The Sitting Technique

[my_bloody_valentine]

I found this post on Reddit. I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t judge its effectiveness, but I’ll leave it here for anyone who’s interested:

The Sitting Technique

One simple change has given me LDs pretty much at will

This technique was developed by Dreamcatcher81 on the Dreamviews forum.

Sleep sitting up.

Not the whole night, just the latter half. What you need to do is sleep 3-4 hours in your bed, wake up (with an alarm) and go finish your sleep in a recliner or deck chair that has head and neck support.

I used to only LD once every few months, now I have them whenever I drag myself to the recliner (a few feet from my bed) in the middle of the night.

The full method is described in the following link:

The Sitting Technique - Maximizing Your Chances For LDs And OBEs

It works because your body, being exhausted, will easily fall asleep, but your mind senses (through the vestibular system) that you’re in an upright position and so remains aware. The bottom line is that you’re asleep, but the higher mental processes that are usually offline at this time such as planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, and self-referential mechanisms are prevented from being shut down. Most of these functions are located in the prefrontal cortex, so I’m guessing that specific part of the brain remains active while sleeping upright and shuts down while asleep in natural positions. Also, you don’t go into the deep sleep stages, so you remain in the sweet spot between waking and coma-like sleep.

A few notes:

-Read the link, it has a few helpful tips and illustrations.

-Every single one of the LDs I’ve had from this method (which is more than 70 now) begins in a replica of my room (the place where my recliner is). As such, my room functions as the loading dock of my entire LD universe.

-This method produces LDs that are very high level.

-Make sure you support your lower back with a pillow. If you’re not comfortable, you won’t fall asleep.

-Also helps to have a pillow behind your neck so that you’re facing forward like you are in waking life.

-The recliner/deck chair should be roughly at a 120-130 degree angle.

-Put the alarm on the other side of the room to make you get out of bed.

-If you’re having a hard time falling asleep after waking up, I’ve found that sleep deprivation (30 hours+) works just as well with no need for WBTB. What you do in that instance is stay up for about 40 hours then go straight to the recliner/deck chair rather than your bed. This results in sleep paralysis which you can then convert into an LD. For some reason, going to the recliner in the first half of the night doesn’t work without sleep deprivation (rem rebound?).

-If you have trouble falling asleep and don’t want to use sleep deprivation, I guess you can only sleep 2-3 hours before WBTB. I’d still strongly recommend you use sleep dep if you can’t fall asleep after 3-4 hours sleep, as I haven’t experimented with 2-3 hours (because I fall asleep fine on 3-4).

-Whatever you do, don’t turn on the lights. That makes it much harder to fall asleep. If your laptop/computer has to be on, download F.lux to eliminate blue glare.

-This technique has made lucid dreaming a choice for me. What I mean is that before I struggled and struggled with little to show for it. Now I simply ask myself, do I want to LD tonight? Y/N? If I’m too tired, have an early wake up or a hectic schedule the next day, I just decide that I’ll LD the night after. If I’m not zonked out and don’t have any commitments the next day, it’s a go. I’m now on the choice side of the LD equation. I simply have them when I want to have them rather than just desperately hoping for them.

-This is the chair I’m using, just to give you an idea:

https://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-textilene-recliner/492-0126.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=492-0126#BVRRWidgetID

You don’t need an elaborate la-z-boy set up. It just has to be comfortable enough for you to sleep in.

[lucky1990]

Good post…But do i have to sleep in the recliner with my body facing straight or can i sleep sideways also?

[Drumm]

Sounds interesting. Could be worth a try!

[Bean_Head_D]

Would this work lying in an upright position (90 Degrees, but slightly slouched so maybe 110) on a bed? Because I have no access to a recliner and my room is far too small to fit any sort of furniture in. Could you attempt it and then reply with your results.
Thanks for this technique anyway, I’ll try it tonight on my bed but I would still appreciate a response about the effectiveness of performing this technique on a bed.

[Koharo (Wanderlust Brawler/Private Contractor)]

Would this work lying in an upright position (90 Degrees, but slightly slouched so maybe 110) on a bed? Because I have no access to a recliner and my room is far too small to fit any sort of furniture in. Could you attempt it and then reply with your results.
Thanks for this technique anyway, I’ll try it tonight on my bed but I would still appreciate a response about the effectiveness of performing this technique on a bed.

[color=olive] You may be able to substitute with a bunch of pillows or a backrest pillow. Remember to have a good neck support though.

Ive pulled afew lucids sleeping upright like that. Its crazy how one second you’re reclined in a chair drifting away the next you’re somewhere else. (Very important to remain calm and not wake up at that point.)
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[Cornelia_Xaos]

This is very interesting. A while back I had tried meditation and had fallen asleep sitting upright. I was awoken by my father who had stepped out into the living room and noticed me through my open door… makes me wonder what may have happened that night had I not been awoken…

Also brings to mind WritersCube. He says his “method” is a sort of meditation. I wonder if he meditates sitting upright as he falls asleep…

[Bean_Head_D]

Tried this technique last night and it didn’t work, due to the fact that I couldn’t fall asleep, I just felt too awake; then I went to bed normally. I will try again tonight and see if the results change.

[Eterna]

Another technique to try! Do you think this would work sitting on the sofa? I don’t have a chair that I could lean back on…

[lucky1990]

Hey i think this technique could be awesome. So can i Buy the Same Kind of Recliner that is seen in the picture? Or do u think a cushion recliner would be better?

Also, If i achieve OBE during the exercise, how can i convert into a lucid dream?

Any other tips that u can give to induce LD’s?

[Merengil]

This is pretty interesting, I’ll give it a try !
I actually got 2 of my LDs doing WBTB, and just before going to sleep I would meditate for 30 min on a chair with a similar inclination
Also, I wonder if using this in conjunction with another technique would work even better : o