Thread: Re-entering Dreams

I pretty much use the standard DEILD routine. I imagine my success rate is low, but my frequency is constant. I may only re-enter my dream lucid every 10th time, but tend to attempt this 3-4 times a night. Some nights I can not miss and may have 5 LDs, while other nights it just does not work.

I know it's not what you wanted to hear, Dexter, but I'm afraid DEILD is my route back in as well...but I do have something you might consider:

DEILD isn't actually a technique, but the name given to describe the nature of your transition to lucidity. Things like, say, holding still and keeping your last dream in the front of your mind are the techniques, and are done to make a DEILD happen. So then you might actually be talking about DEILD after all, and are looking for other techniques than the "classic" ones that make them happen.

All that said, I DEILD quite often, usually from a lucid dream (meaning that somewhere along the line I previously became lucid through a different path), but occasionally I will DEILD from a non-lucid, especially when a particularly interesting NLD occurs late in my sleep cycle. When exiting a LD, my DEILD's are pretty much always successful, but DEILD's from NLD's require more focus and tend to be a bit more hit-or-miss; I probably succeed in maybe one out of every three DEILD attempts from NLD's.

I don't do much of anything when I DEILD; I simply decide to do one (that's more important than it sounds, BTW), then I keep the dream in my mind and just go back to sleep. I never do anything at bedtime to prepare for DEILD's, either. Also, I was doing DEILDs long before the term and popular techniques were invented, and I never learned that you were supposed to hold still; so I usually don't make any effort to hold still -- I'll do things like get more comfortable, reset my white noise machine, sometimes even take a trip to the bathroom, all without losing touch with my last dream... I think it's more about holding your mind still than your body anyway. So, for me at least, DEILD's can be done without holding still or going instantly back to sleep (though both those things are probably good ideas, especially if you are just getting started).

I guess the tl;dr of this is that there really isn't much, technique-wise, to doing a DEILD; it's really all about simply bridging the brief gap of wakefulness between periods of sleep without losing touch with your dream or lucidity; no more, and certainly no less. Their simplicity and lack of need for annoying techniques are why I find DEILD's my favorite and most frequently used transition.

I've always called it dream chaining. If I wake up from a lucid I remain still and try to get back to sleep ASAP. Usually in the lucid dream I realise I'm about to wake up and try to stay asleep or on the brink of sleep. It's important for me to not move at all and try to get back to sleep immediately for it to work. I keep my eyes closed at all times. For me its not so much about re-entering the same lucid but just focusing on falling asleep again immediately, the lucidity comes naturally because I'm already in the right state to have it.

I can usually dream chain about 5 or 6 times until it stops working. It gets to a point where the body needs to roll over to a different sleeping position to continue sleeping. When you reach that point you just know its not going to work. Usually when I dream chain I fall asleep again within about 5 seconds, so anything longer than a minute probably won't work. When it gets to this stage you need to get out of bed for 30 minutes then do a WILD. I never do this though because I'm too lazy for WBTB and WILD takes me too long.

Thank you guys Seems like DEILD or chaining is a pretty effective technique for some of us. I wake up naturally in the night a good number of times, from anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes, which is why I'm specifically looking into impoving my usage of those opportunities. I've DEILDed a few times before just never pefected my technique (mostly cause DILDS came so naturally during that time).

Originally Posted by Sageous

When exiting a LD, my DEILD's are pretty much always successful, but DEILD's from NLD's require more focus and tend to be a bit more hit-or-miss; I probably succeed in maybe one out of every three DEILD attempts from NLD's.

Sageous, what do you think makes it harder to re-enter NLDs? Is it just because lucidity isn't something on the forefront of your mind?

I think the way Eonnn approaches it is really smart, because WBTB takes a lot of time out of your night, and if you can perfect the process of chaining dreams it seems like you could see a lot of success from that. Definitely gunna experiment with DEILDing/chaining some more now, thanks for the input!

Although I don't want to limit myself to having to stay still, or being awake only for a few seconds. I guess I'll have to see what works through experimentation, as always

Originally Posted by Dexter33

Thank you guys Seems like DEILD or chaining is a pretty effective technique for some of us. I wake up naturally in the night a good number of times, from anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes, which is why I'm specifically looking into impoving my usage of those opportunities. I've DEILDed a few times before just never pefected my technique (mostly cause DILDS came so naturally during that time).



