Thread: Questions from a beginner

Hey everybody. I'm a new member on this forum as you can probably tell from my post count.

I've been looking around at the various techniques, but I want to know what the fastest/easiest way to achieve a Lucid Dream is.

I found out about Lucid Dreaming after I saw Inception, and have been interested ever since. Today I just felt like I should learn more as I REALLY want to achieve a LD. I know about many of the widely known techniques such as WILD and WBTB, but have never performed yet...

I just want your guys' opinion on a fast, but easy for beginners to understand method of achieving a LD.

NOTE: I will be very committed to this and will not just be one of those guys who quits because they can't have an LD.

Please start with the very first thing I should do/practice on my road to have an LD.

Thank you very much, and have a nice day!

Welcome to DreamViews mahoogie!

The first thing that I would recommend doing, is checking out this guide: The Beginner's Guide to Lucid Dreaming

It has all of the concepts that every lucid dreamer should know, and how to get started lucid dreaming. It also has a description of all of the main induction techniques. This guide explains how to get on the road to your first lucid dream, and how to stabilize and control your dreams.

It is really a great beginners guide, so I would definitely recommend checking it out!

As for what technique you should start out with, it is really up to you. Most people would recommend that beginner lucid dreamers should start with DILD, though. You can accomplish anything that you put your mind to!

Good luck!

Originally Posted by ber5897

Welcome to DreamViews mahoogie!

The first thing that I would recommend doing, is checking out this guide:

It has all of the concepts that every lucid dreamer should know, and how to get started lucid dreaming. It also has a description of all of the main induction techniques. This guide explains how to get on the road to your first lucid dream, and how to stabilize and control your dreams.

It is really a great beginners guide, so I would definitely recommend checking it out!

As for what technique you should start out with, it is really up to you. Most people would recommend that beginner lucid dreamers should start with DILD, though. You can accomplish anything that you put your mind to!

Good luck!

Thank you so much! Literally everything I need in one place!

I think that the two most famous and best ways to have a lucid dream are DILD and WILD and are the easiest. I am a fan of WILD, I just visually focus on the back of my eyelid till I slip into a dream. Basically what you want to do with DILD is build a habit that you instinctually will do in your dreams, anything will do that can signal that you are in a dream, such as a looking at the palm of your hands to see if you are in a dream. Just look at the palm of your hands and think "am I in a dream?". That should be enough to work as DILD.

Good luck.

Start a dream journal, as well as a lucid dream attempts journal. Then, once you're remembering your dreams every night, do WILD/DEILD until you get a lucid dream. Don't do DILD unless you want to waste a few months.

Originally Posted by cmind

Start a dream journal, as well as a lucid dream attempts journal. Then, once you're remembering your dreams every night, do WILD/DEILD until you get a lucid dream. Don't do DILD unless you want to waste a few months.

Why is DILD such a waste of time?

Originally Posted by mahoogie

Why is DILD such a waste of time?

It's a fundamentally flawed technique. Many people in the lucid dreaming community are in denial about this, but it's true.

A non-lucid dream is a similar state of mind to a schizophrenic having a psychotic episode, except dreaming is healthy and schizophrenia isn't. However, the mechanism is very similar. DILD, which is the act of becoming lucid from within a dream, is equivalent to a psychotic person suddenly telling themselves to stop being psychotic and to stop hallucinating. Clearly, someone in the psychotic state won't be able to do this because their mind is compromised to begin with. Similarly, to express the desire to lucid dream from within a dream is almost impossible because you're not "yourself" in the dream*.

Oddly enough, DILDs do happen, but they're flukes. And then you have people who mistake a vivid dream for a DILD, and they're just using the wrong terminology.

*In fact, not only are you not "yourself", you're not anyone else either. You're in a constantly shifting phantasmic state of mind.

Begin a dream journal... even if its just a digital recorder. The reason for this is simple as your dreams are the manifestation of your inner psyche. Try to avoid anyone who recommends vitamin supplements or magic potions. Learn about the sleep and dream process. Understand why you dream. Question reality. Try to visualize dreams you have had as you are drifting off to sleep. Be positive. Good luck to you!

In my opinion the most important thing in order to make me continue to lucid dream frequentley and effortlessely is to have fun.

And also learn from your "faiures", if you don't have a lucid dream one night, don't scream in pain, instead learn and gain.

So choose a method that you think is fun and that motivates and inspires you, and pur primary focus on the method itself and not lucidity.

An interesting idea that I read in some philosophy book, is that happiness (in this case lucidity) doesn't come as often when you focus on it directly, it actually comes more often when it's an result of the focus of something else.

In this case it the enjoyment of the practise as a whole which then will bring you lucidity.

Although for me it is important to understand as well, so if you feel the same way I suggest that you try to find an explanation to why the induction you choose to use will be effective. In this example with happiness I can try to give a short explanation.

When you aim for lucidity and not get it you will get discouraged which will lead to -> anger -> hate -> suffering (suffering of not having lucid dreams).
Because you will be stressed out and then your dreams will be stresseful and chaotic and harder to become aware of and remember.

