Thanks @Marvin! I read your post last night… and went on to have a FA! I’m pretty sure your post did it, haha.
I dreamed there was a fire in my old house and as I ran to tell my wife, I woke up in an apartment where we actually lived several years ago (but where we no longer live). Then, I tried to fall asleep using MILD…
But then, I was woken up in real life! And I realized that I was trying to do MILD inside a FA.
Is this progress toward LD, do you think?? Or just neurons misfiring?
Haha that’s awesome, first I get inspired by your thread and then you pick up on my dream. Who’s next to continue based off of your dream 
I definitely count that as progress. Like I said, FAs are more of a thing among dreamers than wakers. Also it’s probably a good idea to make it a habit of doing a reality check after you wake up 
When I saw the topic I thought the idea was very great and I could try to join. But doing it every day regularly is not possible and why wait until March. So yesterday was a good opportunity for WBTB+MILD. I report great success. Here’s what happened, it was quite the night:
I hope I can try again a few more times. Thanks @Joe_Canada for starting this topic, it gave me the right motivation to get serious =D
I am convinced, @Marvin, that we are operating on the same wavelength… We seem to have LDs at exactly the same time. 
This is even more marvelous when you consider that our time zones are, I believe, exactly 12 hours apart
Looking forward to reading yours!
I was debating weather I should join MILD March or not because I already focus on MILD, but I think I could stand to be more intentional about some of my practice so I’ll guess I’ll be joining!
I would specifically like to focus on connecting my most common dream sign (water) with a mindful RC. This is something I try to do but I could definitely do better with.
I will continue using autosuggestions since those have been working well for me lately. My favorite throughout the day and before bed is “When I realize I am dreaming I will X” where I fill in my goal. However, I often wake up in the middle of the night and so I often attempt a MILD/WBTB and my most successful mantra at that time is simply “This is a dream.” It just works that in the following dream I often have that same realization.
I’ve really enjoyed participating in the community here on LD4all lately 
I’ll be celebrating my 10th year as a lucid dreamer in March so I think focusing on MILD would be a great way for me to honor that milestone 
Seriously, I love MILD+WBTB so much that I got patches for my denim jacket with the acronyms. Stitched them to the inside pockets to keep it close, and remind me to do RCs when I put things in my pockets
I’m totally in! Reading your post and all these comments has gotten me really inspired to try this technique as a commitment for March! My usual way is just relying on RC’s. It works for me sometimes, but its quite (extremely) spontaneous. I’ve tried WILD with little to no success…Now for MILD March! I’m excited 
!!
@Marvin that’s excellent!
I can’t seem to get wbtb to work for me. How long do you stay up before going back to bed? And do you do mild when returning to sleep?
Hey @Splash your plan sounds excellent. Please keep posting and let us know how it goes!
Also, even though I’ve only ever had a handful of LDs, might I make a suggestion? Try using water in your everyday life as a reality check. Every time you run the tap, take a shower, see an aquarium, etc… Reality check! Maybe that will get you super primed
Yes! That’s the plan!
One of my workplaces has two ponds (I work in a garden part time) that I should really take advantage of. Water is so ubiquitous it’s actually kind of more challenging that way I try to do this regularly but I’m definitely not as sharp on it as I could be.
WBTB is arguably the easiest thing to do. You just do what the name of the technique says: you get up late into your sleep, preferably before the last sleeping cycle. I use about 2 hours before I want to wake up plus half an hour buffer before I must get up, so in total 2 1/2 hours before my normal alarm. Then I stay up for about half an hour, usually a little longer. You need to get out of complete grogginess so you can focus on your technique when going back but I think it’s better not to become “too awake“.
In that time I first write down any dreams from the first part of the night. Then I tend to my body’s needs so I’ll make sure I’m physically comfortable. That usually involves going to the toilet and drinking some water. I avoid sugar because I think it will prevent me from relaxing. The rest of the time I spent on dream related things like reading the forum our dream journals. A fantastic story that really draws you in may also work.
When I’m doing WBTB then I only apply the induction technique in the WBTB phase and usually not when going to bed in the evening. WBTB is a super useful add-on that will amplify your chance for lucid dreams (and possibly more awesome NDs as well!) all by itself, but it really shows its potential if combined with MILD or WILD or whichever xILD floats your boat 
I was doing WBTB+MILD again last night but had severe trouble falling asleep again for the last cycle. I was afraid I wouldn’t get any more sleep out of those 2+ hours 
But I managed a couple of minutes before the alarm anyway and had a mini LD at the very end 
But this is the danger of WBTB. You’re messing with your sleeping pattern…
@Marvin thanks for all the great tips. I did wbtb last night but I think it was too early (2 am). I wasn’t close enough to REM. I had normal nonlucid dreams.
