How did YOU learn to LD?

#57

I had Lucid Dreams every night when I was 2-6 years old. I could even decide what I wanted to dream about. I just thought about something, and dreamt about it, totally aware! I fell asleep after only fifteen minutes to :content:

Not so easy anymore, though…I had my “first” one a while ago, think I was eigth. I realised that it was a dream, stole some candy and was very pleased with it. The next one came later, my “RC” was pinching my arm (For those of you that’ve tried it, you know how it is…), but it felt like reality, but I knew it was a dream afterall.

Now it happens 3-4 times a month and growing.

#58

My LDs seem to come spontaneously, but more often when I’m thinking about it. Usually something will happen, and out of nowhere I’ll think, “Oh, that’s odd, how did that… oh, right.” The strange thing is that it’s usually the little things, like the doorknob being right in the center of the door, rather than things like giant pink cats or being chased by giraffes. :wink: My first LD was back before I had even heard of it, and I was annoyed in the dream, so I woke myself up. Lately I’ve been getting lucid more frequently, maybe two or three times a week since the middle of January. My only problem is keeping it long enough for anything to happen.

#59

I just “learned” to do it, though I used to have LDs when I was young and somehow lost them. Found this site about a week ago.

Getting to the point of recognizing I’m dreaming was easy, and I’ve always had superb dream recall and know my dream signs well. The tough part was staying there, because every time I realized it - whether just knowing or by a dream sign, (never have done a reality check while dreaming - though often while awake!) I would wake right up. Frustrating!

I was just napping - literally just woke up and am typing this immediately after. I was in a normal dream, involved in a crowded situation with my (much younger) mother and an elevator. I got outside and realized for whatever reason that I was dreaming - and immediately the dream started to fade. I looked down and saw my hands, then stuck them out and spun HARD and fast. It made me very dizzy - i’m still dizzy! - but when I opened my eyes, I was in a field with my dog, who was very happy to see me. So we ran and played a while… I did a couple cartwheels, then she started morphing into a panda.

That’s it… it was short but delicious, except for the dizzy part. I got up - the dog is here sleeping. Wonder if she was sharing the dream with me!

Does that really tell how I did it? It was sort of an accident last week, but I’ve been thinking about and reading about it ever since. It happened during a lot of noise in the house, so I was waking and going back to sleep, each time awake RCing and then trying to WILD but failing.

Cool stuff. I want more!

edited 15 Feb
And got more. Just wanted to mention this one. I wasn’t trying to do anything… just dreaming a not so pleasant dream, and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if this were a dream?” I pinched my nose - and was able to breathe.

What to do? I flew! It took three tries, with two gentle landings. And it went on from there, and was really quite incredible.

I wanted to post this here because the reality checking in RL paid off!

#60

Hey everyone :grin:

I learnt how to LD by doing loads of Research i mean loads and going on websites like this. Printing guides off and looking at them right before going to bed.

ConstantDreamer :grin:

#61

i heard about it on erowid.org body and mind part of its site. since i have ALWAYS been a dreamer (i have always been able to remember all of my dreams, i think about them alot and i enjoy them immensly) i thought, i must learn how to do this, this is the thing for me.

since signing up to this site and reading through the wealth of information, i had a couple straight off. i thought it was going to be VERY easy. it was about a month until my next one.

i used to deliver pizzas. i discovered that i was dreaming about delivering almost all the time, or at least i was dreaming about driving a car. so i thought to myself, how can i use this to my advantage? so, everytime i passed a set of traffic lights in my car, i did a simple reality check. since i was delivering pizzas by myself it was of no hinderence to me or anybody else around me to do it. the reality check was, check the time, turn the light on and off in my car, and then put my fingers to my nose and breathe in.

i started to have a few lucid dreams here and there, my first ones, nothing special. i then went through a big dry spell as i became a very heavy user of cannabis, i would smoke all day and night and be too dazed over in the morning to remember anything but the most remarkable dream. anything less than significant i would forget.

here i am now. around 1 month after quitting cannabis, my dreams have come back with a vengance. i am reading a lot before i go back to sleep. and here ends my little story with the fact that i have had 4 lucid dreams since thursday last week. they are returning to me almost nightly it seems. i am very thankful for that. i have also moved up to basic creating and control , instead of just looking around waking up or flying and waking up.

it is all very exciting.

here is my tip to anyone trying to lucid dream. REMEMBER your dreams. remember what happens in real life and remember what happens in your dreams. when the same 2 things happen frequently, do a reality check WHENEVER it happens in real life. then when you see it in your dreams, you will most likely do an automatic reality check after a while. i hope that makes sense, because that is how i did it and that is how it worked for me.

