Naiya's DILD & WILD Secrets

Lucid Dreaming Overview

This is my LD tutorial. It will cover both DILD and WILDs. Since everyone is at a different knowledge and skill level, I'm going to begin with the basics and get deeper into the more technical stuff as I go along. So if you're already fairly knowledgeable, you're welcome to skip right to the good stuff.

The ideas expressed here are based both on my research and heavily on my own experiences. Although I welcome other ideas, I personally think it's pretty silly to argue since every person's mind is unique and what works in one person's dream may not work in another person's.

For lucid dreaming, the two main things you need to succeed are CONSISTENCY and PRACTICE.

For dream control, you need good visualization skills, you need to UNLEARN the rules of the real world by understanding that ALL types of reality are subjective and can be changed by your thinking, most of all the dreamworld. Having faith in yourself is important--you MUST be able to imagine and EXPECT success. And of course, you've got to PRACTICE dream control too!

Dreaming 101

An Oneironaut is someone who explores the dream world via lucid dreaming, also known as conscious dreaming. A lucid dream is a dream in which you are aware you are dreaming while you're still dreaming.

There are many theories about what our dreams mean, where they come from, and why we have them. Freud and Jung believed that our dreams were messages from the unconscious mind, a theory which is still popular today.

Jung also coined a few important terms in dreams which you may want to remember. An archetype is a dream person which represents a being that everyone in the world understands and relates to. There is a Mother Archetype, a Hero archetype, a Mentor archetype and so on.

In your dreams, you may often meet a certain member of the opposite sex. If you are a man, this entity is referred to as your Anima; if you are a woman, your Animus. Your Anima/Animus is often the representation of your masculine or feminine self. Many Oneironauts insist that integrating with your Anima/Animus will result in a feeling of wholeness and completion.

As an Oneironaut you may experience what is known as sleep paralysis. This is a state where a person feels a pressure or force holding them down during sleep. It usually occurs during the sleep-wake transitions, and the person usually knows where they are. Basically, our mind wakes up before our body does. It can be a very frightening experience for one who doesn't know what's going on. If this happens to you, a good way to get out of it is to focus on shaking your head. This is sometimes refered to as "the old hag."

Sleep paralysis can often lead to an Out-of-Body Experience or OBE. This happens when the dreamer feels detached from their body during the dream. Sometimes they can even look back and see their own body. It occurs most often during surgery and sometimes leads to a near-death experience, but it also happens during normal sleep.

Once you are able to have a lucid dream, you may start experimenting with dream control. This is fairly self-explanatory, although many aspects are left out. Most Oneironauts picture dream control as flying like superman or battling with spells, but dream control can also include more subtle things. Here are some types of dream control:

- Steering: Most dreams involve some kind of plot, however strange. When the dreamer wants the plot to go a certain way, they can sort of will it in that direction. The point is that no action (think things you can do in real life to change things) is is needed to change the dream plot. This usually involves doing that Jedi thing where people do what you want them to. You can also control events that you wouldn't be able to awake.

- Environmental: Probably everyone's favorite. This involves stuff like flying, teleporting, going through walls, transforming objects and/or making objects appear.

- Total/Superlucid: This is the the most rare. It's when the dreamer is able to control the dream plot, chracters and environment. I'd like to point out that complete control over every detail may not be possible. Think of trying to mentally reconstruct every detail of each room/field of vision every time you turn around. It's extremely hard to keep the environment stable.

Note that it's completely possible to have both steering and environmental control at the same time. However, I wouldn't count this as total control, since the dreamer is usually only changing SOME, not ALL, factors in the dream.

Lucidity does not equal control. Not all dreams are made equal! Some dreams will be easier to control than others. If you are having trouble with controlling a certain dream, ask yourself if this dream is trying to give you a message that you should be paying attention to.

That being said, your biggest block for control is almost always your own uncertainty. Like Morpheus told Neo, free your mind and let go of your fear. If you believe that gravity exists in your dreams, then it will hold you down. Have faith in yourself and you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine.

Improving Dream Recall and Understanding

A lot of people don't remember their dreams all the time. I have a few pointers for remembering, recording and understanding dreams. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know and I'll update the list.

Good dream recall is the first step to lucid dreaming! This is the foundation. If you remember less than one or two dreams, try some of these methods to help your recall.

Tips For Remembering

If you can remember absolutely nothing at all when you wake up, take a few minutes to stay in bed and try to remember.
- A good way to do this is to slowly think of people, places, and things that are familiar to you. Go through each thing at a time. Was my mother in my dream...? Was my dream about work...? You'd be surprised at how often this works. Just today, I remembered a whole dream because I saw pigs on a TV show. There was an adorable piglet in my dream, and remembering that one little thing brought a flood of information. Sometimes all you need is that one "key" to remember your dream.
-Many people can remember at least the last moment of their dream, but nothing else. This best way to remember the rest of the dream is to simply go backwards, just like you would in remembering something in your childhood. Take your time in doing this. Ask yourself, "What happened right before then?" "How did I get to the train station?" Just keep slowly backtracking. Sometimes you may even be able to remember dreams that you had earlier in the night this way.
-When you wake up in the morning, try to get out of the habit of immediately remembering what you have to do that day. Basically, your dream memories will fade instantly if you replace them with something else in your short-term memory.
-The best thing do to is to wake up with an empty mind and allow yourself to stay in bed, relaxed and without thought, for a few minutes before getting up.
-Above all, don't give up! Good habits take time to form. It may be months before you start to remember your dreams consistently. You just have to stick with it.

Tips For Recording

-To get started, keep a small journal next to your bed so you can write down your dreams when you remember them. I like to use the little spiral journals because I can stick my pencil on the side instead of fumbling around for it on the night-stand.
-Keep the journal close to you so you don't have to get out of bed. For some reason the dream memories just fall right out of your head once you've gotten out of bed or moved around a lot. So try to keep still.
- If you wake up before morning, write down what you remember before you go back to sleep (or before you go to the bathroom).
-It's always useful to write down the times you go sleep and get up (especially those of us in college, whose sleep schedules are erratic). If you remember more than one dream in the night, you can make note of which dream occurred at which time. This may be useful for those of us who sometimes have prophetic dreams or mutual dreams.
-Once you have a dream journal started, you may notice that some dreams have a lot to do with what you did the day before. To help you understand your dreams, you may want to also make notes of what you did during the day (movies you saw, things on your mind, problems at work or people you were with).
This helps a lot when you get a little more advanced, because you'll start finding things in your dreams that connect with your waking life. For example, you dream of an old friend who calls you out of the blue, and a couple of days later you run into them. Now you have personal proof that your dream premonition came true! Pretty cool, huh?

Tips For Understanding

-The most important thing to remember is that the meaning of a dream is subjective. While other people and books can give some good insight, the best person to interpret your dream is you.
-That said, you can gain some understanding by asking for an interpretation by one of our fellow members. We may be able to pick up on something that you hadn't thought of. Also, some dreams are very common and have generally accepted meanings to them.
-Dream dictionaries can be helpful, but be wary of the simplistic meanings. For example, to Person A, a snake in her dream may mean an enemy, liar, or traitor. But for Person B, the snake might mean reincarnation, connections with the earth. or medicine (like the snakes on the EMT uniform). It all comes down to where the dreamer is coming from. The dream dictionaries can give some insight, but as always, believe what feels right to you.
-This one helps the most if you use it along with your journal. When remembering your dream, think about how you were feeling at the time. Feelings and emotions can give us the most telling clues about what our dreams mean.

Lucid Dreaming Disclaimers, Dream Control and Nightmares

A lot of this is based on personal experience, but as always, in matters of the mind (and soul) things are different for everyone. If you are thinking about learning to induce lucid dreams and dream control, you may want to read this first.

There's a lot of misunderstanding about lucid dreams and dream control. Even some of the experts get it wrong. Part of this is because so little research is done in the first place. Not only that, but there are a lot of frauds out there.

Lucidity

A lucid dream is simply a dream where you know you're dreaming while you're still in it. For most people, it's triggered by something. For example, you may see a pot morph into a chair, or floating objects. Your logical self realizes that these things are not possible unless you are dreaming, and that's when the dream becomes lucid.

There are different levels of a lucid dream. Sometimes you are completely aware that you're dreaming, and other times it's just a vague feeling you have. Complete lucidity all night every night is very rare. The highest kind of lucidity is when even the other people in the dream know that it's your dream.

Which leads me to the next point. Lucid dreams are much more common in the early/late morning. Usually, the first part of the night is that total blank state, with a few fleeting images, sounds and sensations. Since dreams get longer as the night goes on, there's a bigger chance to increase awareness.

Basically, while you dream, you feel emotions and experience things much more intensely. In a lucid dream, you tend to feel things even more intensely than in a regular dream. I have found no information that explains why that is.

Lucid dreams and dream control are closely related, but they're definitely not the same thing. You can be lucid and not control the dream, and you can control a dream and only be dimly aware that you're dreaming at all.

Dream Control

Which brings us to dream control. Like a lucid dream, there are different levels of control. Most of the time, you need to know that you're dreaming on some level for this to work. I have found that there are at least three kinds of control, which I've already explained in the first post.

- Steering
- Environmental
- Total

It's completely possible to have both steering and environmental control at the same time. However, I wouldn't count this as total control, since the dreamer is usually only changing SOME, not ALL, factors in the dream.

Again, lucidity does NOT equal control on any level. Some dreams are easier to control than others. That means that you will still have dreams which you cannot control. Some dreams will drag you through and no amount of lucidity or attempt at control can stop it. If this happens to you, think carefully about the dream. There's one thing you can be sure of, and that is that whatever message the dream is trying to get across is important enough to override your conscious mind.

On Ethics and Nightmares

This is where I get into a the rant portion of the post. There are some scientists and psychologists out there who say that lucid dreams and dream control will "cure nightmares." Gah! I could go on for hours about how totally wrong that is.

Using these tools to face your fears in your nightmares CAN make reoccuring nightmares go away. But if you use them to "change" all your nightmares into something pleasant, you're just in denial about the issue that's actually causing the nightmare. Deal with the issue. DON'T make the dream into a Care Bear ending. Use the lucidity to find out what is causing the nightmare. Sometimes all that means is just facing the dream adversary and asking them why they're in your dream.

If you happen to be in a lucid nightmare and you are unable to control it, there's not much you can do besides wake yourself up. Lucid nightmares, like dreams, are more intense than both waking and regular dreaming experiences.

Most of the literature says that it is impossible to have a nightmare and a lucid dream at the same time. I can tell you from personal experience that this is just not true. And you know how your mommy always told you "dreams can't hurt you"? Well, that's a bunch of crap, too. Because anything that convinces your brain that you're hurting is the same as being hurt for real. The only difference is that you don't have any actual physical damage. So dreams can hurt you just as much as your boy/girlfriend dumping you.

For example:

"Ha! You can't hurt me. This is just a drea-Ow! Hey! Wha-ow! "

You get the idea.

Among all the science journals and books at the college's database, there was only one tiny mention of lucid nightmares. It said that lucidity only "cures" something like 80% of nightmares, but never goes on to mention anything about the other 20%. Which...I mean...I think that's kind of important. But oh well.

While these nightmares are only a fraction of all lucid dreams, I think my point here is that lucidity and control won't make everything magically easier despite the praises of certain scientists.

So if you want to learn these techniques, please use them with care and responsibility. When all else fails, do what you feel is right to you.

Having a Routine

The most important thing that will help you have more lucids is consistency. In order to become good at anything, you have to practice. A few lucky people have enough talent to get by without practicing, but the rest of the population will never get anywhere unless they are consistent with their routine.

You need to come up with something that is going to actually be enough to give you more lucids, but is also practical in that you won't just blow it off on a regular basis. For beginners, ten minutes is probably the most you'll really be able to force yourself to do every day, especially since you won't be getting results for a while and that's discouraging.

Always stick to a routine for at least three months before abandoning it for a different one. If you feel stuck in a dry spell, try adding to your routine, but DO NOT take away from your original plan. It takes a long time for things to be internalized, so you have to be patient.

Here's a sample routine:

Morning routine:

Set a second alarm about ten minutes after your first one. When your alarm goes off the first time, try to make a habit of not moving at all--even rolling over (I know it's hard). Again, don't immediately think about the day ahead. Just relax and think back to the last thing you were doing in your dream. Then think about where you were and what you were doing before that, and so on.

Try not to immediately think about the day ahead. Just lay still and try to recall the last thing that happened in your dream. then just slowly ask, "what happened before that?" If you remember nothing, slowly ask yourself if your dream involved any common people in your life, or places or themes. When you've remembered it, write it down immediately. If you don't have time in the morning just jot down some notes/key phrases and fill it in later. That should help improve dream recall.

You may want to keep a little notepad near your bed to jot things down on. Personally, I don't need to write out every detail to remember it so I just jot down a few key words and phrases to refresh my memory later.

Daytime routine:

Do reality checks. Base them on something that pops up a lot in your dreams. When you do your RC, ask yourself, "Where was I before I went through this door? Is my environment logical? How did I get here? What was I doing last before coming here?"

It's really important to consciously think about this, and very important that you answer your questions either by saying them or thinking them out in their entirety. I know it's a pain but I really think that this would give you the quickest shortcut to more LDs.

Also, if you have idle time during the day and you're bored, just think about your dreams a little bit. The more you pay attention to them, the more interesting they will become. Or if you want to, just do a random RC. Look around you, ask how you got there, and ask if your environment/circumstances make logical sense.

