do you HAVE to use verbal commands?

[givememyleg]

Hey, when you guys are fully lucid do you need to use verbal commands to make stuff work? Like, when I go lucid (WHICH I HAD THREE LAST NIGHT, YES THREE THREE THREE :D ) I tried to fly by thinking of it, but never could. But whenever I said something out loud, like passing my fingers through my palm or bending a gun in half, I could do it. Are you able to "think" commands when you get in more control or do you more advanced people still use verbal commands?

Thanks!

[Neo Neo]

hey.

i dont use verbal commands, it might just be personal preferance, what comes easiest. of course the first time i was lucid i could fly by thinking it. it could just be what you think works best.

what i always say is if you believe it you can do it, if you dont you cant.
but i think there are some exceptions to my saying, because i dont know everything about dreams.

[Seeker]

I exert my will first. If that doesn't work, I will try to suspend my doubt and try again. If that doesn't work, I will use verbal commands.

Verbal commands work most of the time for me, but, I am sure it differs from person to person.

[Identity X]

The only lucid dream I've used verbal commands in was one in which I was totally blind, and that didn't remedy the situation, so the jury is still out.

[Ev]

I start with verbal commands. It's ok, if I dont have to repeat it often. If it works well, I can move to thinking. If thinking (like saying it in your head) works well, I can move to intending.

For example, In flying: first I had to say "fly", then I had to think "fly", now I just intend to fly.

In summoning: first I had to say which Item I want to appear, now I just think of it or intend a specific item to appear.

[Alric]

For me it seems pretty random. Since I never know what will and wont work, I just start trying something and hope it works.

[Identity X]

Mmm... I've never had a ploblem like that - from Day 1 I've just willed things and they happen,. I suppose I'm quite lucky in that my mind knows what it can acheive and therfore doesn't get tied up with the technicalities of achiing something and just does it...

[theunknowndreamer]

I never use verbal commands. I have always just done what ever it was (except fly I can't seem to do that no matter what).
I have tried the verbal commands, but people look at me like I am weird because I am talking to myself. Oh well it's just a dream....

[kufu91]

ive been lucid dreaming for years. at first i just thought things and they happend. now its different. its a little bit like moving a finger, you dont think about it but you make it happen. it makes things a lot easiar because your mind can make almost any thing work and do almost anything.

[slimslowslider]

Some things are automatic for me now - like flying, but verbal commands do seem to have additional power. I posted a LD in the dream journals section (slimslowslider's selected scenes) where I was trying to heal someone (of a demonic affliction!) and could only get success with a verbal command. Mantras have long been used by various cultures to alter consciousness...

I wonder if thinking something like 'fly' is an internalised verbal command? So in this case saying it out aloud reinforces it by adding an auditory component. There is a whole world of psychology theories which describe different modes of thinking - visual, auditory, kinesthetic (sp.?), digital etc.. Different people favour different types, so perhaps its 'horses for courses'.

[Remus]

When i've Flew all I did was focus on it and I closed my eyes, but you shouldn't reallly do that in a dream because you could lose lucidness. For somethings like sticking my hand through a wall I closed my eyes (I need to try not to do that..o.o) and thought to myself "I can stick my hand through the wall. The wall is liquid"