The Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams or MILD as it’s known for short, is the first technique for inducing lucid dreams that many people discover.
The technique was originally created by Dr Stephen LaBerge in the 1970s and has gone on to be one of the most popular induction techniques, having been successfully used by thousands of people to induce their first lucid experience.
One of the reasons for the techniques popularity is it has a relatively high success rate and is very easy to learn, making it the perfect technique for a beginner.
What is a Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream?
To start a mnemonic is simply the name for any technique which helps you to remember something better. While you are awake you have no problem remembering that you want to have a lucid dream, but for most of us, as soon as we fall asleep that thought gets forgotten until the following morning. This is because the desire to have a lucid dream is an idea that’s held in our conscious mind, and when we go to sleep the conscious mind gets turned off for the night.
The MILD technique tackles this issue head on; it helps your mind to remember that you want to have a lucid dream at a deeper level. Essentially you will use a particular phrase or mantra to implant the idea of having a lucid dream into your subconscious, and because it is your subconscious which is in control when you are dreaming this thought won’t get forgotten so easily.
How to have a Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream
There are a lot of variations of the MILD technique, and despite best intentions people can overcomplicate it by adding extra steps to the method. While there are some things you can do to increase the effectiveness of the technique, it always helps to get the basic idea right first.
The first thing you need to do is pick the phrase you are going to use to implant the idea of having a lucid dream into your subconscious. Since a lucid dream is just a regular dream in which you realise you are dreaming, it is this ‘realisation’ that you want to target. Make your phrase simple, straightforward and to the point. Some good examples are:
- The next time I’m dreaming I will realise I’m dreaming
- I will realise when I am dreaming
- When I am dreaming I remember that I am dreaming
Feel free to use one of these or make up your own, but once you’ve picked one try to stick with it. Every time you repeat the same phrase you reinforce the idea, and it becomes more strongly imbedded in your subconscious.
When you get into bed, take a few moments to relax and then begin to repeat your phrase over and over in your mind. The more intent and feeling you can put into it the more effective it will be. Continue to repeat the phrase over and over as you drift off to sleep. The idea is that this should be the very last thought going through your mind before you fall asleep.
Whenever you wake up during the night to record your dreams (see Principles of Lucid Dreaming) you should go through the same process again as you fall back asleep. In fact the technique becomes more and more effective the further through the night you go. This is due to both the reinforcement effect of repeatedly setting your intention to have a lucid dream, and the natural lengthening of the dreaming phase of your sleep cycle the longer that you are asleep.