Nighttime routine:

Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night! If you can sleep in on a day, 10 hours would be really great. You'll get much longer dreams if you sleep a little longer than usual. Of course, generally speaking it's unhealthy to sleep too much all the time, but most people have jobs and/or school to prevent that.

When you get ready for bed, give yourself about 15-20 extra minutes. Spend the first part of it clearing your mind of all the crap that's gone on throughout your day. Some people find that it helps to imagine setting all of your problems in a little lock box next to your bed. Personally, I used to tell myself, "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep." So I sort of made up a rule to never bring my problems with me to my bed. I imagined putting them on the side of my bed to be picked up in the morning when they needed to be dealt with.

This is where a regular journal is useful because if you are someone who can't let things go, you can write them down and THEN be able to forget them guilt-free.

Once you've cleared your mind, you'll want to do a little autosuggestion. First of all, if you have a specific task or dream or thing you want to do in your LD, now is the time to give yourself that suggestion. Basically, all you're doing is daydreaming of what you want until you fall asleep. Eventually your mind will get the hint and the suggestions will begin to actually show up in your dreams. The second thing you need to do during this period is an affirmation--"I WILL have a lucid dream tonight." Believe it as much as possible.

This is partially why I think most people normally have dreams about their daily life--all they think about is their daily life before they go to sleep.

Definitely try at least one WBTB (Wake Back To Bed) a night. You really don't need to do much more than get up and go to the bathroom or get a glass of water.

When you go back to bed after waking up, clear your mind again and do the same autosuggestion technique. This time you'll probably fall asleep a lot faster so you really don't need to give it an exact time. Just allow the clutter to leave your mind and reaffirm that you will be lucid as soon as you are dreaming.

Other:

Try your hand at meditation. It helps you learn how to calm your mind and let go of little stresses and things that clutter your mind and often even your dreams. If you let go of that stuff on your own, your unconscious will have more time to give you dreams with deeper meanings.

Getting Started with DILDs

There are a few things that give you a better chance of having a lucid dream. First of all, lucid dreams usually occur early in the morning. In other words, the longer you sleep, the better chance you'll have of becoming lucid. The reason for this is that, as the night goes on, your dreams get longer and longer after each sleep cycle.

The longer you sleep, the closer you get to waking up during each dream portion of the sleep cycle. This is exactly what you will learn to take advantage of.

Generally, before you go to sleep at night, you want to be ready to sleep without any thoughts, worries, or negative emotions hanging over your head. So before you go to sleep at night, you may want to do a short energy cleansing and meditation.

You should already have a journal next to your bed, so if you have any thoughts, worries or things you need to get done, write them down first. Then you'll be reminded in the morning, and you have no need to remember them when you should be sleeping. If you start to feel guilty or anxious for letting those things go, tell yourself "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep so I can be alert and healthy tomorrow."

Lastly, as you are falling asleep, tell yourself that you WILL have a lucid dream. Don't think you will. Know you will.

How Long is This Going to Take?

The answer is, as always, it depends. If you are already good at recalling dreams, and you've had a few lucid dreams here and there by chance, you will probably be able to lucid dream a lot faster than someone who started out not even remembering many of their dreams.

Even if two people start out at the same skill level, you have to take into account the fact that we are working with our own minds, and every person is different. There are really no concrete reasons for why some people pick up lucid dreaming faster than others when they seem to start out at the same skill level.

Regular (nightly) lucid dreaming takes AT LEAST a couple of months before it even starts working--that is, WITH a lot of consistence and work. If you aren't consistent, you have almost no chance of becoming lucid regularly. Lucid dreams come from habit and skill.

Most people average several months to a few years to be able to lucid dream every night.

Ways To Lucid Dream

Each of these methods, if practiced every day for several months, should get you frequent lucid dreams. Not every method works for every person, so you may want to try more than one at the same time.

The MOST important thing is consistency. I can't stress this enough. You've got to be patient and have the discipline to keep at it every day.

The following are the most common things people do to have lucid dreams. As always, if you find that something completely different works for you instead of these things, go for what works best for you.

Visualization

In this method, all you really need to do is set aside 10-30 minutes before you go to bed. First, be sure that you have done a cleansing and that you won't be distracted by your daily thoughts.

Sit on your bed and decide what you want to dream about. It helps if you try the same scenario consistently each night. It doesn't have to be something serious--in fact, the more crazy your scenario is, the more likely you'll notice it isn't real when you dream it.

So concentrate on the dream scenario you want, and visualize it panning out. Imagine yourself becoming lucid, and imagine the things you want to do. KNOW that you will lucid dream. In fact, you may want to repeat "I am going to have a lucid dream tonight." to yourself out loud until you believe it.

This method may seem silly at first, but it is the very method I used to learn, and I now have at least a few lucid dreams every single night.

Reality Checks

Reality checks are very simple and easy to do. There are infinite possible reality checks, so you are only limited by your imagination.

The easiest reality check is to simply make a habit of asking yourself "Am I dreaming?" several times a day. Eventually, your habit will bleed into your dreams, and you will ask yourself the question while you sleep.

Once you question your reality, you will notice some of the things in your dream that can't be possible in the real world. Normally, you accept the weird things in your dreams, but once you question them, you will realize that they are out of the ordinary.

I have heard of people doing reality checks such as throwing up little objects and trying to make them float, or looking at their hands or feet (for some reason, hands and feet are easily distorted in dreams, but I don't think that this is universal so I wouldn't rely on it).

Reality checks are good, but it depends on the kinds of dreams you have. For example, when I was a kid my mom taught me the "look at your hands" RC. It never worked because, while I see my hands all the time in my waking life, I never saw them in my dreams. When you do a RC, don't just blankly ask "Am I dreaming?"-- a lot of people complain it doesn't work, and I believe that is because they don't actually consider this question, they just ask it without even thinking about it. When you do a RC, really look around you and think about whether or not your environment makes logical sense.

The RC that worked best for me was the "Where was I last? What was I doing?" You may be surprised that you'll answer "I went to bed!" and of course conclude that you must be asleep. So these things help with DILDs.

Reality Check Addendum

The problem with RCs is that a lot of times, people just mindlessly go “am I dreaming?” and without even considering it, they think “no,” and then totally forget about it. This does absolutely nothing to help you get lucid.

When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

Example of a GOOD answer: “I think this is real because I remember waking up, getting dressed and driving here. I can remember in detail what I had for breakfast. When I toss a pen into the air and try to make it float, I can't do it.” This works because you are testing you surroundings and memories against LOGIC. Not only that, but you're physically testing reality. If you want, you can try the classics such as looking at your hands or holding your nose to test reality.

Example of a BAD answer: “This feels real.” While you'll never confuse your waking life with a dream, ALL of your non-lucids will always “feel real.”

Dream Signs

For this method to work, you absolutely MUST have a good dream journal going, and have a good understanding of the repeated symbols, scenarios, and themes in your dreams.

Many of us will have certain people, places, objects, or situations that are repeatedly in our dreams. These things are NOT in our waking life, but they appear at least once a week in our dreams. These are what I am talking about when I mention dream cues.

Once you have a good understanding of things which exist solely in your dream world, you can focus on seeing them at night before you go to sleep via the visualization method above. This isn't necessary, but it will increase the chances of having your dream cues more often and becoming lucid.

Eventually, while you are dreaming, you will recognize one of your dream cues and become aware of the dream.

Or You Could do it the Easy Way...

Okay, here's my biggest secret. You really don't need any techniques at all to have a lot of DILDs! (I bet some people who read all that stuff are gonna be mad now. Haha. Sorry you guys.)

Even if you're not a natural, you can teach yourself to think like one. If you can do that, you'll have LDs all the time without really trying.

The thing that works best is simply awareness. And I really mean awareness.

Most people go through their days thinking about where they need to be going next, and what they need to be doing, and wondering where they should be eating. They spend very little time being truly aware of their surroundings.

This is where that meditation stuff really helps, by the way! Meditation teaches the kind of awareness I'm talking about.

The easy way to LD is a state of constant awareness. Make your day one big long reality check. Only instead of a specific RC, begin to question everything around you at once. Quiet your mind, and simply be aware of your state of consciousness. Be aware of the FEELING of LIVING and being AWAKE. It's a much different feeling than being asleep or even astral projecting.

I believe that many natural LDers do this unconsciously. They just "know" when they are dreaming because they know it feels different. This also may explain why naturals have a hard time explaining exactly how they get lucid. They don't really GET lucid...they ARE lucid every moment of the day and night.

Also, during the day, remember that reality, too, is subjective. In a way we human beings are always dreaming, because our minds are always interpreting what our senses are gathering, trying to make sense of what's around us. Is reality objective, or is reality simply the interpretation we get in the end? Human beings are truly unable to examine the objective world completely.

By the way, if you already have problems distinguishing reality from a dream, or have schizophrenia, or any other serious mental conditions I DO NOT advise you do this, because if your mind is unstable the last thing you should be doing is questioning reality or considering reality a dream.

The best way to learn about awareness is to pick up a book on meditation, Buddhism, or Taoism. Meditation is a tool that can teach you what true mindfulness feels like. The real trick to getting lucid is to keep that feeling of awareness going on all the time, even if it's not always completely conscious.


Awareness Addendum:

The key to constant awareness comes from the fundamental idea that all reality is another facet of a dream. Time is illusionary. Today will soon fade and cease to exist. Everything you know in this world can be changed in an instant, at any time, for any reason. This is just the same way your dreams are. This is what Dream Yoga teaches. All things are illusionary, all things change, and all things fade. This is the reality of existence.

-Everyone has some ideas as to what they want to do in their lucid dreams. So think of a lucid dream that you want to have tonight.


Got an idea? Now that you've thought of a good dream, try visualizing it. It helps to use real memories....for example, imagine that you're tasting the chocolate, and at the same time remember how chocolate tasted the last time you had some. Decide what the buildings look like, who will be there, what you will do, and make it all as detailed as possible. Basically, daydream.

-Remember that every moment today passes, becoming nothing but memory, as a dream. All things are illusionary, and all things in constant flux.

Keep in mind that right now, this reality, is only another form of dream. Keep this in mind as often and as long as possible. So when you do reality checks (hopefully frequently, since RCing a lot during the day can help ease you into a constant state of awareness), try to think about some of these things.

How to WILD

A lot of people have asked me how I have WILDs, and since my way of doing it is a little different than most, I thought I'd explain how I do it here.

The first and most important part is the WBTB. For me, it only needs to last about 30 seconds. I wake up naturally between dreams/sleep cycles so it's pretty easy for me.

If you never wake up at all during the night, you'll have to set an alarm. Try to set it for about 4-6 hours after you first fall asleep. While it is possible to WILD before sleeping at all, generally I've found it a LOT easier when you're already somewhat rested. So it works best either during the day for a nap, or after about a half night's sleep or more.

So in your WBTB, you want to be drowsy, but your want to keep your mind alert. So just get up out of bed, write down any dreams you had so far, go to the bathroom, get a sip of water, ect. Try not to watch TV or read--you want to keep your mind in sleep mode and it may be harder to fall back asleep.

Be sure that when you go back to bed, you're not in the same position you woke up in. It helps a lot to be in a position that you don't normally sleep in, so for example if you sleep on your side, then lie down on your back for the WILD.

This is where meditation really helps. When you lie down, first you want to keep all your normal daily thoughts from popping up. If you start thinking about the day ahead, or what your friend said to you or what project you need to finish at work, you will not be successful. So be sure to clear your mind of any intrusive, distracting thoughts. Remember--don't try too hard to force them out. Just like with meditation, let yourself finish the thought, and then redirect your attention to being aware of the environment.

White noise really helps. I usually have a fan on all night. Try to focus your attention to the white noise. As you're falling asleep, do you notice any strange distortions in the sound? I usually almost hear faint music, or sometimes whispers. This is passive HI. What you want to do is actively control it now. This will get your mind into the state of lucidity AND dream control before you're even really asleep.

So when you start to hear the weird little distortions, think of something to change them into. For example, it sounds like creepy faint whispers. Make them more audible and make them say funny things instead. Or change it into music. Remember to be constantly and actively changing what you're hearing. This should also help keep you from having those horrible attacks of random itchy spots that will jolt you awake again and ruin the whole WILD.

After a while, you should go into some kind of sleep paralysis. When you do, it'll be pretty obvious. Remember not to try to jerk your limbs to see if you're in SP, because even if you are asleep this action could wake you up again. Gently try to move a finger, or a hand. You'll likely start hearing loud ringing or roaring sounds in your ears. Don't let the SP scare you. You need to keep calm, and not let it drag you into unconsciousness.

Keep in mind that you may not always go into SP! If it's been several minutes and you've been focusing on the sounds you're creating, move on to the next step.

So now that your body is asleep, it's time to segue into your lucid dream. So instead of focusing on changing the sounds, now you want to start visualizing yourself inside your lucid dream. At first it'll be like watching it happen on TV, but very soon your mind will accept it as the dream and you'll jump right into it naturally. This is what's known as a mental WILD.

Before you ever go to bed, you may want to decide on what dream you want to have in your WILD. The crazier it is, the better. Visualize yourself having the dream during your WILD. During the day, imagine yourself in the dream and imagine what the environment will be like, the characters, and what you want to do in it. This will make it much easier for you to visualize the dream when you want to WILD.

You may see your dream in a sort of tunnel vision at first. This happens sometimes. Just try not to focus on the fact that the vision is limited. Just stay relaxed and be aware of what you CAN see, and eventually it will begin to get larger. Don't stare at it too hard, or it may disappear. Keep your eyes relaxed and watch it grow in the same way you watch someone go by in the corner of your eye.

