Find out What Technique is Right for You!

**Mancon** · 11-07-2011 04:50 AM

Don't know which technique to choose? Can't decide? Hopefully this thread will help!

First of all, if you don't know what all the main techniques for lucid dreaming are click here. It will describe all the main techniques. When you look these over ask yourself: does any technique stand out? You should choose a technique that appeals to you the most and works best with your lifestyle.

DILD- If you don't feel like waking up in the middle of the night for lucid dreaming this might be a good technique for you. This technique involves doing reality checks/being aware throughout the day so that the checks/awareness carry down into your dreams and make you lucid!

Are you good at reminding yourself to do certain things during the day? Are you generally aware of things around you and you wouldn't be bothered by doing reality checks (like pinching your nose) in public. If you said yes to all of the above, DILD would be a good technique for you.

Do you have a common object/person/theme that always appears in your dream? This is called a dream sign. People that have a lot of dream signs or one specific dream sign would also like DILDing.

DILD Guides to Check Out:

-All Day Awareness by KingYoshi
-DILD Wiki Guide

WILD- If you are the kind of person that randomly wakes up in the middle of the night/doesn't mind getting up in the middle of the night you might like WILDing. WILDing is good for people who can easily be relaxed, can stay still, and are patient. V-WILD is another variation of WILDing. If you are good at visualization and can imagine things easily, check out my VILD guide below!

WILDing is best with a WBTB, but can also be attempted while napping. So if you are a person that naps during the day...WILD!

WILD Guides to Check Out

-Mancon's In Depth WILD Guide
-Yoshi's WILD Technique
Mancon's VILD Guide
-Wiki WILD Guide
-Jeff777's Guide

MILD- MILDing is good for people with a busy lifestyle. It only requires a few minutes before going to sleep. If you are confident, good at autosuggestion, and can remember your dreams well - MILD!

MILD Guides to Check Out

-Naiya's MILD Guide
-Wiki MILD Guide

Things You Should be Aware of:

-Don't expect a technique you choose to start working right away. It can take a few months or even a year to have your first lucid dream. It really just depends on the person. DO NOT give up after just a couple weeks of trying a technique. You have to stick with it!

-There is no technique that is "the best". Different techniques work better for different people. It all just depends on you.

-A lot of newbies tend to choose to WILD when they first start out. This is fine, but when you WILD you need patience. It doesn't work right away and you need to keep practicing to get better at it. WILDing is often recommended for people who are more experienced.

Just a quick little thread I put together in the darkness of the night

Thanks for reading!

**MarineRecon** · 11-08-2011 01:33 AM

Good job on this! I think this is a nice guide to those who are having a hard time trying to figure out why technique that they should do.

**Mancon** · 11-08-2011 01:41 AM

Thanks!

**MarineRecon** · 11-08-2011 01:46 AM

No problem, it's a great guide!

**Puffin** · 11-13-2011 06:02 AM

Great job Mancon, I'm sure this will help a lot of people!

Mind if I add a link to this page in the Beginner's Guide?

**Mancon** · 11-13-2011 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by Puffin

Great job Mancon, I'm sure this will help a lot of people!

Mind if I add a link to this page in the Beginner's Guide?

Not at all

**Zoth** · 11-14-2011 01:42 AM

I found the "Things You Should be Aware of" especially useful. I know there are skilled people out there, but imo WILD is really not the easiest way to begin lucid dreaming with :p Just in the sense it requires a huge control and patience, and can lead to a loss of sleep in the first times :p

And thanks for taking the time to post links to guides, should make much easier to people who read about it find all the info they need

ps: Awesome picture (my pc only loaded like 1minute later xD)

**InfinityPillow** · 01-07-2012 03:47 PM

The link to the first WILD tutorial is broken. There is a <br /> tag in it that shouldn't be there.
Great post though, very helpful!

**DeathTopping** · 01-07-2012 06:59 PM

Very nice guide! Since I started with WILD (First LD was a WILD) should I stick with it or practice with easier techniques?

**Mancon** · 01-07-2012 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by DeathTopping

Very nice guide! Since I started with WILD (First LD was a WILD) should I stick with it or practice with easier techniques?

Whatever you are most comfortable with and what you want to do. WILD is a great technique and comes with many benefits but it does take time for most people to master and achieve.

Originally Posted by InfinityPillow

The link to the first WILD tutorial is broken. There is a <br /> tag in it that shouldn't be there.
Great post though, very helpful!

Thank you! Fixing that now.

**DeathTopping** · 01-07-2012 08:25 PM

Okay, thanks!

**Taffy** · 01-08-2012 05:01 AM

I really like MILD because autosuggestion works for me. I can just tell myself "I'm waking up at 4:00" and it will happen. However, when I say "I'm lucid dreaming" or any other LD related mantra it just doesn't have any effect. :/

**LifeIstheDream** · 03-12-2013 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by Taffy

However, when I say "I'm lucid dreaming" or any other LD related mantra it just doesn't have any effect. :/

I'm the same way. I love the idea of MILD, as I do have a very busy lifestyle, and I have a great prospective memory, but I'm having the same problem you are.
One of my first lucid dreams was a MILD, but I haven't been successful with that technique for a very long time. I think it would be the best technique for me, but I just cannot remember to tell myself I'm dreaming.

