I am an 18 years old male who is fascinated by the concept of lucid dreaming and would really like to be able to experience it.
I generally have a hard/long time falling asleep, takes at least ~30 minutes (sometimes much more), and noises, lights make it much harder for me.
Anyway, that’s what I’m going to try:
-Many reality checks throughout the day, say around each 10 minutes. I combine about 4 of them, Is that alright or too much? Should I do them together or only one each ten minutes? When I do a reality check, should I tell myself that I am dreaming and that the reality check’s purpose is to cancel that out (as someone on the web suggested), or should I simply ask myself if everything is normal and have the check try to approve/cancel that out?
-When I go to sleep, I just think a lot about how I would like to have a lucid dream, and say to myself that I will have one and remember it many times. I try to do this until I am asleep.
Since my pretty “sucky” sleeping profile, I will not attempt waking up on purpose during the night.
I will also start improving my dream recall (with a journal, among the rest) along with trying to achieve a LD.
Can anyone review and suggest improvements for my “road to LD”?
Thanks a lot for any help!
EDIT: I have some Valerian extract (mild sedative), which when used produces very vivid, real-like feeling and easily rememberable dreams. Could this help in order to achieve a lucid dream?
The amount of RCs you should perform at one time varies depending on how reliable the RCs are. I only need to use 2 RCs at a time, as I use very reliable ones. Exactly what RCs are you planning to do? I could give you some suggestions to how many you are planning to do at once. Also, it sounds like the Valerian Extract would be good for Dream Recall, which is necessary for LDing.
What only 30 minutes? For me its about 45 min to 2 hours, and thats normal^^. IO dont think much RC´s lead you to much LD. For me i had times eith one Ld´s per WEek witzhout any RC´s. I mean, i´ve never heard of anybody who stands in a dream and said, “ough an hour passsed i do an RC now”. In some dreams you got only the feeling of “is this a dream” and then you do an RC to proove it.`For me, i use RCs as a test not as a technique. try it with WBTB. Even if you dont do WILd or M;ILD, there are higher chances of an LD
Well, if you already take a long while to sleep, I’d recommend trying to WILD. It’s hard and some people say it won’t work in half an hour, but it’s a good exercise to help you relax, and works as yet another way to fix the idea of lucid dreaming in your subconcious. Who knows, maybe the relaxing exercises can even help you sleep faster!
As for the Valerian, I don’t really like the idea of using a remedy - they can have side effects (money spent, at least), you know, and I feel I’m better off by myself. But hey, that’s me. If you feel like giving it a try, why not?
The RCs I’m using are blocking the nose and trying to breath, counting fingers and trying to push one through the palm of my hand, looking at the time (on the cellular phone) and then looking again after a few seconds, and throwing my phone to the air (gravity).
I just feel that doing a lot of RCs during the day will probably make me do one in a dream…
I think that 4 might be too much but I’m not sure about it… Which do you suggest are the best?
When I do an RC, I usually question myself “is this a dream? is everything normal?” and then I do the RC to approve/disprove of that. Is it better to tell myself “this is a dream!” and have the RC approve or disapprove it? Or should I just ask myself if it is a dream?
Last things, I would like to try WILD as suggested, but I’m afraid that trying to stay mentally focused will just give me a harder time falling asleep, but I will try that and report back.
Also, Hypnagogic imagery seems to appear mainly when I’m sleeping in an uncomfortable position, such as on a chair. Any way to help induce them when I’m lying on my own, comfy bed?
And what would be the best combination of techniques to induce a LD without having to wake up intentionally?
Well, that’s a lot of questions. I’ll focus on what I can answer well, and leave the others for those who know what they’re talking about
You’re afraid of WILD keeping you up due to the mental focus, but this can be countered by relaxation exercises. Some people fall asleep very fast after doing them. My advice would be: give it a try, once or twice, at least. If it doesn’t help, then it doesn’t help. But maybe it does!
As for HI - I believe the place you’re at has little to do with it. Find out what exactly makes the position uncomfortable, and maybe you can do something similar when in your bed. For example: it may be your head direction (facing up or down), tension on your shoulders, etc… But on the other hand, for some people, place is everything - if nothing works, try sleeping on a chair, and see if that’s any good for you lucid dreaming!