Once your dream is starting to become realistic in your eyes, be sure to remind yourself again that it IS a dream, and allow the environment to become the dream instead of trying to control it anymore. Your subconscious will keep it more or less, stable, allowing you to move on to the fun stuff you're planning on doing.

Dream Work and Dream Control

Common Problems in Lucid Dreaming



One of the biggest blocks people complain about is waking up just after becoming lucid in a dream. the reason this happens is that, when you are lucid, you are already extremely close to waking up. So when your consciousness jolts, your brain wakes you up.

The only real way to get past this is to just practice and try not to get overexcited once you become lucid.

Once you are lucid, theoretically you should be able to go straight to dream control. Tell yourself, "I'm going to fly!" and just do it. The majority of you won't need any further help than this.

However, some people may have to take some time to "unlearn" the restrictions of their waking life. This is much easier to do if you have some kind of spirit guide to help you, as it is with astral travel.

Again, it just takes practice. You may want to start with small things, like morphing objects. Since objects often morph or mutate on their own in dreams, this should be fairly easy.


Dream Control and Experiments



Once you begin having lucid dreams, you can start practicing dream control right away. There really isn't a right way to do this. All you need to do is practice and try different things. In this state, you are literally only limited by your imagination.

Here are a few things you can try:

Flying--Everyone's favorite. If you're still having trouble with blocks, try jumping from a tall building and gliding or slowing your descent.

Lights--This is a simple form of control, but it's actually very hard to do. Turn out the lights. Now turn them back on. It's harder to get the lights back on, isn't it?

Marbles--Create a small bag of marbles. Take them out, name the colors that you see, and then mutate the marbles into objects of that color. Congratulations, you have now just proven that dreams are, in fact, in color.

Explore and Alter the Environment--Once you've got the hang of creating things, start with even bigger things like buildings and dream characters. Create a pool, an amusement park or a mansion. Relax and just enjoy yourself.


Dream Healing



Lucid dreaming can be very therapeutic. When you are asleep, the part of your brain that restrains your emotions essentially shuts off. This may explain why we are so very emotional in our dreams.

If you have a current issue or problem in your life, you can try to work it out through your dreams. There are a number of books of the subject, and the idea is becoming more and more popular among therapists.

If your problem deals with a specific person or situation and you have an idea of what you must do, you can create the problem situation in your dream. Once you have that done, you can try to do some role-playing with your dream characters. This way, you can practice resolving the situation in a realistic setting. Try not to influence your dream characters to act out of character. While it may help your ego, once it's time to deal with the problem for real, you won't be very prepared.

Another thing you can do is ask your subconscious mind directly. In a dream, every person you see is you. Talk to one of your dream characters about our problem and ask for their advice. You may be very surprised at how helpful their answers are. If you are especially intuitive, your dream characters may even make accurate predictions about your situation.


Confronting Nightmares


One of the most popular uses of lucid dreaming is the "curing" of nightmares. I have already done my rant about this in the original dream thread, so I won't bore anyone by repeating it here. In any case, studies show that with lucid dreaming you can cure up to 80% of your nightmares.

Now, if you have a repeated nightmare, it probably means something. So while you can use your dream control to change the plot, I don't suggest you do it just because it's the easy way out.

However, some nightmares are about fears which need to be overcome. In this case, I encourage you to empower yourself and defeat your dream adversary. It is a good idea to refrain from destroying a dream adversary right away. After all, it is there for a reason. The best course of action is to disarm your foe, and then start asking questions.

"Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?" The dream adversary will usually be very candid. It exists to get your attention after all, and now it HAS your attention. It can send its message directly to you instead of scaring you into remembering the dream.

Thanks! very helpful

Hi Naiya

That was a fantastic read - thank you so much for putting it together and sharing it. :)

Cham

Great job Naiya!

Hi Naiya. Thanks so much for posting this...it's been helpful already. I was "adopted" recently by Chameleon, a "Natural" LD'er, who stressed the importance of mindfullness right from the get-go as of utmost importance. My dream life has already imporved a great deal simply by following through on the dream journaling, RC's and trying to live in the moment, in a mindfull manner. It occured to me when we first talked that what she was trying to teach me was to "be awake ALL the time, even when you're asleep." lol! Again, thanks so much for posting this helpful and supportive guide.

___________
DILD: 1 !!!!!

Adopted By: Chameleon

I'm so glad you finally made one! Tutorial material right here!

Brilliant posts, thanks a ton. :)

Woah...I'll read the whole thing tomorrow, but it sure looks useful. Great work!

A very good summary of all the things I've learned. And I'll second the importance of awareness. In the end, mere "techniques" are only scraping the surface.

Fantastic information and beautiful insight. Thanks =)

I thank you greatly for taking the time to write this.

Great information in all the posts. I'll third the importance of awareness. At first I was reading and going "But I don't use any techniques like that to get DILDs" and then I found that part. Wasn't nice putting it so far down! I agree totally with that passage from personal experience.

Thanks for also clarifying that a lucid dream is just one where you know you are dreaming, because some newbies think you need control. And Hell, I sure can relate to pain in dreams as well!

However, I think my mind is broken because my emotions are dulled in dreams. Oh well, all us lucid dreamers are considered crazy enough that it doesn't matter! (But of course we know better)!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yosemine

However, I think my mind is broken because my emotions are dulled in dreams. Oh well, all us lucid dreamers are considered crazy enough that it doesn't matter! (But of course we know better)!

---

I almost never have emotions in dreams, and I rarely do in real life. All the crazy stuff that happens in my dreams never really makes me feel any certain way, I kind of just experience it and take it as it is. I don't think that means your mind is broken, but if it does, you're not alone.

thank you for a wonderful guide. I think I'm beginning to understand how DILD's really work! In fact I had a DILD last night and I remember thinking in my dream that I really must thank you for this, lucid dreaming just got so much easier! :banana:

Wow. This puts to shame any other tutorial I've read. It's better than all other LDing resources COMBINED. Thanks for putting this up.

You managed to get me into a state of awareness I couldn't reach ever since I read ETWOLD.

I'm your fan already! :D

Naiya you are a freakin' genious!!! Now i have to read it again and do the stuff.
One more time.
:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana::banana::banana:YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

White noise really helps. I usually have a fan on all night. Try to focus your attention to the white noise. As you're falling asleep, do you notice any strange distortions in the sound? I usually almost hear faint music, or sometimes whispers. This is passive HI. What you want to do is actively control it now. This will get your mind into the state of lucidity AND dream control before you're even really asleep.

So when you start to hear the weird little distortions, think of something to change them into. For example, it sounds like creepy faint whispers. Make them more audible and make them say funny things instead. Or change it into music. Remember to be constantly and actively changing what you're hearing. This should also help keep you from having those horrible attacks of random itchy spots that will jolt you awake again and ruin the whole WILD.

---

I think I know exactly what you are talking about. I have a computer in my room with a very audible fan inside. All I need to do is "get" it to whisper stuff while I attempt the WILD? Can I substituite that instead of concentrating on breathing?

Thanks to all for your comments. I'm glad this was useful! :boogie:

Mini: To answer your question, I never ever pay attention to my breathing when I WILD. Like you say, I replace the attention to breathing with attention to the white noise and the HI. When you feel like you're starting to experience the hallucinations, even in the slightest bit, you'll find that it's easy to steer and change them, and actively doing that means you're getting your mind in the state it needs to be in for dream control before the dream ever starts. Also, I find that doing something active like that helps keep the focus off our physical bodies and keeps us from falling unconscious during the WILD. :)

After listening to your interview and reading this, I have decided to give the awareness thing a go.

I am worried that I will forget to stay aware and my mind will wonder onto other things.
I was wondering if you have advice on how to keep your mind focused on dreaming all day?

Thanks. :D

When it comes to constant awareness, I actually did a workshop with Luminous on another website last year. Maybe I can look back and repost a few of the tips I wrote for it here. If you want to go deeper into the idea, you can pick up a book on Dream Yoga, just be aware that it would be within a certain cultural and religious context. But my tips, in short:

-When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

-The key to constant awareness comes from the fundamental idea that all reality is another facet of a dream. Time is illusionary. Today will soon fade and cease to exist. Everything you know in this world can be changed in an instant, at any time, for any reason. This is just the same way your dreams are. This is what Dream Yoga teaches. All things are illusionary, all things change, and all things fade. This is the reality of existence.

-Everyone has some ideas as to what they want to do in their lucid dreams. So think of a lucid dream that you want to have tonight.


Got an idea? Now that you've thought of a good dream, try visualizing it. It helps to use real memories....for example, imagine that you're tasting the chocolate, and at the same time remember how chocolate tasted the last time you had some. Decide what the buildings look like, who will be there, what you will do, and make it all as detailed as possible. Basically, daydream.

-Remember that every moment today passes, becoming nothing but memory, as a dream. All things are illusionary, and all things in constant flux.

Keep in mind that right now, this reality, is only another form of dream. Keep this in mind as often and as long as possible. So when you do reality checks (hopefully frequently, since RCing a lot during the day can help ease you into a constant state of awareness), try to think about some of these things.

Actually I might as well repost everything on doing a good RC:



The problem with RCs is that a lot of times, people just mindlessly go “am I dreaming?” and without even considering it, they think “no,” and then totally forget about it. This does absolutely nothing to help you get lucid.



When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

Example of a GOOD answer: “I think this is real because I remember waking up, getting dressed and driving here. I can remember in detail what I had for breakfast. When I toss a pen into the air and try to make it float, I can't do it.” This works because you are testing you surroundings and memories against LOGIC. Not only that, but you're physically testing reality. If you want, you can try the classics such as looking at your hands or holding your nose to test reality.

Example of a BAD answer: “This feels real.” While you'll never confuse your waking life with a dream, ALL of your non-lucids will always “feel real.”

Nice, you are using the same WILD technique as me :)

The only difference is that I dont need external soundsources to get it started. I think when you are in a quiet environment and listen in to your head, you will naturally hear a slight hissing or rushing sound, at least thats the case for me. The harder part is making it clearer and louder, but it can be achieved with practice. I usually try to get it to a good volume, then I turn the rushing sounds into something that is more like a vibrating sine wave. This will almost automatically put me into SP and I then know that I can safely get up with my non-physical body.

My main problem is that I need a really quiet environment to get things started. I dont mind a consistent noise like a computer fan (I can use that instead of listening to the inner sounds), but even slightly unrhythmic noises like someone sleeping next to you breathing in their sleep can become a pretty frustrating distraction. I should probably learn another not so audio-based technique to WILD.

Yeah. Actually I pretty much just use a fan, too. I like having some kind of white noise like that to sleep by. :)

Awesome tutorial Naiya, thanks a lot!

hey naiya!
this tutorial is lovely.
specially the part about awareness.
tell me how did you started with this and what type of results did you have!
I tried that thing of awareness, but I always get to 10 days and I become tired of it...
in 1 month will be my birthday, and from that day on, I will try this thing again, as powerful as I can.
ok, thanks, great read!

bye

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Actually I might as well repost everything on doing a good RC:



The problem with RCs is that a lot of times, people just mindlessly go “am I dreaming?” and without even considering it, they think “no,” and then totally forget about it. This does absolutely nothing to help you get lucid.



When you do a reality check, don't ask if you're dreaming. Assume that you ARE dreaming. Now ask, “why do I think this is real?”

Example of a GOOD answer: “I think this is real because I remember waking up, getting dressed and driving here. I can remember in detail what I had for breakfast. When I toss a pen into the air and try to make it float, I can't do it.” This works because you are testing you surroundings and memories against LOGIC. Not only that, but you're physically testing reality. If you want, you can try the classics such as looking at your hands or holding your nose to test reality.

Example of a BAD answer: “This feels real.” While you'll never confuse your waking life with a dream, ALL of your non-lucids will always “feel real.”

---

What a good explanation. I will definetally get in the habit of this.

i love you.

Thanks a million! This is very helpful, i'm gonna try meditating tonight to clear my thoughts and remove negative thoughts. The part that you said to know what you want to dream about always gives me trouble, i can never decide what i want to dream about. Thanks for the info, i'm sure this will help others as well.

I am starting to seriously doubt if I'll ever be capable of WILDing. Here's why:

For two years - before I even knew WILD existed, and when my knowledge of LDs was only superficial - I used to meditate every afternoon. I would relax until HIs started, I would watch the HIs and sometimes dream scenarios would pop into my head. I could watch the dreamscapes unfold a bit and even explore them, but on not one occasion did I actually enter a dream. I obviously couldn't have been trying too hard because I didn't know WILD existed!

Thoughts?

Thanks Naiya ,

This tips are very handy for me thanks a lot for wonderful share.


REGARDS.

Very nice work Naiya, this should come in useful right away as I'm getting back into lucid dreaming after one of my extensive 'can't be screwed' spells. I find it incredible after so many lucid dreaming tutorials on the site you *still* managed to cover some new ground, and take to it with a different approach.

Again... Nice job :D.

Naiya~~~

I really enjoyed reading all of this, and last night I tried your wild method without wbtb...cause I dont get enough sleep for that atm and I too sleep with a fan on. and you know what? it ALMOST worked...almost as in once sleep paralysis hit me instead of the vibrations most people get my body got very violent vibrations that shook me awake. It was not fun :( but Im trying again tonight

TheWeirdnessSymposium: Hmm, it certainly does sound like they could have been full-on dreams. A few times when I have done a WILD, the dream was entirely in the third person. May I ask, do your regular dreams usually happen in the third person, or the first person?

