Hello everyone, after reading this thread I assure you that will gain insightful information towards your path to lucid dreaming, both scientifically and from my own personal experience.
Here are just a few of the benefits you'll get: Dream recall will improve; dreams will become more vivid. Falling asleep will become easier; helps with insomnia. Lucid Living will come easily and naturally WILD will become easier. Overall amount of LD's will greatly increase. Results in feeling healthier and revived during the day.
Let me begin by saying that when I had my first lucid dream couple of months of ago I had never knew such a thing existed. The reason (which now I am sure of) that I started having lucid dreams is because I was regularly meditating. Now I will start explaining what this does and I’ll include the science later.
As we all know, in order to become lucid you have to become conscious during your dream. As little as 15 minutes a day of meditation can help naturally raise your awareness. In other words you will naturally start becoming self-aware. After a while you will start to naturally become aware in your dreams that you are dreaming without any reality checks and then because of that become lucid. This is how I started experiencing lucid dreaming. I started becoming naturally aware in my dreams that I am dreaming and then suddenly with no effort I become conscious and therefore it is now a lucid dream.
And it makes perfect sense doesn't it? Meditation helps you become more self-aware and raises your awareness level and therefore in the dream you are also more self-aware.
Why does this happen? When you meditate, you focus on your pineal gland (spiritual people call it the third eye because it physically looks like a little eye in your brain.) The pineal gland is located around the middle of the forehead, slightly above the junction of the eyebrows. That is where you want to focus your attention when you meditate. So what does the pineal gland do? It produces an important hormone called melatonin. Melatonin affects the quality of dreams. High levels of melatonin lead to vivid dreams and high quality sleep. The more vivid the dream, the easier it is to obtain lucidity. As children we have high levels of melatonin hormone, however as we grow up our pineal gland does not produce as much. Meditation helps you become more aware and helps you produce more melatonin.
Progress and Results: After regular practice of meditation of at least 15 minutes a day (the more the better) in 2-4 weeks you will notice that your normal dreams are becoming more and more vivid. You will notice that you are becoming more self-aware (both in dreams and real life). So what should you do? Keep doing all the practices you are currently doing to achieve LD and add this essential practice to your list, I assure you it will help you get to your goal of lucid dreaming much faster and you will start having lucid dreams more frequently.
How To Meditate Properly:1. Position: Honestly you can meditate in any position you want, but the best one (in my opinion) is the "classic" meditation position) where you sit straight up with legs crossed (you can put something behind your back to lean on).
2. What To Do: Simply close your eyes and focus in the center of the "darkness" that you see. The goal is to be able to focus without letting any thoughts enter your mind (you WILL find this very difficult at first) but with practice it will become easier and easier so do not get discouraged) I personally repeat a manta because it helps one focus more and it helps block the thoughts, it doesn't matter what the mantra is as long as it is not distracting.
3. The Goal: to enter a meditative state where no thoughts are entering your mind (you WILL know when you get there) you will start feeling very peaceful and relaxed and you will get tingling sensations all over your body. You might start seeing colors and patterns, don't let them distract you, just let them pass by and enjoy them. Sometimes you will feel like there's an energy entering your back ( I personally experience that many times and spiritual people believe that this is cosmic energy entering your body which is very good for your mental and physical health)
All In One: Basically what you are doing is quieting your outer senses and turning your attention inwards. This is what meditation actually is. Sitting down and closing your eyes and letting your thoughts do the rest is NOT meditation. You will not achieve self awareness unless you are able to block your thoughts and be able to focus your attention inwards. This basically (with practice) gives your conscious superiority over your mind (thoughts and other things that you do not consciously control) which is very essential in lucid dreaming.
For more information on what happens to your body when you meditate (in a spiritual perspective) this video is very insightful:
Spiritual Reality Power Of Meditation - YouTubeI just wanted to share my knowledge and experience with everyone else to help them attain lucid dreams easily and more frequently.
P.S.
Meditation has more benefits than meets the eyes. Here are some more benefits that you should be aware of: (all scientifically tested) Better focus, less anxiety, more creativity, more compassion, better memory, less stress, and more gray matter (which means more positive emotions, longer-lasting emotional stability, and heightened focus during daily life) AND MUCH MORE (See last source below)
The Science Behind My Claims: “The scientific connection between melatonin and meditation was first explored in 1995 by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center's Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program. Since melatonin is produced mainly at night, overnight urine samples were collected and tested for 6-sulphatoxymelatonin, a melatonin breakdown product thought to be an accurate reflection of blood melatonin levels. Researchers found that women who meditated had significantly higher levels compared with women who did not. Another study found that meditation before bedtime increased melatonin levels for that night. No increases in blood melatonin levels were noted on nights where participants didn't meditate. This suggests that regular practice of meditation is necessary.”
Sources:
Benson H. The Relaxation Response. Mind/Body Medicine, eds. Goleman D, Gurin J. New York 1993. Consumer Reports Books, 233-257.
Domar AD, Dreher H. Healing Mind, Healthy Woman. New York 1996. Henry Holt and Company, 55-65.
Kabat-Zinn J. Mindfulness Meditation:Health benefits of an ancient Buddhist practice. Mind/Body Medicine, eds. Goleman D, Gurin J. New York 1993. Consumer Reports Books, 259-275.
Leskowitz E, Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Yoga Paradigm: A reconsideration of the role of the pineal gland. Medical Hypotheses 33;1990;155-158.
Massion AO, Teas J, Hebert JR, Wertheimer MD, Kabat-Zinn J. Meditation, melatonin and breast/prostate cancer: Hypothesis and Preliminary Data. Medical Hypotheses 44 (1995) 39-46
Tooley GA, Armstrong SM, Norman TR, Sali A. Acute increases in night-time plasma melatonin levels following a period of meditation. Biological Psychology 53 (2000) 69-78.
Meditation Science: (has links to scientific studies about meditation)
20 Scientific Reasons to Start Meditating Today | Psychology TodayIF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MELATONIN AND ITS EFFECT ON SLEEP AND LUCID DREAMING READ THIS:
Lucid Dreaming - 7 Tricks You Didn't Know! 
