Whenever you wake (morning or night) lie still and take a few minutes to remember if you were dreaming. Sometimes you may remember nothing at first, then a vague recollection returns.

Once you remember part of the dream think about what came before or after. Keep going until you have remembered as much as you can. Run through the sequence of events to help you recall it later.

This process commits your dream to your long term memory. Do it every time you wake and you will start to recall more dreams.

Some lucid dreamers choose to document their dreams in a dream journal. This encourages you go through the process described above and gives you a permanent record.

We all lead busy lives with our attention fully absorbed by work, movies, socialising. We're rarely aware of what is going on around us, so it's no surprise that lack of awareness carries through to our dreams.

Performing meditation daily will raise your awareness and brings many other benefits too.

Try our crash course in meditation and our Kiplar meditation practise.

You use reality-checks to prove that you're dreaming. Perform them regularly while you're awake to raise your awareness and to make it a habit.

If you perform a reality-check in a dream you will have a lucid dream.

Read how to perform reality-checks

Our first cycle includes more deep sleep and less REM sleep. Our final cycle includes less deep sleep and more REM sleep. It makes sense to attempt a lucid dream on your last REM cycle.

The trick is to wake up before your last sleep cycle and prepare for your lucid dream.

Try to drink enough water before bedtime to make you wake during the early morning to relieve yourself. You will naturally wake after a REM sleep cycle so you will have a chance to recall your last dream. It takes practise to learn how much to drink and by what time.

Alternatively you could set your alarm for a couple of hours before it's time to get up. Don't use this approach every night. You will loose quality sleep if your alarm wakes you during deep sleep.

After you wake, spend 10 to 30 minutes thinking or reading about lucid dreaming. Plan what you will do in your lucid dream. Optionally, use the technique in the following section to set your intention as you fall back to sleep.

Go to bed and wait until you start to fall asleep

Repeat a phrase in your mind, "I will recognise that I'm dreaming" or whatever words you choose

Imagine that you are in a dream

Imagine noticing something strange and doing a reality-check

Imagine performing the activities you plan to do in your lucid dream

If you don't fall to sleep shortly after setting your intention, complete the process again.

In order for the suggestion to work it needs to feel important. In the example of remembering your passport, there's something at stake. Try to attach an emotional connection to your suggestion.

Feel confident, believe the outcome is inevitable.