I'm torn between telling you that 1. Anyone can WILD and 2. Everyone is different. I'm leaning toward the former, but I wouldn't rule out the latter completely since I couldn't say for sure if there are some people who can't WILD in the first person. I think that you should at least give it more practice and see where it takes you. Now that you know what a WILD is, perhaps the knowledge that you can enter the dream consciously or forcibly will help you this time around.


*
tkdyo: WILD is kind of tricky, so much that I rarely expect someone to get it right on their first few tries. So if this was one of your first tries, I think you should be very happy you were so close. Most people don't even get to the vibrations that easily. I'm sorry that the SP/vibrations scared you and woke you--they can be pretty freaky sometimes, and to be honest they will not always feel exactly the same every time, so sometimes they'll be too strong to keep you asleep, and other times you will go into the WILD without feeling any.

Just remember to keep practicing. That's the most important piece of advice I could ever give you--keep trying, don't give up and you WILL get the hang of it, I promise.

thank you for the encouragement. Though, they didnt scare me, they were just too strong. I have tried a couple wilds in the past. the very first one I did get scared out of because I heard a very loud hollow sound like someone hit me over the head with a pcp pip...and one other time I got to the point where I felt like I was sliding down the bed, but couldnt get any HI. so, maybe I have a natural tendency for the physical part...see what happens tonight.

Wow! So it sounds like you do tend to get very physical hallucinations. I can see how that would make it a little harder since it's hard not to be woken by them.

unfortunately yes. I want to find a way to deture that...but Im not sure how. I already do mma 4 times a week that should make my muscles tired enough ><

Hi Naiya

My dreams are virtually always in the first person.

Reflecting on my situation, I know that I've never reached SP while meditating, but since discovering WILD early September I've got close - or been in SP - a couple of times. There's hope, I guess. :)

Generally an interesting thread.

But I would have thought that definative statements on OBEs, Astral Travelling and Dream Healing have no place in the main forum.

Yeah, this guide was originally posted on another website, so the mentions of AP & OBE I left in mainly due to laziness. As for healing dreams, I have read about them in books strictly on lucid dreaming (i.e. Conscious Dreaming by Robert Moss) so I don't necessarily consider them BD material.

plus its not that hard to read over...

Thanks for this tutorial Naiya. After interviewing you I am now very interested in the constant awareness/reality check. I will try it for a long time and see if it works!

Have you posted the interview anywhere??? I'd like to hear this one.

Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...8EFA61CDD57D0F

here is the youtube playlist. click play all.

Thanks, that was great! Good stuff Nayia. A few questions. Feel free to ignore any that you've already answered elsewhere on the forum, or that you simply don't have the energy or interest to answer.

You said you have about 7 dreams a night. Do you remember them all in the morning? Or do you wake up briefly after each one?

Has lucid dreaming had an effect on your daily life? Does the ability to fulfill all your desires in your dream life make you less interested in your daily life?

I liked the advice you gave about separating the ethereal body from the physical body during SP. About a month ago after attending meditation class (satsang) the night before I woke up in the morning, went back to sleep, and then started hearing music in my head. I knew it was dream music. It was pitch black but I started moving my non physical arms around. I could feel them moving but I couldn't see them. They felt more like "me" then my physical arms do. It was incredible! (It's so weird how I've been having all these mini lucid dreaming breakthroughs simply from reading ETWOLD and reading the forum etc.) My biggest block seems to be fear. I've long been into Advaita/Zen and self inquiry. Asking the profound question "who am I". Many teachers say our true nature is pure awareness. Often when I become lucid, I become aware that it's all in my head and that I don't really have a body. It freaks me out and I wake up right away. I think it's a fear of nothingness/emptiness. It's as if I want to wake up and get grounded in my physical body and be back in daily reality. Can you relate to any of this? You mentioned having some fear with SP. How did you break through your fear?

Thanks,
Zenman

Hey Zenman,

I am a very light sleeper--I can only remember sleeping a full 7-8 hours straight maybe twice in my life. I usually sleep about 2-4 hours, then wake up naturally, then wake up after every subsequent sleep cycle (30-90 minutes). I always wake up at the end of a dream, so it's easy to remember them. I don't write them all down every night--usually just the ones that really stuck with me, and the lucids. But before I go back to sleep, I'll jot down a couple of sentences describing the dream to jog my memory in the morning.

It's funny you mention fear of emptiness/nothingness. For a long time I was afraid of seeing oceans in dreams, even lucids, because I associated the ocean with death--and what I fear most about death is the possibility of emptiness, nothingness, eternity, ect. Existing in some for or another for an eternity is just as scary as oblivion. They both pretty much seem the same.

I'm not entirely over it, but I don't panic at the sight of the ocean or space anymore; I can feel peaceful looking into them. :)

When it comes to SP, I think it's just like any other new experience--the more times you do it, the less scary it gets. For me, if there were scary hallucinations, when I figured out that I could control or change them, it was like "oh!" Also, since I learned to use SP to WILD, even though it can be a bit startling when it first starts I'm happy because I know I'm about to WILD.

Thanks for your reply Naiya, you're an awesome dream guide. I'll probably have more questions for you in the future.

ZM

The best guide i have ever read. MAD PROPS!

Thanks. :D

And yeah, if you guys ever have any more questions you can post them here or PM me. :)

Amazing guide! :bowdown:

WOW I just found this thread and im goin to try the WILD technique tonight

Not many messages of actual success in this thread so I figured I'd post mine. After 2 days of using (mostly) Naiya's DILD technique (mainly the part about Autosuggestion, specifically doing it during a WBTB as well) I was able to have my best Lucid Dream to date. If not the technique, then at least the motivation it provided was very helpful.

Thank you Naiya. :)

Yay! I'm so glad it helped you. :D

Thanks!!!! That was everything you need in one place!! :)

What a great tutorial! Many thanks Naiya :)

Hey, how long do I need to meditate before I get to that "continuous reality check" stage? I think that's going to be my new goal

I had a lucid dream last night using the autosuggestion tutorial from this thread. I woke up in the middle of the night, stayed away for about 5 minutes and laid down again. After clearing my mind I just kept repeating to myself "I will be lucid when I begin dreaming." and sure enough, I remember seeing a room and "Lucid dream" popping up in big white letters, I did a reality check, gained lucidity, and ............. woke up :p

Oh well, it's a good start.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by A dreamer168

Hey, how long do I need to meditate before I get to that "continuous reality check" stage? I think that's going to be my new goal

---

Realistically? It depends on the person, but it is a long term goal to have that constant awareness. So think months or years. :disconcerted:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Exdream

I had a lucid dream last night using the autosuggestion tutorial from this thread. I woke up in the middle of the night, stayed away for about 5 minutes and laid down again. After clearing my mind I just kept repeating to myself "I will be lucid when I begin dreaming." and sure enough, I remember seeing a room and "Lucid dream" popping up in big white letters, I did a reality check, gained lucidity, and ............. woke up :p

Oh well, it's a good start.

---

Yay! Well congrats on the lucid! I'm sorry you woke up before you could so anything, though...that still happens to me every once in a while, but the only way to get around the problem is to just practice getting lucid, then relaxing and calming yourself enough to make sure the dream keeps stable before moving on to fun stuff.

Every word was absolutely dillicious! Thank you for putting this together!

Wow, that helps me clear things up a bit. Thanks! And thank you for taking the time to write it!

Now I'm sure of having my first lucid tonight!:banana:

Thank you so much Naiya!

This is great!!! I am definatly trying these methods, as I haven't been overly successful in the past. Here goes nothing! hahaha.

Wow... I'm blown away! You should make a book or something! You wouldn't have any problems with filling at least 100 small pages with this!

Thank you so much Naiya, I've just woken up from my first lucid dream in months after reading all of that last night!

When I woke up after a short non lucid, I tried your WILD technique but I just couldn't get to SP using it. I'm not good at judging time but I would guess I laid there at least 10-15 minutes without any results both times I tried. However, after spending that much time trying and not getting any results I stopped trying and just fell asleep.

After thinking about it, I remember the dream began with me waking up in some random house but the real vivid lucid part began in a superstore much like Wallmart. From there it spiraled into the most epic LD I've had in years. To me, it seems to have unfolded much like a movie and felt just about as long. It had an introduction (Getting used to the powers I 'had' and showing off to one random individual), a problem (Someone I know is missing! People are worried!), and an epic finale (People with powers are guarding her!? Damn you Mr. Ponytail!).

Thanks again for your tutorial and insight on how to RC better. I know it'll help me again in the future.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buddy

Thank you so much Naiya, I've just woken up from my first lucid dream in months after reading all of that last night!

When I woke up after a short non lucid, I tried your WILD technique but I just couldn't get to SP using it. I'm not good at judging time but I would guess I laid there at least 10-15 minutes without any results both times I tried. However, after spending that much time trying and not getting any results I stopped trying and just fell asleep.

After thinking about it, I remember the dream began with me waking up in some random house but the real vivid lucid part began in a superstore much like Wallmart. From there it spiraled into the most epic LD I've had in years. To me, it seems to have unfolded much like a movie and felt just about as long. It had an introduction (Getting used to the powers I 'had' and showing off to one random individual), a problem (Someone I know is missing! People are worried!), and an epic finale (People with powers are guarding her!? Damn you Mr. Ponytail!).

Thanks again for your tutorial and insight on how to RC better. I know it'll help me again in the future.

---

Just out of interest Buddy, what specifically from the tutorial was of the greatest help?

If I had to pick any one, I'd say her fifth post was the most helpful. The post on reality checks was also very helpful.

Very well explained Naiya, Thank You :)

Did u mention anything about autosuggestion, Naiya?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Naiya

White noise really helps. I usually have a fan on all night. Try to focus your attention to the white noise. As you're falling asleep, do you notice any strange distortions in the sound? I usually almost hear faint music, or sometimes whispers. This is passive HI. What you want to do is actively control it now. This will get your mind into the state of lucidity AND dream control before you're even really asleep.

---

Oh good. I have a fan in my room, though it's deffinately louder than a computer/ laptop fan. I will focus on it and try to change it to something

Great tutorial

Hi,

So do you think if I slept at around 11PM and set an alarm for 5, then at 5 went back to sleep repeating "I will realize that I'm dreamimg" over and over then I'll hopefully become lucid?

no success i recalled no dreams this morning.. ill keep trying

Your tutorial is really great! Thanks to your explanation of how to RC I had a lucid dream. I did exactly what you said while I was in a dream and then when I tested to see if I could fly, I became lucid.:banana::banana::banana::banana: I love your tips and they have been of great help. :bravo:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ah19

Hi,

So do you think if I slept at around 11PM and set an alarm for 5, then at 5 went back to sleep repeating "I will realize that I'm dreamimg" over and over then I'll hopefully become lucid?

no success i recalled no dreams this morning.. ill keep trying

---

I think this is a good way to do it. If you want an extra boost, try repeating your mantra before you go to bed initially, too. Or, if you find the mantra hard to repeat when you are tired (or the reverse, it's keeping you awake), try to remember the last vivid dream you had and imagine yourself lucid in it. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Naiya

I think this is a good way to do it. If you want an extra boost, try repeating your mantra before you go to bed initially, too. Or, if you find the mantra hard to repeat when you are tired (or the reverse, it's keeping you awake), try to remember the last vivid dream you had and imagine yourself lucid in it. :)

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thanks a lot naiya, i've been improving my dream recall (recalled 3 today) and i followed the suggestion about the mantra b4 bed and then during the short wakeup at 5am, and guess what... i had a dream where i was talking to a friend and i said "this is a dream..." and some other stuff... but i didnt become lucid :( im worried that i failed to become lucid at such an obvious sign and im wondering so you have any suggestions, because if i failed at such an obvious sign i will have no chacne at the more discreet ones

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Originally Posted by Naiya

I think this is a good way to do it. If you want an extra boost, try repeating your mantra before you go to bed initially, too. Or, if you find the mantra hard to repeat when you are tired (or the reverse, it's keeping you awake), try to remember the last vivid dream you had and imagine yourself lucid in it. :)

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That's a fantastic idea! I am finding repeating the mantra to myself is keeping me awake. Though, I thought I might put a bit of a spin on it, and think about some reoccuring dreamsigns I have, and imagining myself becoming lucid once I see them... how about that?

@ah19 Don't beat yourself up over missing a chance to become lucid over something that seems obvious! Many of us are beginners here, I think we can all agree that when we dream, we generally take everything at face value, and accept things as they are (including odd looking letters, time never stays the same, you have six fingers on one hand! The list goes on). That's why we're here, to teach ourselves awareness and make it intrinsic - so that when we see something in our dreams, we question it the way we have been doing in waking life.

Anyways, you're DEFINITELY not the only one who misses something that should be obvious. Go check out this thread and have a laugh over what others have admitted to missing :) http://ww.dreamviews.com/community/s...ad.php?t=29419

Remember, practice and it takes time!

Edit: Whoops! Sorry for the double post! I was wondering why that "Reason for editing" box didn't pop up at the bottom when I was adding the response to @ah19! *RC's.... yep... still awake*

Eternal Star, I deleted the other post, so no worries. :)

hello
tell me something...
this is what I understand to be aware, and that will help in dreams...A LOT.

for me, is being totally aware of my 5 senses.
I mean, totally living trought what I see, what I smell, what I taste, what I feel and hear.
what do you think?
will it work?
how much time did it take you with a method based on awareness? what things brought to you?(I heard the podcast, but these questions....)

ok, thanks!

bye!

Hey Mariano. :)

Check your PM box.

Great guide!
Im new on dreamviews and was advised to read your guide. And so i did. Im glad i did.
Even though im totally new in lucid dreaming, i felt the guide was brilliant. The more or less simple and understandable explanations are super nice!
But anyhow, when you lucid dream how long do you fell the dream lasts? And if you have a couple of lucid dreams in one night, isnt it like living a second life?
And how long does a person stay in sleep paralysis?

I actually experienced my first sleep paralysis last night (i think). I felt weird vibrations. I then tried to relax and focus on a a sound and then change it, but i kept being interrupted but random muscle twitches and stuff... maybe i wasnt focused enough? Any Advice on that?

Thanks!

Good read, and an interesting twist on RC (being aware all day), I like the idea of using meditation too - I'll be trying a few of the things out for myself!

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Originally Posted by jammerro

Great guide!
Im new on dreamviews and was advised to read your guide. And so i did. Im glad i did.
Even though im totally new in lucid dreaming, i felt the guide was brilliant. The more or less simple and understandable explanations are super nice!
But anyhow, when you lucid dream how long do you fell the dream lasts? And if you have a couple of lucid dreams in one night, isnt it like living a second life?
And how long does a person stay in sleep paralysis?

I actually experienced my first sleep paralysis last night (i think). I felt weird vibrations. I then tried to relax and focus on a a sound and then change it, but i kept being interrupted but random muscle twitches and stuff... maybe i wasnt focused enough? Any Advice on that?

Thanks!

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Thanks Jammerro. :D

With lucid dreams, each one is different. At the moment mine average maybe only a few minutes. Being the week after finals, I'm out of practice and have to refocus myself. But normally, they're about 15-20 minutes, and every once in a while a 30+ minute dream. This is based on real time. How how the dreams feel is usually pretty close to how long they are in real time. But like I said, they're all different, so some can feel short, while others seem hours long even though I'll only be asleep for an hour total since the last WBTB.

WILDing takes some practice, so first of all, congratulate yourself for getting to SP in the first place! It is one of those things that is best learned through experience, so the more you attempt and practice it, the more you'll sort of figure out how your body works. With sleep paralysis, muscle twitches will generally break you out of it yeah. If they're involuntary, there's not much you can do except relax and wait for it to come back. When you WILD, it is important to focus, but you want to try to focus on something that isn't your physical body, because doing that will only keep you awake. So focusing on visualizing a dream, or on any hypogagic hallucinations like sounds or visions really help. :)

i agree with the whole thing about the horrible itchy spots. i was really close a couple times then all the sudden they came and i wasnt able to control from scratching the crap out of them. so thanks very much for a way around it:)

Thanks for the answers Naiya. And hey i really gotta thank you once more. Not only are you a genius when it comes to dreams, but your techniques worked like super nice!

I have been dream journaling for 4 nights now, this being the 4th. And since my very beginning 5 days ago, i followed your guide as much as i could.
Before i went to bed yesterday i did my mantras and for the first time, i had my first lucid dream! I think it was a WILD, but im not sure. I was, after a WBTB, doing the dream visualizing thing. And after some time visualizing this dream, i suddenly found myself in that dream being aware that i was dreaming. So i guess its a WILD?

And now that i reached my first goal, dreaming a lucid dream, im gonna start a dream journal here on dreamviews!

Ohh and i was just wondering Naiya, have you ever had a lucid dream where all the physical limitations was not gone? Like your lucid dream was just like reality, not being able to fly, float or anything?


Thanks!!

Wow, that's awesome! I'm so glad to hear you got a lucid dream! :D

I've had some dreams where I wasn't able to fly or anything, yes. I would call them lucid dreams with little or no dream control. For beginning lucid dreamers, dream control is yet another skill that you need to practice, so a lot of people don't have much control right away. Try checking out our dream control tutorial for some ideas on how to get rid of some of those limitations. I think we have a flying tutorial in there somewhere, too. Good luck! ;)

Hey this is an awesome thread I have been having trouble remembering my dreams so I am gonna try and follow your tips the best I can. Thanks:)

Wow! thank you so much for this technique!!!!
I read this yesterday, and i just had the best, most vivid Lucid dream i've had yet!
thanks you!

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Originally Posted by Naiya

When you WILD, it is important to focus, but you want to try to focus on something that isn't your physical body, because doing that will only keep you awake. So focusing on visualizing a dream, or on any hypogagic hallucinations like sounds or visions really help. :)

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I have read posts which suggested focusing on my breathing and to not really concentrate on any HI. This hasn't exactly worked for me yet, so I might try it the other way around like you are suggesting.

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Originally Posted by The Dreaming Zombie

I have read posts which suggested focusing on my breathing and to not really concentrate on any HI. This hasn't exactly worked for me yet, so I might try it the other way around like you are suggesting.

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This might be just me, but when I have tried WILDing in the past, focusing on my breathing kept me awake. Next time, I'm going to try using some white noise to help aid me into a WILD. It already works super well on helping me focus when I meditate (but it doesn't keep me awake, either :D).

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Originally Posted by eternalstar01

This might be just me, but when I have tried WILDing in the past, focusing on my breathing kept me awake. Next time, I'm going to try using some white noise to help aid me into a WILD. It already works super well on helping me focus when I meditate (but it doesn't keep me awake, either :D).

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Yeah well whenever I focused on my breathing I could drift out and almost fall asleep. The noise of my breathing whenever I enter SP becomes all distorted and then fades out.

But good news is, during my sleep-in this morning I had a pretty cool dream, it ended and I didn't fully wake up (didn't open my eyes/move etc.) and I had my first lucid dream via DEILD.

Saw a random image of these masks floating about but they were kind of far away (tunnel-vision like Naiya said) so I focused on them - BAM. Instant lucid dream where I'm falling and it was so real. Woke up like 5 seconds later, though it made me feel great.

Grats! :)

I'm currently focusing on using DEILD as my main method for inducing lucids. I'm naturally pretty good at chaining dreams, but I've recently found out that 4 hours is way too early to wake up and attempt chaining, so i'm going to try after 6 hours as soon as I get the chance (hopefully this morning).

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Originally Posted by eternalstar01

Grats! :)

I'm currently focusing on using DEILD as my main method for inducing lucids. I'm naturally pretty good at chaining dreams, but I've recently found out that 4 hours is way too early to wake up and attempt chaining, so i'm going to try after 6 hours as soon as I get the chance (hopefully this morning).

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Good luck and I hope that you have much success with it.

I always get unlucky with setting alarms (body nearly always wakes me up a few minutes before it's about to go off) but it's a good thing that I remember waking out of dreams. DEILDs seem like a very good way to go and I didn't even mean to do it.

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Morning routine:

Set a second alarm about ten minutes after your first one. When your alarm goes off the first time, try to make a habit of not moving at all--even rolling over (I know it's hard). Again, don't immediately think about the day ahead. Just relax and think back to the last thing you were doing in your dream. Then think about where you were and what you were doing before that, and so on.

Try not to immediately think about the day ahead. Just lay still and try to recall the last thing that happened in your dream. then just slowly ask, "what happened before that?" If you remember nothing, slowly ask yourself if your dream involved any common people in your life, or places or themes. When you've remembered it, write it down immediately. If you don't have time in the morning just jot down some notes/key phrases and fill it in later. That should help improve dream recall.

You may want to keep a little notepad near your bed to jot things down on. Personally, I don't need to write out every detail to remember it so I just jot down a few key words and phrases to refresh my memory later.

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I usually do this because i dont want to wake up and get out of bed because im confortable etc... and well now that I readed this.. I think i had already lucid dreams ^^ I remember me doing this very very times... mom calls me... i wake up... than i dont get up from bed and i start to sleep/dream again and i remember to do something in the dream and than i wake up like after 2-3 minutes :O
And well to be true it was very good....
And than I got other situations that im dreaming and its a good dream! than mom calls me to wake up and she destroys my dream !!!! O_O
Are this LD's? :O

If yes I experienced a lot of LD's without knowing that there were LD's lol

*edit: I remembered when i was a kid.. I was dreaming and than suddenly a monsters kills me.. and I DIE! I start to think to myself.. did I died or something? I start to go on panic and wake up! Is this a LD too? :O

*edit2: Im asking this things because im trying to discover what is a LD (i know the definition) and when they happen or how and if I ever had one :S....Just saying this because i remember a lot really a lot of dreams! and I dont know if they were lucide or not :O..

Great guide, Naiya! It's great to have practically all LDing information in one place.

That's a lot of LDs you have there, especially the DILDs! Your timespan isn't that long either; I bet that most people don't have 1/900th as many LDs as you've had in two years in their entire lives! That's very respectable, but hopefully I'll be able to challenge you sometime! :D This guide should definately help me in my quest to become a lucid dreamer.

Thanks again for the great guide!

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Originally Posted by Kaskame

I usually do this because i dont want to wake up and get out of bed because im confortable etc... and well now that I readed this.. I think i had already lucid dreams ^^ I remember me doing this very very times... mom calls me... i wake up... than i dont get up from bed and i start to sleep/dream again and i remember to do something in the dream and than i wake up like after 2-3 minutes :O
And well to be true it was very good....
And than I got other situations that im dreaming and its a good dream! than mom calls me to wake up and she destroys my dream !!!! O_O
Are this LD's? :O

If yes I experienced a lot of LD's without knowing that there were LD's lol

*edit: I remembered when i was a kid.. I was dreaming and than suddenly a monsters kills me.. and I DIE! I start to think to myself.. did I died or something? I start to go on panic and wake up! Is this a LD too? :O

*edit2: Im asking this things because im trying to discover what is a LD (i know the definition) and when they happen or how and if I ever had one :S....Just saying this because i remember a lot really a lot of dreams! and I dont know if they were lucide or not :O..

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Remember--a lucid dream is when you know it's a dream when you are still in the dream. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a little confusing at first because like I said in the tutorial, you can realize that you can fly in a dream and still not be aware that you're dreaming.

For the first situation...it sounds like you wake up, then fall back asleep and you dream. So the dream could be a dream, false awakening, or a WILD. I'm not sure from your description. If you remember to do something in the dream because you know it's a dream, then yes you are lucid. The key is, whether or not you knew it was a dream as you were dreaming it. ;)

For the second situation, I would say no, that's not a lucid dream. It sounds like you are questioning reality and wondering where you are and if you died, but you never actually came to the conclusion that you were dreaming until after you woke up.

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Originally Posted by GMoney7

Great guide, Naiya! It's great to have practically all LDing information in one place.

That's a lot of LDs you have there, especially the DILDs! Your timespan isn't that long either; I bet that most people don't have 1/900th as many LDs as you've had in two years in their entire lives! That's very respectable, but hopefully I'll be able to challenge you sometime! :D This guide should definately help me in my quest to become a lucid dreamer.

Thanks again for the great guide!

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Thank you. :D It did take me several years of practice to get this far, and that's why I hope it's encouraging for others. I really believe that if you stick with it, eventually anyone can LD at will, or at least often. It may take some of us more time but I can say it is completely worth the trouble.

Hmmm I see ^^
Thanks for the explanation ;)

I don't really know what to say, besides "beautifully put". This completely changed my outlook on LD's. Thanks Naiya. :)

As someone who has recently had their interest in LD renewed after knowing about them for several years (Never had one though...), this guide is probably the clearest, most well put, and straight-forward guide I've found in the month I've been learning about and researching Lucid Dreams.

At the moment, my sleep schedule is out of wack (as is my life schedule...I'm an aimless zombie while on break from class).
I'm starting to integrate your methods now, but when I head back to school next week I'm going to follow this 100%.

Thank you!

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
:bowdown::bowdown:
:bowdown:
:bowdown::bowdown:
:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

I had my first LD last night because of this tutorial. Thank you so much, I've been trying for so long.

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Originally Posted by Kaylor

I had my first LD last night because of this tutorial. Thank you so much, I've been trying for so long.

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Wow! Congrats on getting your first lucid! I'm really happy it helped you. :D


And btw, was there anything in particular you think was most helpful? We'll be starting the Academy soon so it would be great to know what things might help people learn the most. :)

If it helps, I think what did it for me was the Nighttime Routine section.
The most helpful bit was the part about leaving your troubles out of bed, and all the mental preparation and such.
Thanks again. :) :)

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Spoiler for Nighttime Routine:

Nighttime routine:

Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night! If you can sleep in on a day, 10 hours would be really great. You'll get much longer dreams if you sleep a little longer than usual. Of course, generally speaking it's unhealthy to sleep too much all the time, but most people have jobs and/or school to prevent that.

When you get ready for bed, give yourself about 15-20 extra minutes. Spend the first part of it clearing your mind of all the crap that's gone on throughout your day. Some people find that it helps to imagine setting all of your problems in a little lock box next to your bed. Personally, I used to tell myself, "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep." So I sort of made up a rule to never bring my problems with me to my bed. I imagined putting them on the side of my bed to be picked up in the morning when they needed to be dealt with.

This is where a regular journal is useful because if you are someone who can't let things go, you can write them down and THEN be able to forget them guilt-free.

Once you've cleared your mind, you'll want to do a little autosuggestion. First of all, if you have a specific task or dream or thing you want to do in your LD, now is the time to give yourself that suggestion. Basically, all you're doing is daydreaming of what you want until you fall asleep. Eventually your mind will get the hint and the suggestions will begin to actually show up in your dreams. The second thing you need to do during this period is an affirmation--"I WILL have a lucid dream tonight." Believe it as much as possible.

This is partially why I think most people normally have dreams about their daily life--all they think about is their daily life before they go to sleep.

Definitely try at least one WBTB (Wake Back To Bed) a night. You really don't need to do much more than get up and go to the bathroom or get a glass of water.

When you go back to bed after waking up, clear your mind again and do the same autosuggestion technique. This time you'll probably fall asleep a lot faster so you really don't need to give it an exact time. Just allow the clutter to leave your mind and reaffirm that you will be lucid as soon as you are dreaming.

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Hey Naiya!

I actually have this section book marked so I can find it easily and re-read it to keep me on track :D

Spoiler for This part:

Getting Started with DILDs

There are a few things that give you a better chance of having a lucid dream. First of all, lucid dreams usually occur early in the morning. In other words, the longer you sleep, the better chance you'll have of becoming lucid. The reason for this is that, as the night goes on, your dreams get longer and longer after each sleep cycle.

The longer you sleep, the closer you get to waking up during each dream portion of the sleep cycle. This is exactly what you will learn to take advantage of.

Generally, before you go to sleep at night, you want to be ready to sleep without any thoughts, worries, or negative emotions hanging over your head. So before you go to sleep at night, you may want to do a short energy cleansing and meditation.

You should already have a journal next to your bed, so if you have any thoughts, worries or things you need to get done, write them down first. Then you'll be reminded in the morning, and you have no need to remember them when you should be sleeping. If you start to feel guilty or anxious for letting those things go, tell yourself "The best thing I can do for myself and everyone around me right now is get a good night's sleep so I can be alert and healthy tomorrow."

Lastly, as you are falling asleep, tell yourself that you WILL have a lucid dream. Don't think you will. Know you will.


How Long is This Going to Take?

The answer is, as always, it depends. If you are already good at recalling dreams, and you've had a few lucid dreams here and there by chance, you will probably be able to lucid dream a lot faster than someone who started out not even remembering many of their dreams.

Even if two people start out at the same skill level, you have to take into account the fact that we are working with our own minds, and every person is different. There are really no concrete reasons for why some people pick up lucid dreaming faster than others when they seem to start out at the same skill level.

Regular (nightly) lucid dreaming takes AT LEAST a couple of months before it even starts working--that is, WITH a lot of consistence and work. If you aren't consistent, you have almost no chance of becoming lucid regularly. Lucid dreams come from habit and skill.

Most people average several months to a few years to be able to lucid dream every night.



Ways To Lucid Dream

Each of these methods, if practiced every day for several months, should get you frequent lucid dreams. Not every method works for every person, so you may want to try more than one at the same time.

The MOST important thing is consistency. I can't stress this enough. You've got to be patient and have the discipline to keep at it every day.

The following are the most common things people do to have lucid dreams. As always, if you find that something completely different works for you instead of these things, go for what works best for you.



Visualization

In this method, all you really need to do is set aside 10-30 minutes before you go to bed. First, be sure that you have done a cleansing and that you won't be distracted by your daily thoughts.

Sit on your bed and decide what you want to dream about. It helps if you try the same scenario consistently each night. It doesn't have to be something serious--in fact, the more crazy your scenario is, the more likely you'll notice it isn't real when you dream it.

So concentrate on the dream scenario you want, and visualize it panning out. Imagine yourself becoming lucid, and imagine the things you want to do. KNOW that you will lucid dream. In fact, you may want to repeat "I am going to have a lucid dream tonight." to yourself out loud until you believe it.

This method may seem silly at first, but it is the very method I used to learn, and I now have at least a few lucid dreams every single night.


Reality Checks

Reality checks are very simple and easy to do. There are infinite possible reality checks, so you are only limited by your imagination.

The easiest reality check is to simply make a habit of asking yourself "Am I dreaming?" several times a day. Eventually, your habit will bleed into your dreams, and you will ask yourself the question while you sleep.

Once you question your reality, you will notice some of the things in your dream that can't be possible in the real world. Normally, you accept the weird things in your dreams, but once you question them, you will realize that they are out of the ordinary.

I have heard of people doing reality checks such as throwing up little objects and trying to make them float, or looking at their hands or feet (for some reason, hands and feet are easily distorted in dreams, but I don't think that this is universal so I wouldn't rely on it).

Reality checks are good, but it depends on the kinds of dreams you have. For example, when I was a kid my mom taught me the "look at your hands" RC. It never worked because, while I see my hands all the time in my waking life, I never saw them in my dreams. When you do a RC, don't just blankly ask "Am I dreaming?"-- a lot of people complain it doesn't work, and I believe that is because they don't actually consider this question, they just ask it without even thinking about it. When you do a RC, really look around you and think about whether or not your environment makes logical sense.

The RC that worked best for me was the "Where was I last? What was I doing?" You may be surprised that you'll answer "I went to bed!" and of course conclude that you must be asleep. So these things help with DILDs.



Dream Cues

For this method to work, you absolutely MUST have a good dream journal going, and have a good understanding of the repeated symbols, scenarios, and themes in your dreams.

Many of us will have certain people, places, objects, or situations that are repeatedly in our dreams. These things are NOT in our waking life, but they appear at least once a week in our dreams. These are what I am talking about when I mention dream cues.

Once you have a good understanding of things which exist solely in your dream world, you can focus on seeing them at night before you go to sleep via the visualization method above. This isn't necessary, but it will increase the chances of having your dream cues more often and becoming lucid.

Eventually, while you are dreaming, you will recognize one of your dream cues and become aware of the dream.

Wow, I'm suprised i havent found this guide earlier. This is great, Naiya O_o

Yeah, I hadn't seen this yet either! I'm surprised...this is by far the best DILD, WILD, and RC tutorial I've ever found. The RC stuff was especially helpful! I'm confident that I'll be able to LD again soon and break my dry spell with this info! :)

Thanks, Naiya!

Thanks. I made a few small changes today, but looking over the guide now, I can see a lot of things that need updating--I wrote this years ago for another forum I was on, long before I joined DV, and just reposted it here by request. I'll have to go through the whole thing sometime soon and get it better organized and up to date. :)

Cheers. This has inspired me to carry on :)

I've never thought too much about white noise, I usually have headphones in to block out exterior sounds, which does allow me to focus on the "ringing" sound in my head that has been suggested before.

Would an alarm clock with "beach" sounds or "rain" sounds work as a good white noise?

I know last time I tried to WBTB WILD I ended up falling asleep for random bouts of 30 seconds in a really short dream, returning to waking paralysis, then doing it again 5 or 6 times. When I try at night before bed I can usually get to vibrations but I end up losing focus.

Thanks for all the info! Very helpful!

You said that you hear rushing noises in sleep paralysis. I just started experiencing this (and SP?) last night. It has happened twice spontaneously now. You said you sleep with a fan... so do I... When you enter SP do you lose awareness of the fan and sounds around you? Both episodes I heard nothing but the rushing noise. I'm trying to figure out if it was true SP or if I was just dreaming I was in SP. It's almost like I fall asleep then I awake with just rushing noises and my eyes wide open. Well the first time eyes were closed, second time eyes were open.

Great post!
Thank you for writing this, just helped me a lot.
I've been focusing on WILD, I feel I'm on the right way and reading how you do it just made myself more sure of what I'm doing.

Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by ThePreserver

I've never thought too much about white noise, I usually have headphones in to block out exterior sounds, which does allow me to focus on the "ringing" sound in my head that has been suggested before.

Would an alarm clock with "beach" sounds or "rain" sounds work as a good white noise?

I know last time I tried to WBTB WILD I ended up falling asleep for random bouts of 30 seconds in a really short dream, returning to waking paralysis, then doing it again 5 or 6 times. When I try at night before bed I can usually get to vibrations but I end up losing focus.

Thanks for all the info! Very helpful!

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You know, I've never tried beach noises or rain, but I have WILDed to music before, and in my experience the sound will carry over to the dream. So if you wouldn't mind hearing those noises throughout the dream and you're able to relax to them, go for it. Of course it also depends on how loud they are and whether you're playing them from across the room versus headphones, because personally I have a fan across the room. That way, it's loud enough to provide cover to outside noise, but soft enough that I don't hear it at all once I'm dreaming.

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Originally Posted by kingofhypocrites

You said that you hear rushing noises in sleep paralysis. I just started experiencing this (and SP?) last night. It has happened twice spontaneously now. You said you sleep with a fan... so do I... When you enter SP do you lose awareness of the fan and sounds around you? Both episodes I heard nothing but the rushing noise. I'm trying to figure out if it was true SP or if I was just dreaming I was in SP. It's almost like I fall asleep then I awake with just rushing noises and my eyes wide open. Well the first time eyes were closed, second time eyes were open.

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Yup, I lose awareness of the fan completely. But like I said, it's across the room and not too loud, so that's why it works so well for me. :)

With SP, sometimes it can be hard to tell. The biggest sign is that you're unable to move. Right under that is feeling vibrations. Some people feel pressure on their chest. Typically you are awake/conscious but your eyes are closed and you're unable to move. Are you sure your eyes were really open the second time? Sometimes those false awakenings can be extremely realistic and tricky.

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Originally Posted by Edu

Great post!
Thank you for writing this, just helped me a lot.
I've been focusing on WILD, I feel I'm on the right way and reading how you do it just made myself more sure of what I'm doing.

Thanks again!

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Good luck WILDing!

I think your tutorial is wonderful. Easy to learn for the beginner and has some advanced stuff for the advanced user as well. The only thing that didn't resonate well with me is the whole idea of being aware throughout your day. Personally, I like to just think about what I plan to do for the rest of my day, for work, school, etc.... whenever I'm on the bus or if I am walking a long distance and I need to waste time. I find that it prepares me well for what is to come and its something that I wouldn't give up :D Otherwise, as I said, great tutorial :)

Thanks Bigfan.

IMO, the number one rule for dreaming-- do what works for you. We're all different in how our minds work so in the end it's all about experimenting with things and seeing what works best for you. ;)

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Thanks Bigfan.

IMO, the number one rule for dreaming-- do what works for you. We're all different in how our minds work so in the end it's all about experimenting with things and seeing what works best for you. ;)

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True indeed :)

Awesome. I love it!!!

I'm natural LDer with a good ratio of recalls (not nightly though, but some night, up to 5 dreams) and it answered me a lot of questions

In addition, it will help me to go to the next level!!!

Wow! What an awesome thread! :banana: Thanks for sharing this, Naiya. It's nice to think that all that effort you put in to this tutorial is still helping people two years later, and no doubt will continue to do so for many more years to come.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

It did take me several years of practice to get this far, and that's why I hope it's encouraging for others. I really believe that if you stick with it, eventually anyone can LD at will, or at least often. It may take some of us more time but I can say it is completely worth the trouble.

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I couldn't agree more about it being worth the trouble and I too believe that anyone who really wants to can train themselves to do it at will. It's one of those skills that seems really difficult... until you learn to do it. Then once you've learned you find yourself thinking 'this is so easy! I can't believe I used to find this hard!'

I've trained myself to lucid dream at will. It took me about 18 months to achieve. Now I'm working to increase the average length of my LDs.

Thank you for such a beautifully written account about the art of lucid dreaming :)

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Thank you. :D It did take me several years of practice to get this far, and that's why I hope it's encouraging for others. I really believe that if you stick with it, eventually anyone can LD at will, or at least often. It may take some of us more time but I can say it is completely worth the trouble.

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When you say you do it by will, is it also using the WILD technique, or pretty much anytime you set your intention to have one?

I just want to say that this is an excellent collection of techniques and such. Thank you so much!

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Originally Posted by kingofhypocrites

When you say you do it by will, is it also using the WILD technique, or pretty much anytime you set your intention to have one?

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If you master DILD, WILD or both, then yes you will be able to LD almost every single time to try.

WILD is a little bit more tricky because even if you master it, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can lay down any time of day or night and WILD 100% of the time. You are still constrained by your body--so mastering WILD also means knowing what your personal best times & conditions are for success and executing that. ;)

For DILD, the same is true but to a much lesser extent. For example, I can't normally DILD in the first 3-4 hours of sleep, because my REM periods are very short and my body spends more time in deeper sleep. But anytime after that point, I can DILD at will now--my biggest block is just being lazy and going "nah I just wanna sleep, I'll LD next time." :P

Many thanks for your tutorial, Naiya :)

I have a peripheral question to this: You mention meditation in your tut - do you have any recommendations for starting this, a good book or website for a total newbie to begin with?
I'd like to give this a try since I feel that my often cluttered mind and carrousel of thoughts are a hindrance for progressing with my attempts at lucid dreaming at the moment.

Thanks in advance :)

Ash

I'd recommend The Meditation Bible. It has a ton of different kinds of meditation you can try, and it's perfect for beginners. :)

Hi Naiya,

thanks for the recommendation - already ordered the book, and I hope it will be here in a few days so I can start. The description does sound promising anyway :)

this was a good read, thanks!

Thank you so much Naiya! That was very helpful!

One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Three lucid dreams? :shock:

If your tutorial said to smush a banana on your head, I would do it.

Nice from now on i wil see daily life like one big reality check and always be aware of my surroundings.Thank You Naiya

This should be sticky! Tons of great material there, even for me to learn! Thanks for your personal tips, it's great to get tips from an experienced LDer.
Oh, and, :

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"Ha! You can't hurt me. This is just a drea-Ow! Hey! Wha-ow! "

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:cackle:

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Originally Posted by juroara

One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Three lucid dreams? :shock:

If your tutorial said to smush a banana on your head, I would do it.

