With lucid dreaming becoming more popular, experienced lucid dreamers are getting out from the underground and speak to there non-practicing mates about abilities to control the dream.

Often, to their surprise, my dreaming mates realise, that their friends, who never thought about lucid dreaming, lucid dream all the time. Or, at least they say so.

I personally met quite a few people who claim to always know they're dreaming. For many, it seems to be the natural ability - they've known they dream since they were kids, and there's nothing magical or surprising to them. Nothing special, at all.

So, what is lucidity all about?

Speaking to these "natural lucid dreamers", i've asked them, what they normally do when they realise they're in a dream. I've heard two answers most often:

"I wake up" (or sometimes, "I get so excited that i wake up");
"I find a hot lady/guy and ..."
Is this lucid? I don't really think so. It has some degree of lucidity, although it's really far from what i'm looking for. In these dreams, people don't have much of control to their dreams - they are like occasional sparks of consciousness - and then they either wake up, or follow the first natural instinct "I'm dreaming and i can do whatever i like".

For me, when i become lucid, the first thing i do is reality check (step 1). The checks i use most often follow:
Look at my hands and try to compare them with the image of my "real" hands;
Jump in attempt to fly;
Look at the watch or switch the lights in the room.
The next thing i'm trying to do - is establish a connection with my memory (step 2). Often in the dream, we can hardly remember anything - even our name, the date we were born, or the names of our closest relatives. If i can do both - the reality check and the memory link - that's a good start.

After i've done the first two steps, i'm trying to get grounded in a dream (step 3). When we're dreaming, our brain works so that the areas responsible for different senses - like sight, hearing, touch, smell - are all disconnected. That's one of the reasons why we have a poor recall of the dreams - it's usually only one or two centres that are involved. The more centres can be utilised in the dream, the better the subsequent recall and control will be. And, it is exciting in its own sense - you know that you're dreaming, and now, when you're exploring this dream-world, it looks, feels, smells, sounds and tastes like the real one. Absolutely and astonishingly same! So, i walk around in the dream, try to memorise the layout of the place i am, try to feel the ground under my feet, touch the walls with my palms and appreciate the texture, smell whatever there is, and taste it - even if it looks rubbish, it still helps. It also helps to take something in your mouth and constantly chew it - say, take a small stone from the ground, or a chewing gum, if found.

Now, we're ready to do some real lucid dreaming!

Back to the question about natural lucid dreamers... Well, yes, it is a lucid dream, scored 1 out of 10. Or out of 100, i haven't made up a scale yet.

And, if you are a natural lucid dreamer - challenge yourself, and try to complete the three steps i've explained above. Tell me how it's going.