Does anyone know the reason why we can remember to remember many things in our daily lives, but not that we will be dreaming?

**Sensei** · 03-12-2013 04:06 PM

When we are dreaming the frontal cortex (i think that is what it is called

) is shut off and we don't reason things out.

I use MILD and I think that "I'm dreaming" is a lot more effective, but it doesn't matter what words you say when using a mantra, it matters the meaning and the feelings you put into it. Really the same way everything works, but saying the same thing mindlessly over and over doesn't do anything.

**LifeIstheDream** · 03-12-2013 04:29 PM

Yeah, I've noticed the repitition before sleep doesn't really work for me. It's more the intense statement that I tell myself. That's what worked the first time, I just told myself I'd remember and I really, really meant it. I think that's considered autosuggestion though, isn't it?
I'm just having trouble because this technique doesn't seem to work consistently.

**NyxCC** · 03-12-2013 05:10 PM

A great review of techniques! I've been doing RCs for 3 to 7 times a day (not enough I know!) for the past couple of months. I hadn't made a single RC in a dream, with the exception of once when I was flying. However, the number of lucid dreams had increased from 1-2 a month to 4-5 a month. My plan is to repeat my dream signs till I finally become lucid upon encountering them, not just by chance. I also find DEILD a good technique to practice as I really do wake a number of times during the night and it is somewhat less demanding than WILD.

**Sensei** · 03-12-2013 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by LifeIstheDream

Yeah, I've noticed the repitition before sleep doesn't really work for me. It's more the intense statement that I tell myself. That's what worked the first time, I just told myself I'd remember and I really, really meant it. I think that's considered autosuggestion though, isn't it?
I'm just having trouble because this technique doesn't seem to work consistently.

Yeah, it doesn't matter how much you say it either. Saying it with meaning is normally easier, but everyone is different. You need to find what works for you.

Think of practicing the auto suggestion as sports. You need to practice the correct form. You start shooting threes and you make the first one. Yay! Using the correct form and everything! Then you miss the next 10 shots. Still using the right form. crap! you then start trying different techniques for shooting. Doesn't work that way does it? That is how people approach LDing. When you take the shot you need to practice the same shot from the same distance with the same form, just switching up minor things so that you can get it right.

I hope this analogy makes sense. Using any technique takes practice. You will get better at it with time. If it worked once, you can make it work again.

**LifeIstheDream** · 03-12-2013 05:47 PM

It was a great analogy BrandonBoss! Thanks a lot! I just need to keep working at it, and it'll come eventually. I'm sure this is the method that will work best for me. Thanks for the motivation!

**gab** · 03-13-2013 09:09 PM

What really works for me is adding strong emotions when I RC. I ask myself "wow, what if this is a dream, I just didn't notice". I try to recall a happy/startling feeling. You know, like when you wake up in the morning after Christmas and you know something really good happened yesterday, but for a second you don't recall what it was. But you have this happy feeling in pit of your stomach. Then you remember all those toys you got the day before.

Or any other happy/expectation/surprise feeling you can recall from your past. If you had LD before, you can think of that startling/happy feeling as when you first time realized you are dreaming.

Then this jolt/startling feeling transfers into my dreams and I go "wait a minute, am i dreaming?". And byt the end of that question I'm already lucid.

**NyxCC** · 03-13-2013 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by gab

What really works for me is adding strong emotions when I RC... If you had LD before, you can think of that startling/happy feeling as when you first time realized you are dreaming.

Then this jolt/startling feeling transfers into my dreams and I go "wait a minute, am i dreaming?". And byt the end of that question I'm already lucid.

gab, this is a brilliant idea! I must admit that I do some RCs quite absentmindedly. Combining RCs with an emotion like the LD happy feeling would add much more awareness to it. Will definately try to do RCs this way.

**xXxArtistxXx** · 03-14-2013 03:19 AM

Mine is obviously the WILD technique. Thanks.

**vinnym9999** · 03-21-2013 02:55 AM

Thank you dude, Im going with DILD for busy week days.

**DreamyBear** · 03-24-2013 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by gab

What really works for me is adding strong emotions when I RC. I ask myself "wow, what if this is a dream, I just didn't notice". I try to recall a happy/startling feeling. You know, like when you wake up in the morning after Christmas and you know something really good happened yesterday, but for a second you don't recall what it was. But you have this happy feeling in pit of your stomach. Then you remember all those toys you got the day before.

Or any other happy/expectation/surprise feeling you can recall from your past. If you had LD before, you can think of that startling/happy feeling as when you first time realized you are dreaming.

Then this jolt/startling feeling transfers into my dreams and I go "wait a minute, am i dreaming?". And byt the end of that question I'm already lucid.

This reminds me of the time when I just had this excited feeling before going to bed. That I was so certain about that I would have a lucid dream, that I later that night got one. But when I was that excited before I went to bed, I told myself to remember to calm myself down as soon as I would realize that I was dreaming within the dream. And in the moment I got lucid in my dream, I was perfectly calm. I remember how surprised I was over myself in the dream for being so calm.

So dont forget to remind yourself that you will remain calm when you get lucid.