not very difficult. In addition, you can get from this practical benefit. By replacing a fall with a flight in a dream, controlling the course of events, influencing the plot of what is happening, a person gains self-confidence. This can favorably contribute to getting rid of some phobias in life.

Learning to manage your dreams takes practice. Training your attention and remembering the moment you fall asleep will contribute to this. You can also use exercises that influence the subconscious. By controlling your mind at the moment of falling asleep, you can continue to be aware of the surrounding reality while your body is completely immersed in sleep. At this moment, a person may experience hallucinations. For example, the appearance of certain visual images, an altered perception of space and time.

To achieve only physical sleep, playing sports is enough. Go to the rocking chair during the day. And after you come home, go to bed. In addition, you can try to fall asleep in the morning, immediately after you wake up. You can also enter lucid dreams after you wake up in the middle of the night, when your consciousness is on the verge of sleep and wakefulness. Most important aspect similar practice: you must want to control your sleep. Quite often people become aware of themselves in a dream and without any training. But starting to think about all the possibilities that open up for the dreamer during lucid dreams, they almost always wake up.

Hypnosis or self-hypnosis works great. To realize the fact of sleep, you can come up with some kind of conditioned signal, seeing which in a dream, you will understand that you are dreaming. To make it easier, you can use audio recordings before bed. For self-hypnosis, it is recommended to use the following technique:

1. Lie down comfortably in bed and try to completely relax;
2. Imagine a staircase with 10 steps;
3. Slowly count the steps while telling yourself that you can control your dreams;
4. Be sure to set the goal for which you want to control the dream in order to try to program the plot of the future dream.

How to recognize a dream

The main problem with dream management is determining that you are already dreaming. Try to fly up in a dream or pierce the wall of a building with your finger. If you succeed, you will find out that this is a dream. If it doesn't work the first time, try again. Scientists recommend the following steps to determine sleep:

• Cover your mouth and nose with your hands. If you can still breathe, then it is a dream.
• Look for differences in what surrounds you from the real world.
• Find and read some inscription several times in a row. If the text changes, you are sleeping.
• Look at your watch.
• Remember what you did a few minutes ago. If you fail to remember, you are in a dream.
• Turn the lights on or off. Such actions in a dream often give rise to strange phenomena not inherent in real life.
• Look at your hands for a while. They will change in your sleep.

There are cases when a person realizes that he is sleeping, controls sleep, but at a certain point in time loses control over events. To avoid getting lost in such situations, begin to carefully examine the things around you, focusing on the details.

In Russia, the study of lucid dreams is mainly carried out by enthusiasts. And you can find communities online where people share their successes in the field of dream management.

Sleep is one of the most interesting and unexplored phenomena. Some people see bright color images, while others see black and white images. It used to be that dreaming was simply a way for the brain to rest. However, later researchers from the University of Chicago found that sleep turns into an active process for a few minutes during the night.

Have you ever heard that you can control this process? Do you think this idea is just fantastic? In vain! It turns out that you can learn to control your dreams. How can you manage your sleep? Today we will talk about this.

Controlling your dreams is useful

While in this state, we receive a lot of information from our subconscious. The brain sorts this information and remembers what is useful.

Lucid dreams allow us to go anywhere, to experience moments that we cannot experience in real life. real life. And this limitless possibilities, because we can practice the skill of communicating with a foreigner or consolidate the acquired knowledge about driving a car. Now imagine how useful it is to manage your sleep.

Can this be learned?

How can you learn to manage your sleep? Here are instructions that will help:

• How should you fall asleep to manage your sleep? First you need to feel yourself in a dream. That is, you have to kind of wake up there, understand that you are not awake;
• then you need to learn to concentrate on objects or creatures. As soon as the picture begins to blur, you need to move your gaze to another object, and then return to the original object. Gradually you will learn to focus your gaze;
• the next step is to remember everything. Often a person remembers that he dreamed about something, but cannot specifically tell. So this is what you need to learn;
• the moment of awakening is very important. You need to lie down for some more time, feel where you are - whether it’s reality or a dream;
• notebook. Get yourself a notebook or notepad where you will write down everything you remember: events, feelings and emotions;
• During the day, remember your feelings and compare them with reality.

In order to control your dreams, you will have to practice a lot. When you learn how to do the above exercises correctly, move on to the next, more complex ones.

How to control dreams at home

To learn how to really use those limitless possibilities that we talked about, you need to do the following exercises:

• Before you fall asleep, set yourself up for a certain story: visit a familiar place, for example;
• Think in great detail about what you want to see, who to meet, what should be around. The more accurately you think through everything, the easier it will be for you;
• give an instruction - why do you want to see these particular images;
• when you feel like you are falling asleep, feel yourself there, and then repeat the installation to yourself;
• After waking up, you need to remember everything.

Sleep is a very mysterious phenomenon. For anyone to be able to control it, one has to work hard. Of course, it won't work the first time. Don't be discouraged, you have to try again and again.

When the exercises become easy, you can try another technique. It is much more complicated than the previous one.

Its essence is to change what is happening there with the help of willpower. That is, you need to wake up, imagine what exactly you want to change and fall asleep again. You have to go back to the same situation and change it.

Fighting fears

Having learned these techniques, you can try to fight your fears. You can't run away from your fear. We need to meet him face to face. Explore it and get to know it. Try to talk. It's even better if you make friends.

This is how you can get rid of your phobias:

• think in advance what you want to see, give yourself a set;
• if it’s already getting scary, feel that it’s not real and you will feel better;
• find your fear, all the time remembering that it is a fantasy;
• sit next to you, get used to it, understand that you are sleeping and can leave at any moment;
• talk and see how things develop further.

Perhaps you will feel funny, or maybe you will become best friends with your fear. The main thing is that you will stop being afraid of something and become freer.

Try to learn to listen to dreams

When you wake up, you absolutely do not understand what and why these pictures were given to you. However, this is all superficial analysis. We need to be deeper.

First of all, think in images. Don’t try to squeeze everything you saw at night into a rational framework during the day. When you think about night looks, focus on internal sensations: where during memories you feel warmth, and where cold and discomfort.