First of all while I debated for a short while about the relevance of this topic to the forum I remembered one fact. Lucid dreaming(in my opinion) is just another form of hacking. Now I'm sure many would disagree. For those people I might recommend looking at this thread
http://evilzone.org/general-discussion/odd-set-of-skills/.
In reality your brain is really just a very complex computer and dreaming is just another function of that computer so if your definition of hacking is limited to computers then I think this still applies to you.
Now for those who don't know:
Lucid dreaming is a phenomenon when in a state of dreaming you become aware(lucid) and realize that you are actually in a dream. There are a couple of key benefits to this. First of all its fun as fuck. Second, and this is really the more important part, you can improve many aspects of your brain by doing this regularly if you become good at it. Also you can give you great insight into your own life and mind....a bit like hacking into a program and modifying it.
When you begin lucid dreaming you will notice that not only are you aware that you are in a dream, you can also control your dream world. More common things like flying are possible. But there are many other things. For example in one particular dream of mine while experimenting I set things on fire, lifted objects by pointing at them and controlled where they would go, changed day into night....and so on. While fun, these things may seem unimportant which, they kind of are but there are other things that you can do that can have real benefits. One thing about lucid dreaming is that when it happens your dream world becomes much more vivid to the point of even having peripheral vision. With the ability to chose where you go in your dream(which never ceases to amaze me)you can go to faraway points in your dream. You can even summon people from your real life and have real conversations with them!
Keep in mind this does take energy and sometimes you will find that you are exerting actual physical effort in your dreams.
The techniques:
Most people go their entire lives without ever experiencing this phenomenon or even knowing that it exists. However there are things you can do in your day to day life that can help you (set up)your dreaming experience.
First, make a habit to look at your hands intermittently throughout the day. Be sure to count your fingers. This is the technique I prefer to use.
If you choose you can look at a clock(must be digital)throughout the day and make a conscious effort to study the time. When you see a digital clock in your dream you will not see numbers you will see unreadable lines as though the clock has malfunctioned. Likewise, if you look at your hands your fingers will appear meshed, and will morph together as you scan over them as though you are looking at them one or two at a time through a magnifying glass.
The reason for doing this is that after long enough if you make this a habit in your daily life you will find that you will dream about doing these activities just like you dream about other things that happen in your daily life. The act of seeing your hands or a clock coupled with the fact that they will not appear normal in your dream, is often a great way to "snap you out of" your mundane dreaming and will trigger lucidity.
Another useful technique is to ask yourself "am I dreaming?" throughout the day. Be sincere. Try to get into the mindset that many people theorize...that we are all in a dream, that the real world is an illusion.
Yet another is to, as you are laying in bed feeling that warm wave of sleep start to drift over you, try to keep in mind of your intent to lucid dream. It has been known for some people to fall asleep and go immediately into the realm of lucid dreaming.
Things to keep in mind:
Often times the activities you may choose to do become harder the more you lucid dream. This is a challenge you must overcome if you want to achieve even greater control over your dreams, your life, and the computer which is your brain.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
Also, when you begin to lose control of a nights dreaming experience(inevitable as we all must wake up eventually) you will get the sensation that you will be leaving soon. Familiarize yourself with this feeling. Sometimes you will lose control of your dream before you are ready to wake up. You must be able to recognize that feeling if you want to "override" waking up. These are some techniques you can use when you feel about to wake up.
One such technique is to scream at the top of your lungs. I suppose you can scream whatever you want however its best to scream something related to lucid dreaming like "Lucid dream longer!!"For some reason this can extend your lucid dream for at least a little while longer. Its a way to force the dream to come back.
You can also try to run as fast as you can in your dream. Anything that requires you to exert alot of force quickly seems to do this.
There are many more aspects of lucid dreaming that I have not covered as it is probably impossible to cover them all. Lucid dreaming is fun to some, to others its entering a whole new world with endless possibilities. As I've said before with the right intent you can gain great insight into your own life and this world.
Happy dreaming