So you enter an evil circle... Instead appreciate the method in itself and do it because it is fun, and if you don't get lucid you don't get as discouraged by that and you should at the same time just learn from it and ponder not why the method didn't worked, but rather what stopped the method from working.
Like a late bedtime or a stressful mind as you went asleep, and then have a starting point and work from here.

By doing this you will fall asleep calm and peacefully which will give you calm and peaceful dreams which is easier to become aware of and remember and you have fun at the same time. And we can both agree with that it will be fun to learn from your successes as well.

And one thing to add about DILD.

DILD is just a description of an lucid dream induction (It simply means that you become aware in a dream after sleeping unaware), the method in itself can be many things like reality checks, intention and affirmations, and so on. So to say that a DILD is a waste of time, is like saying that becoming aware of a dream after sleeping is a waste of time, although I guess he means that DILD methods are a waste of time and that you should focus on WILD methods which is the second and only other alternative (entering a dream consciously without losing awareness in between.)

And I can agree to some extent that DILD methods can feel frustating and like a waste of time, atleast it is very hard to imagine that it can be done frequentley, however there are ways to make DILDs feel just as real as physical reality with the same "amount" of awareness. Which I currently is experimenting with: http://www.dreamviews.com/f20/tried-...5/#post1978197

But to conclude, I hope that you'll find your peaceful way of lucid dreaming. If you need help make sure to listen to experienced people, however your true knowledge can only be found by your own experiences.

Sweet dreams

Originally Posted by MasterMind

although I guess he means that DILD methods are a waste of time and that you should focus on WILD methods which is the second and only other alternative (entering a dream consciously without losing awareness in between.)

I suppose. When I say DILD I really mean the DILD techniques, not the act itself. I've actually had a few DILDs in my life (by that I mean, I was non-lucid and then I became lucid), but they happened totally at random without me doing any "technique" to spawn them. On the other hand, I've had many WILD lucids and each and every one was done on purpose. I said, "ok I will WILD now", and then I did it. Sometimes I would fail at WILD, but I would always know exactly why I failed because I was conscious during the whole event (by definition). Compare that to DILD techniques, where you never really know when or how you failed.

The difference between WILD and DILD techniques is the difference between developing an actual skill versus trusting random chance with no real hope of ever improving.

Originally Posted by MasterMind

In my opinion the most important thing in order to make me continue to lucid dream frequentley and effortlessely is to have fun.

And also learn from your "faiures", if you don't have a lucid dream one night, don't scream in pain, instead learn and gain.

So choose a method that you think is fun and that motivates and inspires you, and pur primary focus on the method itself and not lucidity.

An interesting idea that I read in some philosophy book, is that happiness (in this case lucidity) doesn't come as often when you focus on it directly, it actually comes more often when it's an result of the focus of something else.

In this case it the enjoyment of the practise as a whole which then will bring you lucidity.

Although for me it is important to understand as well, so if you feel the same way I suggest that you try to find an explanation to why the induction you choose to use will be effective. In this example with happiness I can try to give a short explanation.

When you aim for lucidity and not get it you will get discouraged which will lead to -> anger -> hate -> suffering (suffering of not having lucid dreams).
Because you will be stressed out and then your dreams will be stresseful and chaotic and harder to become aware of and remember.

So you enter an evil circle... Instead appreciate the method in itself and do it because it is fun, and if you don't get lucid you don't get as discouraged by that and you should at the same time just learn from it and ponder not why the method didn't worked, but rather what stopped the method from working.
Like a late bedtime or a stressful mind as you went asleep, and then have a starting point and work from here.

By doing this you will fall asleep calm and peacefully which will give you calm and peaceful dreams which is easier to become aware of and remember and you have fun at the same time. And we can both agree with that it will be fun to learn from your successes as well.

And one thing to add about DILD.

DILD is just a description of an lucid dream induction (It simply means that you become aware in a dream after sleeping unaware), the method in itself can be many things like reality checks, intention and affirmations, and so on. So to say that a DILD is a waste of time, is like saying that becoming aware of a dream after sleeping is a waste of time, although I guess he means that DILD methods are a waste of time and that you should focus on WILD methods which is the second and only other alternative (entering a dream consciously without losing awareness in between.)

And I can agree to some extent that DILD methods can feel frustating and like a waste of time, atleast it is very hard to imagine that it can be done frequentley, however there are ways to make DILDs feel just as real as physical reality with the same "amount" of awareness. Which I currently is experimenting with:

But to conclude, I hope that you'll find your peaceful way of lucid dreaming. If you need help make sure to listen to experienced people, however your true knowledge can only be found by your own experiences.

Sweet dreams

Thanks for the info, but with all that in mind, what would you say a beginner should try to do first? Try to get a DILD by chance, or start trying WILDs?

The easiest method would be the one that you discover is easiest for you. We are all different. However, I would always recommend a WILD attempt the first time and stress the visualization of the your most recent dream. Good luck!

I've read a lot of sites that said that WILD is not as good for beginners, since it is difficult.

