This is my first LD4all post - it’s good to be here!
I’ve had several LDs over the past 6 months, at about a rate of 1-2 per month and felt like I was making progress in stabilising them and increasing my ‘lucidity level’.
However, my last LD was over 2 months ago despite practising RCs, meditation, affirmations, binaural beats, ‘hands visualisation’, reading about LDs etc. on a regular basis.
I’m wondering if I’m ‘grasping’ at lucid dreaming, i.e. wanting it too much and so blocking myself somehow? If so, how can I get back on track? How can I want LDs without wanting them?!
I also wonder if my subconscious has developed some kind of belief and is trying to ‘protect’ me from becoming lucid (maybe it was the Casteneda book and all that business with the inorganic beings). Perhaps my subconscious believes that LDs are harmful? With that in mind I’ve started a routine of positive affirmations about LDs as I drift off to sleep, which is apparently a good time for the subconscious to be in suggestible state. Early days yet…
Anyway, I’d be so grateful for any constructive advice - I’m sure I’m not the first to go through this!
I dont know. my favorite dreams are about dance studios, art studios, a strange apartment that I get locked out of, and a church/monastary. usually being back at college makes me question reality and i wonder if im in a dream and get lucid.
It could be a number of things, but from what I see here I think you could be stressing about it without knowing. Its natural to initially feel some type of way when you don’t see the fruits of your labor when expected. Especially when you’re putting in a lot of effort into it. This can distract the dreamer from remembering why they started in the first place or take the fun out of lucid dreaming as stated before.
Gotta remember why you started and make it fun again.
What were your habits before when you were getting lucids?
If you don’t mind me asking, but what’s your daily routine look like?
I’m not the expert myself (in fact getting back from a 3 year hiatus) but I feel that keeping things simple and working on the core fundamentals are key to building that lucidly aware skill. I’ve only started back a week ago and already have seen vast improvements in dream recall. Just yesterday gotten close to becoming aware in a dream again (reality checks already starting to pop-up in dreams, explaining lucidity in a dream).
Sometimes doing less is more. If you’re adding more and more tools to your repertoire, perhaps the way you’re approaching practice needs tweaking. Sometimes these exercises aren’t clicking yet with our mind and require for us to spend some time to re-evaluate and modify them so they click.
Anyway, just my two cents. I part with the usual: Don’t give up!
Hi Noon!
Thanks so much for your thoughts. My daily routine incorporates reality checks, keeping a dream journal and meditation (just simple sitting with the breath). However, I think you’re probably right about trying too many tools - just keeping things simple sounds a great idea.
I’m pretty sure that the reason for my pause in LDs is that I’m mentally exhausted from my teaching work over the last couple of months. I teach science and maths one-to-one but like many people have had to switch to online video lessons… which is much more energy intensive!
So now I’m taking a break for a few weeks to recharge. I’ll keep doing the basics and I feel that it won’t be long until I’m awake in my dreams again!
Thanks again.
P.S. Love your username… Hi… Noon…
I can relate with daily life getting in the way of dreaming. It is exactly the same reason I had to take a break even though I did not want to. Though, you know what, a break can give you greater insight you didn’t know you needed.
If you revise your practice remember that dreaming and lucidity is essentially a mental experience. During the days I began practicing I read accounts of folks who got lucid only with the power of their own will. Their mind appeared entirely susceptible to the idea of becoming aware if they so much believed they could.
I think that’s the key to this hobby. We must convince our mind that we can, so that we are. To no one’s surprise as you may find out, not every one of us have that mentality. Some of us must develop it. I know this was the case with me.
Notice how some areas within dreaming are easier to accomplish than others. For example, dream recall. Even while I was away in my own things, I would recall dreams every morning because I believed I could. That’s when you know the mental practice paid its dividends.
On the contrary, I will find my beliefs clash when I turned focus towards attaining lucidity. I noticed telling or affirming every night that I would dream wasn’t enough to convince me. Deep down when I went to bed I felt doubts, and like so my dreams reflected that. I kept adding stuff to do while awake precisely because I felt I hadn’t done enough for it to work.
Today I look to approach things from a different perspective. Any exercise I do and how it’s done, I chose based on if it follows this premise of mentality. Will it work? I certainly hope so and if it does, I’ll be here to describe my experience.
Thanks Noon, I think you’re right. Doubts can block LDs so developing/reprogramming our beliefs is key. I’m now taking some time off work and have already experienced an increase in dream recall. I’m now trying to maintain my awareness through each day, asking myself if I am dreaming (or ‘this is just like a dream’ - which I think is a dream yoga type of approach) and doing thoughtful RCs. This feels like a gentle approach and the right one for me at the moment - time will tell and I will report back here soon!
Thank again for your encouragement
Just a quick update… I decided to try the HowToLucid LD Bootcamp, which is basically a 30 day planner for practising various aspects of inducing an LD. And… I can report three (short) LDs since starting at the beginning of August. So relieved to be back on track
Thanks again for everyone’s support and advice here.
Congratulations, I hear you! After a 14 year hiatus I too completed the bootcamp in July and it gave me four short LDs after MILD/WBTB - very short without any control, but still . Since I had found the bootcamp quite exhausting I tried SSILD, which after a week gave me four more short uncontrollable LDs, which is also nice for a humble beginner. But since then (a month ago) dream recall is gone almost completely and I am experiencing a dry spell. Maybe I’m tired and should take a break? On the other hand I have made fine progress with meditation which I picked up during the bootcamp.
Glad to hear that Tripod! Sounds like things are moving in the right direction for you now :).
I’ve found that when I’m tired (mentally/physically), then although LDs can still come along, they tend to be short and uncontrolled. Meditation seems to be really important, as you mentioned.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I now go to bed earlier at 10:30am lights-out so that there’s more chance of having an extra sleep cycle. Nearly all of my LDs in the last month have been at about 5:30am, i.e. during the last sleep cycle (I wake up at about 6:15am). Might be worth considering - lots of stuff on sleep cycles on the web.
Sorry,olly.I saw your first post in june but i could not reply since it was on my school chromebook,i keep it home until september if you are wondering.My friend took this course and he practically has an LD whenever he wants,cool,is it not?
@Lumiscnt That’s great to know! I like that you can just keep repeating the 30 days - nice to have a structure to follow :). An LD whenever I want - now that would be VERY cool!
I’m working on stabilising the LDs now. Claire Johnson has a useful tool:
C - keep Calm (I add in a simple mental maths sum here too as this helps to activate the part of the brain that LDs need for stability)
L - Look at your hands and the scene, back and forth
E - Engage with the dream scene. I plan to try and rub my hands here as well as touching, hearing etc.
A - Announce, “This is a dream tree… this is a dream telephone…”
R - Recall your dream goal
Wow,love that idea.I have made a tutorial on making dreams unblurry,but that is not relevant.
CLEAR,wow i never thought of it.Is it ok for me to try this,it is dependant upon you.
In robert waggpners book on lucid dreaming,shouting for clarity of stabilisng a dream is helpful,or using helpfull affirmations like i will do xyz when lucid dreaming,just to amke the brain convinced
Of course - it’s not my method, but is covered in Claire Johnson’s recent book The Art Of Lucid Dreaming (very good btw). Thanks for reminding me about Robert W’s shouting for clairty - I’ll try that too!
. Since I had found the bootcamp quite exhausting I tried SSILD, which after a week gave me four more short uncontrollable LDs, which is also nice for a humble beginner. But since then (a month ago) dream recall is gone almost completely and I am experiencing a dry spell. Maybe I’m tired and should take a break? On the other hand I have made fine progress with meditation which I picked up during the bootcamp.
