Hey all, I’ve been a lurker around here for a while - these forums are great, I’ve learned a lot which has given me a fair amount of DILDs over the past year or so.
Anyway I finally figured I had something to contribute: my reality check. The nose RC was the first one I learned - you pinch your nose, try to breath in, and if you succeed you are dreaming. Once I got used to the feel of it (it feels a bit different from just breathing thru your nose regularly) it was a foolproof method for becoming lucid, provided you remember to RC of course. I think this is way better than other tests as it is universal (don’t need to find a clock or words to read), takes one second, and requires essentially no thought (quite important since you think differently in a dream).
However, it’s no secret that movement-free RCs are more desirable, especially when trying WILDs. For me, the solution was obvious: Use your mouth instead of your nose. Simply close your mouth and try to breath in. It will always fail when you’re awake, and (at least for me) it always succeeds when you’re dreaming. The only movement you need is closing your mouth, which is a lot better than moving your whole arm for the nose RC. If you breath thru your nose while trying WILD, then you don’t need to move at all, just try to breath thru your mouth.
I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but I’ve never seen it anywhere online, so I figured I’d share with you all - I owe it to you after all the help you’ve given me. Let me know what you think!
The only complication I can think of is that when you try it, maybe you would redirect your physical breathing. If you sleep with your mouth closed, you still will not be able to breathe. We never close our nose, whatever that would mean, so it can’t accidentally fool us.
There might be the need for a differentiation. When we are in the middle of a dream, and attempt a DILD, then we are completely oblivious to our real body, and wouldn’t influence it when we do any movement, including mouth opening/closing. I don’t remember if those muscles are covered by SP though.
Instead, during the moments it would come most in handy,like WILD attempts, then we are indeed aware (if partially) of our real body most of the time, until the dream is fully stabilized (and that would be too late, it takes a while unless you actively stabilize it, but that would mean you are lucid in the first place). So, I guess it’s something to do during the day, but not during WILD attempts, and that’s quite a shame.
Hey, I read this a few nights ago. And I tried it. I became lucid, and did a reality check to be sure (Nose) and then i remembered this and tried yours. It didn’t work I could breathe through my nose closed, but my mouth closed didn’t work. Sorry to burst your bubble. Maybe it’s just me. Anyone else try it?
Unfortunately, this doesn’t work for me at all. When i try it WL, my body redirects it to my nose, and same in a dream. Perhaps we should try breathing through our ears
Thanks for the replies everyone. Last night I had my first lucid in a few weeks and I meant to test some things out, but didn’t remember everything I wanted to do (hate when that happens). Anyway the mouth RC actually didn’t work for me. Perhaps I simply “expected” it to work before, and the seed of doubt planted by Gutana made it not work?
Anyway I’ve realized recently that when I do the mouth RC in WL, sometimes I don’t even close my mouth, I just press my tongue to the roof of my mouth and try to breath thru my mouth. Then I realized that you automatically do the same thing in a nose RC, though the target of the breathing is kinda fuzzy.
This overlap is pretty interesting - I’m pessimistic but I wonder if the automatic tongue blocking is an important part of why the nose RC works or the mouth RC doesn’t (always). I meant to try some different things in my lucid, however like I said I only did one mouth RC where I just barely closed my lips. I dunno if I even have a tongue in my dreams. Especially in light of Rubiks Cube’s comments (not sure how it doesn’t work for you in WL) it’s doubtful it’ll lead to something as universally successful as the nose RC, but I think it’s interesting to figure out how breathing works in dreams and why the nose RC even works.
The explanation of why the nose rc works is very simple. You can breathe in RL. Holding your nose in your dream wont change that When you’re breathing in a dream you’re breathing in rl.
I’m not sure I agree that breathing in a dream corresponds to breathing in RL… at least not always. I really don’t have anything concrete to base that on, hopefully you can convince me otherwise.
But if that is the case, then why doesn’t the mouth RC give the same results as a nose RC in a dream?
I could breathe through my nose closed, but my mouth closed didn’t work. Sorry to burst your bubble. Maybe it’s just me. Anyone else try it?