I was on another forum I visit regularly and it is not related to lucid dreaming or anything similar, it’s a forum for an online game. Anyway, somebody posted about waking up but not being able to move, as if paralysed. Anyway this information is not important. Somebody posted about lucid dreaming and I was amazed. Did some research and landed here. I’ve only known since yesterday and REALLY want to experience it. I want to go on a rampage and then break into a supermarket and stuff my face with food.
Now I am still coming to grips with it. How sharp is your focus when you’re having a LD? Does it REALLY feel like real life? Can you really eat things and so crazy stuff?
Anyway where should I start? I’ve read the guide and understand that I need to try and remember my dreams, so I will try and start a journal. Sometimes I remember dreams the next day and they’re quite vivid, I can remember quite a lot. I can still remember some old dreams now. I have never had a lucid dream, at least I can’t remember having one.
WILD - this is where you just relax, keep your mind busy and then you slowly get into a lucid dream? Is this best to try first? Or should I try when I’m going to sleep?
So I should try and remember my dreams and write them down. Then ‘recognise’ when I’m in a dream and do a reality check (look at my hand, look at a book, check a watch)? How can I tell my brain to do this though when I’m not conscious in a dream?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
P.S. I tried last night, all I can remember is waking up a lot and wanting to check my mobile phone for the time - as a reality check. Could I have possibly almost got there but not realised I was dreaming?
Good, you pass the first test. Motivation is an absolute essential for getting LDs.
Well, that depends. Sometimes you have clear, vivid dreams, and sometimes you have really foggy dreams. Also, your lucidity itself can vary. Of course, once fully lucid, you can control the various qualities of your dreams, so that’s a small problem.
Yes, no questions asked, period.
Whether WILD is best for you will depend on what kind of person you are. We have a short guide that may help determine what to try first here. Generally, though, MILD is the best for someone new to LDing.
You do so through habit. Do reality checks throughout the day, whenever you remember to. Also whenever you’re scared, confused, worried, nervous, very happy or angry, surprised, or in any unusual situation. Be scrutinizing even when you can be reasonably sure you’re awake. Eventually, the habit becomes a part of your dreams.
Maybe. If it was a dream and you wanted to check reality, then you were very close.
I sort of attempted WILD 5 minutes ago, I really fell into some sort of light sleep and then I decided to wake up and it felt like I’d been asleep for quite a while, sort of like when I tried to hypnotise myself.
Anyway I will do the reality checks through out the day. So I will check the time randomly, read some text randomly, etc? The reason I like to check the time on my phone is that I turn it off at night, so if I check it and it’s on then I must be dreaming. But I am still a tiny bit confused… how does my mind think or want to check my phone etc? I am just a tad confused by that, usually when I sleep I never have thoughts or anything until after I’ve woken up. At what point are we conscious, after the reality check or before we check?
Do we feel like we are awake but we need to check? Because if that’s true then it may have happened yesterday… I woke up a few times last night and wanted to check my phone but was really tied/sleepy so I fell back to sleep.
Ah, but in your dream, you won’t know that you’re lying in your bed; you’ll be wherever your dream tells you, so you won’t think that it’s strange for your phone to be on.
That’s really interesting. I’ve never actually thought of dreams like that before; it’s almost as if, sometimes, we don’t experience the dream at all, and the dream is just instantaneously crammed into our memory as soon as we wake up…
Yes that is how most of my dreams that I remember are like. It feels very fresh in my mind just after I’ve woken up and things are very clear. Some dreams I can still remember today.
I am going to attempt again tonight, I know I’ve not been at this for long but it’s all in the mind… I want to at least remember my dream(s). I am currently on a diet where I’m eating no crap foods, so being able to munch away at everything would be awesome!
Having not read the other posts (yet), I would not suggest going with the WILD technique first, because often, from my experience, it is the hardest technique to pull off. But, let me tell you, it sure is worth it! ;D
Tip: When doing RCs (reality checks) it’s best to do two or more at once. Sometimes there are dreams where one type may not work where the others will.
Don’t bother too much with RCs. Instead, get to know your dreamworld. You will notice you are dreaming just because you know what your dreams feel like.
I saw a blog post by somebody who said he ate a donut that tasted real. Surely if you know what the food tastes like it will have taste?
