A new method (DILD+MILD)

[Pickledapples]

Similar stuff to this might have been posted here before. Here is my (newly made) technique to help induce lucid dreams. It is a way of mixing dreamsigns and lucidity prompts with affirmations. Type 1: You get into a habit of rubbing your hands, let's say, every five minutes to an hour. Then, when you get into bed, just before you go to sleep, rub your hands one more time and consciously say to yourself: "Next time I find myself rubbing my hands I will realize my surroundings are a dream." Now Type 1 sometimes doesn't work for me. Type 2: Do the same thing as in Type 1, but to an RC every time you rub your hands. This will ensure a greater chance of lucidity in dreams. In bed, just say to yourself: "Next time I find myself rubbing my hands I will do an RC and prove that I am dreaming." Here are some dreams that I had using this method: http://www.lucidipedia.com/logbook/i...ate=2009-04-22 http://www.lucidipedia.com/logbook/i...ate=2009-04-23 Note: You need to have an account at lucidipedia and be logged in to view these posts.

[Caradon]

Isn't this basically the same thing as trying to get yourself to do a random RC in a dream? I can see how your technique could work, but why not just RC? How does rubbing hands and RCing together, work better?

[hellohihello]

Isn't this basically the same thing as trying to get yourself to do a random RC in a dream? I can see how your technique could work, but why not just RC? How does rubbing hands and RCing together, work better? Rubbing of the hands stabilizes the dream.

[Caradon]

Rubbing of the hands stabilizes the dream. Well that's arguable. It may help some people, but it's never really done anything for me. My dreams always seem pretty stable until I wake up. But that's not really the point. It sounds to me like he is saying to rub hands as a technique to attain Lucidity, not stabilize it. That's what I'm asking about. What's the difference? Your still just training yourself to randomly do an action in your dream that will cause you to become Lucid. Like RC.

[Shift]

Yea, it sounds like you'll be putting in a lot of effort that is unnecessary with the hand rubbing, not to mention this is hardly a new technique. If you just focus on the dreamsigns you already have for RCing, and build up mnemonic memory for MILD, you should be good to go. Stabilizing a dream does help, but I just built it into my exercises for prospective memory by remembering to RC, RCing, and then immediately 'stabilizing' (going through the motions in RL) and listing my dream goals. Every lucid I've had since I started (which is about 7 or so??) I immediately told myself "Stabilize the dream! What are my dream signs?".

[lucidspark64]

Type 2 kind of just sounds like an improvement of Type 1. I can see how this would work though but I don't know if I would call it a technique. For me, I think MILD just sounds like a branch off of DILD.

[Caradon]

For me, I think MILD just sounds like a branch off of DILD. MILD is just a way to induce a DILD. Remember to notice your dreaming. I've never understood the point of the two separate definitions either. Except for maybe naturals who can DILD without trying to make themselves remember to do it.

[Shift]

DILD encompasses any and all lucid dreams in which lucidity is attained once the dream has already been in progress (versus WILD, where you remain conscious the whole time as the dream begins). RCs give you DILDs, you can have spontaneous DILDs, and then there's the MILD... which relies on your ability to remember to reality check to certain things and to ask yourself if you're dreaming in order to induce a DILD. So if you're walking along and say "Man, I haven't RCed in a while I know I should. OH! I'm dreaming!" that would be a DILD from a random RC If you suspect you are dreaming, and then test it out using reality checks, and say "OH! I'm dreaming!" that would be a DILD from a true reality testing reality check If you suddenly realize, out of the blue or in response to something strange or frightening, "Oh jeez I must be dreaming!" without even RCing that's what I call a spontaneous lucid. If you see a dream sign and say, "Oh, one of my dreamsigns. I am supposed to reality check." or "Oh, a person. I was supposed to reality check the next time I saw a person." and you become lucid, that would be a DILD through the use of your prospective memory, which would make it a MILD. Basically, remembering to reality check in response to a cue. The thing is... yes, these lines all blur. Which is why in my signature there is just DILD and WILD. MILD isn't a branch of anything. It's just one way in which you can induce a DILD, and its reliance upon good prospective memory has earned it the name MILD. If you really wanted you could call spontaneous DILDs SDILDs, and RC-induced DILDS RCDILDs. But then I'd have to kill you.

