Thread: such a promising start! :-(

Hi, i started to try lucid dreaming about 8 weeks ago, aged 44. I started with wild using wbtb & naps. Within the first 2 weeks i have 4 great LD's and lots of other lucid events. It seemed i was going to master LD! Then I had 2 wait 2 weeks for the nect one and then a month! Now i just cant get lucid.

Ive not changed anything in terms of technique or sleeping patterns

Any advice. Im totally 100% commited to learning Lucid dreaming

please help

It could be a problem with your mindset. You may have inadvertently convinced yourself that lucid dreaming would get harder after the first couple lucid dreams. Or you may have been doing something else that you stopped doing that caused you to stop becoming lucid.

Sometimes, being too rigid can be a problem. Dreams can be very dynamic and your mental state will change over time, as such, the way you get lucid might change over time. The best advice I could give you is to try something different if the original technique is no longer working. (You're not going to gain anything by sticking with it, I can tell you that.)

You say you are 100% committed to lucid dreaming. That's good. But use your willpower wisely. Work smarter, not harder. There is an exquisite buffet of lucid dreaming techniques, (FILD, DILD, MILD, WILD, DEILD). Give each one a fair sampling. Make it an adventure to at least explore each one a little bit.

I should say,you must have changed something.it doesnt have to be related to techniques or sleeping pattern.
You have to question yourself.Am i under a lot of stress or anxiety,has there been any change in my life like
got a kid,or grandchildren(no offense),or even some stupid things like got a new peace of furniture.it could be
anything.what i want to say is that any change could mean interference with dreams.I had interference with
dreams even if i went to sleep an hour later or sooner.

So I dont know do you need to get lucid,or get better dream recall.But to get lucid,try new techniques and improve
your awarennes.but for recall,try Mild.
Hope i helped!

Dry spells can last a while, so don't get to distraught. Maybe you're actually trying too hard having had good early success. Perhaps you need to go back to basics. Do you DJ? Have you got good dream recall?
Restart the journey and it should come back.
I do sympathise because I am going through a similar experience just now, although I have had 40+ LDs over a couple of years, I am experiencing a frustratingly long dry spell.

So after my inital spurt of Lucid dreams in the first week of trying, all i have had in the last 8 weeks is 1 LD and 3 very low quality short LD's I have dedicated my life to lucid dream training. I perform quality reality checks 10 times per day, i follow King Yoshis ADA as well as meditating. When i meditate and am in a ttrance i repeat my mantra 'The next time i dream, i count to 10 and become aware im in a dream' (this hopefully utilizes prospective memory) I also follow prospective memory training and perform wbtb / MILD each night. I am also able to record 2/3 dreams each night and I take vitamin B6. I also practise mindfullness throught the day. I have dream signs and I repeate mantras for these during the day also

I just dont know what else to do - its been months :-(

i am 45 years old and am totally commited to this. I believe that with practise and experience things should improve but nothing is happening. my dreams are vivid but i just dont have that 'wow this is a dream' realization.

I have no stress in my life and am able to get 8/9 hours sleep each night

Im lost - please help!

Originally Posted by ezzolucid

I am also able to record 2/3 dreams each night and I take vitamin B6.

You might try adding some 5HTP but don't take it at the same time as B6 (B6 will catalyze the conversion to Serotonin before it can get into the brain) also I use melatonin to increase vividness of dreams to increase chance I notice I'm dreaming. I take 100mg 5HTP and quite a lot of melatonin, but it is still hit and miss, I can't get as much sleep as you each night, and do have stress during week so only tend to LD on weekends

I am 41, LD since I am 10, but over the years my ability to have DILD has decreased to near zero.
I think that since LD is not a "natural" way of dreaming, which means that we are not supposed to understand that we are dreaming when we are dreaming, (maybe because it involves the re-activation of brain functions and parts that are supposed to be disabled during REM sleep, like the DLPFC), the brain could work on some kind of strategies to avoid this reactivation through some kind of tolerance to the DILD techniques.

I'm not sure about that, but .. who knows.

But, as WILD works a very different way, I have started a personal quest to learn how to WILD when I want to WILD.
I can feel that it will take plenty of time before I reach this goal, but it could be a solution to this supposed adaptation issue.

You could try Galantamine and Choline supplements?

Originally Posted by Goldenspark

You could try Galantamine and Choline supplements?

I have no trouble with dreams. I have at least 3 very vivid and detailed dreams every night which i remember and write down so supplements to help are not needed. Im unsure where to go from here :-(

Originally Posted by ezzolucid

I have no trouble with dreams. I have at least 3 very vivid and detailed dreams every night which i remember and write down so supplements to help are not needed. Im unsure where to go from here :-(

some supplements are used for recall or vividness but others are used for triggering

Galantamine, and DHEA make dreams weird and thus make you more likely to notice it can't be real
(I haven't used Galantamine myself)

5HTP is used to increase focus (it increases Serotonin in the brain)

These things make you more likely to know your dreaming not more likely to dream (you'd dream anyway)

be sure not to take too much B6 it is neurotoxic (50 to 100mg per day every day might be ok, but
I would stay below 1.5grams a month)
and remember don't take at same time or before 5HTP

Galantamine triggered LDs in me, at least initially. I only use it very occasionally now, because I found it became less effectual. When I started I used 8mg once a week, allowing plenty of time for it to clear my system. Initially I had good success with it triggering LDs, but more lately it seemed to give me very vivid almost lucids only.
I now only take it maybe once a month, mainly to give me a boost since I am having a long dry spell from natural LDs. Taken that infrequently it seems to give me LDs when I do take it.
Like you, I usually have three vivid dreams a night, but I just can't seem to break through into lucidity very often. I think it might be because my dreams are relatively like RL, because the times I have got lucid have usually been recognising something is really weird, but that doesn't happen very often.