# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Induction Techniques >  >  Sink Under Bed Technique (SUB)

## bengron

I thought of this technique because I remeber as a child thinking that there were monsters under my bed, but today I realize it was just dreaming, or partially dreaming.

This technique involves altering what you believe is actually happening around you. This is how it works:

1. *Attain deep relaxation* or sleep paralysis if possible. I find that the easiest way to do this is reverse blinking where you quickly open your eyes for a moment, focus on something, and then close them. Open your eyes about every five seconds while breathing normally. Do this until you are just too lazy to open them. Follow this up with deep breathing. As you breathe deeply imagine all stress and tansion flowing out of your body and focus on your legs, torso, arms, and then head getting very heavy. 

2. *Imagine something is actually under your bed.* As you are deeply relaxed, imagine a scene under your bed that does not actually exist. When your eyes are closed you imagine the bedroom around you with surprising acuracy. You do not need to look to see your closet, you just know that it is there and you remember what it looks like. Imagine a simple object or scene that is taking place below your bed. I usually imagine a trap door beneath my bed that is open and underneath it is a paradise of tall green grass and trees. Do not forget details like what it sounds like, what it smells like, the temperature, is it windy? etc. The key step here is to believe that it exists. 

3. *Imagine yourself sinking into your bed and then under your bed.* The hardest part of this tecnique is imagining that you are sinking under your bed. To do this you must feel your body getting very very heavy. Your body is getting so heavy that you are weighing down heavily on your matress. There is a big dent in your bed where you are. As you become heavier the bed cannot give any further and you float through the thin layer of matress left and you are under your bed. 

4.* Examine your environment.*  Look around you. The environment will be hazy and unclear at first, but stay with it. I sleep on my stomach, so I see my environment from a birds eye view, but if you sleep on your back you may see the bottom of your bed. Gently float down and stand in your environment. To make it clearer, slowly turn around in place and examine your environment as a panorama. Remember where thing are like you would with your eyes closed in your bedroom. You are now dreaming. Do a reality check. I suggest staying in one place until the environment becomes more solid. Continue to observe, and it will become more clear. Physically holding on to something will also solidify things. 

This tecnique has advantages because you can obtain a WILD from any sleeping position. Because of this it has been the most effective method for me so far. It may be better to imagine something else in your room for example your closet being a gateway to Narnia, or your ceiling having a door into outerspace. Really any way to incorporate the dreamworld into the physical world will work. When I am abruptly woken up, I often experience partial dreaming where I am still trying to do some of the things in my dream in waking life for a second. This is the gateway between the dreamworld and the waking world. This method is going into the dreamworld through that gateway. 

Good Luck.

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## SKA

Interresting. I should give this a try for sure.

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## Majinaki

Oh my, the factor of "Sinking" into/under your bed sounds like it will work phenominally, based upon my own experiances of feeling like im sinking into my bed as a general indication of a relaxed/near sleep state.

I'm going to try this one tonight, what is your personal success rate for
1. dream clarity/vivid/etc/etc
2. Induction of a lucid dream

Great!. Idea

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## bengron

I thought of this after having almost no success with the other WILD techniques. 

So far, I have had maderate success every time I tried it. The first time, I was in a playground from my childhood. I definately was aware of what was around me, and I saw a tire swing moving back and forth, but the overall clarity just wasnt there. I stayed in that spot for a while, and whenever I lost lucidity, It would go totally clear. 

The second time, I went through the trapdoor into the paradise with a field full of tall grass, yellow flowers, and trees. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/o...l/10119696.jpg I lay in the grass for a while with my girlfriend. It wasnt completely vivid, but was still amazing.

Last night I did it again, and went to my uncles back yard. At first it was hazy, but then when I examined my surroundings like where each tree was, and that there was a table with three chairs around it and a patio with a crack down the middle, it became a LOT more clear. I unintentionally looked at my watch, (I dont actually have a watch) and it said 4:17. I thought if I were in school I would just be getting home now. I lost lucidity.

Basically this method has definatally gotten me into the dreamworld the three times I have tried it, but my problems now are clarity, and maintaining lucidity which I cant seem to have together. Otherwise it works.

edit: I removed your image tags, the pic was just way too big -nina

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## SonatArctica

this is something i did a few years ago when i started with LD.
nevertheless i changed the method after sometime of trying because my mind told me if i wanted to fly i had to go trough the top although SUB seemed a lot easier for me. after a while i forgot it...now it´s here again  :smiley: 

your method has another advantage:
thinking of an other world under your bed influences your subconsciousness, so WILDing becomes easier after some time of practise IMO.

thanks for your input...i´m gonna try this (again) in some minutes.

