First Steps to MILD (for all basic MILD related Q&A)

Quest for Lucidity
1

[mod]This is the sticky topic in which you can ask basic questions about the MILD technique.
There is a MILD FAQ in the LD4all knowledge base, you can find it here :content:

The Old BIG MILD topic (3 parts) can be found here [/mod]

I have been using MILD at night and sometimes it works and other times it dosent it says MILD works best in the early morning but when ever my alarm clock wakes me up I just fall back asleep and If i set it to early it will piss my family off. Sometimes its hard for me to feel and really visualize mild and really mean it. Can somebody help me with this? How long does mild take to work?

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It’s completely normal. If you have a 100% success with any technique, you can be very happy. As for me, I never had more that 25% with any autosuggestion-based technique.

You can perhaps try to wake up without an alarm clock by using autosuggestion. It works very well for some people.

You don’t really have to “visualize”. Just remember your previous dream and imagine that you become lucid and that you do what you planned to do.

3

What do you mean by “hard to really mean it”. Are you saying that you end up just mindlessly repreating words with no meaning, not thinking about their meaning.

I would suggest that you say the words slowly and delibretly in your head really focusing on what they mean.

Ultimatly it boils down to confidence, if you think becoming lucid is hard, then it becomes so for you. I wouldn’t get to caught up in doing MILD the “correct” way. If you do then you could lock yourself into a state where you have to do MILD perfectly in order to have a lucid dream.

For me all I need to do is go to bed and think about becoming lucid and it happens. I know lucid dreaming is easy and that I will have one every time I want to and as such I do.

Please, don’t convince yourself that it is difficult because it truly isn’t.

4

Last night, I had my 2nd LD since starting back up again :smile:

Anyways, I am less shocked and amazed by my 2nd LD than I am by the fact that the LD occured without any RCs. Up until this point, all of the LDs I have had in my life have been a clear result of RCs, MILD, or just plain old instinct (my hundreds of childhood LDs).

On to the dream: Nothing to explain really other than the moment the dream started I became lucid without even thinking about it. I was so shocked at that fact that I started the dream lucid that I forgot to do anything else! I did an RC after I was lucid (of course nothing happened since I was already lucid) simply because I couldn’t believe it! Anyways, the dream only lasted for about 10 seconds because it was earlier in the night. The question becomes, was this LD induced by instinct (I don’t think it was because it happened the moment the dream started) or was it induced by MILD (which I went to sleep with). Originally I thought it was instinct, just because I’ve never really read about a similar experience… but then I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that people who master MILD are able to LD all night long and instantly become lucid when they enter a dream. Of course, I don’t believe I am anywhere near mastering MILD… but was this dream the result of weeks of practice or simply the result of instinct?

5

Let’s review. You practise MILD… That is, telling yourself you’ll realise that you’re dreaming and visualising it. Then you start dreaming and you realise that you’re dreaming. Yup. Sounds lime MILD to me.

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I’ve been trying MILD for a few months now, and I don’t think I’m doing it right.

I think one problem that I’m having is that I usually sleep for either a really long time or a really short time. I’m going to computer animation school with a terrifically large workload, so I’m up late pretty well every night working on my laptop. This means that I can’t afford the time to set my alarm to wake me up at 5:00AM to kick in a dream method, seeing as I probably went to sleep at 2:00AM and need to get up at 6:00AM or 7:00AM (except on days when I have class in the afternoon). I usually catch up on my sleep on Saturday, when I sleep until like 11AM. I guess telling myself to wake up naturally could be a good idea, but I’m not sure how well I can do that…

Anyways, here’s what I try to do: when I’m in bed and am too tired to move, I start repeating this passage in my head: “I am going to dream now. I am aware that I am dreaming. I recognize it as a dream.” Sometimes I add an intention like “I’m going to fly out my window,” or if there’s a Dream Quest, I set that as an intention. I tend to repeat this over and over until I go to sleep, and it’s never worked. Sometimes my mind gets distracted, but I’m usually able to refocus it on the chant.

I chant like 30 times before I go to sleep. That sounds like a problem right there, as well as the fact that I’m not sure that I’m looking for dreamsigns. Whenever I look at my watch (which is quite frequently), I tend to ask “Is this a dream or not?”, which might be on the right track. I’m also starting to notice some common themes and features of my dreams, which could also be good.

Sometimes I also like to use the Lucid Dream Induction sound recording by putting my headphones under my pillow (the sound carries through fine). I think it works better if I set a delay so that it starts a few minutes after I start the CD, giving me time to get to sleep. I’ve tried using 10, 15 and 30-minute delays, but those always come on too early, so now I have one with a 50-minute delay, but I’m afraid that comes on too late.

