So, I’ve been giving more attention to WILD latelly. In normal dreams I’ve gotten lucid maybe once with a reality check.
My problem is that latelly I’ve done RC’s in three separate dreams and they didn’t help me. The first one I looked at my hands and they were normal. The second one I did the same and they were also normal, but in this one I felt like I got conscious but not lucid, it was really weird. In normal dreams you think you are awake, but in this one, after the RC, I was 100% sure I was awake, even though I wasn’t, so it was kinda “scary”…
So yesterday (after this dream) I noticed that I had learned my lesson: always do more than one RC!! So I started doing that during the day… but then last night I had a dream where I wondered if I was dreaming, and did two RC’s (hands and nose pinching). Still nothing!! Hands looked normal and couldn’t breathe… (BTW, this dream was a record of FA’s for me, lol… I had maybe 3 to 5… )
My question is, am I not doing RC’s correctly? I mean should I be doing them actually expecting them to tell me I’m dreaming? (I already do that, but maybe I should focus more on the thought…) or is it just “bad luck”?
Maybe this happening in three dreams only doesn’t mean much… or maybe it’s different with everyone, some people just don’t get much help from RC’s?
Any thoughts?
EDIT: Sorry if this should be in The BIG Reality Check topic…
The exactly same thing has happened to me! I think my subconcious is learning the ways I notice I’m dreaming, and makes them act normally when I dream. I don’t know the real reason, but that’s what I think.
I think I had many FAs one night, but I watched into my hands, nothing. I counted my fingers. There were five. I pinched my nose. I couldn’t breathe!
I don’t know what it is, but I hope to find a way. Maybe it would help if you put more thought into RCs in RL. Like for me, it’s been like I don’t really do them much anymore. Maybe twice - three times a day.
When I started I did them like constantly. But I still had a couple of LDs but I’m not sure if I was taking full control, but I knew I was dreaming, and in the other dream I clearly stated: “I’m either gonna wake up from this dream, or …”
This normally occurs when you are always expecting the RCs to show that you are awake. It is really hard not to do that. Basically, when you are awake you are pretty darn sure that you are awake; so when you do your RC you expect it to show that. Whenever you do an RC while you are awake, you expect it to show that; so when you are asleep your RC doesnt work.
So when you are awake you need to try to expect the RC to show that you are dreaming. Even when you are awake, you need to think you are dreaming. Another thing you could do is try some other RCs. I would suggest maybe the reading text one or looking at an alarm clock. To make those even more effective, you can try to actively change what they say (instead of just seeing if they act different than normal). Good luck
-oops, just reread your post; well, I did answer your question; yes, you should do it expecting it to show you are dreaming.
In addition to controlling your expectations, you might want to try something I do when I RC.
I’m not sure how effective this technique is, since I haven’t had exceptional trouble with RCs failing. When I was doing the nose pinching RC. I pinched my nose tried breathing, released it, tried breathing (Obviously it succeeded but who knows, maybe in a dream… at the time my thoughts were along the lines of “this is how it would feel to fail” ) I did this a couple of times, even mixing it up so I tried breathing through my nose with it pinched twice in a row.
The theory I had behind this was, I was focusing as much on how the RC would feel when it showed I was dreaming as when it failed. I hoped this would avoid getting ‘used to’ RCs failing. Also I thought the complex testing would help avoid a simple failure. The only time that I had this come up was in one dream, I did the RC using this system, it failed a few times but then said I was dreaming. I woke immediately after that though before I could think, “Wait this is a dream!” I just thought, “hey that failed…” Awake
Thanks for the replies. I haven’t been doing RC’s all day, just when I remember… But, anyway, from now on I’ll try to pay more attention to what I’m doing. Maybe in my dreams I was just looking at my hands, when I should be looking and actually asking myself if I’m dreaming. I didn’t even count my fingers, I just looked and said “ok, looks normal” and continued with the dream… I should start asking myself “Are you sure?” and “Are you really sure?” after every RC I do.
I have the same problem. When i do a RC in my dream, I’ll say “YES! i have six fingers!!!” or “I could breath!” I just wouldn’t get lucid…
Its probably because i dont do enough RCs either. So we prolly have to do them at least 20-50 times a day. Maybe then it’ll work.
Well. I don’t think that the amount of RCs done affects the outcome. More like, if you really mean the reality check. You have to really focus and start to wonder if it’s a dream or not.
I think thats what RCs are about. I would say that when you can breathe but you still wont get lucid, you aren’t doing it good enough.
I could just pinch my nose like 100 times and quickly ask myself: “Is this a dream no?!”
But that wouldn’t do any effort.
Doing a RC without asking the question is rather useless. It probably also helps to really expect the “dream result” when doing a RC. Because if you don’t, you might get the same result as in WL in a dream.
The hand RC works rather well for me. In fact, so well that I almost expect my hand to have a weird number of fingers when I look at it in WL.
But then again, asking the question is really the most important thing. Just find the RC that makes you really wonder whether you are dreaming or not.
Oh, and even if a RC fails, don’t dismiss the possibility that you are dreaming right away. Maybe just try to think “well, this RC says I am awake, but suppose I were dreaming…”. This can be quite interesting.
When I first started to LD, RC s worked like a charm for me. Each time I looked at my hands within a dream, I became Lucid.
But after a while, my hands were normal. I looked and remained in the dream. Then I started doing even more in depth RC s in real life - not only looking at my hands, but my feet as well. It worked for a while, but soon I started having normal dreams again, even when I did an RC.
I’ve learned though… You have to be seriously thinking “IS THIS A DREAM?”
Every time you do an RC in real life, think to yourself “IS THIS REALLY A DREAM?” Concentrate for a while (even a split second will do). Go over what previously happened or try to remember that feeling of being lucid (or if not lucid, at least in a dream) compared to the feeling of real-life. Doing some math problems work for me as well.
Thanks for all the replies. I’m trying to do RC s more aware and actually ask myself if I’m dremaing. But, anyway, I rarely do RC s in dreams lol. But I’ll keep at it.
(BTW, this dream was a record of FA’s for me, lol… I had maybe 3 to 5… 
)
at the time my thoughts were along the lines of “this is how it would feel to fail” ) I did this a couple of times, even mixing it up so I tried breathing through my nose with it pinched twice in a row.