Thanks for the advice and pointers guys, I am still getting my head around it. I’m not sure how or when to check for reality… I mean, I go to sleep → and then wake up the next day, nothing inbetween… does it just happen?
Depending on how skilled you are in dream control it could taste like a) some random thing, b) the real thing c) whatever you want it to taste like.
This is why dream recall is crucial. Most people dream every night, they just do not remember anything. If you always remember your dreams, you will also know when you are in a dream.
I think the idea is you do these reality checks so much in regular life, without really thinking about it, so that in your dreams, you will do them too.
And when you subconciously do a successfull reality check in your dream, you should suddenly realise you’re dreaming and become lucid.
Ah so it boils down to control/skill - if you can control well then you can make it taste of whatever you wish. Would this taste be proper - I mean, would you remember the taste when you wake up?
So should I first focus on dream recall? I will write them down as well, providing I can remember them… my motivation is so high to do this at the moment, it would be amazing.
EDIT: @guy above, so I see. I will practice a lot then. I keep looking at the time on my computer screen randomly without thinking much.
True, your sensory experience in a lucid dream is determined mostly by what you expect. A donut ought to taste like a donut. On the other hand, if you were to, say, try to eat the LD4All web page, then you would get a totally random and unusual flavor.
I don’t entirely understand your question, so here’s the whole story: as often as possible (and preferably in response to certain events) you must consciously check reality during the day by doing or observing things that would be different in a dream. The most popular way is to try to breathe through a plugged nose. Doing RCs often will make them into a dream element from time to time. If you perform a RC in a dream, no matter how casually or unconsciously, you will instantly realize that you’re dreaming 99% of the time.
Yes. Depending on how good your dream recall is, the remembered experience can seem as real as, well, reality.
I would suggest you do focus on dream recall. This will give best results in the long run. As for first results, focusing on LD inducing techniques (MILD, WBTB…) is a good idea as well.
@The Scientist, you have explained and answered my question perfectly - I did not understand how we come to realise or do the reality checks, but you have explained that they are incorporated into dreams sometimes and we can realise it’s a dream. Cool. So for example I do not seem to be in my dream in realtime, it seems like I dream and then afterwards I remember it - when I do a RC and I can breathe through my fingers or whatever, my brain just realises and I ‘wake up’ in the dream?
OK, I will try dream recall. This stuff is amazing and I am surprised not a huge amount of people know about it. I am looking forward to my first lucid dream, whenever that is.
I am not blind, but say like you were blinded in an accident and could have a lucid dream, would you be able to see (providing you had sight before?) If so this could be amazing for those with no sight.
Good news - I remembered last nights dream. It was very odd and I can remember being me throughout it, but I don’t think it was a lucid dream as it just feels like it was a normal dream (I don’t think I was actually there consciously) but I can recall it so I’ve written it down.
Also I woke up once or twice and tried a reality check, fingers over my nose and trying to breathe: I couldn’t so I was awake.
Well, people seem to have answered most of your questions About the blind thing, yeah, they would be able to see And people that can’t walk anymore could run, etc.
It’s good to try any induction techniques after a few hours of sleep (around 5 or 6), so you may want to put an alarm or simply tell yourself to wake up. I tend to do RC’s mainly when weird things happen (as in last night, cops pointing guns at opening fire for no apparent reason )
And yeah, remembering your dreams is very important, or you might just have a LD and not remember it! (been there ._. )
Thanks! Very very motivated! Last night’s dream was very clear in comparison to other dreams… and some of the characters were from soap operas lol!
So I will naturally do RC’s? Because in my dream I felt I had zero control… like things just flowed and I wouldn’t have been able to check or anything.
My suggestion is go to acquire of few good books about lucid dreaming.
Stephen LaBerge’s “Exploring the world of lucid dreaming” and Robert Waggoner’s Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the inner self" are great books to read that will help you fully understand the principle of reality checks and what to do/expect in a lucid dream. Also when you start doing WBTB reading about lucid dreaming while staying awake for an hour really saturates you mind and subconscious about your desire to become lucid. This technique really helped for me.
Welcome.
About the blind thing, yeah, they would be able to see 
And people that can’t walk anymore could run, etc.
)
(been there ._. )