Another huge problem is that I might be trying too hard; treating this too methodically. The one time I had a fake lucid dream, which is the closest I’ve got so far, I didn’t try anything. I think my dreamsign was that the sun was too bright, or everything was too white.

I considered doing WILD when MILD wasn’t working, but considering how much harder that’s supposed to be, I’d better learn to crawl before I try to walk. Can anyone tell me where I’m getting this right, and where I’m stumbling?

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First thing off WILD isn’t any harder than MILD unless you take a while to fall asleep. As far as your mantra goes are you saying he words or are you concentrating on the meaning
of the words. If you just mindlessly repeat the mantra with no thought to it you won’t have much success. In addition it helps to incubate a dream scene in which you see yourself flying and realize that “I’m Dreaming”. Don’t get caught up in having perfect technique, its like playing sports in that regard, you can have a horrible technique and still be effective.

As for the watch checking…that is a good RC but RC’s need to be done very frequently (on the order of 20-30+ times per day) until they become habit, at which point they will carry over into your dreams.

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I suppose I didn’t think of it that way. Considering that lucid dreaming is such a mindful thing, the fact that I’ve been going about it so mindlessly is a pretty dumb error. I’ll know enough now to develop a mental picture and not just chant. :ohno:

I find it doesn’t take me long to get to sleep these days, so the WILD method doesn’t seem so far-fetched, but it would probably be best to stick to the MILD method until I becomes a bit more experienced.

Alright, good tip. It’s probably best to do just one reality check, so that it sticks better in your subconscious, right? Is it relevant if I ask if this is a dream out loud or not? 30-odd times out of the day, I’m usually in an awkward place to ask out loud if I’m dreaming. :bored:

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So, RCs with autosuggestion is best suport for MILD - You do can learn to have Lucid dreams that way. MILD is a method that causes DILD’s. RC’s and autosuggestion does same thing, so it’s worth to use them. In RCs you have just to really ask yourself, think that you are dreaming or not, dont just mindlessly starting at hand.

At first, throughts while falling asleep are often important part of froming dream. You have to MILD while falling asleep, to moment of losing consciousness. A repeating (short ones are better, but dont make it three words) sentence will get into dream, causing your dream mind to recogenize dream state way more often.

In reality, think it. When you are nearly sure that it’s dream (like you see a flying car), you should ask iot loudly, to get more lucid.

Wow, it gone long :tongue:
Just my point of view at MILD.

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When you are saying “I’m dreaming, I know I am dreaming, etc” do you actually say it verbally or do you just say it in your mind? Because if I say it verbally then I can’t go to sleep…

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You say it in your mind. I would say " I will dream and i will remember my dream" If you like say that in your head. When you get better start saying " I will dream and I will realize im dreaming" If you want that is.

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yes, you say it in your mind.And make sure that you actually mean it.I usually visualize myself becoming lucid (doing a RC , noticing soemthing strange in a dream, etc)

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I do that some times to. Visualizing myself in a dream.

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14

Hello. Im gonna try MILD tonight but i’m confused about the steps to follow. Laberge says that when i wake up after a dream, i have to recall it and write it down. Then go to bathroom, and wash my face with cold water. Get back to bed and read my dream report. Then practice MILD: recall my dream, see myself becoming lucid, etc…
But in other books, and also ld4all homepage, it doesn’t say anything about write my dream, go to bathroom. It’s says that when i wake up after a dream, practice MILD inmediately, without write my dream, go to bath, etc.

What’s the “official” way for practising MILD? how do you guys use this technique?

Thanks in advance!

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Uh, isnt this already been a topic? Well the way i do it is lay down in bed and go to sleep while saying " I will dream and, I will realize im dreaming" i breathe out and say the first part then out the 2nd. But you should probably say " I will dream and, I will remember my dream" Only if you dont have good DR were you can at least recall 1 dream a night.

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i dont beleive theres an “offical” way to do MILD, Just do whatever works for you!

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I just go right back to sleep… i don’t even get up from bed! :grin:

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Thanks all for the reply. I think that i’m going to write my dream after wake up, and then practise MILD, because last night when i wake up and stay in bed recallling my dream i just fall asleep, hehe.

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I record my dreams when I wake up, and as I’m falling asleep tell myself Im going to have a lucid dream. Its been working pretty well.

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BTW, I guess that when Beersheba said about writing dream, getting up, etc., he meant MILD after WBTB. It’d more propable because he said about dreading DJ. You can do like that, then MILD supported by WBTB will give bigger chanse of having LD :yes:

And sapmangat was right… do MILD like works for you :tongue: