The people you see with 100s or even 1000s of lucid dreams...

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Originally Posted by opalwolf

i just put "a lot" in for my lucid count, because i am one of those people that "it came naturally to". I have definitely had hundreds and possibly thousands of lucid dreams. I don't consider myself a "pro" and i do not think there is a "pro" status really. I used to have repeating nightmares as a child and taught myself to recognize when i was sleeping in order to escape the demons i was encountering. This led to me being able to recognize when i am sleeping / dreaming. it wasn't until later that i even learned what a lucid dream was and then got into the "practice" of it. I must admit my prior experience gave me an edge in learning techniques. The BEST advice I can give a beginner is:
1. keep a dream journal
2. improve dream recall
3. NEVER GIVE UP / REMAIN FOCUSED (you can do it!!)

:dancingcow: i think a large part in achieving lucidity in a dream is the belief that you can :dancingcow:

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This is pretty much my storyline, i have always had some level of awareness in my dreams but didnt know what it ment. Here is a copy/paste from another post;

When i was younger, I had bad dreams about being chased and unable to get away. I dealt with it by waking myself up, but I never realized that most people couldn’t do this. As time went on, I had actually developed a power of some sorts over the situation. For example say someone is about to harm me in some way. I would say to the person or monster " you cant not hurt me because i can just wake up". Most of the time the situation would dissolve in some sort of wierd way or if need be, i would force myself to wake up. Having said that, this was before i knew anything about lucid dreaming. Also growing up, in my dreams I would aquire things of value and hide them somewhere like upder my pillow. The thinking was that when I woke up, the things would be there. So there had to be a level of awareness, but I just accepted it as normal.

I didnt know what lucid dreaming was until a little over a year ago I started having LDs about once every few weeks to now having them 2-3 nights a week with a majority of them multiple LDs and FAs. I have recently learned to reconize the FAs which as increased my frequency. Now, i in noway where i want to be. Im actually on a 5 day dry spell and it seems like the harder i try to LD, the less it happens. I would have these dry spells and get frustrated. Then i would decrease my efforts, and then would have several nights in a row with quality LDs. What adds to the frustration is that i have very good dream recall, and have tons of non LDs in which i miss so may dream signs.

maybe its just there lifestyle, living healthy and shit... i personally used to have alot more lucids when i started out, but as i got more into smoking weed, that went down hill

@acillis do some research. smoking weed reduces the amount of REM you have. I've read multiple studies to back this up, It's one of the reasons they give war veterans with PTSD medical marijuana. It takes away their nightmares because it stops REM from happening so much. So if you want to have more lucid dreams, you have to stop smoking weed.

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Originally Posted by opalwolf

@acillis do some research. smoking weed reduces the amount of REM you have. I've read multiple studies to back this up, It's one of the reasons they give war veterans with PTSD medical marijuana. It takes away their nightmares because it stops REM from happening so much. So if you want to have more lucid dreams, you have to stop smoking weed.

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really sucks when you think about it, makes you choose one or the other. Imagine if weed had the opposite effect...

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Originally Posted by tofur

really sucks when you think about it, makes you choose one or the other. Imagine if weed had the opposite effect...

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Oh man that would be glorious, I just made the choice to quit a few days ago to get better at LDing. I would love it if it actually helped :P

Ok. I think my post came across a little pretentious. I also used to LOVE to smoke weed, but i did notice that it affected my ability to dream, which led to me researching it and discovering that it does in fact reduce the amount of REM you have.
On the flip-side though, there is a thing called REM-rebound. This occurs when you are sleep deprived or are otherwise "short" of the amount of REM you are supposed to have. This is why a lot of people experience nightmares and really vivd dreams immediately after they quit smoking weed. (I've had more than one friend tell me they have nightmares if they quit smoking).
SO... my point is that if you really wanted to, you could use weed to suppress your REM (maybe just smoke on weekends?) and then when you stop, expect your brain to play catch up and have a surge of REM-rebound and possibly really vivid and intense lucid dreams.
I hope this makes sense, but I would definitely suggest doing some of your own research. Also I would look into what strain of weed you are smoking. Strains that are high in CBD (sleepy weed) will affect you differently than other strains. From what I've read, CBD is actually really good for your brain.

