Thread: Best LD method?

http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...right-you.html

^^^ This is a great guide

I don't want to sound anal... mostly because the word anal annoys me , but there are only 2 methods I believe:
DILD
gaining consciousness inside the dream
WILD
Never losing it

There are techniques for each of them
DILD:
MILD
EILD

WILD:
DEILD

There are about six thousand other techniques haha. Most of what I would say other than that is in the thread I linked to. Hope this didn't come off rude. Good luck LDing. I would recommend this because it has the least amount of cons:
http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...technique.html

BrandonBoss post sums it all pretty nicely. Plus is has a comic part regarding "anal" One extra piece of advice though:

The basics are extremely important. Things like a good sleeping schedule, focus on dream recall and journal, the extensive practice of reality checks, and the planning of your goals/intent make the basis for any lucid dreamer's success.

- A good sleeping schedule (read: regular) will improve your dream recall and your opportunities to WILD, since you will have a better understanding of your sleeping habits.
- A continuous practice of dream recall and journaling not only allow you to better recall your adventures, but also help you identifying recurrent dream content, which in the medium-long run, will give you loads of lucid dreams. Some people develop such strong associations with their dream signs, that they can get lucid literally every time they dream about loosing a bus for example.
- Reality checks are more than just actions. Even though you might hear many people saying they "don't perform them anymore", it's actually an attitude that is present towards all your lucid career: the fact of doubting is a reality check in itself. Along with an awareness to the self and the world around you, you should always aim to incorporate questioning in your every day life.
- For last, planning. Planning not only allows you to increase the amount of activities/wishes you want to carry on your lucid dreams, it also increases the chances of you experiencing one, due the mechanisms of prospective memory. Every time you set an intention, your brain makes a mental note, which can and will pop in your conscious mind given the right circumstances later on. Besides, the simply act of planning can be a good motivation exercise, and an excuse to persevere in your practice.

As you find out, it's all about the dedication. The more active and aware you are regarding your mental states, perceptions and actions, the faster you will develop a keen mind that questions reality. Good luck!

Thanks guys! You've been really quick and helpful in your repsonses. You now have me wondering which method produces better results in the long run. I have had DILDs before and so decided to try to WILD...
Over the past seven days I have woken up naturally around 3-6 hours after going to bed. I make sure my mind is awake enough not to comatose back into sleep, and relax my body. After lying there in the darkness for a sufficient amount of time, I start to feel tingling followed by a heaviness throughout my body. I become more aware of my breathing but not so that i could be pulled out of my attempt to WILD. This then fades to nothing and I am left lying in the darkness for up to an hour without having experienced any HI, sleep atonia or SP. Not wanting to lose any more sleep on what appears to be a failure, I roll over and go to sleep.
I've read many WILD tutorials on here and to my knowledge don't appear to be doing anything wrong. Am I ? Or are some people incapable of achieving a WILD yet can successfully DILD?

Why You Fail at WILDs - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ild-guide.html

If WILD is your game, Mzzkc is the name. anything I would say is in these two tutorials by him. I personally reccomend trying 1 DILD tech and one WILD tech if you have time.

Each night? (Thanks again)

WILD is usually harder than DILD because it doesn't depend just on your efforts, but also on things like timing. If you try to perform a WILD too soon, you might have to deal with a block of N-REM sleep. If you try it too late, you might not be able to fall asleep. Besides, this:

This then fades to nothing and I am left lying in the darkness for up to an hour without having experienced any HI, sleep atonia or SP.

is counter-productive. I've performed several WILD where the only thing I remember is relaxing, and maintaining a minimum of awareness regarding my intention. If you stand there waiting for something to happen, you won't fall asleep. What do you do when you sleep normally? Nothing right? That's what you want to do when you perform a WILD: nothing but standing there, relax mode, let the thoughts come and go, and once in a while recall your intention (you can try repeating a mantra like "I'm lucid"). It's generally better to fail a WILD by falling asleep than the reverse: it means that you actually were relaxed enough. So don't pay attention to your breathing, position, hallucination, nothing. If you want to scratch, scratch. If you want to roll, do it. You have to fall asleep to achieve a WILD, so just act normally and even if you fail a few times by falling asleep, eventually you'll get it

It's mostly about personal insight, so feel free to test it: try getting up in the middle of the night and staying up for 30minutes, and see if you're able to fall asleep. If not, try a shorter period. You can somewhat tell what stage of sleep you were in depending on if you recall being dreaming or not. For example, when you recall a small dream and woke up to an alarm, means you woke up during REM, and should try to WILD right away. If you wake up normally, you'll have N-REM coming next, so you want to spend a bit more time standing up. Keep yourself in the dark though, we don't want you to screw your circadian cycle (that can tell your body that is time to wake up for good).

As you can see, this works best when you have a regular sleeping schedule, which is extremely important for mastering WILDs. On the other hand, why not focus on both? Several DILD techniques can give you a lucid dream if you fail a WILD, like MILD and Tholey's.

I simply cannot thank either of you guys enough . I shall be referring to your posts often in the coming days, and I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Yes, in the same nights. It takes a little research, but if you do two techs that don't contradict each other, then you can practice both at the same time. Here is my schedule right now:
Initial sleep:
MILD (mantra, visualizations)
Wake up 3 hours later and repeat, then every hour later I'd do this:
MILD (mantra, visualizations) as my anchor for WILD attempt.

So if I fall asleep on a WILD attempt I still have a chance for DILD.

Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

MILD (mantra, visualizations) as my anchor for WILD attempt.

So if I fall asleep on a WILD attempt I still have a chance for DILD.

Very interesting !