Lucid dreaming is very similar to Astral Projection in that there is not one specific process. What works for me, doesn't necessarily work for you. Basically, Lucid Dreaming is becoming aware that you are in a dream and being able to alter the dreams events/outcomes. It takes a lot to do this successfully, and in most cases its not something that lasts very long. What exactly have you been doing to ''train'' as you say?
One of the more suggested methods to have a lucid dream is to interrupt the sleep. I'd suggest doing this before a day when you don't have much planned. Basically, set an alarm every two hours. It will keep you from reaching the really deep stages of sleep, too deep to dream. It will also have you waking up enough to recall dreams just before the alarm. Additionally, each time, as you progress into exhaustion, you will drift to sleep faster, and possibly wake in a still-hypnapompic state. This also means you will begin dreaming more quickly when you go back to sleep.
I've been a life-long lucid dreamer. Basically, anything that disrupts my sleep pattern causes lucid dreaming for me. It can be something like room that's too bright, sleeping in an unfamiliar place like a hotel room, noise from a radio or television, people having a conversation in audible distance, even emotional factors like work stress or worry about a recent or upcoming event. The list goes on. Basically, anything distracting can lead to lucid dreams for me. This experience sort of lines up with other advice about disrupting sleep patterns. Distracted sleep also keeps me from reaching the deepest stages of sleep, so I stay in a dream state for much longer.
A second common piece of advice is to have in-dream triggers. Some people call it a reality check. Basically, a habit is established in waking life, such as touching every door frame you pass through. In your dream, you may repeat this habitual action, and realize the sensation is not there although you know you touched the door frame (It's just a common example used). This immediately alerts you to knowing you are dreaming. It also shocks you a little closer to awake -- basically the leading hypothesis of what a lucid dream is.
A recent study on sleep stages (I wish I had the link off-hand) found that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the stage in which we dream, is closer to being awake than previously realized. Basically, it's like this: Have you ever drifted off to sleep while basically daydreaming, and you found yourself dreaming about the daydream, but you were not fully asleep yet? It might wake some people up. This is the sort of state that becomes lucid dreaming, except you don't wake up from it.
I mostly tried to remember my dreams by maintaining a dream journal. I made a habit of doing reality checks. But the problem is, it's not working. I can't remember my dreams and sometimes it feels like I don't dreams at all because I cannot even remember bits and pieces of any dream. If I don't dream at all, how will I lucid dream?
Thank you prsona. I will definitely try this, if I can wake up from that alarm. I'm told that even if there was a zombie apocalypse, I wouldn't wake up. But I'm certainly willing to try.