Sageous, what do you think makes it harder to re-enter NLDs? Is it just because lucidity isn't something on the forefront of your mind?

I think the way Eonnn approaches it is really smart, because WBTB takes a lot of time out of your night, and if you can perfect the process of chaining dreams it seems like you could see a lot of success from that. Definitely gunna experiment with DEILDing/chaining some more now, thanks for the input!

Although I don't want to limit myself to having to stay still, or being awake only for a few seconds. I guess I'll have to see what works through experimentation, as always

I can't speak for Sageous, but in my own experience, it's easier chaining lucid dreams than non lucid ones because when I wake up I don't move a single muscle or open my eyes, making it possible to get back into a dream state almost immediately. The other reason is because about as often as not, if I wake up from a lucid dream I'll find that I'm still in REM Atonia. This odds of this happening are far more likely if I get a random DILD and realize I'm dreaming (I wake up in REM Atonia almost every time); when I get DILDs they typically last anywhere from 2-5 minutes. This means that the dream ends before I have time to lose awareness, which works out perfectly to even out the disappointment of the rather short-lived success a DILD gets me because I'm capable of very easily transitioning into a dream while in REM Atonia. Something interesting to note though is that the use of my go-to technique of transitioning isn't always required if I find myself in REM Atonia following the exit of a dream rather than on the onset of sleep.

Normally what I do is... well, not so much imagine as "know" that there is either a vortex/blackhole-like entity by my feet or my head, and that when I get sucked all the way I know I'll be in a dream. On occasion I've tried other methods that utilize the same framework of suggestion/expectation and the results are mostly identical, but it's easier to stick with the first thing that worked for me. When performing a DEILD from REM Atonia, however, often all I need to replay the events of my last dream. I don't usually wind up back in the same dream, but it gets the job done as far as getting me in one.

The thing about DEILD is that it cannot function as a strategy for LDing on its own without needlessly limiting your success. If you're trying to DEILD well beyond the time frame of having recently exited a dream or when you're very much awake, it doesn't make sense to try doing it. To parrot Sageous, it's not really a form of induction (a strategy) so much as it is as a label for the act of temporarily changing tactics and seizing an opportunity to get some quick and cheap returns. DEILD is just a specific tactic used for achieving what's essentially a WILD. DEILD's success hinges on effectively utilizing the benefits of having just exited a dream and the relaxed and suggestible state that follows to enter a new dream or re-enter the same dream you were just in because that's almost literally the only way it can be achieved.

That being said, there shouldn't be a whole lot of movement or any more than about 5 minutes of your time being spent awake if you're going to succeed. It's okay if you move around a bit, the important thing is to be relaxed. The only reason you don't want to move if you aren't is because it causes chemicals that cause a state of physical arousal to be released while simultaneously leaving you more consciously aware of your body (which as you can imagine makes it difficult to drift back off or focus on re-entering a dream). After about 5 minutes (I personally would never try beyond that... honestly I wouldn't keep trying beyond 2 or 3 minutes), you either need to focus on a different technique or give up and go back to sleep (good time for a regular WILD though).

^^ That.

But I can't leave well enough alone, so:

Originally Posted by Dexter33

Sageous, what do you think makes it harder to re-enter NLDs? Is it just because lucidity isn't something on the forefront of your mind?

Yes, it's exactly because when exiting a NLD lucidity isn't something on the forefront of your mind.

Snoop already covered this well, but suffice it to say that if you are exiting a LD, then you already have a lucid mindset on hand, which makes it very easy to simply wait for the dream to return without doing much of anything... and you can make that transition from dream to dream without ever really waking up.

In NLD's, on the other hand, that lucid mindset is not only absent, but must be gathered and applied in the few seconds you have before you are fully awake. This can be very difficult, especially because a lucid mindset (aka the presence of your waking-life self-awareness, knowing that you are dreaming, or in the dreaming process) might not even be attainable until you are fully awake and able to gather your self-awareness.... and, if you're fully awake, there isn't much chance of quickly getting back to sleep and your dream.

Awesome! I appreciate the great information, and I'm off to experiment with it now. If anything interesting happens I'll update the thread