I heard about lucid dreaming a few weeks ago and I read a couple of books on the topic (one of which was Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Sthephan LaBerge) and some posts aboutit.
The problem is that I’getting no return from the efforts I invest in trying to have a LD:
I keep a dream journal and do RCs but my dreamrecall is very erratic and can range form 3 to 0 dreams per night (with some very bad periods)
I tried MILD, but either I can’t concentrate on the mantra for long, or I can’t cary the suggestion to my dreams (my prospective memory is very bad)
I started training my waking lucidity, without great results (sometimes I can perceive a lot of stimuli from the outside world, but when I’m doing an activity like reading or studying I find it difficult to mantain a good degree of awareness)
I’ve got a busy schedule and so I’ve got no time for more than 7-7:30 hours of sleep (exept for one night during weekends.
I also have problems with the wbtb technique (I find it very difficult to get back to sleep).
For that reason I can only try WILD when I go to sleep.
In your opinion, which techniques should I drop (according to what I said about them) and which ones should I work on?
P.S. i’m Italian, so bear with my mistakes
Alright, here are some tips:
First, try to make sure you have a regular sleep schedule. Keeping it regular should help boost recall, and it’s no big deal if you vary by an hour or two, but if you’re changing it up majorly every night then try and see if you can work something more stable out.
Second, use a recall mantra when going to bed. This is a really helpful technique I’ve learned works, and you don’t necessarily need to keep yourself focused as you sleep, it’s normal for your mind to wander as you sleep. Thinking “I will remember my dreams vividly” or similar as you fall asleep, and gently guiding yourself back if you catch your mind wandering does wonders, but expect it to take as much anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to a few months to really get going (everyone is different, I usually take a week or two to get back into the swing of things, it’s easier if you’ve boosted your recall in the past).
Third, record as much detail as possible in your dream journal. Record all impressions, thoughts, colors, textures, feelings, sounds, tastes, etc. Compare it to building muscle; doing it like that will help increase your vividness to higher levels faster. Record even “I didn’t remember any dreams tonight.” You have to get into the practice of writing every day.
Don’t try to WILD when going to sleep for the first time in a night, chances are you just won’t get anywhere with it, and I’ll explain why. Chances are you know about the sleep cycle, but in case you don’t, the sleep cycle is the way in which sleep, and subsequently dreams, happens. The part of the cycle we’re most interested in is REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, as this is where most dreams occur. When you first go to sleep, REM sleep is shorter and takes longer to get in to. As the night progresses it takes up more and more of the cycle, making it easier to get in to from a waking state. WILD aims to take you straight from the waking state to the REM sleep, and this is why it works best combined with WBTB. When trying to use WILD when you first go to sleep, you must go through much more time, maybe as much as 30-60 minutes of the other stages of the sleep cycle, before landing in a much shorter REM sleep. Either way, I would suggest holding off on WILD for a while; it’s one of the trickier techniques, and it’s best to wait and attempt it once you’re more experienced.
I think your best bet is DILD, which happens to be my personal favorite. Use your dream journal well, reality check whenever you see anything strange, and use the mantras like I explained, and you can start becoming lucid with no WILD or MILD, and it won’t detract from your sleep at night, which you really need when you only get ~7 to 7 1/2 hrs a night.
In any case, expect some time, maybe even weeks or months to pass by before you start seeing real major progress. LDing can take a while, think of it like learning a new language; it takes a while, but gets easier as you go.
thank you for the detailed reply. I’m doing several rc a day and also trying autosuggestion at night. At this stage,i s it better to use autosuggestions only to boost dream recall or also to try to induce DILDs? And how do you remember to enter a DEILD right after you wake up from sleep?
I have a tip. Maybe you can do better stop trying to get a LD for a while many dreamers then get their first ld. I read this in the LD4all Guide:
Don’t want it too much
Don’t want it too much. Things you want too much slip away from you. If you feel frustrated because nothing works, take some time off. Take your mind of LD-ing for a while. For some people their first lucid dream comes when they stopped trying.
What Mario Stefano says is also a good idea - don’t be afraid to take a week or two off.
In regards to autosuggestion, for now focus on boosting recall as much as you can. Give it a couple of weeks, or a month of mainly focusing on your recall. After all, what good is having an LD if your vividness and quality of it is worse than what it could have been? I would wait until you feel comfortable with your level of recall and vividness, then start focusing on inducing DILDS.
DEILD is a bit of a tricky subject, although I’m starting to get the hang of it a little more. First step is not to move, don’t even open your eyes when you wake up. I find most of the time my eyes are already open/I don’t remember to do DEILD. It’s easiest when coming out of an LD, and I find sometimes I come out of an LD when I close my eyes in one. At this point just focus on reentering your dream and you should come back real soon. No idea how to remember, as I can’t do it myself, sorry . Hope this helped.
. Hope this helped.