i no longer do reality checks. i just become lucid when something in the dream is out of ordinary. before i would have just made up some excuse in my dream head (we all know how suggestive thought is in the dream time) now instead of sayin " oh she just must be magic, oh she just must be an alien" or something like that and accepting it, i now just KNOW im dreaming and become lucid. ( a quick example: the other night i had a dream i was in a bank. there were 3 bank tellers in front of me, 2 guys and an absolutely stunning blonde girl. all of a sudden all 3 tellers turned into the same person, the guy who was sitting in the middle. i started laughing knowing it was a dream. then the blonde bank teller reappeered. she was so delicious looking i just had to have a taste. i led her out back to the offices and that was the end of that he he)

clown

#62

When I was younger, I started believing that I could manipulate my reality or that my reality conformed itself slightly to my wishes. I’m not quite sure which came first: the LD’s or the philosophy that I’ve learned by now is far from the truth. Either way, it’s how I started LD-ing.

btw, inspiring stories Clown and Garlic

#63

wow clown you’ve used cannibis? haha i’ve tried it once, i dont see how great it was…ive tried smoking too…guess my body knows that i shouldnt be taking drugs, now i work with youth groups…i should do more RCs at school now, since all my dreams are mainly based at school

#64

I learned from this forum :razz:

#65

I first heard about LDs while reading “Shoutwire”. It had a link to a wikibook, teaching you how to do it. I eventually got here via google.
I had my first LD last night after 5 days of trying, so anyone can do it quickly!! I was using MILD as it is the easiest, WILD is a horrible experiance!

#66

I havent learned LD! I discovered many techninques by my own, but reading them helped me to master the most known!!
(my sister is completely natural, but im just the half…)

It come to me naturally when i was 5 (the first that I remember happened when i was five).

I discovered that dreams are emotions that you have forgotten sometime in the day, and the one last thought of the day.

My first techinique i discovered was WILD, i could do many HI when younger, but they arent soo easy nowadays (i think thats because i have less patience, i sleep 5 hours per day most times,exactly the half that i had when younger!)

I discovered MILD but in a diferent way, of putting the idea in your mind. But I didn’t know really how to use it, i made many mistakes…

Ya! some wbtb later, i discovered it when i was stressed during my first morning school age! I lost all my dreams that age, because the lost of cicle. I tried to wake up during the night to be less stressed that “Ohh I can get back to bed now, i dont need to get running to school right now” (I dont know if you understand it). And i found that it made me remember more dreams (other tech are not effective when stressed for me).

(Drinking water too, lol)

There are some of my most reliable techniques, I’m sorry if some are already invented! Of course, you can help improving that names…

[size=150]Most Stupid Tggtt’s Inducings That worked[/size]

The Induction of Drastically Ended Dreaming!! (I call it the Hole ended) (easy to achieve, but you aren’t very free when lucid)
That is awesome, and are very easy to do even when stressed. Just go to bed thinking you are going to do something you like, thinking that you will be lucid (keep remembering that you are doing the thing you wanted, that’s the RC) and after that you fall in a hole , crash or some disaster (put in your mind that you wont lose you courage too!)! You will mostly wake up just after the accident, (you can close your eyes at the moment, and when you open them you are mostly to be wake, that’s the idea!). HAHAHHAHA Don’t worry that don’t hurts!! (don’t do it if you are heart sick!!) (But, they don’t last for too much!!).
You may try to do a chaining after that (Warning, dont get a adicted to this, or you might have drastic endings everyday!!)

Induction by Place Imagination! ( I call it Place Imagination)(very easy RC!) (hard to master)
Try to believe that you arent in your house, do it by concentrating hard, try to feel that your bed arent in that position, the walls are diferent, etc, when waking up, you will still believing that you are there place, don’t lose your grip,
It’s very hard to master, but I could feel myself in other place for many times! It’s a incubated FA don’t lose the concentration! Get up really slowly and beliving the place you created! If the place you imaginated remains real you are dreaming. (If you do this well, you ill be surprised when your imagination vanishes, that’s the RC!) Dreams from this tecnique are very nice!!(you can put signs of “you are dreaming” in that room)
(I really love the dreams it can do!!)

Induction by Dream Character Summoning! (I call it calling a friend)(very easy RC!) (medium to master) (not effective very because it’s not a good proof that the DC you get to you/ may be frightening)
Get to bed thinking that a dream character that you don’t know in real life will wake you (incubated FA) up saying that is a dream!!
(Very nice dreams too, but you may get frightened and wake up at that moment!)

Induction by Body Imagination (I call it “What am I?”(but i think someone invented it first, it’s very easy to lose the lucid control)
Try to believe that you are another person or animal!!!
It’s really easy to RC (not so easy as the Place Imagination).
But it can be almost shocking as the disaster, but is kind effective for me. (but some times it’s traumatic, when you loose the control, you can become crazy and shocked for some minutes, but nothing really baadd)

Disaster??? (do you have courage?, it is a challenge!!)
Try to believe that you are ill, in a hospital and w some trouble!!!
Or maybe the death of someone!!!
(very frightening but worked almost every time I tryed hahahhahah, but i didnt try soo much!!! (I DONT RECOMMEND THAT IDEA!! Its Traumatic!!))