I also usually meditate during wbtb but when I go back to sleep my mind feels very “blank”. I’ll try focusing on my journal and dreams.
I also meditate! I do it at the start of falling asleep again to relax and make sure I can fall asleep decently fast. And I also use it to prepare myself mentally for the technique so I can focus well on it. The distinction between meditation and MILD is actually somewhat fluid for me anyway.
Hey! I think this is such a good idea I’m going to try it! The dream journal, which I usually do at 2 am, hand inspection, i havent tried meditation before bed but it couldnt hurt
I think I’m going to try some of the LD guided meditations on YouTube before bed. I feel like my brain needs some light stimulation to get going down LD lane!
Did the WBTB+MILD combo again. Finding back to sleep was surprisingly difficult once more and I only had 3 broken fragments in the final sleep cycle with awakenings in between. Hard to attain lucidity with sleep like that. I’ll rest for the weekend and maybe do a little bit more WBTB next week.
I hope I can stick with MILD every day before going to bed though, so I take part in the challenge properly 
Sorry again for starting ahead, circumstances were just very convenient this week.
No worries at all @Marvin! I’ve gotten started too. I have the same prob - a hard time falling back asleep whenever I do wbtb.
I think I need to get a couple of good night’s sleep before trying again, too. I have a four year old who wakes up at night so I have a little accumulated sleep debt as well.
I do have a secret weapon though. I received the Lucidimine I ordered today. I’ll be trying it next week to jump start things. Should be an interesting journey… I’m not against supplements if they can help the LD boat to leave shore, so to speak.
We WBTB very differently. I generally only stay awake for five or ten minutes tops. Nowadays, it’s been more of a kill the alarm and go right back to bed… but MILD as I do so… so it ends up being almost like DEILD, but I move so not really. I will get out of bed, go to the bathroom, and get water… but I try to avoid screens like the plague. I will squint and my eyes closed and angle my phone away as I turn off my alarm. Anything to reduce the amount of light getting to my eyes. In my experience, screens are a trap that will ruin a WBTB.
I generally try to get back to sleep as fast as possible as I want to get back to resting and back to dreaming. I know I’m not doing “proper” WBTBs as they’re supposed to be delayed REM cycles kicking in or something… but they work for me… probably best evidenced by the amount of lucids I’ve had between 0500 and 0630 the past month or so… also… I wake up on a 90 minute boundary and do so two sleep cycles before I actually have to get up… that may be a bit much given what happened this morning.
The point about screens is a valid one, I will try that also in the future. Just don’t have any books or so with me on the business trip right now.
Before I also tried to do minimal waking WBTB where I barely do anything beyond turning the alarm off and maybe go to the toilet. But I found that I’m way too sleepy then to do any technique effectively. 
How do you cope with that?
On the other hand I get a lot of normal wake-ups like that during the night so I might use those to try out your style a little more. Also that way my girlfriend won’t have a problem. She will not tolerate it when I’m doing an alarm supported WBTB while she is around. Natural wake-up on the other hand…
@Cornelia_Xaos Two more WBTB related questions, since they work fantastically for you: How often do you do them (every night)? How much additional time do you allocate to your night sleep when doing WBTB vs. a straight sleep-through?
Not very well, actually. Some times I pass out because I’m running too much on autopilot, others I hot the ala, lay back and barely get a thought in before I’m out again… though it does help if I actually have to get out of bed to go to the bathroom… so drink lots of water, maybe?
That being said, just being woken up I feel helps me immensely when it comes to recall and potential lucidness, though it’s exponentially more effective if I’m alert enough to employ MILD or autosuggestion as I drift back to sleep.
Yep! I try to do them every night at exactly the same time or, at least, same relative time if I mess up and stay up way too late.
None, really… I don’t have a lot of free time during the day because of all the little things I try to do daily… and the more I dream journal the longer my dreams get so I have even less time.
My schedule is, for work days, as follows:
) )If I were sleeping through I’d just turn off my WBTB alarm… same rough schedule: 2300/0000 through 0800/0830 . Work from home has spoiled me.