On the other hand, even for a beginner like myself DILD worked. In less than 2 weeks. Mind you I also took a multivitamin that night 1 hour before bed which had 25 mg of B6, as well as zinc and niacin, all 3 of which have been said by some to help with getting lucid dreams. Not sure yet exactly how much of a part that played, but it can't hurt.

I set my cellphone (Alarm Clock Plus app specifically) to buzz every 90 minutes through the day, at each time I would seriously wonder, "Is this a dream?" (Of course I knew it wasn't, but you must seriously wonder anyway, because in a regular dream you also think it's reality. Only upon waking do you know any better.) Then do reality checks - for me, I look at my hands and count my fingers, then look for nearby digital clocks, then plug my nose and try to still breathe if there's nobody around. Looking at your hands also helps keep you 'grounded' in the dream, so it serves a double function.

Hi mahoogie!

I'm a beginner just like you, and I am starting to get used to the techniques. I am presently working on both DILD and WILD, as well as frequently reading information on the subject.

Why both? Because why not! It's not like you have to choose one or the other ! What I tell myself is that by doing so, I will have 2x more chances of getting a LD !

For WILD, I try to regularly practice it at bedtime during the week (I'm student with heavy schedule so I can't really try WBTB during the week) to get used to the process. Doing it at bedtime is not recommended, but I found it useful to get to know the feeling of the technique and practice it! So far I had good results with that! I plan to try WILD with Wake Back To Bed during weekends!
There is a great tutorial for WILD which was recommended to me by gab. It has a detailed explanation of the process with great tips and exercises! Just Google "sageous WILD" ans it should be the first link!

For DILD, I try to develop Reality Checks habits as well as Reverse Reality Checks habits, like Matt1 wrote about (the wondering part). sageous talks about it in his first lesson !

Finally, I try to improve my dream memory by starting a dream journal, to keep track of my dreams and to point out recurrent aspects of my dreams, and by reviewing my dreams in the morning. It's useless to have LDs only to forget them the next morning!

I hope that my beginner's point of view can help you!

Just like faceonmars says the best way and easiest method can only be found by you, I can just explain why I choose to do a particular method over another.

I agree with cmind when he says that DILD method's feels like a waste of time, it was one of the reasons to why I stopped focus on those methods altogether, and instead I focused on WILD methods. This was because of the fact that I wanted to make lucidity frequent and controlable, it's much harder to go to sleep with a DILD based method and say "Tonight I will have a lucid dream" and fully know it, compared to "Tonight I will wake up with an alarmclock and then have a good chance to enter a dream consciously."

I realized later on though that a night is not this black and white. You don't have to perform a WILD method only to induce a WILD or perform a DILD method only to induce a DILD. But you can actually use DILD methods to help you WILD and WILD methods to help you DILD.

In fact when I focused on practising my WILD methods I noticed that I got more aware in my dreams and I had lots of DILDs, so I thought well perhaps DILD is my way to go but then instead started to notice my awakenings and I could use the DEILD which is a WILD method. So it was a doozy

The reason to why this occurs might be that DILD methods are intent focused methods and WILD methods are maintained awareness focused methods. Who knows ^-^

So then I thought which of these ways do I like the best? And well I choosed to use WILD methods to help me induce DILDs, and of course my over analyzing mind wanted to know WHY this was and I sort of explain it here: http://www.dreamviews.com/f20/tried-...5/#post1978197

Although my point with this post is not to make you start doing that, my point of this post is to show you that you find the best way for yourself with own experience and of course with a bit of reflecting. But by all means try it out if you want to, but see it as an experiment rather than a bulllet proof technique.

For a beginner I would suggest that you just learn the basics of both DILD and WILD and try them out, so you understand what kind of induction that suits you best.

Now I am basically doing both by using the oppurtunities that arise to perform the methods that (for me) best fits that situation.

I share what I know (my experience) in hope that it will help others and try to create a little theory of WHY. And sometimes it helps, like this for example:

http://www.dreamviews.com/f15/if-you...ams-try-93005/

So perhaps what I am trying say is that, it's not actually what kind of method you use to induce lucid dreams that will make you progress, but rather what you learn from each experience. And helping others is also a great way of helping yourself.

I am sure you will find your way, but if it ever feels tough, make sure to ask and Dreamviews will help you understand your obstacle and get inspired or motivated by it.

Sweet dreams

although i do not think the "fast and easy" path is the best one. here is what you do. the pneumonic / mantra tecnique.

when you are laying down in bed at night before you fall asleep, repeat "i remember all my dreams" over and over and over.. at least 100 times..

after a few days you should start remembering your dreams.. once you achieve this, change your pnuemonic / mantra to "i lucid dream"

within a week of this you should start having lucid dreams. disregard what others tell you about techniques or which one is the best or worst, what is hard or easy. it doesn't matter. find what works for you. if my advice doesn't help. try something else.

as for DILD, it the most common lucid dream "induction" i have, and have been having DILD type lucid dreams since i was pretty young.

if you want to "speed up the process" start meditation before bed and combine it with the pneumonic / mantra technique. do it for as long as you can bear. the longer you meditate and practice your mantra. the better and more effective it will be.