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Originally Posted by opalwolf

Ok. I think my post came across a little pretentious. I also used to LOVE to smoke weed, but i did notice that it affected my ability to dream, which led to me researching it and discovering that it does in fact reduce the amount of REM you have.
On the flip-side though, there is a thing called REM-rebound. This occurs when you are sleep deprived or are otherwise "short" of the amount of REM you are supposed to have. This is why a lot of people experience nightmares and really vivd dreams immediately after they quit smoking weed. (I've had more than one friend tell me they have nightmares if they quit smoking).
SO... my point is that if you really wanted to, you could use weed to suppress your REM (maybe just smoke on weekends?) and then when you stop, expect your brain to play catch up and have a surge of REM-rebound and possibly really vivid and intense lucid dreams.
I hope this makes sense, but I would definitely suggest doing some of your own research. Also I would look into what strain of weed you are smoking. Strains that are high in CBD (sleepy weed) will affect you differently than other strains. From what I've read, CBD is actually really good for your brain.

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could you post a source for that CBD info?

look at the bottom of this article for the paragraph titled "effects of cannabanoids". :)

Neurogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Never, never, never give up. Above all, the ONLY way to get high numbers of LDs is to never stop trying. Stop trying and you're GUARANTEED never to make it. The difficult part is for those who do not give up, there is no guaranteed formulaic improvement (well, perhaps "follow LaBerge" can get you a long way) in LDing, so you must believe and expect that your efforts will pay off and be really really really stubborn. There was one point where I *refused* to get out of bed until I recalled at least one dream. Obviously that can't work for every one, but that's the sort of thing I'm talking about with dedication.

You have to be willing to research, experiment, and brutally honestly self-evaluate. What's working? What's not? Are you following the basics (REALLY following them?). You may need to reinvent your practice a few times until you find what works for you.

So far I've found most of the high LD count people very friendly and approachable and eager to share their approaches. Use the search feature on the forums and read and read and read all the stuff they post.

Do you have something better to do all night long with the rest of your life?

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

Do you have something better to do all night long with the rest of your life?

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:goodjob2:

I think it becomes a habit, and lucid dreaming has a build up to it, once you start having more and more lucid dreams, you start to get used to it, and have them more frequently. I have them on and off from time to time, it's been so long since I've recorded any, I just try to enjoy my lucid dreams and my regular dreams in general. I meditate at least once a day and it helps my dream recall significantly.

Hey, I dont know why I cant find it myself but where do you set your lucid dream count? lol

My profile > about me > LD count

Practice.

Persistence.

Dedication.

Time.

Effort.

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Originally Posted by Fuzzman

Oh man that would be glorious, I just made the choice to quit a few days ago to get better at LDing. I would love it if it actually helped :P

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Nobody needs drugs when you have lucid dreaming.

Plus, smoking in a lucid dream is beyond amazing.

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Originally Posted by SinisterDezz

Nobody needs drugs when you have lucid dreaming.

Plus, smoking in a lucid dream is beyond amazing.

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how does it differ from smoking while awake? have you taken any other drugs in a LD?

I took LSD in a dream once, that dream got really crazy really fast. Much more "psychedelic" than my actual LSD experiences

Cool I'm going to have to try that. I'm in the military can even think about doing drugs IRW

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Originally Posted by SinisterDezz

Nobody needs drugs when you have lucid dreaming.

Plus, smoking in a lucid dream is beyond amazing.

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Honestly I agree, I'm glad I quit because I'm so excited to be able to lucid dream. It's so much more worth it in my opinion, plus it's free ;) I'd much rather sacrifice smoking weed than choose to not have awesome adventures in my dreams. I'll definitely have to try some drugs in my dreams though once I do get better at LDing and see what that's like.

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Originally Posted by tofur

how does it differ from smoking while awake? have you taken any other drugs in a LD?

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I haven't smoked weed in real life, but it gave me this sort of buzz. Kinda like I was dizzy... but in a good way. I was lightheaded, but in a good way. It was great!

As far as other drugs, I haven't taken anything other than weed.