Inception: Here are 4 lucid dreaming apps to help you control your dreams
Awoken
Price: free (IAPs)
Download for Android
One of the most popular lucid dream assistants — Awoken — is an Android exclusive, and a pretty good choice for beginners. It employs the tried-and-tested classic techniques. During the day, Awoken will send you random notifications to do a "reality check" – ask yourself whether you are dreaming or not. This conditions the mind to ask this question on demand. Then, at night, the app will play the so-called "totem sound", which, with enough training, should trigger a reality check and bring about a lucid experience. Awoken will also remind you to write down your dream as soon as you wake up – keeping a dream journal is important, as it helps you remember your dreams. And remembering your dreams will help you identify the odd occurrences in them, which will in turn trigger a natural reality check within your next dreams.
Lucid Dreamer
Lucid Dreamer also has the sleep journal and reality check training, but it delves a bit deeper with a few other, more experimental modes. For example, it has a Paralyzer, which helps you enter the so-called sleep paralysis – the state when your body is asleep, but your mind is still somewhat awake. Tread carefully with this one, as it may cause some nasty hallucinations – do read up on sleep paralysis if you are not acquainted with the phenomenon. The app can also help you to adjust your sleep cycles to a schedule which better suits your body, as well as do exercises to shape your dreams before you go to sleep.
10 Steps to Lucid Dreams
Price: free
Download for Android
Training to get into the lucid dream state broken down into 10 steps. This app is a great guide for beginners and advanced alike, as it will teach you about lucidity, how to achieve it on a constant basis, how to enhance it and retain it for longer periods. Worth a read-through even if you are not into the idea of trying it, but are curious to find out more, just for the sake of knowing.
DreamZ
Price: $2.99
Download for iOS
DreamZ uses a combination of sleep tracking and trigger sounds. It's a very basic take on lucid dream induction, as it relies on your mind's auto-learning capacity and doesn't take you through reality check training phases. Basically, the app will detect when you are in REM (the sleep stage in which dreams occur) and play a specific trigger sound. After a few nights, your brain should begin to get the message "Wait a second – this sound means that I am currently dreaming!", which should, in turn, increase the chances of you realizing that you are in a dream and gaining lucidity.
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