The Secret of Frequent Lucid Dreamers

If I remember correctly, Tholey’s Combined Technique, at least as it was presented in his “Techniques for Inducing and Manipulating Lucid Dreams” in Perceptual and Motor Skills, also encouraged attempts to recall what had occurred previous to the moment of asking the critical question.
Tholey’s Combined Technique is still a favorite of mine, as it encourages an attitude critical-reflection in waking life as well in one’s dreams.

this makes a lot of sense. research neurodiversity, “schizophrenia” doesn’t have to be a bad thing :slight_smile: It can be really fun intense and deep and make you feel very connected to a different reality

Tibetan Dream Yoga essentially? Never lose a high consciousness level?

I got to remember this

There saved!

This approach, well termed here as ‘lucid mindset’’ and pioneered by Paul Tholey, seems to be the best way to consistently have lucid dreams thought it is not necessarily the easiest or quickest means to get your first lucid.

Also, the term critical question comes from Tholey’s writing on the technique.

Here is the Tholey approach to induce lucid dreams in from Tholey, Paul (1983). “Techniques for inducing and manipulating lucid dreams”. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 57 (1): 79–90:

(1) The subject should ask himself the critical question (“am I dreaming or not’?”) at least five to ten times a day.

(2) At the same time the subject should try to imagine intensely that he is in a dream

state, that is, that everything he perceives, including his own body, is merely a dream.

(3) While asking himself the critical question the subject should concentrate not only on contemporary occurrences, but also on events which have already taken place. Does he come upon something unusual, or does he suffer from lapses of memory? A minute suffices to answer the question.

(4) The subject should ask himself the critical question as a rule in all situations which are characteristic for dreams, that is, whenever something surprising or improbable occurs or whenever he experiences powerful emotions.

(5) It is especially helpful in learning how to dream lucidly if the subject has dreams with a recurrent content. For example, if he frequently has feelings of fear or often sees dogs in his dreams, then he should ask himself the critical question concerning his state of consciousness whenever he finds himself in threatening situations or sees a dog in the daytime.

(6) If the subject often has dream experiences which never or rarely occur in a waking state, such as floating or flying, then he should, while awake, try intensely to imagine that he is having such an experience, telling himself that he is dreaming.

(7) If the subject has difficulty recalling his normal dreams, he should employ methods for improving dream recollection such as are described in recent literature on dreaming.

In most cases, however, practice in attaining the critical-reflective frame of mind will improve the subject’s ability to recall his dreams.

(8) The subject should go to sleep thinking that he is going to attain awareness of dreaming while in this state. Any conscious effort of will must be avoided while thinking this thought.

This method is especially effective when the subject has just awakened in the early morning hours and has the feeling that he is about to fall asleep again.

(9) The subject should resolve to carry out a particular action while dreaming. Simple motions are sufficient.

Hope this helps.

1 Like