Why do I fail to attain lucidity on a regular basis?

Hi everyone,

I know the title seems like a question but this is only partially true.. I just need to talk a little.

In my life I had numberous lucid dreams and once I had a very powerful out of body experience. Because of social circumstances I was never able to uphold certain habits that would allow me to have lucid experiences on a regular basis. Some times I could improve the chances to have lucid dreams by convincing myself that I will realize when I'm dreaming and other times it didn't change anything, it is usual that I tend to have lucid dreams randomly which is unfortunate.

A year ago my life has changed significantly because I met my significant other and we live together now, thus a lot of stress has gone away. Now I feel capable of building up a consequent behaviour to uphold habits such as meditation, writing a dream diary, experiment with the WILD technique, reality checks or other techniques that promise results. Still I've got a few questions and would have hoped you might provide me with insightful answers:

How to sleep? Well usualy I go to bed at 12am, sometimes a earlier and sometimes later. Throughout the week I need to get up at 6am or 7am which usually gives me a maximum of 7hours of sleep. Is this enough in order to have lucid dreams on a regular basis or do I need to change this?

How to meditate? At the moment I usually meditate for about 5-7min once or twice a day (never right before bed though). I was wondering about three things:
- When are the best times to meditate, most benefitial for lucid dreaming and how often per day?
- Is it a good idea to practice the WILD technique while meditating, even though I'm sitting instead of laying.
- When I listen to 7hz binaurlar beats I notice being able to calm down much faster and meditate longer, can listening to binuarlar beats improve my changes?

How to WILD? In the past I've been trying to use the WILD technique a number of times and it only rarely worked. The major problem is that I seem not to be able to fall asleep while I lay on my back but if I move to the side, I seem to become so relaxed that I fall asleep unconsciously. Other than that am I not able to wake up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep, it would mess up my sleep cycle and also I would wake up my girlfriend. Under these circumstances is it still possible to even have sucessfull WILD's or would I need to adjust my method?

My goal would be to have lucid dreams every other day or so and it would be best if I could do it with WILD. Considering all I've been talking about - I'm open for all kinds of suggestions and hope to see some significant results in about a year or so..
Is this realistic?

Thanks for your tips!
I will update my progress here if anyone's interested :)

I always recommend working on both WILD and DILD at the same time. Here is a good thread for WILD:
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ild-guide.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initi...ail-wilds.html

They are a really good place to start with WILD. For DILD I recommend this thread:
http://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-...technique.html

Generally you want to work on three things a day!
1) recall! This will increase your memory of dreams and your presentness in dream
2) lucidity! RCs, meditation, visualization, self affirming! Do something for it every day!
3) Sleep Schedule! This is important to remembering dreams, having dreams, and to making your dreams better. I recommend WBTBs, and micro WBTBs as a daily thing.

Here is a thread that I made about getting everything set to LD!
http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...e-told-me.html

Thanks for your answer Sensei, the links you provided will be very helpful! Still there are some open questions could you please answer each of those briefly - I know most of the techniques and I think MILD/DILD combined with WILD will be the best way to go, there are just some details I've always wondered and never could really find a clear answer to it:

- WILD is supposed to work only in combination with WBTB (not possible for me), but is it still possible to WILD successfully right when you go to bed without WBTB?

- How much sleep is the least I need to ensure enough rest for lucid dreaming and how strict has to be my sleep schedule (+-1h/+-2h or even +-3h .. )?

- Mantra (I would use "tonight I will realize when I'm dreaming" and "tonight I will wake up in a dream") do I need to stick to one resp. one per session?

- You didn't adress my question about binaular beats.. does it help or does it not matter so much?

If you could clarify these points it would be very helpful because it would erase all uncertainty I still might have with my current methods..
Thanks a lot!

Why is WBTB not possible? WBTB is one of the biggest helpers for LDing. Every consistent LDer I know uses some form of WBTB. I personally prefer Micro-WBTBs. Waking several times per night for a few minutes to reset intention and write down your dreams.
WILD is possible without WBTB, but it isn't "probable" especially if you haven't had a lot of successful WILDs before. I can do it, but it takes a lot of work and a delicate balance for a long time.

You need enough sleep to feel well rested.

I think that if it is a mantra, it needs to be one mantra. I talk about my mantra in this thread:
http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...s-secrets.html

I personally feel like binaural beats are a waste of time. I don't know any epic LDers that use them, and it seems like it is made by people that "think that it sounds like it should help LDing." some people have reported some LDs from binaural beats, but I don't know anyone that gets "consistent" lucid dreams from using beats.

You should check out the threads I linked! :) Feel free to ask some more questions.

Hey there ClearDreamer,

I very much agree with Sensei. Over the years I've talked to a lot of dreamers. I've never known one to be able to induce lucid dreams on any regular basis right at the start of sleep (with the exception of naps). Sure they *can* happen, and you'll occasionally read stories about such occurrences (I have a few myself), but very rarely with any degree of consistency. So if you're serious about lucid dreaming, finding a way to incorporate some WBTB (or micro WBTB like Sensei) in your sleep schedule is highly advised.

On the topic of mantra's, I believe the important thing is that your mantra conjures a very clear and unambiguous association. To that end, try to clearly recall a dream or lucid dream that made an impression on you. Now 'phrase' that experience as clear and pure as you can in a few words. Try and make a mantra out of that. Make sure you conjure the association along with the words when you pronounce them.

Don't go for mantras that are too generic. Its very easy for words and phrases to lose meaning with repetition (say "I like dreaming" a hundred times in a row and by the end your mind will probably be on an entirely different topic, even though you're still saying the words). Therefor its important you make your mantra specific and above all personal.

Just some added cents,

-Redrivertears-

Maybe you should re-phrase your question to be, "I lucid dream x times per week. How can I increase that to every other night?", instead of, "why do I fail...?".