Articles, videos, forums, etc., perusing various internet sources and gathering as much information as I could on the subject.
How did YOU learn to LD? - Part II
hey, new here, still a virgin tho 
Ive been trying for a few months and nothing, I do know a lot of times that Im in a dream, but cant get lucid.
any pointers are welcomed. glgl
Hi Bruce, welcome!
Can you elaborate on what you mean by:
Generally, to know you are in a dream is the definition of being lucid. However, your level of lucidity can be across a broad spectrum, from lucid without self control to lucid and in control of every aspect of the dream.
tyty 
that a couple times Ive noticed Im dreaming, but just go with whatever is happening, like I dont take control, or become “lucid enough”
I know its no hurry and it will happen when it happens, but wanted to know if somewhat went through this faze*
Yes, I believe this is fairly normal
When we dream, the logic center of our brain is not as active as when we are awake, which means we don’t always think as clearly in our dreams. This means that sometimes, even when we realize we’re dreaming, we don’t quite have the clarity to really control ourselves in the dream, or even realize we can. That is why the WBTB technique is so popular (Wake Back to Bed). Have you heard of this technique yet? In summary, you would set an alarm for 2 to 3 hours before your usual wake up time. After your alarm, you get out of bed and stay awake for between 15 minutes and an hour, without doing anything physically strenuous. This allows the logic side of your brain to reactivate while your body is still somewhat resting. You then go back to sleep and your remaining two hours of sleep (which are when we dream the most), will be full of dreams with enhanced logic capabilities. This makes it much easier to become lucid, and have improved lucidity too.
I would also suggest spending some time brainstorming and day dreaming about what you would want to do if you did become lucid, and then revisit it all again right before you go to sleep. That way if you become lucid, it may trigger this “to-do list” that you have, and may help you realize that you can choose what you do in your lucid dreams
I’m hardly one to talk, as I’ve recently had dreams where my legs aren’t even attached to my body, and I still don’t even realize something’s up, like maybe this is a dream, since that’s not even possible… talk about lack of logic 
Haha tyty
I actually tried to do WBTB today, but didnt know you had to stay awake for 15min or so, will def try your suggestions
Good luck and don’t give up 
A girl was presenting a research project in high school on the subject of dreams. I immediately went home and preformed a google search and found this site along with LaBerge reading material. This was around 2000 I think. I had a good routine going on and off for a few years with great results. Unfortunately life got in the way and my interest waned so here I am again starting from scratch to assist with my dhamma practice. I’m extremely rusty but on the upside I’ve clocked thousands of hours of meditation since then so I’m eager to see how much it helps with lucid dreaming. 
Cool, I would love to hear how you get on, and if you notice a significant advantage in LD training with your acquired mental skills from meditation. I have a firm belief that meditation can help tremendously in LDing! Even just the from the occasions where I fall out of meditation, I notice my LDing start to slide as well.
Well just had my first LD since being back on my third night of practice. I believe that’s my record after taking a long break (it’s been about a decade since I last kept a dream journal). I had one the very first night I read about lucid dreaming when I was 14 or 15 but that was probably beginner’s luck so I don’t count it. Also part of the reason I came back was I developed the ability to achieve WILD during my normal daytime meditations about a month ago. I always wanted to do that when I was a kid and never was able to without cheating (WBTB, going 24 hours without sleep, etc.) Unfortunately as I told moogle, I need my meditation sessions for meditation but it motivated me to get back in the habit with some old fashioned MILD and go for that 7-8 hours lucid goal (which I never achieved). Anyways, so far so good! I can’t tell if the meditation is responsible but normally it used to take me a good week to two weeks of recording dreams before I saw results.
I originally learned to lucid dream from following some youtube videos. I think it may have been Reece69? And some of GizEdwards videos. From watching so much lucid dreaming info I eventually started to notice dreamsigns and quite a few times of spontaneous lucidity. From there I have just absorbed as much info as I could
Astral Projection
And when I was studying abroad. Being there for a week I dreamt twice about being back home. The third day I said to myself, if I dream I’m back home again, this is defo a dream. And then I went lucid that night (even after having had a couple of drinks).
The following LDs often came after experiencing something that ‘couldn’t be true’ in RL.
I learned it by accident while i was very young.
Been working on techniques for my whole life, but specificaly on astral projections, because they are more powerful and yet same thing as lucid dreaming.
its interesting to read about how everyone learned to LD!
i was originally counseled to learn because i suffer from chronic nightmares, and i eventually did some research and found they could be used for their own sake too. i like to take a proactive approach to dreaming
Happened to me multiple times spontaneously when I was a child. Didn’t know exactly what it was and always tried to wake up. I found out you can completely control your LD by searching my ‘‘condition’’ ~10 years ago when I was ~18 years old. I managed to increase the rate of LD’s by use of MILD and WBTB techniques and actively controlled ~10-20 them. I tried WILD many times, but somehow I can never fall asleep when staying conscious.
I’ve only had lucid dreams a handful of times but I’ve never been able to take control even though I’m aware that I’m dreaming. How do you learn to control things?
Also, I’ve been trying to perfect my sleep patterns and found a sleep calculator(https://startsleeping.org/sleep-calculator/) that includes age, which none of the other ones seem to have. Apparently that’s the biggest determining factor. Is that true?
Only thing limiting you in lucid dreams is you. If you think some action requires effort or might fail, it most likely will. Confidence is key. Remind yourself that nothing around you is real. Locked doors can be walked through, because they are not really there.
And about sleep timings. Those vary from person to person. Best way to learn what works for you is to just test different timings.
I had learned about lucid dreaming maybe a year before this actually happened, but I could never seem to get myself to do it by myself. I almost achieved it one time by looking at a digital clock and noticing that the time was really off with how it looked outside, but I freaked out too much and woke up.
When I actually, fully attained a lucid dream and could control it, I was helped by a reoccurring dream character (read about them in my dream journal, link in siggy). I was with him in the kitchen of my old house and we were about to leave, but these older people came in through the back door, who I realized were his grandparents but they were supposed to be dead. I started freaking out and my dream character turned me to him and told me I was dreaming! I had to take control of it because I was dreaming! And so I became lucid, and I was able to take us to a safer place.
That’s the low detail version anyway, but still, it was pretty wild.
I wasn’t able to have consistent lucid dreams after that, until recently.
Believe it or not, I performed a ritual back in January, and since then my lucid dreams have been pretty abundant, although I do find I kind of have to ‘renew’ the ritual, and do it at least once or twice a month. Totally worth it, though. I’ve definitely gotten better at lucid dreaming since then, and I think I’ll be able to have them soon, without the help of a ritual.
I agree! its very interesting to read all your stories^^
for me…ive been trying for YEARS but I think im blocking myself? its very hard to get lucid but I feel like mentally im standing in the way of…myself? haha if that makes sense
actually until last year I lived in a very broken home which was…idk it felt like a mental hospital, it felt like i was actually trapped in a nightmare. i cant even remember how but i stumbled over the author Charlie Morley and I think bc of him I got into lucid dreaming…also reading through your stories…I noticed something. Usually I can never remember what other dream characters told me or I feel liek i rarely talk to them. I never learned form my family or anyone to have “normal” conversations and I find it hard to communicate so I thought I could do this in lucid dreams…also, I wanted to perform on stage as a singer and guitarist in my lucid dreams and get over my anxiety…I do so at home in waking state but I really want to have my idol sing with me in my dreams…so far I couldnt accomplish that - I dont really know what I can do to improve my skills:/
Still, I wont give up! I even try to convince friends to try it, because its an incredible feeling and you could discover so many hidden things if you just dare to take a look! Right?