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O_O I seriously agree! It's almost double compared to me! :holycrap:

Just HOW long have you been lucid dreaming, Naiya?

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

O_O I seriously agree! It's almost double compared to me! :holycrap:

Just HOW long have you been lucid dreaming, Naiya?

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I started when I was about 12, but it took a few years to get to the point of having them every night. :)

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Originally Posted by Naiya

I started when I was about 12, but it took a few years to get to the point of having them every night. :)

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Then you must be eighty or something. lol just kidding. I have been lucid dreaming possibly since I was five, and am 14 now. With all those years of experience, I never get them every night. The maximum for me is about three or four per week, and I am having a dry spell at the moment. :`(

Awesome, thank you a lot!
Time to get some sleep...And while i'm at it - a flight might be nice too!

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Originally Posted by Nino

Awesome, thank you a lot!
Time to get some sleep...And while i'm at it - a flight might be nice too!

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Good luck. :D

If you ever need good advice on fighting, Hukif is the master!

Good DILD and general advice. I'll come back for the WILD stuff tomorrow :)

Hello I believe alot of what you have said doesnt actually happen as its bs and use have way to much time on ur hands to be discussing dreaming.

Heres a real step by step guide of how you DREAM:

Step 1: Close your eyes... (you can be laying, sitting or standing as its possible to sleep standing up ;) )

Step 2: Dream... duh

The end.

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Originally Posted by smartypants1010

Hello I believe alot of what you have said doesnt actually happen as its bs and use have way to much time on ur hands to be discussing dreaming.

Heres a real step by step guide of how you DREAM:

Step 1: Close your eyes... (you can be laying, sitting or standing as its possible to sleep standing up ;) )

Step 2: Dream... duh

The end.

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lol, troll. :D You have too much time on your hands to be trolling a forum about something you think no one should be discussing. Now GTFO.

Naiya, that dude up there said "flight" not "fight" <.<

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Originally Posted by Hukif

Naiya, that dude up there said "flight" not "fight" <.<

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Aw, damnit. Stupid organic chemistry is ruining my brain. ;_;

Also is it ok for me to listen to this noise I hear in my ears? it's similar to a lot of crickets chirping in the distance, I'm not sure what it is though.

Sounds like you may have tinnitus or something. :S But sure, whatever floats your boat.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Sounds like you may have tinnitus or something. :S But sure, whatever floats your boat.

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Yea, I just looked it up, I'm 99% sure I do, I had like 7 ear infections when I was a child.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Sounds like you may have tinnitus or something. :S But sure, whatever floats your boat.

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Also thanks.

THANKS!!!! for posting this!!!

Theres nothing like reading an inspiring thread before going to sleep, thanks again Naiya!

:offtobed:

That's an AMAZING tutorial indeed. Actually I'm going to try your WILD technique this night and I hope it will be success. Big thanks to you!

Thanks guys. I do intend to revamp this tutorial with some new info one of these days. :P

Hello, Naiya! X)
Hand better? ^_^

Can't wait for new tut stuff. :D :banana:

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

Hello, Naiya! X)
Hand better? ^_^

Can't wait for new tut stuff. :D :banana:

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Thanks. My hand's doing a lot better nowadays, I don't even have to wear my wrist brace anymore. But I ended up going to the hospital the other day due to having a lot of abdominal & chest pain for a couple of weeks--the good news is that I have nothing wrong with me, bad news is that my body responds to stress & anxiety by making pain, lol. So now I'm trying to get back into meditation and trying to de-stress as much as possible. :P

just wondering if what happened last night was a wild.

I layed down and closed my eyes and kept staring under my eye lid so my mind was active in that since and from what i remember a dream scene apeared as i was walking down some stairs and i was aware i was in a dream from the very first moment. is that WILD?

but it was very difficult to maintian the dream it lasted for 30 seconds, could have been due to sleeping in uncomfortable position or noise not sure.

i did however manage to stabilise the situation to some degree and improve clarity.

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Thanks. My hand's doing a lot better nowadays, I don't even have to wear my wrist brace anymore. But I ended up going to the hospital the other day due to having a lot of abdominal & chest pain for a couple of weeks--the good news is that I have nothing wrong with me, bad news is that my body responds to stress & anxiety by making pain, lol. So now I'm trying to get back into meditation and trying to de-stress as much as possible. :P

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Good luck, then. ^^
I really hope you get some relaxation soon. How about a vacation?

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

Good luck, then. ^^
I really hope you get some relaxation soon. How about a vacation?

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Vacation always helps me to quit worrying about stuff for a while.

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Originally Posted by Mrsf0011

just wondering if what happened last night was a wild.

I layed down and closed my eyes and kept staring under my eye lid so my mind was active in that since and from what i remember a dream scene apeared as i was walking down some stairs and i was aware i was in a dream from the very first moment. is that WILD?

but it was very difficult to maintian the dream it lasted for 30 seconds, could have been due to sleeping in uncomfortable position or noise not sure.

i did however manage to stabilise the situation to some degree and improve clarity.

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Yep, sounds like a WILD to me! Good job. :D It's pretty normal for your first WILDs to be unstable like that, so don't worry. You did a good job keeping it going. With practice you'll be able to have longer and more vidi WILDs. :)

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

Good luck, then. ^^
I really hope you get some relaxation soon. How about a vacation?

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Actually, I am on vacation lol. Spring break. lol. So I'm trying to just rest up and relax. @_@

Hi there! I'm a newbie here so I guess I do have some questions to ask.

It's fairly easy for me to get into the SP mode, but not dreaming. Just today I had a nap, and then when I realized I was dreaming, the dream just faded out. I remained with sleep paralysis, and tried to get the dream to form again in but head, with it was all thoughts with no visualization.

Throughout the whole experience I didn't move a muscle because I thought that'd wake my body up, is that true?

How do I get into dreams from sleep paralysis?

There was once whereby I wasn't dreaming at all, but felt an out of body experience but was unable to open my eyes to see what was happening, is this normal?

Thanks in advance for answering!

It's pretty common for WILDs to fade out right away, and that's one reason you will have to learn to stabilize dreams if you want to learn to WILD. One easy way to stabilize is to touch any dream object or rub your hands together or clap them in a dream.

In sleep paralysis, even if you try to move, you shouldn't be able to. It usually takes a great deal of effort to move just one part of your body in SP, and when you do succeed in moving, the SP is broken.

There are a few ways to get to a dream from SP. If you're fairly good at visualizing, then imagine you are across the room, or imagine your hand in front of your face. You will probably see a cloudy or inky vision of it at first. If you get a little visual at all, start moving around and touching objects to stabilize. Now, if you're not so good with visualization, don't worry. Tactile senses are just as good if not better in getting the dream started. Pay attention to any strange tactile sensations during the SP--sensations that you know are hallucinations. Focus on them as if they were real, and they will get stronger. Before you know it, you'll be seeing everything around you too.

It's hard to say if an OBE is normal...because so few people know a lot about it, and even fewer are able to talk about it due to fears of being made fun of or ostracized. So I can't say it's normal as far as being common, but it is normal as far as something that can and does happen to the body.

Really awesome, thank you or writing it up!

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Originally Posted by mini0991

I think I know exactly what you are talking about. I have a computer in my room with a very audible fan inside. All I need to do is "get" it to whisper stuff while I attempt the WILD? Can I substituite that instead of concentrating on breathing?

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To answer your question, I never ever pay attention to my breathing when I WILD. Like you say, I replace the attention to breathing with attention to the white noise and the HI. When you feel like you're starting to experience the hallucinations, even in the slightest bit, you'll find that it's easy to steer and change them, and actively doing that means you're getting your mind in the state it needs to be in for dream control before the dream ever starts

I have a question regarding complete awareness:

What exactly do you mean by that? Knowing absolutely EVERYTHING around you at the same time? If so, how do I go about doing that? And when I reach that state, how do I maintain it? Is it basically like when you get that feeling when you meditate of 'feeling' or 'sensing' everything around you at once, even when your eyes are closed?

Excuse my language, but that was Ruddy Brilliant.

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by TeaSea

Excuse my language, but that was Ruddy Brilliant.

Thank you.

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woh steady on mate, we've all had a tea ;)

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Originally Posted by LucidJuggalo

I have a question regarding complete awareness:

What exactly do you mean by that? Knowing absolutely EVERYTHING around you at the same time? If so, how do I go about doing that? And when I reach that state, how do I maintain it? Is it basically like when you get that feeling when you meditate of 'feeling' or 'sensing' everything around you at once, even when your eyes are closed?

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Awareness is not about knowing, nor is it about thinking. It's about not thinking. It's about simply being. Living in the present moment rather than being caught up in your thoughts, in your past, in your future. This is the same awareness taught in meditation, yes. :)

Don't worry about being completely aware every minute of the day right off the bat. It's something that you do gradually. The more you stop and be aware during the day, the more you keep reminding yourself to be aware, the more this feeling will stay in the back of your mind like a running car engine. It will eventually become a part of your consciousness. It builds up over time.

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Originally Posted by TeaSea

Excuse my language, but that was Ruddy Brilliant.

Thank you.

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Thanks. :D My favorite tea is red jacket. ;)

Haha this is one of the first guides I read, I printed it out and it marks my page in my dream journal. It is so helpful! Thnx so much Naiya.

Thanks Naiya.. seriously good tutorial.

I especially like the importance you've put on mindfulness. I've recently been attending some mindfulness meditation classes, and we're now being encouraged to try and be mindful throughout the day, in every activity we're doing. It is very difficult with all the distractions there are in everyday life.. but we've been told that there is a cumulative effect when it comes to mindfulness, so the more you do it.. the more potent the benefits. If anyone would like some instruction on the subject, the book that my class has been given is called "Mindfulness in Plain English" and it seems to explain the principles of mindfulness meditation very clearly.

I've been trying to get consistent LDs on and off for a few years now.. but the last 3 weeks I've been practising hard. I'm mainly trying WILDs and DEILDs, but I'm hoping practising mindfulness throughout the day will help me become a more "natural" oneironaut. At the moment the few WILD/DEILDs I've had have been very short lived.. but i'm hoping they'll get longer with practice!!

Thanks again for the tutorial.. it's the first I've found to combine the concept of mindfulness with LDs. I hope to report some good results in the coming weeks! :)

Lucas

Great job! :d

Good luck Lucas! Looks like you're on the right track. :)

Naiya, what do you say to yourself while MILDing?

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

Naiya, what do you say to yourself while MILDing?

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"I'm dreaming." :)

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Originally Posted by lucidmax15895

Naiya, what do you say to yourself while MILDing?

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Dude... :P

Max buddy, come on :lol:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

"I'm dreaming." :)

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LOL me to! Wait I probably learned that from you ahh XD

Hi again Naiya,

So I've been practising mindfulness throughout the day.. no luck yet with the DILDs but the practice in itself is quite rewarding. I've been having a couple of problems with WILDing though. I've been trying to follow your method for the last couple of days.. instead of white noise / a fan I've been focusing on the faint ringing I can always hear when it's quiet enough (not sure if that's normal lol, but I've had it for as long as I can remember). For the first 10 mins or so it all seems like it's going to plan, my body's relaxing nicely.. my mind flys all over the place but I gently bring the focus back to the sound.. but after this I'm not really sure where to go. I don't seem to hear distortions in the sound. What I have experienced, however, is my mind starting to form very weak dreams (I suppose they're probably considered day dreams) which only last for a few seconds before I realise they're happening but then they fade straight away. During these faint dreams, occasionally something happens in them, for example once I dropped something off a shelf, and as it hit the floor I physically heard it.. but that made me jolt back to being awake and I can't seem to control them happening.

If you can offer some guidance it'd be much appreciated.. it's starting to frustrate me how close I'm getting but with no actual LDs!

Cheers,

Lucas

Since posting that yesterday I had my second proper WILD last night! :)

It happened similarly to how I explained above - after relaxing my mind started entering very weak dreams and as soon as I realised I'd wake up. This happened several times.. I think my mindfulness practise may have been helping to realise they weren't reality, though they weren't quite strong enough to allow lucidity - then finally after shifting position once or twice (I started off on my back for at least the first half hour) I realised I was on all fours on my bedroom floor, I couldn't see, but I knew I was dreaming. Luckily I'd read in another article that you sometimes start WILDs blind, so it didn't phase me and I used my hands to open them.. and sure enough, I then saw my bedroom. I then jumped out of my window (which is on the first floor) and proceeded to enjoy my dream world. The visuals were a bit shakey at first but they soon became clearer. It lasted a good 2 or 3 minutes which is my longest LD to date!

Next time I'm defintely going to try some basic dream control.

One question though - Your tutorial doesn't mention DEILDing / chaining / linking dreams, but I was wondering if you know anything about this? Because I suddenly woke from my LD, but I realised I had, and kept perfectly still to try and initiate the next dream.. but I lay there for a good 15 mins with no luck. Any advice to aid transition into the next dream?

Cheers again

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Originally Posted by PercyLucid

Dude... :P

Max buddy, come on :lol:

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:D You sneaky little fellow!

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Originally Posted by Naiya

"I'm dreaming." :)

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Ah thanks was just wondering. :)

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Originally Posted by PercyLucid

Dude... :P

Max buddy, come on :lol:

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:lol:

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Originally Posted by Naiya

"I'm dreaming." :)

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Thanks! ^^

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Originally Posted by Naiya

Improving Dream Recall and Understanding

A lot of people don't remember their dreams all the time. I have a few pointers for remembering, recording and understanding dreams. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know and I'll update the list.

