Lucid dreaming is exciting and offers many wonderful benefits not the least of which is fantasy fulfillment. But if you go online you will hear people talking about spending time testing different induction techniques and different training courses. So, you may wonder if spending time testing is really necessary. Can you lucid on the first try?
As a general rule most people will not lucid dream on the first try. Although a very small percentage of people can do it on the first try, most will take 30 days to experience their first lucid dream. After this it can take several more weeks, to learn how to consistently induce lucid dreams and, to complete training so you can fully control them.
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Why lucid dreaming induction techniques take time to work
There are multiple different lucid dreaming induction techniques (here are the top 5).
These techniques have been designed to work for different types of people with different needs and different sleep routines.
Not every technique will work for every person or even be suitable.
In order to find the induction technique that works for you, you must be willing to try out all of them until you land on one that works for you and that suits your personal sleep routine.
Obviously this can be time-consuming but it also makes the probability of you landing on the correct technique for you on your first-try fairly low.
What’s more, even if you do find the right technique straight away, without having to try any others, it is still unlikely that it will work to create a lucid dream on your first attempt.
Let me explain.
Can a lucid dreaming induction technique work first time?
A lucid dreaming induction technique can work for you first time but it is very unlikely. Most people need to spend at least 7 consecutive days testing a technique before they can say that it doesn’t work for them.
At any point during those 7 days you could experience a lucid dream.
Lucid dreaming is a skill and like all skills you can’t expect to be great at it on the first try, unless you are a complete natural.
So, it is necessary to try each lucid dreaming induction technique until you find the one that works for you. This usually takes about 30 days.
But there is still more for you to do to become a lucid dreamer who can control their dreams. And that takes additional time.
The truth about lucid dreaming
As I am sure you are already aware, lucid dreaming is the phenomenon of becoming conscious and aware while dreaming.
When we “wake up” inside a dream we are said to be lucid or experiencing dream lucidity. But there is more to the common interpretation of the term lucid dreaming than that.
When we become lucid in a dream we interact with the dream in the same way that we interact with our everyday world.
Most lucid dreams feel incredibly real which is what makes them so exciting.
In a lucid dream you wake up in a dream that feels just as real as real life and you can interact with everything in the dream in the same way you do in the real world while you are wake.
However, you need to be aware that not all lucid dreams are the same.
I have stated before on this website that there are two different types of lucid dream.
- The controlled lucid dream.
- The uncontrolled lucid dream.
Controlled lucid dreams
Controlled lucid dreams are the type of lucid dream that everyone wants to have.
These are the dreams in which you can fly, meet celebrities, visit exotic locations and even improve your real-world skills.
In a controlled lucid dream you can do anything you want!
Unfortunately, these are not the most common type of lucid dreams (for reason I will give below along with the cure).
Uncontrolled lucid dreams
Uncontrolled lucid dreams are much more common than controlled lucid dreams.
In fact, a whopping 55% of the population will experience this type of lucid dream at some stage during their life.
Uncontrolled lucid dreams are interesting but they are not much fun.
You see in an uncontrolled lucid dream you can only control your own actions and have zero control over the dreamworld, except for how you interact with it.
You can move about, talk to dream characters and generally do the same things that you can do in the real world but that is the height of it.
I’ve spoken before about one of my earliest lucid dreams where I found myself in a locked room.
Because I didn’t have a key and there was no-one to let me out I was stuck in the room for the duration of the dream.
Needless to say, this got boring very quickly.
I may have been lucid and fully aware but, because I was untrained in dream-control techniques at the time, I couldn’t get out of the room.
I was in an uncontrolled lucid dream.
Extra time is needed to learn lucid dreaming dream-control
The reason why so many people have uncontrolled lucid dreams rather than controlled ones is because they are not trained in dream-control techniques.
When you have learned to become lucid in a dream you have only acquired half the skill of lucid dreaming.
Now, becoming adept at inducing lucid dreams may well be the hardest part of learning to control your dreams but it is only one part of the process.
You must also learn how to control your lucid dream once you’ve become conscious in it or you will simply find yourself stuck in uncontrolled lucid dreams.
You must be prepared to spend time learning these skills.
So even if you find that you lucid dream on the first try it is unlikely that you will experience the type of controlled lucid dreaming that you desire.
Even if you lucid dream on the first try, you still need to dedicate time to learning dream-control techniques to you can control your lucid dream.
This is why I always advise would-be lucid dreamers to invest the small amount of money required to get proper training.
There are lots of different trainings available, and even free training online, that can help you learn to induce lucid dreams. Some of them are even very good.
But there is very little training on dream-control and this is why so many people who use a trial-and-error approach for learning lucid dreaming end up just having uncontrolled lucid dreams.
It is much better to use a good course that teaches you both induction techniques and dream-control techniques.
A course like this one, does that plus it gives you access to an online community of lucid dreamers who regularly help each other and who share advanced techniques and new insights into lucid dreaming daily.
Summary
So, to sum up.
Although it takes the average person 30 days to have their first lucid dream, it is possible to lucid dream on the first try. It is just unlikely.
It is extremely likely though, and probable, that even if you are lucky enough to lucid dream on your first try, you will experience an uncontrolled lucid dream where you can’t do any of the fun stuff associated with lucid dreaming.
You need to dedicate a few weeks to learning how to deliberately and systematically induce lucid dreams on demand.
You also need several weeks to properly learn and test out dream-control techniques if you want to get the most benefits from lucid dreaming.
This is why I strongly advise anyone who wants to learn this life-changing and exciting night skill to invest the small amount needed to get professional training that is guaranteed to work.