Sometimes, when we are dreaming, we suddenly realize that we are. When this happens we become fully awake within our dream. Sometimes it can be as simple as taking control of a situation within the dream and making it play out the way we want. Other times the entire dream world can completely transform around us and mold itself into whatever we imagine. This is called lucid dreaming and it is something that everyone experiences in varying degrees from time to time.

Lucid dreaming is something that occurs naturally while we are dreaming that causes us to become completely self aware and in control of things within the dream world. It usually happens at random and only lasts for a very brief period of time. It is usually quite an enjoyable experience for most people and they find that they can do extraordinary things like fly and move objects with their mind.

To most people lucid dreams may seem like a rare commodity, but what few people realize is that lucid dreaming can be done at will. Not only can we lucid dream at will, but with practice we can schedule specific lucid dreams upon going to bed. By practicing lucid dreaming on a regular basis, you can actually lengthen the amount of time that you spend in the lucid dream state. It is similar to exercising a muscle. Your ability to lucid dream strengthens over time with practice.

Research has shown that people can actually practice things like musical instruments while they are in the lucid state and their performance will actually improve. The same thing has been shown for people who "study" for tests while lucid dreaming.

There are many different ways to induce lucid dreams. One method involves holding a single thought of what you want to dream about as you are falling asleep. This method takes lots of will power and practice to achieve. If you are a heavy sleeper or you fall asleep fast, you may want to go to bed early and set an alarm to wake you up at some point in the early hours of the morning. Around two or three AM is a good quiet time. When you wake up do not allow yourself to fall back to sleep. If you have to, get up and move around. You need to keep yourself awake for about thirty minutes to an hour. When you return to bed hold the image or idea of what you want to dream about strongly in your mind as you are falling asleep. If you are serious enough about it, after a while of practicing this technique, you will succeed, and once you do it will become much easier over time.

Another technique for lucid dreaming involves deciding upon a trigger image. You will need to think of something odd or out of place that will cause you to realize that you are dreaming. For some reason this has always been a turtle for me. Sometimes I will be dreaming and suddenly I will notice a turtle crawling across the floor of wherever I am in the dream and I will realize that I am dreaming and become lucid. I didn't have to consciously decide on a lucid dream trigger, my brain chose one for me. It doesn't matter what the trigger you choose is as long as it is something that you think may seem out of place in your dreams. Then, when you are dreaming and see the object or animal in question you will probably become lucid. Don't give up if it doesn't work the first couple of times. Sometimes it takes time for it to become a learned response.

There are plenty of other lucid dreaming techniques for you to learn about and try. There many excellent lucid dreaming resources available on the internet. There are also some extremely good books on the subject. If you are seriously interested in lucid dreaming then you should definitely check them out.