The difference between “Disaster” and “Drastic” ( I call it “Hole Ending”) is that the disaster is likely a nightmare, that you try to get controlled, and the hole, is a shorter dream, that ends with a shock.
Then Disaster is bad since the beginning, the Drastic is only bad at the ending and you dont get any traumas because it instead of the Disaster.

Subliminal Induction (very effective forced MILD, not discreet)
Just put a sign that literally means that you could be dreaming or that you are doing what you want to do when dreaming (subconcious works in present time and understand mostly the directly meaning of the message). A few word blinks in your computer are very effective, but look at the screen without focusing on the words! Another good way is before sleeping and the wakennings, put a message in your bedroom and using a flashlight see it very quickly! And get to sleep.
It’s a very effective way of forcing a MILD because you can get what you want to your mind without extensive thinking.

Forgive me if some of them are already invented!!
tell me when it happens!

All new techniques
The BIG WBTB Topic - Part II
#67

I merged your topic into the “BIG How did you learn to LD? thread”. It’s exactly about the same topic. You asked “What technique did you use to have a LD ? How did you get you first LD ?”. This topic asks for “how long it took for people before they had their first LD, HOW they did it, how you’ve learned to lucid dream? which techniques, etc.” So it’s even more complete.

What technique did you use to have a LD ? How did you get you first LD ?

#68

I first heard about lucid dreaming watching Waking Life a few years ago. Then I read up about it and had a LD that night.

I trained myself to recognise similarities between my dream and waking life and to do RC in real life whenever those occured.

I have never really tried any of the induction techniques, I have had a WILD by accident and a WILD/VILD also by accident but other than that I just rely on DILDs and I am happy enough to have a few LD’s each month.

What about yourself?

#69

I would like to add one more question to this thread, even though i didn’t start this thread. :content:

How did you choose which method? Did you think, for example MILD was the one for you?

or did you think “Hmm…MILD seems interesting”

#70

I had my first LD with the WBTB method. Why did I use this method? Because it was the first one I found on the internet I guess. It took me several attempts to actually get up two hours earlier instead of immediately resetting the alarm clock and going back to sleep :content:
But once I did it, I LD’d from the first try! Too bad this method is hard to integrate in everyday life. It’s not comfortable, but it is a good way to start imho.

#71

I’ve been able to do it since I was a small child. (6-7 years old)
One way to notice your in a dream is, say for instance your in a familiar place your home etc and its not quite the same i.e. a different layout or different colored walls etc. Somthing like this should indicate you are dreaming. Or say your talking to your friend or your Mom in a dream but there face is not the same or they are alot taller than IRL should also tell you that your dreaming. It could also be somthing simple like noticing things seem hazy or foggy. Usually if I eat somthing before sleep i can have more vivid dreams and sometimes gain lucidity. :smile:

#72

I LD naturally, a couple of time a month/week, but would love to be able to LD, every night, as I love to fly :o), so I am going to try some of these tcks and will get back to you with the results.

#73

Its funny because Its like ‘It chose’ me. I was awake when I suddenly went stiff whilst looking out of my window, sitting.
Then I couldnt see and felt numb all over, like my body was asleep but my mind still awake. I was already airborn when I woke on the Other Side, flying about 4metres above a country road full of traffic. I chose a car & flew beside, knocking on the window as I 1st thought I was out of my body and maybe I could contact others who were in the Real(?) world, body awake. They didnt notice so I flew around a bit & found a Lake, When I flew under the serfice I was amazed I could still breathe. I now knew how special this was for me to experience but I felt sudden fear, like withdrawl, with a thought that sent me back to the blank numbness (a shark was chasing me). It was like I went through a tube or string to retern my body awake again. I was still sitting, but a little shaken up because of this ‘thing’ what happened, surrounding my Perception & (sub)Conciousness.

It never left me, I never force it upon myself to this day although I concentrate on open eye visuals now &then whilst fully awake. I would guess there is such thing as trying too hard to acheive something thats already there inside waiting.

:wow:

#74

I can’t say i learned to LD yet, but have had quite a few LDs. Autosuggestion did wonders for me, combined with other methods, autosuggestion is like a backup which gets me hits on and off. MILD is what im trying to learn but I’m trying to develope a good prospective memory and great DR, I think that will take my autosuggestion a level higher.

Woo 100th post!

#75

I had my first LD after a year :cry: it was hard work :grrr: but now it was worth it :wink:

I started with wild for a few months, no result
then sun eye, also no result
and every other technique that inspired me, no result

and then I decided to use RC’s, At first I saw this as the most stupid technique, but I did it a few weeks and I got my first LD :content:

Ps: I use RC’s with WBTBM :wink:

#76

I was born with it! I suppose but it was needed to be awakened and aware to me what they were. I’ve had at least 10 before I joined the site, not knowing what they were.