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## The Dreaming Zombie

I'll definitely give this a shot since (like a previous member posted in here) I get a falling sensation when I shift into SP. So I could use this to my advantage to imagine than I am falling through my bed to a "gateway".

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## bengron

Ive been practicing this technique every night and I have some refinements.

I have imagined a trapdoor under my bed leading into the dreamworld, but lately I have been having more success with forgetting that the room around me is even there, and imagining that my bed is sort of flying through the sky of the dreamworld. I imagine the dreamworld with a birdseye view and then do the SUB. 

Also, It has been easier to do the SUB in my experience when I imagine myself getting very heavy and I imagine the bed bending in the middle to make a sort of hammock. It helps to imagine the bed as elastic and very stretchy. The farther I can stretch the bed down with my weight, the better. When I go through the bed I imagine it springing back to where it was while I am under it in the dream world

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## Toastypleez

I'm going to try this, but instead of falling through my bed I'm going to try rolling off it into a trapdoor because I always get that sensation when I'm falling asleep

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## Majinaki

Failed.

i going to attempt to vairiant it off too; myself pretending that my bed is a portal slowly absorbing me into the dreamworld

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## Toastypleez

> I'm going to try this, but instead of falling through my bed I'm going to try rolling off it into a trapdoor because I always get that sensation when I'm falling asleep




Ugh. It failed, but it's probably because I tried to WILD too, and I got too freaked out and so I just fell asleep normally

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## Xyrin

I am going to try this tonight.

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## Mancon

> I am going to try this tonight.



Same here!

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## Xyrin

It didn't work... While trying to get SP I fell asleep... I think it was a WILD! Because I still had a Lucid! I FLEW!

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## bengron

So, which part of it didnt work?

was anyone able to feel the sensation of sinking under your bed?

This is definately difficult to do, but from personal experience It always works to some degree if I manage to sink under my bed. 

Ill try explaining in more detail how I do this to see if it helps.

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## bengron

There are a few main problems that I encounted when attempting a SUB. 

1. I cannot attain deep enough relaxation.

Some nights I am just to energetic, stressed, or anxious to attain deep relaxation. At theses times there is really nothing I can do to become relaxed because by trying too hard to become relaxed, it is impossible. 

A good way to practice relaxation is with this guided meditation. Get some headphones, lie down on your back and listen to this everyday for a while. This has HUGELY improved my ability to relax deeply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLEweEr-Ow0

I have memorized the guided steps in this video and use them when attempting a SUB. They work very well for me. It may be good practice to attempt a SUB while deeply relaxed using this video.

As a side note, if you cannot feel a piece of your body that part is completely relaxed. It is good to try to get most of your body to this state.

2. I cannot sink under my bed. 

This is the most difficult step. It requires you to believe that something is happening which you know logically is not. It is much easier to do when your mind is in a dream state, and your subconcious is able to create false realities around you. 

Do not expect it to work as soon as you are relaxed. It takes time to work. If I am attempting a WILD SUB, I need at least 15 to 20 minutes of staying deeply relaxed before I attempt it.

It is important to imagine sinking under your bed. I dont want to overcomplicate things and have you trying to remember a series of steps while trying to do this, but this is what I do:

After becoming deeply relaxed for a while, I imagine all tension flowing upwards out of my body as I sink downwards. Dont even think about your surroundings at this point, just imagine you are accelerating downwards. Imagine that the tension is lightwieght, and as it leaves you, you become enormously heavy. So heavy that you cannot move a muscle because you are pinned to your bed. Imagine this for at least five minutes.

Imagine that your bed is extremely elastic. 

Imagine that you sink into your bed deeply like you would sink into a hammock. When you really sink into a hammock, the left and right sides of the hammock make walls on either side of you. When I do a SUB, I imagine that I sink into my bed in the same manner, except the walls are about 4 feet high. I REALLY sink DEEP into my bed. Before I sink through my bed, I am actually below the floor level of my bedroom. 

Sometimes it helps to imagine bending just my knees or just my waist before I sink underneath my bed. This is much easier than trying to dive in all at once. It helps to stick my feet in the dreamworld first. If I am lying on my back, it feels like I am still lying on my bed, except its like I am dangling my feet of the edge of the bed. It also helps to let your legs dangle and swing them back and forth. I have actually slid through this hole that my legs were sticking through into the dreamworld once. Another technique is to imagine sticking your arms through the matress, and to push your torso through the matress almost like youre doing a pushup. 

Overall, it is much easier to do a SUB combined with a WBTB or especially a DEILD. It is amazing combining a SUB with a DEILD, but then again a DEILD works amazingly well on its own. 

3. I cannot maintain lucidity. 

I dont want to give advice here because this is the area I struggle with most. All of my succesful SUBs and all of my lucid dreams for that matter have ended with losing lucidity. 

It has helped me to use the mantra "This reality is a dream" while attempting a SUB.

But, the bottom line is, you have to turn of pat of your logical mind in order to believe that you are actually sinking under your bed. In order to do this the chances of you remembering that it is a dream decrease. This is probably the greatest flaw with this technique.

If you have any suggestions for maintaining lucidity during this please let me know.

Hope this helps.

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## Noogah

Scenery to imagine.

1. Flock Hill, New Zealand: Used in _The Lion The Witch, and The Wardrobe_ battle scene. 
*Spoiler* for _Flock Hill_: 








*Credit to http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/...ll-narnia.html*




2.The Grand Canyon, The United States of America 
*Spoiler* for _The Grand Canyon_: 








*Credit to http://www.dirjournal.com/info/ten-o...-of-the-world/*




3. Mount Zlatibor, Serbia 
*Spoiler* for _Mount Zlatibor_: 







*Source: Multiple sources; used Google*

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## lemmefly

Nice long description.
I like the technique you use, however, I think the most important part of this is not necessarily the sinking under bed, but the ability to relax into such a state that you are actually able to make it work.

Once you have reached that level of deep relaxation, I think it's not that important anymore which technique you use, as long as it somehow creates a feeling of movement away from your physical body laying in bed. For instance, instead of sinking into the bed, you could imagine your bed turning into a huge swing which is swinging back and forth 180 degrees, and then you just use that feeling of movement for your exit. It's probably more of a personal preference, I for instance have never been able to create that feeling of sinking into the bed, but I was able to create a feeling of rotation around my body axis.

If you are not relaxed deeply enough beforehand, neither of these techniques is going to work, because your mind will just not accept the altered reality (movement which actually doesn't exist) you try to force onto your body.

Can you also make this work when you are not laying on your back?

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## bengron

very true. Once you are in that state of deep relaxation you can basically use any technique.

However, the SUB technique is beneficial for two reasons.

1. It puts you into an even deeper state of relaxation. When I do the SUB it feels like it would almost be straining to become even more relaxed. Stress is a big reason why lucid dreaming fails. There is no such thing as to realxed for lucid dreaming. It provides you with a calm attitude in which you can accept the hypnogogic imagery, and it destroys the impatience that can prevent lucid dreams from happening. I have used several guided meditations which instruct the listener to imagine sitting in a chair and sinking deeply into it. This has proven to really immerse me into the meditation, and works well for me with falling asleep.

2. It allows you to consiously change your reality to the point where you can seemlessly transition from the reality you experienced in waking life to the reality in the dream. The problem for me personally with the WILD technique is that I do not feel immersed in the scenario I am imagining. It feels like an unreal fantasy that I will snap out of at any time. With the SUB technique, or techniques involving floating out of your body, or rolling out of your body. It is much easier to feel immersed in the dream and forget about your body alseep in your bed at home.

Can you do this technique when you arent on your back? Ablolutely. I cannot fall alseep on my back. I find it easier to do a SUB while on my stomach. I was inspired to use this technique when I was going to sleep normally and I started seeing imagery of an archery range under my bed. I was looking at it from above and it seemed a lot clearer when I imagined it as part of my present reality instead of trying to enter a new reality. I didnt do a SUB at this time, but it would have worked if I tried it.

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## I U

Reading those visualization had me daydreaming pretty good; I remember doing something close to this as a child.

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## EspadaInMyCloset

Huh. I think I tried this before. Well...somewhat.

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## bengron

This seems to be a pretty natural thing to do. Is there a better or different variation to this technique that has been successful?

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## LucidApprentice

This looks interesting, I'll try it out. 

  I know it may be a stupid question but..as with WILD is it better to do the "SUB" technique after 5-6 hours of sleep?

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## bengron

Yes, its definately better to try it after 5-6 hours. WILD techniques simply do not work when you immediately fall asleep because you dont start dreaming until 5-6 hours into sleeping. Please dont waste your time like so many have trying and failing to WILD at bedtime. 

If you are just starting out, I would actually not reccomomend the SUB technique. Try some more proven methods first. Im still developing and refining this technique, and so far it has only worked for me.

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## Aledrea

This sounds really cool  :smiley:   and I have a very active imagination, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for me  ::D:  I tired WILDing the past two days and it failed, so this sounds a lot easier, can't wait to try it!

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## Muggler

This sounds very promising! I can't wait to try this! I will post my results if I can remember  :tongue2:

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## juroara

I wanted to say that I didn't know about this technique when I had this strange but simple experience

I was trying to WILD. But my mind was so fluffy I didn't even remember that I was trying to WILD. All of a sudden I had this very strange premonition of what was about to happen to me! And I tell myself "I'm about to sink under my bed". I wasn't excited or scared, it was just a matter of fact! I'm about to sink.....

I take a deep breath as if I'm about to submerge in water. And when I exhale, that's when the shift into the dreaming took place! Just right there in that breath! And it sorta felt like...I fell underneath my bed into a pool of water. It felt like water because everything felt thicker, slower, and sound was muted. 

I sink under my bed, through my bed, and shifted through this watery consistency for only a brief moment before landing softly on my new dream bed! Where I was aware that this was a false awakening. I think it's cool how similar my experience was to your tutorial even though I hadn't read it before! Did you experience something similar to come up with this idea?

Have other people 'sunk' beneath their beds into a dream before this tutorial?

I really want to repeat this experience!! But I'm worried. I have no idea what type of consciousness I was in when I did this. I mean, I knew I was about to shift into the dream, but I had no expectations of anything. Usually when I'm trying to WILD, or even close to entering a dream, I'm excited! I find being excited ruins it though! 

I like this technique of yours though. Since its technically a VILD, I don't have to be so anxious about dream entry and I can just get lost in my imagination instead!

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## MiscellaneousPastry

That sounds like it would work just from reading this. Just reading about it filled me with a sense of relaxation. I cannot WAIT to get home and try this tonight! I get the feeling that it's going to work extremely well ^^ Even if it doesn't work, just the concept, I feel, makes you a genius, sir/madame

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## MiscellaneousPastry

I began to try this last night, but I'd been too tired to stay conscious through to the second step. In the bit of time that I WAS conscious, however, it was AMAZING! This is the most successful-sounding method I've researched =D I'll try it again tonight, now that I'm more rested, and post results in the morn

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## bengron

Juroara, I have had similar experiences before developing this technique, but I never actually sunk under my bed before thinking about doing it. Like many people, when I was a child I thought there were monsters under my bed. Now I imagine nice things under my bed. I have randomly felt as if I was pushing my arm through my bed, and I have felt a sinking sensation while entering sleep paralysis, but I never had a full SUB like you are describing before developing the technique. 

Pastry, WOW! It sounds like it worked for you! Even though the dream was short, this means that the technique is something that can be learned, and its not something that only I can do, or just happens randomly. I was worried that my method wouldnt work. Ill see if I can refine it to work for more people.

And yes, It will make you REALLY tired. Thats the point. You wont be staying up all night hoping for a lucid dream. You will go to sleep. The determining factor is whether or not you will stay lucid.  

Keep me posted on any problems or successes. I only know what works and doesnt work for me.

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## Onforty

I didnt actually know that WILD only works when WBTB'ing.. Ok i goto sleep at 21:00 (GMT +1 (Copenhagen) ), shouldnt i have a REM at 02:00? I setted my alarm to 02:00..

Anyway, this sounds easy, but complicated enough to work!

I will try either this or Yoshi's way this night.

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## MarioDreamer

heeey so I tried something like this and got to the point where I could feel pressure on my body as I was sinking into my bed but could continue with it, I felt the pressure rise up from  my feet all the way to my waist and then taht was it. How do you keep that pressure going?

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## WanderingMind

I don't quite try all the steps, but many times when attempting WILD I will imagine my mattress caving in and me falling into another world.

It felt exactly like this without trying when I had my first LD's (Basically I "Sunk" into my dream and rose back out of it) but the ones I had last night it did not happen.

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## catflight

i going to to try this before sleep AND with a deild tonight. thanks

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## OhEmGeeYayDream

I'm going to try this! Thanks!

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## Sadict

I sleep on my side, and I just had the feeling of sinking multiple times, but everytime I felt it getting stronger, I kept ditching it.

I guess I'm just too nervous and scared...

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## Xyrin

Does anyone think this would work better on an actual hammock? Just an idea.

Edit: Ouch. I failed I tried the blinking thing for 40 minutes. And I still wasn't about to fall asleep. Then I felt the heaviness.  think I might have drifted off. But then I drifted out. Then I tried to sink under my bed.
It was perfect, Just like you described. Except for I hadn't drifted off. I tried it again and failed. Last night was a failure...

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## kanpeki

i think that this might have actually gotten me close to lucidity one time before. i'm going to try this one out as it's something that i feel pretty often before i sleep anyway.

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## mantiz

this sounds like a brilliant idea, i'll try it tonight and let you know the result  :smiley:

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