I don’t perform many RC’s (typically I forget, and i prefer to achieve lucidity through other ways), but when I do, I’m not sure if I’m doing it right.
I usually perform 2 or 3 reality checks:
-The hand through your palm RC
-The hold your nose and breath RC
-Check the time
But what I’m not sure about is, what are you supposed to think/ expect?
With the “check the time” reality check, for example, it seems easier, since I’m supposed to be looking for the same time, and if it changes, something is probably wrong.
But with the “hand through your palm” check, are you supposed to EXPECT your hand to crash into your palm?
Or are you supposed to expect it to pass through your hand, and when it fails (in RL), then figure you’re not dreaming (after more RC’s of course)?
This confuses me and I’m not sure what to think while I’m performing the RC, and what will help me achieve lucidity.
If it’s a dream, what you expect to happen, will happen. So it’s probably best to expect dreamlike results.
For an RC, I mainly look at my hands and see if I have the wrong number of fingers. I expect to see an incorrect number, even if I know (think) I’m awake. As a result, it’s rarely let me down.
From Colors’ DJ-
In order to recognize properly the dreamstate, one must be aware and ready for anything.
My RC’s used to succeed (that means, tell me it was reality) to me too from time to time, and I learned to not make them an act for their sake, but rather doing them while believing it could really be a dream; for this fact, I often accompanied it with some observation of the surroundings, plus some little speculation about what would you see/hear/do if I was really in a dream.
Ah, so basically, not performing a RC randomly, but instead at points when you actually doubt whats going on? Like if anything strange happens?
Because thats another problem, when I perform the RC’s while awake, I pretty much already know it will show me that I’m not in a dream.
So I suppose that also makes sense, that you have to expect that the RC will work (and prove you are in a dream, and nor reality), even if it might not seem like it will work.
The point behind this is, if you do a RC without expecting that it could be a dream, it won’t probably have any effect. I’ve been through this, doing RC’s in dreams to see them succeed, or just not caring about the result.
So, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do a RC when you aren’t wondering if it’s a dream or not; but if you’re about to do one, you may as well start questioning reality try to remember some dream scenes particularly close to real life, and think that you should be able to get lucid in those scenes too.
Dreams can get as close to reality as they want, so there’s never safety in stating you’re awake; become aware of your surroundings, and let the judgement to your instinct, or the RC if you prefer but be sure to do it while paying attention both to it and what’s around you.
Yes expectations usually transalte into reality in dreams, but I have found the “breathe through a plugged nose” RC 100% effective (unless my nose is stuffed up in real life).
It doesn’t matter if you believe it will work, or you expect it will fail, or any of your preconceived notions. The fact is breathing in through your nose will work if you only plug it in your dreams. This is thanks to the sleep paralysis that occurs during the REM phase of sleep.
Yeah, that too. I’m not into RC’s anymore, but it sure used to be my favourite, since it depends mostly on the fact you can breathe through your nose IRL while you’re dreaming.
If I got it right, it can work even when the nose’s clogged, simply because a succeeding test would send an apnea signal, alerting the dreamer and provoking a wakeup, that is a thing the mind tends to avoid (that’s why we have FA IMHO), so it should be covered by expectations even when it shouldn’t work IRL, ha. Personally, I’ve had a near 100% success rate with it, and the times I didn’t was because I was messing with those RC’s badly during the day (like letting some air in and making it fail intentionally). So yeah.
Hmmm. Alright thanks guys! I think I understand it then, and hopefully this will help.
I just have to remember to do RC’s more often now, and hopefully I can get myself to do one in a dream.
try to remember some dream scenes particularly close to real life, and think that you should be able to get lucid in those scenes too.