When I first started “trying” to have LD 's I did all the typical things: kept a DJ, Mild, RC’s, reading books, auto suggestion, taking St. John’s wart, etc. I had some success, but it was taking up much of my time…and keeping that dream journal was causing me to loose too much sleep. (I have major issues falling back to sleep once I have been up writing.)
So I gave it all up, except RC’s. I still come to this site and read other people’s LD’s & posts…but basically I do nothing but RC’s (which has become a habit).
I don’t RC when I see dream signs any more (schools was a dream sign, they show up in many of my dreams), I only do RC’s when things “seem” or “feel” dream-like. (example; sometimes when I’m very over-tired I do a lot of RC’s because I have that extreemly sleepy, almost “high” feeling.) Or if something happens that seems strange or very “out of the ordinary.” (example; I was almost involved in an auto accident last week, I did an RC within seconds of the near miss.)
Over the last several months I have been having (aprox.) 2 LD’s per month. This may not sound like much, but considering that I am doing next to nothing I think it’s great.
I am hoping that my LD’ing keeps up, and even increases in number as time passes. It seems to me that recognizing dream state gets earier the more I LD.
I have always been experiencing LD’s naturally. Earlier it was about once or twice a month, but now that I’ve started doing RC’s and keeping a DJ I have an LD about once or twice a week. After what I’ve read that’s quite a lot. MILD’s and WILD’s can induce it even more often, which is great.
Anyway, I think the reason why some people experience “natural” LD’s more frequently than others, is simply the fact that some people are more open to the question “is this a dream?” than others. It has to do with types of personality I guess. And when you include habits like RC’s and looking for dreamsigns, it figures.
I’ve dropped everything completely aside from keeping my precioso Dream Journal, and now I’m just meditating for ten or fifteen minutes a day. That’s what my brother did when he was my age (fourteen), now (he’s twenty) he is prety much considered a master Lucid Dreamer. He can slip into a lucid dream any time he’s tired enough to sleep. So I’ll be there in no time, even quicker if you factor in that he began lucid dreaming the way he does now three years ago, rather than zero years ago. Right now he can Astral Project at will, contol psi, and even learned this neato little trick from a close friend or his (Reiki Master) called centralization which allows him to completely control the flow of adrenaline through his body in, oh, about ten seconds. All very neato, and all very much looked forward to by me! …
jvib: Your story sounds quite familiar. I hadn’t had LDs for many years since the beginning of my puberty until I found this site. This summer I had a breakthrough with MILD, after which I have had many spontaneous LDs when I haven’t done any induction techniques. It may be that we are a bit of natural lucid dreamers, but just had forgot our gift.
Yes same here. After some time I became lucid merely by the “dream feeling” itself. Somehow I knew I was dreaming, even when everything appeared normal like in real life. I was as if the dream itself creates a subtle but specific feeling in the back of your head, which turns the dream into a totally different experience than real life, no matter how vividly real everything appears.
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