The object is to realize that you are dreaming during your night dreams without waking up.

Tell yourself throughout the day that "this is a dream"--that is that your waking reality is a dream. This practice will help you remember when you are dreaming at night that you are dreaming. Another trick is to bite your hand at various times throughout the day to prove to yourself that you are not night dreaming. Out of habit, you may then remember to bite your hand during your night dream to elicit a lucid dream.

When you remember to do something consciously in your dream you pull your conscious mind into your dream. Tell yourself as you fall asleep that you will remember to look at your hands in your sleep, or that you will remember to carefully examine any objects that you encounter in your dream in detail. If you practice by remembering to examine objects in your dream, look at one object closely for a few seconds and then shift your vision to another. The trick is not to wake up and not to fall into your normal dream state.

A more advanced version of this practice is to tell yourself that you will see an object in your dream that you will see the next day in your waking state. In your dream you will notice the object and examine it in detail. The next day, find the object, hold it to your solar plexus and imagine you are pulling in the power of the object with your breath.

The Mitote is an all night dream work ritual for the purpose of cleaning the mental and emotional bodies of the practicioners and practicing lucid dreaming. Sleep in the same room with several people. Keep candles burning in the center and sleep with your heads towards the center in a circle. Play a tape of soft music that turns every hour or hour 1/2. When the tape turns, get up and walk around the circle twice. Then sleep again, each time attempting to keep your consciousness while you are dreaming. Tell yourself that you will not leave the room that you are actually in while you dream. Attempt to dream of walking to the candle and putting your hand in the flame.