[Caradon]

I don't ever have a spontaneous DILD unless I'm actively working at making myself remember to notice I'm dreaming. Therefore, it's all MILD to me. Even a random RC is a result of making myself remember to do it in a dream. Recognition of any random, or common dreamsign, is also a result of making myself remember to recognize them. Recognizing something strange or frightening and saying, "Oh I'm dreamaing!" isn't spontaneous Lucidity. Becoming Lucid without noticing anything at all is spontaneous Lucidity.

[marcher22]

Your type 1 method seems just like another dream sign. That's because when i was new to lucid dreaming i would say the next time i see the letter A or when i see a blue corvette I will realize im dreaming. Now that i think about it.. Your type 1 is like another dream sign too. If you just get into the "habbit" of looking at your hands you'll realize your dreaming in a dream. If it works for you though that's great . and maybe some new comers will appreciate this post too.

[Pickledapples]

Actually, you guys are correct. It works for me, most of the time. The trick here is to use rubbing your hands as a lucidity prompt in dreams - like a dream sign. For some people new to this technique sometimes avoiding the urge to rub your hands in bed is really quite hard and sometimes will produce a dream in which you rub your hands. But once you get used to doing it, it will start to appear in your daily residue, causing you to sometimes spontaneously rub your hands in dreams. Also, I invented this method just to be clever as rubbing your hands also stabilizes the dream. If you don't become lucid upon the time you rub your hands, at least it will prolong the dream and make it more vivid. It's been helping me with my LD progress and dream recall greatly as I had a pretty big dryspell this month.

[panta-rei]

Am I wrong, but isn't the main thing that stabilizes the dream is the expectation of it? I had the idea of doing stabilizing techniques as part of my RC song and dance I go through(check memory, check surroundings, stabilization, check text, check hands, do other RC.) So it could work, if the intent to stabilize is there with it, not just a self made dreamsign. But... this is hardly original.

[Pickledapples]

Well if it works then it's good enough ;p

[DarkLucideity]

Just RC. Why develop compulsive hand rubbing (or at least look like it) when you can just skip the middleman and do RCs?

[topten35]

Rubbing my hands works for me, but the past couple of times i did this, my eyes closed on the own and then when i opened them the dream ended. Rubbing my hands isn't an rc for me, it just stabalizes the dream.

[Pickledapples]

Actually, you guys are correct. It works for me, most of the time. The trick here is to use rubbing your hands as a lucidity prompt in dreams - like a dream sign. For some people new to this technique sometimes avoiding the urge to rub your hands in bed is really quite hard and sometimes will produce a dream in which you rub your hands. But once you get used to doing it, it will start to appear in your daily residue, causing you to sometimes spontaneously rub your hands in dreams. Also, I invented this method just to be clever as rubbing your hands also stabilizes the dream. If you don't become lucid upon the time you rub your hands, at least it will prolong the dream and make it more vivid. It's been helping me with my LD progress and dream recall greatly as I had a pretty big dryspell this month. Just RC. Why develop compulsive hand rubbing (or at least look like it) when you can just skip the middleman and do RCs? Rubbing my hands works for me, but the past couple of times i did this, my eyes closed on the own and then when i opened them the dream ended. Rubbing my hands isn't an rc for me, it just stabalizes the dream. The point here is to avoid the urge to rub your hands at night time and the stronger the urge gets, the better chance you have of getting an LD that night. For instance, the first few times I used this method, I felt myself rubbing my hands as I was transitioning into a lucid dream. Hey at least it works for me ;p

[panta-rei]

How does having that urge make you LD more? Explain that.