How to lucid dream: These simple steps will help you control your dreams while sleeping

With a little discipline an infinite and fanciful world awaits you

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To control a dream is to open up an infinite and malleable world with the opportunity for every experience imaginable, from human flight to sexual odysseys and the commanding of seas.

Most people have lucid dreamed at some point in their life, but it tends to be rare, only last for a few seconds and be marked by the feeling that you are still not completely in control.

'LDing' can be learned and honed however, with whole online communities dedicated to sharing their experiences and trading tips for inducing them.

Methods tend to be divisive, but here's a beginners' guide based on some simple steps World Of Lucid Dreaming and r/LucidDreaming seem to agree on:

Reality Checks

Lucid dreaming is all about proving to your brain that you are dreaming and that the environment you are in is not real.

This can be difficult as dreams simulate all the same sensations we experience in the real world, but there are some ways around it, glitches in the Matrix if you will:

Push your finger through the palm of your hand

LDers claim that 90% of the time your finger will pass straight through your palm, indicating you are dreaming.

To remind yourself of this test in dreamland, it is worth performing reality checks like this from time-to-time (at least 10 times) during your waking day (for instance when walking through a door, so your brain associates doors with the reality check when dreaming).

Other quirks peculiar to dreaming include being able to breathe with your nose and mouth held closed, difficulty reading, telling the time and doing maths and your reflection looking different in mirrors.

Affirmations

To stop your sub-conscious from convincing you a dream is reality, it has been suggested you try saying things like "I will LD tonight!" before falling asleep or practice mindful meditation.

Keep a dream journal

This will help you to remember your dreams more vividly and thus be more aware of them.

Visualise where you want to be

Thoughts, places and people from our days so often pop up in our dreams, albeit usually in surreal ways, so spending a few minutes actively daydreaming about a certain environment and its object smells and sounds creates a chance that you will later find yourself in it once asleep.

Don't get freaked out, the lucid dream may dissolve

Discipline

People have dedicated many years to LDing and written whole books on it, these are only starter tips and the more you learn about it the more frequently you will achieve an LD and be able to control it better.

Don't get overexcited when you realise you're dreaming

Stop. Put down that skyscraper. If you become too excited or anxious or any strong emotion upon realising you are in your very own sandbox it will likely start dissolving and end early.

Rubbing your hands together has been said to help stabilise an LD, as has touching and tasting things, while spinning around is thought to stop an LD from shutting down.

Take a deep breath, remember you are dreaming and that you have an infinite amount of time there. Don't instantly try and teleport to Saturn.