What Are the Secrets to Mastering Lucid Dreaming and Out-of-Body Experiences?

[physicskid]

You might have heard of Lucid dreaming.
It means to stay conscious
when you are dreaming and you can
possess whatever abilities you want in it
or do whatever you desired.

I find it very cool but I'm still
figuring out how to be conscious in my dreams.

Does anyone here have any experience of the
Out-of-Body experience or Lucid Dreaming?

 

[hypnagogue]

I voted yes, but that's a pseudo-yes. I've never had a sustained, truly immersive lucid dream; the few times I have become lucid, the dream faded out in short order.

I spent a good part of the summer a couple of years back working on inducing lucid dreams, and I got the mixed positive results as described above, along with some other very weird and interesting sensations-- one notable time, I managed to remain conscious as I fell asleep, and I had an incredibly powerful buzzing feeling throughout my whole body, as if I were a live wire. I suspect that this was the physical sensation of my body going into sleep paralysis; it felt kind of like pins and needles, although much more intense and with an explosive onset.

Unfortunately, one of the key tactics for inducing lucid dreams involves sleeping normally for 4 or 5 hours, waking yourself up for a brief period of time, and then going back to sleep. Needless to say, this can be pretty disruptive to any attempts at a regular and orderly daily schedule (which I didn't have to worry about that summer, since I was on break from school and had no responsibilities... ah, memories).

For anyone interested in lucid dreaming, an excellent resource is The Lucidity Institute. [zz)]

 

[Raven]

My experience has been similar to that of Hynagogue. I tend to experience lucid dreaming only for a short sustained time, and it usually occurs when my mind is shifting from the uncoscious to the conscious state. So, I usually find myself lucid dreaming right before I'm about to wake up. It happens in this type of order: I am asleep and dreaming, something in my dream doesn't seem right, I realize I'm dreaming and for a short time I am able to make conscious decisions, then I wake up.

My girlfriend on the other hand has and seems to enjoy the lucid dream and OBE sensations which she can sustain for a prolonged time.

I have heard of the technique hynagogue has suggested. One variation is disrupting one's sleep, walking around for a half an hour or so and then rather than going back to sleep, try meditating while lying on your back (don't ask why cause I don't have an explanation, but apparently lying on one's back is necessary to induce lucid dreaming or OBE's). The idea is to try to stay in a relaxed conscious state, but since your body will want to fall asleep, you will end up entering a lucid dream state (conscious mind yet physically unconscious). WARNING this may also induce sleep paralysis, which I for one do not enjoy.