I got interested in lucid dreaming yesterday when i stumbled upon a short guide on inducing lucidity.
I followed the instructions, and went to bed only after I was extremely tired. I then lay completely still on my back with my hands at my sides, and didn’t allow myself to move. After a bit, I felt a weight on my chest, and a kind of disorientation, where I felt like i could slide off my bed by accident. My breathing became very shallow and it almost felt like I had an OBE. Overall it was a very strange feeling, like I wasn’t there, but I was (I wasn’t dreaming). I thought I had reached SP many times, and the feeling grew more intense, and less intense, and so on.
Anyway, after a bit, I tried opening my eyes, then closed them again. I’m not sure if I could move, but didn’t try… I eventually gave up and moved my limbs (which were very sore) and just went to sleep as normal.
from my research today, It appears as though i was attempting to do a WILD kinda thing directly from going to bed.
what did I do wrong? or is it just a over-time kinda thing? I’m going to start the dream journal and reality check things too.
thanks!
It looks like you did everything just right but it was discussed many times whether is possible or not to dream at the beginning of the sleep cycle, because there is possibility that we can’t dream until we reach REM and statistics say that usual person enter REM sleep after 90 minutes of sleep, so it’s very hard to WILD at the beginning of the sleep cycle…
You should try with WBTB technique because then you can enter REM almost instantly and good idea with starting the DJ and RC!
thanks, I’ll try the wbtb thing.
I’m a bit confused as to what to do when falling back alseep after waking. Do I repeat “mantras” like “I will lucid dream”, etc., think of the dream i want to have, or just go to sleep?
also- it seems you use this technique- how long did it take you to ld after your first attempt?
thanks!
Well, normally with WBTB, I reset my intention to LD and go back to sleep. That could be done with affirmations or mantras, but unless I feel like trying a DEILD or WILD, I normally just let myself fall back to sleep. dB_FTS is right about not trying WILD when you go to bed. It’s very hard to do then. I wouldn’t recommend WILD if you’re just starting out. I’d recommend a WBTB with MILD or autosuggestion instead.
At first I didn’t use WBTB because I didn’t know about it, but when I started to using it I believe it took me at least a week before first results. You have to count on that your body is not accustom to this changes and maybe you won’t get first results at first night but maybe you will, every person is different!
In description for WBTB stands to get up and be up for half an hour or more but if suits you, you can be up only 5 to 15 minutes that’s how I do it, anyway my point is to adjust technique to your own needs and possibilities.
If you don’t feel like doing WBTB then you can try DEILD (for me sometimes even better then WBTB), but I would recommend to stick with one technique for some time just to be sure if it’s working for you or not because sometimes mixing few techniques can lead to confusion.
thanks for the replies! I’ve been doing reality checks (my 3 are: look at hands, finger through hands, pinch nose and try to breath) and I’ve recorded the half-ish dream I kinda remember. My main problem is I’m in High school at the moment, which involves me waking up at 6 and going to bed at midnight or later. When I wake up I’m so confused and tired I don’t remember much from any dream I had, especially since I have 3 alarms going.
I’m not going to try anything for another 2 weeks or so, my schedule is extremely full… I have 2 research papers, both I’ve procrastinated like mad on, SATs, job searching, the whole shebang.
When I do eventually get to wbtbing, I think I’ll try it with a MILD mantra kind of thing. The way you become “lucid” with these is by preforming a RC in the dream, and realizing you’re not dreaming, right?
I think you mean “realizing you’re dreaming”, but they can be. I don’t really consider lucids to be categorized as MILDs. I consider MILD the technique, and a dream spontaneously lucid as a DILD. It can be a bit confusing what we consider techniques to put our dreams under or not. MILD is setting an intention to be lucid or remember your dreams or by repeating a mantra a few times before you sleep. Some of us might consider lucidity brought on by RCing an RCILD, but that’s technicalities.
Yeah, I also find it hard to LD with only six hours of sleep. Not fun. However, I have to have more than that lately. I’m working 5-8 hours a day lately, and my bedtime has been earlier and earlier lately… Pretty soon I’ll be on a European sleep schedule (at least with the bedtime, US eastern time here).
I find I usually would like at least 8 or 9 hours if I plan to have an LD. I could have this morning, but my goals aren’t strong enough right now to get me lucid. I don’t even remember this morning’s goal right now…
i usually go to bed around midnight or later on the weekends (when i get more than 6 hours of sleep), so it might be weird waking up at 6, chilling until 7ish, and going back to bed for wbtb. ha
I think i’m trying it tonight (/next morning), not gonna get my hopes up though. I’ve been doing rc’s and my dj so I’ll see how it goes.
Often, if I WBTB, I’m only up for a few minutes so it’s just long enough to reset my intentions and then possibly MILD/WILD/DEILD. I don’t think it’s necessary always to stay up for a half hour to an hour for WBTB. Most people stay up for what’s comfortable for them. Personally, I usually stay up for at most 15 minutes.
MILD is setting an intention to be lucid or remember your dreams or by repeating a mantra a few times before you sleep. Some of us might consider lucidity brought on by RCing an RCILD, but that’s technicalities. 
