How to Control Dreams to Stop Nightmares

If you are in a situation, where you would consider learning how to control dreams in order to stop recurring nightmares, do a little bit of inner work first and try to understand, why they occur (an unpleasant emotional experience, a stressful exam etc.).

In ideal world, when we recognize a problem and work on it, the long lasting recurring bad dream stops. Now, obviously, it’s not always that easy, right? In cases where conventional therapy and self-analysis don’t seem to work, you might want to get help in your dream world.

The following steps are part of dream control/ lucid dreaming techniques. If you consciously acknowledge that you are in fact dreaming, it is much easier to deal with a stressful situation and realize, that nothing can harm you (no matter how stressful your experience is).

Steps

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   Learn to meditate first. This might sound awkward and looking like a detour but the idea is to increase your awareness during the day so that you're much more likely to recognize a nightmare when it’s coming.
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   Wake yourself up by shouting out loud "WAKE UP!" and blink hard, while imagining yourself lying in bed. Although you're not going to solve your nightmares for goods, this can quickly end a terrifying dream.
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   When you find some determination to actually stay in a dream rather than escaping it, you can move on to the dream spinning technique (spinning on the spot like a child). Although sounds silly, this is a very reliable technique to change surroundings. In fact, if you focus on changing the setting into something else while spinning, most likely you’ll find out that the setting has changed into your desired surroundings after you stopped spinning. Another good way to change the setting (and "escape" from the nightmare) is using dream doors or portals - you just open a dream door and step through it, imagining first where would you like to be teleported.
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   The last step and the most important part in fighting nightmares is facing your fear. It is the only real element of your bad dream; all the rest (like danger, monsters etc.) are not. You can do it by challenging the threat (“come and get me”). Bad guys often transform into harmless creatures when courageously confronted in lucid dreams. Come to your demon and ask what he wants. In case of recurring nightmares, you will very likely put an end to your suffering. 
    
   Source : wikihow.com

Dreams, How to Control, Stop Nightmares