Hi everyone!
I’m a new member, and I’ve been reading the message boards here for a few days. I am very happy to have found this forum!
I’ve been interested in lucid dreaming for a few years, and I’ve tried to have them on and off since I first read about them. Finding this site has renewed my enthusiasm!
The closest experience I had to a lucid dream was a dream where I knew I was dreaming, but my consciousness was still very foggy. I didn’t think to do a RC or to stabilize the dream at all. In this dream, I was in a truck with some terrorists and was riding through the desert, I tried to fly, but I had trouble breaking through the canvas top of the truck!
I’ve tried some techniques. I never had any success with MILD. I just find the technique to not be very comfortable for me to do. I also never really was able to realize that I was dreaming while I was dreaming, because the events of the dream always seemed to make sense to me, which I think is because I am very imaginative and very fantasy-oriented. Nothing in my dreams ever strikes me as being strange!
I have had some progress recently, though. I’ve been paying attention as I fall asleep, and trying to fall asleep consciously as per the WILD technique. Since I have been trying this, my awareness of HI has really improved! I’ve had a couple of experiences where it feels like I can switch between hypnagogic and normal vision, if that makes any sense… it’s like switching between normal vision, and then shifting my eyes/vision/awareness upward to see the HI. However, I am at the point where I can see HI as I fall asleep.
Also, I am very excited because I read about Pedro’s VILD technique yesterday, as well as reading his dream journal. Wow! His posts, as well as some other people’s posts, have really helped to increase my enthusiasm! I tried the VILD technique last night, but my tired/hungry/thirtsy/pee circumstances were all wrong! I hope to read a bit and get into the right state of mind tonight! However, doing this technique, although not giving me a lucid dream yet, did help me to stay aware far longer when falling asleep then ever before! I saw hypnagogic imagery very clearly, and when I decided to just fall asleep regularly, I actually had to really try to get to sleep. It was like I crossed some sort of threshold.
Anyways, I will try a bit harder tonight! The posts that I have read here have been very encouraging. I look forward to many future communications and lucid dreams!
One last piece of information… my girlfriend came up with the idea to make a sign to remind me to attempt to induce lucid dreams. This has been a really helpful idea. Normally, when I awaken in the middle of the night, I stumble into the bathroom, go pee, and stumble back to bed. I now have a sign that reads “DREAMING” that I posted at eye level on the wall above the toilet! I see it every time I get up in the night, and it also reminds me to do reality checks when I see it. I wanted to share this idea incase it might be of help to someone else!
Anyways, thanks for reading, if you got this far! I wanted to share all of my experiences so far and say “HI!” to everyone! See ya!