Is there a good way to train yourself to know when you are dreaming?

Question

Only a couple times in my life I have been conscious that I was dreaming while I was dreaming. Why does this happen, and are there any techniques to increase the likelihood of this happening?

Answer 1

There is a term "lucid dreaming" - I bet if you google it, you will get some ideas.

I've been told to get in the habit of tapping a rhythm on a table with my fingers. Make it somewhat complicated, but not too much, maybe three bars long. Apparently this is nearly impossible to do when you're in a dream. So if you can't do it for some inexplicable reason, you're dreaming.

This is what a guy told me who grew up in a Native American culture. He said it was a big part of the culture to learn about dreams. When he was a little kid he'd jump up, over and over, to see if he could fly... when he was dreaming, it worked.

Answer 2

An ancient way is to try to find the back of your hands in your dreams, so you can then use them and know you are dreaming. These days I suggest that frequent texting on a cellular mobile phone during waking hours could help, particularly if you say to yourself aloud three times before turning off the lights "tonight I am going to text in my dreams!" Because you cannot understand text when dreaming, you are more likely to think that you must be dreaming. Try: http://www.lucidity.com/

Answer 3

There is a good way. Check out the video "Waking Life."

If your'e in a dream and there's a clock, you won't be able to read it! Always check out the clocks. And if you are in a dream, light switches don't work the same way.

Answer 4

The closest I've heard about something like that would be in reading some Buddhist texts. Students of Buddhism can actually train themselves to turn the bad things that they see when they die into good things. This is good reading--and I am not a Buddhist.