Good dream recall is the first step to lucid dreaming! This is the foundation. If you remember less than one or two dreams, try some of these methods to help your recall.

Tips For Remembering

If you can remember absolutely nothing at all when you wake up, take a few minutes to stay in bed and try to remember.
- A good way to do this is to slowly think of people, places, and things that are familiar to you. Go through each thing at a time. Was my mother in my dream...? Was my dream about work...? You'd be surprised at how often this works. Just today, I remembered a whole dream because I saw pigs on a TV show. There was an adorable piglet in my dream, and remembering that one little thing brought a flood of information. Sometimes all you need is that one "key" to remember your dream.
-Many people can remember at least the last moment of their dream, but nothing else. This best way to remember the rest of the dream is to simply go backwards, just like you would in remembering something in your childhood. Take your time in doing this. Ask yourself, "What happened right before then?" "How did I get to the train station?" Just keep slowly backtracking. Sometimes you may even be able to remember dreams that you had earlier in the night this way.
-When you wake up in the morning, try to get out of the habit of immediately remembering what you have to do that day. Basically, your dream memories will fade instantly if you replace them with something else in your short-term memory.
-The best thing do to is to wake up with an empty mind and allow yourself to stay in bed, relaxed and without thought, for a few minutes before getting up.
-Above all, don't give up! Good habits take time to form. It may be months before you start to remember your dreams consistently. You just have to stick with it.

Tips For Recording

-To get started, keep a small journal next to your bed so you can write down your dreams when you remember them. I like to use the little spiral journals because I can stick my pencil on the side instead of fumbling around for it on the night-stand.
-Keep the journal close to you so you don't have to get out of bed. For some reason the dream memories just fall right out of your head once you've gotten out of bed or moved around a lot. So try to keep still.
- If you wake up before morning, write down what you remember before you go back to sleep (or before you go to the bathroom).
-It's always useful to write down the times you go sleep and get up (especially those of us in college, whose sleep schedules are erratic). If you remember more than one dream in the night, you can make note of which dream occurred at which time. This may be useful for those of us who sometimes have prophetic dreams or mutual dreams.
-Once you have a dream journal started, you may notice that some dreams have a lot to do with what you did the day before. To help you understand your dreams, you may want to also make notes of what you did during the day (movies you saw, things on your mind, problems at work or people you were with).
This helps a lot when you get a little more advanced, because you'll start finding things in your dreams that connect with your waking life. For example, you dream of an old friend who calls you out of the blue, and a couple of days later you run into them. Now you have personal proof that your dream premonition came true! Pretty cool, huh?

Tips For Understanding

-The most important thing to remember is that the meaning of a dream is subjective. While other people and books can give some good insight, the best person to interpret your dream is you.
-That said, you can gain some understanding by asking for an interpretation by one of our fellow members. We may be able to pick up on something that you hadn't thought of. Also, some dreams are very common and have generally accepted meanings to them.
-Dream dictionaries can be helpful, but be wary of the simplistic meanings. For example, to Person A, a snake in her dream may mean an enemy, liar, or traitor. But for Person B, the snake might mean reincarnation, connections with the earth. or medicine (like the snakes on the EMT uniform). It all comes down to where the dreamer is coming from. The dream dictionaries can give some insight, but as always, believe what feels right to you.
-This one helps the most if you use it along with your journal. When remembering your dream, think about how you were feeling at the time. Feelings and emotions can give us the most telling clues about what our dreams mean.

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I agree..That's really true..You know what I just woke up everyday and I can't remember what my dream is all about..but there's an instance when i see things that are related to my dreams i actually remember certain things but not all of it..and sometimes my dream is just like vivid or it happens in real life..What can you say about that? Is there any scientific explanation regarding what i have shared to you..I'm looking forward for your immediate response..Thanks a bunch..:)

I read this tutorial a month ago and decided I would try to WILD...Had my very first successful WILD today on my first try! I did everything said in this tutorial. Doing a WILD is so much easier than DILD, now that I've finally experienced both.Thanks again for this tutorial. Btw, you're so right about the tunnel vision.

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Originally Posted by lopsarong

I agree..That's really true..You know what I just woke up everyday and I can't remember what my dream is all about..but there's an instance when i see things that are related to my dreams i actually remember certain things but not all of it..and sometimes my dream is just like vivid or it happens in real life..What can you say about that? Is there any scientific explanation regarding what i have shared to you..I'm looking forward for your immediate response..Thanks a bunch..:)

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Hmm I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Seeing things in real life remind you of fragments from your dreams, right? That's pretty much just your memory being jogged. But the other thing, do you mean like having a dream about something happening and then it happens IRL? Because that is known as precognitive dreaming, and at the moment there is no scientific explanation for it (science tends to just dismiss it completely).

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Originally Posted by Freya

I read this tutorial a month ago and decided I would try to WILD...Had my very first successful WILD today on my first try! I did everything said in this tutorial. Doing a WILD is so much easier than DILD, now that I've finally experienced both.Thanks again for this tutorial. Btw, you're so right about the tunnel vision.

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Yay! Congrats, I'm so glad it works for you! :D

Hi. I have tried to WILD(your and/or King Yoshi's wbtb technique) now for a very long time, and I've only half-experienced SP one time. (I once got small tingling all over my body...) My problem is that I either just fall asleep immediately or I stay awake for hours without results. I was just wondering if you had some advise about how long I should stay awake after my alarm rings etc... Tonight I'm going to try with some white noise and see if that helps.:)

Oh, and BTW, I've also tried you're awareness technique, and for me it is more like some very long reality checks over the day, and not that kind of ever lasting reality check you're writing about:(... Some tips?:?

This is probably my favorite tutorial, Naiya!

While I've had lucid dreams before, I've recently come under a dryspell despite being able to recall 3+ dreams per night.. So I've been reading this tutorial a few times per week. I really like that you included day dreaming into your tutorial, and I believe this is why I'm attracted to it- I've been 'day dreaming' myself to sleep since I can remember, so I suppose it's all about adapting my day dreams to set a dreamscape up?

A bit of a read here, but it's well worth it. Thanks for posting!

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Originally Posted by WDr

Hi. I have tried to WILD(your and/or King Yoshi's wbtb technique) now for a very long time, and I've only half-experienced SP one time. (I once got small tingling all over my body...) My problem is that I either just fall asleep immediately or I stay awake for hours without results. I was just wondering if you had some advise about how long I should stay awake after my alarm rings etc... Tonight I'm going to try with some white noise and see if that helps.:)

Oh, and BTW, I've also tried you're awareness technique, and for me it is more like some very long reality checks over the day, and not that kind of ever lasting reality check you're writing about:(... Some tips?:?

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When it comes to WILD, unfortunately there is no set time...you have to try different times and experiment on your own to see what works best for you. For example, I only need a minute or two for a WBTB to WILD. But even then, sometimes I WILD within minutes of laying down, and sometimes I'm laying there for 30+ minutes before anything happens. It just all depends. Having said that it may help if you have a very structured sleep schedule. That way you'll have an easier time predicting when you need to set your alarm (according to your sleep cycles).

But anyway, if it's been over an hour in your WILD attempt, it's usually time to quit for the night. You can try going back to sleep and trying again in another hour or so if that happens.

When it comes to cultivating awareness, my best advice is to look into meditation techniques. Meditation focuses on awareness of the present, and it will teach you to let go of all the crazy thoughts that are constantly bothering you. Practicing meditation will help you learn to have awareness without making it one big exhausting long RC. It's kind of akin to having a program running in the background on your computer. It's there, but you won't notice it. That's the goal with awareness.

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Originally Posted by Elektra

This is probably my favorite tutorial, Naiya!

While I've had lucid dreams before, I've recently come under a dryspell despite being able to recall 3+ dreams per night.. So I've been reading this tutorial a few times per week. I really like that you included day dreaming into your tutorial, and I believe this is why I'm attracted to it- I've been 'day dreaming' myself to sleep since I can remember, so I suppose it's all about adapting my day dreams to set a dreamscape up?

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I believe that daydreaming about LDing can help a great deal. I use this same type of daydreaming for MILDs, and I'm working on expanding on that in another tutorial. :)

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Originally Posted by divinemission

A bit of a read here, but it's well worth it. Thanks for posting!

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Thanks! BTW, I'll be working on a new tutorial this weekend, so keep an eye out for it. :)

I can enter SP whenever I try to.
It's really nice. I've never had a problem with it, yet people keep saying it's the hard part.

Transition from SP to Dreaming is the hard part for me.
Let's say I've tried 6-8 times WILD but never succeeded.
Always get to SP then I try to relax and enter Dreaming, but I somehow can't.
Someone help me with that :s

EDIT: Am I really entering SP or is it some minor SP?
It's like I heard buzzing sounds like bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
And the black color when you close your eyes changes to another black color. Can't explain it very well. It's not the same Close eyes color though.
And sometimes it starts to develop figures in front of me like one time I saw a fox.

Why I doubt that I'm in SP is because I'm not hearing any Screaming or scary demons.
I told myself a several times that it's not dangerious when I go into ''Minor sp/SP'' So might be that :P

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Originally Posted by willeex

I can enter SP whenever I try to.
It's really nice. I've never had a problem with it, yet people keep saying it's the hard part.

Transition from SP to Dreaming is the hard part for me.
Let's say I've tried 6-8 times WILD but never succeeded.
Always get to SP then I try to relax and enter Dreaming, but I somehow can't.
Someone help me with that :s

EDIT: Am I really entering SP or is it some minor SP?
It's like I heard buzzing sounds like bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
And the black color when you close your eyes changes to another black color. Can't explain it very well. It's not the same Close eyes color though.
And sometimes it starts to develop figures in front of me like one time I saw a fox.

Why I doubt that I'm in SP is because I'm not hearing any Screaming or scary demons.
I told myself a several times that it's not dangerious when I go into ''Minor sp/SP'' So might be that :P

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The buzzing noise in the ears is pretty characteristic of SP. Normally you feel strong vibrations, as if you've turned into a giant tuning fork. But you don't always get vibrations or scary hallucinations. The main criteria for SP is the inability to move.

To transition from SP to a dream, you may want to try visualizing yourself standing across the room. Another thing you can do is imagine tactile sensations, smells, or sounds. They will gradually become more real, and as you anchor yourself in the dream by using them, you should start seeing the dream form around you. Just remember to remain relaxed during the whole process.

When I got vibrations I found it was a by-product of me getting excited and tensing up, when I relaxed the vibrations passed but I also slipped further out of sleep paralysis. Very confusing. :S

As for transitioning, I was almost successful by visualising myself walking around my room, picking things up, looking at stuff, touching anything with a distinctive texture. :)

Is it possible to transition before going into sleep paralysis?

Very detailed! This changed my entire thought on lucidity.

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Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Is it possible to transition before going into sleep paralysis?

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Technically speaking, your muscles will always go under paralysis when you enter REM sleep (unless you're a sleepwalker). But it is very possible to completely skip the experience or sensation of SP and go directly into a WILD, yes. A lot of my WILDs happened without any vibrations or obvious signs of SP.

That gives me some hope :)

Cant beleive ive only just come across this! Really covers a lot, bookmarked!
Thanks Naiya

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Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

That gives me some hope :)

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Originally Posted by ShadowOfSelf

Cant beleive ive only just come across this! Really covers a lot, bookmarked!
Thanks Naiya

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You're very welcome, if you have any questions, you can PM me anytime. :)

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By the way, if you already have problems distinguishing reality from a dream, or have schizophrenia, or any other serious mental conditions I DO NOT advise you do this, because if your mind is unstable the last thing you should be doing is questioning reality or considering reality a dream.

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hahahahha lol i was almost rolling in the floor laughing.


All else aside, this was an excellent tutorial. The part about being aware, all the time, is something that i have thought about, but not put an enormous amount of thought into. When i have had lucid dreams, i now notice that when i have had my lucid dreams, i did just know that i was dreaming. I knew the difference. And, honestly, i think that that is the best possible way to better understand, and to have more lucid dreams

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Originally Posted by NinjaNautsi

hahahahha lol i was almost rolling in the floor laughing.


All else aside, this was an excellent tutorial. The part about being aware, all the time, is something that i have thought about, but not put an enormous amount of thought into. When i have had lucid dreams, i now notice that when i have had my lucid dreams, i did just know that i was dreaming. I knew the difference. And, honestly, i think that that is the best possible way to better understand, and to have more lucid dreams

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Yeah, well...remember that nutcase who tried to murder that arizona congresswoman. :( Basically, if you're already criminally insane you shouldn't be doing anything ever lol.

This is one of the best tutorials I have ever read! Thankyou for giving me really useful tips and tricks AND for keeping my motivation high! :D

This is by far the the best information I have seen on Lucid Dreaming. Thank you, Naiya. Do you know of any good readings for information on archetypes? I've started to notice them since reading this.

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Originally Posted by sollun

This is by far the the best information I have seen on Lucid Dreaming. Thank you, Naiya. Do you know of any good readings for information on archetypes? I've started to notice them since reading this.

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Look for any books about Carl Jung or Jungian psychology and you should find plenty of information about archetypes. :)

Naiya! You're alive! :cheers:

Glad to see that this thread is still active.

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Originally Posted by Max ツ

Naiya! You're alive! :cheers:

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