Problem with becomin lucid

Quest for Lucidity
1

Hello, I found this forum through gizedwards and I have a question. I have completed lucidity once before using the WILD technique however, I am a very deep sleeper and waking myself up around 3/4am is difficult. Through personal research, I hve found out that my REM stages last only around 5-10 minutes maybe not even that. Waking myself up is a difficult task-even for alarm clocks. However, i cannot use loud equipment such as alams as I am only 15 and share a house with others.

My question(s) really are;
-Is there an easy way I can wake myself up by instead of using alarm clocks ?
-Is there a tehnique to become lucid without having to wake yourself up (excluding the MILD technique)?

I am new to learning about lucid dreaming but I have learnt fast about it and it is an extremely interesting subject. Thanks for reading.

2

Reality checks! Or herbs and roots and stuff. As for the alarm, I have a similar dillema. Hypnosis has made me way to heavy a sleeper. I’m trying to hook up timer system of sorts. If it works, I’ll tell you.

3

In answer to reality checks, I am trying to perform them and I know them but I can never apply them in a dream. I don’t exactly “remember” to try them in a dream. Relaxation, ASMR etc have made me become a heavy sleepy than I used to…

4

If you have trouble waking up, I’d recommend sleeping on the floor for one night, or sleeping in a different room–expose your body to a strange environment and you will probably sleep less deeply.

Also, you can try eating a light snack before bed (digestion will make you sleep less deeply), or if you do get up, eat a tablespoon of honey or drink some fruit juice to wake you up slightly.

As for achieving lucidity without waking yourself up…reality checks only seem to work once they’re truly habitual. You usually have to work with the same one A LOT. If you know of any recurring dream signs, you might try using autosuggestion to turn it into a lucidity cue. For instance, if you often dream about being drunk at a party, tell yourself over and over again while you’re falling asleep “If I find myself drunk at a party in my dreams, I will know I’m dreaming.”

5

HoW many times do you recommend doing a reality check per day?

6

I’d say that you need to reality check a minimum of eight times per day. However, quality counts as much as quantity with reality checks. If you begin to ask yourself “Am I dreaming?” and then automatically reply “Well, no, obviously not,” and then move on with your day, the checks probably won’t be effective later on.

Each time you check, spend a full twenty seconds or so really investigating the nature of your reality. (You might try asking yourself: What was I just doing? Can I remember my name? Can I do simple math? What’s 9x7? Can I fly? Is anything strange or different?)

I’ve tried reality checks in dreams before and have been fooled! I’ve asked myself, “Wait, am I dreaming?” and then have rationalized my way out of lucidity with arguments like this: “But the sunlight feels so real on my skin”; “Hmmm, I must have dyed my hair another color and have forgotten about it”; etc.

The drawback with my suggestion above (using a dream sign to become lucid) is that lucidity is then dependent on you having a dream with that dream sign in it. Dream signs are still worth noting and meditating on, but the best reality checks are centered on ordinary events that you’re very likely to dream about.

Ryan Hurd (author of “Lucid Immersion”) recommends reality-checking every time you pass through a doorway. I’m just trying this out. I haven’t become lucid with it yet, but I think it has potential. Basically, whenever I pass from outside to in, or inside to outside, through a doorway, I say “Threshold” and pull myself out of any other thoughts and investigate my reality.

So build reality-checks around things you do all the time, like passing through a door to the outside, sitting in a classroom (if you’re still in school), etc.

To be honest, I often go lucid simply by noticing strangeness, but I have had success many times with looking for my hands in a dream. If you haven’t heard of that technique, basically, in a nutshell, you tell yourself that you’ll look at your hands in a dream and then ask yourself if you’re dreaming. Throughout the day you look at your hands and perform a reality check. It’s very reliable because your hands will always be there in a dream (well, almost always).

I’ve found that going lucid within the dream is 90% dependent upon the frame of mind I fall asleep with. I’d describe the ideal mindset as having these qualities: carefreeness, optimism, a spirit of fun, a persistent but gentle focus on staying consciously aware as long as possible before sleep. Ideally, there’s a period of fifteen minutes or so of “fun struggle” to stay aware as I fall asleep and then, at that point, I let my mind freely wander and I give up trying, but still ride the feelings of carefreeness/optimism/intrigue into sleep.

Don’t underestimate the power of your mindset, and emotional resonance, right before you fall asleep. They can easily carry over into your sleep and dreams.

7

I should probably add that “noticing strangeness” is not an inherent ability of mine. It’s a learned ability. I learned to start noticing strangeness in my dreams by practicing reality checks, by reflecting more often on the reality/nature of my every day life.

8

For the alarm issue, just buy a clock that has a vibration function. I use my phone to wake up easily every morning, and for wbtb. I just set a daily appointment and set 10 long vibrations, though it never takes that many.

9

Myechta, I will try this but as I said-I am a VERY deep sleeper but it is worth a try. Plent of time to get my technique right, I guess! :tongue:

10

I’m a pretty deep sleeper, too. I usually don’t sleep through clock or cell phone alarms, but I can easily sleep through electronic timer beeps even if I’m wearing headphones. I have to turn the volume up to about 50% for them to wake me up, or I have to use external speakers.

I truly do recommend you try sleeping on your floor for a night, or sleeping in another room. Change your sleep situation drastically and your depth of sleep will probably change.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had horrible insomnia. I couldn’t fall asleep in my bed, but weirdly, I could sleep on our stairs. I would pile pillows and blankets on the stairs because it’s the only place I could fall asleep! My parents would find me in the morning and bust up laughing.

Another option which might appeal to you is to play a sound effect CD in your room during the night, or listen to one with headphones. Find a CD with dozens of different sounds–animals, cars, waterfalls, gunshots, etc. Chaotic noise is more difficult for our brains to shut out than predictable, rythmic noise. It might increase your nighttime vigilance.

11

Wait, why is no one recommending a mantra?

Just repeat in your head ‘‘I will wake up at x’’. It is a very popular technique so I’m baffled at why no one mentioned it. It is much easier to wake up, since it is not so ‘‘forceful’’ and your mind actually wakes you at will, since it is accepting the idea.

12

Apart from other very effective suggestions like RC in real life, I would recommend that you talk about your dreams, or rather think about it a little more than usual. I think the entire experience is not just about getting lucid, but its about enjoying every moment of lucidity to the core! It seems like you first need to learn how to get lucid and then cultivate skills of extending the lucidity. The order however doesn’t really hold a good deal of logic.

The reason being a lot of people out there who get lucid accidentally and think that its easy and/or sheer luck! Instead, if you develop the right approach to analyze your dreams/reality, you’d, alongside, develop what I call ‘an eye for dreams’. Delve more into the physical nature of your environment, get closer to your way of thinking.

So even in your waking reality, just observe everything closely Try to see the correlation between your mental and physical presence. And most importantly discuss about it!

Through the habit of discussing, sooner or later, you’d find yourself talking about your dreams within your dreams. You’d say that strange things happen inside a dream and suddenly notice a stranger thing, that would make you lucid!

Also, when you enhance your consciousness

13

Welcome, i first found out about this forum through giz too :smile:, well i would suggest setting your cell phone to vibrate, and sleep with it on your bed, most likely it will be under you if you sleep as i do, and you might feel it vibrating?